Ranging from decades-old classics to modern masterpieces, from piercing period dramas to absorbing crime thrillers, these limited series are the absolute best that HBO has ever produced. More than just essential titles in the pantheon of HBO releases, each of these miniseries has re-shaped the nature of television, becoming important and culturally relevant stories that have embodied small-screen greatness in the modern day, and will endure for decades to come.
10
‘Angels in America’ (2003)
Marking one of the most underrated and sadly forgotten releases in HBO’s catalog, Angels in America uses its sublime ensemble cast and its basis on Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play to deliver one of the most profoundly human and emotionally gratifying miniseries ever made. Set in New York in 1985, it follows six interconnected characters who find their lives and personal relationships changing significantly amidst the era’s rapidly-evolving social climate, particularly the impact of the AIDS epidemic and Ronald Reagan’s reign as president.
Over the course of its six-episode run, Angels in America boldly covers such thematic ideas as identity, sexuality, and religious spirituality through its compelling story of strained human connection that dissects the complex balance between political ideas and personal morality. Its ability to perfectly capture the paranoia of the mid-’80s through Mike Nichols’ astute direction and its litany of incredible performances has seen Angels in America endure as a truly timeless masterpiece, a powerhouse of character-driven drama that stands tall among HBO’s finest accomplishments.
9
‘Sharp Objects’ (2018)
Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name, Sharp Objects enraptures viewers as a masterclass in slow-burn suspense anchored by Amy Adams’s astonishing lead performance. Finding a flawless balance between engrossing drama and confronting brutality, it follows a crime reporter who returns to her hometown to investigate the murder of two young girls after a stint in a psychiatric hospital. As she struggles to grasp the callousness of the crime, she must also overcome the many demons from her past that emerge as traumas from her childhood begin to resurface.
Like many crime mystery series over the past decade, Sharp Objects excels not only at delivering a winding and captivating case but as a nuanced and richly absorbing character study as well. Adams’s portrayal of a journalist battling depression and alcoholism is nothing short of exceptional, but it is brilliantly supported by the atmospheric air of dread that director Jean-Marc Vallée conjures with the story’s meticulous pacing and the eerie allure of the Southern Gothic setting. The result is an utterly engulfing miniseries that is often disturbing, yet keeps viewers hooked on every twist and turn right up until its shocking climax.
8
‘The Night Of’ (2016)
Another triumph of slow-burn crime drama, The Night Of stands as one of the most underappreciated and underseen miniseries HBO has ever produced. Deftly combining its story of murder mystery with bold thematic ideas of the pitfalls of the judicial system and notions of racial prejudice in legal institutions, it unfolds as young Pakistani-American Nasir Khan (Riz Ahmed) is tried for what appears to be a clear-cut case in which he allegedly murdered a young woman. Criminal defense lawyer John Stone (John Turturro) represents Nasir while trying to figure out the truth, while Nasir’s time on Rikers Island, as he awaits prosecution, presents a harrowing introduction to a criminal’s worldview.
Managing to flaunt a cinematic reverence that never impedes its grounded and grueling realism, the eight-part miniseries soars as one of television’s most immersive and ideological crime mysteries. Its unique focus on the attorney’s investigation and the accused’s time behind bars brings a different perspective to the genre, one that allows for a refined examination of such themes as race, religion, and class, and one strengthened by the performances of Ahmed and Turturro. Thriving as both a multipronged character study and a masterful procedural thriller, The Night Of stands as one of the most overlooked titles in the history of crime television.
7
‘The Corner’ (2000)
With its basis on the nonfiction book by David Simon and Ed Burns, The Corner is easy to regard as a precursor to HBO’s astonishing crime classic The Wire. Set in a crime-riddled area of West Baltimore as a drug war rages on, it follows the members of the poverty-stricken McCollough family as they struggle to make ends meet while facing their own battles with addiction and drug-related crime.
Like The Wire, The Corner strikes a poignant realism in every element of its presentation. The abundance of research Simon and Burns put into their original book translates to the screen seamlessly, conjuring a painful and powerful story of humanity and substance abuse plucked straight from real life. Furthermore, the gritty intensity of Charles S. Dutton’s direction and the nuance of every major performance imbue the six-part limited series with an unflinching, uncompromising gravitas that excels at both plunging viewers into the brutal reality of poverty in West Baltimore and realizing its issues of drug use with a deeply human tenderness. Heartbreaking yet essential, The Corner stands as one of HBO’s most mature miniseries, and it is a shame that more people haven’t seen it.
6
‘The Pacific’ (2010)
The spiritual successor to Band of Brothers (more on that later), The Pacific delivers a confronting immersion into the brutality of the Pacific Theater of WWII as it follows the journeys of three Marines from different regiments. With its stunning production value, it plunges viewers into the horrors of war, starting with America’s first taste of combat in the region in the Guadalcanal campaign, covering devastating battlefields like Okinawa and Iwo Jima, and concluding with the survivors’ return to America following V-J Day.
Unflinching in its approach, The Pacific avoids any notion of glorification with its dark intensity. Its combat sequences don’t offer action spectacle so much as they plunge viewers into the terrible scale of war. Combining this notion of authenticity and violence with intimate character-focused storytelling and a rattling examination of the psychological toll war has on those who serve, The Pacific thrives as an exceptional war drama and as one of HBO’s most impressive and grandiose productions.
5
‘We Own This City’ (2022)
If the aforementioned The Corner can be considered a prequel of sorts to The Wire, then 2022’s We Own This City must be seen as a sublime successor to the crime classic. Co-created by David Simon and based on Justin Fenton’s nonfiction book of the same name, the six-episode miniseries presents an all-encompassing examination of police corruption in Baltimore, following the establishment, illegal activities, and eventual prosecution of the BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force spearheaded by Sgt. Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal).
While its dense and non-linear narrative can be unforgivably confounding, We Own This City is an engrossing deep dive into the nature of corruption and the abuse of power in the police force, one that intelligently frames the story through the FBI’s investigation into the GTTF to showcase not only how such practices go unpunished and unreported for so long, but the many bureaucratic and behavioral obstacles involved in shutting down rogue cops. Anchored by its outstanding performances, brutal realism, and incredibly timely thematic prowess, the miniseries offers a commanding true-crime story that stands as an underrated gem of modern television and an important, informed, and mature analysis of a piercing issue in modern society.
4
‘John Adams’ (2008)
A historical biographical drama that has been somewhat lost to time despite its widespread critical acclaim and its record 13 Primetime Emmy Award wins, John Adams coasts on the back of Paul Giamatti’s outstanding lead performance as it offers an intimate and grounded portrayal of the American Revolution and the nation’s political landscape through its first decades as a republic. The seven-part miniseries depicts the life of John Adams (Giamatti), covering his time as an ambassador in Europe, his involvement in the Revolutionary War, his tenure as the second U.S. President, and his extended influence on the country’s evolution leading up to his death in 1826.
Finding a compelling balance between recognizing the significance of the events depicted and casting the central characters in a humanizing light that explores their flaws and failings, John Adams is one of the best stories about the Founding Fathers of America ever put to screen. Bolstered by its litany of great performances, astonishing production, commitment to historical accuracy, and its decades-spanning scope, the limited series stands tall among HBO’s finest achievements, even if it has become somewhat forgotten over time.
3
‘Generation Kill’ (2007)
Marking yet another collaboration between HBO and showrunner David Simon, Generation Kill sees the Baltimore-based crime reporter substituting stories of gangland violence, police corruption, and drug addiction for a captivating analysis of the opening phase of the Iraq War. Based on Evan Wright’s nonfiction book—and co-written by Wright himself—it details his experiences as an embedded reporter with the US Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in the first weeks of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Standing as one of the best presentations of modern warfare, Generation Kill complements its story of camaraderie with an honest and intriguing emphasis on the malaise of war. The soldiers spend much of their time trying to overcome their boredom as miscommunications and bureaucratic processes stifle their missions, often leaving them exposed and even lost. As is typical of all David Simon series, Generation Kill excels with its air of authenticity, compelling viewers with its immersion into the monotonous life of a soldier, and ensuring every burst of gunfire and every taste of active combat is visceral.
2
‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
A title many would understandably regard as being the greatest miniseries of all time, Chernobyl offers a brilliant dramatization of the events of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, its immediate aftermath, and its long-term effects on the victims and the political power of the Soviet Union. While it is framed through the perspective of the two men tasked with overseeing the containment of the fallout, the sweeping epic covers everything from the heroics of the volunteers who put their lives on the line to minimize the impact of the catastrophe to the deceptive efforts to conceal the true extent of the calamity from Soviet leaders.
Intense and haunting, Chernobyl finds scintillating drama through its sense of realism, extracting gravitas and horror from the details of the disaster. It is an approach that is sublimely supported by a litany of outstanding performances, meticulous production design that recreates the aesthetic of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and smart storytelling decisions that see the plot progress at a propulsive pace without sacrificing the gravitas and scale of the events depicted. Atmospherically charged, thematically loaded, and respectful to the many victims of the incident, Chernobyl is a defining triumph of HBO that stands among the best pieces of television in many years.
1
‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)
Confronting, commanding, and completely absorbing from its opening minutes, Band of Brothers isn’t just HBO’s finest ever miniseries; it is one of the greatest feats in television drama in the history of the medium. Following the soldiers of Easy Company from their training program to their drop into Normandy on the eve of D-Day, their tireless campaign on the frontlines through the European Theater of WWII, and their presence in Germany at the end of the war, it excels as a breathtaking and brutal depiction of combat.
Balancing its unflinching illustration of war with a powerful sense of camaraderie, Band of Brothers offers intense realism and a profoundly human story of young men enduring the horrors of war, using its basis on real people to conjure a gripping and emotionally devastating masterpiece. Complemented by its stunning production value and technical craft, Band of Brothers has become a timeless classic of television drama, an essential masterpiece of the medium that epitomizes HBO at its bold and brilliant best.
Band of Brothers
- Release Date
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2001 – 2001
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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David Frankel, David Nutter, Mikael Salomon, Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine, Tom Hanks
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Donnie Wahlberg
C. Carwood Lipton
