Image via HBO
Published Jun 26, 2026, 2:44 PM EDT
Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows.
In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.
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It’s become incredibly difficult for shows to last for more than three seasons given the constraints put on them by the industry. Streaming services tend not to let shows go on for too long because they might lose viewership over time, and studios don’t want to renew shows when the required wages for writers and crew members increase after the third season. Although it is an unfortunate reality, it’s something that television creators have to contend with in a changing media landscape.
It’s impressive when a show can make economical choices to tell its story in a short amount of time without feeling like any characters or storylines are slighted. When considering how many shows have lost their essence over time due to an endless number of seasons, it can be preferable to cap off a finale after just three installments, offering a tight and conclusive ending that satisfies everyone.
10 'Legion' (2017–2019)
Image via FXLegion is one of the best comic book shows ever made because it embraces the surrealist, psychedelic side of Marvel’s source material and offers a fresh perspective on the experiences of being a mutant. Although it is inspired by a more obscure run of X-Men comics, Legion doesn’t have anything to do with any of the live-action installments in the franchise; in fact, its creative and emotionally charged approach to the mythology might resonate with those that have otherwise dealt with “superhero fatigue.”
Legion created a compelling protagonist in David Haller, played by Dan Stevens in one of his greatest performances, who is a mutant who struggles to determine whether he is a hero or villain. While the outlandish comedy and musical sequences make Legion feel like an avant-garde approach to the genre, it ends up being a surprisingly emotional series based on how profoundly David’s story ends.
9 'The Comeback' (2005–2026)
Image via HBOThe Comeback is one of the most unique sitcoms on HBO because it had three seasons that were released over the course of two decades, allowing it to examine how rapidly the entertainment system had evolved in the time since. Lisa Kudrow’s performance as a vain, struggling former sitcom star is not only a self-referential role, but one she uses to explore how the excess of celebrity has made Hollywood even more challenging.
The Comeback is a ruthless satire of how decisions are made in entertainment, but it’s also completely hilarious, and manages to say something about the rights of artists. The third and final season was particularly noteworthy for how it examined the destructive capabilities of artificial intelligence, which was a bold move during a time in which many studios have proven that they will bend over backwards to cut out humans from the process.
8 'Daredevil' (2015–2018)
Image via NetflixDaredevil was a game-changing comic book adaptation that served as the first series from Marvel Studios to debut on Netflix, where it was allowed to be much darker and grittier than anything that had been seen in the live-action films. Although many fans were highly disappointed by the 2003 film about the character, Daredevil found a smart way to do the origin story and found the perfect casting of Charlie Cox, who has completely embodied the role of Matt Murdock.
Daredevil also featured an all-time great comic book villain in Wilson Fisk, played brilliantly by Vincent D’Onofrio in a completely terrifying, complex performance. Although the show was sadly canceled as part of the expiration of Disney’s deal with Netflix, the rebooted series Daredevil: Born Again debuted on Disney+ and reunited many of the leads from the original run of episodes.
7 'American Crime Story' (2016–2021)
Image via FXAmerican Crime Story is the best show that Ryan Murphy has ever made, and has done the anthology approach to exploring real incidents in American history much better than Monster. The three seasons focused on different historical cases that were significant within popular culture, including the arrest and trial of O.J. Simpson, the death of fashion mogul Gianni Versace, and the impeachment of United States President Bill Clinton.
American Crime Story featured brilliant performances from A-list actors throughout, and was able to look at all different angles to these cases in order to explore the social, political, and legal repercussions. Even if there were liberties taken with how these stories were told, they do serve as conversation starters because they were willing to look beyond the headlines to show the complex machinations involved with highly combustible and complicated media circuses.
6 'I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson' (2019–2023)
Image via NetflixI Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is one of the funniest sketch shows of all-time, and is more than a suitable replacement for those who have felt that Saturday Night Live has lost its momentum in recent years. Tim Robinson is a remarkable performer and writer who was able to completely reboot what sketch comedy looked like by taking humorous situations and pushing them beyond normal limits to be weirder, more uncomfortable, and increasingly surreal than they would be in the hands of any other creator or showrunner.
Many of the sketches from I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson have subsequently gone viral, but there are so many hidden gems within every single installment that it is worth revisiting all three seasons to experience the full extent of Robinson’s radically inventive, hilariously genius sense of humor.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 'The Office' (2001–2003)
Image via BBC OneThe Office is one of the most groundbreaking sitcoms of all-time and an early achievement in the mockumentary genre that set a template for other shows to follow. While the American remake did become quite popular and served as a “comfort watch” for many fans, the original British version of The Office is even more incisive and brilliant, and managed to accomplish even more in just three seasons.
The Office offered a definitive perspective on the mundanity of cubical work that spoke to anyone who has ever hated their job or been irritated by an obnoxious coworker or employer. Although Ricky Gervais is an actor and comedian who can be very polarizing, he unquestionably tapped into genius with his portrayal of David Brent, a character who belongs in the hall of fame when discussing the funniest characters in the entire history of television.
4 'Hannibal' (2013–2015)
Image via NBCHannibal was a surprising new twist on the iconic Thomas Harris source material that justified its existence by offering a different perspective on the events covered in films like Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs. Although Mads Mikkelsen’s performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter was worthy of all the other great actors who had occupied the role, credit must also be given to Hugh Laurie for his performance as Will Graham because of how well the show works as a cat-and-mouse chase.
Hannibal is the rare show that has a completely perfect finale that resolved all the series’ mysteries, and solidified Bryan Fuller as one of the best showrunners working in television today. Although there have been constant rumors about a potential continuation that would introduce Clarice Starling, it’s hard to imagine that any new installments would be able to live up to the incredible legacy of Hannibal.
3 'Deadwood' (2004–2006)
Image via HBODeadwood is the greatest Western in the history of television because it is based on more than just the tropes of the genre. The real history of America’s frontier era was much more fraught than it’s often depicted as being in films and shows, and Deadwood explored the process in which a territory becomes an official town within the Union in an exciting way that featured dialogue worthy of Shakespeare.
Deadwood was one of the first examples of what HBO could do when it committed to a specific genre and aesthetic, as David Milch’s exacting vision for the series ensured that every character and storyline was fascinating in its own right. Deadwood may have been cancelled after the end of its third season, but Milch returned 13 years later to direct the standalone HBO film Deadwood: The Movie, which served as a proper finale.
2 'The Leftovers' (2014–2017)
Image via HBOThe Leftovers is a major achievement in television because it expanded beyond being a strict adaptation of an acclaimed novel to become a rich, mythic odyssey about the quest for answers that captured a shockingly poignant depiction of how humanity would react to a global tragedy.
The Leftovers is a show that only could have existed on HBO, as it asked viewers to buy into some truly strange tonal shifts and ambiguity, as Damon Lindelof has never been the type of showrunner who gives viewers the answers to all of their questions at once. Although Lindelof’s process of mystery-baiting proved to be controversial during the highly divisive ending of Lost, The Leftovers didn’t suffer the same backlash because its finale “The Book of Nora” offered a completely satisfying emotional conclusion to the beautiful romance that the series had built over the course of three seasons.
1 'Twin Peaks' (1990–2017)
Image via ABCTwin Peaks is one of the most foundational works in television history because David Lynch revamped what a serialized mystery could look like by creating a series that had a “watercooler effect,” in which fans gathered to unpack the mysteries between weeks.
Twin Peaks dared to be more than just a procedural because it explored the complex aftermath of the death of the high school prom queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), and how it leads to secrets being revealed about her entire town. Twin Peaks was sadly cancelled by ABC in its second season after the network had forced Lynch to solve the murder, which resulted in a crashing of ratings. Although Lynch directed the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me to unpack the show’s events from Laura’s perspective, he would finally make a Season 3, subtitled Twin Peaks: The Return, which aired on Showtime in 2017.
Twin Peaks
Release Date 1990 - 1991-00-00
English (US) ·