The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2022

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 27, 2022

In the gallery on this page are the highest-scoring first-year TV series (including limited series) debuting in the United States between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022. 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 23, 2022, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded. One-off TV specials and made-for TV movies are also excluded (though the best of these is revealed at the end of the gallery, along with a list of the year's highest-scoring returning shows).

13 of 23 photo by HBO

86 Somebody Somewhere (HBO)

(#8) Comedian Bridget Everett stars in a semi-autobiographical dramedy about a going-nowhere 40-something and would-be singer who struggles to fit in in her Kansas hometown, where she has recently returned, but finds a group of like-minded outsiders. Also starring Jeff HIller, Murray Hill, Mary Catherine Garrison, and Danny McCarthy, the seven-episode first season was created by High Maintenance writers Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen and is produced by the Duplass brothers. Critics praised the low-key, character-driven series (which has been renewed) as heartfelt and naturalistic when it debuted in January. A second season will air sometime in 2023.

“Blessed with an eagle eye for detail, a laid-back sense of humor and a disarming sense of compassion, Somebody Somewhere is a mostly low-key delight that occasionally spills over into sheer exuberance.” —Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter

Watch it on HBO Max (7 episodes)

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