The 10 Best TV Shows of 2023

We are always grateful for TV, but we were never more grateful than in 2023, and not just because we got killer final seasons of some of the best shows of the last decade. This year, the medium faced an existential threat. The reality that many of the people who make the shows that entertain us (and create tremendous profits for programmers) have been historically devalued by the most powerful in the industry led both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA to go on strike not just to rectify that wrong, but to establish a more equitable future.

Their monthslong fights secured historic gains for both guilds, and also, at least we hope, made everyone watching at home more appreciative of everything that goes into each half-hour or hour-long installment. We at Primetimer certainly feel that way, even if we also felt that this year’s TV, aside from one series that harnessed the remaining power of the post-apocalyptic tale, kicked off in inauspicious fashion, with too many inert adaptations and high-concept dramas (does anyone else even remember climate change anthology Extrapolations?).

This year’s TV just needed a little more time to really get going, but once a pair of inventive dramedies arrived in the spring, it began to show all the ingenuity and poignance we could hope for. By the time the Roy family had their last showdown, TV was looking as powerful as ever.

Perhaps taking inspiration from one of our picks, we took a juried approach to our “best of” deliberations, rather than simply tallying up ballots. Our list of the top 10 series traverses genres and includes ringers and newcomers, as well as shows that are just getting started and those that have been cut tragically short. Together, they not only represent the best of TV in 2023, but the potential of the medium.

10. Swagger (Apple TV+)

For two glorious seasons, Reggie Rock Bythewood’s sports drama played by its own rules, eschewing the melodrama and general messiness of most other teen shows to tell a story that was at once high-flying and defiantly grounded. Like the youth basketball team of the same name, there was always a lot riding on Swagger — the Apple TV+ series was one of still too few Black-led shows, a number that's only grown smaller with its cancellation. But its gripping first season led to an even more exceptional second, as Bythewood delivered great style and substance after nimbly making a four-year time jump.

Jace Carson (Isaiah Hill) still held the center, but anarchy was loosed upon his world and those of his teammates, who'd joined him in protecting a childhood friend when the law failed her. Swagger continued to explore the level of scrutiny that Black youths, from the youngest to the most exceptional, are subjected to, while taking great care to carve out distinctive journeys for each character. The show was always just as concerned with the adults who could guide these kids or get in their way; the question of which of those camps Emory Lawson (Orlando Jones) would fall into was one of the greatest sources of tension in Season 2. Swagger's run may have been cut short, but its legacy includes one of TV's most complex antagonists. — Danette Chavez

9. The Last of Us (HBO)

So much care and thought went into The Last of Us' first season that you'd almost forget it's not an original work, but an adaptation of the hit video game (and a fairly faithful one, at that). Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann pulled no punches in translating this world to the small screen, broadening the inner lives of the game's ancillary characters and transforming background actors into hordes of "infected," but they always came back to the powerful connection between unlikely traveling partners Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey).

The drama hinges on the bond that develops between the two, and Pascal and Ramsey sell it: Their rich performances bring immense depth to what may otherwise have been a conventional story about a gruff father figure and his precocious surrogate daughter, not to mention a surprising charm as they tease out their feelings over the course of their harrowing journey. The choice Joel makes in the finale — to defy Ellie's wishes and save her at the expense of humanity — only complicates their relationship further, setting The Last of Us up for a barn-burner of a second season. — Claire Spellberg Lustig

8. Mrs. Davis (Peacock)

"Wait, so it was a Buffalo Wild Wings app all along?!" Viewers who appreciated that cheeky twist in the finale to the futuristic action-farce Mrs. Davis were the ones who were meant to enjoy the show all along. Mrs. Davis can be seen as a series of Lucy Van Pelt gags, with creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof constantly revealing that whatever dark, all-powerful conspiracy you thought you were watching was something much more silly and disorganized and accidental. You could either feel insulted and strung along by that, or you could enjoy the humor, and perhaps tip a cap to Lindelof making fun of his previous work, including Lost, and its penchant for puzzle boxes.

Mrs. Davis did function in part as a puzzle-box show about futuristic technology, fascistic AI, and ancient secret societies. But it was also operated under the dream logic of Elizabeth aka Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin, striking an almost impossible balance of cocksure competence and complete vulnerability) being in love with actual Jesus, betrayed by her mother (Elizabeth Marvel), and desperately needing to fight back against an all-powerful Buffalo Wild Wings app in order to make everything make sense. It was lunacy, but every moment of it was sincere. — Joe Reid

7. The Great Season 3 (Hulu)

The Great makes two shows on this list that killed off a main character in shocking fashion halfway through their respective seasons. Tony McNamara's Hulu comedy has always featured one of television's most fascinating relationships — defined in equal parts by a naked desire for power, outright contempt, and insatiable lust — but the sudden death of Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) served as an opportunity to take the story in a different, much darker direction. As Empress Catherine faced threats from within her court and calls for revolution in the streets, star Elle Fanning rose to the occasion, turning in a dazzling performance that reflected Catherine's total destabilization and her fruitless, often hypocritical attempt to maintain her position as a "progressive" monarch.

Though Hulu's decision to cancel the comedy came as a surprise to many, there's no denying that The Great went out on its own terms — and Fanning's manic, AC/DC-scored dance in the Season 3 finale, now a series finale, stands as a testament to the show's willingness to take big swings with its ahistorical retelling of Russian history. Huzzah, indeed. — CSL

6. Primo (Freevee)

The continued rise of Freevee yielded two of the best comedies of the year, both of which made this list. The less-heralded one was Primo, based on creator Shea Serrano's life growing up in Texas with five uncles who were incredibly invested in helping him grow up. There's a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs vibe to the uncles. Each one has a distinct hook or personality type: Jay (Jonathan Medina) is the responsible one. Mondo (Efrain Villa) is the free spirit. Ryan (Carlos Santos) is the one who wears a tie to his job at the bank so he thinks he's better than everyone. Rollie (Johnny Rey Diaz) is the one who's prone to criminality. Mike (Henri Esteve) is the hot one — just kidding, they're all the hot one.

Primo's brilliance as a sitcom hinges on the dynamic of its central family: There's always someone there to pick up the ball. Serrano and his team of writers found so many ways to mix and match characters in storylines, keeping everyone perfectly in character, and creating a realistic context in which the uncles' absurd behavior will ultimately benefit Primo. Even better, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Christina Vidal, as Primo and his mom, Drea, get to have just as much fun with their own characters. In an era when comedies often feel like they're pushing farther and farther away from being "just" funny, Primo is a confident reminder that being consistently funny is ambitious enough in its own right. — JR

5. Beef (Netflix)

When it premiered in the spring, Beef wasn’t so much a breath of fresh air as a gale-force wind that knocked the 2023 TV season out of the doldrums, putting all other shows, new and returning, on notice. Lee Sung Jin's caustic comedy began with a moment of road rage that quickly escalated to a destructive game of brinkmanship, and it ended with a display of radical empathy between two people, Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun), who were initially determined not to show the other a shred of compassion.

The 10-episode limited series was bitingly funny and deeply humane, all while offering insightful commentary about accountability, and how it must always come before any plea for forgiveness. Which made the belated response from the show's producers and stars to the resurfaced audio from a 2014 podcast, in which co-star David Choe bragged about committing sexual assault, not just disappointing but surprising. (Choe has repeatedly claimed it was just a joke made in exceptionally poor taste.) It wasn't a matter of countering a backlash, but an opportunity to demonstrate the show's ethos, which was rooted in the lived experiences of those in the Asian diaspora, in the real world. The path to healing that opened up in Beef's finale seems to have been cut off as soon as the credits rolled. — DC

4. Jury Duty (Freevee)

Freevee’s success in 2023 was headlined by the improbable phenomenon that was Jury Duty. Part reality show, part improv, this spiritual descendant of The Joe Schmo Show put regular guy Ronald Gladden on a trial jury where everyone from the judge and lawyers to the bailiff and his fellow jurors were actors creating a comedy around him. It was, among other things, a triumph of tone. Gladden was put into numerous awkward situations, but never humiliated. The show pushed the boundaries of absurdity but stayed just realistic enough that he never caught on. The resulting comedy was impressively solid, given the constraints of the premise; cast members Edy Modica, Mekki Leeper, David Brown, and of course James Marsden playing a rip-roaring jerk version of himself in particular were the highlights.

But the miracle of Jury Duty was Gladden himself, who, despite the fact that he was being put through intentionally stressful situations among bizarre and often frustrating personalities, never wavered from a core affability and decency. There are some shows you love and hope never get second seasons because there is no way this could ever work out so well a second time. Jury Duty is one of those shows. — JR

3. The Bear Season 2 (FX/Hulu)

The Bear’s sophomore outing took things to a whole new level of stressful: electrical wires sparking up out of the walls to dubious gas ranges, not to mention the baseline terror that comes with opening any kind of restaurant anywhere. Christopher Storer’s series reveled in that stress from time to time — the Thanksgiving episode was perhaps too effortful in trying to replicate the blood-pressure terrorism of Season 1's "Review" — but it really shined in its willingness to slow down the pace.

The best moments in Season 2 let its characters stop to breathe, learn, and grow. That sounds like some Sesame Street business, but there was nothing twee about it. Marcus (Lionel Boyce) went to Copenhagen to level up his technique and stare at Will Poulter as Luca (or maybe that last part was just us). Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) toured local restaurants and privately worried about failing, before reminding herself that she finds joy in cooking for others (that omelet!). Ritchie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) found his purpose while polishing forks. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White)… came close. He nearly found something peaceful and loving with Claire (Molly Gordon) but ended up pushing her away to resume his professional obsession. The journey's not done yet, but The Bear remains one of TV's best depictions of how being exceptional at something can be both an ailment and a cure. — JR

2. Reservation Dogs Season 3 (FX)

How do we even begin to sum up Reservation Dogs' heartfelt and hilarious third season? The final installment of Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi's acclaimed comedy was as expansive as it was personal, delivering poignant reflections about its Indigenous characters' shared trauma alongside lighter stories about the sh*tasses' (Devery Jacobs, D'Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Lane Factor, and Paulina Alexis) ongoing effort to leave their mark on a community that means so much to them. Almost every episode in Season 3 offered something different — there was a Dazed and Confused-inspired flashback, a heist sequence, and even an excursion into the world of the "star people" — but no matter the tone or genre, Reservation Dogs stuck the landing, cementing its place in TV history.

It remains a great shame that the FX comedy failed to earn the recognition it deserved from awards voters throughout its run, but if there's one lesson (among many) to take from the sublime series finale, "Dig," it's that fulfillment doesn't require outside validation; it comes from within. And so we say goodbye to this once-in-a-generation series, one that will live on in the hearts and minds of viewers, regardless of whether it makes it into the Best Shows of All Time conversation. (But really, it should.) — CSL

1. Succession Season 4 (HBO)

We’ll add our kudos to those that are already in the ludicrously capacious bag needed to hold all of Succession’s accolades. Few other shows held our attention like Jesse Armstrong’s riveting drama, whose final season doled out lessons in making TV (that's how you kill off a main character) and consuming it ("he's just like me" memes are fun, but beware the relatability trap, especially when the people in question are billionaires).

Succession never wavered from its central thesis, that power doesn't just corrupt, it corrodes until the only thing left is "bulls**t" or, as the pithiest Roy put it: "We're nothing." (Not to put too fine a point on things, but consider how rarely the Roy family ate.) And yet, even as it marched toward that conclusion with vigor, the series still managed to throw viewers for a loop. The key was an ensemble of characters that were vividly drawn while also being blank slates, allowing for all manner of projection. That fueled the theory machine more than any examination of the art on the walls or obscure bits of baseball history ever could.

You could argue that was Armstrong's darkest joke: making viewers care so much about people who really couldn't care less about them (as so harrowingly depicted in the Season 4 episode, "America Decides"). But his series was always much more in line with Shakespearean tragedies than comedies, wherein no amount of sound and fury can fend off death or irrelevance. This year’s TV may have gotten off to a rocky start, but Succession nabbing the top spot on this and so many other lists is only representative of its own continuous high quality, not the uneven landscape around it. — DC