Image via HBO
Published Mar 25, 2026, 10:09 PM EDT
Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.
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For decades, HBO was the place to go to mostly for movies and a few sporting events. However, that began to change in the 1990s thanks to original programming. The critical success of The Larry Sanders Show and other hits of the early decade made HBO a name synonymous with top-tier television. Here, sitcoms and dramas could get away with so much more than the restrained shows that aired on network TV. Cursing, nudity, more violence, nothing much was off limits.
HBO became the hip channel, with a plethora of shows which have permeated pop culture. Sex and the City, True Detective, True Blood, Euphoria, The White Lotus, and the list goes on, but as great and influential as these TV series are, none of them were able to crack the top 10 of the most perfect HBO shows ever made. Only the best of the best make this list.
10 'The Pitt' (2025-)
Image via HBONoah Wyle became a household name in the 90s and 2000s thanks to his role as Dr. John Carter on NBC's ER. After its finale in 2009, Wyle continued to act, but he couldn't find anything which matched his ER days. Then came The Pitt, created by ER writer and producer R. Scott Gemmill. Without ever seeing it, you might think The Pitt is another ER ripoff. It's not. The Pitt is everything similar shows couldn't be.
The Pitt has an ingenious premise, with each of a season's 15 episodes covering one hour of real time in a single shift. Because it's HBO, The Pitt doesn't hold back on the graphic gore, but it's also so much more. It's a love letter to doctors and nurses and what they must go through every day. In its first season, The Pitt won three Emmys, including for Outstanding Drama Series. It continues to excel in Season 2. In a year or two, this one will be higher up on the list, but two seasons in, it's incomplete and thus too soon.
9 'Oz' (1997-2003)
Image via HBOBefore Orange Is the New Black, there was Oz. Set in a men's prison, the series name is short for the fictional Oswald State Correctional Facility. Inside the prison sits an area called Emerald City, with prisoners of every variety mixed together, leading to deadly chaos in every episode. Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergensen) is the viewer's initial way in as a new prisoner sent to Oz after a night of drinking and driving ends in the death of the girl. Once inside, Tobias learns that he's just about the most normal of the prisoners there is.
Oz has an impressive ensemble cast. Ernie Hudson is Warden Leo Glynn, Harold Perrineau is the wheelchair-bound Augustus Hill, and long before he was selling car insurance, Dean Winters was Ryan O'Reilly. Any of these characters could kill or be killed at any moment, but the most terrifying of all is J.K. Simmons' Vernon Schillinger. Few TV bad guys have been more scary than him.
8 'Veep' (2012-2019)
Image via HBOWhen Veep came out, it was seen as over-the-top satire of politics. Oh, it looks so tame now. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Seinfeld icon plays Selena Meyer, the Vice President of the United States. Meyer hates her thankless job, and she's annoyed by everyone around her. A mixture of Curb Your Enthusiasm's comic honesty and the rapid-fire dialogue of The West Wing, Veep is one of the best comedies of the 21st Century.
Louis-Dreyfus is the lead, but she's not the only great character in this hilarious ensemble cast. Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons and others all play a host of crazed characters around the VP. The best, though, is Tony Hale as Meyer's bag man, Gary Walsh. Veep got America through some wild times, especially in the last few seasons, earning a whopping 17 Emmys along the way.
7 'Band of Brothers' (2001)
Image via HBOBand of Brothers is technically a miniseries, and even though that only meant one season of 10 episodes, it's more than enough to make this list. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series takes place during World War II. It took what Spielberg and Hanks did with Saving Private Ryan and somehow improves on it with a brutal and unflinching look at the cost of war.
Following the actions of the Easy Company, Band of Brothers is stacked with both known names and future stars such as Kirk Acevedo (who also starred in Oz), Damian Lewis, Ron Lvinston, David Schwimmer, and Mark Wahlberg. It won an impressive seven Emmys out of a staggering 20 nominations. It's not hyperbole to say that Band of Brothers might just be the best war story ever put to film.
6 'Succession' (2018-2023)
Image via HBOCreated by Jesse Armstrong (The Thick of It, In the Loop), Succession is the ideal satire for our corporate-owned times. Centered on the Roy family, the faction Waystar RoyCo is led by the family's patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox). However, he's an aging man who can't do this forever, and one day someone in his clan will have to succeed him on the media throne.
Succession shows the best and worst of its characters. The Roy family is filled with schemers who will do anything to get to the top. Money and power corrupts and ruins lives through some phenomenal acting, led by Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck, and in a brilliant comeback, Kieran Culkin. With Emmy wins for acting, writing, and Outstanding Drama series, along with an unforgettable final episode, Succession is perfection.
5 'Six Feet Under' (2001-2005)
Image via HBOAlan Ball's (American Beauty) Six Feet Under had the challenge of airing at the same time as The Sopranos, but it didn't get overlooked. Lasting five seasons, the series begins with the death of funeral home owner Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins). With him gone, it's up to his dysfunctional family to lead the business, even though many of them are barely able to stay alive themselves.
Six Feet Under is led by a great cast including Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, and Michael C. Hall in the role that made him a star before Dexter. The series has a unique approach, with each episode beginning with the death of the latest person wheeled into Fisher and Sons. Filled with drama and heartbreak, Six Feet Under has an iconic last episode. It has perhaps the best final scene in TV history, one guaranteed to leave you in tears.
4 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (2000-2024)
Image via HBOLarry David transformed television forever in the 1990s with his mammoth hit Seinfeld, which he co-created and wrote on. Jason Alexander's high-strung George Costanza is based on David, so when Seinfeld ended in 1998, what better way for David to keep the laughs coming by playing a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In every episode, Larry gets himself in some sort of trouble that's not always his fault, making life anxious for everyone around him.
With 12 seasons over 25 years, knowing when to step back and take a break is part of what made Curb Your Enthusiasm work. Instead of running the premise into the ground, the series left fans wanting more. Co-starring Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, and Susie Essman, Curb Your Enthusiasm succeeds by giving Larry plenty of equally bizarre characters to interact with. Unlike Seinfeld, it even stuck the landing with a final episode that calls back to the controversial ending to David's NBC show.
3 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019)
Image via HBOFor years, Game of Thrones was the biggest show on the planet, and it might be the last water-cooler show that had everyone talking. Based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice books, the series sees the Seven Kingdoms doing anything possible to land on the Iron Throne. Told mainly through the Starks and Lannister houses, Game of Thrones kept everyone on the edge of their seats because anything was possible in each and every episode.
Game of Thrones is a heartbreaking drama and a thrilling action fantasy series, with some star making acting from Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, and Kit Harington, just to name a few. Every season turns up the tension with smart writing and jaw-dropping settings. The final season starts to fall apart a bit, but not enough to hurt all of the perfect moments that came before it.
2 'The Wire' (2002-2008)
Image via Nicole Rivelli / © HBO / Courtesy: Everett CollectionDavid Simon's The Wire took a rather interesting approach. Set in Baltimore, it could have been just another detective series of good guys and bad guys. However, what keeps The Wire must-see TV for its five seasons is that each year takes a different look at a different part of the city, whether it be drugs, the government, or the media.
Although it wasn't a ratings juggernaut and was overshadowed by the next series on this list, The Wire is masterful storytelling. It is deemed too smart for some, but if you stick with it, The Wire is some of the greatest television ever produced. There's not just one major character to single out, but Michael K. Williams' Omar is the heart of the series.
1 'The Sopranos' (1999-2007)
Image via HBOFew shows have permeated culture like The Sopranos did. When it first aired to end the 20th century and begin a scary new one, David Chase's show was all TV fans talked about. It marked the birth of a new era where network TV and cute sitcoms with laugh tracks were no longer king. Audiences craved the anti-hero and found one in Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), the intimidating mob boss who can barely handle his anxiety without his therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Braco).
The Sopranos is a family story, whether it be about Tony's wife and kids, or those who work for him. Gandolfini played him with such honesty that you want to hug Tony just as much as you want to run from him. The Sopranos is the epitome of cool. It has perhaps the most divisive series finale in history, but two decades later, the final seconds are seen as just one more perfect scene before everything goes black.
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
Release Date 1999 - 2007
Network HBO
Showrunner David Chase
English (US) ·