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.

17 of 21 photo by STEPHANIE KEITH/NETFLIX

87 Lenox Hill (Netflix)

(#4) This well-crafted eight-episode Netflix docuseries follows four physicians at New York's prestigious Lenox Hill hospital as they attempt to balance their personal and professional lives. An additional episode was added to the series in the summer, chronicling the doctors' work lives during the early days of the covid-19 outbreak.

“It seems as though everything on [the broadcast networks'] schedules that isn’t a cop or lawyer show is a doctor show. And yet, somehow, I’ve never seen anything like Lenox Hill before. ... By choosing the doctors they profile there with care, director-producers Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash capture the astounding range of personalities, specialties and styles of care the medical profession encompasses—and do justice to the many varieties of everyday heroism that take place behind hospital doors. ... The show comes by its emotional resonance honestly.” —Judy Berman, Time

Watch it on Netflix (9 episodes)

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