The current “Golden Age” of television has been going on for 25 years or more. Cable channels aren’t new: HBO launched in 1972, Showtime four years later. But as they and newer entries in the field like The WB, FX, and AMC began producing more and better original series, unrestricted in format and not subject to conventional network censorship, the quality and variety of televised entertainment improved dramatically. (Cable channels continue to show older series too, of course. Here are the best classic TV shows available to stream.)
In response to this proliferation of innovative original programming, broadcast networks upped their game, creating their own episodic masterpieces: NBC released “The West Wing” in 1999 (the same year that HBO’s “The Sopranos” appeared), FOX premiered “24” in 2001, and ABC aired the first episodes of “LOST” in 2003. Characters and plots became more complex regardless of the platform.
Then came streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, and the evolution of YouTube into a major content provider. Today, more viewers subscribe to these platforms than pay for cable TV, so there are more landing spots (and more funding) than ever for creators with a vision and the desire to make something new. Viewers aren’t reliant upon TiVo or reruns to see shows in competing time slots, and they’re not tied to a television set for their content, either. (Here is every state’s favorite show on Netflix for 2020.)
Click here to see the highest-rated shows you can watch today.
No matter how you define it, viewing options today are better than ever before. This list of the highest-rated shows you can watch right now helps demonstrate why.
Methodology
To identify the highest rated-shows currently available to watch, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the most recently Certified Fresh TV shows from Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator. Shows are dubbed Certified Fresh if they have a rating of 75% or higher over at least 20 reviews, including five from top critics on the site.
28. The Irregulars: Season 1
> RT score: 78%
> Network: Netflix
The Irregulars are characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books — a gang of kids who help Dr. Watson (as in “Elementary, my dear Watson”) solve crime in Victorian London.
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27. Allen v. Farrow: Miniseries
> RT score: 81%
> Network: HBO
The Allen and Farrow here, of course, are Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, and the miniseries examines allegations of sexual abuse the latter has leveled against the latter, formerly her partner..
26. The Investigation: Season 1
> RT score: 83%
> Network: HBO
The investigation in question focuses on the real-life murder of Kim Wall by Swedish entrepreneur Peter Madsen aboard his submarine, the UC3 Nautilus.
25. Exterminate All The Brutes: Season 1
> RT score: 84%
> Network: HBO
Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck’s miniseries examines episodes of colonial violence and genocide.
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24. Demi Lovato: Dancing With The Devil: Miniseries
> RT score: 84%
> Network: YouTube Originals
Singer-songwriter Demi Lovato’s auto-documentary series shares some of the darker events of her life. From her highly-publicized 2018 overdose and her transition to recovery, the work serves as a compliment to her album of the same name, released this April.
23. Bloodlands: Series 1
> RT score: 86%
> Network: Acorn (Amazon Prime)
Bloodlands follows a detective in Northern Ireland coping with his past as he investigates the kidnapping of an IRA party member with possible ties to a legendary cold case.
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22. Superman & Lois: Season 1
> RT score: 87%
> Network: The CW
In this series, the iconic comic book couple returns to Smallville to raise their children, only to have their lives upended in ways they couldn’t have imagined.
21. The Falcon And The Winter Soldier: Season 1
> RT score: 88%
> Network: Disney+
Two seemingly at-odds Marvel superheroes team up for the fight of their lives against a global threat to peace.
20. Servant: Season 2
> RT score: 88%
> Network: Apple TV+
“Servant” is a horror-thriller set in Philadelphia that follows a couple dealing with shared trauma and their damaged marriage, and the inexplicable forces that enter their home when they hire a nanny for their infant son.
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19. Young Rock: Season 1
> RT score: 89%
> Network: NBC
This sitcom stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, with plots centering around flashbacks to his time as a child in Hawaii, a teenager in Pennsylvania, and a football player at the University of Miami.
18. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers: Season 1
> RT score: 89%
> Network: Disney+
Set after the events of the original Mighty Ducks film franchise, this series tells the story of another down-on-his-luck kid who won’t accept defeat when he’s been told he isn’t good enough.
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17. Shadow And Bone: Season 1
> RT score: 90%
> Network: Netflix
Based on the young adult novel of the same name, “Shadow and Bone” follows Alina, a young woman who joins the fight against the darkness tearing her country apart.
16. Pretend It’s a City: Limited Series
> RT score: 90%
> Network: Netflix
Martin Scorsese and Fran Liebowitz talk about what it’s like to live in New York City, covering everything from the subway system to the public library.
15. Cobra Kai: Season 3
> RT score: 90%
> Network: Netflix
Cobra Kai returns for its third season, finding the protagonists trying to put their dojo — and their relationships — back together again.
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14. Mare Of Easttown: Limited Series
> RT score: 91%
> Network: HBO
“Mare of Easttown” is a crime drama about a small-town detective struggling to keep it together while investigating the highly-publicized murder of a young mother.
13. WandaVision: Season 1
> RT score: 92%
> Network: Disney+
Marvel heroes Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) and Vision settle down to a quiet, suburban life after the events that took place in 2019’s “Marvel: Endgame.”
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12. Rutherford Falls: Season 1
> RT score: 93%
> Network: Peacock
“Rutherford Falls” is a comedy about a small town and the personalities who dominate it struggling to control its present and define its past.
11. Resident Alien: Season 1
> RT score: 93%
> Network: Syfy
This TV adaptation of a long-running comic book series follows an extraterrestrial sent to destroy the human race while attempting to blend in — and beginning to struggle with the morality of the mission.
10. Made For Love: Season 1
> RT score: 93%
> Network: HBO Max
A dark comedy, “Made for Love” is centered around one woman’s struggle with marriage, divorce, identity, and technology as she attempts to regain her independence.
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9. Waffles + Mochi: Season 1
> RT score: 95%
> Network: Netflix
Former first lady Michelle Obama hosts this whimsical children’s cooking show.
8. Invincible: Season 1
> RT score: 96%
> Network: Amazon Prime
Mark Grayson finds that he shares the abilities of his father, Omni-Man, the planet’s most powerful superhero, in this animated series.
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7. All Creatures Great And Small: Series 1
> RT score: 96%
> Network: PBS
Based on a book of the same name this is the story of a small-town English veterinarian in the 1930s. Past British adaptations of the novels have been well-loved for their humor and wholesome take on family life.
6. Lupin: Season 1
> RT score: 98%
> Network: Netflix
Assane Diop, the son of a Senegalese immigrant, takes imaginative revenge on the wealthy man who framed his father and left Assane an orphan.
5. It’s a Sin: Miniseries
> RT score: 98%
> Network: HBO Max
“It’s a Sin” depicts the lives of a group of gay men living through the HIV/AIDS crisis that faced 1980s London.
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4. The Lady And the Dale: Miniseries
> RT score: 100%
> Network: HBO
This is a documentary miniseries about Elizabeth Carmichael, the car she created (the Dale), and the fame and controversy that followed.
3. The Expanse: Season 5
> RT score: 100%
> Network: Amazon Prime
Tha latest season of “The Expanse” finds the crew of the Rocinante attempting to heal their personal relationships and still put a stop to the forces behind a conspiracy that could destroy the world.
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2. For All Mankind: Season 2
> RT score: 100%
> Network: Apple TV+
An alternate history saga, this series imagines that the USSR was the first global power to land a crew of astronauts on the moon — thus sparking a competition with the U.S. that could bring about dire consequences.
1. Dickinson: Season 2
> RT score: 100%
> Network: Apple TV+
An unlikely comedic look at the struggles of poet Emily Dickinson against the cultural and political confines of 19th-century Massachusetts.
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