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.)

6 of 16 photo by Dan Reed/HBO

85 Leaving Neverland (HBO)

(#6) This two-part, four-hour HBO documentary by Dan Reed generated controversy from the moment it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Why? Because the devastating Neverland spends its entire running time examining the claims by two men—Wade Robson and James Safechuck—that they were raped by pop star Michael Jackson when they were young boys. It's not easy to get through, but it's an impressive and effective bit of filmmaking, according to critics, and it picked up an Emmy as the year's best documentary special.

“A work of extraordinary restraint. It is not salacious or leering or opportunistic. There aren’t any twists. You know where it’s going from the start. At many points, the camera just quietly waits for the subject to formulate his thoughts and find a way to keep speaking. But the power is undeniable.” —Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

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