The best TV shows of 2025 so far
Narrowing down to just 10 shows was no easy task, this could have easily been a Top 20 list without breaking a sweat. Nevertheless, hard decisions had to be made. So here are the 10 shows we consider the best of the year so far.
The first half of 2025 came out firing, delivering a consistently impressive line-up of television.
Returning faves didn’t disappoint, like the dependably disturbing Black Mirror (Netflix), the surreally mindbending Severance (Apple TV+) and the religious irreverence of The Righteous Gemstones (Neon).
A wave of new standouts also debuted to dominate watercooler conversations, including the sharp crime-dramedy Your Friends and Neighbours (Apple TV+), the raw, devastating drama Adolescence (Netflix) and the sweat-inducing intensity of hospital drama The Pitt (Neon).
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The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal
Nothing can prepare you for the surreal, nightmarish rabbit hole that comedian Nathan Fielder drops you into in the second season of his… well, I’m not even sure what to call this show anymore. Comedy, maybe? It’s certainly very funny, providing you can stomach its near-unbearable levels of cringe and appreciate its extreme absurdism.
Ostensibly, it’s about the hilarious topic of *checks notes* aviation safety, but that’s merely the runway for Fielder to launch into a singular work of mind-blowing genius.
Watch: Neon
Married At First Sight Australia
Married At First Sight Australia
Tears! Tantrums! Betrayals! Fights! Love? Er… not so much. But what this controversial season of MAFS Au lacked in happily-ever-afters, it made up for with genuinely jaw-dropping behaviours that swung wildly between wackadoo bananas and deeply concerning.
Still, it all made for unmissable car-crash television. Now, when’s the announcement for a new season of MAFS NZ?
Watch: ThreeNow
The Studio
The Studio
Seth Rogen’s heartfelt homage to Hollywood is, hands down, one of the most hilarious shows of 2025 so far. Taking you behind the scenes of a failing movie studio, The Studio is consistently laugh-out-loud funny as Rogen’s clueless executive struggles to balance his passion for cinema with the board’s desire for money. With its A-List cast and blockbuster cameos, it all culminates in a double-episode finale that’s destined to become a comedy classic.
Watch: Apple TV+
Choir Games
Choir Games
This uplifting docu-series from award-winning director Leanne Pooley takes you inside the World Choir Games. The competition saw about 250 choirs from 42 countries descend on Spark Arena when the event was held in Auckland last year.
The series follows two of these, New York’s prestigious Young People’s Chorus and Kaitāia’s amateur-yet-big-hearted Community Voices Choir as they prepare to sing their hearts out on the world’s stage. Joyful, deeply moving, and worth singing about.
Watch: Neon
MobLand
MobLand
Director Guy Ritchie and star Tom Hardy come out guns blazing in this geezer-gangster drama, which follows Hardy’s fixer as he tries to clean up the bloody chaos left behind by the Irish mob family he works for.
With its escalating tension, bloody gang violence, an increasingly unhinged performance from former-007 Pierce Brosnan and a delightfully wicked turn from screen legend Helen Mirren, MobLand left us hooked. A guilty pleasure, perhaps, but a pleasure nonetheless.
Watch: Prime Video
Happiness
Happiness
This local musical comedy is a real showstopper. Starring Rebecca Gibney and Shortland Street’s Harry McNaughton, the series follows a theatre troupe in Tauranga as they go about staging a musical under the direction of Charlie, a former stage prodigy and failed New York director who’s reluctantly returned home to the Bay. The songs are pitch-perfect, and the cheerful series hits a perfect tone of humour and heart that’s enough to win over even the most musical-averse viewer.
Watch: ThreeNow
The White Lotus
The White Lotus
Satirical dramedy The White Lotus took an even darker turn in this third season as a new crop of wealthy guests check into the Thailand branch of the titular resort, only for their holidays to quickly spiral into the abyss of human depravity.
It’s all brilliantly disturbed, and by its final episode, the tension becomes excruciating as multiple plots collide and death once again casts its black shadow over paradise. Bonus points awarded for Sam Rockwell’s unravelling and twisted monologue.
Watch: Neon
The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons
Midlife crises hit hard in Tina Fey’s keenly observed dramedy about three married couples navigating their early-50s. Set over a life-changing year, the eight-part series follows the couples as they take seasonal holidays together, exchange witty repartee and try to stay afloat in the increasingly choppy waters of their relationships.
It’s a talky, smartly funny, occasionally absurd look into the complexities of middle-aged malaise that doesn’t discount the beating heart of long-term love.
Watch: Netflix
Andor
Andor
The quality of Star Wars shows has been as wildly inconsistent as a stormtrooper’s aim in recent years. For every hit like The Mandalorian, there’s been a miss, like the third season of The Mandalorian. Fans had been holding out hope that the second season of acclaimed espionage-thriller Andor wouldn’t be corrupted by the dark side. Thankfully, it wasn’t.
The slow-burning series erupts from its world of murky greys and morality into full-blown rebellion to deliver the sort of Star Wars story fans have been hoping for.
Watch: Disney+
Don’t
Don’t
This funny and insightful doco-series sees comedian Bubbah tackling the big questions facing those nearing the big 3-0 in Aotearoa. Across three episodes, she weighs the pros and cons of marriage, home ownership and parenting, discussing these life-changing topics with fellow comedians, qualified experts and people she bumps into on the street in her quest for definitive answers to life’s most unanswerable quandaries. The kind you can only ever figure out by doing. Or, I guess, don’t-ing.
Watch: TVNZ+
