Rolling Stone's 20 Best TV Shows of 2020

Rolling Stone said #1: No show on TV sweats the details more, which in turn make scenes like Jimmy or Kim’s speeches play just as big as anything Heisenberg ever did. Saul has become a true classic in the making.

Rolling Stone said #2: Lovecraft aimed higher and hit harder than almost anything else on television.

Rolling Stone said #3: A gem that streaming viewers will hopefully discover for years to come on Hulu.

Rolling Stone said #4: Where too many modern dramas feel padded and inessential, Coel packed an extraordinary amount of information and ideas into each episode, exploring Arabella’s ordeal not only through the lens of her recovery, but through her friends’ parallel problems. And Coel proved just as arresting in front of the camera as she was inspired behind the scenes.

Rolling Stone said #5: A miniseries about slavery shouldn’t be as delightful as it is poignant, yet Hawke made it so.

Rolling Stone said #6: Stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal were never less than riveting, allowing the story to take its sweet, uncomfortable time figuring out if these two should stay together.

Rolling Stone said #7: Season Two was even smarter at depicting just how dumb the undead can be. A blessedly silly respite from a world on fire.

Rolling Stone said #8: We Are Who We Are contrasted its messy story with some of the year’s most stunning images and musical choices.

Rolling Stone said #9: A hard show to explain, it’s a joy to experience.

Rolling Stone said #10: An amusing show that’s matured into an excellent one.

Rolling Stone said #11: This animated Australian import about a family of Blue Heeler dogs — dad Bandit, mom Chilli, and daughters Bluey and Bingo — is clearly targeted at preschoolers. But Bluey turned out to be an incredible all-ages pandemic balm.

Rolling Stone said #12: Sam’s reckless behavior was in direct contrast to her daughters finally demonstrating signs of maturity, and the balance between the two emotional states worked perfectly for the intimate, largely plotless vibe that has made this one of the most special shows of the last few years.

Rolling Stone said #13: Few recent series have been as beautifully photographed as this one, and even fewer are as uncompromising at depicting the difficult realities of their characters’ lives.

Rolling Stone said #14: This is a show whose genius, like Dave’s flair for rhymes, will sneak up on you.

Rolling Stone said #15: Created by The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara, The Great generated some of the year’s biggest laughs from the horrific conditions under which Catherine and her subjects had to live, which only made the moments where she got the upper hand on Peter feel all the more satisfying. Huzzah!

Rolling Stone said #16: If the final half-season wasn’t BoJack operating at the peak of its powers, especially on the comedy side, the dramatic beats still resonated as strongly as they ever did. A fitting bow for what remains the best series ever made for a streaming service.

Rolling Stone said #17: The one season tells a complete enough story to make it a worthy binge, but it felt like this new High Fidelity had so much more to explore.

Rolling Stone said #18: A show that deftly straddles the absurd and the sincere, and never falls flat.

Rolling Stone said #19: Zoe Kazan anchored a strong cast, and the show’s biggest departure from the book, in its depiction of the next presidential election, wound up bringing the story closer than ever to our strange, real-life present.

Rolling Stone said #20: In a year when school, like much of life, was mostly virtual, seeing messy IRL teen angst, played by these superb young discoveries, felt like a scary thrill.