Best Piece of television you discovered last year (in 2025)

Mr Inbetween, I started seeing clips of it while doom scrolling & figured I'd check it out before I saw it all in 30 second clips, well worth it.

Halt and Catch Fire. It took me a few episodes to really get into it, but then I got quite hooked and binged it hard. Extremely well written, and it gives me some Mad Men vibes, but in an industry I'm far more interested in and a time period I mostly lived through.

Deadwood 

Honestly, the best show I discovered recently that I’ve never heard about, & never saw, was “Futureman” with Josh Hutcherson. I literally watched the entire first season in 2 days. It was so funny. (..the episodes are only 30 minutes.) eta: it’s like “The Boys meets Ready Player One + time travel,” but crazier. And it has a great cast. Josh Hutcherson, Keith David, Eliza Coupe, Derek Wilson, Ed Begley Jr., Glenne Headly, Haley Joel Osment…

I started watching For All Mankind. It is a bit slow to start, but it does such a great job paying off storylines.

Izombie. After watching some episodes I noticed the same people behind Veronica Mars were behind this show, and it shows, in a good way. Not just in the style of the show, but also those actors showing up from time to time. It's a fun episodic detective show with a twist of the main character being a zombie and taking over the characteristics of the victims whose brains she eats.... It's sort of a Buffy mixed with Veronica Mars. Loving it.

Slow Horses! I have always liked spy shows/movies this one really doesn’t well! We all know the Brit’s created the spy game as we know it. This show features that, shows you the inner workings, infighting that takes place and keeps it light with great British humor but still brings the drama and weight of the seriousness of the subject matter. Gary Oldman doing a fart joke is literally top tier Also, honorable mention for The Agency while we’re on the topic of spy shows! Fassbender knocked it out of the park as per usual

Search Party for sure! I had seen season one a while back but finally saw it all now that it’s on Netflix. So flipping funny

Peacemaker with John Cena. So much better than most other DC stuff. I thought it was hilarious and clever and Cena has no problem poking fun at himself. And Eagly!!

Me and the gf started watching buffy together, at first it was a bit cheesy and I wasnt to keen but after sticking with it with, both fell in love with the show!

Easily The Pitt. It’s just so well made, no bullshit, engaging, thrilling and entertaining television. I have never rewatched a season while it is still running but im doing it now with this show, it’s that good!

Interview with a Vampire. Can't wait for season 3!

Definitely The Leftovers for me! Grabbed me from episode 1, it’s absolutely perfect throughout, and has one of my favorite series finales I’ve ever seen.

Person of interest

Dark matter on Apple TV and also dark matter sci fi tv show from 2015.

What We Do in the Shadows. Became one of my favorites in just a couple episodes

Kevin can go f*** himself I enjoy a lot of sitcoms as background noise and this was an interesting use of the genre stereotypes interlaced with drama stereotypes A shame it didn’t get a s3, it could’ve followed the Thelma and Louise route

I’m not positive it was 2025 but if not it’s the last most recent show that surprised me in a good way…. Patriot

i held back on watching Ted Lasso for so long. its deserves all the praises its getting.its hitting all the right emotions for me. they do a great job with all the chaeacters relationships. im only early into season 3 so far. absolutely great show. im Canadian so soccer/football is definitly NOT deeply ingrained in my culture like it would for other countries. but thats absolutely NOT a matter for this show. They make it very clear that Ted doesnt know shit about football. what he knows is People and that makes him a fantastic coach.

Wonder Man was great. Nice series about a struggling actor. Nice to see Marvel explore characters like this.

Wife and I had never watched The Knick and it’s fantastic!

The last kingdom for 2025, and one that's not last year but early 2026, knight of the seven kingdoms. Can't believe it took me damn near 10 years to commit to watching The Last Kingdom. Heard about it all the time and saw it on Netflix 24/7, but never bothered. Such a good show that delivers across the board and doesn't really lack anywhere (outside of maybe a relatively weak-ish season and definitely the sequel movie). Knight of the seven kingdoms is such a fun show. Hate the current trend of short seasons but in this case I guess it's understandable given the source material, nonetheless definitely gearing up to be one of the best shows of 2026.

Aside from the usual suspects like The Pitt, I was surprised by how good Chad Powers was. That show got out of me some of the most genuine LOLs in the last few years.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Last One Laughing. Such a simple little show, with a premise that feels cheesy. But it's absolutely hilarious. It's not deep or 'meaningful' like The Pitt or Severance or Pluribus or any of those, but it's such a simple, fun, great show. And once I found it - there's a bunch of old seasons across different countries too.

Slow Horses. Binged it all in 2 weeks. Absolutely the best thing I've seen for years.

Southland It came to Netflix recently I just finished all five seasons. As a retired cop it's easily the most realistic cop show I've ever seen and nothing else even comes close. It unfortunately got cancelled after season 5 and ends on some major cliffhangers.

Andor

Shoresy Give your balls a tug!

The Detectorists. I tried it years ago and didn’t really like it. After enjoying the new series Small Prophets (also written by Mackenzie Crook) I gave it another go and binged the lot.

Shorsey. I now love senior whale shit hockey.

I Think You Should Leave! Series makes me laugh to tears. Tim Robinson is brilliant. The writing is absurd comedy at its best.

Unforgotten. A crime show where they have six episodes per deason, and they focus only on one old cold case that unravels slowly and binds many people all over the country in one single event in the end. Really good.

Somebody Somewhere. Hidden Gem that is a very funny heartwarming small town slice of life vibe. Highly recommend it.

Department Q

I decided to give the Ted series a shot after seeing some clips and I could not believe how good it was. Jokes were funny, not too many irrelevant gags that are common in Seth MacFarlane shows. Every member of the family absolutely crushes it.

Severance. Easily in my top 3 TV shows of all time. Can’t wait for season 3.

Paradise is superb, deserves more recognition

Was Stumble last year? If so, we enjoyed it a lot.

Superman and Lois. I didn't watch it when it aired because I was completely burned out on anything Arrowverse. Saw a few light spoilers from Season 4 and decided to check it out. It's definitely a CW show, but among one of the better ones. Absolutely my favorite portrayal of Superman/Clark and Lois Lane

the UK version of Ghosts. it's absolutely perfect.

Foundation. I just can’t say enough good things about it. It’s got the big budget sci-fi total package. Acting and writing are on point. Visual SFX are fantastic. Pacing is excellent. I’m only through season 2 at this point, but I can’t help but sing its praises.

It didn’t come out this year but the show From Is fantastic. Sure it has its annoying things like not answering questions while giving us more questions in the process but I’m really enjoying it and excited for season four.

Whilst The Pitt takes my top spot, I would like to offer a second. Paradise. This show is batshit crazy in a way I really enjoy. The whole concept is expectation subversion. Is it top-quality? No, it has a LOT of contrivance baked in. But the twists that keep popping up puts it in my list.

Derry Girls

TASK was the best bit of television I've watched in a while.

The Shield. One of the great police action series. It is underappreciated, but in my opinion it is as good as the Wire.

Arcane. I have never played a millisecond of League of Legends. Netflix really said "Hey let's take League of Legends and make one of the greatest pieces of f****** cinema ever because we can". It continuously blew my expectations out of the water, and it was all I could think about for weeks.

The interchanging twins task in Taskmaster season 20 is probably the best segment of the entire show I've watched, just so much fun and chaos! I'm also new to the show and I'm obsessed lol

I finally decided check out Lost last year, and that show had a profound effect on me. I've always heard about it being a popular show, but I didn't expect all those philosophical themes about science vs faith, good vs evil. Loved it. "I don't understand." is a line that has stayed with me ever since, and I find myself thinking about the sadness of it quite often. As for new shows/seasons that came out last year, it's gotta be Andor s2. What an experience!

Hands down, the live-action One Piece. I'm old, do not read manga or watch anime, have never heard of One Piece, and went in blind. I can't really explain it. The positivity, the action, the tear-jerking moments, the crazy sets and effects... I don't know what it is about it, but I can't get enough. Already blown through season two and cannot wait for the next, and season two was just released.

Person of interest

Diplomat. Well acted, fairly good screenwriting, my kind of political intrigue and suspense.

New shows in 2025 would def be The Pitt, i adore that show Overall my greatest find was My So Called Life, didnt know anything about it and it ended up being a top 5 show ever for me

Pluribus was easily the best show I watched last year Righteous Gemstones is also a 10 out of 10. It ended last year but there’s 4 hilarious seasons of it. I’d probably say Pluribus is an objectively better show, but Gemstones probably ranks higher in my all time favs.

Resident Alien

Hacks!

The Capture. Learned about it from this here sub, and there was truth in advertising: it's an incredible drama. Well-written, well-acted, and very relevant. Great stuff.

I didn’t really “discover” it as much as I “highly anticipated it” But the animated adaptation of The Might Nein is SO freaking good. Admittedly I’m biased because I love the original campaign But they’ve done an *excellent* job adapting it to animation and I cannot wait for season 2.

Not quite the parameters as OP asked but I am re-watching Battlestar Galactica. 2004. I remember enjoying it with my friends when it came out. It was one of the last shows that we had to make plans to get together to watch the show or we missed the episode. It is actually so much better than I remember it being and I really liked it at the time. Both the special effects and the story have held up really well in the twenty years since it was made.

Friday night lights

Star Trek Strange New Worlds. The new Star Trek stuff on Paramount has mostly been pretty bad IMO so I’d written it off as just more of that but on a whim gave it a chance and it’s really the classic Trek I always liked

Star Trek: Lower Decks If you are a fan of 80s - 90s Star Trek, this show is a love letter to those series.

Finally watched Twin Peaks, including FWWM and The Return

I’ve just discovered Ted Lasso and can’t get enough of this good feel series.

Dark, the German language Netflix show from about a decade ago. Gets real confusing and strange with its time travel and parallel universes but fascinating

Heard Rivalry is a well written, well acted romance that just hits.

Shoresy. Started off crass, but evolved into so much more than that. Wish I could watch it again for the first time.

Mrs. Davis was an unexpected wild ride. Silly, strange, and timely.

Finally got around to watching *The Sopranos*; also *The White Lotus* and *Severance*

dorohedoro. It is like a weird mix of Akiria animation with the storytelling and humor of the Heavy Metal movie. Season 2 is finally coming out next month.

M: Son of the Century, about Mussolini. Great acting, especially from the lead. Really high energy direction, reminds me of Baz Luhrman in a good way, and does a fantastic job of capturing the descent into madness of fascism 

Started watching Slow Horses and Doom Patrol last year, and since then both of these shows (especially Slow Horses!) have become two of my recent favorite shows. Doom Patrol S1 & 2 was probably some of the very best superhero TV seasons for me, and Slow Horses is simply mindblowing OUTSTANDING, and unbelievably, keeps getting better with each new season! Also watched the first season of The Studio, and easily it is one of the literal falling down-laughing-out-loud-like-a-madman funniest TV seasons I've enjoyed in a long, long time. Eagerly waiting for the S2.

Probably Norsemen (Vikingane) and The Dekameron Both historical. Perfect mix of humor and brutality for me. Both also very surprising in quality Pretty mad Norsemen was cancelled and the last season was a Season 0 prequel instead of a real Season 3. Season 2 ended after some big things happening, plot twists that will never get resolved

Primal. The animation is great and it’s amazing how good the story is with zero dialogue. I’ve come to endear myself so much with the characters that each episode stresses me out so much because I worry about them.

Andor. I had serious Star Wars fatigue and this series was so refreshing. Great show.

OP if you like Taskmaster, check other UK panel shows. Its what made me watch: Would i lie to you 8 out of 10 cats does countdown Qi Big quiz if the year (and various spinoffs) I now cannot wait for new episodes for above shows and prioritize watching them over all else.

It would also be Taskmaster for me. I watched the first 5 seasons over December, from that first watermelon task to the 2 songs for Rosalind.

Adolescence

I adored Murderbot. Funny sci fi has been missing from the roster for some time. (Outside of cartoons)

The Penguin by far. Very raw and brutal cinematic universe and this show takes it to another level. Several gut wrenching plot twists throughout the season.

Hal & Harper (2025). It’s a miniseries by Cooper Raiff (The one who did Cha Cha Real Smooth and Shithouse) and it’s great!! The performances from Mark Ruffalo and Lili Reinhart are what I remember the most.

Chief of War by far! Got those awesome Blacksails vibes, but even sunnier and more colorful.

Allow me to go off-road here, **Da Vinci’s Demons** is f****** fantastic and I cannot believe it took me 10 years to hear about it, swashbuckling and conniving and sex and magic and absolutely superb performances all around

Clarkson farm. Found this from a meme. I always love farm ranch show, coupled with clarkson from top gear, every bit is exciting, heartwarming n funny at times. Welcome to wrexham. Was binging iasip until wrexham was mentioned in my feed. Tried it out and its great. Watched together back to back with Clarkson's farm. What a wonderful find.

Resident Alien.

The Death of Bunny Munro. Matt Smith is phenomenal. It’s very bleak. I cried. A lot. It’s hauntingly accurate at depicting narcissistic parents, the normalisation of chaos during childhood, grief and bereavement, dissociative addiction, and generational trauma. It broke my heart watching Bunny’s son desperately keep faith in his father. I found it a sobering reminder of the importance of accountability and personal responsibility, lest our demons consume us - and others around us. At the same time, I found something reassuring in terms of success being relative. None of us get to choose our parents, our traumas, or the impact they have on us. But simply creating some stability and a form of peace is a success I never would’ve considered a few years ago. I’ve a way to go. But I’m closer to Yvonne than Bunny. There’s solace in that.

Twisted Metal is just so much fun.  It isnt perfect, and it doesnt take itself seriously, but how many high budget car destruction fantasy apocalypse epics are out there ? 

Interview with the Vampire lived rent free in my head for a while, especially Lestat. Such an amazing character on a great show.

Shrinking on Apple TV. Warm, funny, deep, heartbreaking in equal parts. Harrison Ford and Jason Segel are brilliant, as is everyone else. Oh, and everyone needs a Derek!

Shrinking on Apple TV, resident alien on Netflix

The task master find is huge! Some of that stuff is over the top hilarious… Potato in a hole is amazing

Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I know it's been out but I finally tried to watching it and it's amazing!!

Agents of Shield has been blowing me away

Silo