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.

6 of 21 photo by Netflix

82 The Midnight Gospel (Netflix)

(#15) Netflix's latest animated comedy series for adults is a collaboration between comedian Duncan Trussell and Pendleton Ward, creator of the much-beloved Adventure Time. Loosely adapted from Trussell's podcast, the oddball series follows a ~~podcaster~~ spacecaster who sets out to interview beings living in dying worlds across the multiverse.

“Gospel's not for kids, but it reflects the ecstatic innovations that made Adventure Time such a trip. Ward directs every episode and finds moments of religious astonishment alongside gloopy horror, all of it served with chatty humanism and palpable sweetness. ... The result is a new kind of masterpiece: easy to like, easier to worship.” —Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly

Watch it on Netflix (8 episodes)

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