Dec. 9, 11:30 am UTC • 9 min TV TV The Best TV Shows of 2025 The year’s best television series continued to push the medium forward, even if they were rehashing old genres or existing IP HBO/AppleTV/Disney/FX/Getty Images/Ringer illustration Dec. 9, 11:30 am UTC • 9 min 2025 hasn’t exactly been a banner year. Between ever-present anxieties around artificial intelligence , the looming threat of a recession , and the creeping enshittification that’s turning our favorite corners of the internet into digital strip malls, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the world is caught in a depressing holding pattern. Thankfully, television has remained a welcome respite from theq chaos. The medium gave us a bit of everything this year: old-school medical dramas, genre-bending docuseries, and thought-provoking science fiction that bounced from stodgy cubicles to a galaxy far, far away. For all that and more, check out The Ringer’s best TV shows of 2025. —Miles Surrey 10. Alien: Earth OK, it didn’t end well . But it also didn’t actually end: The second season may yet salvage the deflating finish to Season 1. So while we look forward to a less cliffhanger-filled future, let’s remember the good times—and by “good times,” I mean the truly terrifying, dystopian times that we endured and delighted in for the first five episodes or so. Alien: Earth adapted almost 50-year-old IP to TV for the first time, and like an invasive extraterrestrial predator (not that one ), it thrived in its new environment. In the process of laying new narrative groundwork for the original film, Noah Hawley’s take on the famous franchise introduced several alien species so disturbing that the xenomorph—one of the most iconic creatures in Hollywood history—was relegated to supporting-monster status. Instead, the breakout star—not counting a strong cast of humans, hybrids, cyborgs, and synths—was an eyeball monster that was simultaneously one of the scariest baddies ever seen on screen, and also kind of cute . That indelible design alone earned Alien: Earth a spot on this list. If Season 2 can dial down the Peter Pan allegory, ratchet up the xenomorph action, and deliver a little resolution along with Boy Kavalier ’s leisurewear, we’ll all agree to forget that the first finale ever happened. Which won’t be hard, because so little did happen. —Ben Lindbergh Source: https://www.theringer.com/2025/12/09/tv/best-tv-shows-2025-top-10-andor-severance-pluribus-the-pitt