Image via HBO
Published Jun 22, 2026, 5:36 PM EDT
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated.
Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point.
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Over the course of the last 20 years, there have been a precious handful of miniseries that have demonstrated just how close the medium can come to absolute perfection. When a story is too expansive or complex to be a two-hour-long movie, but not big enough to warrant a full TV series, the miniseries format tends to be the answer; and as such, some of the greatest shows of all time have been miniseries.
Indeed, from 2006 until the present, there have been several miniseries so exceptional that they can be said to be practically perfect. Whether or not a miniseries is without flaw is, of course, a very subjective matter; but when all is said and done, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to criticize these masterful shows over anything substantial.
10 'Dopesick' (2021)
Image via HuluDopesick is one of those crime drama miniseries better than much longer shows, about the opioid epidemic and the people in the U.S. who were affected by it. Starring an incredible cast that features stars of the stature of Michael Keaton and Peter Sarsgaard, it has been criticized as a bit of a jumbled oversimplification of its subject matter, but it's otherwise so creatively structured and well-paced that it's easy to dismiss that as a simple nitpick.
Sprawling, ambitious, and clearly well-researched, Dopesick is a hard-hitting drama that simultaneously feels like a national-level tragedy and a deeply human, emotionally riveting story. By focusing on the victims, the perpetrators, the investigators, and the medical field, the series allows for a non-linear approach to its narrative which holds tremendous emotional potency.
9 'John Adams' (2008)
HBO started going all-in on the production of miniseries between the late '90s and early 2000s, and from this boom came John Adams. Chronicling the political and family life of the eponymous founding father of the United States, the show was directed by British-Australian filmmaker Tom Hooper before his Oscar-winning run (and eventual Cats-related downfall) throughout the 2010s.
It's one of the best miniseries masterpieces of all time, anchored by its wonderful production values and incredible cast (which includes one of Paul Giamatti's greatest performances ever, playing the titular character). Avoiding any kind of sanitized version of American history, the series instead goes for a gritty, unflinching, politically complex character study the likes of which we haven't often seen at any point during the last 20 years.
8 'Over the Garden Wall' (2014)
Image via Cartoon NetworkCartoons have always been every bit as worthy of respect and admiration as live-action shows and miniseries, and as the ultimate piece of evidence, there's the fact that Over the Garden Wall is one of the highest-rated miniseries of all time on Letterboxd. It may be mostly aimed at kids, being Cartoon Network's first miniseries ever, but it's a modern classic that can be enjoyed by animation fans of any age.
With its tight 10-episode runtime that doesn't feature a single second of filler, the show takes a dark fairy-tale approach to its story about love, redemption, and spirituality. With its flawless animation and its deeply moving coming-of-age tale, it's a simultaneously cozy and creepy masterpiece which should be watched by everyone who thinks cartoons aren't real miniseries deserving of just as much praise.
7 'The Night Of' (2016)
Image via HBOYet another instance of HBO broadcasting one of the greatest miniseries of the 21st century as a whole, The Night Of is based on Peter Moffat's 2008 British show Criminal Justice. It's one of the best miniseries of the last 10 years, anchored by John Turturro's Emmy-nominated performance and especially Riz Ahmed's Emmy-winning performance.
Far more than just a whodunnit, The Night Of is a riveting, devastatingly realistic character study about the deep flaws of the American justice system. It's a slow-burner, which not all fans of thriller miniseries will be able to appreciate; but those who enjoy dramas that take their time and build tension through a meticulous attention to detail will find in The Night Of an irresistibly intense and grounded miniseries.
Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine Quiz Which Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In? The Pitt · ER · Grey's Anatomy · House · Scrubs
Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.
🚨The Pitt
🏥ER
💉Grey's
🔬House
🩺Scrubs
FIND YOUR HOSPITAL →
01
A critical patient comes through the door. What's your first instinct? Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.
AStay completely present — block everything else out and work through it step by step, right now. BTriage fast and delegate — get the right people on the right problems immediately. CTrust my gut and move — I work best when I stop overthinking and just act. DAsk the question everyone else is ignoring — what's the thing that doesn't fit? ETake a breath, make a joke to cut the tension, and then get to work — panic helps no one.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Why did you go into medicine in the first place? The honest answer says more about you than the one you'd give in an interview.
ABecause I wanted to be where it matters most — right at the edge, when someone's life is actually on the line. BBecause I wanted to help people — genuinely, one patient at a time, in a system that makes it hard. CBecause I was drawn to the intensity of it — the stakes, the drama, the feeling of being fully alive. DBecause medicine is the most interesting puzzle there is — and I needed a problem worth solving. EBecause I wanted to make a difference — and also, honestly, I didn't know what else to do with my life.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What do you actually want from the people you work with? Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.
ACompetence and calm — I need people who don't fall apart when things get bad. BTrust and reliability — I want to know that when I pass something off, it's handled. CConnection — I want colleagues who become family, even if that gets complicated. DIntelligence and the willingness to be challenged — I have no interest in people who just agree with me. EFriendship — people I actually like spending twelve hours a day with, because those hours are going to happen either way.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it? Every doctor who's worked a long shift has had to answer this question.
AI carry it. All of it. I don't look for ways to put it down — that weight is part of doing this work honestly. BI process it and move — you have to, or the next patient suffers for the one you just lost. CI feel it deeply and lean on the people around me — I don't think you're supposed to handle that alone. DI go back over every decision — not to punish myself, but because I need to understand what I missed. EI grieve it genuinely, find some way to laugh about something unrelated, and try to be kind to myself — imperfectly.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How would your colleagues describe the way you work? Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.
AIntense and completely present — no small talk during a shift, but exactly who you want there. BSteady and dependable — not the flashiest in the room but never the one who drops something. CPassionate and occasionally chaotic — brilliant on the hard cases, prone to drama everywhere else. DBrilliant and difficult — right more often than anyone else, and everyone knows it, including me. EWarm and self-deprecating — not the most intimidating presence, but genuinely good at this and easy to like.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure? Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.
AProtocol is the floor, not the ceiling — I follow it until the patient needs something it can't provide. BI respect it — the system is broken in places, but the structure is there for a reason and I work within it. CI follow it until my instincts tell me not to — and my instincts are usually right, even when they cause problems. DRules are for people who haven't thought hard enough about when to break them. EI try to follow it and mostly do — with a few memorable exceptions that still come up in meetings.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What does this job cost you personally? Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What's yours?
AEverything outside these walls — I've given this job my full attention and the rest of my life has gone around it. BMy idealism, mostly — I came in believing the system could be fixed and I've made a complicated peace with that. CStability — my personal life has been as chaotic as the OR, and that's not entirely a coincidence. DMy relationships — I am not easy to know, and the people who've tried to would probably agree. EMy sense of gravity — I use humour as a coping mechanism, which not everyone appreciates in a hospital.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back? The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.
AThe fact that it's real — that nothing else I could be doing would matter this much, right now, today. BThe patients — individual human beings who needed something and got it because I was there. CThe people I work with — I have walked through impossible things with these people and I'd do it again. DThe next unsolved case — there's always another puzzle, and I'm not done yet. EBecause despite everything — the exhaustion, the loss, the absurdity — I actually love this job.
REVEAL MY HOSPITAL →
Your Assignment Has Been Made You Belong In…
Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.
The Pitt
You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn't let you look away.
- You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
- You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
- You've made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
- Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.
ER
You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.
- You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
- You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
- You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
- ER is television about endurance. You have it.
Grey's Anatomy
You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.
- You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
- Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
- You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
- It's messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.
House
You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn't fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.
- You're not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you'd deny it.
- You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
- Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they're smart enough to keep up.
- The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.
Scrubs
You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.
- You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
- You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that's not a flaw, it's a survival strategy.
- You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
- Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
6 'The Pacific' (2010)
Image via HBOA sort of companion piece and spiritual successor to HBO's Band of Brothers, also executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which may well be the most highly-praised miniseries in history, The Pacific is almost as perfect. Following the United States Marine Corps during the Pacific War, it's one of those classic war shows worth binge-watching.
Praised for its dark, psychologically complex, and realistically violent depiction of the Pacific War, The Pacific is absolutely unflinching in how it shows the visceral horror of this chapter of World War II. It also has a ton of heart, however, balancing its warfare action set pieces with deeply thought-provoking character work. With a budget of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, it still remains one of the most expensive miniseries ever produced.
5 'I May Destroy You' (2020)
Image via HBOCreated by, written by, co-directed by, and starring Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You is one of the most perfect HBO shows of the last 15 years. It's British television at its very best, and with a nearly-flawless rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was widely hailed as one of the greatest miniseries of all time. Today, it still deserves every last bit of that high praise.
Absolutely fearless in its vulnerability and heavy thematic work, this semi-autobiographical masterpiece by Coel, at the very top of her game, blends elements of comedic surrealism with some emotionally devastating drama. Refreshingly honest, emotionally complex, and thematically profound, it's a perfect masterclass in taking full advantage of the miniseries format's natural qualities.
4 'The Penguin' (2024)
Image via HBOWith Colin Farrell deepening and expanding his utterly transformative, downright unrecognizable performance as the iconic titular Batman villain, The Penguin is far more than just a star vehicle for Farrell. It's also far more than just one of the greatest comic book TV shows in history: It's a properly phenomenal crime drama through and through, wearing its influences out on its sleeve while also sprinkling in plenty of its own spice.
Indeed, it's one of the best crime shows of the last five years, offering a fresh and Sopranos-esque look at the Gotham City created by Matt Reeves in The Batman. It's emotionally engaging, impeccably acted, and packed with high-stakes suspense, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that there's plenty of room in the prestige television scene for comic book adaptations.
3 'The Tatami Galaxy' (2010)
Image via MadhouseDirected by the exceptionally talented and awfully underappreciated Japanese filmmaker and animator Masaaki Yuasa, The Tatami Galaxy is based on the 2004 varsity novel by Tomihiko Morimi. It's one of those rare anime series in which every episode is a masterpiece, exploring the anxieties of youth throughout an airtight 11 episodes.
From its breakneck pacing to its eye-poppingly colorful animation and visual design, it's a mind-bending masterpiece where several parallel lives converge into a single emotionally intense coming-of-age tale. Delectably auteur-driven, brilliantly surreal, and intelligently experimental in virtually every sense, it's a must-see for all those who enjoy mind-twisting miniseries and anime in general.
2 'When They See Us' (2019)
Image via NetflixThere are only a handful of perfect Netflix miniseries with 10 episodes or less, and Ava DuVernay's When They See Us is most certainly one of them. Streaming on Netflix, it's based on the true events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case, exploring systemic racism and procedural injustice in the U.S. in ways that will forever be profoundly affecting and thought-provoking.
It's a scathing, meticulously-researched critique of the darkest pits of the American justice system, but also a story of pure, raw emotion too harrowing to want to watch more than once. Balancing flawless structural pacing with some of the most exceptional performances of any miniseries of the 2010s, it always feels intellectually provocative, but never exploitative in the slightest. The only reason it's not the most perfect miniseries of the last 20 years is because of a certain other miniseries that aired on HBO that same year.
1 'Chernobyl' (2019)
Image via HBOBack in 2019, the world was treated to what's still not only the highest-rated miniseries of the last 20 years on IMDb by a decent margin, but may also be right up there with Band of Brothers as the single greatest miniseries in history. It's HBO's Chernobyl, a dramatization of the nuclear disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed.
It's definitely not an easy-watch, but those who tend to enjoy emotionally raw and brutally realistic docudrama miniseries are pretty much guaranteed to be stunned by this one. Indeed, Chernobyl is one of those HBO miniseries that are perfect from start to finish, an Emmy-winning masterpiece whose intimate human drama is perfectly balanced with merciless historical realism, horrifying political complexity, and deeply provocative thematic nuance.
Chernobyl
Release Date 2019 - 2019
Network HBO
Showrunner Craig Mazin
Directors Johan Renck
English (US) ·