The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 28, 2021

Above are the highest-scoring first-year TV series (including limited series) debuting in the United States between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Shows are ranked by Metascore (an average of grades from top professional critics on a 0-100 scale) prior to rounding based on scores as of December 24, 2021, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded. One-off TV specials and made-for TV movies are ranked separately at the end of the gallery.

7 of 23 photo by Mario Perez/HBO

82 The White Lotus (HBO)

(#14) One of the buzziest new shows of 2021, this six-episode social satire from writer/director Mike White (Enlightened) spends a week at an exclusive Hawaiian resort where the guests, employees, and resort itself turn out to be far less perfect than first appearances would suggest. The ensemble cast includes Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Sydney Sweeney, Murray Bartlett, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Natasha Rothwell, Molly Shannon, and fan favorite Jennifer Coolidge. The miniseries continued to impress reviewers across its summer run, and it has been landing on year-end top 10 lists with regularity. The series proved so popular that HBO and White have opted to turn it into an ongoing anthology series, with an upcoming second season to follow a new set of characters at a different White Lotus-branded resort.

“The White Lotus isn’t insisting itself as a state of the nation satire but White’s deft and unforgiving writing manages what so many others have tried and failed to do in the last five years. He’s created a deeply funny and bracingly topical piece of art that prods and provokes without preaching. His show says more about class, sex and race because it’s not directly about those issues, remembering, vitally, that to send a message, one has to package it well.” —Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

Watch it on HBO Max (6 episodes)

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