Top 10 Best TV Shows on Apple TV+

Slow Horses delivers a consistently superb spy thriller, maintaining a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score overall and peaking at 98% for Season 5, making it only slightly less critically acclaimed than #1 Severance. Gary Oldman gives one of his greatest performances as Jackson Lamb, the slovenly genius heading a team of disgraced MI5 agents, earning a 2024 BAFTA for his portrayal. Adapted from Mick Herron's 12-novel series, the show boasts a 100% completion rate for its first four seasons, significantly higher than the average 73% for Apple TV+ dramas. Its 30-minute episodes create a tighter narrative pace than many of its rivals on the list.

Black Bird achieves a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, matching the peak of #2 Slow Horses but surpassing it with a 100% critic consensus on its chilling authenticity. Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser star in this true-crime limited series where a drug dealer must befriend a suspected serial killer in prison to earn his freedom. Hauser's performance earned him a 2022 Golden Globe, making it the most awarded acting turn in any Apple TV+ drama. With a 6-episode runtime (each under 55 minutes), it completes 40% faster than the typical 10-episode series on this list, delivering its gripping narrative with ruthless efficiency.

Pachinko earns a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, tied with #4 overall but distinguished by its $100 million budget, the most expensive production on this list. A multi-generational saga spanning eight decades, it follows a Korean immigrant family from 1910s Busan to 1980s Osaka and New York, with Lee Min-ho and Yuh-Jung Youn leading a stunning international cast. Its 33% lower budget per episode than #1 Severance's $20 million, yet it achieves a 92% audience approval rating, higher than the 88% average for similar epics on streaming platforms. This is one of streaming's most ambitious productions, weaving history with intimate family drama.

Ted Lasso is the most critically acclaimed comedy on Apple TV+, with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and 11 Emmy wins across its three seasons. Jason Sudeikis delivers a career-defining performance as an eternally optimistic American football coach hired to manage an English Premier League soccer team, despite knowing nothing about the sport. The show's cultural impact is undeniable—it became a global rallying cry for kindness and resilience, outperforming #8 For All Mankind in viewer sentiment surveys by 25%. Each episode balances laugh-out-loud humor with genuine emotional depth, a formula that has made it the platform's most beloved original series.

The Morning Show dominated the 2020 awards season with 26% of Apple TV+'s first major nominations, including a SAG Award for Jennifer Aniston. Aniston and Reese Witherspoon lead this gripping behind-the-scenes drama at a breakfast TV network navigating the #MeToo era, delivering raw performances that earned the series 14 Emmy nominations. Its unflinching exploration of workplace power dynamics is faster-paced than the average network drama, with 70% of critics praising its timely relevance. The show gave Apple TV+ instant credibility as a serious player in streaming, outperforming #5 Ted Lasso in dramatic intensity.

Shrinking boasts a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score—the highest on this list—and a 4.5/5 average audience rating, surpassing #6 The Morning Show by 12% in critic consensus. Jason Segel stars as a grieving therapist who breaks professional boundaries by telling patients his unfiltered thoughts, a risky premise that pays off with Emmy-caliber writing. Co-created by Brett Goldstein, known for his role in Ted Lasso, the series offers 30% more laugh-out-loud moments per episode than the typical dramedy. It deftly balances warmth and humor, exploring grief without melodrama, a feat that 85% of reviewers call "refreshing and authentic."

For All Mankind, with a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, is Apple TV+'s most ambitious sci-fi drama, costing $50 million per season—twice the budget of #7 Shrinking. Ronald D. Moore's alternate history imagines the Soviet Union landing on the moon first, sparking a space race that never ended, and its meticulous attention to historical detail sets a new benchmark for the genre. The series spans decades with an expanding cast, achieving a 4.7/5 user rating on Apple TV+, outpacing the platform average by 18%. Its emotional depth and groundbreaking visual effects have earned it a devoted fanbase, with 74% of viewers calling it "the best sci-fi show currently airing."

Mythic Quest delivers the sharpest workplace comedy on Apple TV+, earning a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score that outperforms #10 Silo by six points. Rob McElhenney and Charlotte Nicdao anchor a cast at a video game company, with the show's Emmy-winning “A Dark Quiet Death” episode ranking among the most acclaimed standalone TV installments of the decade, boasting an average viewer rating of 9.2 on IMDb. Created by the It's Always Sunny team, it leverages their signature witty banter but invests deeper emotional arcs, resulting in twice as many character-driven plot threads per season as typical sitcoms. The series has also spawned an 8.7-rated spin-off podcast, expanding its universe beyond the screen and cementing its status as a must-watch.

Silo constructs the most immersive post-apocalyptic thriller on the platform, with Rebecca Ferguson delivering a gripping performance that has drawn 10 million viewers in its first month—40% higher than the average Apple TV+ mystery series. The show's 90% Rotten Tomatoes score underscores a taut narrative where 10,000 inhabitants live underground, forbidden from uncovering the truth. Its multilayered mystery surpasses the runner-up in this genre on Apple TV+ by building a 92% audience retention rate across season one, measured via completion statistics. The series has also ignited a 200% surge in fan theories on social media, outpacing #9 Mythic Quest's engagement metrics and cementing one of the service's most passionate communities.