Paste Power Rankings: The 5 Best TV Shows on Right Now (September 9, 2025)

But while there are many allusions and tie-ins to the crew’s growth across the story so far, this still remains the kind of show that you can pick up watching at almost any point (even if that’s an increasingly unlikely occurrence in the streaming era). Because while the first episode back suffers a bit from being a direct continuation of a cliffhanger from two years ago, the rest of these missions are siloed in the best way possible, delving into kooky weekly premises. Specifically, in the best episode of this season so far, we get a fan-favorite setup that both pokes fun at The Original Series and pensively reflects on that show’s legacy, all while also developing an unlikely bond. At another point, there’s a grim outing where the gang is dropped into a death trap that has them solving interdimensional puzzles that hint at a tantalizing hidden history. There’s a good variance in lighthearted hangout material and more grave turns, embodying the range that both Strange New Worlds and the series writ large have often excelled at, even if there’s an undeniable emphasis on pulp, and more specifically pulp horror, so far. —Elijah Gonzazlez [Full Review]

4. Peacemaker

Network: HBO Max
Last Week: 3
This Week:  Harcourt’s despair is given some intriguing new dimensions (yes, that’s a terrible pun)

It would have been easy for James Gunn to get caught up in the world-building of a new season of live-action storytelling in his fresh DC universe to start spinning more ideas out, but this is still the Peacemaker fans fell in love with back in 2022. It’s just as silly, dark, and bizarre as you remember. Even Peacemaker’s pet eagle, Eagley, gets his own story arc this year—with longtime Gunn collaborator Michael Rooker playing a renowned eagle hunter tasked with taking out Peacemaker’s feathered sidekick.

It’s fair to wonder if Gunn might eventually stretch himself too thin at some point, producing everything on DC’s slate while writing and directing plenty of his own projects (up next, he’s said to be working on a follow-up to Superman that he’s also lined up to direct). But that hasn’t happened yet. If anything, it’s only gotten the creative juices flowing more with the entire DC Comics canon at his disposal to use as he sees fit (as the early trailers for Season 2 revealed, Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern and Isabela Merced’s Hawk Girl reprise their super-roles introduced in Superman, plopping Peacemaker right in the middle of this new DC order). Peacemaker Season 2 shows Gunn is more than capable of using all that power to still tell weird, wild stories far outside the pantheon of any potential blockbuster Justice League saga to come. —Trent Moore  [Full Review]

3. Alien: Earth

Network: FX
Last Week: 1
This Week:  An emotionally charged hour recounts the days before the Maginot’s crash on Earth.

The FX series is set in the year 2120, just two years before the events of the original Alien feature film. And for longtime fans, the opening scenes will feel eerily familiar. The USCSS Maginot, a Weyland-Yutani deep space research vessel, is returning to Earth. Its crew has just emerged from cryosleep and gathered around a table for a meal. It’s a setup that closely mirrors the iconic opening of Alien. From the mess hall to the cryochamber to the computer mainframe where “Mother” is accessed, the Maginot could easily be mistaken for the Nostromo. That’s clearly intentional. Production designer Andy Nicholson and his team have done a remarkable job recreating the industrial, lived-in aesthetic of the franchise. Visually, it feels like home for Alien fans. But while the look is similar, Alien: Earth tells a story that’s entirely its own.Alien: Earth features a top-tier cast.

Ceesay gives Morrow a magnetic mix of strength, intellect, and vulnerability. He’s as dangerous as he is compelling. Blenkin is spot-on as Boy Kavalier, a smug trillionaire and prodigy who’s never encountered the word “comeuppance,” let alone considered it might apply to him. He’s the kind of character you admire for his genius and resent for his hubris. Olyphant, always a scene-stealer, is quietly electrifying as the synthetic scientist Kirsch. He’s cold, methodical, and even more watchable than usual. But the series’ true standout is Sydney Chandler. Daughter of Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler, the actress brings exceptional emotional depth to Wendy, effortlessly capturing the soul of a child in an adult synthetic body. She is also fiercely devoted to her brother, protective of her fellow Lost Boys, and endlessly inquisitive. The performance feels like a fusion of Sigourney Weaver’s grit as Ripley with Milla Jovovich’s sense of wonder as Leeloo in The Fifth Element. Chandler commands your attention every time she’s on screen.

Ultimately, what makes Alien: Earth work isn’t just the body horror or the corporate backstabbing (though there’s plenty of both), it’s that Noah Hawley treats this show as something more than an exercise in IP management. He uses the franchise’s DNA to explore questions of identity, mortality, and control, all while staging set pieces capable of leaving your stomach in knots. Nearly 50 years after Ridley Scott introduced the xenomorph, Alien has rarely felt this alive.  — Terry Terrones [Full Review]

2. Outlander: Blood of My Blood

Network: Starz
Last Week: 2
This Week: Julia’s baby is born as Davina’s backstory is revealed

Prequels (and sequels, come to that) are tricky things. Stories rarely compare all that favorably to the original work, and there’s often a whiff of desperation to the whole thing, as we watch a previously beloved franchise try to find a reason to keep existing past the end of its flagship property. Every so often, though, one of these sorts of series manages to surprise you: Not only justifying its own existence, but reminding you of everything you loved about the original in the first place. And while Outlander: Blood of My Blood may technically be a prequel that explores the familial origins of several characters from the megapopular Starz historical romance,  the series more than stands on its own tartan-clad feet, striking a near-perfect balance between the old and the new.

For Outlander fans, the star-crossed romance of Jamie Fraser’s (Sam Heughan) parents was already the stuff of legend, a story that Sassenach Claire Beauchamp (Caitriona Balfe) heard about ad nauseam when she first time-traveled to early 18th-century Scotland and found herself caught up in the interfamily drama of the MacKenzies of Castle Leoch. Viewers knew much less about Claire’s parents, save the fact that they died in a car crash when she was quite young. Blood of My Blood aims not only to tell the story of these two love affairs but also to tie them together in a thrilling new way, rewriting the fates of Claire’s parents to firmly intertwine their lives with the story of Jamie’s in a way no one likely expected.