10 Best Football TV Shows Of All Time

Published Sep 11, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. These 10 shows are the best television has to offer when it comes to American football. The gridiron graces television screens in millions of homes every fall and winter, but the TV ecosystem surrounding American football is nothing to throw a yellow penalty flag at either. While football (which this American writer will be referring to the sport as for the rest of this article, sorry every other country) is a bit more prominent on the big screen, there are still some excellent TV shows centered around America's real national pastime, a sport with pads, helmets, touchdowns, QBs, and of course, a football. 10 The League (2009-2015) Credit: MovieStillsDB The League is a strange animal. This seven-season sitcom aired on FX, then moved to FXX, and features a pretty unbelievably talented cast including Mark Duplass, Nick Kroll, Katie Aselton, Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, Leslie Bibb, and more, and yet we don't hear about it all that often. Maybe that's because the story is extremely niche. The League is centered on a group of adult friends who participate in a Fantasy Football League every year. If you have never heard the term, consider yourself lucky. The insane actions the members take to win a little trophy every year are closer to fact than fiction. 9 1st & Ten (1984-1991) Credit: MovieStillsDB HBO's first swing at an original series came in the nearly lost six-season sitcom 1st & Ten. Profanity and nudity were supposed to be the big draws that the network sitcoms could not keep up with, but the story is pretty good too. The show is centered on the California Bulls, a fictional American football team. Delta Burke stars in the first three seasons as Diane Barrow, the new owner of her ex-husband's team, and she has to quickly learn about the sport. New owners would subsequently take over the job in later seasons. 1st & Ten is a rough cut of what HBO would end up looking like, and it's exceedingly difficult to find an uncensored version of the series. 8 All American (2018-2026) One of the longest football TV shows you're going to find, All American premiered in 2018 and finally ended in 2026 with season 8. The CW drama series follows a rising high school football player from South Los Angeles, depicting his journey from the schoolyard all the way to the NFL. As the seasons go on, more and more characters are introduced, and the decisions that the wannabe players have to grapple with become increasingly difficult. All American is an all-encompassing show with football as the backdrop to tell a story about race, class, and how the desire to succeed can break some people. 7 Playmakers (2003) Credit: MovieStillsDB Playmakers only lasted one season before it was canceled, but that one season was an exceptional look into the psychology behind football players. Though the show premiered on ESPN, it was not afraid to take the NFL to task, depicting the sex, drugs, and harsh conditions of the National Football League. The NFL ended up stepping in and asked that the show be canceled, which ESPN eventually did (via NYT). The series follows the members of the fictional football team, the Cougars, acting as a true ensemble, with each character having a moment, usually with an internal monologue provided by whoever is the center of the story. 6 Ballers (2015-2019) Credit: MovieStillsDB The spiritual successor to Entourage and the HBO sports shows of the 1990s, Ballers is a five-season comedy-drama starring Dwayne Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a former NFL player who's forced into retirement early and decides to start a new career as a financial manager for other NFL players. The series has as many athlete guest stars as Entourage has celebrity ones, and features the same kind of tongue-in-cheek mockery of the whole circus while also not pretending that the extravagance of that world isn't anything but alluring. It's one of Johnson's best roles, and one of the few times he's broken out of his usual action hero mold. 5 Coach (1989-1997) Credit: MovieStillsDB Craig T. Nelson stars in Coach, an ABC sitcom that ran for nine seasons and 200 episodes, following Coach Hayden Fox (Nelson), the head coach of a fictional Division I team and, in the last two seasons, the head coach of a fictional NFL team. Coach Fox deals with the headaches of managing a football team and the oddball crew he's assembled for himself. The series is more a workplace sitcom than anything, but it's filled with niche jokes that football fans will enjoy more than anyone. It's not a series that was groundbreaking in any significant way, but Nelson and the ensemble cast's comedy chops and chemistry make it a very comforting and enjoyable binge. 4 Blue Mountain State (2010-2011) Credit: MovieStillsDB Don't say you're a fan of Alan Ritchson if you haven't seen him as the uber-loyal, high-pitched, slightly psychotic Thad Castle in Blue Mountain State, a criminally underseen Spike sitcom. The series follows the fictitious Blue Mountain State football team, who are as committed to off-the-field debauchery as they are to on-field success. Darin Brooks stars as Alex Moran, a backup quarterback who loves his cushy lifestyle but fears the team captain, Thad, who runs things at practice and at the Goat House where the team drinks, does a litany of drugs, and barely manages to stay out of prison. It's an absurd series with some plot lines you won't believe, but you'll be laughing all the way through. 3 Chad Powers (2025-Present) The new football TV show on the block, Chad Powers stars Glen Powell as Russ Holliday, an arrogant, talented, former college football star who disgraced himself in the biggest game of his life, ending any hopes he had of a professional career. Out of options, Russ dons a prosthetic mask and a country boy accent to become "Chad Powers", the new quarterback of the floundering South Georgia Catfish. Chad Powers just aired its second season, and a third season seems highly likely. It's not just one of the best football shows ever, but one of the best shows currently on television. Powell is fantastic, equally comfortable in the slapstick and arch comedy scenes and in the surprisingly moving dramatic moments. 2 Last Chance U (2016-2020) Before there was Formula 1: Drive to Survive, there was Last Chance U, the real start to the prestige sports documentary era of streaming. The first season of Last Chance U is startlingly good, and the four seasons that came after it barely dip below its highs. The documentary series focuses on a handful of different junior college teams over its run. The JUCO football programs, as they're known, are the last chances for many players to prove that they deserve a spot on a Division I team, and several players have previously been on D1 teams and were removed for various reasons. The stakes could not be higher for the athletes who must pass class and play well enough to be scouted, resulting in a raw, dizzying examination of the professional sports feeder system. 1 Friday Night Lights (2006-2011) Everett Collection The definitive football TV show, Friday Night Lights is a five-season drama based on the 1990 non-fiction book by H.G. Bissinger, which was adapted into an inferior movie in 2004. In 2006, Peter Berg debuted a series based on a West Texas high school football team, the Dillon Panthers. The American football series changed the career trajectories of several big names, including Kyle Chandler, Michael B. Jordan, Jesse Plemons, Minka Kelly, and Taylor Kitsch. No other TV series places you so firmly in the heads of high school athletes who are certain their four years under the lights are the most important they're ever going to have.