Caroline Framke: Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Variety

[see also 2020 • 2018]

1. High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
2. The Underground Railroad
3. Succession
4. Reservation Dogs
5. The Other Two
6. Hacks
7. Love Life
8. Saved by the Bell
9. Yellowjackets
10. Top Chef

Honorable mentions

• Ted Lasso
• Girls5eva
• PEN15
• We Are Lady Parts
• The White Lotus
• Only Murders in the Building

Daniel D’Addario: Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Variety

[see also 2018 • 2016]

1. The Investigation
2. Mare of Easttown
3. The Underground Railroad
4. Exterminate All the Brutes
5. Hacks
6. Philly D.A.
7. Succession
8. Pose
9. Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson
10. Framing Britney Spears

Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order)

• Dopesick
• How To with John Wilson
• The Other Two
• Reservation Dogs
• The White Lotus

James Poniewozik: Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

• Bo Burnham: Inside
• Dickinson
• The Good Fight
• Hacks
• Reservation Dogs
• It's a Sin
• Philly D.A.
• Station Eleven
• Succession
• The Underground Railroad
• The White Lotus

On the list last year, so let’s give someone else a chance

• PEN15
• What We Do in the Shadows

Honorable mentions

• City of Ghosts
• Couples Therapy
• Dave
• For All Mankind
• The Great
• Infinity Train
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
• WandaVision
• We Are Lady Parts
• Yellowjackets

Flawed but fascinating

• David Makes Man
• Kevin Can F**k Himself
• Made for Love
• Rutherford Falls

Judy Berman: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Time Magazine

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2018]

1. The Underground Railroad
2. The White Lotus
3. Work in Progress
4. Exterminate All the Brutes
5. Reservation Dogs
6. Yellowjackets
7. Succession
8. We Are Lady Parts
9. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
10. You

Honorable mentions

• Betty
• Call My Agent!
• Dickinson
• It's a Sin
• Losing Alice
• PEN15
• Philly D.A.
• Search Party
• Sort Of
• Squid Game

Paste Magazine: The 30 Best TV Shows of 2021

[see also 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. Hacks
2. Mare of Easttown
3. Only Murders in the Building
4. WandaVision
5. What We Do in the Shadows
6. Ted Lasso
7. The Other Two
8. Reservation Dogs
9. The Great
10. Succession
11. Cruel Summer
12. Girls5eva
13. Midnight Mass
14. Lupin
15. The Good Fight
16. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
17. Resident Alien
18. Cobra Kai
19. It's a Sin
20. Schmigadoon!
21. All Creatures Great and Small
22. The Underground Railroad
23. The Great British Bake Off
24. Dopesick
25. Kevin Can F**k Himself
26. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
27. Starstruck
28. Shadow and Bone
29. Dickinson
30. Nine Perfect Strangers

Sonia Saraiya: The 14 Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Vanity Fair

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Succession
2. Yellowjackets
3. Saturday Night Live
4. You
5. The White Lotus
6. Hacks
7. Station Eleven
8. Sort Of
9. Love Life
10. Dickinson
11. The Great

Justin Kirkland: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Esquire

1. WandaVision
2. Mare of Easttown
3. Squid Game
4. We're Here
5. The White Lotus
6. The Chair
7. High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
8. Ted Lasso
9. What We Do in the Shadows
10. Maid

Honorable Mentions

• Reservation Dogs
• Schmigadoon!
• Big Brother

Decider: Best TV of 2021

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Hacks
2. The White Lotus
3. Succession
4. Mythic Quest
5. What We Do in the Shadows
6. Ted Lasso
7. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
8. Only Murders in the Building
9. WandaVision
10. It's a Sin
11. Starstruck
12. Squid Game
13. Dickinson
14. Mare of Easttown
15. The Mosquito Coast
16. Yellowstone
17. Cobra Kai
18. For All Mankind
19. Sweet Tooth

Ben Travers: The Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2020 • 2019]

1. The Underground Railroad
2. Succession
3. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
4. Hacks
5. The White Lotus
6. Dave
7. Ted Lasso
8. Reservation Dogs
9. Mythic Quest
10. Tuca & Bertie

The Alternative 10

• Exterminate All the Brutes
• The Good Fight
• The Great North
• Kevin Can F**k Himself
• Maya and the Three
• Philly D.A.
• Starstruck
• Swagger
• This Way Up
• Ultra City Smiths

Honorable Mentions

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Sex Education
• What We Do in the Shadows
• Maid
• Mare of Easttown

The Root: The 10 Best Shows of 2021

• What If...?
• Gangs of London
• The Underground Railroad
• Insecure
• The Equalizer
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
• WandaVision
• Batwoman
• Pose
• Colin in Black & White