Paste Power Rankings: The 5 Best TV Shows on Right Now
Illustration by Christine Fernando TV Lists Power Ranking
From the biggest streaming services to the most reliable broadcast networks, there are so many shows vying for your time and attention every single week. Lucky for you, the Paste Editors and TV writers sort through the deluge of Peak TV “content” to make sure you’re watching the best the small screen has to offer. Between under-the-radar gems and the biggest, buzziest hits, we keep our finger on TV’s racing pulse so you don’t have to.
The rules for the Power Rankings are simple: any current 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 within the past week (ending Sunday)—or, in the case of shows released all at once, it has to have been released within the previous four weeks.
Below is what we’re enjoying right now. Happy viewing!
Best TV Shows for the week of July 22nd:
Honorable Mention: The Bear (FX/Hulu), My Lady Jane (Prime Video), The Boys (Prime VIdeo)
5. Sunny
Network: Apple TV+
Last Week: 4
This Week: This alternative summer programming from A24 and Apple is absolutely worth a try.
Apple TV+’s latest sci-fi venture Sunny, adapted from Colin O’Sullivan’s novel The Dark Manual, follows Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones), an American expat who just received the tragic news that her husband, Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima), and son, Zen, have gone missing in a plane crash. At first, she’s understandably devastated, making her already prickly demeanor even more unapproachable. But, of course, there’s more to this situation than initially appears. Suzie is eventually greeted by a representative from her husband’s company, ImaTech, who offers a gift to assuage her loss: a top-of-the-line home robot named Sunny that Masa himself designed. There are two issues with this, though: one, Suzie hates bots, and two, her husband had lied about his profession and never told her he was a roboticist. While Suzie is initially disenchanted with her new roommate, she soon finds that the machine is essential in discovering the truth about her husband and what happened to her family. While Sunny doesn’t entirely come together, it’s still a strikingly presented sci-fi series that hones in on AI anxiety and modern loneliness. Its strong ensemble cast, bolstered by Jones, Sotomura, and Nishijima, grounds us in this setting and helps elevate this techno-conspiracy. —Elijah Gonzalez [Full Review]
4. Cobra Kai
Network: Netflix
Last Week: Not Eligible
This Week: Return to the dojo in the first five episodes of the final season of this kickass show.
Cobra Kai never dies! That’s the rallying cry of the long-running Netflix series. But as the Karate Kid continuation enters its sixth and final season, I, who has supported the series since its YouTube Red days, began to wonder if maybe it should. As the series has gone on, the storylines have become far too familiar and repetitive. How many times can Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) face-off? How many times can Kreese (Martin Kove) return, smoking his trademark cigar with a menacing grimace? How many times can the young characters grapple with whether they are Eagle Fang or Miyagi-Do or some variation thereof? How many extended fight sequences are too many? But then, like the underdog story the series is rooted in, Cobra Kai rises from the ashes to come out on top. By the end of the five episodes that premiere as part of this first tranche of the sixth season, the series delivers one heck of a cliffhanger, all while remaining steeped in its ‘80s roots, grounded in its teen drama, and colored by its signature sense of humor. —Amy Amatangelo [Full Review]
3. House of the Dragon
Network: HBO (streaming on Max)
Last Week: 3
This Week: An excellent episode makes great headway on the season’s through-lines, including Rhaenyra finally reclaiming her agency.
The story picks up right where it left off, after King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) ascended the throne with the help of his mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), and her allies, pushing the realm closer to civil war as Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and her followers find themselves on the back foot. Queen Rhaenyra is grieving the loss of her son after yet another accidental escalation between the two factions, and Westeros waits with bated breath as a cataclysmic war between dragons becomes increasingly likely. This series feels ripped from a previous era of big-budget indulgence. The cast is massive, the sets and costumes look expensive, and there’s a whole flight of CGI dragons that probably took an unreasonable number of hours to render. The narrative may feel constrained by the work it’s adapting, but its characters are complex enough to make this tale more than just royalty-oriented reality TV. House of the Dragon may come across like a diminished scion of a once proud house, but honestly, I’ll take whatever reminders of former glory I can get. —Elijah Gonzalez [Full Review]
2. My Adventures with Superman
Network: Adult Swim (streaming on Max)
Last Week: 2
This Week: Superman’s fist-pumping, tear-jerking finale was truly delightful— Season 3 can’t come quick enough.
Picking up where last season left off, My Adventures with Superman continues to follow Clark (Jack Quaid), Lois (Alice Lee), and Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), now fully-minted reporters at the Daily Planet, as they navigate their new positions, relationships, and family drama. Clark is plagued by dreams of the mysterious Kryptonian he saw on Zero Day; Lois searches for her father, who has been missing since the final battle; and Jimmy’s Flamebird empire has taken off, though not without a few new road bumps. Task Force X, led now by the perpetually-hateable Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson), is still making power moves, attempting to amass more weaponry to neutralize the person they deem an ongoing threat to humanity: Superman. As Clark and Lois settle into a comfortable romantic relationship, their bond is put to the test when it’s revealed that there is another Kryptonian still alive: Clark’s cousin Kara. As the team prepares to face the fight of their lives against Task Force X, Clark continues to question his place in humanity, his unknown origins, and his connection to those he loves—all while always making time to save the day. —Anna Govert [Full Review]
1. The Acolyte
Network: Disney+
Last Week: 1
This Week: That stellar finale truly had it all: bleeding kyber crystals, shocking deaths, fun twists, and, of course, teases at some big Star Wars heavy-hitters. Bring on Season 2, please!
Set 100 years before the rise of The Empire during the High Republic era, The Acolyte follows the thriving Jedi Order as their own are hunted by a mysterious assassin. Tasked with hunting down this figure is Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and his team consisting of Yord (Charlie Barnett), Jecki (Dafne Keen), and his former student Osha (Amandla Stenberg). As the Jedi continue to chase this assassin, a dark secret and a shameful past continue to haunt them as this figure threatens to bring their actions to light. In Star Wars’ first proper mystery thriller, duality reigns supreme and guides the franchise into a new era for this galaxy far, far away. —Anna Govert
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