10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

7. Westworld - Season 1

Bates Motel
HBO

As it stands, Westworld is a series that peaked with its debut season before then seeing the quality levels drop with each subsequent year. Whether we ever get a fourth season of the show remains to be seen, with such a season announced by HBO before the pandemic hit in 2020... and largely radio silence on even a rough premiere date for Season Four in the two years since.

Still, Westworld at least gave audiences one of the great single seasons of modern TV. With its first year, this Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy-created effort really did deliver something truly special.

With its Western setting, futuristic feel, magnificent musical beats, stunning ensemble cast, and the overarching intrigue of the larger plot of this world within a world, Westworld immediately made itself feel like a big deal and a tentpole production destined to be one of the major hitters for the foreseeable future. Brimming with social commentary and exploring the underbelly of what people seek out as "entertainment", Season One was masterful.

Unfortunately, the second and third seasons began to move away from the core narrative of what had audiences hooked on Westworld, and the more the series moved away from its debut year, the less interesting the show became - and Season Three in particular seemed to relish in eradicating so much of what made Westworld great.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.