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Television continues to deliver one great show after another this year, but there are a select few that have come out on top with critics.
Seven shows this year — either returning with new seasons or brand new — have garnered the coveted 100% critic score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. And there are a few surprises.
Some excellent series failed to make the cut, like AMC’s “Better Call Saul” season 4 and Netflix’s “Glow” season 2, both with 98%, and HBO’s “Sharp Objects” with 93%.
The ones that did manage the perfect 100% range from a crime anthology to a long-running sci-fi, and three are currently available to stream on Netflix.
Below are seven TV shows with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic score in 2018:
“The Bold Type” — Season 2
How to watch: Available at the Freeform website with an account and on Hulu
Description: “The Bold Type gives us a glimpse into the outrageous lives of the young women working at the nation’s top women’s magazine, “Scarlet.” Jane, Kat, and Sutton are three best friends working at the magazine’s headquarters in New York while also trying to navigate their careers, identities, and individual voices in a sea of intimidating leaders. This next generation of unapologetically fierce working women is primed to take on the world and smash the patriarchy—one selfie at a time.”
What the critics said: “The Bold Type dramatizes the lives of its three leads without turning any of the women into caricatures. The newsroom and New York they inhabit aren’t the world’s most accurate depictions of life in digital media, but they’re also far from fanciful. The show is still finding its footing, and so none of its main characters have become personality avatars, the way Sex and the City’s Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte each came to stand for a particular kind of New York City woman. But the first episodes of Season 2 are promising …” — Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic
“Cobra Kai” — Season 1
How to watch: Available on YouTube Red
Description: “Thirty years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now successful Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who has been struggling to maintain balance in his life without the guidance of his mentor, Mr. Miyagi.”
What the critics said: “‘Cobra Kai’ is extremely entertaining, but even more so if you loved “The Karate Kid” (and its sequels) growing up. Zabka and Macchio are all in with the reprisal of their iconic roles and that’s really the hook. Some of the stuff will certainly go over your head if you weren’t into the movie, but YouTube is hoping that the popularity of the movie over decades has enough passionate fans to launch this series (and YouTube) into the streaming zeitgeist.” — Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider
“Dear White People” — Season 2
How to watch: Available on Netflix
Description: “Students of color navigate the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college.”
What the critics said: “Weighing personal satisfaction with national priorities isn’t easy, but ‘Dear White People’ blends them in such a way to illustrate how they’re linked. Each part is powerful because each part is honest, even when what it builds toward is an uncertain future.” — Ben Travers, Indiewire
“One Day at a Time” — Season 2
How to watch: Available on Netflix
Description: “In a reimagining of the TV classic, a newly single Latina mother raises her teen daughter and tween son with the ‘help’ of her old-school mom.”
What the critics said: “I laugh and cry so much when watching this show. It brings back memories of family gatherings, where we swap stories trying to get everyone at a long dinner table to laugh the loudest. We’re not done until my dad starts clearing the plates, unamused by our screaming, laughing and crying. My mami, abuelos and cousins don’t leave until we’ve cried through a paper napkin or two. For me, watching One Day at a Time feels like being at home in someone else’s house. Its stories are not exactly my Cuban stories, but they are, in a collective way, ours.” — Monica Castillo, Village Voice
“The Sinner” — Season 2
How to watch: Currently airing on USA network and available on USA’s website
Description: “Detective Harry Ambrose returns back to his hometown in rural New York to assess an unsettling and heart wrenching crime — parents murdered by their 11-year-old son with no apparent motive. As Ambrose realizes there’s nothing ordinary about the boy or where he came from, the investigation pulls him into the hidden darkness of his hometown. He’s pitted against those who’ll stop at nothing to protect its secrets — and the mysterious Vera who proves to be a complicated, enigmatic piece to this haunting puzzle.”
What the critics said: “The big draw this season is the addition of real-life couple Tracy Letts and Carrie Coon, two phenomenal actors (who actually don’t share a scene in the first three episodes). Letts plays an old friend of Harry’s whose daughter is now the lead detective on this baffling case. Coon gets a much juicier (at least for now) role as the leader of what appears to be a cult on the edge of town that’s related to the case. Coon’s complex portrayal is that of a determined, protective leader, the kind of matriarchal figure who can be supportive one minute and cut your throat the next if she thinks you could betray her.” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
“Vida” — Season 1
How to watch: Available on the Starz website with an account (first episode is free)
Description: “Lyn and Emma are two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who couldn’t be more different or distanced from each other. Circumstances force them to return to the old neighborhood and confront the past.”
What the critics said: “One of the strengths of the show is its format. It sounds like faint praise to say that six half-hours is precisely the right presentation of this story, but those who have seen the wrong format for a given show — too long, too baggy, too meandering — know it’s nothing of the kind. Vida gets a lot done in six episodes, and little time is wasted.” — Linda Holmes, NPR
“The 100” — Season 5
How to watch: Available on The CW App and on Netflix
Description: “The human race returns, after a 97-year exile in space, to a wildly transformed Earth…only to discover that the human race had never truly left. Clarke found herself forced to lead a band of disposable juvenile delinquents as they faced death at every turn: from a world transformed by radiation, from the fierce Grounders who somehow managed to survive in it, and, perhaps worst of all, from themselves. Unfortunately, their newfound sense of normalcy will be short-lived, and their lives will be changed forever, as threats both old and new test their loyalties, push them past their limits, and make them question what it truly means to be human. First, they fought to survive. Then, they fought for their friends. Now, they will fight for the human race.”
What the critics said: “At the end of last season, with a renewal already in hand, The 100 gave itself the best possibility to start over. After four seasons of fending off violence at every turn, The 100 allowed itself to jump ahead in time and truly shake things up.” — Kyle Fowle, AV Club
