The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2019

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 29, 2019

Above are the highest-scoring first-year TV series debuting in the United States between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019. Shows are ranked by Metascore (an average of grades from top professional critics on a 0-100 scale) prior to rounding, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded.

(Note that limited series, as well as TV movies and specials, are ranked in a separate list.)

13 of 21 photo by Jon Hall/Netflix

81 Sex Education (Netflix)

(#13) This winning coming-of-age dramedy set in an English high school stars Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson. The latter plays a sex therapist, while Butterfield is her socially awkward son, who teams with a classmate (newcomer Emma Mackey) to offer advice to their fellow students. A second season begins streaming on January 17th.

“This is a series that modernizes the genre to embrace every kind of kid--the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads, all of 'em!--and without pandering to any singular point of view in doing so.” —Melanie McFarland, Salon

Where To Buy