31 Best HBO Series Of All Time Ranked

"It's not television," intones the famous slogan of America's premiere premium TV network, "it's HBO." Well, it is television, because the shows are half an hour or an hour long, and they're beamed out to little boxes across the country. But because viewers have to pay a little extra in their cable bill each month, HBO has the privilege of being something truly special. Unhindered by the limitations of broadcast TV, with its decency standards and need for regular commercial breaks, the widely-lauded channel has created some of the best TV shows ever made. 

Since HBO debuted in the 1970s as an early cable channel offering recently-released movies and live sporting events — a novel notion hinted at in the network's full name, "Home Box Office" — it has majorly evolved. Today, it's a purveyor of some of the most innovative, forward-thinking, and hands-down best television being made. While most HBO shows are pretty good, however, some are definitely better than others. The most impressive are widely considered classics of the form, and high-water marks of 20th and 21st century entertainment. These 31 HBO series are the best of all time — which basically means they're some of the very best TV period. 

Updated on May 10, 2022: These HBO series are the best of the best, but new shows debut all the time. We'll be keeping an eye on the network's offerings, and will regularly update this list to reflect the cream of the HBO crop.

A stark, shocking contrast to TV's many corny shows about teen life, "Euphoria" posits that the kids are definitely not alright. It follows the intersecting lives of students at a large, contemporary high school, all of whom face their own issues with personal identity, sexuality, and mental health. "Euphoria" takes a dreamy, fantastical, inner monologue-heavy approach to its characters' struggles, resulting in a unique aesthetic and impactful portrayals of addiction, body image issues, and first love. Will these characters find solace and hope before they've even entered the adult world? We don't know — but it's sure to be lushly captured.

• Starring: Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi
• Creator: Sam Levinson
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 16 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

Styled like a documentary shot by an embedded, up-close camera crew, "Betty" is a visceral, joyful depiction of what it's like to be young and live in New York City. Shot almost entirely in public places utilizing natural light, this gorgeous series follows a loose group of young women who are linked together by skateboarding. To them, it's an expansive sport, a source of community, and a form of transportation. Based on Crystal Moselle's 2018 film "Skate Kitchen," "Betty" takes these characters across the city as they forge their identities apart from their families and break through the glass ceiling of hostile, male-dominated skate culture.

• Starring: Dede Lovelace, Rachelle Vinberg, Nina Moran
• Creator: Crystal Moselle
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 12 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Hannah Horvath, an aspiring writer, is launching her adult life in New York City alongside a pack of friends. But this isn't exactly the glamorous existence they thought it would be. With this show, creator Lena Dunham gives voice to a certain segment of the population at a very particular point in time: Young people who aren't sure what to do or where to go next, but are interested in not getting run over by the world in the process. Just as Hannah has her writing, Marnie is an art gallery assistant, Shoshanna aims to be an ideal yuppie, and bohemian Jessa flits through life, dispensing wisdom she doesn't really have. Somehow, they'll all have to grow up.

• Starring: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Adam Driver
• Creator: Lena Dunham
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 62 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

"Flight of the Conchords" manages to create comedy that is both bone dry and relentlessly silly. Named after the understated New Zealand-based folk-rock duo consisting of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the series follows their misadventures as they attempt to make it as musicians in New York City, with only their incompetent agent and a single unhinged super-fan encouraging that dream. But really, "Flight of the Conchords" is all about very funny songs, like the "Space Oddity" riff "Bowie's in Space," "Business Time," a paean to routine lovemaking, and the desperately romantic "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)."

• Starring: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, Rhys Darby
• Creators: James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie
• Year: 2007
• Runtime: 22 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

Often feeling more like a collection of brilliantly bizarre short films than standalone skits, "A Black Lady Sketch Show" also stands apart in that its bits aren't political, absurdist, or satirical — they're all of those things. Linked together by a focus on Black women's lives, "A Black Lady Sketch Show" offers hilarious commentary on everything from nightclub etiquette to the apocalypse. It also features a never-ending wealth of all-star talent, including appearances from Yvette Nicole Brown, Patti LaBelle, Angela Bassett, and Gina Torres, among others.

• Starring: Robin Thede, Ashley Nicole Black, Quinta Brunson
• Creator: Robin Thede
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 13 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

Kenny Powers is riding high as one of the major leagues' top pitchers, but he's also foul-mouthed, racist, arrogant, and snide. After he's kicked out of baseball, he heads back to his North Carolina hometown to bask in his celebrity and be a middle school P.E. teacher at the same institution his one true love works. But Kenny has learned nothing about changing his ways, and runs roughshod over the whole community. He wants a road back up to the top, but the one he finds snakes through low-rent Mexican baseball leagues, a job hosting a sports-centric talk show, and the suburbs. Good thing it's so entertaining.

• Starring: Danny McBride, Katy Mixon, Steve Little
• Creators: Ben Best, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride
• Year: 2009
• Runtime: 29 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Issa Rae fleshes out her celebrated web series "Awkward Black Girl" into this stirring tale of two Black women seeking career success and fulfilling relationships in modern Los Angeles. Former Stanford classmates Issa and Molly have a friendship full of support and validation — but they're not afraid to challenge each other when the moment calls for it either. As they wend their respective ways through adulthood, they deal with on-again-off-again boyfriends, career success bumping up against romantic frustration, and personal loss. Watching them confront each obstacle can be hilarious, tragic, or cringe-worthy, but it's always memorable.

• Starring: Issa Rae, Yvonne Orji, Natasha Rothwell
• Creators: Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 44 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Surreal to the point of unabashed silliness, "Los Espookys" is a very original comedy about the unlikely intersection of business, hustle, passion, and gore. Presented partially in Spanish and partially in English, this series is set in a quirky, unnamed Latin American country, where horror lover Renaldo and his oddball friends form a collective called Los Espookys. Together, they stage "supernatural" events and create realistic-seeming monsters for paying customers — think angry ghosts, sea creatures, and exorcisms. Meanwhile, Renaldo's uncle Tico gets into all kinds of adventures in his work as a renowned valet parking lot attendant. It's weird, bloody, and absolutely delightful.

• Starring: Ana Fabrega, Fred Armisen, Bernardo Velasco
• Creators: Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega, and Julio Torres
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 6 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

A dark, psychological slow-burn of a comedy from "Saturday Night Live" standout Bill Hader, "Barry" is about the dangers of fulfilling deep impulses, be they narcissistic or outright deadly. Hader plays Barry, a military sniper turned hitman. When his flaky handler Fuches sends him to Los Angeles to work for a surprisingly charming Chechen mob boss named NoHo Hank, his already unique life takes an even stranger turn. Barry stalks his target to an acting class and does the deed ... then finds himself enchanted with the world of performance. He decides then and there to become an actor, and keep it as separate as possible from the professional killing with which he's become disenchanted.

• Starring: Bill Hader, Henry Winkler, Sarah Goldberg
• Creators: Alec Berg and Bill Hader
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 16 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%

The Northern California-based tech industry, with its never-ending cavalcade of software, apps, online services, and gear, has changed life as we know it. It's also ripe for a send-up, particularly one targeting the tension between earnest engineers and flashy, aggressive business people. "Silicon Valley" does this by following Richard Hendricks, a shy and goofy engineer who wants to disrupt the industry with his app, Pied Piper. To do so, he'll have to get out of his own way, avoid the massive blunders to which he is fatalistically prone, keep his fussy staff happy, and fend off the evil, thieving antics of the huge tech corporations who all want a piece of his operation.

• Starring: Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods
• Creators: John Altschuler, Mike Judge, and Dave Krinsky
• Year: 2014
• Runtime: 53 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

"Succession" is, at once, a family drama, business thriller, and ultra-dark comedy. The nastiness executives and associates of the Waystar Royco corporation are guilty of in the public sphere is no match for what happens behind closed doors. Boss Logan Roy and his grown children are veritable fonts of back-stabbing, cruelty, and all manner of insidious machinations. As Logan negotiates old age, his offspring and their partners fight to take over the empire, even as it's plagued by a cascade of scandals. It's Shakespearean, hilarious, and absolutely brutal.

• Starring: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin
• Creator: Jesse Armstrong
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 29 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

A catty, mischievous, and creatively profane satire of high-level American politics, "Veep" follows the people who keep the humdrum, day-to-day tasks of governance happening. They hate themselves even more than they resent the country. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won six Emmy Awards for portraying Selina Meyer, an entitled, self-absorbed career politician with no real platform or beliefs who likes being famous and powerful and is openly disenchanted with the ceremonial duties of the vice presidency. When thrust into the presidency she so desperately desires, Meyer and her team of exhausted and cynical underlings find themselves way out of their depth.

• Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale
• Creator: Armando Iannucci
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 65 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

After Larry David co-created and wrote many episodes of "Seinfeld," he made another show purportedly "about nothing." "Curb Your Enthusiasm" follows a fictionalized version of David as he arrogantly flits through life in Los Angeles. Crucially, this version of Larry David is a jerk who has no understanding of or interest in saying or doing the right thing, as dictated by society. Thus, he's always getting himself in trouble for snide remarks or rude actions. David just can't help but call out the hypocrisies, annoyances, and offenses of the world — and the world always enacts retribution against him for it. He never learns his lesson, and that's how fans like it.

• Starring: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines
• Creator: Larry David
• Year: 2000
• Runtime: 110 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Formerly a Baltimore police reporter, David Simon created "The Wire," an unflinching look at a slowly fracturing American city, out of his experiences. Set in Baltimore, each season of this celebrated show examines a different municipal pillar or phenomenon as it relates to the city's complicated law enforcement system. In Season 1, Baltimore police battle the thriving drug trade, which is itself a response to systemic racial and economic disparity. Then, the story shifts to the shipping and port trade, the corrupt city government, an underfunded and ineffectual school system, and the local media. "The Wire" offers no easy answers — it's only interested in the ever complex and often unforgettable truth.

• Starring: Dominic West, Michael K. Williams, Wendell Pierce
• Creator: David Simon
• Year: 2002
• Runtime: 60 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

"The Leftovers" is a hauntingly beautiful series about grief, belonging, and humanity's ceaseless search for answers that might never come. We begin a couple of years after the cataclysmic and unexplained Departure, an event which saw 2% of the global population vanish from existence. People try to go about their lives, but trauma and survivor's guilt are never far behind. This stirring story's main characters are Kevin Garvey, a small town police chief dealing with a fatalistic cult, and Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family in the Departure. Their experiences won't leave you any time soon.

• Starring: Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Christopher Eccleston
• Creator: Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta
• Year: 2014
• Runtime: 28 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%