The most critically acclaimed HBO shows

The best HBO shows of all time

In addition to establishing the blueprint for TV in the 21st century, HBO has also been responsible for excellent comedies ("Veep"), talk shows ("Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"), and historical dramas ("Chernobyl").

HBO is known for its adventurous original series

The premium network is known for groundbreaking shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “The Wire,” “Game of Thrones,” Succession,” and more. Unlike traditional broadcast television, HBO shows were not bound by strict time limits, advertising, or FCC regulations, allowing for more creative freedom.

HBO is credited for the rise of ‘prestige television’

“Prestige television,” sometimes referred to as “the golden age of TV,” is a critical term for serious, darker, auteur-driven television from the late 1990s through the 2020s. HBO shows are often cited as examples of this style, with “The Sopranos” evolving the style and developing a model for the form.

The greatest HBO performances, ranked

Carrie Bradshaw, Selina Meyer, Tony Soprano: The list of standout HBO characters is endless. The network is known for fantastic writing and even better acting from the likes of Michael K. Williams, Kieran Culkin, Edie Falco, and hundreds of other A-listers. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

HBO’s biggest flops

Although HBO is known for its high-quality programming, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t missed the mark from time to time. Shows like “The Mind of the Married Man” and “John From Cincinnati” missed the mark in numerous ways, with both critics and audiences.

'The Sopranos' is often seen as the start of 'prestige television'

HBO’s The Sopranos followed New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano as he struggled to balance his violent criminal life with his personal and family issues. Its blend of crime drama, pitch-perfect comedy, and intergenerational family dynamics made for a complex show not easily reduced to typical genre tags.

The best episodes of 'The Simpsons,' ranked

In its almost four decades on the air, "The Simpsons" has played a role in shaping the arc of American comedy. This list from The Ringer ranks the show's episodes that played the biggest role in that process, featuring exemplary scripts from Conan O'Brien, Greg Daniels, and more.

The 'Chernobyl' miniseries is one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows ever

The five-episode historical drama earned near-universal acclaim for its historical detail and haunting portrayal of the 1986 disaster, winning 10 Emmys and topping IMDb's all-time TV rankings upon its release.

David Simon on writing for TV

Few people have done more to define HBO—and American television—than David Simon, creator and writer for “The Wire,” “Treme,” “Show Me a Hero,” and other shows. In this interview, Simon explains how he approaches a script and what he believes TV writers should aim to do beyond entertainment.

The best cult TV shows

Before the streaming era, television shows lived and died by their weekly ratings. That led to early cancellations for several well-regarded shows, like "Freaks and Geeks," "Party Down," and "Veronica Mars." Thanks to DVD boxsets and streaming, the shows often became cult classics long after they were taken off the air.

The best horror movies of all time

The genre has been scaring audiences for over a century, in many different forms and through many other methods. While any list is subjective, this Rotten Tomatoes list is based on the films' aggregate critical scores. We're sure it'll inspire some additions to your watch list—along with some spirited conversations.

The 10 best TV spin-offs ever

The spin-off is a much-maligned genre, often seen as a cash grab more than an artistic enterprise. This list argues otherwise, offering 10 excellent series that come close to besting their source material.

See this ranking of the top 10 medical shows on television

The Hollywood Reporter created this 2025 ranking of 10 television shows from around the world that focus on medicine. Candidates included "Grey's Anatomy," "The Pitt," "New Amsterdam," "ER," and more. The publication warns that its ranking is a living document that may change with time—and that its explanations include show spoilers.

As ‘Game of Thrones’ grew more popular, its fans grew more critical

George RR Martin's “A Song of Ice and Fire” series began in 1996 as a series of fantasy novels and gained popularity in the 2010s through the TV series “Game of Thrones.” As the series gained more viewers, fans and critics grew more critical of the show, with particular vitriol reserved for the series finale.

Rotten Tomatoes scores have gone up by 13% in the past decade

Rotten Tomatoes is the gold standard in the film industry, offering viewers aggregated critical scores of recently released movies. Filmmakers have criticized the site, though, suggesting its scores are now meaningless, evident from the past decade's inflation, and that the company has a conflict of interest.

Plenty of groundbreaking films never won an Oscar

The Academy Awards may look to celebrate the best films in a given year, but they sometimes miss the mark. This list breaks down 15 important movies that didn't win a single Oscar, including early classics like "Frankenstein" and "Double Indemnity," New Hollywood landmarks like "Easy Rider" and "Taxi Driver," and pop culture phenoms like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Reservoir Dogs."

The best Shakespeare plays, ranked

The Guardian worked through the Bard's plays, from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to "The Winter's Tale," evaluating what distinguishes the mediocre from the truly excellent.

The awards focus on three categories: performance, show and technical, and special honors

While marquee awards like best musical attract the most attention, the Tonys award the many elements that contribute to American theater. This video breaks down the various award categories, including the ones retired over the years, as well as eligibility requirements, how nominations are decided, and, of course, how the winners are selected.

The best movies about Wall Street

From Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” to “American Psycho” starring Christian Bale, Hollywood has no shortage of Wall-Street-centric filmography. These films often distinguish themselves by interrogating why excess wealth and success are so often deemed synonymous in American culture.

The greatest all-time diss tracks

Hip-hop history has its fair share of beefs, going all the way back to the early ‘80s. This list collects the best songs from those artistic battles, with classic tracks from Nas, Jay-Z, Boogie Down Productions, and a few more recent entries from Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

Ranking the best of Napa's wine

Want to see how different Napa vintages stack up against one another? This Wine Spectator chart covers every Napa vintage since 1991. It gives each year an overall score, has notes about the conditions that affected the harvest and production, and gives suggestions for some of their top-scoring bottles. If you’re interested in building a long-term wine collection, it also notes which vintages might be best to age.

The 100 best Pulitzer-winning books

No ranking is definitive, but this site compiled expert analysis with book sales and other factors to rank the best books to win the Pulitzer. The list is topped by Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and includes fiction and nonfiction winners, providing a starred fan ranking and endorsements from experts and famous people.

A number of Hitchcock's most celebrated films are based on novels

Hitchcock’s films are often cited as being literary, and with good reason—many of them are based on works of literature. This list from the Los Angeles Public Library not only names the many novels that were adapted for the screen by Hitchcock, like "Rebecca (1940)," but also provides excellent context for how and why Hitchcock came to make his adaptations.

The greatest games in NFL history

Do you remember “The Catch”? What about the “Immaculate Reception”? Did you watch when Elway finally got his ring? Take a trip down memory lane with this Bleacher Report list of the 50 greatest games in NFL history. Explore classic NFL moments dating back to the NFL’s early days in the 1930s and '40s to the present day.

The most iconic vintage ads

Looking at vintage ads can provide a deep dive into the history of how businesses communicate with their customers. This archive of some of the most iconic print and out-of-home ads of all time breaks down why each ad resonated at the time (think brutally honest copywriting, and long copy that is a pleasure to read). See ads from Porsche, Listerine, and more.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.