The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2020

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 30, 2020

Above are the highest-scoring first-year TV series (including limited series) debuting in the United States between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. 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 29, 2020, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded.

10 of 21 photo by HBO Max

85 I Hate Suzie (HBO Max)

(#11) One of several great UK imports (and don't sleep on Stath Lets Flats) streaming on HBO Max in recent months, Suzie stars Doctor Who's Billie Piper as a celebrity who has her phone hacked, resulting in the public exposure of graphic photos of an extramarital affair. The darkly comedic series was created by Piper along with Lucy Prebble, a writer on HBO's great Succession.

“A masterclass in tone ... I Hate Suzie is ambitious, thorny, darkly humorous, and incredibly charming—a portrait of vulnerability that bewitches not by prettifying itself, or making itself ugly, but instead with stark, unfiltered honesty. Suzie is not always the hero of this story—the title indicates she’s sometimes her own worst enemy—but the show’s dedication to her range of being is what ends up making I Hate Suzie so lovable.” —Sonia Saraiya, Variety

Watch it on HBO Max (8 episodes)

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