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If 2024 ended up being a strong and busy year for television, then 2025 is looking even bigger. TV productions were quicker to rebound following the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes than movies, just by nature of production. And even with the downtick (or the occasional interrupted story), there were around 500 adult original scripted series that made it to air.
This year there’s plenty of big names making big returns: Stranger Things will return for its fifth and final season. Andor is making its final stand against the Empire in late April. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Alien: Earth will finally debut, and we’ll finally see what happens next on Wednesday.
But to help you keep up with everything that’s already out, we’ve made a list of the best of the year — so far. Everything on this list has been vetted (and watched all the way through) by Polygon’s staff, who nominate and write up their favorites for the year. They won’t be ranked until the end of the year; for now, they’re just presented in reverse chronological order so you can see the most recent releases up top. But no matter which way you’re scrolling you can’t go wrong — this is TV, after all.
How we pick the best new TV of the year
Polygon’s staff consistently keeps up with new and returning TV series, adding to this list with the best shows on both standard television channels and streaming services. We prioritize quality, unique artistic vision, and variety — different genres, different vibes, different approaches to the medium — to make sure every reader finds multiple options that interest them, as well as new and returning shows they may not have heard of.
Photo: Warrick Page/Max
Every so often, the stars align, and you get something that reminds you that it is still possible to make ’em like they used to. And there’s a lot about Max’s The Pitt that’s a throwback.
The premise — essentially, ER with more swearing, bodily fluids, and gore, but also still starring Noah Wyle — is so close to that of the hit ’90s show that Michael Crichton’s estate sued Warner Bros. The lengthy (by today’s standards) 15-episode season allows for characterization and story threads to develop over an extended window. But unlike many modern cable/streaming shows, which don’t use their extra time effectively, The Pitt always keeps things moving thanks to the dependable drumbeat of emergencies coming through its hospital’s doors.
In another way, The Pitt is a series for our current times, with its welcome focus on the mental, emotional, and physical challenges of working in medicine. It’s a show that asks, both subtly and overtly: What if American society and our health care industry actually gave our “health care heroes” the support they need?
Maybe more than anything else, though, The Pitt is a throwback to a time when we trusted the expertise of medical professionals — and when measles had been eliminated in the U.S. —Samit Sarkar
Image: Adult Swim
Where to watch: Max, Adult Swim
When they set out to make it, Common Side Effects’ creators wanted one thing from their show about a mushroom that can cure all ailments, even death: realism.
In the end, they found it, with Common Side Effects being a potent blend of all its influences, and becoming something totally new in the process. Part thriller, part comedy, part scathing indictment of modern health care practices, Common Side Effects didn’t veer wildly between genres so much as it skillfully drifted.
Despite all the competing conspiracies and fantastical little mushroom guys, Common Side Effects found its realism beyond just the rhythm of the plot. What feels true and good about Common Side Effects is that at its heart everyone is trying to answer the same question: How can I do good in this world? For some, it’s a nefarious plot to get rich. But for many, the answer is far more thorny and difficult to achieve. The way the show goes about exploring that? Nothing common about it. —Zosha Millman
Image: Apple TV Plus
Where to watch: Apple TV Plus
Three long years after the first season premiered, Apple TV’s breakout mystery-box hit finally returned, along with the show’s striking aesthetic approach, the likable and expansive cast, and the never-ending obfuscation of what’s actually going on.
It wasn’t all fun times — this season was quite traumatic for most of the characters, and the show didn’t always seem to have the best handle on how to balance its many, many threads — but Severance continues to stand out in a crowded TV landscape as one of the most ambitious shows currently running. This is especially true visually, with stellar, intricate production details, outstanding technical achievements, and confident usage of the show’s unique set design (director of photography Jessica Lee Gagné, who directed episode 7, “Chikhai Bardo,” had a phenomenal and quite experimental season).
Sure, it can be fun to mine through an endless array of possible clues in a search for hidden meanings, but the true joy in Severance is a visceral aesthetic experience so strong it overcomes any shortcomings with the slowly unspooling narrative. —Pete Volk
Read Zosha Millman’s full review of Severance season 2.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Mark (Steven Yeun) has been through a lot. But he’s rarely felt like he had more to lose than in Invincible season 3.
It’s more of the same coming-of-age alien nonsense — viltrumites remain an existential threat; his younger brother is growing faster than he’s maturing, and Mark is left wondering how long he can stay a kid; there’s new supervillains threatening the everyday lives of the people around him — but Invincible keeps it all fresh. Always pulling back into the human parts of the story, showrunners Robert Kirkman and Simon Racioppa pay off weighty themes of heroship, redemption, and loss with aplomb (and lots of explosive guts). —ZM
Image: Disney Plus
Where to watch: Disney Plus
Anyone who’s ever watched sports can tell you: A win is never just a win. Whether the culmination of tremendous hard work or just an intense amount of luck, winning the game contains multitudes, coming down to a single key moment and also a million little decisions. Win or Lose understands this implicitly, following the run-up to a middle school softball championship game with a kaleidoscopic look at the lives of those around the team.
As you might expect from Pixar’s first-ever TV show, the stakes are as emotionally grounded as they are thoughtful. Whatever happens in the final game is made up of the energy of the team, their coach, their parents, and all the baggage they all bring whenever someone steps up to bat. The result is punchy and sweet, always creative in how it’s approaching individual stories while still feeling like it works to make the big game feel like one shining moment. —ZM
Photo: Ed Araquel/Paramount Plus
Where to watch: Paramount Plus
If procedurals are the bread and butter of television, then School Spirits is the perfect panini. With its second season, School Spirits elegantly built on the promise of season 1’s murder mystery, with big things happening in both the mortal and spiritual realms. It harmoniously blended genres, delivered yet another great last-minute twist, and has me hyped for season 3. And unlike so many ensemble shows it didn’t feel like there was a weak link in the bunch; whether it was life-or-death stakes of love across the veil or realizing you’ve actually been texting the person right next to you, everything gelled and pulled me in. There’s a reason this show is Paramount Plus’ best! —ZM
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Image: Disney Plus
Where to watch: Disney Plus
Between three Spider-Man film franchises, a hit Spider-Man game franchise, and Sony Pictures’ animated Spider-Verse powerhouse and live-action Spider-Man villain flop graveyard — to say nothing of the actual Spider-Man comics themselves — we live in a world of unprecedented Spider-Man saturation.
So what’s really remarkable about Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, an animated series that is technically a spinoff of What If…? and therefore part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (but in a way that never actually matters), is that it manages to make the case for itself. TFNSM’s commitment to Spider-Man’s neighborhood, not just Peter Parker, is commitment to the episodic TV character ensemble rarely seen in franchise TV these days, instantly elevating the series to among the best shows produced under Marvel Studios’ TV banner. —Susana Polo
Read Susana’s full review of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Dungeons and Drag Queens season 2
Image: Dropout
Dropout’s signature D&D actual play series Dimension 20 has many, many solid seasons — of which Dungeons and Drag Queens still stands out. Pairing main host Brennan Lee Mulligan with RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Alaska Thunderfuck, Bob the Drag Queen, Jujubee, and Monét X Change, the first season was more than the sum of two styles of performance. And in its second season, the show went bigger, louder, and more ambitious, expanding the world of the Questing Queens with more allies and villains, more twists and turns, and even more battle mats. One of them even doubled as a marble run! —SP
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