As The Last of Us winds down its enthralling first season, the fourth and final season of Succession (and soon after, Barry) arrives on HBO. Both shows are among the top ranks of the most-watched HBO series throughout the decades of original programming on the premium cable-turned-streaming HBO Max network, but are they two of HBO’s best shows? You’ll have to read on to find out.
We’ll stay away from miniseries (such as I May Destroy You) and shows that only made it one season before getting canceled for our purposes. To get out in front of it, we’d like to send gigantic apologies to *takes breath*: Watchmen, True Detective, Station Eleven, True Blood, Chernobyl, Silicon Valley, The Comeback, Band of Brothers, Girls, Westworld, and Los Espookys. …Okay, the list of those that didn’t make the top 10 could go on and on, so we’ll just stop there and simply say, “Apologies.”
10. Dream On (1990-1996)
After quick stints as writers on the failed sitcom Everything’s Relative, Marta Kauffman and David Crane created their first successful comedy series well before Friends took things to a wider audience. That show, Dream On, was one of HBO’s first big hits, if not the first, setting off a string of successes in the subsequent decades. Dream On was extremely clever and ahead of its time in exploring the life of a single parent who was weened on the promises of TV as a kid. It shows Martin Tupper (Brian Benben) navigating the relationships with his ex, his best friend, his son, and a revolving door of romantic interests.
The show inter-spliced clips of old black-and-white TV clips to demonstrate emotions, thoughts, and inner turmoil inside Martin, a sort of flashback gimmick that would be copied in other ways throughout modern television. For the groundwork the show laid, setting the stage for what HBO would deliver to audiences for the next 30 years, Dream On warrants a place at the table even if it isn’t top 10 in just programming alone.
9. Barry (2018-2023)
Another show that’s set to run its course in 2023, Barry still remains at a whopping 99% rating on RottenTomatoes’ Tomatometer (though we know that’s not a be-all, end-all rating). The Bill Hader-led show verges on the brink of being too dark at times — taking some characters to their breaking points — yet somehow, it still remains beloved by many.
Considered a dark comedy, the show started with more comedy and has gradually gotten darker and darker. Barry, played by Hader, is a hitman (who thinks he has a heart) who wants to become an actor and a better person. Yet, he seems to be spiraling further and further away from that aim, leading to real consequences for the trail of destruction he’s wrought. Though the titular character remains at the heart of the show, the performances from Henry Winkler, Sarah Goldberg, and Stephen Root, among several others, elevate the show into the upper echelon.
8. Veep (2012-2019)
The first show on our list that has to do with a line of succession, Veep is the political satire to which others must measure up. Julia Louis-Dreyfus somehow builds on her legendary status as a comedian and actress after her run as Elaine on Seinfeld. Playing Selina Meyer, who is the current Vice President with designs on the main seat in the Oval Office, the show depicts what one must overcome and stoop to in order to accomplish things in politics, especially for a woman, adding an edge and a new level of sociopathic behavior the show makes seem normal.
Veep made sure that even when Selina was bathing in glory, it was clear she was not a good person under it all, driving away and even betraying essentially everyone close to her — including her daughter and lovers. Speaking of, the costars of the show could not have been cast better, with said daughter, Catherine Meyer, played by Sarah Sutherland, joining Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Gary Cole, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Sufe Bradshaw, and Kevin Dunn, with Sam Richardson and Clea DuVall joining later to add a level of humanity and dignity to the otherwise mostly morally bankrupt crew.
7. Succession (2018-2023)
Succession is the natural successor to Game of Thrones, as we’ll get into later. The show goes deep into the dark side of family and family politics, manipulation, greed, power, and the want for children to prove themselves, both to their family and to the world. The title reveals right away what the synopsis of the entire series will be: namely, who will be the successor to the throne, or rather, company, Waystar RoyCo.
Every character has a chance to show every side of themselves, including the incredibly ugly underbelly of the Roy family, all expertly played — Logan (Brian Cox), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Connor (Alan Ruck), Siobhan (Sarah Snook), and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) — and by extension, that goes on to include Marcia (Hiam Abbass) as Logan’s current wife, Rava (Natalie Gold) as his former wife, along with Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), Gerry Kellmen (J. Smith-Cameron), and Frank Vernon (Peter Friedman).
6. Insecure (2016-2021)
Insecure stepped foot into a world the vast majority of HBO viewership probably had not ventured into before. Coming from the perspective of Black female leads with varying levels of success, Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji created characters that were relatable to any walk of life. Revolving around Issa Dee (Rae) and Molly Carter (Orji) with a strong supporting cast, the central theme of the show delved into a trait that just about everyone in Americana struggles with on some level: Insecurity.
The show explores their friendship starting in their late 20s after they went to Stanford together and took decidedly different paths in their careers. Molly went on to become a successful and powerful corporate lawyer, while Issa works at a nonprofit and tries to reach kids in the African-American community. Insecure succeeds in showing the vulnerabilities of both as they define what success is to them, from stable relationships or dating, to representing the community, all without resorting to tropes.
5. The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998)
Garry Shandling’s second stint as leading man of a serialized comedy-drama hasn’t lost any luster, giving us a peek behind the curtain at celebrity culture before social media put their eccentricities front and center consistently. The show also served as a huge inspiration to folks in the industry that strived to tell (almost) true stories with believable dialogue and outcomes, with the added layer of Hollywood pizzazz audiences crave. Entourage wishes it had the levity of The Larry Sanders Show.
4. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Our third show about a line (or lines) of succession! The ultimate escalation of a war of succession among kingdoms showed the way people were interested in high-stakes games of power, no matter the realm. Replace mysticism, physical brutality, incest, and fantasy with corporate boardrooms, media gaslighting, and modern-day absurdity, and voila, Succession is born thanks to Game of Thrones.
Some might say the series would be even higher up in prestige if not for its final seasons, which felt rushed and a bit sloppy at times without the cathartic payoff most fans hoped for. The intrigue sustained throughout its eight-year run is largely thanks to iconic acting (and, of course, dragons and white walkers). At the center of the fandom, the surprising and harrowing deaths and continual guessing of who would rise to prominence — then if/how they would meet their demise — sustained the week-to-week viewership.
3. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
Before streaming took hold of viewing patterns, HBO still had a huge impact on social dynamics and conversation thanks to many of its appointment-viewing shows, but The Sopranos might have been the peak of that. The show brought together friends to consume the chaos together, as the world around Tony Soprano and his crime organization struck a chord with audiences for its charisma and “family above all” mantras, and of course, HBO staples such as violence and sex. Could this be considered a show about succession as well? Hmm…
2. The Wire (2002-2008)
The show started off (almost literally) with a bang in season one and continued to shape-shift and evolve over the course of its run. The Wire was rooted in reality thanks to the show’s creator, David Simon, and his experience as a journalist in Baltimore. That led to the exquisite detail of character, conflict, and a city that ebbed and waned amid its criminal underbelly, as well as a corrupt political system.
The Wire juggled multiple diverging and converging storylines with aplomb, integrating the police and detective beats with the power struggle of street gangs and drug kingpins, and the show never shied away from reality. There isn’t another show in the class of The Wire on showing the power of decisions and alliances, and the paths that one decision can lead toward, including how both worlds involved kids and teenagers in the struggle, the trade, and even as collateral.
1. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-Present)
Whereas the other top three on this list might not strike a chord with every audience, Curb has carried on a legacy that started with Seinfeld and bleeds into modern comedy that has one foot in reality and the other in the absurdity that is reality. The adventures Larry David goes through, playing a fictionalized version of himself, always roots itself in real situations and circumstances while gleefully playing with the audience. David and the ensemble cast dig deep into what lurks in our minds — then goes and puts everything on full display. There’s a reason this show is on its second stint with no signs of slowing down.
Sorry to say for fans of the most recent breakout HBO hit, but The Last of Us needs one more incredible season to lock it into this list. We’ll say that, for now, it is already looming large, in a virtual lock with True Detective for one of the greatest first seasons for a show to air on HBO (or anywhere, for that matter). Yet, as we saw with True Detective, a successful first season does not guarantee further sustained success. Fans of the show, and especially The Last of Us Part II video game, are wondering where in the world the show’s creators will take season two, which will have higher stakes now that there are even higher expectations.
