Paste Power Rankings: The 5 Best TV Shows on Right Now (September 23, 2025)

To be fair, you don’t have to have seen a minute of Outlander to enjoy Blood of My Blood, which is a fully and compellingly immersive story in its own right.. Yes, the series is packed full of Easter eggs and narrative callbacks that will delight longtime fans of the long-running original. (Heck, the show’s entire premise is essentially that the romance between Outlander’s Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser was so fated it impacted multiple generations.) And, those who are familiar with the original series will surely find themselves gasping at the skill of this franchise’s casting department, who have managed to find a quartet of leads who are startingly similar in both appearance and mannerisms to the actors who portrayed their onscreen relations. But if you have never heard of Craigh Na Dun, there’s still plenty to enjoy in this story of forbidden love, Scottish political intrigue, and women fighting for the chance to choose their own fates.  —Lacy Baugher Milas  [Full Review]

4. Chief of War

Network: Apple TV+
Last Week: N/A
This Week: The season ends with a brutal cinematic battle on the stunning volcanic terrain known as Hawaii’s “Black Desert”.

When most people think of Hawaiʻi they picture pristine beaches, palm trees swaying in the breeze, surfboards slicing through turquoise waves, leis draped over sunburned shoulders, and sitting at a luau with an unlucky pig that died eating an apple. Toss in a few mai tais and a ukulele, and you’ve got the version of paradise sold to tourists everywhere. You probably also recall that Hawaiʻi is the 50th U.S. state, it was the site of the Pearl Harbor attack, and its flag is the only state banner to feature the Union Jack, a nod to its long relationship with England. For many Americans, that’s where their knowledge of Hawaiian history ends. But the real story of Hawaiʻi is far more layered and compelling.  The islands are shaped by a rich indigenous culture, a legacy of resistance, and centuries of geopolitical upheaval. It’s this deeper, often-overlooked chapter—the unification of Hawaiʻi told from a native perspective—that Apple TV+’s Chief of War brings to the screen with cinematic intensity and cultural authenticity. The historical drama opens with the steely stare of Jason Momoa, and from the first frame makes clear this isn’t the Hawaiʻi you see in postcards.

With dialogue almost entirely in Hawaiian and featuring a predominantly Polynesian cast, the show is deeply immersive. Combat is visceral and often massive in scale, mostly with hand-to-hand or traditional Hawaiian weapons, and it results in graphic, well-choreographed chaos. There’s even a dash of mysticism, thanks to a riddle-speaking priestess who can see the future. There may not be any dragons, but there are plenty of power struggles, betrayals, and morally complex characters. But the heart of the series is Momoa himself, who not only stars but is also a writer, director, and producer on the series. While most viewers know him as Aquaman, Khal Drogo, or more recently, the guy from Minecraft: The Movie, Chief of War gives him the space to deliver something deeper. He’s still the fierce warrior, that’s to be expected, but we also see him as a conflicted man, deeply devoted to family, and someone who suffers real emotional loss. It’s the most layered and compelling performance of his career. Chief of War is a stunning, culturally rich epic, and Momoa’s finest work to date. —Terry Terrones [Full Review]

3. The Paper

Network: Peacock
Last Week: 2
This Week:  This charming The Office spin-off is kinder, warmer, and altogether more aspirational than its predecessor.

Most of the marketing materials you’ll see for Peacock’s new comedy, The Paper, will likely tout its connection to the previous NBC megahit, The Office. After all, the show hails from the same creators (Greg Daniels and Michael Komen), features one of the long-running comedy’s secondary characters, and is told in basically the same mockumentary format that was groundbreaking when The Office did it, but is seemingly everywhere now. But its spin-off status is actually the least interesting thing about this series, which is kinder, warmer, and altogether more aspirational than its predecessor ever managed. And at the end of the day, The Paper doesn’t need its The Office-related bona fides to succeed and generally shines brightest when you manage to forget that the two are connected at all.

A love letter to journalism and local media, the ten-episode first season (all of which were available for review) is one part workplace comedy, one part will they won’t/they romance, and one part celebration of an industry that has taken more than its fair share of lumps in recent years. Yes, it’s problematic that, at least theoretically, half the Truth-Teller’s team is working for the paper free during the gaps in their real day jobs, and the show could more sharply connect the struggles of the steadily collapsing media industry with the larger problems we’re facing in the world. But the show refuses to punch down at its characters or the work they’re doing, even when they’re chasing stories that may seem insignificant in the face of…everything else in the world. Instead, it celebrates them, allowing them to be genuinely joyful and passionate about the opportunity to do work they believe in. It’s hard to argue that we couldn’t use quite a bit more of that kind of thing on our screens these days.  — Lacy Baugher Milas [Full Review]

2. Only Murders In the Building

Network: Hulu
Last Week: 1
This Week:  Our favorite trio of podcasters faces off against three billionaire suspects and a game-changing twist follows.

Only Murders in the Building is a show about tenets as much as it is about tenants. Yes, the Emmy-nominated Hulu comedy follows an eccentric group of characters who live in an apartment complex called the Arconia, a building that itself is a monument to old New York. But the show’s tenet is that it is about the importance of community and a chosen family. Premiering in summer 2021 when the divide between masks-on and masks-not was rapidly growing, it’s a story of three neighbors who unite to solve not just any murder, but the murder of someone with specific ties to their lives because they are people who died in their building.

In Murders’ fifth season, it’s pretty shocking that the Arconia has any tenants left, given its uptick in homicides in recent years. But it’s nice to know that the tenets of the series remain. One of the victims this season is Teddy Coluca’s Lester, the building’s doorman who—even if they didn’t always acknowledge him—was a constant presence in the lives of the show’s three leads: Selena Gomez’s suspicious Mabel, Steve Martin’s anxious Charles, and Martin Short’s exuberant Oliver.

Lester, in turn, is an embodiment of this season of Murders and maybe also for society. The season’s best episode of the nine released to the press is, by far, its second. Written by Ben Smith and Ella Robinson Brooks and directed by series showrunner John Hoffman, it’s mostly told in flashbacks and shares the life of the humble old doorman when he thought this gig was going to be a waylay before he made it big as an actor. Smash and The OA actor Emory Cohen gives us a Lester with his own career trajectory and love life outside of just opening doors for rich people and maybe the occasional pig. Everyone deserves a chance to tell their backstories, even if most people won’t notice them.  — Whitney Friedlander [Full Review]

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