There’s a long list of Apple TV shows waiting to be explored, but choosing the best ones is always a challenge — not because the platform lacks options, but because nearly all of them are worth watching. The numbers speak for themselves: in 2025 alone, Apple TV had a record-breaking year, winning a whopping 22 Emmy Awards. The year prior, the platform took home 13 Emmys, further cementing its reputation as one of streaming’s most consistent hitmakers.
Featuring a combination of big-name stars and rising talent, alongside original stories and carefully curated adaptations, Apple TV knows how to build a lineup suited for any mood. Whether you are looking for a wholesome comfort watch or a mind-bending sci-fi thought-provoker, the platform has something to offer. Without further ado, here are the seven greatest Apple TV+ series you will wish you had watched sooner.
1
‘Shrinking’ (2023–Present)
Grief does the craziest things to people — and people do the craziest things when they’re grieving. Shrinking introduces audiences to the widowed Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), who has spiraled downward following his wife’s death. His daughter resents him, his neighbors pity him, and his friends cannot seem to reach him. Ironically enough, for a guy who cannot get over his grief, he works as a therapist.
Jimmy’s not like any other therapist. Instead of sugarcoating his advice, he lays bare the cold, harsh truth — which apparently works for his clients. His mentor Paul (Harrison Ford) might not approve of Jimmy’s intrusive methods, but Jimmy finds satisfaction in knowing that his approach actually works — until it doesn’t. It is then that he realizes no amount of people he can heal will ever fix the one person who really needs healing: himself.
2
‘Ted Lasso’ (2020–Present)
Football is very much in season in Ted Lasso — the British kind, though. Coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) gets the culture shock of his life when he’s hand-selected to train the struggling A.F.C. Richmond. Unsurprisingly, his overenthusiastic southern hospitality doesn’t exactly match well with Richmond’s sardonic humor. But over time, Coach Lasso wins his team over with his kindness. Together with his trusty sidekick Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), the two slowly earn the trust of Richmond’s finest footballers, and in the process, learn how to become better trainers themselves.
One of the biggest lessons emphasized in Ted Lasso is to “be curious, not judgmental.” Coach Lasso is underestimated, but instead of lashing out, he understands that all of it comes from people just being curious. All he has to do is give them a proper reason to believe he is a capable coach. For him, that comes effortlessly. A.F.C. Richmond is already filled with capable football players — Coach Lasso simply gives them the confidence they have long needed.
3
‘Pachinko’ (2022–2024)
An epic family saga spanning from 1915 Korea to 1989 Japan, Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean family trying to survive under Japanese occupation. After an unwanted encounter leaves teenage Kim Sunja (Kim Min-ha) pregnant, she builds a new life in Osaka after a priest offers to marry her in the name of salvation. Decades later, her grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) confronts the legacy of his family’s history.
Pachinko explores the struggles of the Zainichi community — ethnic Koreans living in Japan — across generations shaped by discrimination and displacement. The apple does not fall far from the tree, and their experiences across the decades reflect that reality. Sunja has it hard as a direct victim of the Japanese annexation and World War II, but even Solomon, despite becoming a far more successful descendant, still has his Korean-Japanese heritage called into question. However, the series shows that persistence alone is already a form of resistance, and that the only people we truly have to prove ourselves to are ourselves.
4
‘Pluribus’ (2025–Present)
“We just want to help, Carol.” From the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul now comes the post-apocalyptic Pluribus. Author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) is one of the 13 people in the world unaffected by the “Joining,” a mysterious foreign virus that causes humanity to be part of a unified, hive mind known as the “Others.” Unlike traditional viruses — which either kill people or worse, turn them into zombies — the Others live harmonious, productive lives.
Pluribus questions whether being part of the status quo majority is truly better than being in the minority. The philosophy of the Joining is that nobody gets left behind and contributes equally, and that everyone lives in peaceful coexistence with no social strata dividing them. However, it doesn’t take away the fact that they are taking away individualism and free choice. Even if it makes the world a “better place,” there is always a cost to efficiency.
5
‘The Studio’ (2025–Present)
Today’s entertainment industry may be in disarray due to AI, profit-hungry executives, and streaming services. However, it also makes for great satirical television. The Studio is arguably Seth Rogen‘s magnum opus, especially after earning him his first-ever Primetime Emmy Award win for the show. Following a struggling production company, Matt Remick (Rogen) becomes the newly appointed head of Continental Studios. Matt’s love for movies is unquestionable, but his cinephile, Letterboxd-coded taste isn’t exactly what the market-seeking executives at Continental Studios are looking for.
The Studio takes virtually every Hollywood and pop culture trope and makes fun of its sheer cringiness. Much of that cringe comes from the idea that everything has to be marketable. Throughout The Studio, superhero franchises, awards campaigns, and corporate marketing are all portrayed as being far removed from the artistry that’s supposed to be at the heart of filmmaking. It’s a sharp reminder that these days, what gets people talking about films often isn’t the film itself, but the discourse surrounding it — something studios are eager to profit from, revealing just how shallow Hollywood can be.
6
‘Dark Matter’ (2024–Present)
Based on Blake Crouch‘s book of the same name, Dark Matter shows what happens when an overly ambitious scientist goes overboard with his so-called benevolent ideas. By day, Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) is a physics professor at a regular college. By night, he’s a doting husband and father to his family. His life changes when he gets abducted in the middle of the night. He later wakes up in an alternate reality — one where his scientific passion project is a success and used for nefarious means.
Parallel universes are a big thing in the sci-fi genre. Dark Matter gets its sci-fi chops from the actual superposition theory, which is fictionalized to extreme measures when it is made into a dimension-traveling box. But one rule of parallel universe traveling is that when somebody alters even the slightest thread of their current reality, it would not only alter the current universe they’re in, but also millions of other universes out there. Dark Matter is one slippery slope that Jason finds himself in, with no possible way of escaping.
7
‘Severance’ (2022–2025)
“The work is mysterious and important.” No other sci-fi series has brought viewers more to Apple TV than Severance. Former history professor Mark Scout (Adam Scott) is wallowing in grief following the unexpected passing of his wife. To cope with his heartbreak, Mark takes a job at Lumon Industries. Apart from a stable office job, one of the other “perks” of working there is that everyone on his floor goes through a memory-losing “severance” program.
The severance program is designed to create split personalities: as an “innie,” employees aren’t aware of what’s going on outside; as an “outie,” they have no memory of what they did back at work. Severance questions the moral ambiguity of this method. On one hand, severance allows employees to fully focus on the work as they enter the building, ensuring total work-life balance. On the other hand, it establishes one-sided control over the working class. Either way, it reeks of modern-day capitalism, showing how corporations are willing to invade their staff in the name of profit.
- Release Date
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February 17, 2022
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman
- Writers
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Anna Ouyang Moench, Wei-Ning Yu
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