Amazon Prime Video’s 15 Greatest Shows Ever, Ranked — Who’s #1?
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Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service unveiled its first original series 10 years ago today… and it hasn’t looked back since.
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Granted, the debut was not an auspicious one: Political comedy Alpha House only lasted two seasons, and nerd-com Betas was cancelled after one. But still, those two shows announced the arrival of a major new player on the streaming scene, and Amazon has since reaped the rewards with a host of Emmy and Golden Globe wins and a number of zeitgeist-defining hits. It’s hard to pin down what makes something an Amazon show, exactly, but its best series so far have been defined by top-notch production values, a quirky sense of humor and an international flair — and its ambitions just keep on growing.
To mark Prime Video’s tenth anniversary as a TV broadcaster, we’re celebrating the 15 very best series it’s had to offer over the past decade, from tiny alt-comedy gems to big-budget superhero shows and everything in between. (Plus, we ranked them, too, just to make things a little more fun.) Read on to see what made our list and which show took home the top spot. Got your own personal Amazon favorites? Hit the comments below and share your rankings.
16. Honorable Mentions
Amazon has produced an impressive output of original content over the last 10 years, so some very worthy contenders didn’t make our final cut. (Some were too early in their runs to properly judge from a historical perspective, we decided.) So we’d like to take a moment to recognize A League of Their Own, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Daisy Jones & the Six, Hunters, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Reacher, Upload and more personal favorites that fell just short here. We also want to acknowledge Steve McQueen’s stunning anthology Small Axe, which we ultimately deemed a collection of films rather than a TV show.
15. Swarm
Call this recency bias if you want, since it did just debut last month, but Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ haunting tale of an obsessed fan driven over the edge already stands out as one of the most daring and thought-provoking projects Amazon has ever produced. Glover and Nabers weaved together pitch-black comedy, splatter horror and psychological drama to craft a thriller that fully measures up to their groundbreaking work on FX’s Atlanta, and Dominique Fishback was simply spectacular as Dre, a dedicated fan of a Beyoncé-like pop idol whose dedication goes way, way too far.
14. Good Omens
This light, loving romp through history and religion is a faithful, fun adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s fantasy novel of the same name. At its beating heart are divine besties Aziraphale the angel (Masters of Sex’s Michael Sheen) and Crowley the demon (Doctor Who’s David Tennant), who’ve grown so fond of life amongst Earth’s mortals that they team up to thwart Heaven and Hell’s plans for the apocalypse. The action is madcap, the supporting cast (including Jon Hamm and Nick Offerman) stellar, and Sheen/Tennant as a comedic duo are a phenomenon we can’t wait to revisit when an in-the-works Season 2 eventually rolls around.
13. The English
The Hugo Blick Western — about Emily Blunt’s Cornelia Locke, an English aristocrat who arrives in 1890 middle America hellbent on avenging the death of her son — was not an easy watch, especially once it dove into greater detail about what plagued Cornelia and her boy. But you’ll have a difficult time finding a more visually stunning show on Prime Video, or a more beautiful love story than the one shared by Cornelia and Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp.
12. Outer Range
When Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin) found a mysterious, metaphysical hole on his land, we found one of our favorite Prime Video shows of all time. And it didn’t take long for things to get even weirder. Balancing supernatural elements with real-life familial drama and a good ol’ fashioned murder, the series served up a Western that was equal parts Yellowstone and Dark, and garnished with a hint of Lost. It caught us off-guard with its complex emotions, high-stakes drama and wild finale reveal, so we can’t wait to get back to life on the Range.
11. Bosch
The original seven-season series based on the Michael Connelly novels was far more than a faithful adaptation. With a stellar cast led by Titus Welliver (as tireless LAPD detective Harry Bosch), Jamie Hector, the late Lance Reddick, Amy Aquino and Madison Lintz, and stories well-rooted in Harry’s bestselling adventures, Bosch elevated the TV procedural — to a point that Amazon simply couldn’t let go, and instead greenlit more capers, via Freevee’s Bosch: Legacy.
10. As We See It
Jason Katims’ best series since Parenthood was an equally big-hearted dramedy about three neurodivergent twentysomethings — Jack (Undateable‘s Rick Glassman), Harrison (Albert Rutecki) and Violet (Sue Ann Pien) — in pursuit of careers, friendships and romance. The central trio — all three actors identify as living on the spectrum — were excellent, bolstered by ensemble players Sosie Bacon (as Jack, Harrison and Violet’s aide Mandy), Chris Pang (as Violet’s brother Van), Joe Mantegna (as Jack’s father Lou) and Délé Ogundiran (as Lou’s nurse Ewatomi). Unfortunately, this under-the-radar gem was cancelled after a single season.
9. Forever
This bittersweet afterlife dramedy boasted a powerhouse comedy pedigree, starring SNL alums Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph and created by Parks and Rec‘s Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard. The laughs were definitely there as dead married couple Oscar and June found themselves trapped in a hopelessly bland suburban purgatory, but Forever also tackled big metaphysical questions of finding one’s purpose in life (and death), with Rudolph delivering maybe the best performance of her career. It only ran for one season, but we would’ve liked to have seen it run… well, forever.
8. Patriot
Like its main character, this darkly deadpan and surreal comedy flew well under the radar… but if you know, you know. A steely-eyed Michael Dornan starred as an U.S. intelligence officer living a double life as an unassuming Milwaukee worker drone in an attempt to avert nuclear war — oh, and he sang folk songs, too! The result was aptly described as “the Coen brothers meets Tom Clancy,” and co-stars like Kurtwood Smith and Terry O’Quinn helped make this oddball mission well worth completing.
7. One Mississippi
Alt-comedy queen Tig Notaro got the weird and wonderful showcase she deserved with this sharply observed portrait of a L.A. radio host who moves back home to rural Mississippi after a health scare. The fish-out-of-water antics drove most of the comedy — John Rothman was hilarious as Tig’s awkward stepfather Bill — but it navigated some very grim material, too, as Tig uncovered long-buried family secrets. It played like a great little indie film and ended too soon after just two seasons, but we’ll always remember it as an unsung treasure.
6. Homecoming
Mr. Robot‘s Sam Esmail brought his brand of brainy paranoid thrillers to Amazon with this twisty drama about a halfway house for returning military veterans that hid a very dark secret. Season 1 gave Julia Roberts her best role in years as a social worker who untangles the vast conspiracy, and the clever puzzle-box construction made it a thrill to untangle it along with her. Season 2, with Janelle Monae taking over for Roberts, was a slight letdown, but as a whole, Homecoming kept us guessing and kept us fascinated in a way few other shows can claim.
5. Transparent
It’s a shame that Jeffrey Tambor’s alleged harassment derailed the legacy of this offbeat family dramedy, because it was a remarkable achievement: a delicately drawn portrayal of a transgender woman diving headfirst into her new identity late in life and throwing her adult children for a loop in the process. Tambor would likely not even be cast as Maura today, of course, but he was fantastically funny and empathetic in the role, and the rest of the cast was sensational, too, with great turns from Kathryn Hahn, Gaby Hoffmann and Judith Light. It was a massive step forward in visibility for a transgender community that sorely needed it (and still does), but Transparent transcended labels, too, reminding us that, to paraphrase Tolstoy, all families are f—ked up in their own special way.
4. The Boys
The bloody and twisted superhero drama is impressive for all the things it manages to successfully combine into one show: irreverent yet biting political and social commentary that is eerily prescient, truly entertaining storytelling and thrilling twists, a proudly demented sense of humor, a multitude of gory violence that is matched by the series’ surprisingly tender heart, and of course, one of the best villains to ever grace TV in Antony Starr’s Homelander. Others would collapse under the weight of all that, but The Boys continues to soar to new heights, season after season.
3. The Underground Railroad
It was a tall order to bring Colson Whitehead’s visionary alt-history novel to life, but Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) was more than up to the task. Turning the typical slave narrative on its head with a supernatural twist, the 10-episode series imagined a literal railroad running underneath America to help slaves escape to freedom, and Jenkins harnessed breathtaking visuals and a fiercely talented cast — Thuso Mbedu was absolutely unforgettable as fugitive slave Cora — to turn a painfully bleak story into something profoundly uplifting and inspiring.
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
This fast-paced 1950s confection was a fizzy delight from the start, with Rachel Brosnahan crafting a career-defining turn as Midge Maisel, who ditches her life as a housewife to pursue stardom as a stand-up comic, one open mike at a time. The sparkling period sets and costumes are great eye candy, and the rat-a-tat-tat dialogue from Gilmore Girls vet Amy Sherman-Palladino is great ear candy — a witty and urbane antidote for all those TV “comedies” that aren’t actually funny. Brosnahan and Alex Borstein make a dynamic comedy duo as the glamorous Midge and her grumpy manager Susie, and the series has brought Amazon a treasure trove of awards attention. With Maisel taking its final bow this year after five seasons, we can only say: Thank you, and good night.
1. Fleabag
Just think: If not for Amazon, we might never have had the pleasure of knowing Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The streamer brought the wildly talented UK actor and writer to our shores with this brilliantly bawdy comedy about a very flawed woman and her very flawed relationships. Waller-Bridge instantly announced herself as a star, breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly like we were old friends. Season 1 was great enough on its own, but the show rocketed to all-time status with a spectacular Season 2, adding Andrew Scott’s “Hot Priest” for a deliciously forbidden romance. Fleabag‘s success propelled Waller-Bridge to join blockbuster franchises like Star Wars, James Bond and Indiana Jones… but we really wish she would just come back and write a third season of this perfect little marvel.
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