The year 2023 has delivered some of the most popular TV shows in recent years. From dystopian thrillers to superhero comedies and gritty crime dramas to franchise favourites, this year’s offerings have something for everyone. The stellar year has, therefore, successfully covered a diverse range of genres and stories captivating audiences worldwide.
Of course, there were quite a few sequels and spin-offs, such as The Mandalorian season 3, culinary drama The Bear season 2, period romance Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and superhero horror Gen V of The Boys franchise. All of them were hits. But it was some of the shows that premiered for the first time in 2023 that have left an indelible impression on viewers.
On the dystopian front, there is HBO’s The Last of Us, whose critical and commercial success has been phenomenal. Adapted from the immensely popular video game series of the same name, it is the most critically acclaimed among all the 2023 TV shows based on IMDb metrics.
Dark comedy lovers have Peacock’s Poker Face to thank for making this year memorable. Starring Natasha Lyonne, the show gives a unique touch to the age-old concept of detective shows.
Offering a modernised adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story of the same name, The Fall of the House of Usher is one of the most popular TV shows on Netflix. The streaming platform also won the year with the live-action version of the massively popular manga One Piece.
Then there is Disney’s Ahsoka, which adds a new tale to the long-running Star Wars mythology and lays the foundation of more stories.
Several of the new shows and their actors have been nominated for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards in multiple categories. These include shows such as Jury Duty and Beef and actors such as Jason Segel (Shrinking), Lyonne (Poker Face), Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Keri Russell (The Diplomat), and Steven Yeun and Ali Wong (Beef).
With so many outstanding shows to choose from, 2023 has proven to be a remarkable year for television and streaming, showcasing the creativity and storytelling prowess of the industry.
The best TV shows of 2023 to watch before the year ends
(Rankings are as per IMDb based on a minimum rating count of 10K.)
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1 /16
Created by: Dave Filoni
Cast: Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ray Stevenson, Ivanna Sakhno, Hayden Christensen, Eman Esfandi, Lars Mikkelsen
No. Of Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 7.6
Synopsis: Around 11 years after the fall of the Empire, former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano (Dawson) goes on a mission to prevent the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Mikkelsen). Though the New Republic doesn’t believe her, she is joined by the Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren (Bordizzo), who wants to find her lost friend Ezra Bridger (Esfandi).
2 /16
Created by: Emma Moran
Cast: Máiréad Tyers, Sofia Oxenham, Bilal Hasna, Luke Rollason, Darcey Porter-Cassidy
No. Of Episodes: 16
IMDb rating: 7.7
Synopsis: In a world where everyone has superpowers, Jen (Tyers) is possibly the only exception, devoid of any extraordinary abilities. Her friends try to help her acquire powers but without much avail. Her life takes a turn when she discovers that the stray cat she adopted is a shapeshifter who has no memory of his past.
3 /16
Directed by: Neeraj Pathak
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Abhimanyu Singh, Urvashi Rautela, Freddy Daruwala, Govind Namdeo, Kiran Kumar
No. Of Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 7.8
Synopsis: Avinash Mishra (Hooda) is a super cop of the Uttar Pradesh police force in India. He is tasked with bringing an end to organised crime in the state in 1997.
4 /16
Directed by: Glendyn Ivin
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Asher Keddie, Leah Purcell
No. Of Episodes: 7
IMDb rating: 7.8
Synopsis: Alice Hart (Debnam-Carey) started living with her grandmother, June (Weaver), in Australia after losing her parents to a mysterious fire at the age of nine. June has a flower farm, where Alice learned the secrets of her family over the decades.
5 /16
Created by: Rian Johnson
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Benjamin Bratt
No. Of Episodes: 11
IMDb rating: 7.9
Synopsis: Charlie Cale (Lyonne) is a casino worker who has an amazing ability to detect lies. She is forced to go on the run across the US following an incident in the casino. In the process, she inadvertently starts solving crimes as she meets colourful characters.
6 /16
Created by: Debora Cahn
Cast: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi
No. Of Episodes: 9
IMDb rating: 8.0
Synopsis: Career diplomat Kate Wyler (Russell) is unprepared for a high-profile assignment and yet is given the charge in the middle of an international crisis. It causes problems in her personal life as well as her own political ambitions.
7 /16
Created by: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Zach Gilford, Mary McDonnell, Willa Fitzgerald, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli
No. Of Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 8.0
Synopsis: Twins Roderick (Greenwood and Gilford) and Madeline Usher (McDonnell and Fitzgerald) are extremely powerful and wealthy creators of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. When all of Roderick’s six children die mysteriously one after the other, he decides to reveal the family’s dark secrets to Assistant US Attorney C. Auguste Dupin, starting from the younger days of the siblings 70 years ago in 1953.
8 /16
Created by: Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel
Cast: Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford
No. Of Episodes: 11
IMDb rating: 8.0
Synopsis: Jimmy Laird (Segel) is a therapist who has recently lost his wife. His grief comes in the way of his profession. He begins breaking the ethical code by becoming more involved with his patients and telling them what he really thinks instead of what he should tell them as their therapist. This leads to major transformations in the lives of his patients as well as his own.
9 /16
Created by: Lee Sung Jin
Cast: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong
No. Of Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 8.0
Synopsis: Danny Cho is a struggling contractor and Amy Lau is a small business owner. One day they get into a heated road rage incident, the consequences of which lead to devastation in their personal lives.
10 /16
Created by: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Cast: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Suki Waterhouse, Will Harrison, Josh Whitehouse
No. Of Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 8.1
Synopsis: Daisy Jones (Keough) and Billy Dunne (Clafin) are former members of the famous Daisy Jones and The Six rock band of the 1970s. When the two, along with other members of the band, agree to film a documentary chronicling their journey, the story of how they rose to worldwide fame and what led to their abrupt disbanding at the zenith comes to the fore.
11 /16
Directed by: Himank Gaur
Cast: Bhuvan Bam, Shriya Pilgaonkar, J.D. Chakravarthi, Deven Bhojani
No. Of Episodes: 6
IMDb rating: 8.1
Synopsis: Vasant “Vasya” Gawade (Bam) is a humble sanitation worker whose life changes dramatically when he receives a magical power as a boon. But the power creates complications in his life that he apparently cannot comprehend.
12 /16
Created by: Graham Yost
Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Tim Robbins
No. Of Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 8.1
Synopsis: Thousands of people reside inside a massive silo with hundreds of stories built under the ground in a dystopian future. They think that the silo is meant to protect them from the devastation on the surface. But suspicions grow as people start believing that the outside world may not be as desolate as the screens of the silo show.
13 /16
Created by: Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky
Cast: Ronald Gladden, James Marsden, Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox
No. Of Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: Ronald Gladden is a juror in a trial where he finds himself alongside James Marsden, a celebrity juror. But Gladden is unaware that everyone else in the trial, including the other jurors, judge and the parties involved, are all actors.
14 /16
Created by: Steven Maeda, Matt Owens
Cast: Iñaki Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero, Taz Skylar
No. Of Episodes: 9
IMDb rating: 8.4
Synopsis: Monkey D. Luffy (Godoy) is a young pirate captain who wants to find a mythical treasure known as ‘One Piece’ which will make him the pirate king. To fulfil his purpose, Luffy forms the Straw Hat Pirates with a bunch of trustworthy but colourful characters.
15 /16
Directed by: Sumit Kumar
Cast: Swagger Sharma, Tithi Raaj, Gauri Chakraborty
No. Of Episodes: 4
IMDb rating: 8.5
Synopsis: Lucky (Sharma) has enjoyed such good fortune in everything since birth that he believes that he is just too lucky to fail in anything. Now, as a college student, Lucky finds himself in a situation where his luck may just have run out.
16 /16
Created by: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey
No. Of Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 8.8
Synopsis: A global pandemic has turned humans into zombies, thereby destroying civilisation. Twenty years after the outbreak, a hardened survivor named Joel (Pascal) is tasked with escorting a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Ramsey), who is immune to the virus and could be humanity’s last hope.
The story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong
(Hero image: Image: Courtesy of Liane Hentscher – © HBO/IMDb; Featured image: Courtesy of Peacock/Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock – © 2022 Peacock TV LLC. All Rights Reserved./IMDb)
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Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
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