Apple TV may not have the biggest streaming library, but it might have the best hit rate.
That has basically become my running argument with this service. I wrote before that Apple TV+ Does Not Miss, and I recently followed that up by looking at why Apple TV still feels like one of the strongest quality-over-quantity streaming services in 2026.
But at some point, you have to move from the general argument to the actual shows. Because if Apple TV really does not miss, then the next question is simple: which Apple TV shows are the best?
This is not meant to be a definitive ranking of every Apple TV original ever made. I have not seen everything on the service yet, so this list is based on the Apple TV shows I have personally watched. That means shows like The Morning Show, Black Bird, Pachinko, Lessons in Chemistry, Presumed Innocent, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Trying, and others may eventually work their way into a future version of this ranking once I catch up.
For now, this is my personal ranking of the Apple TV shows I have watched so far. And honestly, even with that limitation, the list is still pretty strong.
Quick Take: My ranking of the best Apple TV shows starts with entertaining thrillers like Hijack and Invasion, but the top tier belongs to shows like Silo, Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, and Severance. Apple TV’s best originals prove the service has one of the strongest hit rates in streaming.
Honorable Mentions
Bad Monkey
Bad Monkey is a fun, breezy crime comedy that feels different from a lot of Apple TV’s more intense prestige shows. Vince Vaughn is basically doing exactly what you want Vince Vaughn to do: fast-talking, sarcastic, relaxed, and somehow always making the chaos around him feel a little more entertaining.
The reason it lands in honorable mentions for me is not because I disliked it. It is more that Apple TV has become surprisingly stacked, and Bad Monkey has not quite jumped into my top 10 yet. But it absolutely fits the service’s growing range. Apple is not just doing sci-fi, prestige dramas, and glossy thrillers. It can also deliver something lighter, sunnier, and more laid-back.
Recent news: Bad Monkey has been renewed for a second season, which is good news because the first season felt like the kind of show that could easily grow into an even better rhythm with more time.
Mythic Quest
Mythic Quest deserves credit for being one of Apple TV’s early comedy building blocks. It was smart, weird, workplace-driven, and often much more emotional than expected. The show could be ridiculous, but when it wanted to hit a heartfelt note, it usually knew how to do it.
I probably never connected with it quite enough to put it above the shows in my top 10, but I do appreciate what it brought to Apple TV. It gave the platform a workplace comedy with a specific point of view, and it showed that Apple could play in the comedy space before shows like Ted Lasso and Shrinking became bigger parts of the service’s identity.
Recent news: Mythic Quest was canceled after four seasons, with an updated finale released to give the series more closure.
Down Cemetery Road
Down Cemetery Road is an interesting honorable mention because it feels connected to one of Apple TV’s biggest strengths: British thrillers built around smart writing, dry humor, and messy characters. Given that it comes from the world of Mick Herron, it naturally carries some of the same appeal that makes Slow Horses such a standout.
I do not have it in my top 10 yet, but it is the kind of show that could rise for me over time. Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson give it immediate credibility, and Apple TV has clearly found a lane with these sharp, character-driven British mystery and spy stories.
Recent news: Down Cemetery Road has been renewed for a second season, so this is one to keep an eye on.
10. Hijack
Hijack is one of those shows that knows exactly what it is.
It is not trying to reinvent television. It is not trying to be the deepest show on Apple TV. It is a tense, fast-moving thriller built around a simple premise: Idris Elba has to navigate an impossible hostage situation in real time. Sometimes that kind of straightforward setup is exactly what you want.
The first season works because it has momentum. It gives you a clear crisis, a strong lead performance, and enough tension to keep you moving through the episodes. Idris Elba brings the exact kind of calm intensity the show needs, and even when the plot gets a little heightened, he keeps the whole thing grounded.
This is the kind of Apple TV show that proves the platform does not only need prestige dramas or high-concept sci-fi to work. Sometimes it just needs a good thriller with a strong hook and a lead actor who can carry the pressure.
Recent news: Hijack returned for Season 2 in January 2026, shifting the crisis from a hijacked airplane to a hostage situation involving a Berlin underground train. That is a smart move because it keeps the “real-time crisis” feel while avoiding a simple repeat of the first season.
Why it ranks here: Hijack is very watchable and easy to recommend, but Apple TV has several shows with more depth, stronger characters, and bigger long-term impact. It is a solid thriller, just not quite top-tier Apple TV for me.
9. Invasion
Invasion is probably one of the more divisive shows on this list.
On one hand, it has the kind of big global sci-fi premise that Apple TV clearly loves. An alien invasion is happening, but instead of focusing only on massive battles and spectacle, the show spreads the story across different characters and locations. It is trying to show what an invasion feels like from the ground level, through confusion, fear, grief, and survival.
I respect that approach. Apple TV’s sci-fi shows often work because they are not just about the concept. They are about the human consequences of the concept. Invasion fits that pattern.
At the same time, the show can be slow. Sometimes that patience works, and sometimes it feels like the series is holding back too much. It has moments where the tension really clicks, but it also has stretches where I wish it moved with a little more urgency.
Still, I have watched enough to keep it on the list. The atmosphere is strong, the scale is ambitious, and when it does lean into the mystery and dread, it can be really effective.
Recent news: Invasion returned for Season 3 in August 2025, continuing Apple TV’s investment in large-scale science fiction.
Why it ranks here: I like the ambition of Invasion, but it does not always balance patience and payoff as well as Apple’s better sci-fi shows. It earns a spot in the top 10, but I would not put it in the service’s upper tier.
8. For All Mankind
For All Mankind is one of Apple TV’s most important shows.
It helped establish the platform as a place for serious, ambitious science fiction. The premise is brilliant: what if the global space race never really ended? Instead of treating the moon landing as a finish line, the show imagines an alternate history where competition between the United States and the Soviet Union keeps pushing space exploration further and further.
That concept alone is enough to make the show worth watching, but the reason For All Mankind has lasted is that it keeps expanding. It is not content to stay in one era or one kind of story. It jumps forward in time, follows characters through major personal and political changes, and constantly asks what progress costs.
At its best, the show is a fascinating blend of alternate history, workplace drama, political tension, and space adventure. It has big ideas, but it also understands that space exploration means nothing if the people risking their lives do not matter.
For me, the reason it lands at number eight is that I admire it maybe more than I consistently love it. There are stretches where it is excellent, and there are stretches where I am not quite as emotionally locked in as I am with the shows higher on this list.
Recent news: For All Mankind returned for Season 5 in March 2026 and has been renewed for a sixth and final season. Apple has also expanded the world with Star City, a related series focused on the Soviet side of the space race.
Why it ranks here: For All Mankind is one of Apple TV’s signature dramas and probably deserves major credit for helping define the service’s sci-fi identity. Personally, though, I connect more strongly with the shows ahead of it.
7. Dark Matter
Dark Matter is exactly the kind of show that makes Apple TV’s sci-fi lineup feel so strong.
The premise is instantly compelling. A man is pulled into an alternate version of his life, forcing him to confront the choices he made, the paths he did not take, and the terrifying possibility that another version of himself may want the life he already has.
That is a great science fiction hook, but the reason Dark Matter works is that it is not just about parallel worlds. It is about regret. It is about identity. It is about family. It is about how easy it is to romanticize the life you did not choose while forgetting the value of the one you actually built.
Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly help keep the emotional stakes grounded, even when the story gets bigger and stranger. The show has the Apple TV polish you expect, but it also has a strong emotional engine underneath the concept.
I have already written about Dark Matter and where the story could go next, and it is one of the Apple TV shows I am most curious to see continue. The first season adapted the core of Blake Crouch’s novel, so the second season has an interesting challenge: how do you expand a story that already had a strong built-in shape?
Recent news: Dark Matter Season 2 is set to premiere in August 2026, with Blake Crouch continuing to steer the story.
Why it ranks here: Dark Matter is a strong high-concept sci-fi thriller with a real emotional core. It is not my favorite Apple TV sci-fi show, but it is definitely one of the clearest examples of why the platform has become so good in this genre.
6. Shrinking
Shrinking is one of Apple TV’s best examples of how to make a comedy that still has emotional weight.
The setup could have gone wrong pretty easily. A grieving therapist starts breaking professional rules and getting more involved in his patients’ lives. That could have become too gimmicky or too sentimental. Instead, Shrinking finds a really effective balance between sadness, humor, awkwardness, and healing.
Jason Segel is strong in the lead role, but the reason the show rises for me is the ensemble. Harrison Ford is fantastic, and the supporting cast gives the show a found-family energy that makes it easy to keep watching. It is funny, but it also lets its characters be messy in ways that feel recognizable.
What I appreciate most is that Shrinking does not treat grief like something that gets solved. It treats it as something people carry, avoid, joke through, stumble around, and slowly learn to live with. That gives the show more staying power than a simple therapy comedy would have had.
It also fits into the broader conversation about why we get attached to certain shows. I recently wrote about why we keep rewatching comfort shows, and while Shrinking is not exactly a traditional comfort sitcom, it does have that same emotional warmth once you settle into its rhythm.
Recent news: Apple renewed Shrinking for Season 4 before Season 3 even premiered, which says a lot about the confidence the service has in the show.
Why it ranks here: Shrinking is funny, heartfelt, and carried by one of Apple TV’s best ensembles. It is not quite top five for me, but it is very close.
5. Foundation
Foundation is probably the biggest Apple TV show on this list in terms of scale.
This is massive science fiction. Empires, prophecies, mathematics, clones, politics, religion, rebellion, power, history, and the possible collapse of civilization itself. It is the kind of show that feels like Apple looked at its sci-fi lane and said, “Let’s go as big as possible.”
That ambition is what makes Foundation stand out.
It is not always the easiest show to casually watch. You have to pay attention. The mythology is dense, the timeline is large, and the series is playing with ideas that are bigger than individual characters. But when it works, it really works.
The production value is enormous, and the show often looks like one of the most expensive things on television. More importantly, it has a sense of scale that many streaming sci-fi shows never achieve. You feel the weight of history in Foundation. You feel that civilizations are rising and falling, and that characters are often trapped inside forces much bigger than themselves.
I do not think it is Apple TV’s most emotionally accessible show, and that is probably why it does not rank even higher for me. But as a pure sci-fi achievement, it is one of the platform’s major flexes.
Recent news: Foundation has been renewed for Season 4, with production expected to continue the show’s massive sci-fi story beyond Season 3.
Why it ranks here: Foundation is not always the easiest Apple TV show to recommend to everyone, but its ambition, visuals, and scope make it one of the service’s most impressive originals.
4. Silo
Silo is one of the best pure mystery-box shows Apple TV has.
The concept is simple and immediately effective: humanity appears to be living underground in a massive silo, but no one fully understands why, what happened outside, or how much of their history has been hidden from them. That is the kind of premise that instantly creates questions, and Silo knows how to use those questions to pull you forward.
What makes the show work is the atmosphere. The silo feels like a real society with rules, class divisions, power structures, secrets, and pressure points. It is not just a cool setting. It is a system, and the show is at its best when it is showing how that system keeps people afraid, obedient, and isolated from the truth.
Rebecca Ferguson gives the show a strong center, and Juliette is exactly the kind of character this story needs: stubborn, practical, angry, smart, and unwilling to stop pulling at loose threads just because powerful people tell her to.
Silo is also a perfect example of what I like about Apple TV’s sci-fi approach. It has a big concept, but it does not rush the world-building. It lets the tension build. It trusts the mystery. It makes the environment feel oppressive before it starts giving answers.
Recent news: Silo returns for Season 3 in July 2026, and Apple has already renewed it through a fourth and final season. That is great news because this feels like the kind of story that needs a planned ending.
Why it ranks here: Silo is one of Apple TV’s strongest sci-fi originals. It has mystery, atmosphere, a great lead performance, and enough long-term story potential to make it feel like one of the platform’s defining shows.
3. Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso is probably still Apple TV’s most important show.
It may not be my number one, but it is the show that made a lot of people take Apple TV seriously. Before Ted Lasso, Apple’s streaming service still felt like a question mark. After Ted Lasso, it had a cultural breakthrough.
The reason the show connected is not complicated. It is funny, warm, hopeful, and built around a character who could have easily been annoying in the wrong hands. Ted’s relentless optimism works because the show gradually reveals that it is not simple happiness. It is a coping mechanism, a leadership style, a kindness, and sometimes a mask.
That gives the series more depth than its early reputation as “the nice soccer show” might suggest. At its best, Ted Lasso is about people trying to become better without pretending that growth is easy. Ted, Rebecca, Roy, Jamie, Keeley, Coach Beard, Nate, and the rest of the ensemble all have their own emotional lanes, and the show becomes less about soccer than about the people who find meaning through the team.
This is also one of the few Apple TV shows that can function as a genuine comfort watch. It has emotional stakes, but it also has warmth, quotable moments, and characters you want to revisit.
Recent news: Ted Lasso is officially returning for Season 4 in August 2026, which is huge considering the third season originally felt like it could serve as the ending.
Why it ranks here: Ted Lasso is Apple TV’s biggest heart-on-its-sleeve success story. It is not my number one, but it is probably the show most responsible for proving Apple TV could create a true streaming hit.
2. Slow Horses
Slow Horses might be Apple TV’s most consistently entertaining show.
Every season feels sharp, efficient, funny, tense, and perfectly aware of what makes the series work. It does not waste much time. It does not feel bloated. It gives you a messy group of disgraced spies, throws them into dangerous situations, and lets the combination of incompetence, intelligence, sarcasm, and institutional rot do the rest.
Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb is obviously the main event. Lamb is disgusting, brilliant, rude, lazy, cruel, hilarious, and somehow still weirdly effective. He is the kind of character who should be unbearable, but Oldman makes him magnetic.
What really makes Slow Horses great, though, is that the show around him is just as strong. The supporting cast matters. The spy plots are tight. The humor is dry. The danger still feels real. It has one of the best balances of comedy and thriller storytelling on television.
Another major strength is the pacing. In a streaming world where so many shows feel stretched, Slow Horses moves. The seasons are short, focused, and satisfying. It is one of the rare shows where I almost never feel like the story is wasting time.
Recent news: Slow Horses has already been renewed for future seasons, including Seasons 6 and 7. Apple clearly knows what it has with this show, and it remains one of the safest bets on the entire platform.
Why it ranks here: Slow Horses is the most consistently sharp show on Apple TV for me. It is funny, tense, well-written, and anchored by one of the best lead performances on television. On another day, I could easily talk myself into putting it at number one.
1. Severance
Severance is my number one Apple TV show.
It is the best example of everything Apple TV does well when the platform is firing on all cylinders. It has a brilliant premise, a distinct visual identity, a strong cast, a strange sense of humor, and a mystery that actually feels worth obsessing over.
The concept is one of the best on modern television. Workers at Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that separates their work memories from their outside memories. Their “innie” selves exist only at work, while their “outie” selves have no memory of what happens inside the office.
That idea is instantly creepy, but the show does not stop at the hook. It uses the premise to explore identity, labor, grief, corporate control, memory, and what it means to be a person when part of your life has been cut away from you.
What makes Severance so good is the tone. It is funny, but not exactly a comedy. It is scary, but not exactly horror. It is science fiction, but it often plays like a workplace nightmare. Everything feels slightly off: the hallways, the rules, the corporate language, the awkward rewards, the fake cheerfulness, the dead-eyed rituals of office culture taken to their most disturbing extreme.
Adam Scott is excellent, and the ensemble around him is just as strong. Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, John Turturro, Patricia Arquette, Tramell Tillman, and the rest of the cast help make Lumon feel like one of the strangest and most memorable TV environments in years.
More than anything, Severance feels original. That is rare. In a streaming world full of IP, remakes, sequels, spinoffs, and shows that feel designed by analytics, Severance feels like a real creative swing.
Recent news: Severance has been renewed for Season 3, though the next season is not expected immediately. Given how carefully the show is built, I am fine with waiting if it means the story keeps its quality.
Why it ranks here: Severance is Apple TV’s best show because it is the most complete combination of concept, craft, performance, tone, and mystery. It is weird, polished, unsettling, and unforgettable.
Why Apple TV’s Best Shows Stand Out
Looking at this list, the clearest pattern is that Apple TV has built a real identity around shows that feel intentional.
Severance is not just another workplace thriller. Slow Horses is not just another spy show. Ted Lasso is not just another sports comedy. Silo is not just another dystopian mystery. Foundation is not just another space epic. Even something like Hijack works because it knows exactly what kind of thriller it wants to be.
That is why Apple TV’s smaller library does not bother me as much as it probably should. Yes, the service could use more depth. Yes, it still needs more casual viewing options. But the shows that work tend to really work.
That is also why this ranking was harder than I expected. Once you start listing Apple TV originals, you realize how many of them are at least interesting. Some are great. Some are flawed but ambitious. Some are not for everyone, but still feel carefully made.
That is a pretty good problem for a streaming service to have.
More From The Next Take
- Apple TV+ Does Not Miss
- Apple TV Still Does Not Miss
- The State of Streaming: March 2026 Update
- 3 Major Predictions for the Plot of Dark Matter Season 2
- Why We Keep Rewatching Comfort Shows
Final Take
Apple TV may not have the biggest library, but its best shows make a strong case that it has one of the strongest lineups in streaming.
For my money, Severance sits at the top because it feels like the most original, complete, and unforgettable Apple TV series so far. Slow Horses is right behind it because it may be the most consistent show on the platform. Ted Lasso remains the heart of the service, Silo gives Apple one of its best mystery-box sci-fi shows, and Foundation proves the streamer is willing to take enormous swings.
The rest of the list shows the platform’s range. Apple TV can do thrillers, comedies, alternate-history space dramas, multiverse sci-fi, alien invasions, and British spy chaos. Not every show is perfect, but the overall hit rate is hard to ignore.
That is why I keep coming back to the same argument.
Apple TV still does not miss.
Or at the very least, it misses a lot less than almost everyone else.