The 27 Best New Shows of 2020

From 1999 on, viewers were lucky enough to be treated to what many referred to as "The Golden Age of Television." Shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones brought a previously unheard of level of quality to the small screen, and things like Lost DVD boxsets and Stranger Things on Netflix taught people how to binge watch. Now, with so many different subscription services and cord-cutters, a new television era is among us, one with countless options at any given moment. But that doesn't mean there's any less quality content; in fact, quite the contrary. In 2020, our work was cut out for us as we tried to navigate the ever-expanding field and decide which shows are worth our precious time.

With so much madness going on in 2020—the COVID-19 pandemic, looking to escape election year anxiety, so on and so forth—we're usually just looking for that escape in the genre of our choice. Looking for horror? You're covered. Feel like a laugh? Gotcha. Are you just dying to see one of the best sports docs ever? Join the club. Shows like HBO's I May Destroy You might make you laugh and tear up within a single scene, and shows like Netflix's The Queen's Gambit will suddenly have you very invested in high stakes, ultra competitive chess tournaments. Shows like Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso will just make you laugh and feel good—and who doesn't need a little bit of that?

Familiar names like HBO and Netflix are joined now by newcomers like Disney+, Apple TV+, and who knows what else. Here are our choices for 2020's best new shows.