Looking for a good series to watch? 2026 has been an unusually strong year for TV, and these are the shows worth your evenings, with where to stream each one in the US.
The Pitt season 2 (HBO Max). The Emmy-winning medical drama somehow got better, following Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby through one more grueling shift that is as much about what the job costs him as the patients.
Widow's Bay (Apple TV). Katie Dippold's horror comedy about a cursed New England island and its relentlessly upbeat mayor, Matthew Rhys. You never know if a scene ends in a shriek or a laugh.
Small Prophets (Apple TV). The year's best-reviewed show: Pearce Quigley builds tiny handmade oracles to predict when his long-missing partner will come home, with Michael Palin as his father. Strange, funny, and very sad.
Tip Toe (Starz). Russell T Davies turns a borrowed phone between two neighbors, Alan Cumming and David Morrissey, into five episodes of escalating dread.
Lord of the Flies (Netflix). Jack Thorne's adaptation makes a story you read in school feel immediate again.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max). The lightest and most charming Game of Thrones spinoff yet, built on the friendship between a hedge knight and a runaway prince.
Rivals (Hulu). Pure, soapy, 1980s British fun, with David Tennant as a media mogul at war with his former star.
The Testaments (Hulu). The Handmaid's Tale follow-up, a coming-of-age story set in Gilead with Ann Dowd back as Aunt Lydia.
Star City (Apple TV). A For All Mankind spinoff told from inside the Soviet space program, and a first-rate paranoid thriller.
Riot Women (BritBox). Sally Wainwright's drama about five middle-aged women who start a punk band.
Industry (HBO Max). The finance drama reinvented itself and came out sharper.
What is the best show of 2026 so far? If you only start one, make it The Pitt. If you want something you have not heard about from every friend, Small Prophets.
Add the shows that grab you to your watchlist in Plot, and keep track of where you left off.
