Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best

For the best part of a quarter century, HBO has been the undisputed chief of quality drama. Near-single handedly ushering in the so-called Golden Age Of TV, then maintaining it through the choppy waters of strikes, financial crises, and the spectre of streaming, HBO has reshaped the world of long form drama, and continues to produce some of the greatest stuff on the small screen.

Their dramatic department covers every genre you could imagine, from crime to fantasy to thrillers, mega budget epics, lush period pieces, and smaller, more intimate depictions of family strife and complex characters. And in doing so, they’ve lured ever-bigger actors to the world of telly, with huge Hollywood stars accepting that the juicer parts can be found outside of cinemas.

That’s not to say everything they touch turns to gold, mind - as we’ll see, they’ve had plenty of yawners, misfires, and outright duds, though they’ve more than made up for it with the good stuff. From the works they’d rather sweep under the carpet to the bonafide, all-time classic shows, here’s how HBO’s episodic drama stacks up.

Also as a note: limited series like The Young Pope and Sharp Objects aren't counted here - they're worthy of their own list.

Aaron Sorkin’s distinct style is a love it or hate it proposition - he writes TV his own way, and if you’re not down with that, he’s got tens of thousands of words for you that will boil your blood. On The Newsroom, though, he reached peak Sorkin, all the smugness and score settling without the wit, drama, or collection of decent characters.

The Newsroom begins by ripping off the film Network (they get away with this by having characters state “This is like that scene from Network”) and only gets more annoying from there. Jeff Daniels plays noble news anchor Will McAvoy, a WASPy boomer who’s always right about everything and doesn’t hesitate to put lessers in their place.

Through McAvoy, Sorkin opines on all the ills he sees in the modern world. There are more embarrassing scenes than you can shake a stick at, peaking with a scene set on a plane during the assassination of Bin Laden that has to be seen to be believed.

None of the characters are at all likeable despite the hard graft of an overqualified cast, and it limps on for three entire seasons. At its worst it’s fun to hatewatch, but for the most part it’s just dull.