From The Wire to Six Feet Under, plenty of classic HBO shows have earned the coveted masterpiece label. Since kicking off the Golden Age of Television with The Sopranos, HBO has been renowned as the preeminent home of prestige TV. HBO’s best original programming is the gold standard for modern television.
From harrowing dramas like Chernobyl to hilarious comedies like Veep, HBO has a wide variety of shows that could be described as bona fide masterpieces.
20 Sex And The City
Sex and the City was way ahead of its time in depicting independent women who weren’t focused on getting married and starting a family (except Charlotte). The series subverted antiquated gender norms and presented realistically flawed characters. They didn’t always make good decisions, but they always faced consequences for the bad ones. Sex and the City is sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always engaging.
19 Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley revolves around one of the most lovable and well-matched sitcom ensembles ever assembled, but it’s a spot-on satire of the absurdity of the tech industry. The characters have a great piece of tech that would actually make the world a better place, and thanks to the cutthroat business environment they’re in, they still face endless obstacles and legal setbacks.
18 Girls
Lena Dunham’s Girls is a bracingly honest, hilariously frank look at the messy lives of four twentysomething women in New York City. It perfectly captured the millennial experience when it aired, and now, Girls is being rediscovered by Gen Z audiences who similarly relate to its aimless, frustrated characters. Dunham depicted the flaws and insecurities of her ensemble with a refreshing authenticity that really resonates with young viewers.
17 Watchmen
Watchmen is one of the most seminal works of literature — comics or otherwise — of the 21st century, so Damon Lindelof faced an uphill battle delivering a satisfying sequel. But, by some miracle (and a lot of hard work and a deep understanding of the source material), HBO’s miniseries adaptation felt like a worthy follow-up to that subversive superhero classic.
Much like Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel, Lindelof’s Watchmen series mixes a dark satire of the superhero genre with the most harrowing chapters of American history. The comic imagined how the Vietnam War might’ve turned out (and U.S. history after the war) if America had superheroes at its disposal. The HBO series applies the same logic to the Tulsa race massacre.
16 Barry
The premise of Bill Hader’s Barry sounds gimmicky and one-note — it’s about a hitman who wants to quit the business of killing and pursue his dream of being an actor — but it’s a surprisingly layered character study. It is a hilarious comedy, as you’d expect from Hader, but it’s also a chilling psychological thriller inspired by the Coen brothers.
15 Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies is a rare TV adaptation that went beyond its source material and actually added something substantial to the original story. The first season is a near-flawless page-to-screen translation of Liane Moriarty’s novel, but the second season — co-written by Moriarty herself — explores the aftermath of that story in a really moving, engaging way.
14 Deadwood
David Milch brought back the TV western with a revisionist edge in his short-lived but beautifully crafted series Deadwood. Milch expertly weaves his fictional creations into a thoroughly researched historical chronicle of the titular settlement’s development from a small camp into a fully-fledged town. Deadwood might not get as much attention as shows like The Sopranos, but it’s just as great.
13 The Larry Sanders Show
Rather than hosting a late-night show like a lot of his peers, Garry Shandling instead created a meta sitcom imagining a version of himself who did become a late-night host. The Larry Sanders Show takes a peek behind the curtain at the wild world of late-night television, with fussy network executives, risqué monologue jokes, and irate celebrity guests.
Larry Sanders’ self-aware look at the business of television, blurring the line between fiction and reality, went on to influence subsequent shows like 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s a pitch-perfect satire of showbiz, but at its core, it’s a character study contrasting Larry’s affable on-air persona with the insecure wreck he is backstage.
12 I May Destroy You
In the same vein as recent masterpieces like Baby Reindeer and Sorry, Baby, Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You is a deeply moving, brutally honest look at the trauma of assault and the struggle to move past it. Poignant performances and keenly observed writing make I May Destroy You one of the greatest TV shows ever made, and it’s all tied together by razor-sharp direction.
11 Game Of Thrones