The 9 Best TV Shows to Watch Right Now

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The best shows to watch right now.

The Office turns 20.

Marvel goes too far.

Unrelatable Sundance ennui.

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The Best TV Shows Right Now

As a person who is happiest sitting in the spot of the couch so worn in that there’s a dent in the shape of his own butt and watching hours and hours of television while sustaining on nothing but microwaved popcorn and refuting the concept of “outside,” this is my favorite time of the year. It is the time of the year when television is good.

If you ever wondered why TV seems better at certain times than others in this age of streaming, where the broadcast model of Fall TV premieres doesn’t seem to matter as much, it’s because this is Emmy season. The cutoff for qualification is May 31, so there’s a rush to premiere shows in the spring so that they air in time to be eligible for awards.

That’s strategic on streamers’ and networks’ part, but fabulous for people like me who prefer pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist while watching a movie star make their desperate plea for an Emmy Award in a TV show performance.

Because there’s so much happening, I thought it would be helpful to guide you through what are the best things that are airing right now, so that you can join me in my sofa-rot existence of doing nothing productive besides watching good things.

The Studio

This show is so freaking funny, and I also can’t believe it actually got made. Seth Rogen eviscerates Hollywood executives, to the point that industry insiders can pinpoint what people and which projects he is satirizing in the show. The brilliance of the show is that it so smartly and specifically skewers show business that even people unaware of the ins and outs of the industry catch on to what it’s mocking. It’s hilarious.

Dying for Sex

This is cheating a bit, since the show doesn’t come out until April 4. But I beg you to look out for it. It is so warm and emotional and sexy and hilarious. The logline will raise an eyebrow: Michelle Williams is diagnosed with terminal cancer, decides she wants to have an orgasm before she dies, and embarks on a series of wild sexcapades while the trauma of her illness complicates things in the background. I ugly cried and loudly laughed in every episode; Jenny Slate as the best friend and caretaker gives the acting performance of the year.

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The Pitt

The Pitt is in the midst of a three-episode arc where the emergency room is treating the victims of a mass shooting. It is so frank and graphic in a way that is very unshowy, making the trauma and the tragedy resound even more painfully. The technical wizardry required to pull this off is astounding, but also so subtle—you’re so rapt in the adrenaline-pumping stakes and high emotion that you don’t realize just how impressive the filmmaking is.

Top Chef

I sing the praises of Top Chef so often that I feel like my dying words will be “pack your knives and go.” The show’s run is remarkable in that, unlike so many of its reality TV brethren, it has never relied on gimmicks or ostentatious twists to make noise and garner attention. It is the classiest reality show on TV, and that’s what makes it such a sumptuous pleasure to watch.

Adolescence

A friend told me recently they were putting off watching Adolescence because they didn’t want to be traumatized. The show is upsetting, but it’s not disturbing. It is ultimately about humanity, which is why the episodes are so devastating: You understand exactly why the characters are behaving and reacting in the ways that they are. This is probably the biggest Netflix show since Baby Reindeer, and you would be wise to watch.

Abbott Elementary

Network sitcoms that are consistently good often are underrated. For example, I’ve noticed recent threads on social media remarking about scenes on Modern Family that are top-tier comedy but didn’t happen until the end of its run; network sitcoms have to deliver the goods for years. That’s happening right now in a string of episodes on Abbott that are providing a huge showcase for my favorite actor on the show, Janelle James. You’d be wise to catch up.

Mid-Century Modern

Mid-Century Modern keeps being called “the gay Golden Girls,” which is a massive endorsement. It’s about three best friends who move in together in Palm Springs, with one of their mothers, and is from the creators of Will & Grace. It is as crowd-pleasing as you’d expect a multi-cam sitcom of this kind to be, but surprising in just how gay the plot lines and dialogue are. Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, Nathan Lee Graham, and Linda Lavin, may she rest in peace, deliver ace comedy performances.

Paradise

All the episodes of Paradiseare now available to stream. It’s an addicting show with huge twists pretty much every episode. But there’s one episode at the end of the season that fills out the backstory for Sterling K. Brown’s character that will wreck you. If you thought you cried hard watching him on This Is Us, you’re not ready for this.

Matlock

There is footage of Kathy Bates winning Best Actress for Matlock at the Critics Choice Awards and I am seen behind her jumping up and down and clapping like my own mother had just won a trophy. That is exactly how I feel about Matlock, my favorite network drama on TV right now.

The Office Nostalgia

I measure my own life in the age of TV shows I love, which is why I’m feeling particularly creaky and geriatric this week.

It’s the 20th anniversary of the first episode of The Office. I remember the watch parties we had for it in my freshman dorm building. I remember later seasons when my best friend lived across the street and on Thursday nights, she would see when I got home from work and turned my light on in the window, and would know it was time to come over so we could watch the new episode together. Somewhere in a moving box, there is my boxed set of DVDs of the series.

We published a piece on Obsessed this week gauging what fans said were their favorite episodes and moments. I wondered what I would choose. Is it “Dinner Party,” unequivocally one of the funniest episodes of television ever written? Is it “Casino Night,” which gave the Jim and Pam moment I had been yearning for? What about “Niagra,” which makes me cry each time I watch it?

I think my answer for my favorite episode would be “Beach Games,” because not only was it hilarious, but it was a major evolution moment for my favorite character, Pam. Pam, in my mind, is the true hero of the series, as it’s her relationship with the other main characters—Michael, Jim, Dwight—that drives the show forward. I’m immediately putting that episode on once I stop typing this.

Was This Necessary?

Love and light to everyone so invested in Marvel movies that they watched a five-hour casting announcement that was live-streamed on YouTube. We covered the announcement, of course, but it was exhausting and incredibly annoying. Are Marvel movies even enough a cultural phenomenon anymore that people would think a stunt like this was warranted or fun?

It forced me to think what I would watch such a ridiculously long announcement for. I arrived at an answer: the casting of the Broadway production of Mamma Mia! that’s coming this summer. That’s my Avengers: Doomsday.

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How Are Things in Colorado?

Once a year for many, many years, I put on my long johns, wrap the world’s biggest scarf around my neck, and head outside in Park City to watch the movies at the Sundance Film Festival. I have fond memories of the suffering: subsisting off Cliff Bars and the one Burger King that is the only place for food open when the last movie of the day ends, walking two miles in the 5-degree cold while it’s snowing because the bus to the theater is stuck in traffic, sitting next to Real Housewives at lunch, waiting in a two-hour line for an exclusive party sponsored by Spotify and Pizza Hut.

The Sundance organization announced this week that the 2026 festival will move from Park City to Boulder, Colorado. Everything about the move makes sense. It will probably make life easier for journalists like me; Park City is expensive, has terrible food, and is a pain in the a-- to get to. And yet, it feels wrong to have the festival anywhere else.

Cut to me in 2026 saying Boulder is the best city of all time. Still, a moment to mourn.

The Dream Team

You can tell a gay millennial’s age but how meaningful this photo of Andy Cohen, Ellen Pompeo, and Debra Messing together on Watch What Happens Live is to them.

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

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Is it OK to think the White Lotus incest scene was hot? Read more.

Dying for Sex: This is a magical, unusual show. A must-watch. (Friday on FX and Hulu)

The Friend: A great movie to watch if you want to cry about a dog. (Now in theaters)

The Studio: Easily the funniest new show of the year. (Now on Apple TV+)

Death of a Unicorn: Everyone involved in this needs to be tried for their cinematic crimes. (Now in theaters)

Paul American: If you’re a person interested in a Kardashians-style show about Jake and Paul Logan, take a long look in the mirror. (Now on Max)

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