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).

19 of 23 photo by Anika Molnar/Sister Pictures/BBC Studios/AMC

91 This Is Going to Hurt (AMC+/BBC1)

(#2) This comedic, seven-episode adaptation of Adam Kay's medical memoir stars Ben Whishaw as a low-level doctor struggling with the long hours and high demands of working in an OB-GYN ward of a British NHS hospital, with the series following him (and his colleagues) both at work and in their personal lives. British critics loved the series when it aired on the BBC early this year, and American reviewers also delivered high praise when the series began streaming on AMC+ and Sundance Now in June.

“Mixing tragedy and comedy to stunningly powerful effect, former doctor Adam Kay turns his own experiences into the stuff of TV gold while showing us the stark reality of a routinely under-funded, over-stretched NHS.” —Empire, Boyd Hilton

Watch it on AMC+ or Sundance Now (7 episodes)

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