
It’s massively voyeuristic, a seeming peek into the veiled world of teen misdeed that’s not really intended for a teen audience this show is for adults, and it’s designed to freak them the hell out, presenting a relentless universe of violation and self-destruction.

It seems like a total provocation, an endless barrage of existential misery and trauma softcore and shock for shock’s sake. That’d get to anyone after a while, even if they didn’t have an anxiety disorder.Įuphoria is a confusing show in some ways. Our tour guide through this dystopian high school landscape is Rue (Zendaya), a 17-year-old addict with… a nihilist streak? Her diffident attitude toward, like, being alive is understandable in context: she literally doesn’t know anyone who isn’t a drug-snorting, porn-swilling, lying, violent, self-harming glassy-eyed zombie. HBO’s Euphoria is bleak and deliberately provocative, saturated with drugs and sex and maladaptive decadence and rendered in beautifully lurid colors.

Stars: Zendaya, Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi

(And be sure to check out our lists of the best TV shows on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime while you’re at it.) But with so much new programming coming to HBO now that it is streaming via HBO Max (not to mention catching up with older series), expect the list to keep expanding in the coming months-and check out a list of everything else you can Watch on HBO Max here.įor now, whether you’re in the mood for a re-watch or still need to see The Sopranos for the first time, you’re sure to find something to stir your interest on Paste’s list of the 50 best HBO series of all time. But some of the dark, complex dramas are also some of the best TV shows of all-time (or at the very least, of the last decade). From Enlightened’s search for bliss to Veep’s devilish satire, HBO’s best series (along with some key miniseries) are not all dark, complex dramas.

But dig deeper into the 50 titles here, and it’s the range of artistic expression that becomes apparent. Many of the top shows in our list of the best HBO series of all time echo much the same sentiment: It’s no coincidence that their most common points of comparison, at least among critics, have been cinema and literature rather than the “prestige” programming of an earlier age. It’s HBO.” The premium cable network’s famed slogan, from an era predating “Peak TV,” projected an air of authority, of class, that defied the medium’s reputation as a lowbrow form.
