AARP's Favorite TV Shows of 2025 (So Far)

Our critics weigh in on their top 12 series, from broadcast and cable to streamers

Tracey Minkin,

AARP

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Published June 11, 2025

a collage of scenes from the tv shows 'The Studio,' 'Dark Winds,' 'Hacks,' 'Severance' and 'Andor'

AARP (Courtesy Everett Collection, 5)

As spring comes to an end, it’s time to take note of all the great shows that lit up our TV screens so far this year, from heartwarming comedies to stirring historical and medical dramas, thrilling thrillers, even a Star Wars prequel. Every show that made our list is streamable on AMC+, Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV+ or Hulu, so you can catch up at your leisure. Here are AARP’s 12 best shows of the first half of 2025.

(From left) Lisa Ann Walker, Chris Perfetti and Sheryl Lee Ralph continue educating viewers about ABC’s excellent sitcom “Abbott Elementary.”

Gilles Mingasson/Disney

Abbott Elementary, Season 4 (ABC)

2025 hasn’t been a big year for broadcast shows compared to cable and streamers, but Abbott Elementary, ABC’s Emmy-decorated elementary-school mockumentary sitcom, continues to bring terrific writing and acting, not to mention straight-up laughs, to prime time. Like a mature sitcom can do so well, Season 4 dove deeper into the characters, with Janine Teagues (played by showrunner Quinta Brunson) taking on more leadership responsibilities while navigating her relationship with Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James) revealing surprising growth. Meanwhile, Barbara (Emmy- and AARP Movies for Grownups Awards-winner Sheryl Lee Ralph, 68) learned she’s going to be a grandmother! ABC renewed the series for a fifth season, which is expected to arrive in fall 2025.

Where to watch: Abbott Elementary

Genevieve O'Reilly and Ben Miles in 'Andor'

(From left) Genevieve O’Reilly and Ben Miles of “Andor,” which has earned a galaxy of critical accolades.

Disney+/Courtesy Everett Collection

Andor, Season 2 (Disney+)

You don’t have to be a Star Wars fanatic to love this thriller-style prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One, starring Diego Luna as thief-turned-rebel-spy Cassian Andor and featuring Forest Whitaker, 63, as rebel Saw Gerrera. Created by the Bourne film franchise writer/director Tony Gilroy, 68, Andor is Star Wars for grownups and the best-reviewed Star Wars series to date, earning eight Emmy nominations, including outstanding drama, in its first season. The sophomore (and final) season, which finished rolling out on May 13, received critical acclaim for its willingness to dive into hot-button issues like sexual assault, undocumented labor and genocide.

Where to watch: Andor

(From left) Bodhi Okuma Linton and Christopher Heyerdahl take aim at evil forces in “Dark Winds.”

AMC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Dark Winds, Season 3 (AMC)

This gem of a thriller from AMC is steadily getting better and more popular — the new season attracted twice as many new viewers as Season 2 did. The noirish drama series, based on the bestselling novels of Tony Hillerman, also nailed a perfect 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Zahn McClarnon, 58, stars as Navajo County tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn, whose investigations in the third season lead to the supernatural, dark and very scary Ye’iitsoh, which means “big monster” in Navajo. Season 4 is filming in New Mexico now and is expected to arrive in 2026.

Where to watch: Dark Winds

(From left) Michelle Williams and Jay Duplass explore the limits of life and love in “Dying for Sex.”

Dying for Sex: FX Networks/Courtesy Everett Collection

Dying for Sex (FX)

Did you hear the one about the woman facing a terminal breast cancer diagnosis who leaves her husband and goes on a sexual spree to find connections — and orgasms — she’s not yet experienced in her tragically short life? This true(ish) story, based on the late Molly Kochan’s personal experiences and podcast, is brought to the screen by an all-star cast led by the incandescent Michelle Williams as Kochan, and costarring Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On), Jay Duplass, 52, and the great Sissy Spacek, 75. AARP cited this thoughtful limited series for reminding us of the popular trend of older women-younger men plotlines. Don’t miss this poignant look at making the most of our time on Earth.

Where to watch: Dying for Sex

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(From left) Seth Rogen, Jean Smart, Poppy Liu and Kaia Gerber press their Las Vegas luck in “Hacks.”

Hacks: HBO Max/Courtesy Everett Collection

Hacks, Season 4 (HBO Max)

Jean Smart, 73, the triple-Emmy-winning star of HBO Max’s many-statued series, dominates the small screen as comic Deborah Vance, who is forced out of her long-running Las Vegas residency, triumphs in a comeback comedy special, and, in Season 4, takes over the desk of a late-night talk show and goes toe to toe with her young (and often estranged) protégée, played by Hannah Einbinder (daughter of SNL’s Laraine Newman, 73). Full of wisecracks and surprisingly tender moments, Hacks continues to define LOL prestige TV. We can look forward to a fifth season; showrunners Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky announced the show’s renewal in late May.

Where to watch: Hacks

Elisabeth Moss could very well set off a bomb in Gilead in the final season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Hulu/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 6 (Hulu)

In the last season of the 15-Emmy-winning adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 bestseller, our heroine, June (Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss), the formerly red-cloaked birth surrogate, returns to lead an uprising in patriarchal, oppressive Gilead — and even Aunt Lydia (series standout Ann Dowd, 69), who’d always sided with authority, starts to see the light. After several seasons of sagging quality, the finale season earned better reviews and fulfilled the immense promise of a now-iconic show.

Where to watch: The Handmaid’s Tale

Anna Lambe is fed up with married life in the Canadian comedy “North of North.”

Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

North of North, Season 1 (Netflix)

If your Netflix home screen hasn’t directed you toward this gentle, fresh comedy from Canada (that snagged a rare 100 percent perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes), you’re in for a treat. Head north to the fictional town of Ice Cove in real-life Nunavut, Canada, where young mother Siaja (Anna Lambe, who was part of the standout Inuk cast on the acclaimed True Detective: Night Country) leaves her marriage to the town’s golden boy. Look for a wonderful supporting cast of family and friends as Siaja navigates her new life. The show has been renewed for a second season, so there’s no better time to get hooked.

Where to watch: North of North

Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) leads the ER at a Pittsburgh hospital in “The Pitt.”

HBO Max/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Pitt, Season 1 (HBO Max)

The series stars Noah Wyle, 53, who was once ER’s fresh-faced intern, and each episode features the chaotic drama of a teaching hospital’s emergency room and its generational blend of interns, residents, and veteran nurses and docs. The Pitt, with Wyle now in the senior role as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (not to mention executive-producing and writing for the series), is a deeper, more achingly human examination of life and death than ER ever was. As its first season covers only a single day at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, the show isn’t about love interests and long-simmering storylines (as were ER and Grey’s Anatomy, for example) but about the minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour revelations of character. Deeply empathetic, The Pitt is a master class in great dramatic television. Look for Season 2 in early 2026.

Where to watch: The Pitt

(From left) Sarah Bock, Adam Scott and Britt Lower navigate a creepy corporate culture in “Severance.”

Apple TV/Courtesy Everett Collection

Severance, Season 2 (Apple TV+)

Weird, scary, mysterious, darkly funny, cinematically rich and always thought-provoking, Severance established Apple as a prestige-TV contender with its first season in 2022. Because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, it took three years to bring Season 2 to small screens, but what a season it turned out to be: deeper and even more intriguing than the freshman outing. Adam Scott, 52, and Britt Lower are excellent at playing two versions of themselves. Film heavyweights John Turturro, 68, Christopher Walken, 82, and Patricia Arquette, 57, contribute as workers and bosses at creepy Lumon Industries, whose employees “sever” their consciousness for obscured reasons when arriving to work every morning. Apple cleverly teased a third season within hours of the Season 2 finale in March; the air date is yet to be announced.

Where to watch: Severance

(From left) Seth Rogen, Dave Franco and Zoë Kravitz party it up Hollywood-style in “The Studio.”

Apple TV/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Studio, Season 1 (Apple TV+)

This look at the simultaneously craven and optimistic heart of Hollywood is full of some of the funniest moments on TV, and may be reason enough to subscribe to the tech giant’s streamer. Seth Rogen, who co-created and co-directs the show, stars as the newly appointed head of a movie studio desperately trying to survive the streaming era. Catherine O’Hara, 71, and Kathryn Hahn, 51, are Rogen’s scenery-chewing costars, while Bryan Cranston, 69, comedically cuts loose as a Robert Evans-style studio CEO. Martin Scorsese, 82, Severance’s Adam Scott, Ron Howard, 71, and Zoë Kravitz, among other Hollywood stars, play themselves in delightful cameos. The series, which dropped its finale on May 21, has been renewed for a second season.

Where to watch: The Studio

(From left) Stephen Graham and Malachi Kirby mix it up in the ring in “A Thousand Blows.”

Hulu/Courtesy Everett Collection

A Thousand Blows (Hulu)

Showrunner Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), 69, brings us a tale of Victorian-era London, where best friends Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and Alec Munroe (Francis Lovehall) arrive from Jamaica to seek their fortune in the city’s thriving bare-knuckle boxing scene. Hezekiah attracts the attention of the infamous Queen of the Forty Elephants (Erin Doherty, who played Princess Anne on The Crown), the all-female crime gang out to rob England’s Queen, and also the fury of the East End’s boxing titan, Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham, 51).

Where to watch: A Thousand Blows

a scene from 'Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light'

King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs in “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.”

PBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (PBS)

In this sequel to PBS’s first adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning historical fiction, which aired 10 years ago, subtle yet dazzling Mark Rylance, 65, once again plays wily Thomas Cromwell, minister to the whimsical, wife-beheading King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis, 54). Only this time, Cromwell’s incredible luck runs out, and now his own head is in peril.

Where to watch: Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

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