The best returning TV shows of 2019

Television in 2019 sure is an embarrassment of riches. That makes it near-impossible to choose the year’s best shows so far, but we still tried. These are the returning shows that left their mark on 2019 (so far).

10. Game of Thrones Season 8 (HBO)

Despite a highly divisive final season with all the narrative integrity of Littlefinger’s word, it’s bittersweet for TV fans around the world to bid farewell to the phenomenon of Thrones. The Stark children grew up before us like Hogwarts Generation Z. Gone is the Sunday panic to get home for 9 p.m., the seemingly impossible task of avoiding spoilers if you’re even a few minutes late to watch. Gone is what was most likely our last collective television viewing experience of this magnitude, and we will miss it dearly.

9. Veep Season 7 (HBO)

Veep‘s pitch-perfect series finale aired just a week before Thrones‘ highly questionable one, and was an admirable lesson in how to stick the landing. For seven seasons we watched our mad queen Selina Meyer laser-focused on the Iron Throne at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and in the show’s final hours we saw just how far she would go to get it, betraying even cripplingly loyal bag-man Gary. The cosmic dust of Team Meyer scatters apathetically, with no ending better and more deserved than that of President Richard Splett. 

8. You’re the Worst Season 5 (FXX)

The final season of this acerbic yet endearing dark comedy about two people who may or may not be soulless soulmates showcased the very best of what made You’re The Worst so likable. Gretchen and Jimmy prepared for their nuptials, all the while proving every second that nowhere are there two people less suited to marriage. The season’s structure suggested they were hurtling toward certain doom, but we’ve always known these two to make it work in their own perverse way. Being a boring grown up, it turns out, isn’t the worst.

7. Survivor Season 38 (ABC)

It’s been 19 years and Survivor is still one of the best shows on TV. Really, it’s getting even better. For its 38th season (and counting), Survivor introduced the Edge of Extinction twist: instead of disappearing entirely, castaways had the option of starting a new game-life in a new camp with the hope of eventually fighting their way back in. That twist led to one of the most compelling seasons to date, a grueling competition that saw unlikely alliances, betrayals, and perhaps the biggest final power-move the show has ever seen. –Adam Rosenberg

6. Santa Clarita Diet Season 3 (Netflix)

It’s not that Netflix’s uproarious undead family comedy got markedly better in its third season – it’s that it remained criminally, consistently good. In Season 3, the Hammonds fly closer than ever to exposure, one one hand with enthusiastic Christians who think Sheila is a messenger of God, and on the other with the Knights of Serbia, a group that hunts the undead and is hot on the Hammond scent. The unprecedented cliffhanger would have changed everything in Season 4 – and then Netflix pulled the plug. We’ll always have Japopo’s clams.

5. Better Things Season 3 (FX)

Creator, director, and star Pamela Adlon’s series continued to slay with its portrayal of motherhood and loneliness in the show’s best season, marked by remarkable performances from the cast (Celia Imrie, Hannah Alligood in particular) and guest stars like Matthew Broderick, Judy Reyes. Guided by Adlon’s commanding direction – episode 1 itself is proof – we inched closer into Sam’s life as she dealt with her eldest daughter going to (and quickly returning from) college and her youngest kid’s haunting nightmares about a dead grandfather. Yet, the most meaningful story evolved towards the end as Sam and middle child Frankie’s big fight took up screen space. Adlon is a gifted storyteller, letting even the simplest moment or dialogue evoke a thousand feelings and Season 3 was no different. –Saloni Gajjar

4. One Day at a Time, Season 3 (Netflix)

This show was ripped away from us way too soon. The cancelation hit hard because Season 3, which dropped on February 8, was its best. ODAAT’s tone is reminiscent with current sitcoms like Blackish and Fresh off the Boat but pushes out a fresh narrative through its characters. Over three seasons, it has tackled the coming out of strongly feminist Latina teenager Elena, chronicled war vet Penelope’s PTSD and her landlord Schneider’s alcoholism in a way that isn’t preachy but gets real. Season 3’s standout episode “Outside” was an informative look at sexual harassment and consent. Through it all, it never lost sight of how to tell culturally nuanced stories with comedy seamlessly. Plus, Rita freakin’ Moreno stole the show with every scene. Show creators Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce are still fighting (along with fan campaigns) to #SaveODAAT. Here’s hoping they win! –Saloni Gajjar

3. Schitt’s Creek, Season 5 (POP)

Schitt’s Creek has emerged as one of the funniest, sweetest TV comedies to exist. Through this small titular town, creator and stars Dan and Eugene Levy have crafted a world that is just so oddball and full of love. This season arrived armed with more wigs and sophisticated vocabulary for Catherine O’Hara’s Moira Rose (please look up the way she says “bebe”), more wonderful storylines for David and Patrick that included the latter coming out to his parents and proposing, even Stevie shone in the limelight in that wonderful Cabaret-themed finale, and Annie Murphy broke out her best Britney Spears with the bop “A Little Bit Alexis.” All in all, Schitt’s Creek continued to climb the charts to prepare us for possibly their best work in the upcoming final season. –Saloni Gajjar

2. Barry Season 2 (HBO)

Bill Hader and Alec Berg execute another master class in comedy and conflict that never shies away from our antihero’s innate darkness and troubled past. Barry seems to back out of corner after corner, but the game never gets old in the hands of these writers and the alternately irascible and forbearing Hader. The midseason highlight “ronny/lilly” aired after Game of Thrones‘ “The Long Night” and with a completely different but equally engrossing fight (plus: we could see it!).

1. Fleabag Season 2 (Amazon)

Nearly three years after its critically adored first season, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s existentially dark comedy soared to new heights in exploring its hero’s relationship with her sister, her demons, and a criminally charismatic Catholic priest. The season is densely packed with television and comedy hall of fame material; the self-contained family dinner of episode one, plotted meticulous; the tender yet devastating story of Fleabag and the Priest; cameos from Fiona Shaw and Kristin Scott Thomas; lines like “I’m very horny and your little scarf isn’t helping”; and a fierce assertion, no matter how things ended, that they are never over, and will be okay.

Never fear, new shows are getting their own list Tuesday.