After decades of storytelling, HBO is still a trusted place for excellent TV, and its best shows highlight why. There’s no shortage of great series to binge today — whether viewers are interested in Netflix’s lengthier titles or Hulu’s miniseries based on true stories — but you can always count on strong character development and riveting premises on HBO.

HBO is a particularly great place to find original content because the network knocks it out of the park with every genre, from a devastating miniseries, to prestige dramas, to sharp comedies. No matter how many other platforms there are, HBO still stands out as one with the highest quality.

Girls (2012-2017)

Before Girls, it’s hard to think of any shows that explored the pain, awkwardness, anxiety, and struggles of millennial life in a truly relatable and compelling way. From the moment you see Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) joking with her doctor about being broke in the pilot, it’s clear this will be a hilariously honest show.

There are many series about twenty-something women dating, working, and partying while living in New York, but Girls feels different thanks to Dunham’s distinctive voice. Like another fantastic HBO show, Sex and the City, the four main characters are nothing like each other, which adds to Girls‘ appeal.

With the passage of time, Girls has become less talked about, and it hasn’t resonated quite as much as other HBO shows that move between comedy and drama. It still deserves praise, however, and it’s interesting to see Dunham’s creative evolution and watch her 2025 Netflix rom-com series Too Much.

Barry (2018-2023)

HBO may not be a place for cheesy and heartwarming sitcoms, but that just means there’s more room for dark and fascinating out-of-the-box comedies. Barry is one of the most excellent ones, and Bill Hader, with his background in sketch comedy like Saturday Night Live and horror movies like It, gives a riveting performance.

The series, which has 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, won’t appeal to every HBO subscriber, as Hader plays a hitman who isn’t certain he wants to continue down this dangerous career path. It has a surprising and quirky tone, and while it’s definitely violent, there are many hilarious and playful scenes of Barry attending acting classes.

Although it’s not quite as popular as HBO’s prestige dramas, which tend to get all the attention, Barry also features a great performance from Henry Winkler as an acting coach.

Big Little Lies (2017-2026)

Even without impressive stars like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies would be a thriller to remember, since it has several fun twists and turns.

The premise of a murder at a school event makes you think, and while you pick apart and try to guess the suspects, Big Little Lies also offers a character study about mothers struggling despite their privilege and wealth.

While we’re not sure if Big Little Lies season 3 will live up to the first two seasons, the show’s track record has been strong so far. The show makes it clear that HBO is still a great place for mysteries with top talent.

The Last Of Us (2023-)

It’s not easy to adapt a beloved video game into an excellent TV show, but The Last of Us does exactly that with its beautiful and terrifying first season. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are incredible as Joel and Ellie, the post-apocalyptic premise is gripping, and “Long, Long Time” is one of the most emotionally devastating and unforgettable TV episodes of all time.

Unfortunately, The Last of Us season 2 is nowhere near as universally beloved as the first, with the introduction of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and certain game changes kicking off a plethora of problems.

It’s a complicated situation, since Dever gives an amazing performance and doesn’t deserve online hate. However, since the second season of The Last of Us doesn’t match the first’s high quality, other HBO shows are more consistently great.

The Leftovers (2014-2017)

Beloved for featuring a more gratifying ending than Lost, showrunner Damon Lindelof’s other epic, devastating, and sometimes perplexing show, The Leftovers, has three gorgeously crafted seasons.

An adaptation of the novel by Tom Perrotta, which was published in 2011, the series opens with a chilling premise: what if 2% of the population went missing during an incident called “the Sudden Departure“? The Leftovers deserves praise for looking at the lives of the heartbroken people left behind instead of focusing on finding the characters who disappeared.

Strong talent like Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Margaret Qualley, and Justin Theroux are other reasons to tune into this HBO series. It’s not quite as popular as some others, but it’s a great prestige drama with a mysterious tone.

Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2024)

Larry David took his ability to create a hilarious storyline out of tiny moments and kicked it into high gear with Curb Your Enthusiasm. It pokes fun at Hollywood, as well as many everyday problems people deal with, though some are a little more intense or cringe-worthy than our own experiences.

Since David took many breaks between seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, it didn’t always have as much momentum as other comedies or dramas on HBO, and it didn’t reach the universal popularity of Seinfeld. It’s still a perfect choice when you want a smart comedy, though.

Angels In America (2003)

The HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner’s play from 1991 was a groundbreaking look at characters affected by the AIDS epidemic. Besides telling this important story, the miniseries also features some of the greatest actors, including Jeffrey Wright, Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep, and Al Pacino.

Thanks to its 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and 11 Emmy wins, Angels in America remains one of the saddest and most beautifully crafted HBO shows. As the years have gone on, it hasn’t been recognized in pop culture discussions as much, but it’s still powerful.

Treme (2010-2013)

Unfortunately, as it’s been over a decade since the show premiered and even longer since the natural disaster happened, Treme doesn’t come up in conversations as much as it should. That’s a shame, as it’s one of the most well-crafted and emotional dramas on HBO.

From The Wire creator David Simon, the show has the same authentic tone of that popular drama, and tells a story of characters dealing with the trauma of Hurricane Katrina.

One of the best characters is musician Antoine Batiste, played by Wendell Pierce, who also starred in The Wire. It’s powerful to see such a raw depiction of life after the horrible historical event, especially since many of us only read news headlines about it.

Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014)

Boardwalk Empire also isn’t talked about that much these days, which could be because there are so many fantastic HBO shows to choose from. But after the star’s great work in quirky movies like Big Fish and Ghost World, Steve Buscemi plays secret gangster Nucky Thompson to perfection.

Buscemi fans shouldn’t miss this one, as it’s not just a compelling Prohibition era story; the show has a main character as darkly gripping as Tony Soprano or Don Draper on Mad Men. You can’t stop wondering what’s going to happen to him, and all five seasons are fairly good, which doesn’t always happen.

Mare Of Easttown (2021)

Both one of the most compelling HBO miniseries of the past decade and one of the best true-crime shows, period, Mare of Easttown sums up what you can find on the network: high-quality stories featuring some of the most talented actors around.

Kate Winslet’s Mare Sheehan is the most exciting draw here, as she’s as intelligent and tough as you want her to be, but the entire series works because the characters feel so real. You could be eavesdropping on an actual community and how they respond to a murder investigation and also go about their regular lives.

In an interview with Philly Voice, Craig Zobel, the show’s director, explained that Meghan Kasperlik, the costume designer, made sure the clothing felt authentic to people living in a small town. Zobel said she was “texting me pictures from the Wawa convenience store, just of people in the line.“