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AARP’s Favorite TV Shows of 2025
Our critics weigh in on their top 12 series, including ‘Death by Lightning,’ ‘Pluribus’ and ‘The Pitt’
(From left) Catherine O’Hara and Seth Rogen in “The Studio,” Natasha Rothwell and Nicholas Duvernay in “White Lotus,” Jean Smart in “Hacks,” Adam Scott and Britt Lower in “Severance,” and Carlos Manuel Vesga in “Pluribus.”
AARP (Courtesy Everett Collection, 5)
As 2026 looms, it’s time to take stock of all the great shows that lit up our TVs this year. We checked in with three AARP critics to celebrate the very best of TV-watching in 2025. Plus, six on our list are also AARP Movies for Grownups Award nominees.
From absorbing historical dramas to a hilarious satire of the movie business (with one sci-fi hit from the creator of Breaking Bad stirred in), here are AARP’s 12 favorite shows of 2025, presented in alphabetical order.
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Every show is streamable on Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV, Hulu or PBS Passport, so you can go back and catch up … maybe even before New Year’s!
Mark Stanley, Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham grapple with a shocking crime in “Adolescence.”
Courtesy Netflix
Adolescence (Netflix)
Cocreator and star Stephen Graham’s Emmy-festooned series about a family turned upside down when their 13-year-old son is arrested for killing a classmate “remains a devastating and nuanced meditation on every parent’s worst nightmare,” says AARP critic Chris Nashawaty about the four-episode limited series that earned AARP’s Movies for Grownups nominations for best TV series or limited series as well as best actor for Graham, 52. The series is Netflix’s second most popular show of all time, notching more than 140 million views so far.
Where to watch: Adolescence
Michael Shannon as doomed U.S. President James Garfield in “Death by Lightning.”
Larry Horricks/Netflix
Death by Lightning (Netflix)
Blending 19th-century American history with can’t-change-the-channel emotional pull, Netflix’s four-episode limited series about the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield (Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Shannon, 51) by delusional malcontent Charles Guiteau (Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, 51) hit small screens after this year’s Emmy season. But don’t sleep on this thrilling dive into the past. Death by Lightning is “a wonderful historical drama that’s often as funny as it is horrifying,” says AARP critic Tim Appelo.
Where to watch: Death by Lightning
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder share a love-hate relationship in “Hacks.”
HBO Max
Hacks, Season 4 (HBO Max)
How does HBO Max’s dark ensemble comedy continue to be one of the streamer’s winningest shows? “Jean Smart keeps her hit show fresh by delving even deeper into her stand-up-comic character’s intergenerational love-hate relationship with her protégée (Hannah Einbinder),” says Nashawaty about the star, 74, who is nominated for another Movies for Grownups best-actress award this year (she first won one in 2022), along with the series. “No one wears the twin masks of comedy and tragedy better.” Add those accolades to four Emmys for her role, and you’ve got a show as unstoppable — not to mention full of wisecracks and surprisingly tender moments — as veteran Vegas comic Deborah Vance.
Where to watch: Hacks
Ethan Hawke is a citizen journalist on a mission in “The Lowdown.”
FX
The Lowdown (FX)
Ethan Hawke, 55, is certainly the main reason to check out this eight-episode oddball noir series; the actor told AARP that playing a rare book dealer/citizen journalist on the trail of racist developers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of the greatest parts he’d ever undertaken. Nashawaty agrees: “Is there anything Hawke can’t do?” But that’s just one facet of this gem from Reservation Dogs showrunner Sterlin Harjo, who assembles a diverse ensemble cast (including the late Graham Greene) to bring a fresh point of view to TV’s crime canon.
Where to watch: The Lowdown
Martin Scorsese, Helen Morris and Francesca Scorsese in the documentary series “Mr. Scorsese."
Apple TV+
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
Taxi Driver. Raging Bull. Goodfellas. The Age of Innocence. Casino. Gangs of New York. If you didn’t live in a hut on the dark side of the moon during the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and the 2000s, then you likely were forever changed by the cinematic genius of director Martin Scorsese, 84, and at least one of his masterpieces. “His best films confirm his status as a great — if not the greatest — living director,” says AARP critic Glenn Kenny. Director Rebecca Miller, 63, set out to make a single documentary film about Scorsese, but his life and work generated so much material that her tribute expanded to five one-hour episodes of a must-see limited series.
Where to watch: Mr. Scorsese
Shawn Hatosy and Noah Wyle share a cold one — and a lot of medical drama — in “The Pitt.”
Warrick Page/HBO Max
The Pitt (HBO Max)
“ER star Noah Wyle slipped back into his scrubs and single-handedly revived the small-screen medical procedural,” Nashawaty says, “thanks to this tick-tock about the chaos and crises at a Pittsburgh hospital.” Indeed, chaos and crises inform HBO’s hit series about a single day in the life of an emergency room and its crew of physicians, nurses, staff and patients. Already having hauled five Emmys for its first season, The Pitt is nominated for a Movies for Grownups best TV or limited series award, and best actor for Wyle, 54. “His stressed-out physician, Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, desperately tries to balance compassion and cynicism without losing his carefully composed armor of cool,” Nashawaty says.
Where to watch: The Pitt
Rhea Seehorn tries to save the world from happiness in "Pluribus."
Apple TV+
Pluribus (Apple TV)
“Better Call Saul’s breakout star Rhea Seehorn, 53, stars in this sci-fi turn from that show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, 58, as the unhappiest person on Earth, who must save the world from ... happiness,” says Appelo about Apple TV’s late-in-the-year hit show with a first episode that scored a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Catch up now to see what is sure to be an Emmy and Movies for Grownups juggernaut next year.
Where to watch: Pluribus
It's another weird day at the "Severance" office for Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and Adam Scott.
Apple TV+
Severance (Apple TV)
The second season of the thought-provoking, cinematic drama about employees at a mysterious corporation who have surgery that severs their “innies” (themselves at work) from their “outies” (themselves outside of work) returned to acclaim in 2025. “The futuristic mind-bender got more mind-bending in its second season,” says Appelo, and star Adam Scott, 52, “may have had the toughest acting challenge of them all, as he concluded the season playing his ‘innie’ and ‘outie’ in a high-stakes confrontation.” Also part of the strong ensemble cast is John Turturro, 68, who recently shared the moving story of his real-life caregiving journey with AARP.
Where to watch: Severance
Gary Oldman conducts espionage in the shadows in “Slow Horses.”
Apple TV+
Slow Horses (Apple TV)
Anyone who loves a procedural will love the twists and turns of a group of outcast English spies corralled by their similarly exiled spymaster (Gary Oldman, 67). Now in its fifth season, the show that opens with Mick Jagger, 82, crooning a bluesy ode to intrigue is also a showcase for its star. “Oldman’s performance is a ferocious tour de force in this stunningly matter-of-fact espionage series,” says Nashawaty, “which couldn’t be further away from the glitz and glamour of James Bond.” Let’s see if Oldman deservedly nabs his first major acting statue for the role: He’s nominated for a Movies for Grownups best actor, television award this year.
Where to watch: Slow Horses
Catherine O’Hara, Seth Rogen and Chase Sui Wonders explore Hollywood hypocrisy in "The Studio."
Apple TV+
The Studio (Apple TV)
Showrunner and star Seth Rogen’s “hilariously barbed satire of Hollywood’s dream factory juggles inside-baseball jokes, terrific A-list cameos and craven movie studio politics,” says Nashawaty, “and turns it all into a bone-dry martini of a series.” The ensemble comedy about a fictional movie studio (led by Rogen) features knockout performances across the board, but especially Kathryn Hahn, 52, as “a soulless, BS-slinging marketing exec” and “the scene-stealing Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Catherine O’Hara, 71, as an exec on the way out who slowly realizes that without power, there isn’t much there there.” Let’s see if The Studio can win at its own game at this year’s Movies for Grownups awards: It’s nominated for best TV series or limited series, and Hahn and O’Hara will be competing for best actress, television.
Where to watch: The Studio
Sam Rockwell and Walton Goggins visit Thailand in "The White Lotus."
HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection
The White Lotus (HBO)
The third season of rich people behaving badly in 55-year-old Mike White's paradise (Thailand this time) “was one of the year’s most buzzworthy watercooler shows for a reason,” says Nashawaty. HBO’s hot commodity is stacked with talent that earned three Movies for Grownups nominations this year, crowned by a best TV series or limited series nod. The marvelous Parker Posey, 57, is nominated for best actress, television. “Posey’s chewy Southern accent was the subject of countless memes this year,” Nashawaty says. “But let’s not forget all the other shades she brought to her pill-popping, diva-like matriarch: She contains multitudes.” Nominated for best actor, television, is Walton Goggins, 54: “With his wolfish smirk, tropical-print shirts and self-destructive vendetta,” says Nashawaty, “Goggins guided the most recent season of this delirious dark comedy into a must-watch phenomenon.”
Where to watch: The White Lotus
Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis take on Tudor England in “Wolf Hall.”
Playground Television
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (PBS)
Scratch two drama itches — historical and British — with this top-shelf BBC production based on Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed historical novels. The first season (Wolf Hall, which aired in 2015) was about low-born Thomas Cromwell’s astounding rise in Tudor England and his relationship with King Henry VIII. The second season picks up a decade later, in the plot and in real time, as both stars — Mark Rylance, 65, as Cromwell, and Damian Lewis, 54, as Henry VIII — return to their roles. Now, after the execution of Anne Boleyn, The Mirror and the Light charts the dissolution of England’s monasteries, new wives for Henry VIII and, in the end, charges of treason against Cromwell. “TV doesn’t get any smarter than this,” says Appelo.
Where to watch: Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
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