The 10 Best TV Shows on Right Now: What to Watch This Week
The rules for the Power Rankings are simple: Any current series on TV qualifies, whether it’s a comedy, drama, news program, animated series, variety show or sports event. It can be on a network, basic cable, premium channel, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube or whatever you can stream on your smart TV, as long as a new episode was made available within the past week (ending Sunday) —or, in the case of shows released all at once, it has to have been released within the previous four weeks.
The voting panel is composed of Paste Editors and TV writers with a broad range of tastes. TV is good right now and there’s a lot of it, so we’re here to help you find only the best. Happy viewing!
Honorable Mention:
A Friend of the Family (Peacock), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), The Peripheral (Prime Video), Vampire Academy (Peacock)
Networks: Stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu, or Netflix (Season 1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
This Week: Yor learns how to cook!
Spy x Family is an action-comedy that has quickly taken the anime world by storm, largely thanks to the adorable antics of one Anya Forger. We follow Loid Forger, an undercover agent in the Cold War-esque city of Berlint, who is forced to form a “fake” family and infiltrate an enemy country’s political circles to avert war. He ends up adopting Anya, an orphan with telekinetic mind-reading abilities, and—at least on paper—marrying Yor, an assassin working for a rival government. While its premise may sound similar to self-serious prestige TV like The Americans, Spy x Family is a (mostly) light-hearted spoof of the nuclear family that is deeply hilarious, often cool, and sometimes touching.
So far, Wit Studio and Cloverworks have gone above and beyond to bring this adaptation to life, and the first season is full of well-delivered gags that I still find myself randomly chuckling over months later. While Loid is technically the protagonist, Anya is the star of the show, as she oscillates between being a little goblin and a precious bean attempting to help her dad with his mission of avoiding a war. And in addition to the many goofs, it convincingly portrays a found family who find solace in each other. Thankfully, the second season once again demonstrates the series’ ability to operate as both a tense spy-thriller and family comedy. As long as its production doesn’t run into issues (something which is unfortunately quite common given the state of labor in the anime industry), it will continue to be must-watch television. —Elijah Gonzalez
Network: Freevee
Last Week’s Ranking: Not Ranked
This Week: Hey, Tegan and Sara finally get to make some music!
Based on the memoir High School and accompanying album Hey, I’m Just Like You by Canadian trailblazers Tegan and Sara Quinn, High School is Amazon Freevee’s latest offering in their burgeoning library of originals. Taking place during Tegan and Sara’s tumultuous high school years, the show follows the twin sisters as they navigate life, sexuality, and music—all while trying to simply get along. Coming from showrunner Clea Duvall (Happiest Season), the series stars TikTokers and actual twin sisters Railey and Seazynn Gilliland as the musicians. This series is perfect for any fan of Tegan and Sara’s decades-long music career, as well as those looking for an intimate examination of teenage girlhood in the mid-90’s. This show is grungy, stylized, and so much more than just a Tegan and Sara biopic. —Anna Govert
Network: AMC / AMC+
Last Week’s Ranking: Honorable Mention
This Week: Doing the source material proud.
While some fans (read: me) may have initially felt apprehensive about the thought of AMC adapting Anne Rice’s classic novel, it seems fair (and important) to say what a relief it is that the network has knocked this one out of the park. Because Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire is incredibly good. Better-than-my-wildest-expectations good. The kind of good that makes me downright giddy that my initial assumptions about what kind of show this would be were so wildly off. This series is the absolute best kind of adaptation, one that hangs on to the original’s truest elements even as it uses its source material to say something new about this story, these characters, and even the world we live in now.
True, there are significant changes from the novel. From reimagining Louis de Pont du Lac as a Black, gay brothel owner in early 20th century New Orleans to fully embracing the queer subtext that’s always been simmering under the surface of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, this is a thoroughly modern adaptation that nevertheless leans into what’s kept us coming back to this series for decades: its thorny moral center and the compelling, if toxic love story between Louis and his maker Lestat de Lioncourt. The blazing chemistry between stars Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid would be reason enough to watch on its own, but this dark world is more than worth the repeated weekly visit. —Lacy Baugher-Milas [Full Review]
Network: ABC
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
This Week: Janine you need to learn to listen!
Sometimes there’s that magical moment when you realize you are watching something truly exceptional. From the moment I watched the pilot of ABC’s Abbott Elementary, I knew the show was much more than typical network sitcom drudgery (lame punchline, tinny laugh track, repeat). There was a grounded sweetness to the show. It was neither saccharine nor sardonic. We were introduced to the teachers of Philadelphia public school: the earnest Janine (series creator Quinta Brunson), veteran teachers Melissa (Lisa Ann Water) and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), as well as reluctant substitute Gregory (Tyler James Williams), the socially inept Jacob (Chris Perfetti), and the self-centered and clueless principal Ava (Janelle James). As a group, they immediately clicked; their combined comedic beats were perfect. The pilot was hilarious but also moving, all while shedding light on the underfunded public school system without being patronizing or exploitative, and the rest of the first season continued in kind.
So far, Season 2 is everything you would want and expect the show to be. Warm, hilarious, relatable, and damn if the end of the second season premiere didn’t make me cry. —Amy Amatangelo
Network: Netflix
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
This Week: Nothing but love for these wild wains.
Television takes many shapes. It can be heartwarming. It can punch us in the gut. And it can be riotously funny. Few shows do it all, and even fewer do it all well. And yet, teen comedy Derry Girls, about a group of friends growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1990s during the tail end of The Troubles, manages to not just do it, but make it look downright easy along the way. The juxtaposition of humorous, self-absorbed teenage shenanigans against the threat of terror and violence is what has always set Derry Girls apart from other shows. In the third and, sadly, final season, creator Lisa McGee doesn’t alter the formula simply because this is the final chapter.
With sharp writing that perfectly balances humor and emotion, Derry Girls has been a constant joy, delivering never-ending laughs that are punctuated with moving, heartwarming messages of love and friendship. It’s painful to have to say goodbye, but as Erin said in the final moments of the show, “Things can’t stay the same—and they shouldn’t. No matter how scary it is, we have to move on and we have to grow up, because things, well, they might just change for the better.”
So we’re all going to have to be brave as we enter a Derry Girls-less existence. And if our dreams get broken along the way, we’ll just take a cue from our favorite teens, and make new ones from the pieces. —Kaitlin Thomas
Network: Paramount+
Last Week’s Ranking: Honorable Mention
This Week: The “greatest hits” parade of guest stars has been phenomenally fun.
It is The Good Fight. Hear it roar. Now in its final season, The Good Fight is, like the ever fabulous Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), entirely out of you-know-whats to give and is approaching its swan song with a delightful no holds barred enthusiasm. If you were to sit around and ponder: How could we make this entirely magnificent show even better? You couldn’t come up with a better answer than the addition both Andre Braugher and John Slattery. Braugher joins the firm as Ri’Chard Lane, a resplendently bespectacled lawyer who travels with an entourage and an attitude. With his penchant for spontaneous group prayer and a very specific taste in art work, Ri’Chard is a formidable foe for Liz Reddick-Lawrence (Audra McDonald). Slattery comes on as Lyle Bettencourt, a “doctor” offering Diane a very specific form of therapy.
The constant din of protests happening right outside the offices of Reddick & Associates is the backdrop to the season and reflective of the constant undercurrent of discord we are all dealing with. The overturning of Roe v Wade, the rise of fascism and racism, book banning, the return of the Cold War, you name it… The Good Fight hears our collective primal scream loud and clear. The series, from Robert and Michelle King, does all this while bringing some choice character returns (no one does snark like Alan Cumming’s Eli Gold), continuing to hilariously skewer pop culture (ah the misguided and uneducated celebrity’s attempt at social consciousness), and don’t even get me started on the iconic statement jewelry. Is it too early to start lobbying for another spin-off? Maybe with Marissa (Sarah Steele) at the center? The Good Daughter is right there for the taking.—Amy Amatangelo
Network: HBO
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
This Week: A finale that showed what the series could have been.
The big question facing House of the Dragon, HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel, was what version of its predecessor it would take after. Would it be the brilliant first seasons, with great characters and even better plot, or the woeful supernova implosion of the end? The good news is, they chose the right path here in letting George R.R. Martin’s gripping story of the Targaryen dynasty carry the heaviest weight. The ambition is in all the right places, with a terrific cast (led by Paddy Considine as King Viserys I Targaryen and Emma D’Arcy as his daughter and heir Rhaenyra) who are allowed to put their efforts into selling the political intrigue at King’s Landing. Matching the breathless plot of early Game of Thrones is an impossibly high bar, and one this show doesn’t quite clear, but it’s nevertheless a very good effort, full of tension, heartbreak, and those rare moments of pure triumph, that will delight fans of the Song of Ice and Fire universe and fare nicely even among those who just appreciate a great story. That word, “story,” is essential here, and it’s a massive sigh of relief that the creators know it. —Shane Ryan [Full Review]
Network: CBS (streaming on Paramount+)
Last Week’s Ranking: Honorable Mention
This Week: A great episode for Sas showing the wrongs of well-intentioned white people, plus a cameo from Reservation Dogs’ Dallas Goldtooth!
Based on the UK series of the same name (which itself is streaming on HBO Max), the delightful Ghosts has become a bona fide hit for CBS. But if you’re an elder Millennial such as myself, you could be knocked over with a feather to learn this is one of TV’s best series. And yet, don’t sleep on it.
Ghosts follows a young couple, Samantha and Jay (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar), who inherit a large country estate that is, turns out, filled with ghosts only Sam (after she goes through a near-death experience) can see and hear. These ghosts aren’t scary though, they’re mostly friendly and occasionally annoying in their demands to smell bacon or have Sam turn on the TV. They also make for a fantastic comedy ensemble. Comprised of a small percentage of those who have died on the estate’s property from the beginning of time, the ghosts rule the roost: Bossy Revolutionary War soldier Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), kind Boy Scout leader Pete (Richie Moriarty), pants-less Wall Street bro Trevor (Asher Grodman), uptight lady of the manor Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), certified hippie Flower (Sheila Carrasco), flamboyant jazz singer Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), deadpan Lenape tribesman Sasappis (Roman Zaragoza), and the oldest of all the ghosts, Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long), a Viking.
As Sam and Jay work to establish a B&B, the ghosts both help and hinder the process in earnestly funny ways. The charming CBS series is not quite as cozy as the UK’s version, and features a few early hallmarks of American sitcom formatting that can feel heavy-handed, but when it hits, it really hits. Best of all, Ghosts is typically family-friendly enough for everyone to enjoy. —Allison Keene
Network: Disney+
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
This Week: What did the droid want to say??
Despite being set in a fictional, Star Wars setting, Cassian Andor’s journey feels real. His home planet was abandoned after a mining disaster left it useless. He’s an immigrant on a planet scrounging for work and a way to move up. He’s lost his family and is beaten down by a lack of opportunities. All Cassian needs is a union card and a wedding coat and he’d be a Bruce Springsteen song. And through it all there is Diego Luna, who manages to channel rage, disappointment, and the will to keep fighting with either a skillfully delivered line or an adroit facial expression. Luna is masterful in Andor. It’s a performance inspiring enough to make me want to fight the Empire right along with him. —Terry Terrones [Full Review]
Network: Hulu
Last Week’s Ranking: Honorable Mention
This Week: Reed’s basketball game with the Yeshiva children was one for the ages.
Hulu’s Reboot, a series about an indie filmmaker who wants to put a modern spin on a noted IP, is not actually about the makings of a reboot. But, semantics aside, it’s a very funny show that hits hard at what’s wrong with everything from Peak TV culture to schlocky TV writing. Rachel Bloom plays Hannah, who wants to modernize a classic TGIF-style sitcom with the original cast. Paul Reiser plays Gordon, the creator of the original sitcom who has his own ideas about this process. Can two opinionated showrunners share a TV series without driving each other crazy? Also, are creator Steven Levitan (Modern Family) and his writers attempting to make a commentary on fandom and the public’s inability to separate the person from the persona in their quest to lampoon the industry that feeds them? Either way, we’ll be tuning in. —Whitney Friedlander [Full Review]
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