The Golden Age of Television might be over, but 2025 was still a great year for the small screen.
The rise of streaming platforms has given viewers a seemingly endless amount of options, but several shows still managed to have monoculture moments this year.
From HBO dramas to network reality shows, these were the 10 hottest shows of 2025:
‘The Pitt’
Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch on “The Pitt.”HBO MaxAfter premiering in January, “The Pitt” quickly garnered praise for its realism compared to other medical dramas. The team behind the HBO Max series consulted real doctors, nurses and physician assistants to make the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s emergency room cases feel real.
Unlike “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Chicago Med,” “The Pitt” focuses more on medical cases than interpersonal drama. But that didn’t stop the show from creating lovable, fleshed out characters, including Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, played by “ER” alum Noah Wyle, Nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) and Dr. Melissa Mel King (Taylor Dearden).
READ MORE: Does Dr. Frank Langdon come back to ‘The Pitt’ after shocking exit?
After winning five Emmys in September, “The Pitt” set a record for the largest post-season viewership growth for any HBO show’s debut season. A hit with critics and viewers alike, “The Pitt” has fans eagerly awaiting the Jan. 8, 2026, season 2 premiere.
‘Severance’
Adam Scott as Mark S. and Britt Lower as Helly R. in “Severance”Apple TVFans of “Severance” waited three years for season 2 to debut in January. With a 95 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, the Apple TV dystopian thriller has been widely praised for its acting performances, cinematography, production design and unique concept.
“Severance” follows Lumon Industries employees who have undergone a procedure that separates their work lives from their personal lives. “Innies” have no knowledge of their lives outside work, while “outies” don’t know what they do all day at Lumon.
In February, “Severance” became the most-watched show in Apple TV history, surpassing “Ted Lasso” (“Pluribus” has since claimed that title). With jaw-dropping twists, biting corporate satire and striking visual imagery, there’s nothing else like “Severance” on television.
‘The White Lotus’
Patrick Schwarzenegger (Saxon Ratliff), Sarah Catherine Hook (Piper Ratliff) and Sam Nivola (Lochlan Ratliff) in “The White Lotus.”HBOThe “White Lotus” fandom continues to grow. 6.2 million viewers tuned in to the HBO anthology series’ season 3 finale in April, which represented a 51 percent increase from the season 2 conclusion.
One of the few shows of the year that became true appointment TV, “The White Lotus” brought millions of people together every Sunday night from February through April.
READ MORE: ‘Harry Potter’ star reportedly joining the cast of ‘The White Lotus’ season 4
Viewers took to social media to guess who would die during the finale and dissect the controversial incest story line. The discourse didn’t stop when the season ended, either. Fans are now looking ahead to season 4, sharing their dream casts for the next installment.
‘Adolescence’
Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller in “Adolescence.”Courtesy of Netflix
The British crime drama won big at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in September.
With 13 nominations and eight wins, “Adolescence” took home awards including Outstanding Limited Anthology Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Cinematography and Outstanding Directing. 15-year-old Owen Cooper, who played Jamie Miller, also made Emmys history as the youngest male actor to win the prestigious award.
“Adolescence” centers on Cooper’s character Jamie, a 13-year-old boy who is arrested after the murder of a girl at his school. In addition to the haunting subject matter and compelling performances, “Adolescence” drew buzz for the fact that each of its four episodes was shot in one continuous take. The show also set a record, with more viewers within a two-week period than any other Netflix limited series.
‘The Studio’
Seth Rogen as Matt Remick in “The Studio.”Apple TV“The Studio” was the big winner at the 2025 Emmys, taking home a whopping 13 gold statuettes. The satirical comedy’s accolades included Outstanding Comedy Series and an Outstanding Lead Actor award for Seth Rogen.
Rogen, who also co-created the Apple TV series, stars as Matt Remick, the new head of a film production company. Matt struggles to balance his own aims of producing high-quality films with the company’s corporate interests.
Parodying Hollywood can be tricky to pull off, but “The Studio” is “savvy enough to impress even the most studious of film buffs,” according to the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus.
‘Andor’
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in “Andor.”Disney+Many fans and critics have deemed “Andor” the best “Star Wars” series of all time. With a 96 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, the Disney+ sci-fi drama has been praised for its timely message, realism and strong writing.
Although “Andor” came to an end in May after just two seasons, “Star Wars” fans will always hold the series in high esteem. It is currently the only show in IMDb history to have five episodes in a row rated over a 9.5/10 (episodes 8-12 of season 2).
‘Love Island USA’
“Love Island” USA season 7 contestants Clarke Carraway, Jaden Duggar, Gracyn Blackmore, Olandria Carthen, Huda Mustafa, Chelley Bissainthe and Iris Kendall.Ben Symons/PeacockWhile hardly prestige TV, “Love Island USA” gets people talking like few other shows do these days. The reality dating series airs six nights a week every summer, giving viewers near-constant fodder for lively social media discourse.
Season 7, which premiered in June, provided the culture with viral moments including Huda Mustafa and Nic Vansteenberghe’s “mamacita” conversation, the “My dream date … cute” meme, Nicolandria’s slow burn and essentially everything that came out of Amaya Espinal’s mouth (e.g. “You’re an extremely odd individual,” “God forbid I’m a sensitive gangsta” and “I’m just not your cup of tea to be drinking).
In addition to taking over our social media feeds for two and a half months, season 7 of “Love Island USA” marked the first time a Peacock series reached the No. 1 spot in the Nielsen Top 10.
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’
Christopher Briney as Conrad Fisher and Lola Tung as Belly Conklin in “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”Erika Doss/PrimeIt was nearly impossible to escape the Jeremiah vs. Conrad Fisher discourse this year. After three seasons, Prime Video’s coming-of-age romance “The Summer I Turned Pretty” came to an end in September, finally revealing which of the Fisher brothers Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) ends up with.
The love triangle incited such passionate debate that the show’s social media accounts issued a statement reminding fans to “keep the conversation kind.”
Whether you were Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah, all fans were thrilled to learn that a ”Summer I Turned Pretty” movie is in the works.
There’s certainly demand for more Belly, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Among women ages 18-34, season 3 of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is Prime Video’s most-watched season of television ever.
‘Dancing With the Stars’
“Dancing With the Stars” cohost Alfonso Ribeiro and season 34 champions Robert Irwin and Witney Carson.DisneyThe ABC reality competition series has been on the air since 2005, but its relevancy is only growing. Chalk it up to the show’s strong presence on TikTok, the casting of influencers and reality stars, or the fact that it’s also available to stream on Disney+ as of 2022, but “Dancing With the Stars” has successfully reached Gen Z viewers.
READ MORE: Disney Channel alum got ‘defensive’ about ‘misinterpreted’ moment on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
72 million votes were cast for Dancing With the Stars’ season 34 finale in November, more than double the amount of votes cast during last year’s final episode. 9.24 million people tuned in, making it the show’s most-watched finale since 2015.
Robert Irwin, the son of beloved late wildlife educator Steve Irwin, won the season 34 Mirrorball Trophy with his pro partner, Witney Carson. His victory was a heartwarming full-circle moment, as his older sister, Bindi Irwin, won “Dancing With the Stars” back in 2015 when Robert was 11.
‘Stranger Things’
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers in “Stranger Things.”COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025 The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” was perhaps the most anticipated television release of 2025. Part 1 hit Netflix on Nov. 26, racking up a whopping 59.6 million views within five days, the best premiere week an English-language Netflix series has ever had. (It’s the third best Netflix premiere week overall, finishing behind seasons 2 and 3 of the South Korean series “Squid Game.”)
“Stranger Things” fans have watched the show’s young cast grow up before their eyes, and they’ll finally get to see the grand conclusion when the season 5 finale premieres on Dec. 31. The highly-anticipated episode will also be in theaters for a limited time.