Here Is A List of The Top 50 HBO Shows of All Time

HBO has been a staple television network in most homes since the 70s when it was first launched. Since then, it has had numerous award-winning shows that have kept audiences glued to their screens. HBO has done it all, whether you are into series, movies, documentaries, comedies, and even concerts, HBO has got you covered. And even better yet, with the introduction of HBO Max, fans all across the world are now able to view their favorite shows at any time and binge them from start to finish. If you are new to HBO Max here is a list of the top 50 HBO shows of all time to get you started on your journey, we know you will enjoy most of these. 

HBO’s Angels in America show was created by Mike Nichols, who was inspired by Tony Kushner’s Emmy-Award-winning play and turned it into a prestige ministry unlike anything seen before in show business. Together with a pedigreed cast that includes Meryl Steep, Justin Kirk, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeffrey Wright, Nichols created a remarkable TV show we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. 

The name of this Pendelton Ward fantasy series gives some of its premises away but it's still a great show regardless. Adventure Time is regarded as one of the best cartoons produced in the modern era and it has aired rave reviews and critical acclaim since it first aired on Cartoon Network and throughout its reign in the 2010s. 

The Big Bang Theory was created by Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre who both served as head writers and executive producers during production. The show premiered on CBS in 2007; it originally followed the lives of five characters that lived together in an apartment with the band including a waitress and aspiring actress, an aerospace engineer, an astrophysicist, and others. 

A description of HBO’s Euphoria show would be incomplete without mentioning how bleak and intentionally provocative it is; the show contains a lot of sex and drugs wrapped up in a beautifully vivid array of colors and remarkable production. 

David Simon’s The Deuce is set in Times Square in the 1970s; the plot features a lot of pimps, photographers, prostitutes, reporters, and cops on their journeys of attempting to comprehend the world they lived in New York as decency went to the bin around them. 

HBO’s Gentleman Jack show spawned from the expansive Anne Lister journals. Anne Lister was a landed class woman from Yorkshire that many people regard as the first modern lesbian in the world. The show had lots to use as content as the diary features extensive details of Lister’s life as a mountaineer, coal magnate, world traveler, and seducer of other women. 

The Mike White created HBO show, The White Lotus, is a rewarding experience that explores the interwoven relationships between several wealthy guests at a Hawaiian resort. Its ensemble cast does justice to its memorable plot and combined with a spectacular production layout, the show rewards viewers with thrills that are difficult to replicate. 

Flight of the Conchords is a musical comedy show unlike no other; it stars Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement in a delightful story about how a terrible two-man band from New Zealand tries to become stars in New York, a very relatable plot for a lot of people in New York. 

Eastbound & Down is an unusual sitcom in the sense that its existence in the first place, stemmed from the realization of its creators that the movie they created was way too good to run for four hours, so they cut it down to two. The show spawned from there, with a memorable story that chronicles the life of a former major league pitcher on an obsessive drive to become relevant again. 

Mr. Show with Bob and David was already in existence before alternative comedy became a real thing; the only criticism the show has is its criminally short three-year run on HBO. Every episode of the show was made based on a central theme deliberately structured with sketches related to one another. 

HBO’s Sharp Objects show is a remarkable depiction of the oppressive nature of a small Missouri town. After two girls were found murdered, things became quite interesting in the town as characters quietly judged and blamed each other for the crime. For instance, there’s the city crime reporter, Camille Preaker, who was getting judged by her mother and socialite. 

The Tom Fontana-created HBO show, Oz made plenty of waves courtesy of its sexual content and violence meshed with a deeply unsettling and disturbing story. The show’s location itself is remarkable; it was set in a maximum-security prison, therefore creating a lasting impression on viewers that some say has continued to influence their views on the way prisons operate. 

Mike Judge’s shows are known for their focus on the specific subjects they seek to address and Silicon Valley isn’t any different; the show emphasizes the anger of Silicon Valley toward the tech industry and investors. This apparent anger towards the industry fuels the show and gave it life over its course. 

HBO’s Lovecraft Country show was adapted from Matt Ruff’s book of the same name; the show tracks the magicks of legacy while driving home the point that the entire legacy it portrays is steeped in racism. Lovecraft Country’s plot moves fast, really fast sometimes with a lot of incredible consequences that appear abandoned at first, only to manifest quickly and unpredictably. 

HBO’s The Jinx: The Life and Death of Robert Durst is a fascinating story of a man that is far from innocent and the way he was brought to justice for some of his many crimes. The show is an excellent portrayal of the world of a famous, troubled, and quite strange New York personality in Robert Durst.

HBO’s Vice Principals is a tale of love and friendship that tended to get mean-spirited at points but then the charisma of Danny McBride and Walton Goggins help spice things up. The pair are aspiring vice-principals on a mission to take up their new boss’s job. 

When Years and Years first arrived on HBO, there wasn’t a lot of hype around it, which is just wrong because this is one show that deserves a lot of attention. The creator, Russell T. Davies, created a compelling examination of what life in the next 15 years might look like, while also looking at a number of world events from the perspective of a single British family. 

The Andrew Haigh and Michael Lannon-created Looking is a compelling marriage of form and function; it is a chronicle of the life of gay men in modern-day San Francisco. The show achieves what it set out to do confidently; the storytelling is subdued but incredibly confident with compelling realism from the haunting adulthood adventures of the characters. 

HBO’s Treme debuted in 2010 as a David Simon portrayal of post-Katrina New Orleans. A lot of anticipation preceded its release so a lot of expectations were not met; rather than modeling the show’s events after "The Wire: Crescent City," David Simon and Eric Overmyer opted to create a subtle appreciation for "The City That Care Forgot." 

When it debuted, Westworld was touted as a possible successor to HBO’s mega-hit series, Game of Thrones. The show wasn’t like people predicted though; its events are fast, weird, and incredibly complex. The show’s very first season is a puzzle box that viewers struggle to wrap their heads around.

HBO’s Luck is an enjoyable show that really could have used some better luck; the show is mostly remembered for its abrupt cancellation as a result of the death of several horses used for filming it. Most of the events portrayed in the show were produced at the Santa Anita racetrack, which has recorded a significant number of dead horses just like the show itself. 

When The Comeback debuted, it was apparent that its production and story were ahead of its time. The name of this show foreshadows its story and content; Lisa Kudrow plays a big role as a formerly famous TV actress looking to break into the limelight again.

Critics of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire harp on its similarity to Sopranos. Fortunately, Boardwalk Empire is set in the 1920s and although it borrowed a couple of elements from Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire effectively expanded the scope of those elements. 

TV shows haven’t quite achieved a true depiction of the multi-faceted, multi-cultural nature of the society we live in, but TV shows like Insecure show what is possible and serve as an indication of good things to come in the future. It spawned from Issa Rae’s "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl" YouTube series but explores new realms too by addressing issues like boredom and the decline of long-term relationships. 

HBO’s Beartown series only needed five episodes to discuss the story of Peter Andersson, a former NHL player that returned to his hometown with his family to take up a job as the semi-professional hockey team coach. Andersson is from Bjornstad, which translates to Beartown. 

Tracey Ullman’s intelligence and lack of fear in going beyond the norm of comedy content during her performances make her one of the most exciting performers in recent memory. HBO’s Tracey Takes On show was the second platform created for Tracey to show off her unique take on humor and comedy.

HBO has been associated with lots of standout shows like Game of Thrones that even those that haven’t seen them know about courtesy of all the hype surrounding them. Bored to Death is more like a hidden gem on the streaming giant’s catalog just waiting to be uncovered.

The anthology setup of HBO’s True Detective means it isn’t a show for everyone; the show’s first season is a deeply disturbing and memorable affair while the second toned down the thrills a bit, resulting in a more laidback and less exciting sequence of events. 

HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones is a comedy show created by Danny McBride, who starred in it as Jesse, the heir to the legendary Eli of the Gemstone clan. Jesse’s legendary father, Eli, is played by John Goodman; Eli made the gospel a chain store as he established several churches and introduced his entire family to the showbiz preachers business. 

The Larry Sanders Show has a lot of sentimental value in HBO’s rich history; it used to be HBO’s headlining scripted program. The show made the line between a TV show and reality blurrier; the actors on the show played themselves on the show’s talk show. 

What makes HBO’s Big Love so great is the fact that the focus is on the relationship among the characters rather than the show’s plot itself. The show is set in a modern suburb of Utah where a man with three wives lived but rather than being all about the audacious polygamy, from the start, the show is about family and the importance of women supporting each other. 

Ghanian-British star and creator, Michaela Coel created the HBO show, I May Destroy You. The star explores the travails of the lead character, Arabella, and the confusion, pain, and path to healing of the London-based star were all examined in the show. 

HBO’s criminally overlooked show, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is a thrilling, futuristic series based on a book series of the same name. It follows the life of a young figure, Mma Ramotswe on her journey to creating the first female sleuthing firm in Botswana. 

The Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta created show, The Leftovers, isn’t the kind of show that everyone will enjoy; this is evident early as the show’s first episodes are the type to raise eyebrows in a way that many will consider not even finishing the first season. 

Daniel Knauf’s Carnivale is an unusual, deep, and truly strange TV series that also manages to be beautiful; the show is set in the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression. The plot follows a young and talented man that appeared to be gifted with an ability to manipulate the forces of life and death. 

HBO's Watchmen series was inspired by a graphic novel by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore of the same name; while the show is far from perfect like so many others, because of how difficult it is to pin down, it's an easy watch, and quite frankly worth the time required to gobble up its content. 

HBO’s Rome is a historical drama show that examines the fall of the Roman Republic and the subsequent rise of the Roman Empire. It is an ambitious and expensive series that portrays the betrayal of Caesar and the excesses of the Roman elite, making for an entertaining ride and thrilling watch. 

The Darren Star-created HBO show, Sex and the City isn’t perfect by any means as the specific demographic of the women that were portrayed are difficult to relate to. The main character here is Carrie Bradshaw, a problematic personality and not-so-talented writer that never seemed comfortable with making up her mind about her love life. 

Armando Iannucci’s Veep is a satirical show that examines the world of politics by breaking it down and focusing on the screw-ups which is what a lot of viewers love to see. There are lots of accidentally sent documents, squeaky shoes, and cringe-worthy moments here that will make you question politics in general.  

HBO’s Mare of Easttown is a sober sitcom that examines a couple of deaths that occurred in a Pennsylvania town; the show is as much about the pain of being alive as it is a careful consideration of the plights of our time. 

Chernobyl is a five-part TV show created by Craig Mazin; it is a prophetic show that chronicles the inability of a government to respond to an international crisis. Besides the thought-provoking plot that this HBO show boasts, there’s also an ensemble cast to keep things flowing.

HBO’s Deadwood has been touted as one of the best TV shows ever so its cancellation left a lot of fans displeased. Fortunately, nearly 10 years after its cancellation, the show returned to HBO in 2019 as Deadwood: The Movie. The movie release is particularly exciting because the original show remains one of the deepest, most thought-provoking, and smartest shows ever made on TV.

Right from the classic episodes of Doctor Who to the modern ones that are HBO Max exclusives, the show has been a delightful science-fiction ride on TV. Russell T. Davies was assigned the responsibility of updating the classic program for a new generation of viewers.

HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant was inspired by Chris Bojahian’s The Flight Attendant. It is one of the most popular shows released in late 2020, and it stars Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory in the lead role here as the flight attendant. 

The way HBO’s Game of Thrones ended didn’t please a lot of long-time fans of the show but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was one of the most successful and famous shows in recent memory. Game of Thrones is highly unpredictable; this much was proven in the early seasons when several prominent characters were executed, killed, tortured, or thrown off towers. 

HBO’s glaring influence on TV drama gets a lot of publicity but the streaming giant has had just as big of an impact on the comedy genre as well; shows like Veep and Sex and the City are proof of this, and Girls also proves this in its own way. 

HBO Max does a pretty good job at importing thrilling foreign series for fans to enjoy but the problem is not all of them get the attention they deserve from the fans they were intended for. The Head is one such criminally overlooked show; it is a remarkable thriller that gives off a similar vibe to John Carpenter’s The Thing. 

The Knick is arguably the greatest original drama in HBO’s catalog, and now that it is available for streaming, Steven Soderbergh’s remarkable show can be enjoyed by a bigger audience. The show features Clive Owen as a New York hospital doctor at the turn of the twentieth century.

Olive Kitteridge is a remarkable stream that can be enjoyed in all its glory on HBO Max. The show is based on Elizabeth Strout’s book of the same name and stars Frances McDormand as the titular character. McDormand’s character, Olive, is married to Henry Kitteridge, and they live together in a small Maine town. 

HBO’s Six Feet Under drama series broke new ground in the drama series genre by featuring grief and family elements in a way that hadn’t been done on TV before. With Peter Krause as the headlining act, Six Feet Under differentiated itself early as none of the TV drama shows that came before it managed to examine matters of family ties and adult flavor together as the show did.