The 25 Best Shows on HBO and Max to Watch Right Now

“It’s not TV. It’s HBO,” the slogan used to go. Now it’s not HBO, either: It’s Max…but it is the home of HBO’s multiple Emmy-winning original TV series. But that’s not all: Under the Max umbrella, you’ll also find titles from the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, shows produced by Warner Bros. studios, imports from around the world, and so much more. Find your next binge in this list below.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005)

Anthony Bourdain may have been known to foodies as a Manhattan chef, but it was his tell-all nonfiction book Kitchen Confidential that made him a pop culture icon. A short-lived sitcom adaptation followed in the late ’00s (with Bradley Cooper playing “Jack Bourdain”! And Darren Star directing!!!)—but by that time, audiences had already fallen in love with the real-life Bourdain on his Travel Channel show. No Reservations found Bourdain touching down in locations ranging from Paris to Singapore to Namibia, meeting locals and sampling their dishes. Its CNN follow-up, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, is also available to stream on Max, making the platform home to two of the 21st century’s most acclaimed travelogues.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000)

Some will tell you that no pop-culture figure is more closely associated with the state of New Jersey than Bruce Springsteen. Those people haven’t seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force, in which sentient fast-food items—carton of french fries Frylock (voice of Carey Means), milkshake Master Shake (Dana Snyder), and ground beef clump Meatwad (series cocreator Dave Willis)—share a suburban house and fend off incursions from Mooninites, cybernetic ghosts, and their obstreperous neighbor Carl (Willis again). If it’s not the weirdest Adult Swim cartoon ever, it’s certainly in the conversation.

Deadwood (2004)

In 1876, the titular gold-mining camp has attracted people from all strata of society: monied interests from back east, “hospitality” entrepreneurs attracting miners with gambling tables and sex workers, members of the clergy, and men desperate to make their fortunes. The two main antagonists soon emerge: criminal operator Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) and marshal turned hardware-store proprietor Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant). Creator David Milch has been praised for the complexity of his dialogue, but you might not want to watch it with your kids if you don’t want them to repeat some of his favorite words. Deadwood is not merely one of the best drama series on Max: At least one critic called it “the best drama ever made.” (A wrap-up movie followed in 2019, which you can also stream on Max.)

A Different World (1987)

After Denise (Lisa Bonet), the second-eldest sibling on The Cosby Show, graduated high school, she moved on to Hillman College, a fictional HBCU located in Virginia. There, she met roommates Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis), a recent divorcée enrolled as a mature student, and Maggie (Marisa Tomei), a sweet and daffy military brat. Other students in her orbit include Southern belle and Hillman legacy Whitley (Jasmine Guy), after whose family Denise’s dorm is named, and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), a math genius with a crush on Denise. Bonet departed the show (eventually turning up for a later-season guest spot) when she became pregnant, and series creator Bill Cosby forbade her character from also carrying a pregnancy to term as an unmarried woman. (In retrospect, who better to be an arbiter of morality?) But the show continued for five more seasons, welcoming in new students played by Charnele Brown, Cree Summer, and Jada Pinkett, not yet Smith. Read Leah Faye Cooper’s VF oral history to find out how this show became one of the most important sitcoms.

Doctor Who (2005)

From 1963 to 1989, Doctor Who was one of BBC’s most beloved sci-fi institutions. The story of a Time Lord known only as “The Doctor” who travels the universe in a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space) disguised as a British police call box, part of the lore is that the character can simply regenerate in a new body as situations demand; famously bad special effects are part of the franchise’s charm. In the aughts, Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davies revived the series with a new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, and his companion, Rose (future I Hate Suzie star Billie Piper). Since then, several actors have taken on the role of The Doctor: The current star is the first Black Doctor, Barbie and Sex Education alumnus Ncuti Gatwa.

ER (1994)

Just over a year after Jurassic Park, an adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel, became an enormous blockbuster film, Crichton moved into TV dominance with ER. Based on a screenplay Crichton—a medical doctor turned novelist—originally wrote in 1974, ER was a dynamic, fast-paced medical drama set in the titular department of Cook County General Hospital, making gigantic superstars of a then relatively unknown cast that includes Anthony Edwards (married father Mark Greene), Noah Wyle (medical student John Carter), and, as sexy pediatrician Doug Ross, a very young George Clooney.

Fantasmas (2024)

Julio (Julio Torres) is an artist whose art is nearly impossible to define. His agent Vanesja (Martine Gutierrez) is very concerned that he secure a Proof of Existence card so that he can get a new apartment in a building sponsored by a cereal or banking company. Julio prefers not to think about that when, instead, he could buy himself a gold oyster earring, which he immediately loses at a club; the search for it then takes over every aspect of his life. In addition to starring, Torres created the series as well as writing and directing all six episodes, one of the most singular and hilarious visions on Max.

Frayed (2019)

Sammy (Sarah Kendall, who also created the show) fled her hometown of Newcastle, Australia, as soon as she possibly could. In London, she could be anyone she wanted, so she reinvented herself as “Simone,” married a businessman, and settled into life as a finance wife and mother of two. This life, however, rests on a crumbling foundation, as Sammy learns when her husband Nick dies and leaves his survivors crushing debt. With the kids, Sammy returns to Newcastle for the first time in decades, and takes on a whole raft of new problems on top of her old ones. This show did not get nearly the reception it should have, but if you’ve liked other dark comedies from executive producer Sharon Horgan—like Prime Video’s Catastrophe, AppleTV+’s Bad Sisters, or Hulu’s This Way Up—check it out.

Friends (1994)

Monica (Courteney Cox) is at her favorite coffee shop, hanging out with her brother Ross (David Schwimmer) and their best friends Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), and Chandler (Matthew Perry), when a sodden bride bursts in: It’s Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica’s best friend from high school. The two have since lost touch: Monica is the only person Rachel knew in New York who wasn’t already at Rachel’s wedding—which, by the way, Rachel has just fled, having belatedly realized she’s not in love with her fiancé. Having blown up her life, the spoiled Rachel has to learn how to do things like hold down a job, acquire health insurance, and make ends meet on a sub-minimum-wage salary. Fortunately, her new friends are around to help—or when they can’t, joke about it. Ten seasons, dozens of award nominations, and a 2021 reunion special (also on Max) followed for Friends, one of the most beloved comfort shows on Max.

The Great Pottery Throw Down (2015)

The Great British Baking Show proved the near-universal appeal of unassuming British people painstakingly performing delicate, time-consuming work with their hands, and heat. Hence its spiritual successor, The Great Pottery Throw Down. Each season assembles a group of amateur potters and winnows their numbers down through a series of elimination challenges according to a new brief in each episode. You may find yourself just as weepy as judge Keith Brymer Jones when a contestant really excels—even though, as on Baking Show, the winner’s reward is glory and pride, not a cash prize.

Hacks (2021)

When TV-comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) temporarily wrecks her career with an ill-considered tweet, her agent, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs, also a series cocreator), offers her the only job for which she hasn’t made herself too poisonous: writing jokes for another client of his. Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) has had a decades-long career as a stand-up comic, boasting a Las Vegas residency and establishing a wildly lucrative side gig with a signature line at QVC. But her act has gotten stale, and maybe an infusion of relevancy from a Gen Z voice is exactly what she needs. The multiply Emmy-nominated third season premiered in May.

I May Destroy You (2020)

Rising literary star Arabella (Michaela Coel, who created the show and wrote every episode) is having a hard time following up the debut novel that made her even more famous than her social media feeds. With a deadline bearing down, Arabella goes out with friends; the morning after, she’s not sure what happened, but her best friends Kwame (Paapa Essiedu) and Terry (Weruche Opia) try to help her reconstruct the night in question. Though potential viewers should be warned that a lot of the show revolves around the subject of sexual assault, I May Destroy You is, per Metacritic, the most critically acclaimed TV show of 2020, and one of Max’s most essential shows.

Industry (2020)

Showtime’s Billions gave us one view of the finance world, as portrayed through characters who, by the time we meet them, have spent years clawing their way to the top. Industry is set among new finance graduates at the bottom of the ladder, competing to outshine their peers and earn permanent employment at the London investment bank Pierpoint & Co. If you saw Myha’la Herrold in Leave the World Behind or Bodies Bodies Bodies and wondered where she came from, the answer is (in part) her breakout role here. Season three arrives on Max August 11.

The Investigation (2021)

True-crime stories adapted for the screen are often criticized for sensationalizing their subject matter and portraying criminals as brilliant masterminds. The Investigation is different. Originally made for Danish television, and based on the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, The Investigation is determinedly focused on the process Copenhagen police and expert divers went through to build the case against Wall’s murderer. Fascinating, tense, and never glamorous.

Joe Pera Talks With You (2018)

Many stand-up comics get the opportunity to headline their own TV comedies. But Joe Pera is never going to be confused with figures like Jerry Seinfeld or Martin Lawrence, and his show will never be mistaken for having the madcap, multicam energy of Seinfeld or Martin. Joe Pera Talks With You locates its titular star in his character’s hometown of Marquette, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where he’s a middle school choir teacher. Episodes find Joe talking to you about beans, giving you piano lessons, and talking you back to sleep. A Vice writer called Joe Pera Talks With You “the best thing Adult Swim has ever done”; when they’re right, they’re right.

Miss Sherlock (2018)

Recent series adaptations featuring Sherlock Holmes reimagine him as a seemingly neurodivergent man texting his way around contemporary London (the BBC’s Sherlock) or an addict in recovery whose Watson is his sober companion (CBS’s Elementary). Lesser-known in this country is Miss Sherlock. In Japan’s recent take, the “consulting detective” is Sara Shelly Futaba, nicknamed Sherlock (Yūko Takeuchi), who lives and works in present-day Tokyo; Dr. Wato Tachibana (Shihori Kanjiya) rooms with Miss Sherlock and serves as her Watson. The plots are crafted with all the intricacy one could hope for, and reimagining both leads as women is a fun twist.

Perry Mason (2020)

From 1957 to 1966 (and later in TV movies), Raymond Burr played the eponymous Perry Mason, in the series based on the fiction of author Erle Stanley Gardner. On both page and screen, Perry is a criminal-defense attorney working cases in Los Angeles. But HBO’s version is a prequel, one in which Perry (Matthew Rhys) is working as a PI in the city during the Depression. The first season finds Perry taking on the case of a kidnapped child who ends up dead; in the course of his work, he figures out that his real calling may be practicing law. Only two seasons exist, so savor them.

Sesame Street (1969)

Everything’s a-okay on Sesame Street, the friendliest thoroughfare imaginable. Humans and Muppets commingle, learning kindergarten lessons about letters, numbers, colors, shapes, rhymes, and also curiosity, tolerance, and kindness. Max is also the home to several spin-off movies, specials, and series. To say it’s one of the best kids’ educational shows on Max doesn’t capture its importance: It’s more accurate to say it’s raised four generations of children, and counting.

Sort Of (2021)

The last Canadian sitcom to break out in a big way was Schitt’s Creek, a broad show with mass appeal and traditionally jokey sitcom writing. Do not go into Canadian import Sort Of with similar expectations. Our protagonist is Sabi (Bilal Baig, who cocreated the show with Fab Filippo), a Toronto millennial with the portfolio of part-time jobs now required for life in a big city. Sabi is also the child of Pakistani immigrants, who are not particularly supportive of Sabi’s nonbinary gender identity. Sabi does have a nonbinary friend, 7ven (Amanda Cordner), but they often clash with Sabi about the emotional demands of Sabi’s nannying job. A low-key tone with well-earned laughs.

South Side (2019)

Kareme (Kareme Young) and Simon (Sultan Salahuddin, who cocreated the show) have graduated from community college with big dreams for their futures. But for now, they’re both still doing repos for Ren-T-Own, a rent-to-own company on Chicago’s titular south side—a vocation that brings them into contact with some of the area’s sneakiest dirtbags. As such, their paths often cross those of local cops Turner (Chandra Russell) and Goodnight (Bashir Salahuddin, another cocreator; Diallo Riddle, a recurring guest star as public defender Allen Gayle, is the third). With a setting inextricable from the stories it’s telling, think of South Side as Chicago’s Northern Exposure, but with much harder laughs.

Station Eleven (2021)

In this drama that cuts between the aftermath of a 20-years-prior apocalypse and the flu pandemic that caused it, we—Hey, where are you going? I get it: In the year 2024, this might not seem like subject matter that will entertain you, and despite the endorsement of many friends, including at this very publication, I put off watching it, and that was a mistake. A carefully wrought exploration of what remains after everything is lost, and what can be rebuilt, Station Eleven is among the most gripping dramas on Max.

Veep (2012)

After eviscerating British politics on The Thick of It, creator Armando Iannucci turned his attention to America’s—specifically, to the singularly unimportant post of vice president. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, a Maryland heiress turned US senator. When she loses the presidential nomination, the victor brings her onto his ticket; this turns out to be a poisoned chalice, since the gig comes with a lot of stress, long hours, annoying photo ops, and virtually no actual power. As on The Thick of It, the elected official is surrounded by staffers at wildly divergent levels of competence. A profane and screamingly funny satire of public service.

Warrior (2019)

San Francisco in the late 1870s is riven by wars among rival Chinese gangs, or tongs. In the middle of this, Ah Sam (Andrew Koji) arrives from China to make his way. While he’s extremely skilled at martial arts, his most useful talent is that, unlike virtually every other Chinese immigrant he encounters, Ah Sam speaks perfect English. Banshee cocreator Jonathan Tropper is the showrunner, but a lot of the source material he’s adapting came from a concept developed by the late Bruce Lee; one of the executive producers is his daughter, Shannon Lee. Pairing still-relevant commentary on xenophobia in America with hard-punching action, Warrior is by far one of Max’s most exciting shows.

Wellington Paranormal (2018)

What We Do in the Shadows has become more of a pop culture phenomenon than most people would expect from a mockumentary made for less than $2 million. FX’s sitcom adaptation of the film will start airing its sixth and final season this fall—but there’s also Wellington Paranormal, the TV series that preceded it. Revolving around officers Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O’Leary (Karen O’Leary), the cops who investigate a disturbance at the vampires’ house and, thanks to magic, find nothing amiss among the corpses and blood, Wellington Paranormal is a kind of comic New Zealand X-Files. Under the leadership of Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu), O’Leary and Minogue investigate phenomena inspired by pop culture (“Time Cop”), Māori legend (“Bird Woman”), science (“Fatberg”), and universally known specters like ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and everything in between. The characters’ determined deadpan helps make this one of the funniest and most underrated comedies on Max.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998)

These days, Wayne Brady is making headlines for his Freeform reality show, Wayne Brady: The Family Remix. But he may never have broken out if not for his showstopping work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? The American remake of a British panel show, Whose Line—“the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter”—challenges four sketch comedy performers to improvise short scenes based on scenarios thrown at them by host Drew Carey. Some of the sketch premises haven’t aged well, but if you can be a little forgiving of those moments, the extremely quick-witted performers’ versatility will awe and delight you.