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).

7 of 23 photo by Carole Bethuel/HBO

84 Irma Vep (HBO)

(#14) French director Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper, Summer Hours) adapts his own acclaimed 1996 movie into a satirical (and extremely meta) A24-produced limited series. Taking over the role analogous to the one portrayed in the original film by Maggie Cheung (though Cheung was playing a version of herself) is Alicia Vikander, who plays a disillusioned American actress in Paris to star in a remake of the French silent film Les Vampires. But things get complicated on the problem-plagued set when the lines between her character and her real self begin to blur. The international cast also includes Tom Sturridge, Byron Bowers, Carrie Brownstein, Adira Arjona, Fala Chen, and Vincent Macaigne.

“Stuffed with colorful characters speaking wistful but believable dialogue, attractive locations, and graceful camerawork, Irma Vep floats along on the lightest of breezes, a behind-the-scenes comedy with enough heartbreak and humor to keep it grounded. ... The series is also ridiculously bingeable and addictive.” —David Cote, The A.V. Club

Watch it on HBO Max (8 episodes)

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