The Best Miniseries, TV Movies, and Specials of 2019

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 27, 2019

Above are the 15 highest-scoring special TV programs—including "limited" series, made-for-TV-movies, and one-off specials—debuting in the United States between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019. Titles are ranked by Metascore (an average of grades from top professional critics on a 0-100 scale) prior to rounding, and any programs with fewer than 7 reviews are excluded.

Note that most Netflix and Amazon original films (such as The Irishman and Marriage Story) generally open in at least a few theaters prior to (or in conjunction with) their streaming debuts, and are excluded here. (They will be eligible for our Best Movies of 2019 list instead.) But any streaming movies that bypass theatrical distribution are eligible here.

(Looking for the best regular TV series of 2019? Those will be ranked in a separate list coming in a few days.)

14 of 16 photo by Matt Squire/HBO

78 Years and Years (HBO)

(#14) Think of it as a less cynical, extra-long Black Mirror episode. This six-episode BBC production (airing in the States on HBO) centers on an extended family in Manchester, England, beginning with one particularly important night in 2019—and then following them over the next 15 years, depicting a near future that feels all too real (and about as distressing as you might expect). Rory Kinnear, Russell Tovey, and Jessica Hynes star, while Emma Thompson plays a celebrity turned politician whose activities serve as a televised backdrop as the years pass by. The miniseries comes from Russell T. Davies (Doctor Who, Queer as Folk, and last year's A Very English Scandal).

“To its credit, Years and Years—among the most emotionally involving, and best, series to air so far this year—keeps its aperture narrow even as the world keeps forcing its way in. This is, above all, the story of a family, one whose ordinariness makes them a powerful vehicle for telling the future.” —Daniel D'Addario, Variety

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