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.)

5 of 16 photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix

87 When They See Us (Netflix)

(#5) Ava DuVernay writes, directs, and produces this four-part Netflix miniseries retelling the story of the "Central Park Five"—five black and Hispanic teens who were wrongly convicted of the violent rape of a white jogger in New York in the late 1980s and were eventually exonerated over a decade later after spending years in prison. Breakout star Jharrel Jerome heads a cast that also includes Michael K. Williams, Vera Farmiga, Niecy Nash, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Christopher Jackson, Blair Underwood, Famke Janssen, and Joshua Jackson. It can be a difficult watch, but the series picked up 11 Emmy nominations, and many critics have been including it on their year-end top 10 lists.

“The four-parter is such a powerfully human take on one of our justice system’s most heinous blunders. Director and co-writer Ava DuVernay doesn’t appeal solely to our conscience; she goes for the emotional jugular. ... All of [the actors] are remarkable; there’s not a glitch in the casting.” —Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe

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