MovieManifesto

To paraphrase Bob Uecker in Major League: In case you haven’t noticed, and judging from our traffic numbers, you haven’t, we’re ranking every TV show of 2025. You can find previous episodes of this series at the links below:

#s 97-86
#s 85-71
#s 70-56
#s 55-41
#s 40-31

30. Death by Lightning (Netflix, Season 1). Should this have just been a movie? It only runs four episodes, and while it’s nice to see a Netflix series that isn’t pointlessly padded, it makes you wonder if Death by Lightning might have been truly electrifying (sorry) as a feature. Regardless, it’s effortlessly watchable, recreating a sordid episode of American history with cheerful absurdity, even if it’s rimmed with sincere melancholy. It also affords the pleasure of watching a phenomenal cast dig into their impersonations with vigor: Michael Shannon is all stoic dignity as the ill-fated James Garfield, Matthew Macfadyen is vivaciously deranged as the President’s assassin, and a who’s-who of character actors—Bradley Whitford, Shea Whigham, Nick Offerman, the ubiquitous Betty Gilpin—round things out with splendid color. Politics sure were crazy those days, huh? Glad that’s over with.

29. Win or Lose (Disney, Season 1). The dogmatist in me resents Pixar getting into the television business, since they’re one of our last great movie studios. But what’s notable about Win or Lose is that it’s very much a TV show, with a conceptual hook—replaying the same series of events from different characters’ perspectives—that’s distinctly suited for the medium. Naturally, some episodes are more engaging than others, and the finale doesn’t lock everything into place as crisply as it might have. But the execution here is very strong—not just the typically vivid visuals, but also the rich dialogue and the empathetic tone. (As for the reported erasure of a trans storyline, it’s both reprehensible and also less terrible than you might have heard.) Winning may not be important, but trying to make meaningful art will always matter. Read More

Our rankings of every TV show of 2025 march on. For previous installments, check out the following links:

#s 97-86
#s 85-71
#s 70-56
#s 55-41

40. Common Side Effects (HBO Max, Season 1). Strange one, this. It’s a quirky animated production that’s full of odd characters and absurd scenarios. It is also an impassioned indictment of the pharmaceutical injury, meaning it functions as a complex conspiracy thriller as well as a workplace satire. The fit can be ungainly, but Common Side Effects—much like Scavengers Reign, which co-showrunner Joseph Bennett also created—is distinctive and unique, firing off provocative ideas with confidence and ambition. It provides a rush, even if it won’t get you addicted.

39. Stranger Things (Netflix, Season 5; 2022 rank: 34 of 110).
38. Heated Rivalry (HBO Max, Season 1).
The zeitgeist doesn’t discriminate. It will come for you at random, whether or not you’re ready for it. These shows have nothing in common, save for how they swarmed popular discourse. In its bloated final season, Stranger Things is a far cry from the taut, heady adventure series (first released in 2016!) that mingled elements of Stephen King and Steven Spielberg. It’s an obvious victim of its own success, compelled to create a sprawling mythology that overwhelms its more intricate pleasures. And yet, the show still knows how to deliver a knockout set piece or three; if it’s often paralyzed by its own bigness, its sheer size also allows it to take some enormous, satisfying swings. Read More

We’re ranking every TV show we watched in 2025. In case you missed the prior episodes, you can find them at the following links:

#s 97-86
#s 85-71
#s 70-56

55. The Beast in Me (Netflix, Season 1). In The Beast in Me, Claire Danes plays a traumatized writer who suspects that her new wealthy neighbor (Matthew Rhys) murdered his previous wife, so she decides to make him the subject of her next book in order to surreptitiously investigate him. It’s an irresistible setup that the show somehow makes possible to resist, thanks to some padded plotting and questionable subplots (not to mention an extremely dumb ending). Still, this show isn’t boring; Danes weaponizes her classic lip quiver to full effect, while Rhys is effortlessly watchable as a casually entitled predator. The series embodies the best and worst of Netflix’s binge model—it strings you along and keeps you on the hook, repeatedly sinking its teeth but never drawing blood.

54. Nobody Wants This (Netflix, Season 2; last year: 30 of 88). This show is still cute. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody have strong romantic chemistry, while Justine Lupe and Timothy Simons do excellent work on the margins. But the serialized plot—an endless “will they won’t they” centering on whether Bell’s shiksa is truly compatible with Brody’s rabbi—has zoomed past irritating and is now maddening. I’m happy to spend time with this series because the actors are charming and the characters are well-drawn, but it’s just looping around and around, with a finale that makes you question why you just watched 10 episodes of the same eternal handwringing. On the seventh day, God told these kids to make up their damned minds so he could rest. Read More

Our rankings of every TV show of 2025 continue apace. Yesterday featured two installments; you can find them here and here.

70. Stick (Apple, Season 1). Owen Wilson seems like a nice guy, and Stick—about a disgraced golfer who decides to return to the game by coaching a teenage prodigy—is a pretty nice show. Even the main antagonist is more of a rapscallion than a villain (it helps that he’s played by Timothy Olyphant). But pleasant vibes can only get you so far, and Stick has too little personal or dramatic urgency to be engrossing. Wilson’s athlete talks about the need to take chances, yet this series lays up again and again.

69. North of North (Netflix, Season 1). Cute! Cold! Cheerful and also quite insubstantial!

68. Sirens (Netflix, Season 1). This show tries to be both a twisty thriller and a biting satire about moneyed elites and how ostensibly powerful women are nonetheless subjugated by the entrenched patriarchy. It doesn’t really work; the plotting is too silly to take seriously, and the themes are clunky rather than forceful. But it’s still diverting, thanks to three watchable performances from Meghann Fahy, Julianne Moore, and Milly Alcock. (Kevin Bacon is also around for reasons that he doesn’t seem to understand.) And as you’d expect from that cast list, it’s quite pretty, with vivid pastels and glamorous costumes. Sirens may ram its ideas down your throat, but those lovely dresses make the didacticism go down easier. Read More

We’re ranking every TV show we watched in 2025—all 97 of them. If you missed the first installment, you can find it here.

85. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, Season 5; last year: 67 of 88). Sigh. Schematically, the design of this show remains appealing, as the criminal investigation is just scaffolding for the actors’ cheerful, exasperated banter. But five seasons in, the dialogue lacks the zip it once possessed, and rather than settling into a groove, the character dynamics have calcified. There’s nothing wrong with Only Murders in the Building constantly repeating itself, because formulaic shows like this are supposed to repeat themselves. But the initial vivacity has been replaced by tedium and obligation (plus an annoying reliance on high-wattage guest stars). It might be time for these folks to move out. Read More