Best TV Shows of 2024

Our critics weigh in on the top 10 we can’t stop talking about

Tracey Minkin,

AARP

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Published December 20, 2024

AARP (Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection; Jake Giles Netter/HBO Max/Courtesy Everett Collection; Russ Martin/FX/Courtesy Everett Collection; Michele K. Short/HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection; Steve Swisher/FX/Courtesy Everett Collection; Katie Yu/FX/Courtesy Everett Collection)

As 2025 looms, it’s time to take stock of all the great (and not-so-great) shows that lit up our TVs this year. We checked in with AARP critics, not to mention the recently released AARP Movies for Grownups Award nominees, to celebrate the very best of TV watching in 2024. From silly and heartwarming sitcoms to stirring historical dramas and thrilling thrillers (with one bunch of zany Staten Island vampires stirred in), here are AARP’s 10 Best Shows of 2024 (presented in alphabetical order).

The good news? Every show is streamable on Netflix, Max, Apple TV+ or Hulu, so you can go back and catch up … maybe even before New Year’s!

English Teacher (FX)

ABC’s hit series Abbott Elementary may have reignited the school sitcom (and Emmy) vibe for four seasons, but there’s a new teacher in town, and it’s Brian Jordan Alvarez. The actor, comedian, and filmmaker who stole every scene he was in on Will & Grace as Estefan, Jack McFarland’s flight attendant fiancé and later husband, now stars in his own sitcom series as high school teacher Evan Marquez. Similar to Abbott Elementary, English Teacher uses the world of public school teachers both in and out of the classroom to highlight themes like identity, culture clashes and modern education. But in the case of English Teacher’s cable location on FX (and streaming on Hulu), this fresh and funny newcomer can take a comic tone more suited for grownups.

Catch up: English Teacher

Don’t miss this: The 10 Greatest Teachers in TV History

Hacks (Max Original)

Nominated for AARP Movies for Grownups Best TV Series or Limited Series, this intergenerational buddy comedy stars the brilliant Jean Smart, 73, as stand-up comedy veteran Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as her millennial-age writer Ava. What began as a female and feminist spin on The Odd Couple has gotten better every season, according to AARP critic Tim Appelo: “Smart kept her hit show fresh [in Season 3] by reaching deeper into her stand-up comic character’s intergenerational love-hate relationship with her protégée.” (Look for Smart, already an Emmy winner for the role, to be a central contender for Best Actress/TV in this year’s AARP Movies for Grownups awards.)

Catch up: Hacks

A Man on the Inside (Netflix)

Despite having just arrived on Netflix in November, this charmingly heartfelt new comedy starring Ted Danson, 76, as a lonely widower who takes a job as a detective’s undercover assistant at a retirement community stormed up to the No. 1 position almost instantly and remains in the streamer’s Top 10. And no wonder: Helmed by Mike Schur (The Good Place, also featuring Danson), A Man on the Inside has a dynamite supporting cast of actors (including Sally Struthers, 77, Veronica Cartwright, 75, and Lori Tan Chinn, 76) and a sweet sensibility about aging, community and connection. It’s based on The Mole Agent, the marvelous 2020 documentary about the original octogenarian on the inside.

Catch up: A Man on the Inside

My Brilliant Friend (HBO)

Did you miss this beautifully filmed, written and acted drama based on the best-selling novels by Elena Ferrante about 60 years of friendship between Elena and Lila? You may have, given the outsize impact of HBO’s Succession, which launched the same year (2018) and cast a long shadow over other worthy contenders. Now’s the time to celebrate (and maybe catch up on) this critically acclaimed international production in its fourth and final season.

Catch up: My Brilliant Friend

Ripley (Netflix)

Fans of film adaptations of Patricia Highsmith’s novels, chief among them 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, cheered at the arrival of this eight-episode limited series revisiting one of her most intriguing and dangerous creations: Tom Ripley (this time played by Emmy nominee Andrew Scott of All of Us Strangers). Filmed in neo-noir black and white this time around and stretching the slow burn of Ripley’s manipulation of Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning) and murder of Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), this Ripley is considered the best adaptation yet according to AARP’s critics. “The eight episodes give director Steven Zaillian room to make Ripley’s killings and cover-ups seem more spontaneous and realistic than the movies do,” wrote critic Tim Appelo, “and its cinematography is even more stunning and imaginative than any of the films (which are in color).”

Catch up: Ripley

Shōgun (FX)

“The Emmy-hogging show about the 16th-century ruler who united Japan is a win for Hiroyuki Sanada, 64, its coproducer and titular star,” writes critic Tim Appelo about the series and actor nominated for two AARP Movies for Grownups Awards this year. “He used to be known as the Tom Cruise of Japan. Now he’s the hottest new talent in Hollywood.” See for yourself in this triumphant new adaptation of the 1975 James Clavell novel (which previously spawned a 1980 miniseries watched by 70 million). The 2024 series won an historic 18 Emmys and was a massive hit for FX and Hulu. Says Appelo: “Quit multitasking, close that laptop and feast your eyes on Shōgun!”

Catch up: Shōgun

Don’t miss this: 8 Reasons Why You Have to Watch the Emmy Champ Shōgun Now

Shrinking (Apple TV+)

Back this fall for its second season, this dramedy examines grief through the experience of a therapist (series co-creator Jason Segel) who begins to break all kinds of professional boundaries after the death of his wife. But it’s Segel’s costar, Harrison Ford, 82, who steals the show as a senior therapist and Segel’s mentor, who himself is dealing with a major life issue: Parkinson’s disease.

Catch up: Shrinking

Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Great right out of the box in its first season in 2022, this year brings us Season 4 of the darkly comic British spy thriller, and its best yet. Its stars — Oscar winner Gary Oldman, 66; Oscar nominees Kristin Scott Thomas, 64; and Jonathan Pryce, 77 — are superb, and the young actors playing Oldman’s “Slow Horses” (spies demoted from MI5 to the ignominy of Slough House) are masters in the making. Nominated for two AARP Movies for Grownups Awards (Best TV Series or Limited Series and Best Actor/TV), Slow Horses is the undisputed jewel in Apple TV’s prestige-TV crown.

Catch up: Slow Horses

True Detective: Night Country (HBO)

Far more than a rescue of the failing True Detective franchise, this mysterious, enthralling thriller set in a long, dark Alaskan winter is a TV tour de force. At the head of that force sits Oscar-, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Jodie Foster, 62, nominated this year in AARP Movies for Grownups Awards Best Actress/TV category. But it’s not just Foster who shines in showrunner Issa López’s twisty, turny, scary six-episode tale: Breakout sensation Kali Reis is a superb foil for Foster, and supporting indigenous actors elevate the drama even further.

Catch Up: True Detective: Night Country

What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

This cult-favorite series that AARP critic Thom Geier calls “hilariously quirky” takes its final spin around Staten Island, home to a ragtag, loveable pod of suburban vampires, in its final, sixth season. Long Emmy-nominated, What We Do in the Shadows scored a win for costumes in 2022. So, come for its gothic-meets-suburban look, but stay for the gentle wit about outsiders trying very much (some for centuries!) to fit in. A gem that will be missed but should enjoy a long life on Hulu — when the sun’s down, of course.

Catch up: What We Do in the Shadows

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