Twin Peaks.
Photo: Showtime
This post is updated frequently as TV shows leave and enter Paramount+. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Paramount+ has been in a bit of an identity crisis in the streaming era. For years, it was known as CBS All Access, the portal for people to watch both current and classic CBS programming, but the company rebranded as Paramount+ in 2021. The best thing that Paramount+ has had going for it is the development of creators, particularly the Kings, the team behind originals The Good Fight and Evil, and Taylor Sheridan, who has created a ratings juggernaut in his Yellowstone universe — there are four spin-offs on the air or in development. There are also some classic Paramount properties on the service like MTV originals Jackass and Beavis & Butt-Head, along with so many trips to the final frontier.
Years: 1990-1991, 2017
Length: 3 seasons, 48 episodes
Creators: Mark Frost, David Lynch
When Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) went to Twin Peaks, television changed forever. To say something was ahead of its time is clichéd, but audiences legitimately had no idea what to do with this show when it premiered in 1990, forever changing expectations of network TV (and leading the way for the cable domination and Prestige era). By the time it returned in 2017 for The Return, which is also on Paramount+, its brilliance was widely recognized. It’s simply essential television.
Year: 2024
Length: 1 season, 8 episodes
Creator: Ben Vanstone
Based on the wildly acclaimed 2016 novel of the same name, this original mini-series is a showcase for the eternally underrated Ewan McGregor, who does some of the best work of his career here. McGregor plays Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who ended up trapped in a hotel room after the October Revolution in the 1910s, forced into a sort of domestic exile via house arrest. While a lot of the themes here work better on the page, McGregor does great work to bring them to life on the screen the best he can.
Years: 2006-2013
Length: 8 seasons, 96 episodes
Creator: James Manos Jr.
One of the biggest critical and commercial darlings of the Showtime legacy is this thriller based on the books by Jeff Lindsay. Michael C. Hall segued beautifully from HBO’s Six Feet Under to playing Dexter Morgan, everyone’s favorite serial killer with a conscience. Dexter is a Miami forensic analyst who happens to murder the bad guys who slip through the police department’s grasp. It arguably outran its welcome (like a lot of Showtime shows) but it was brilliant for at least four seasons.
Year: 2018
Length: 1 season, 7 episodes
Creators: Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin
In 2015, two inmates escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. It turned out that they had some help from a female prison employee, played in this series by the spectacular Patricia Arquette, who won an Emmy for her efforts. She’s matched by great turns from Benicio del Toro and Paul Dano, along with ace direction from Ben Stiller. It’s one of the best mini-series of the 2010s.
Years: 2017-2022
Length: 6 seasons, 60 episodes
Creators: Robert King, Michelle King, Phil Alden Robinson
After the end of The Good Wife (which is also on Paramount+), the creators spun off a superior drama in this original series that followed Christine Baranski’s Diane Lockhart to a Chicago law firm. The ensemble here is phenomenal — including wonderful guest turns from Michael J. Fox and Michael Sheen — but it’s the writing that really elevates this very unusual drama, one that was entirely unafraid to incorporate real world issues into its storytelling. In the end, The Good Fight may be one of the best television reflections of the Trump era, and how we survived it.
Years: 193-1997, 2011, 2022-present
Length: 9 seasons, 245 episodes
Creator: Mike Judge
It took forever for Mike Judge’s massively influential MTV hit to get to a streaming service, mostly held up by music rights to the videos that these lovable morons mocked in every episode. Not only are most of them now on Paramount+, but they’re accompanied by a revival of the show that’s actually pretty damn hysterical. There’s something timeless about the adventures of Beavis and his BFF Butt-head.
Years: 2003-2006
Length: 3 seasons, 28 episodes
Creators: Dave Chappelle, Neal Brennan
Everyone has an opinion on Dave Chappelle in the 2020s, but back in the 2000s, he wasn’t yet a household name when his sketch comedy show premiered on Comedy Central. Everything changed. In instant hit, Chappelle’s Show felt like the new wave of comedy unfolding before our eyes. It was what was going to replace your parents’ sketch comedy in shows like Saturday Night Live. And then Dave walked away from it. It holds up incredibly well, and it’s easy to see its influence on so many imitators since.
Years: 1982-1993
Length: 11 seasons, 275 episodes
Creators: Glen Charles, Les Charles, James Burrows
Any list of the best sitcoms of all time that doesn’t include the gang at Cheers is simply wrong. Running for most of the 1980s, the NBC hit really defined that decade in terms of comedy, both in ratings and critical success. It’s also a great example of a show that needed time to find an audience after nearly being canceled after its first season. So many shows aren’t given time to find their people anymore. Thank God, someone at NBC allowed Cheers to do so.
Year: 2023
Length: 1 season, 10 episodes
Creators: Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie
The fearless comic behind The Rehearsal has joined forced with one of the minds behind Uncut Gems to create a new cringe classic, the story of a New Mexico couple (Fielder & Emma Stone) whose marriage falls apart as they put together an atrocious HGTV show called “Flipanthropy.” An insightful skewering of the kind of personality that constantly preaches philanthropy while doing everything selfish they can possibly do, it’s a comedy that is designed to make your skin crawl, including some of the most unforgettable scenes in any comedy in years. Don’t miss this one.
Years: 1996-present
Length: So many, but just two seasons on Paramount+
Creators: Madeleine Smithberg, Lizz Winstead
There are a handful of Trevor Noah’s “best” episodes on Paramount+ and the last season and change, but this is on this list for one reason: Paramount+ is the place to watch Jon Stewart’s return to the show that made him a household name. If you haven’t heard, he’s going to do weekly shows on Mondays through 2024, meaning that we will hear his takes on what is bound to be one of the most contested elections in history.
Years: 2017-2018
Length: 2 seasons, 20 episodes
Creators: Sam Richardson, Tim Robinson, Zack Kanin, Joe Kelly
Before Tim Robinson became a comedy icon with I Think You Should Leave, the Michigan native co-created this clever comedy with his buddy Sam Richardson (of Veep and The After Party, also from Detroit). It’s about two normal guys who end up producing TV commercials for business in the Motor City and it deserved a better fate than its two-season run on Comedy Central.
Years: 2011-2017
Length: 5 seasons, 41 episodes
Creators: David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik
This might be the best post-Friends project for any of its stars. Matt LeBlanc is excellent at satirizing himself in this send-up of the TV comedy industry about two writers who move from the U.K. to Hollywood and discover it’s a shark-infested profession. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig play the couple while LeBlanc plays the problematic star of the show they’re writing. It’s smart and consistently funny, at least for the first few seasons. In fact, LeBlanc got more Emmy nominations for this (four) than he did for the show that made him a household name.
Years: 1996-2005
Length: 9 seasons, 210 episodes
Creator: Philip Rosenthal
One of the best sitcoms of all time, this CBS juggernaut remains hysterical, and Peacock is now the exclusive streaming home of the Barone family. The ensemble here is so strong from top to bottom but revisit it now for the timing of Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts as Ray’s parents. They make every single joke funnier than it is on the page.
Years: 1993-2004
Length: 11 seasons, 264 episodes
Creators: David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee
Spin-offs are never this good. After the doors closed over at Cheers, Kelsey Grammer took the character of Frasier Crane to his own series on the same network and arguably found just as much as success. For over a decade, fans embraced Frasier and his professional and personal allies, including brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), father Martin (John Mahoney), producer Roz (Peri Gilpin), and Martin’s care-giver Daphne (Jane Leeves). Consistently clever and funny, Frasier is one of the best sitcoms of the ‘90s. And it’s returning (sorta) in a reboot on the streamer (with only Grammer back in the cast).
Years: 1999-2000
Length: 1 season, 18 episodes
Creator: Paul Feig
It was considered enough of a failure by NBC that the network only aired 12 episodes before pulling the plug, but few shows have ever reclaimed their legacy as much as this one. Judged on its own terms, it’s one of the smartest coming-of-age comedies to ever play on television, but it was also the minor leagues for comedy to come, helping launch the careers of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, John Francis Daley, Martin Starr, Linda Cardellini, and many more.
Years: 2000-2001
Length: 3 seasons, 25 episodes
Creators: Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville
The adventures of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, and the rest of the lunatics over at Jackass have become an essential part of the Paramount+ brand. They have all four of the films (and Bad Grandpa) along with full episodes from the MTV era that started it all. Don’t try this at home, kids.
Years: 2012-2015
Length: 5 seasons, 54 episodes
Creators: Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele
Sketch comedy doesn’t get funnier than the massive Comedy Central hit that reunited a pair of Mad TV stars and let their genius run wild. Hitting hot button issues with fresh insight and hysterical precision, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele revealed themselves to be two of the best comedy writers in the business, leading to a Peabody Award, two Emmy Awards, and millions of fans. You can see their fingerprints on so much of what people find funny and clever in the 2020s.
Years: 1998-2007
Length: 9 seasons, 207 episodes
Creator: Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt
Often in the shadow of its CBS comedy roommate Everybody Loves Raymond, this sitcom never quite got the attention it deserved but has had a long life in reruns and should find some fans on Paramount. Kevin James and Leah Remini have underrated comic timing, and Jerry Stiller and Patton Oswalt are fantastic in the supporting cast. It’s comfort food comedy that goes down easy even in repeats.
Years: 2013-2015
Length: 3 seasons, 30 episodes
Creators: Nick Kroll, Jonathan Krisel, John Levenstein
Nick Kroll doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the most consistently inventive comedians of his era. If you don’t believe me, look no further than his Comedy Central sketch comedy show that allowed the gifted actor to really go all-in with his warped sense of humor and remarkable skill at crafting memorable characters. It feels like Kroll could get a boost in the future from people who were teens when this show was originally on as they find it again. Let’s start that now.
Years: 2014-2017
Length: 3 seasons, 22 episodes
Creators: Andy Daly, Jeffrey Blitz, Charlie Siskel
Review is the funniest show you probably haven’t seen. The insanely talented Andy Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a professional critic who decides to review real-life experiences instead of just movies or TV shows. He then rates each experience in an unfolding saga of a man who basically gets so swept up in a project that it destroys his actual real life. Each episode is titled after what Forrest is reviewing that week, and there may be no funnier half-hour of television in the 2010s than “Pancakes; Divorce; Pancakes.”
Years: 2009-2011
Length: 3 seasons, 36 episodes
Creator: Diablo Cody
Juno scribe Diablo Cody created this show about a mother dealing with dissociative identity disorder, giving the phenomenal Toni Collette a part so rich that she won an Emmy for its first season. Collette plays Tara, an ordinary mother who has an extraordinary problem that leads her to express various other personalities. Risky and funny, it also features great supporting turns from Rosemarie DeWitt, John Corbett, and Keir Gilchrist.
Years: 1991-1995
Length: 3 seasons, 21 episodes
Creator: Peter Chung
Anyone old enough to remember MTV’s Liquid Television probably remembers how much it ruled. Experimental animated shorts on a major cable network wasn’t (and still isn’t) a common thing, and the show allowed for all kinds of unexpected visions and creative expression. One of the most memorable was Aeon Flux, which was then spun-off into its own series (and even an eventual movie). One wishes there were more things as ambitious as this on TV now.
Years: 2019-present
Length: 3 seasons, 36 episodes
Creators: Robert King, Michelle King
The creators of The Good Fight launched a very different (but just-as-smart) series on CBS in 2019, but it moved to Paramount+ for its second season and got even better. Katja Herbers and Mike Colter star in a show that’s really about the modern definition of evil, and how it manifests in everything from social media to crypto currency. This is one of the smartest shows on TV, a modern X-Files riff that’s sexy, creepy, and brilliant.
Years: 2014-2016
Length: 3 seasons, 27 episodes
Creator: John Logan
Fans of this show were crestfallen when it ended after only three seasons, but its limited run has arguably made it even more of a cult hit in the years since. Penny Dreadful is drenched in violence and sexuality, using a ton of 19th century Gothic fiction as its base, inspired by the tales of characters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll. In fact, some of those famous characters appear directly with Harry Treadaway memorably playing Victor Frankenstein. But the show is stolen by the formidable Eva Green, who should have won at least one Emmy for her work here.
Years: 2020-2021
Length: 1 season, 9 episodes
Creators: Josh Boone, Benjamin Cavell
Stephen King’s breakthrough 1978 epic novel about the end of the world has been a puzzle for Hollywood for generations. They adapted it once as a mini-series for network TV in 1994, and then it was in various states of production for a feature film throughout the 2010s. It ended up a mini-series at the end of the decade and in the peak of the pandemic, and, well, it’s interesting but flawed. Still, King fans will want to check it out, particularly for Alex Skarsgard’s memorable work as Randall Flagg and solid turns from Greg Kinnear and Odessa Young.
Years: Various
Length: Various
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Paramount and Star Trek have been partners for generations, so it makes sense that the streaming service has weeks-worth of trips to the final frontier for fans to watch. There’s a wave of new originals like Discovery, Prodigy, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and Picard. But the real draw remains the classics, including The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. You could watch nothing but Star Trek on Paramount+ and have little time to do anything else.
Years: 1959-1964
Length: 5 seasons, 156 episodes
Creator: Rod Serling
No, not the Jordan Peele reboot. We’re talking about the classic original, a show that deserves to be on any list of the best of all time. It’s certainly one of the most influential, a masterpiece of sight and sound that’s still rippling across sci-fi television. With episodes that play out like short films, Rod Serling explored the potential of storytelling on episodic television in a manner that elevated the entire form. If you only want to pick out the absolute best, use this guide to do so.
Years: 2021-present
Length: 2 seasons, 20 episodes
Creators: Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson
Even fans would admit that the sophomore slump stung this Showtime hit, but that’s in part because the first season was so unabashedly brilliant. Taking place in dual timelines, this is the story of a group of teenagers who crashed in the middle of nowhere in 1996 and were forced to go to extremes to survive. It’s also the story of them today as survivors, blending grief, mystery, and intrigue into a fascinating narrative stew. Most of all, it’s a show that clicks because of its rock star cast, including great turns from Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Sophie Nelisse, and many more. The creators claim to have multiple seasons outlined, so there’s reason to hope that this show will fly again soon.
Years: 2001-present
Length: 35 seasons, 408 episodes
Creators: Elisa Doganieri, Bertram van Munster
There are reasons that this CBS reality show hit has been so successful for so long, winning consecutive Emmys for the best reality competition show on any network. One of them is that Phil Keoghan is as good as any host on these shows, finding ways to make this journey around the world pop. But The Amazing Race is really a model of perfect reality show editing, keeping viewers as excited as the contestants on every leg of the competition.
Years: 1992-2017
Length: 33 seasons, 614 episodes
Creators: Mary-Ellis Bunim, Jonthan Murray
The Mount Rushmore of reality TV has to include the show where people started “getting real,” the MTV hit that simply put different personalities in a space and bounced them off each other in front of the cameras. It’s hard to over-state the impact that The Real World had on the TV landscape. We’re still feeling it today. Note: There are 21 seasons across the historical spectrum of the show on Paramount+. We’re not sure why the collection is incomplete, but we’re just being real.
