Paste’s Power Rankings: The 10 Best Shows on TV Right Now

The Presidential election is still far (way too far) away but last week the race began in earnest as the 20 (!!!) candidates finally took to the debate stage. It was hard to compete with the big live TV events happening last week, but some new cable entries and a long beloved anime series did their best to be heard.

The rules for the power list are simple: Any series on TV qualifies, whether it’s a comedy, drama, news program, animated series, variety show or sports event. It can be on a network, basic cable, premium channel, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube or whatever you can stream on your smart TV, as long as a new episode was made available the previous week—or, in the case of shows released all at once, it has to have been released within the previous four weeks.

The voting panel is composed of Paste editors and TV writers with a pretty broad range of tastes. We’re merciless: a bad episode can knock you right off this list. So much good TV is available right now.

Honorable Mentions: Pose, The Handmaid’s Tale, Andi Mack, Euphoria, and Los Espookys.

10. Neon Genesis Evangelion
Network: Netflix
Last Week’s Ranking: Not Ranked

Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most pivotal anime of all time. There is just no way around that fact: it was a seminal piece of work for coming-of-age teens all over the world, it was a vicious look at depression and internal strife made manifest. And, almost more than anything else, it was a beautifully drawn and directed piece of animation. Yes, it is not without its thematic flaws and fan-service tropes of the genre (like the male gaze towards female figures that are, of course, always drawn salaciously). Neon Genesis Evangelion was a piece of peak late-90s anime that slowly became more famous, and more monolithic, because of how hard it was too actually watch it—look at DVD prices for the show if you need any convincing of this matter.

But time passed, and Evangelion’s fandom blossomed into full adulthood. Streaming services became a part of everyday life, and it was only a matter of time before Evangelion was picked up by a streaming platform. As such, Netflix acquired the streaming rights to the series, which had its premiere June 21st. It came with changes, including a new dub and new music, as licensing rights are a monster unto themselves. The new dub and musical changes have sparked conversations about what the show is really about (and how the new dub highlights or negates various themes), music licensing, and preservation in the digital age. Neon Genesis Evangelion may have debuted in 1995, but it resurfacing on Netflix and the passion around it feels as fresh, as feverous and new as it did in the late 1990s. The series is still a complex work that subverts and warps tropes of mecha anime and is, in many ways, a terrifying journey through deepest and darkest recesses of the human psyche.—Cole Henry

9. The Loudest Voice
Network: Showtime
Last Week’s Ranking:Not eligible

Aided by prosthetics, a fat suit and a really bad hair piece, Russell Crowe transforms himself into Roger Ailes as he chronicles Ailes’ rise to power within News Corporation and the Republican party in the seven-episode Showtime miniseries. With a gruff, gravelly voice and a distinct waddle, Ailes is gluttonous (one of the first shots shows him pouring syrup over his entire breakfast), overtly racist and casually misogynistic (“Pull back? What are you a fucking cheerleader on a first date?” he utters during a staff meeting). The series, based on the book The Loudest Voice in the Room, shows how a confluence of events—from the September 11 attacks to the election of Barack Obama—conspired to make Ailes one of the most powerful people in the news media and in the Republican party. While the series plays out as more of an impressionist character study assuming we already know the lurid story, The Loudest Voice does make clear is the influence Ailes has had on our pop culture and our current political climate. Crowe’s tour-de-force, Emmy bait performance ensures that in the story of his life, Ailes remains the loudest voice.—Amy Amatangelo

8. Baskets
Network: FX
Last Week’s Ranking: 7

Baskets was always both strange and funny, embracing a now rarely-seen physical comedy when it came to Chip’s (Zach Galifianakis) failures. But as it’s progressed, the series has leaned in to its sweeter side to its benefit. The change has also come as the series has moved away from the shadow of Louis CK, in the wake of his scandal, and become entirely co-creator Jonathan Krisel’s show. Krisel also directs the series, which overlays a beautiful, distinctive, and indie film-like filter to the story of what is essentially an ordinary Bakersfield family. But nothing about Baskets is ordinary, most especially its most earnest character, Chip’s mother Christine, played by Louie Anderson. Anderson has brought such a gentle, recognizable persona to Christine in the most genuine terms.

Season Four feels like it’s finally Chip’s time to shine. One of the difficult things about watching Baskets can be seeing Chip continue to fail over and over again. Galifianakis does a really excellent job, though, of balancing Chip’s missteps with both humor and the awareness that Chip is often a jerk.—Allison Keene

7. Games Done Quick
Network: Twitch.tv
Last Week’s Ranking: Not eligible

Twitch.tv just concluded one of its biggest semi-annual events, Games Done Quick, a charity live stream that raises money through viewer and corporate donations. This time around, GDQ raised over $3 million for Doctors without Borders over the course of a week, as gamers gathered to show off their skills at beating beloved titles as quickly as possible, or with specific challenges dictated through donation incentives. As a rare live event with user integration built-in, it’s a unique, fun, silly, raucous good time had by all, from the Esports competitors to those watching from home. Its winter version, Awesome Games Done Quick, will return for more marathon streams and events in January. —Allison Keene

6. Years and Years
Network: HBO
Last Week’s Ranking: Not Ranked

Russell T. Davies’ UK series has come to HBO with very little fanfare, which is unfortunate because it deserves your attention. It’s a compelling, if imperfect, look at what life might be like in the next 15 years, as the show cruises through a number of proposed (and likely) world events through the lens of one British family. An outstanding cast helps sell the show’s dystopian vision, giving it an exceptional amount of heart. But Davies also keeps all of the tech and politics and media of the future feeling grounded in the possible. Years and Years is arresting television, with an outlandishly oversized score that pulls you in fully to a story with shocking events and the familiar mundanity that follows them. Despite the erosion of freedoms, it still feels strangely hopefully, and most of all, embraces the idea of resilience even in the face of extraordinary change. —Allison Keene

5. Perpetual Grace, LTD
Network: Epix
Last Week’s Ranking: 6

Creators Steve Conrad and Bruce Terris have crafted a visually distinct world full of moral quandaries, exploring the fluctuating nature of what defines a person’s character. That exists alongside scenes like Sir Ben Kingsley calmly telling the guard at a Mexican prison that he is “the pale horse of death,” just before being loaded into an ice cream truck for transportation to a Super Max facility.

The series builds out its own world in a vaguely modern southwest setting, where James (Jimmi Simpson) gets embroiled in a scheme to rob a couple running a scam church. Their son, Paul Allen Brown (Damon Herriman), repeats several times that “they’re just two old people,” but Byron (Kingsley) and Lillian (Jacki Weaver) are forces to be reckoned with—starting with the fact that James has to get hooked on methadone first to go through their detox as part of the heist. “That’s intense,” he says thoughtfully. Perpetual Grace has a weird, wry humor to it, but even more importantly it’s rooted in exceptional character work.

It’s a fascinating journey to begin, with no sense yet of how things might resolve, if they ever do. There’s no hurry to get there, though—spending time in this strange world is full of curiosities will likely keep us perpetually sustained.—Allison Keene

4. Big Little Lies
Network: HBO
Last Week’s Ranking: 2

Season Two of the HBO series, written by David E. Kelly and author Liane Moriarty and directed by Andrea Arnold, picks up about a year after the Emmy-winning first season as it investigates the fallout from both Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgard) death and the lie the women shared about its circumstances. Though Arnold follows the dreamy, fractured visual style that director Jean-Marc Vallée established in the first season, the tone is very different this time around. Season Two is about consequences, and though the series doesn’t lose its edge or satirical style (particularly when it comes to Renata), it’s far more meditative and melancholic than before.

Big Little Lies is at its best when it’s primarily a character exploration, and the caliber of its cast cannot be overstated. Though the series always has been a strange blend of trauma and satire, Season Two leans into the former much more so than the latter, focusing (perhaps rightly) far more on the dynamic Celeste (Nicole Kidman) and Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and their interior lives. If the first season was about the women coming together, then so far this is about them falling away. That’s not an unnatural result given their shared trauma and the lie that will surely come out, but it does leave the narrative feeling unbalanced and fractured.

While it may lack some of the bite and urgency of its first season thus far, Big Little Lies is still an absolutely gorgeous series with a lot to unpack in terms of its complex women, the legacy of abuse, the makeshift families we form, and protecting one’s friends. There are several conversations in these early episodes about people who “want,” and women who “want” in particular. Each of the Monterey Five want for different things, but in this moment—in their lives that are full of convoluted lies and devastating consequences—most of all they want to know who they really are.—Allison Keene

3. The Rook
Network: Starz
Last Week’s Ranking: Not Eligible

Memory loss spy thrillers and the allegorical antics of mutants have gotten lots of play in pop culture, but combining them—like in Starz’s new sci-fi series The Rook—sounds a bit messy on the surface. Too many warring genre vocabularies talking at the same time makes for an unintelligible conversation. However, it’s possible to thread the needle; or, at least make it an enjoyable jumble. Showrunners Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher fill their adaptation of Daniel O’Malley’s novel with style and a few gripping performances, which are more than enough to jog our memories about why we like these stories in the first place.

The Rook is about the Checquy, a British secret service that fends off unnatural threats with some unnatural powers of their own. There’s a queen (Joely Richardson), a king (Adrian Lester), and yes, some rooks. There’s even an American out-of-towner (Olivia Munn) to make it an international force. Some share a consciousness. Some are super-strong, but not Superman-level unstoppable. Others have more vague and flexible powers, like control over the local atmosphere. And one of them wiped Myfanwy Thomas’ (Emma Greenwell) memory.

We meet Myfanwy as an amnesiac who apparently belongs to the agency and has half a dozen dead bodies on her hands. Gaunt, stressed, and in a body she doesn’t recognize, Myfanwy (pronounced like “Tiffany,” the show helpfully explains) is a relatable Jason Bourne. She doesn’t have full control over her lightning-like ability and seems to have had a drunken tryst with her four co-workers that share a single consciousness. If that’s not enough to get you on board, this show and its sense of fun simply aren’t for you. The Rook’s memory-loss thriller is ambitious, beautiful, and full of great performances.—Jacob Oller

2. FIFA Women’s World Cup
Network: Fox
Last Week’s Ranking: Not Ranked

Imagine “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” playing during this entire paragraph. That’s because at every opportunity, the US women’s national soccer team has outpaced the men’s. Ability. Placement. Online buzz. Political wherewithal. Televised charisma. In fact, the only area in which captain Megan Rapinoe and her team fall behind their male counterparts is pay. And we all know why that is. When they’re not playing great, edge-of-the-seat soccer or delivering bold soundbites (“I’m not going to the fucking White House,” Rapinoe quipped), the USWNT are still making statements. Whether they’re about equal pay, LGBTQ+ rights, or simply playing world-best soccer, they’re so fun to watch that they’ve wooed many non-soccer fans to the airwaves. As they continue their trek to the World Cup (the team plays England in the semi-finals today), the USWNT are making the most of their dominance—and the medium broadcasting it. —Jacob Oller

1. Democratic Presidential Candidates Debates
Network: NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo
Last Week’s Ranking: Not eligible

What happens when you stack 10 candidates on the same stage, on the same night, and then do it again 24 hours later? In a word, chaos. And if you needed two words to describe the first Democratic primary debates (which you might, if Chuck Todd was your moderator), you could do worse than “gruesomely entertaining.” Where else can you find men like Tim Ryan—a deer in headlights, minus the deer’s natural grace—getting so flustered that he advocates for permanent war in Afghanistan? Or a real-life ‘70s guru like Marianne Williamson, making great points about U.S. intervention in Latin America in one breath and vowing to meeting Donald Trump on the Battlefield of Love in the next? Yes, the debates were an obnoxious media spectacle awash in cross-talk and smarmy moderation (thanks Chuck!), and they were a mild embarrassment to the Democratic party. But against the odds, they also gave us a handful of strong performances, a clear winner in Kamala Harris, and a faint hope that in later installments, once we winnow out the freaks and the no-chancers, we might bear witness to something—I can’t believe I’m about to say it—substantive. Hope springs eternal.—Shane Ryan