31 Best Showtime Series Of All Time Ranked

First hitting the airwaves back in the late 1970s, Showtime is one of the longest-lasting cable channels still kicking. In its many years of existence, the network has helped create the modern idea of prestige television by airing well-made dramas, edgy and sophisticated comedies, and talk shows that upend the form. Unbound by the restrictions of broadcast networks, Showtime is free to elevate television and bring new perspectives and stories to millions of appreciative viewers. 

Forever in competition with fellow pay cable outlets like HBO and Starz, as well as streaming upstarts such as Netflix and Hulu, Showtime has held its ground in the still-ongoing "Peak TV" era. Every year, it adds more and more high-quality productions to the TV landscape, from audacious, quirky horror stories to blockbuster crime sagas. Which shows reign supreme? These are the 31 best Showtime series of all time.

Updated on June 30, 2022: Showtime debuts fantastic new series every month. Whenever something truly special hits the airwaves, we'll update this list to reflect its superior status. Be sure to check back often to keep up on the latest and greatest Showtime series.

In this lightly comic family drama set in Overland Park, Kansas, stay-at-home mom Tara manages far more than the typical American parent. Her kids are increasingly distant and engaging in problematic behavior, while her husband stays as supportive as he can, while being mostly ineffectual. Beyond all of this, Tara struggles with dissociative identity disorder. She suddenly and rapidly cycles between four separate, all-encompassing personas, all of which offer their own quirks and challenges. There's hard-drinking Buck, idealized '50s housewife Alice, high-energy teenager T, and Gimme, who operates on pure impulse. Tara's life is crowded, to say the least, but she's figuring it out — or at least, she's trying to.

• Starring: Toni Collette, John Corbett, Brie Larson
• Creator: Diablo Cody
• Year: 2009 – 2011
• Runtime: 36 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

An understated, engrossing show about a multi-generational East Los Angeles family, "Resurrection Blvd." thrives on tension. Widowed patriarch Roberto watches over his brood, training adult son Carlos in the family business of boxing, assisted by his other son, Miguel. A third son, medical student Alex, stands on the outside looking in. Roberto's daughters also represent different paths, with Yolanda becoming an attorney and Victoria enduring high school. Everyone faces a choice between tradition and striking out to do something new, and every decision is complex.

• Starring: Michael DeLorenzo, Tony Plana, Marisol Nichols
• Creator: Dennis E. Leoni
• Year: 2000 – 2001
• Runtime: 53 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

A simmering financial thriller that pulls drama from real-life commodities trading scandals, "Billions" is about the dance between two titans: Bobby Axelrod, a self-made hedge fund millionaire, and Chuck Rhoades, a federal attorney sniffing around for evidence of big money crimes. Caught in the middle and complicating things massively is psychiatrist Wendy Rhoades, Axelrod's house performance coach who happens to be Chuck Rhoades' wife. Her alliances and ethics are consistently tested as the two men try to outwit one another.

• Starring: Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff
• Creators: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Andrew Ross Sorkin
• Year: 2016 – Present
• Runtime: 70 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Just a few years after the events of 9/11, when millions of Americans became hyper-aware and supremely afraid of domestic terror attacks, Showtime premiered the audacious and intense "Sleeper Cell." This series takes viewers inside of a terrorist unit planningan attack in Los Angeles through Darwyn Al-Sayeed, an undercover FBI agent. He befriends and closely watches the group's leader, but suspicions are never far behind. Darwyn will need sharp wits, well-honed skills, and a lot of luck to make it through his mission.

• Starring: Michael Ealy, Oded Fehr, Henri Lubatti
• Creators: Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris
• Year: 2005
• Runtime: 18 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

"Saturday Night Live" star Vanessa Bayer excels in playing awkward oddballs out of their element, and in the dark workplace comedy "I Love That for You," she co-wrote herself a role of that nature — one inspired by her own experience as a childhood leukemia survivor. Joanna beat the disease as a little girl, and getting her adult life going a little bit later than she'd like, she leaves her family behind, begins her first relationship, and most importantly, cozies up to her idol, home shopping channel star Jackie Stilton, in order to get a job alongside her at SVN. She's not that great of an on-air personality, however, so to keep her job, she arouses sympathy by lying about her leukemia returning.

• Starring: Vanessa Bayer, Molly Shannon, Jennifer Lewis
• Creators: Vanessa Bayer and Jeremy Beiler
• Year: 2022 – Present
• Runtime: 8 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%

Sorrow proves to be entertaining on "The Affair," a narratively experimental drama. At its slowly crumbling heart, this series is about the demise of a marriage between novelist Noah and real estate agent Helen. When Noah starts up a fling with Long Island server Alison, it unravels multiple lives. Everyone becomes both an unlikely hero and an improbable villain, because "The Affair" tells the same story from multiple angles. An intensely emotional saga emerges from these frequent point-of-view changes that you won't soon forget.

• Starring: Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney
• Creators: Hagai Levi and Sarah Treem
• Year: 2014 – 2019
• Runtime: 53 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

The title character of "Ray Donovan" is forever trying to balance the criminal life he thought he escaped with his current one — and both involve a hefty amount of strong-armed manipulation. After spending years as a Boston criminal, Ray has become a glitzy Hollywood fixer — aka, the guy who makes big, bad problems go away for wealthy celebrities and tycoons. Unfortunately, his shady brothers and estranged father, released from prison after 20 years, keep showing up to get a piece of what Ray has created. 

• Starring: Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Dash Mihok
• Creator: Ann Biderman
• Year: 2013 – 2020
• Runtime: 82 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%

Comedy sensation Ziwe Fumudoh expands her popular series "Baited with Ziwe" in this Showtime production. On each episode, she welcomes celebrities, politicians, artists, and other notable people, then asks them hilariously honest questions about hot button issues. She keeps things going with filmed comedy bits featuring some of the edgiest and funniest actors in the business, like Cole Escola and Patti Harrison. You never know what you're going to get from "Ziwe," but you can bet it's going to be good.

• Creator: Ziwe Fumudoh
• Year: 2021 – Present
• Runtime: 12 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%

A mixture of "Veep" and "The Office" with an extremely cynical view of corporate culture, "House of Lies" is a dark comedy about a pod of skilled, morally flexible consultants who negotiate high-priced business deals, buyouts, and mergers. The members of this group are also incompetent failures in their personal lives who jump into ill-advised relationships and deal with the fallout of their broken families. All of this drama is the direct result of their workaholism and cutthroat tendencies, but it's not necessarily enough to make them change.

• Starring: Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz
• Creator: Matthew Carnahan
• Year: 2012 – 2016
• Runtime: 58 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 58%

The South Side of Chicago, as depicted on "The Chi," can be as tough and gritty as it is tight-knit and supportive. An emotionally probing series from the multi-talented Lena Waithe, the lives of young people living in this unique place take center stage. Ronnie meanders through life, looking for love and answers. Emmett needs guidance. Brandon and Jerrika try to make a go of romance. All of their trajectories are connected — but not in the ways they might expect.

• Starring: Jason Mitchell, Jacob Latimore, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine
• Creator: Lena Waithe
• Year: 2018 – Present
• Runtime: 41 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

Krystal Stubbs lives in a rundown Orlando suburb in 1992 with her newborn baby and jumpy husband. She works a poorly paid and deeply frustrating job in a waterpark, and is desperate to improve her station in life. Her husband is just as driven, but his head is completely in the clouds: He's been brainwashed by Founders American Merchandise, a multi-level marketing scheme which destroys the family's finances. After his sudden (and darkly hilarious) death, Krystal sets out to climb the FAM ladder and take it down from the inside — if she isn't corrupted by it first, that is.

• Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Theodore Pellerin, Mel Rodriguez
• Creators: Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 10 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

"Weeds" is a bit dated, given the United States' recent wave of cannabis legalization, but it remains a cutting satire of superficial suburbia starring a woman who will do absolutely anything to take care of her family. Strapped for cash after the death of her husband and with two traumatized sons to support, Nancy Botwin goes to work as a marijuana dealer. She sells her wares on the sly to prominent members of her otherwise staid, conservative, and monied community of Agrestic, California. Of course, a mom selling bags of pot to goofy dads is the least of this town's problems: Corruption, infidelity, and lies are rampant, a pattern which continues in later seasons when Nancy skips town.

• Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Elizabeth Perkins
• Creator: Jenji Kohan
• Year: 2005 – 2012
• Runtime: 102
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

Based on an Israeli drama about the unbelievably intense world of counterterrorism efforts, "Homeland" is one part political thriller, one part psychological drama. Carrie Mathison, a CIA operative with bipolar disorder, becomes convinced that Marine and freed prisoner of war Nicholas Brody was radicalized by his captors, and is now a sleeper agent ready to attack America. And that's just the first of many high-stakes issues Carrie must face and defuse on "Homeland." Winner of the 2012 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, it's a series that redefines the phrase "high-octane."

• Starring: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis
• Creators: Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon
• Year: 2011 – 2020
• Runtime: 96 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Georgia "George" Lass is a recent high school graduate with no real idea of what she wants to do with her life. It takes her death — she's struck by a falling toilet seat — for her story to truly begin. Stuck in a purgatorial state similar to the one she was in while among the living, George is assigned work as a grim reaper in the External Influence Division. In each episode of "Dead Like Me," she meets with other supernatural bureaucrats in a pancake house and is handed a slip of paper by her gruff boss, indicating the person whose soul she's tasked with collecting. As she escorts people to the afterlife, she learns a lot about living, and even more about love.

• Starring: Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin, Jasmine Guy
• Creator: Bryan Fuller
• Year: 2003 – 2004
• Runtime: 29 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

The various members of the large and troubled Gallagher family make themselves into Chicago legends by the time "Shameless" wraps up its 11-season run. Based on a British series of the same name, the American "Shameless" tells the alternately hilarious and aggravating story of Frank Gallagher and what he hath wrought. An unrepentant, self-aggrandizing cheapskate, con artist, and general schemer, he spends his days and nights drinking and scamming the system. This leaves his eldest daughter, Fiona, to put her own prodigious ambitions aside and take care of her many younger siblings. Everyone struggles to pull their school, work, and romantic lives out of the proverbial gutter, with varying degrees of success.

• Starring: William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White
• Creators: Paul Abbott and John Wells
• Year: 2010 – 2021
• Runtime: 140 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%