The Best TV Episodes of 2026 (So Far)

10 min readIs it just me, or did TV feel exceptionally good this summer? It’s not an entirely surprising sensation—the networks always pack their late-summer/early-fall release calendars with titles sure to draw eyeballs back to the screen. This summer was all about House of the Dragon, East of Eden, Dutton Ranch, and the return of Ted Lasso. But newcomers like DC’s Lanterns and FX’s crime drama Furious made big impacts as well. That’s not easy to do, especially around Emmy season.Hopefully by now, audiences who hadn’t caught up to Widow’s Bay before it swept the awards show have also come around to its comedy-horror genius. If that wasn’t enough, the first half of the year also saw the end of The Bear, the last episode of Hacks, and a stellar second season of The Pitt—a show so popular that “The Pitt” and “series finale” may never share a sentence in our lifetime. But have we already seen enough good TV this year to declare one the best show of 2026? Better yet, is there even such a thing as “enough good TV?”Next up, Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series debuts on Prime Video. Plus, Yellowjackets returns to finally give audiences some answers this November, and HBO’s Harry Potter series kicks off a return to the Wizarding World come Christmas.So, before we close the chapter on 2026, we highlighted eighteen of the best TV episodes of the year so far below.—Josh RosenbergEast of Eden, “In the Valley”John Steinbeck’s classic novel is beautifully captured in Zoe Kazan’s Netflix adaptation—a sprawling limited series of American landscapes and nineteenth-century period drama. The series stars Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist as brothers Adam and Charles Trask, with Florence Pugh leading the show as runaway Cathy Ames. In episode 3, “In the Valley,” Adam and Cathy’s marriage is tested by her reluctance to move or have children in California (as gorgeous as the scenery is), while her agency is quickly stripped away from her. It’s another look at the book’s themes of nature vs. nurture, and what shapes one’s beliefs as to whether they view people as inherently good or evil.—J.R.House of the Dragon (Season 3), "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood"The delayed season 2 finale arrived for House of the Dragon fans when season 3 aired this summer. Showrunner Ryan Condal promised the greatest battle that the HBO fantasy series has produced yet, and the premiere did not disappoint. The episode featured dragon fights, naval battles, and everything House of the Dragon fans wished HBO had the budget for every episode. “This season was the first one where I just really felt like we had the resources that we needed right out of the gate,” Condal told Esquire about season 3. “There’s always a little negotiating and debating, but the product speaks for itself. It was a very clearheaded, singular vision that everybody got behind and really broke their backs to make.”—J.R.Furious, “They Make a Noise Like Feathers"Furious was one of the best TV shows of the year, let alone the best crime drama, and it’s all because episode 6 tied every idea that the series was exploring into one episode. For starters, the late-season episode finally brought together our main detective Alice (Emmy Rossum) and serial killer Catherine (Lola Petticrew) for their big “We’re not that different, you and I” meeting. Catherine spends the series dispatching her former abusers following a life of sex work, and audiences learn a lot more about how Alice is personally connected to the case. Plus, when Alice is confronted once again by her abusive ex-boyfriend, we’re left to really question what true justice looks like in a world where men like him often walk away unpunished.—J.R.Lanterns, “OutKast”Lanterns may take a long time to set up why John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) eventually becomes a DC superhero, but it makes sense when you consider how much trauma he needed to process. The flashback episode goes into Stewart’s upbringing, including how his parents harshly raised him to become the next Green Lantern after his father failed to pass the first test. The intense backstory served as an entirely new direction for the comic book character, which even longtime fans seemed to appreciate.—J.R.Adults (Season 2), “Raccoon”The FX sitcom about a group of friends living together in New York City (classic, I know) finally found its footing in the second season. The fourth episode, especially, follows the gang on a race to find and remove a raccoon from their house before their edibles kick in. Chaos, hookups, and the addition of a second critter eventually add up to what was easily one of the funniest episodes of TV since New Girl was on the air. —J.R.Chad Powers (Season 2), “12th Quarter”Everything goes gloriously wrong for Glen Powell’s Chad Powers in the season 2 finale. The college football star who is actually an adult in disguise in this Hulu comedy has told so many people about his secret identity that he may need to Spider-Man: No Way Home his life by asking a wizard to make everyone forget who he is next season. Because in the season 2 finale, “12th Quarter,” Chad not only finds himself blackmailed twice, but also caught kissing his coach’s daughter. It’s a great setup for season 3—and one that will need to see the writing team get even more creative about how Chad’s going to worm his way out of it.—J.R.The Pitt (Season 2), “9:00 P.M.”It's not easy to stick the landing—especially when you're defending nearly every major trophy from last year's awards season. But Noah Wyle and the masterminds of The Pitt make it look easy. Season 2 of the HBO Max drama lacked a PittFest-level catastrophe, but instead explored the PTSD induced by such an event. Namely, in its hero—who looked like an antihero for much of the season—Wyle's Dr. Robby. After watching Robby slowly wither throughout the last shift before his sabbatical, the season 2 finale ("9:00 P.M.”) finally sees him break down to Abbot (Shawn Hatosy). Robby finally reveals the enormous pull—and pain—his life's work has on his soul. Later, we (along with Baby Jane Doe) learn where the true depths of his hurt may lie—he was abandoned as a child. It's all anchored by Wyle's powerful, aching turn as PTMC's leader, which remains the greatest performance on television right now.—Brady LangmannWidow’s Bay, “Lodging”Is it too early to call Widow's Bay the show of the summer? Not when Matthew Rhys is this damn good. The Apple TV+ series—a horror comedy that tracks a cursed seaside town and its bewildered mayor (Rhys)—swirls the best of Raimi, King, and Spielberg into one deliciously messed-up package. Look no further than “Lodging,” which may very well be the best homage to “The Shining” ever put on screen. I won’t ruin any of the episode’s hilarious and horrifying surprises for you, but rest assured: Rhys is acting out of his mind, and I don’t want it any other way.—B.L.Paradise (Season 2), “The Mailman”When Paradise premiered the fourth episode of season 2, we had already seen how Xavier and others survived "The Day." It was about damn time we learned how Teri survived too, and Paradise delivered in spades with the emotional and gripping "The Mailman." Because Paradise can't help itself, the show expands its view to more people—namely, two schlubs who luck into creating a whole community for themselves even if their intentions weren't so pure to start with. Though not as memorable or moving as the episode of The Last of Us, "The Mailman" is still a wonderful 54 minutes about the meaning and bonds of found family forged under pressure, and another glimpse into the vast worldbuilding of Paradise that's somehow contained to a single building.—Eric FranciscoThe Bear, “Gary”Leave it to The Bear to drop a surprise episode—one that doesn't feature its A-list lead, Jeremy Allen White–that punches you right in the gut. Focusing on Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal), "Gary" is a prequel that sees the self-destructive oddball duo smuggle goods to Indiana. When they arrive, the ball-busters have a few hours to kill, so where do they go? The bar, of course. It's where we learn exactly why "Gary" exists—to tell us more about the darkness inside Mikey, and how it might've led to his suicide. In a cocaine and booze-filled spiral, Mikey tells the maybe-imagined Sherri (Marin Ireland) the deep pain of his childhood, and how his mother's mood swings surely taught him to fear and distrust as a boy. Sure, we're a long way from the kitchen as The Bear reaches its final season next month—and it's only making the series better.—B.L.Rooster, “Angry, Like An Angry Person”Just to honor the main conflict of the episode, I'm tempted to blurb using AI. I won't. (Editors: I swear.) But that's how Rooster's star student Tommy (Maximo Salas) gets into hot water when he uses AI for an assignment, forcing him to submit a make-up before midnight. But that's only half of what's going on in this delightful midpoint episode of Rooster, the comfy and cozy college comedy starring Steve Carell on HBO. For Carell's Greg Russo, a midlife crisis leads him to party with several of his students for a night out, affording him an important on-campus experience he never had. Carell is impossibly charming as a drunk "froshy" in his sixties, convincing even the most cynical TV viewer that Rooster may be worth following for the rest of the semester.—E.F.A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “In the Name of the Mother”The trial-by-combat sequence in the penultimate episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is when the Game of Thrones spinoff series shifted from a medieval comedy to a sports comeback drama. Learning about Dunk’s (Peter Claffey) backstory and watching his late mentor (Danny Webb) urge him to get up and fight was like watching everyone in the Notre Dame stadium chant “Rudy!” It’s an episode that delivered the one thing that other Game of Thrones spinoffs were missing: a hero to root for.—J.R.DTF St. Louis, “Cornhole”First episodes can make or break a TV show. Even in the age of straight-to-series orders, a bad first episode can make potential viewers drop off after a first glance. Which is why it's delightful how much DTF St. Louis came swinging out the gate. Half crime investigation, half juicy drama centered on middle-aged suburban infidelity, DTF St. Louis lets its leading stars fly their freakiest flags: Jason Bateman as a sorta-dorky TV weatherman who sleeps with an utterly mesmerizing Linda Cardellini, all while David Harbour languishes in the middle as an overweight underachiever. But that's just scratching the surface of a more complicated picture. As DTF St. Louis unravels, we learn that nothing is all it seems—but it's only because of a strong first episode that makes everything else come after it shine as it does.—E.F.Hacks (Season 5), “D'Amazing Race”Among all the amazing guest stars on Hacks, Kaitlin Olson’s Deborah "DJ" Vance Jr. has remained my favorite. Ever since she unveiled her “D’Jewelry” line back in season 1, the comedic character actress has continually nailed the spoiled yet deeply traumatized daughter of a selfish comedy legend, and her (likely) final appearance in Hacks season 5 is no exception. It’s easily one of the best sendoffs for a character I’ve ever seen. It’s not just that DJ and Jean Smart hilariously trudge through a whole episode of The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition together—featuring a bit from Trisha Paytas about being able to read incredibly fast that had me laughing so hard I had to pause the episode. It’s that the episode ends with both a clownish goodbye for DJ (literally dancing in clown makeup) and a heartfelt resolution that seemed so perfect I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of it before.—J.R.Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, “The Meeting”I have no problem admitting that Company Retreat had its ups and downs. The new mark for the Prime Video prank series, Anthony Norman, just didn’t hold the same agency over his situation that Ronald Gladden had in the comedy’s lightning-in-a-bottle first season. It wasn’t his fault—the company retreat concept was just a different beast entirely. But when a behind-the-scenes bonus episode placed Anthony face-to-face with season 1’s Ronald Gladden, the two shared a conversation that reminded audiences why such a feel-good show, well, just feels so good. Looking back on his experience, Ronald tells Anthony: “I just had the luxury of being myself.”—J.R.Your Friends & Neighbors (Season 2), “We Were Never Supposed to Get This Old”Some TV shows take a bit to really figure themselves out. There’s a lot that a second season can do to shed its skin and juice up what audiences responded well to in their first go-around. And while I can’t say that Your Friends & Neighbors is all the way there just yet, the Apple TV dramedy starring Jon Hamm as a cat burglar who steals expensive items from his wealthy friends pulled off an amazing twist early in season 2. A new character, played by James Marsden, finally catches him in the act. But that’s not all. He blackmails him into doing an even worse crime, testing just how far Hamm’s character is willing to take his little Thomas Crown Affair midlife crisis. It’s just a small addition that raised the stakes in a way Your Friends desperately needed.—J.R.Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, “Never Get On One Knee”The Stranger Things finale was, shall we say, a dud. Which is why expectations were ankle-low for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, even if the Duffer Brothers are only executive producers. ("Only.") Still, creator Hayley Z. Boston gave Netflix viewers one last winter chill with her horror series all about the anxieties of saying "I Do." The first episode makes a prodigiously strong first impression, in its promise of far different hair-raising thrills than Stranger Things and setting a whole chilly tone all its own. With its March release date, Boston and the Duffers gave everyone some truly cold feet before wedding season even kicked off.—E.F.Beef (Season 2), “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey”I'm still not exactly sure what went wrong with Beef season 2; viewership for the latest round of Netflix's anthology series is shockingly low. But it still doesn't change my mind that creator Lee Sung Jin's social satire—which is really a grand statement on modern love—is the best TV show of the year so far. What clinched it? This season's final episode, "It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey." Shot on location in Seoul, the finale is equal parts action-thriller (featuring the iconic South Korean actor Song Kang-ho, heck yeah) and tragicomic marriage drama. The episode sees all four lead actors—Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton, Carey Mulligan, and Oscar Isaac—deliver powerhouse performances as each relationship reaches its end (or, in one case, a dubious new beginning). And the last image, of the samsara? I'm still thinking about it.—B.L.Download Exclusive Digital IssuesWinter 2026Fall 2025Summer 2025