The 20 best TV shows of 2024 (so far)

Gutting romances! Bloody epics! Cinematic feasts! Here are the series that have most wowed The A.V. Club this year.

By Tim Lowery, Saloni Gajjar, Matt Schimkowitz, Emma Keates, Mary Kate Carr, William Hughes, Cindy White | June 20, 2024 | 3:00pm

TV Lists Lucia Aniello

Clockwise from bottom left: Anjana Vasan in We Are Lady Parts (Photo: Saima Khalid/WWTV/Peacock/Channel 4), Julio Torres in Fantasmas (Photo: Monica Lek/HBO), Sarayu Blue in Expats (Photo: Atsushi Nishijima/Prime Video), Jacob Anderson in Interview With The Vampire (Photo: Larry Horricks/AMC), Andrew Scott in Ripley (Photo: Netflix), and X-Men ’97 (Image: Marvel Studios)

The year is almost halfway over, people. Which means that at The A.V. Club, we’re sounding off on the best pop culture 2024 has gifted us to date—and, specifically here, the TV shows that have most impressed, be they bold doses of nostalgia (X-Men ’97), cinematic stunners (Ripley), or sweeping historical epics (Shōgun, the series that, it’s worth noting, received the most points in our staff-wide poll). To be included in this list, a show simply has to have started a new season between January and mid-June (hence the absences of House Of The Dragon and about-to-return AVC favorite The Bear). Here are our 20 favorite series of the year (so far), in alphabetical order.

The Daily Show season 29

Jon Stewart Smashes the Myth of Corporate Morality in Pride, BLM, and Beyond | The Daily Show

When Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show earlier this year, it was another sign of a society stuck in its ways. Another Trump-Biden election with Jon Stewart on the television? Where are all the new ideas? Apparently, Stewart had them. Proving that no one on Earth is better at hosting The Daily Show, Stewart returned with renewed vigor, attacking subjects with more confidence and conviction, resetting the show’s tone back to righteous frustration. Stewart’s success has carried over to the other correspondents, too. Regulated to one show a week, Stewart shares the desk with Ronnie Chieng, Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper, and Michael Kosta, who bring their unique sensibilities to their respective nights, keeping the series from feeling stale. Ironically, bringing back Stewart forced The Daily Show to freshen up its format. And after nearly a decade, The Daily Show is our moment of zen again. [Matt Schimkowitz]

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