Year-End Lists

Entertainment Weekly: Best TV Shows of 2017

[see also 2016]

1. GLOW
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
3. Big Little Lies
4. The Good Place
5. Rick and Morty
6. Insecure
7. The Handmaid’s Tale
8. DuckTales
9. American Crime
10. Mr. Robot

Writing in The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum provides this wisdom about lists:

Each December, I write a festive rant about my loathing for Top Ten lists. It’s always the same: lists are reductive, phony, anti-art. Online, they work first as clickbait, then as groupthink. They force critics to rate radically dissimilar projects—the epic, the dramedy, the sleek time-killer, the ambitious game-changer that doesn’t quite cohere—so that algorithms can crunch out a blandly universal must-see selection. I don’t like math, and if I knew anything about how numbers worked I wouldn’t have gone into arts criticism. Plus, I haven’t seen all the TV, and neither have you.

After some important caveats and context, she offers these favorite TV shows:

[see also 2019 • 2018]

1. The Leftovers

Runners-up, not in order

• The Deuce
• Broad City
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• American Vandal
• Big Little Lies
• One Mississippi
• Search Party
• Lady Dynamite
• GLOW
• Claws
• Alias Grace
• Jane the Virgin

The Daily Beast: 20 Best TV Shows of 2017

[see also 2023]

1. Big Little Lies
2. The Handmaid’s Tale
3. The Leftovers
4. Better Things
5. Veep
6. Insecure
7. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
8. This Is Us
9. Girls
10. Jimmy Kimmel Live!
11. The Good Place
12. Search Party
13. American Vandal
14. Game of Thrones
15. One Day at a Time
16. The Deuce
17. Claws
18. The Good Fight
19. Will & Grace
20. The Real Housewives of New York City

Brandon Katz: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Observer

1. The Leftovers
2. The Handmaid’s Tale
3. Master of None
4. American Vandal
5. Mindhunter
6. The Deuce
7. Stranger Things
8. Better Call Saul
9. GLOW
10. The Good Place

Ken Tucker: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Yahoo

• Twin Peaks: The Return
• Better Call Saul
• Better Things
• The Leftovers
• Big Little Lies
• Insecure
• Legion
• Tales from the Tour Bus
• Catastrophe
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Tim Goodman: Best TV of 2017, as published by The Hollywood Reporter

[see also 2018]

1. The Leftovers
2. The A Word
3. The Vietnam War
4. Back
5. Halt and Catch Fire
6. Patriot
7. Better Things
8. Game of Thrones
9. Get Shorty
10. Planet Earth II
11. The Deuce
12. Veep
13. Better Call Saul
14. Legion
15. The Americans
16. Black Mirror
17. Mr. Robot
18. Master of None
19. Fargo
20. Guerrilla
21. Humans
22. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
23. Silicon Valley
24. People of Earth
25. Mindhunter
26. American Vandal
27. The Handmaid’s Tale
28. Stranger Things
29. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
30. Glow
31. Insecure
32. Casual
33. Orphan Black
34. The Good Place
35. You’re the Worst
36. Manhunt: Unabomber
37. Catastrophe
38. Dear White People
39. The Tick
40. Bob’s Burgers
41. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
42. Sneaky Pete
43. Mr. Mercedes
44. SMILF
45. Jane the Virgin
46. Godless

Willa Paskin: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Slate

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. The Leftovers
2. I Love Dick
3. The Deuce
4. Better Things
5. Halt and Catch Fire
6. The Handmaid’s Tale
7. Insecure
8. Big Little Lies
9. Catastrophe
10. GLOW

Sonia Saraiya: 25 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Variety

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015]

1. The Leftovers
2. The Crown
3. Halt and Catch Fire
4. Twin Peaks: The Return
5. Big Little Lies
6. Rick and Morty
7. Alias Grace
8. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
9. Better Things
10. BoJack Horseman
11. Planet Earth II
12. American Vandal
13. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
14. Star Trek: Discovery
15. The Keepers
16. Broad City
17. Dear White People
18. The Handmaid’s Tale
19. The Deuce
20. GLOW
21. The Good Place
22. Better Call Saul
23. Insecure
24. One Day at a Time
25. The Punisher

The A.V. Club: 20 Best TV Shows of 2017

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2016]

1. The Good Place
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
3. The Leftovers
4. Legion
5. Halt and Catch Fire
6. Better Call Saul
7. The Handmaid’s Tale
8. Rick and Morty
9. The Americans
10. Big Little Lies
11. Review
12. BoJack Horseman
13. One Day at a Time
14. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
15. The Deuce
16. GLOW
17. Better Things
18. American Vandal
19. The Young Pope
20. Alias Grace

Alan Sepinwall: 20 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Uproxx

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2016]

1. The Leftovers
2. Better Things
3. Halt and Catch Fire
4. The Good Place
5. Better Call Saul
6. Twin Peaks: The Return
7. Brockmire
8. Master of None
9. The Deuce
10. One Day at a Time
11. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
12. The Handmaid’s Tale
13. BoJack Horseman
14. Girls
15. Big Little Lies
16. Mindhunter
17. Legion
18. American Vandal
19. Speechless
20. Lady Dynamite