Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best

The Outsider was so nearly something genuinely great. Based on a Stephen King novel, showrun by novelist and frequent David Simon collaborator Richard Price, and starring the likes of Ben Mendelsohn, Julianne Nicholson, and Paddy Considine, not only did it sound like quality from the outset but it started off really well.

The opening episode saw Jason Bateman, a Little League coach, arrested for the murder of a young boy. The acting was super, the plot if not amazingly original was certainly captivating, and we settled in for a quality mystery.

But then came the supernatural elements, and layers upon layers of winding mystery. There’s a spooky figure with a blurred face. There are monsters who feed on fear, and spooky patterns pieced together by detective Holly Gibney (a frequently used Stephen King character whose extra sensory skills often provide a neat shortcut to keep plots moving).

There’s loads to like about the show, not least the stellar acting from the whole cast, but it often feels scattershot, unsure of which path to pursue, and to that end, it’s a frustrating watch.