Top 5 TV shows of 2025 worth watching (& 4 that you can skip)

2025 was a year full of entertainment, with TV shows across genres making a mark. The year has given us some of the best crime thrillers and rom-com TV shows. Topping this list is Stranger Things Season 5, which left the fans loving the show even more with its new and final revelations. The finale episode is yet to arrive on 31st December, ending the year on a good note.

Some mergers of big media conglomerates have also impacted the streaming of some TV shows, however, resulting in plenty of good stuff to admire. The year also featured TV shows that didn't get enough viewership.

If you are planning to end your year binge-watching a good show, refer to the list below. Read on to know the 5 best and worst TV shows of the year 2025.

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Here are the 5 best TV shows of the year 2025 that you must watch

Stranger Things season 5

The final season really does that as much as the series at one point did: it treats friendship and loss and growing up as things that have existential stakes, as opposed to nostalgia hooks. By making sacrifice and consequence its central themes, Stranger Things ends as perhaps the last big mainstream spectacle that still believes evil is real, and must be faced, not “understood.”

The final episode is yet to air, and fans are eagerly waiting for it. If you haven't watched the season, watch it on Netflix to enjoy the last episode on time before the show wraps.

The White Lotus Season 3

This show is on HBO Max. More rough-edged and unambiguous, the Thailand-set season reveals that American moral rot can so easily travel overseas. Mike White’s brilliance is in proving that leisure, wealth, and violence are not paradoxes, but accomplices. The show features a new luxurious location and some wealthy characters on vacation, while some dark truths about their lives unfold.

Common Side Effects

Mike Judge’s satirical animated series may have a laid-back, somewhat silly appearance, but it is one of the harshest critiques of pharmaceutical capitalism to be found anywhere on television. Its core premise is that illness is profitable, and that capital sees cures as threats which hit with explosive clarity, especially in contemporary times.

Adolescence

It is about a 14-year-old kid who is accused of murdering his classmate of the same age. Adolescence is widely lauded for its unique cinematic style and sensitivity, given the subject matter. The show rightly portrays how generational trauma and anger are passed on to the new generation, who don't understand what to do about it, as teenagers.

Wednesday Season 2

Jenna Ortega’s deadpan Wednesday Addams remains at the center of a gothic mystery that has grown its world and audience reach, with Season 2 receiving strong critical praise and topping Netflix’s most-watched charts globally. If you are looking forward to some more Hogwarts-like content but with a dark twist, this is your show.

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Here are the 4 worst shows of the year 2025

The Regime

A satire of politics, The Regime is set within a made-up European autocracy that centers on the country’s chancellor, who is becoming more and more unhinged as her closest advisors abandon her amidst nationwide riots. The show is critiqued for offering a political satire that collapses under its own cynicism.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

This show has arrived on Amazon Prime and is stylish, clever, and utterly hollow. This reboot mistakes charm for substance. Its geopolitical backdrop functions as aesthetic wallpaper, which doesn't have any political or social relevance.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

This show is an expensive lesson in why not everything needs “grounding.” The live-action adaptation strips the original of its moral clarity and anti-imperial force, replacing it with lore-heavy seriousness that misunderstands what made the story resonate.

Black Rabbit

A noir-tinged show takes place in the New York restaurant scene and focuses on a determined restaurateur and his no-good sibling. Just like The Bear, this show glamorizes labor and restaurant work, portraying the workers as devoted troops rallying around ownership and unaware of the extent of their exploitation.

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Disclaimer: This list is derived solely from the author's personal opinions. Reader discretion is advised.

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