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Eugene Hill
There's nothing quite like a great season of television. Whether binging them in one sitting or spacing out each episode to take the time to absorb them, it's hard to deny that they're always an entertaining adventure. When done right, a good season of TV can be utterly enthralling, as it follows a captivating story that makes it impossible to not want to move on to the next episode right after one is over.
Many of history's best TV shows have produced riveting seasons full of intriguing storylines, rich character development, and satisfying payoffs to interesting setups. From Breaking Bad to Attack on Titan, these shows' best seasons have garnered lots of praise for each individual episode on IMDb, and when you calculate the average rating of those episodes, you get a good idea of just how beloved the season is.
The Bear took the world by storm in 2022 with its colorful characters and depiction of the fast-paced chaos of restaurant culture. There were high expectations for its second season, and if IMDb reviewers are to be believed, it perfectly lived up to the hype. With the same terrific performances and delicious character writing that made the first season a hit, the continuation of the story of Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his team instantly connected with viewers.
This season is more contemplative than its predecessor, with a bigger focus on the quiet moments of peace that really make the characters grow and let their defining qualities shine through, while still having just a healthy dose of chaos and some of The Bear's truly hilarious episodes. The second season of The Bear earned the love of fans on IMDb thanks to its delightful sense of humor, clever writing, and brilliant directing.
It's not an overstatement, but a fact, to say that The Sopranos revolutionized television. It changed the notion of seriality, proved that TV could be as dark and mature as cinema could, and pretty much gave birth to the concept of prestige television. Over the course of the six seasons that it ran for, it kept racking up loyal fans who were eager to see how it would all end. Said conclusion is still considered one of the best seasons of TV ever, and one of the best endings in the medium's history.
With some of the best episodes of The Sopranos' run, its sixth season is the culmination of every plot point, every character arc, and every plot twist that had been accumulating and waiting to boil. Dramatic and meditative, it presents a complex view of the mob and the most fascinating part of protagonist Tony Soprano's (James Gandolfini) character development. Though not everyone loves the final episode, it's impossible to deny that it's certainly a subversive way to end such a popular show.
Who would have expected an animated comedy about a washed-up actor who also happens to be a talking horse to be as profound, mature, and surprisingly human as BoJack Horseman? What starts out like your typical crude animated sitcom soon starts to become something else entirely. While hilarious, what with its clever running gags and absurd sense of humor, the show stands out thanks to its complex take on themes like addiction, identity, and depression.
Succession is widely regarded to be one of those shows that get better and better with each passing season, so it came as no surprise when Season 3 proved to be the pinnacle of the story up to that point. With more of the same Shakespearean narratives and cerebral writing that fans had gotten used to, it was a game-changing turning point for all of the show's main characters.
Bringing the series' signature hilarious comedy, jaw-dropping twists, and riveting themes of family and betrayal to their highest point yet, Season 3 of Succession has multiple of the show's highest-rated episodes on IMDb, for good reason. It's the defining moment when the story truly goes all out, turning it into one of television fans' favorite seasons of all time.
Although it's pretty much universally agreed that the HBO epic show Game of Thrones, one of the best fantasy TV shows ever, went off the rails in its last season, the penultimate one still managed to garner fans' appreciation, as proved by its high IMDb average score. While not often considered one of the show's best chapters, the IMDb ratings of many of its best episodes prove that it nevertheless had plenty to offer.
Though it is the second shortest season of the whole show (just behind the final one), Season 7 of Game of Thrones still manages to pack in a few interesting surprises, fresh and unique character development, and perhaps the most impressive technical qualities up to that point in the show's history, making it one of the best seasons to watch for fantasy fans.
Praised by IMDb reviewers as a shockingly explosive and intelligent legal dramedy full of smart twists and addicting storylines, Suits kept going up and up in quality over the years until reaching its peak in the fifth season. With its recent explosion in popularity over on Netflix, it has become more intriguing than ever for newcomers to get into the series, if only to get to watch this masterpiece of a season.
Emotionally hard-hitting and with some really interesting creative choices, it's not surprising that it typically tops any Suits' best seasons list. Fans particularly enjoyed how the season adapts its storylines to the biggest strengths of its charming cast. While many shows rely on repetitive beats in their later seasons, the fifth one of Suits brings a bunch of new and fresh stories to the table, proving that it still had more than enough gas left in the tank.
It's now permanently ingrained in the collective memory of pop culture fans, but George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series was originally not nearly as popular as it became after HBO turned it into a hit show. Where many other fantasy shows' first seasons fail, the first season of Game of Thrones succeeds, and then some.
Each episode of Game of Thrones' first season is packed with amazing introductions to memorable characters, gripping storylines, and stunning set pieces that fans would immediately fall in love with and follow for nearly a decade. Sticking closely to Martin's seminal novel (while still offering some interesting changes in the GoT series), this introduction should have any television fan hooked from the very second the pilot starts.
Before it was syndicated on Netflix, the global phenomenon Breaking Bad wasn't nearly as popular as it became once it was available on the streaming giant. By the start of season four, it became the huge hit that it's remembered as today. Even with the huge weight on its shoulders of continuing to show the rise of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) to fearsome kingpin, the season exceeded expectations.
The penultimate chapter of this enthralling crime drama is arguably Breaking Bad's slowest burner, and all the better for it. It takes its time to develop its characters and evolve its story, until finally letting it all out in a series of explosive episodes and one of the most impactful season finales of any TV show ever. The whole season is an outstanding character study, and it more than lives up to its fame.
It may not exactly be underrated per se, but the outstanding sci-fi crime thriller Person of Interest most definitely deserves more praise than it gets, as proved by its outstanding final season and its average score on IMDb. It's one of the best thriller TV shows of the 21st century without a doubt, and it admirably managed to go out with a bang.
The fifth season of Person of Interest is by far the shortest, but it slickly proves that less is more, and that quality beats quantity every time. Like all the best final seasons of great shows, it's a satisfying ending that also manages to sprinkle in a few surprises and subversions of expectations. It deepens the characters and narrative wonderfully, and while you can definitely feel that the team didn't want to end things there (the show was canceled way before its time), they did a phenomenal job at closing things off with the time they were given.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary human character in film and television, so there's a lot of material to pick from when looking for good adaptations of the character. One of the most beloved is the BBC's Sherlock, which brings the detective's cases to contemporary London, sporting in Benedict Cumberbatch's take on the title role. This of course ends up being one of the best portrayals of Sherlock.
The second season, comprised of three 90-minute episodes, is the show's highest-rated. Although the episode in the middle isn't exactly adored by fans, the first and third are absolutely engrossing pieces of TV that really showcase the heights that Sherlock could reach. Mysterious and thrilling, it's an outstanding season of television that begs to be binged despite the tremendous runtime of each episode.
Prequels can often turn out to be catastrophic, particularly prequels of pieces of media as beloved and highly praised as Breaking Bad, whose fame didn't exactly set an easy bar for any successor to reach. Much to audiences' surprise, however, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould made in Better Call Saul a series that turned out to be as good as its predecessor, if not even better in some noteworthy areas.
There's a good reason why IMDb users consider this one of the top Better Call Saul seasons to watch. It explores the final steps in Jimmy's transformation into Saul, as well as the effects of the mysterious Lalo on Gus's operation. It's a riveting character drama with some of the show's best episodes and scenes, and it even does a few things better than Breaking Bad's fifth and final season.
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