<\/p>\n
Hello, Yahoo readers! My name is Michel Ghanem, the television critic and writer also known as TV Scholar<\/a>, and I\u2019m back with a special edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything<\/strong><\/a> featuring the best new shows of 2025. Although there were plenty of noteworthy returning series this year \u2014 Matlock,<\/em> Severance<\/em> and Andor<\/em>, to name a few \u2014 2025 also brought a new slate of promising freshman offerings.<\/p>\n Below is a list of some of the best shows 2025 had to offer when it comes to new programming \u2014 everything from critically acclaimed, poignant miniseries like Dying for Sex <\/em>and Mr Loverman<\/em> to laugh-out-loud comedies like The Studio<\/em> and North of North<\/em>. We\u2019ve already covered a handful of the best shows this year in previous entries to this column, so check out the honorable mentions at the end of this list if your favorite show of the year isn\u2019t highlighted here.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s dive in \u2014 and hope for just as many great shows in 2026! Thanks for tuning in.<\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>The Pitt<\/em> single-handedly reinvigorated the medical genre with its fresh approach, and in the process, became one of the biggest shows of 2025. The premise of the show is straightforward: One shift at a bustling ER in Pittsburgh, but depicted hour by hour as a regular day spirals into catastrophe and breakdowns.<\/p>\n Starring Noah Wyle and created by ER<\/em> writer R. Scott Gemmill, the sprawling cast comes in and out of the show throughout the season. It\u2019s praised for a few different reasons, including its medical accuracy and compelling performances by lesser-known actors. My takeaway is that it signals our hunger for television that honors the episodic format and is something more akin to a network model: more episodes, yearly seasons and nostalgia for a genre we thought we didn\u2019t need more of.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>The first season of The Pitt<\/em> is streaming on HBO Max<\/a>. (And Season 2 drops Jan. 8!)<\/p>\n Watch on HBO Max<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Based on the Wondery podcast of the same name, Dying for Sex<\/em> is a heart-wrenching real story about a woman in New York City (played by Michelle Williams) who receives a terminal breast cancer diagnosis. Her first thought when she gets the news: She needs to leave her husband and seek her first-ever orgasm with another person.<\/p>\n Thus begins her sex-infused quest to unpack the trauma that has prevented her from experiencing it so far, with the help of her best friend<\/a>, who steps in as her carer (Jenny Slate). Written by New Girl<\/em> creator Elizabeth Meriwether, it\u2019s a hilarious, moving story and one of the more nuanced depictions of sexual connection that has ever appeared on television. It absolutely deserves its spot on this list as one of the best miniseries of the year.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>All eight episodes of Dying for Sex <\/em>are\u00a0<\/em>streaming on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Hulu<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>We were ripe for a satire about Hollywood in the era of endless reboots and IP. Seth Rogen (who also created the show) plays Matt Remick, a film producer in Los Angeles who is newly appointed as head of the fictional Continental Studios after years of loyal service. He\u2019s a serious cinephile with 70 mm-sized dreams who has to balance Hollywood\u2019s money-hungry perspective with his love for the medium. This means trying to get Martin Scorsese to direct his Kool-Aid film (\u201cOhhh yeah!\u201d) and trying not to interfere in Sarah Polley\u2019s vision even when he gets overly excited about the filmmaking process.<\/p>\n The show is chock-full of guest stars, most of whom play a heightened version of themselves, as Remick backseat-drives his projects to the point of stressing himself out so much he inevitably ends each episode crashing out (often quite literally, crashing into a piece of furniture). He and the strong supporting cast (Catherine O\u2019Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, among others) deserve all the Emmy recognition they received.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>The first season of The Studio<\/em> is streaming on Apple TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Apple TV<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it:<\/strong> At the outset, Dope Thief<\/em>, adapted from a fictional novel of the same name by Dennis Tafoya, shares similarities with other crime thrillers that appear in my honorable mentions of the year (like Task<\/em> and Adolescence)<\/em>, but I\u2019ve highlighted it here in case it got overlooked. We follow Ray Driscoll (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny Carvalho (Wagner Moura), longtime friends who have found a way to make a living by posing as DEA agents robbing drug dealers in Philadelphia. They stumble on the wrong house one day when they steal from dealers under surveillance by undercover DEA agents (one played by Marin Ireland).<\/p>\n Despite the intense subject matter, there is a sense of comedy and lightness threaded through these episodes that keeps it lighter on its feet than a typical crime drama. The performances are what sell it: Henry first rose to prominence for a comedic role on the popular dramedy Atlanta<\/em>, and Moura is currently in the running for his first Oscar nomination in The Secret Agent<\/em>. We\u2019re in good hands.<\/p>\n How to watch it:<\/strong> All eight episodes of Dope Thief<\/em> are streaming on Apple TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Apple TV<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it:<\/strong> On the psychological thriller end of things, The Girlfriend<\/em> is a standout. The premise is a little sudsy but a fun setup: A tight-knit relationship between Laura (Robin Wright, who also directs two episodes) and her son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) is upended when Cherry (Olivia Cooke), his new girlfriend, enters the fray.<\/p>\n Like Showtime\u2019s The Affair<\/em> did years ago, The Girlfriend<\/em> plays with perspective by splitting episodes between Laura and Cherry\u2019s points of view. Laura sees Cherry as an evil temptress who wants to steal her son away from her; Cherry sees Laura as an overbearing, borderline incestuous helicopter mother who won\u2019t let go of her only son. There\u2019s a seed of truth in both. It is probably the show I binged the fastest this year \u2014 pure entertainment with ballsy performances and enough of a hook to keep my eyes peeled for what might happen next.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>All six episodes of The Girlfriend<\/em> are streaming on Prime Video<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Prime Video<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Leave it up to Fargo<\/em>\u2019s Noah Hawley to take an old piece of intellectual property and spin it into something new and marvelous. Alien: Earth<\/em> acts as a prequel to the original film, when the Weyland-Yutani Corporation Corporation uncovers its first xenomorph and accidentally sends it \u2014 and a spaceship full of other scary creatures \u2014 crash-landing on Earth.<\/p>\n Although there is plenty of xenomorph action here (and it\u2019s gruesome, to say the least), Hawley seems more interested in exploring the various iterations of robots and hybrids in this universe, especially through the lens of kids with terminal health diagnoses who are uploaded to synthetic young adult bodies. Alien: Earth<\/em> is definitely the sleekest sci-fi show of the year and an imaginative addition to a canon that I wasn\u2019t sure had more gas left in the tank.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>The first season of Alien: Earth<\/em> is streaming on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Hulu<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Common Side Effects\u2019s<\/em> success and swift renewal on Adult Swim is a pleasant surprise after cocreator Joe Bennett\u2019s previous series, Scavengers Reign,<\/em> struggled to break out. This brilliant animated dramedy is about the discovery of a life-saving magic mushroom \u2014 one that can heal any ailment \u2014 and the various government and pharmaceutical forces that try to stop its discoverer, Marshall Cuso (Dave King), from making it accessible to the general public.<\/p>\n It does what most prestige dramas excel at: building out a compelling conspiracy while breathing life into characters that feel three-dimensional and easy to root for. Plus, it\u2019s prompting us to ask critical questions: Would<\/em> pharmaceutical companies want such a drug to be freely accessible? The animation \u2014 particularly the dreamscape that characters escape into when they consume a mushroom \u2014 is whimsical and, at times, sublime.<\/p>\n How to watch it:<\/strong> The first season of Common Side Effects<\/em> is streaming on HBO Max<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on HBO Max<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>I\u2019ve really come around to rooting for Adults<\/em>, the little FX comedy that follows a ragtag group of 20-somethings in New York City who all live in a shared house while they navigate those confusing post-college years of funemployment, dating and random, inexplicable health scares.<\/p>\n There were a few similar shows that premiered this year, like Overcompensating <\/em>and I Love LA<\/em> (both worth watching), but Adults<\/em> is the only one that truly felt like being at the pub with good friends. It\u2019s a hang-out comedy akin to Friends <\/em>and Seinfeld<\/em> with a cast of comedy newcomers. My prediction is that it will get better season by season, and it\u2019s definitely worth a watch if chaotic misadventures are your thing. Just don\u2019t let the pilot, which isn\u2019t great, scare you away.<\/p>\n How to watch it:<\/strong> The first season of Adults<\/em> is streaming on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Hulu<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Heated Rivalry<\/em><\/a> wasn\u2019t the only Canadian success story this year. North of North<\/em>, a CBC Original that made its way to Netflix, is a charming small-town comedy akin to Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/em> that takes place in the Canadian Arctic community of Ice Cove in Nunavut. We follow Siaja (Anna Lambe), a young Inuk mother who enters her career era to reinvent herself after exiting a marriage.<\/p>\n There are plenty of great, tight-knit community jokes here, but I was amazed by the visual language of the show: The colorful costume design, contrasting with the white, snowy landscapes, pops on screen, especially after watching one too many washed-out crime shows. Not to mention, this is a watershed moment for Indigenous representation on television \u2014 still an under-explored trove of stories, even after Reservation Dogs<\/em>.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>The first season of North of North<\/em> is streaming on Netflix.<\/a><\/p>\n Watch on Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Cinephiles might recognize Asura<\/em>\u2019s director, renowned Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. He directs this family drama set in Tokyo in 1979, when four sisters find out their father has been having a years-long affair. Each member of the family is impacted in their own way \u2014 an existential crisis of faith stemming from their own affair, the pull to hire a private investigator to uncover every detail and the uncertainty about how much their mother really knows.<\/p>\n Like Kore-eda\u2019s last show, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House <\/em>(one of my personal favorites), food plays an instrumental role connecting these characters. Family meetings take place across the dinner table, with hard conversations occurring over bowls of rice and broth. The show is shot gorgeously, and the performances are magnetic. I wait patiently for Kore-eda\u2019s next project.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>All seven episodes of Asura<\/em> are streaming on Netflix<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it: <\/strong>Set over decades in London, Mr Loverman<\/em> follows Antiguan-born Barrington Jedidiah Walker (Lennie James) and his closeted romantic relationship with his best friend, Morris De La Roux (Ariyon Bakare), unbeknownst to their wives \u2014 each who are unsuspecting of their affair but face a loveless marriage.<\/p>\n The miniseries drama is based on the novel of the same name by Bernardine Evaristo and tackles closeted sexuality at the intersection of religion and immigrant communities. These are award-worthy performances that have picked up a few trophies at the BAFTAs and the Royal Television Society, and a queer story from a perspective not often seen on television.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>All eight half-episode episodes of Mr Loverman<\/em> are streaming on BritBox<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on BritBox<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it:<\/strong> It wouldn\u2019t be Lena Dunham\u2019s glorious return to television without another polarizing entry to her canon. Too Much<\/em> on Netflix felt like the natural evolution of her writing since Girls<\/em> on HBO, exploring a romantic relationship between Jessica (Meg Stalter), an expat commercial producer from New York, and Felix (Will Sharpe), a musician in London.<\/p>\n While Girls<\/em> was all about being a naive 20-something facing the world for the first time, Too Much<\/em> is about the baggage you\u2019ve accumulated on your way to your 30s \u2014 and what it\u2019s like to bring those attachment-style peculiarities to sex and dating. Unfortunately, Netflix decided not to pick this up for a second season \u2014 but it works well as a limited run.<\/p>\n How to watch it:<\/strong> All 10 episodes of Too Much<\/em> are streaming on Netflix<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should watch it:<\/strong> Traditional multi-cam sitcoms with a laugh track can be a hard sell in 2025 \u2014 especially when all episodes are dropped at once on Hulu. Mid-Century Modern<\/em> took a page out of Golden Girls<\/em>\u2019s playbook by following three middle-aged gay men who reunite after the loss of a mutual friend. They decide to hold onto their chosen family and move into the wealthiest friend\u2019s (Nathan Lane) house, owned by his mother (Linda Lavin, who tragically passed away during filming), to experience their golden years together.<\/p>\n It hits all the best heartwarming and comedic notes. There are very few comedies that explore this generation of gay men, whose youth was riddled with AIDS trauma. It\u2019s a shame it was canceled so quickly.<\/p>\n How to watch it: <\/strong>All 10 episodes of Mid-Century Modern <\/em>are streaming on Hulu<\/a>.<\/p>\nCritical darlings worth the hype<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>The Pitt<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Dying for Sex<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>The Studio<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Heart-pumping thrillers<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Dope Thief<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>The Girlfriend<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Breakout sci-fi hits<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Alien: Earth<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Common Side Effects<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Comedies with guaranteed laughs<\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Adults<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>North of North<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Shows you might have missed<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation:<\/strong> Asura<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Mr Loverman<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Canceled too soon<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
My recommendation: <\/strong>Too Much<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
My recommendation:<\/strong> Mid-Century Modern<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n