As the darkness of winter settles in, there’s no better time to get cozy under the blankets with a new TV show. To help you make your selection in the era of endless options, W has you covered. There are several debuts on the below list, including medical procedural The Pitt (season two premieres in just a few weeks), gripping and darkly humorous sci-fi thriller Pluribus (from the creator of Breaking Bad), Stephen Graham’s devastating and ambitious miniseries about youth violence, Adolescence, and Jon Hamm’s latest take on a career man struggling with ennui in the suburbs, Your Friends and Neighbors. There are also new seasons of old favorites, like the third installment of cult-hit The Gilded Age, and the Sex and the City finale, once and for all, with the end of And Just Like That.
Below, in no particular order, find the shows that W editors loved most this year:
The Gilded Age, Season 3
I have been a diehard Gilded Age fan since season one, episode one. I absolutely devoured the first two seasons, relishing any plot breadcrumbs that came my way (Aunt Agnes crossed the street? Gasp. Bertha out-maneuvered Mrs. Astor in the great opera wars? Swoon). In season three, though, the show really hit its stride. More space for Denée Benton’s Peggy allowed for an exploration of Black society in Newport, while Carrie Coon’s Bertha reached a climax of control as her boundaryless ambition began to affect her familial relationships. The show was more dynamic than ever in its latest season, yet it still held tight to the lighthearted tidings that made it a camp classic to begin with. Ada dabbles in temperance and psychics, while Ben Ahlers’s character—belovedly dubbed “Clock Twink”—continues his tinkering ways. The costumes are still outrageous, the John Singer Sargent dupe is comically bad, and Marion Brook remains infuriating. It all works together beautifully to create a hilarious, intriguing, delectable show, which has me counting down the days until season four. —Carolyn Twersky Winkler, Staff Writer
The Pitt, Season 1
Despite a few attempts, I haven’t watched a medical drama since I attempted to get into Grey’s Anatomy years ago. That is, until I discovered HBO’s The Pitt. While I was admittedly late to the series (I started watching after its success at the Emmys in September), I was instantly hooked. I was especially drawn to the show’s format—each episode covers one hour of a shift—and its rebuttal of the soap-y, relationship-heavy medical drama archetype that I’ve come to associate with the genre. —Matthew Velasco, Staff Writer
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Season 6
As a long-time fanatic of the Real Housewives world, it pains me to say that the franchise has, well, lost its luster. All of them except the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Season six has been one of the best yet, with the usual antics from OGs like Meredith Marks and Lisa Barlow as well as new energy from Britani Bateman and, my personal favorite, Bronwyn Newport. The three episodes documenting their superyacht vacation in the Grenadines are some of the best reality TV I’ve witnessed. —MV
I Love LA, Season 1
I watched all eight episodes of I Love LA in one sitting, and you know what? I loved every minute. It has all the hallmarks of a great half-hour series: self-aware meta jokes, over-the-top fashion, hyperlocal references, cringey characters you still totally root for, off-the-rails storylines, and Rachel Sennott. I’m here for all of it. —Claire Valentine McCartney, Culture Editor
Pluribus, Season 1
Watching the first few episodes of Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus in a row was the closest thing I’ve felt to the sublime experience of watching Breaking Bad for the first time. The twists! The bleak humor! The Albuquerque skyline! I’m obsessed with Rhea Seehorn’s depiction of a truly miserable woman with the most intact boundaries I’ve ever witnessed, on-screen or otherwise. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. —CV
And Just Like That… the Final Season
Hear me out: Was And Just Like That… the best show of 2025? Absolutely not. Did it briefly unite a deeply divided nation? A little bit! If there’s one thing most of us can agree on, it’s that the series reached full Looney Tunes levels of absurdity. As soon as “Hey, it’s Che Diaz” entered the chat back in season one, the plot was lost, so no one can claim they didn’t know what they were getting into. But in a lackluster year for prestige TV, and amid the ongoing horror show that is our political landscape, I, for one, welcomed the distraction. At least it gave us something to collectively laugh about, even if the beloved ladies of Sex and the City weren’t in on the joke. —Katie Connor, Executive Digital Director
The Rehearsal, Season 2
Nathan Fielder, your mind. Season two of The Rehearsal sees the comedian turning his obsessive experiment toward airline disasters. This time, Fielder sets out to test whether rehearsing seemingly ordinary human interactions inside the cockpit could actually prevent catastrophe. Much like the first season, the premise is wild, and the execution is even more so. Over the course of six episodes, he builds full-scale flight simulations, studies crash data, and goes so far as to obtain a commercial pilot’s license and—spoiler alert—fly a Boeing 737 filled with actual humans. Months later, I’m still processing the finale—and not entirely sure where the experiment ended, and reality began.—KC
Adolescence, Season 1
I love it when a devastating British sleeper hit enters the discourse seemingly out of nowhere—see Baby Reindeer, I May Destroy You, etc. And while I find the whole men-in-crisis news cycle that Adolescence taps into a bit eye-rolly, the sheer audacity of shooting entire episodes in a single take, paired with Owen Cooper’s Emmy-winning turn as a baby-faced yet chilling teen murderer, made it one of the few shows this year that genuinely lodged itself in my brain. —KC
Wolf Hall, Season 2
I cried my way through the last 20 or so pages of The Mirror and the Light, the final book in Hilary Mantel’s dazzling Wolf Hall trilogy, so I knew what I was getting myself into when I watched its six-episode BBC adaptation on PBS in early 2025. Even so, I was a mess by the end: Mark Rylance is brilliant as Thomas Cromwell, the man who ran England on behalf of the volatile King Henry VIII (portrayed in all his mad royal swagger by Damian Lewis), and even though I—and any viewer familiar with the basics of British history—knew what was coming, I couldn’t help but hope that Henry would get a grip and stop blaming Cromwell for his disastrous love life. One cheerful spot: the show’s sumptuous clothing, which earned it an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Period Costumes. —Sally Law Errico, Managing Editor
YOLO: Rainbow Trinity, Season 3
Much like Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, this is a powerful, imaginative tale about the complicated relationship of two young working-class women coming of age in a chaotic, violent world as their lives continually intersect—even as their separate desires and impulses pull them apart. Unlike Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, this involves aliens, wizards, and a bush doof. And Emma Chamberlain guest-starred this season, for some reason! Mostly, I just enjoyed finding this show this year because I love television so far divorced from the world I write about professionally, that I never once think about work or a story idea while watching. In fact, this is so off-brand for W, I’m almost embarrassed to include it here. Enjoy! —Kyle Munzenrieder, Senior News Editor
Severance, Season 2
There’s nothing like the second season of a top-tier show exceeding even your wildest expectations. As Lumon Industries’ group of severed workers continue to chase the mystery of what it is that they do for work, exactly, they’ve fully realized their fate as the unprecedented victims of a bodily autonomy nightmare existence. In short, the severance procedure has spawned a group of eternally trapped humans in desperate pursuit of truth and freedom. What I thought would be a corporate mockuseries or Scooby-Doo type drama turned into a spiralling sociological thriller that got even deeper in season two. Besides exceptional direction by the likes of Ben Stiller and Jessica Lee Gagné, and standout performances from Emmy-winning actors Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman, this show will have you speed-reading in the annals of Reddit post-finale. It’s spooky, and good. —Abrigail Williams, Associate Social Media Manager
Your Friends & Neighbors, Season 1
Jon Hamm’s Coop is introduced as a flawed, ex-hedge fund manager from the show’s get-go, yet you’ll be rooting for him until the season finale fades to black. After his fall from grace and subsequent turn to petty theft, Hamm inadvertently pulls back the veil on the lives of his friends, neighbors, and his own, revealing the uncomfortable, ridiculous, and unsurprising secrets the 1% keep tucked behind their community gates. You’ll quickly fall in line with Hamm’s criminal justifications even when his heists turn ugly. Filled with college acceptance scandals, murder plots, a jaw-dropping Birkin collection, and a gif-worthy Jon Hamm clubbing scene, this is the dramedy you won’t want to miss. And if that isn’t enough to warrant the show’s spot on the list, I have four words for you: Jon Hamm as narrator. —AW
Wayward, Season 1
If you’re looking for a show that takes you on a mental whirlwind—complete with ’70s flashbacks, questionable therapy practices, and a cult the entire town seems to adore—then Wayward is for you. Tall Pines Academy was created for children who struggle in traditional schooling, led by the irresistibly charismatic Evelyn (Toni Collette). If you enjoy stories that keep you guessing and layer undeniable tension into every scene, you’ll want to check this one out. The characters are easy to see as their prepubescent selves, frozen in time like insects trapped in amber. Instead of healing from their traumas, they simply have the memories removed. It’s unsettling, fascinating, and incredibly effective. —Amir La Sure, Lead Accessories Assistant
Gen V, Season 2
The newest season of Gen V has easily become one of my favorite watches of 2025. The characters we’ve grown to love—and expect super-sized mistakes from—are now facing what feels like the series’ true climax. Friends who once betrayed each other find themselves aligned again, family bonds that seemed permanently severed are unexpectedly mending, and the Big Bad we’ve been waiting for is even more terrifying than our heroes feared. This season is packed with high-intensity fight scenes, emotional crescendos, and tumultuous revelations that kept my eyes glued to the screen and my mind racing with theories about how our heroes will survive the chaos they’ve been thrown into. If superheroes and compelling emotional arcs are your thing, Gen V is absolutely worth watching. —ALS
The Chair Company, Season 1
This year, I decided to take a break from my regular reality TV programming to watch Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company. As expected, it was one weird scenario after the next, reminding me of the awkwardness of The Office combined with the drama of everyday situations in Seinfeld. What I enjoy most about this show is the unpredictability. You never know where Robinson is going to take it, and I enjoy being along for the ride. —Jenna Wojciechowski
Black Rabbit, Season 1
Black Rabbit was, without question, the one show this year that had me on the edge of my seat, and covering my eyes. What begins as a slick portrait of a New York City restaurant hotspot quickly spirals into a tense, addictive drama when its owner allows his chaotic and highly unpredictable brother back into his carefully curated life—opening the floodgates to danger, ruthless ambition, and self-destruction. The limited series supposedly draws inspo from the real-life scandals surrounding NYC’s The Spotted Pig, and as you’ll see, the series turns restaurant culture into a pressure cooker of ego, horrible secrets, and backstabbing power plays. Think Ozark with a Brooklyn edge: stylish, unsettling, and impossible to look away from. —Che Baez, Visuals Editor
