10 Most Perfect HBO Shows, Ranked

For decades, HBO was the place to go to mostly for movies and a few sporting events. However, that began to change in the 1990s thanks to original programming. The critical success of The Larry Sanders Show and other hits of the early decade made HBO a name synonymous with top-tier television. Here, sitcoms and dramas could get away with so much more than the restrained shows that aired on network TV. Cursing, nudity, more violence, nothing much was off limits.

HBO became the hip channel, with a plethora of shows which have permeated pop culture. Sex and the City, True Detective, True Blood, Euphoria, The White Lotus, and the list goes on, but as great and influential as these TV series are, none of them were able to crack the top 10 of the most perfect HBO shows ever made. Only the best of the best make this list.

10

‘The Pitt’ (2025-)

Noah Wyle became a household name in the 90s and 2000s thanks to his role as Dr. John Carter on NBC‘s ER. After its finale in 2009, Wyle continued to act, but he couldn’t find anything which matched his ER days. Then came The Pitt, created by ER writer and producer R. Scott Gemmill. Without ever seeing it, you might think The Pitt is another ER ripoff. It’s not. The Pitt is everything similar shows couldn’t be.

The Pitt has an ingenious premise, with each of a season’s 15 episodes covering one hour of real time in a single shift. Because it’s HBO, The Pitt doesn’t hold back on the graphic gore, but it’s also so much more. It’s a love letter to doctors and nurses and what they must go through every day. In its first season, The Pitt won three Emmys, including for Outstanding Drama Series. It continues to excel in Season 2. In a year or two, this one will be higher up on the list, but two seasons in, it’s incomplete and thus too soon.

9

‘Oz’ (1997-2003)

Before Orange Is the New Black, there was Oz. Set in a men’s prison, the series name is short for the fictional Oswald State Correctional Facility. Inside the prison sits an area called Emerald City, with prisoners of every variety mixed together, leading to deadly chaos in every episode. Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergensen) is the viewer’s initial way in as a new prisoner sent to Oz after a night of drinking and driving ends in the death of the girl. Once inside, Tobias learns that he’s just about the most normal of the prisoners there is.

Oz has an impressive ensemble cast. Ernie Hudson is Warden Leo Glynn, Harold Perrineau is the wheelchair-bound Augustus Hill, and long before he was selling car insurance, Dean Winters was Ryan O’Reilly. Any of these characters could kill or be killed at any moment, but the most terrifying of all is J.K. Simmons’ Vernon Schillinger. Few TV bad guys have been more scary than him.

8

‘Veep’ (2012-2019)

When Veep came out, it was seen as over-the-top satire of politics. Oh, it looks so tame now. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Seinfeld icon plays Selena Meyer, the Vice President of the United States. Meyer hates her thankless job, and she’s annoyed by everyone around her. A mixture of Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s comic honesty and the rapid-fire dialogue of The West Wing, Veep is one of the best comedies of the 21st Century.

Louis-Dreyfus is the lead, but she’s not the only great character in this hilarious ensemble cast. Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons and others all play a host of crazed characters around the VP. The best, though, is Tony Hale as Meyer’s bag man, Gary Walsh. Veep got America through some wild times, especially in the last few seasons, earning a whopping 17 Emmys along the way.

7

‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)

Band of Brothers is technically a miniseries, and even though that only meant one season of 10 episodes, it’s more than enough to make this list. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series takes place during World War II. It took what Spielberg and Hanks did with Saving Private Ryan and somehow improves on it with a brutal and unflinching look at the cost of war.

Following the actions of the Easy Company, Band of Brothers is stacked with both known names and future stars such as Kirk Acevedo (who also starred in Oz), Damian Lewis, Ron Lvinston, David Schwimmer, and Mark Wahlberg. It won an impressive seven Emmys out of a staggering 20 nominations. It’s not hyperbole to say that Band of Brothers might just be the best war story ever put to film.

6

‘Succession’ (2018-2023)

Created by Jesse Armstrong (The Thick of It, In the Loop), Succession is the ideal satire for our corporate-owned times. Centered on the Roy family, the faction Waystar RoyCo is led by the family’s patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox). However, he’s an aging man who can’t do this forever, and one day someone in his clan will have to succeed him on the media throne.

Succession shows the best and worst of its characters. The Roy family is filled with schemers who will do anything to get to the top. Money and power corrupts and ruins lives through some phenomenal acting, led by Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck, and in a brilliant comeback, Kieran Culkin. With Emmy wins for acting, writing, and Outstanding Drama series, along with an unforgettable final episode, Succession is perfection.

5

‘Six Feet Under’ (2001-2005)

Alan Ball‘s (American Beauty) Six Feet Under had the challenge of airing at the same time as The Sopranos, but it didn’t get overlooked. Lasting five seasons, the series begins with the death of funeral home owner Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins). With him gone, it’s up to his dysfunctional family to lead the business, even though many of them are barely able to stay alive themselves.

Six Feet Under is led by a great cast including Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, and Michael C. Hall in the role that made him a star before Dexter. The series has a unique approach, with each episode beginning with the death of the latest person wheeled into Fisher and Sons. Filled with drama and heartbreak, Six Feet Under has an iconic last episode. It has perhaps the best final scene in TV history, one guaranteed to leave you in tears.

4

‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ (2000-2024)

Larry David transformed television forever in the 1990s with his mammoth hit Seinfeld, which he co-created and wrote on. Jason Alexander‘s high-strung George Costanza is based on David, so when Seinfeld ended in 1998, what better way for David to keep the laughs coming by playing a fictionalized version of himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In every episode, Larry gets himself in some sort of trouble that’s not always his fault, making life anxious for everyone around him.

With 12 seasons over 25 years, knowing when to step back and take a break is part of what made Curb Your Enthusiasm work. Instead of running the premise into the ground, the series left fans wanting more. Co-starring Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, and Susie Essman, Curb Your Enthusiasm succeeds by giving Larry plenty of equally bizarre characters to interact with. Unlike Seinfeld, it even stuck the landing with a final episode that calls back to the controversial ending to David’s NBC show.

3

‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019)

For years, Game of Thrones was the biggest show on the planet, and it might be the last water-cooler show that had everyone talking. Based on George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Fire and Ice books, the series sees the Seven Kingdoms doing anything possible to land on the Iron Throne. Told mainly through the Starks and Lannister houses, Game of Thrones kept everyone on the edge of their seats because anything was possible in each and every episode.

Game of Thrones is a heartbreaking drama and a thrilling action fantasy series, with some star making acting from Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, and Kit Harington, just to name a few. Every season turns up the tension with smart writing and jaw-dropping settings. The final season starts to fall apart a bit, but not enough to hurt all of the perfect moments that came before it.

2

‘The Wire’ (2002-2008)

David Simon‘s The Wire took a rather interesting approach. Set in Baltimore, it could have been just another detective series of good guys and bad guys. However, what keeps The Wire must-see TV for its five seasons is that each year takes a different look at a different part of the city, whether it be drugs, the government, or the media.

Although it wasn’t a ratings juggernaut and was overshadowed by the next series on this list, The Wire is masterful storytelling. It is deemed too smart for some, but if you stick with it, The Wire is some of the greatest television ever produced. There’s not just one major character to single out, but Michael K. Williams’ Omar is the heart of the series.

1

‘The Sopranos’ (1999-2007)

Few shows have permeated culture like The Sopranos did. When it first aired to end the 20th century and begin a scary new one, David Chase‘s show was all TV fans talked about. It marked the birth of a new era where network TV and cute sitcoms with laugh tracks were no longer king. Audiences craved the anti-hero and found one in Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), the intimidating mob boss who can barely handle his anxiety without his therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Braco).

The Sopranos is a family story, whether it be about Tony’s wife and kids, or those who work for him. Gandolfini played him with such honesty that you want to hug Tony just as much as you want to run from him. The Sopranos is the epitome of cool. It has perhaps the most divisive series finale in history, but two decades later, the final seconds are seen as just one more perfect scene before everything goes black.