There is just so much TV. Not just TV, but good TV. It feels like a new prestige series (shows with A-list talent and enormous budgets) launches every single week.
Between Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and the myriad of more conventional broadcasters, it feels impossible to keep up with it. So how do you decide what to watch? Just how do you narrow this vast selection down? Well, there's one easy way, you can lean on the critics. And helpfully, all their responses are collated and averaged out by Rotten Tomatoes.
Shows that rank in the 80th or 90th percentile of critical reactions are 10-a-penny these days, but some are rare beasts, some no-one can find a flaw in: the 100% club.
We rounded up seven of them earlier in the year, but there have been another seven new entries in the second half of 2022 and we've rounded them up for you:
The Serpent Queen
Samantha Morton leads this dark and starry historical drama, which retells the life of 16th-century French queen Catherine de' Medici.
Married off to Henri, the future King of France as a 14-year-old, de' Medici. soon discovers that her husband is in love with an older woman. Vowing to trust no one, we follow de' Medici as she ruthlessly gains and then holds onto power.
Starring alongside Morton are Adam Garcia, Amrita Acharia, Barry Atsma, Enzo Cilenti, Sennia Nanua, and Kiruna Stamell, while A Cure for Wellness scribe Justin Haythe has adapted Leonie Frieda's book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France for the eight-part show.
Praise has been universal for Morton, with critics also wowed by the show's pace and style.
Where can I stream it?
Starzplay (US), Lionsgate+ (UK), Stan (AU)
Bad Sisters
Sharon Horgan stars and has overseen this 10-parter, which is a comedy-drama with a heart as black as the night sky.
A remake of Belgian black comedy-drama Clan, Bad Sisters follows the five Garvey sisters, played by Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson, who find themselves at the center of a life insurance investigation after the death of their brother-in-law, Claes Bang's John Paul ‘JP’ Williams.
While his death has been ruled an accident, it turns out his demise is something that the Garvey sisters have long been planning.
Superbly plotted, darkly funny and incredibly gripping, critics have gone wild for the cast, Horgan's writing and, particularly, for Bang, who plays the villain absolutely superbly.
Where can I stream it?
Apple TV Plus (Worldwide)
Reasonable Doubt
Hulu's glossy new legal drama has wowed critics with its snappy dialogue and gripping plotting.
The show stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as Jax Stewart, a hot-shot defense attorney, the go-to lawyer for high-paying clients who are in a fix and need a way out. Sadly, as we learn early in the first episide, that tendency to defend those with the biggest wallets has landed her in real danger.
Starring alongside Corinealdi are Michael Ealy, Sean Patrick Thomas, Angela Grovey, and Brooke Lyons, with the show being overseen by Raamla Mohamed, who worked alongside Shona Rhimes on the hit drama Scandal.
It's the first show produced by Disney’s Onyx Collective, which has been set up to produce work by creators of color and underrepresented voices.
Where can I stream it?
Hulu (US), Disney Plus (AU)
Fakes
After striking gold with Inventing Anna with viewers, though not critics, Netflix offered up another installment of teenage criminality with Fakes and this time reviewers went for it in a big way.
Set over 10 half-hour installments, Fakes stars Emilija Baranac and Jennifer Tong as two best friends who begin making fake I.D cards, first for themselves, then for their friends, and then for anyone who is willing to pay for them, accidentally creating an empire in the process.
Overseen by Warrior Nun's David Turko, this is a fizzy, young-adult funfest, one aimed squarely at the same crowd won over by Inventing Anna.
Where can I stream it?
Netflix (Worldwide)
Dark Winds
AMC's adaptation of two books from the Leaphorn & Chee novel series by Tony Hillerman hasn't drawn much fanfare, but critics have loved it.
Starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, and Rainn Wilson, Dark Winds follows the aforementioned Leaphorn and Chee, two Navajo police officers in 1970s New Mexico, who are both forced to challenge their own spiritual beliefs when they search for clues in a double murder case.
Gritty, compelling, and understated, a second season is already locked in.
Where can I stream it?
AMC+ (US)
Pantheon
Boasting a voice cast that includes Katie Chang, Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Chris Diamantopoulos, AMC's animated adaptation of Ken Liu's short stories, The Apocalypse Triptych, has earned itself a perfect score.
Set in a dystopian future, the show follow the travails of Maddie, a young woman who starts to receive messages from an unknown number that claims to be her deceased father. Naturally pursuing things, she soon gets drawn into a wider conspiracy...
Where can I stream it?
Prime Video/AMC+ (US)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Based on CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 videogame, Edgerunners is an anime spin-off series that has a perfect score from critics.
Made by Studio Trigger, the studio behind Little Witch Academia, Star Wars: Visions, and Kill la Kill, the show follows David Martinez, a street kid trying to make his way in a dystopian world that is dominated by corruption, crime, and cybernetic implants,
To try and stay alive, Martinez chooses to stay alive by becoming an edgerunner: a high-tech, black-market mercenary.
Critics have talked up the show's stylish visuals and its seamless adaptation from video game to Netflix series.
Where can I stream it?
Netflix (Worldwide)
