# The best HBO series of all time

HBO's original dramas, comedies and miniseries that critics (Rotten Tomatoes' ranked guide, Vulture's ranking of every HBO show) and IMDb users rate highest.

- 367 votes · 25 items
- Nov 1, 2025 · Malik Kelly
- https://even.best/en/l/45/the-best-hbo-series-of-all-time

## Top 25

1. **The Sopranos** (27 · ▲32 ▼5) — 1999–2007. David Chase's mob boss in therapy; the show that started the golden age of television.
2. **The Wire** (25 · ▲28 ▼3) — 2002–2008. David Simon's Baltimore: drugs, docks, City Hall, schools and the press, one per season.
3. **Succession** (24 · ▲25 ▼1) — 2018–2023. The Roy family fights over a media empire; three Emmys for Best Drama.
4. **Six Feet Under** (19 · ▲20 ▼1) — 2001–2005. The Fisher family's funeral home and the most celebrated finale on TV.
5. **Chernobyl** (16 · ▲18 ▼2) — 2019. Craig Mazin's miniseries on the 1986 nuclear disaster; for a time IMDb's top-rated series.
6. **Band of Brothers** (16 · ▲17 ▼1) — 2001. Easy Company from D-Day to the end of the war, produced by Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
7. **Curb Your Enthusiasm** (16 · ▲16 ▼0) — 2000–2024. Larry David playing himself, improvised over 12 seasons.
8. **The Leftovers** (15 · ▲15 ▼0) — 2014–2017. Life after 2% of humanity vanishes; ignored at first, now considered a masterpiece.
9. **Deadwood** (13 · ▲15 ▼2) — 2004–2006. David Milch's Shakespearean western, with Ian McShane as Al Swearengen.
10. **Veep** (11 · ▲12 ▼1) — 2012–2019. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer; six consecutive Emmys for her performance.
11. **Watchmen** (11 · ▲12 ▼1) — 2019. Damon Lindelof's sequel to Alan Moore's comic, about the Tulsa race massacre.
12. **Game of Thrones** (10 · ▲12 ▼2) — 2011–2019. George R. R. Martin's Westeros; a record 59 Emmys despite its divisive final season.
13. **Sex and the City** (9 · ▲11 ▼2) — 1998–2004. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda in Manhattan.
14. **True Detective (season 1)** (8 · ▲11 ▼3) — 2014. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson chase a ritual killer through Louisiana.
15. **Barry** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — 2018–2023. Bill Hader as a hitman who wants to be an actor.
16. **The Larry Sanders Show** (8 · ▲8 ▼0) — 1992–1998. Garry Shandling's behind-the-scenes talk show satire.
17. **The White Lotus** (7 · ▲9 ▼2) — 2021–. Mike White's satire of rich tourists in luxury resorts.
18. **Generation Kill** (6 · ▲9 ▼3) — 2008. Marines in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, from the creators of The Wire.
19. **Boardwalk Empire** (5 · ▲8 ▼3) — 2010–2014. Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in Prohibition-era Atlantic City; pilot directed by Scorsese.
20. **Big Little Lies** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — 2017. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and a murder in Monterey.
21. **Oz** (4 · ▲7 ▼3) — 1997–2003. HBO's first hour-long drama, set in a maximum-security prison.
22. **The Last of Us** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — 2023–. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the adaptation of Naughty Dog's video game.
23. **Mare of Easttown** (3 · ▲7 ▼4) — 2021. Kate Winslet as a detective in small-town Pennsylvania.
24. **Euphoria** (-1 · ▲2 ▼3) — 2019–. Zendaya won two Emmys as Rue, a teenager battling addiction.
25. **Rome** (-2 · ▲2 ▼4) — 2005–2007. Two legionaries live through the fall of the Republic.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.