We all have our own specific and perhaps increasingly hyper specific slants on pop culture and television circa this brave new world of 2026.
For my money – and in that case that means Pop Thruster’s money (which… comes at the cost to you, dear readers, as absolutely free of charge!) – there are five absolutely clear TV shows of 2026 as of the halfway mark.
What’s interesting is that only 2-3 of these shows pop up consistently on other outlets’ top TV shows of the year “so far” type pieces, and the other few don’t really show up at all.
Pop Thruster’s best shows on television, first half of 2026 edition
The two TV shows that I wildly agree with the consensus on: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Widow’s Bay. Both are wildly unique, creative, and surprising while also being cleverly steeped in worlds and tropes we’re well familiar with.
In the case of A Knight, the world is that of Game of Thrones and its “other” spinoff prequel, House of the Dragon. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms brilliantly changes things up in three ways: it’s a “small” and contained story, it’s literally short in terms of the number of episodes (six) and running time (half hour-ish a pop), and most importantly: it’s noticeably lighter in tone, and even often funny.
Widow’s Bay cleverly leans on all kinds of horror conventions for its tale of a haunted island off the New England coast, but then pointedly zigs and zags, always yielding wild and surprising laughs at every turn. And as this piece asserts, star Matthew Rhys can do anything.
HBO’s Industry keeps getting better as it trends ever more vicious, its characters desperately attempting to fill their empty vessels with money, power, drugs, and sex. Season 4 manages to walk the edgy line between disturbing and compulsively watchable. It’s a show that continues HBO’s proud tradition of pushing boundaries with outstanding prestige shows.
My other two shows that make my best of the first half of ’26 list have mostly been ignored in terms of high praise. Same deal with Industry when it comes to HBO’s limited series, DTF St. Louis – it’s a show that deserves way more praise than it’s getting. While both the title and some aspects of the show’s content may repel some, it’s a brilliant and complete story that’s in turns hilarious, dark, and touchingly sad. It comes from Steve Conrad, who also created Patriot.*
* See where Patriot was saluted in Pop Thruster’s best 100 TV shows ever.
And finally, The Agency continues to stun me in its second season on Paramount+. Quoting from a recent piece in which I discuss holding onto my Paramount+ subscription solely based on The Agency and Lioness, here’s what I wrote about The Agency: “…it’s a taut spy drama with an otherworldly cast (Michael Fassbender, Richard Gere, Jeffrey Wright, and John Magaro for starters) that leans into a chilly, paranoid vibe that I could not get enough of.”
Honorable mention
There are three other shows so far that’ll be hanging around when I compile my best of 2026 TV shows at the end of the year.
Rooster instantly became my new favorite comfort watch, and is easily the best star vehicle for Steve Carell in many years. Jury Duty: Company Retreat completely delighted and surprised me, taking its unusual and kind of watchable original premise from Jury Duty and launching it to a very impressive next level. And Neighbors brings a prestige-y-meets-A24 treatment to a docuseries that looks at wildly eclectic and strange-o people who get into long running conflicts with their often equally bizarro next door neighbors.
Wait wait you didn’t mention…
I get it. There’s a ton of great shows to select from in what’s shaping up to be a pretty great TV year so far. But also I only have so much time, and that’s not accounting for re-watching Better Call Saul, my new project to watch all of AFI’s top 100 movies, and then, you know, there’s work and sleep and IRL stuff.
TV shows heading up my “I really need to carve out time to get to…” at the moment include Bait, The Pitt S2, Star City, Lord of the Flies, and Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.
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A ranked look at the best TV of 2026 so far, from Widow’s Bay to Industry to two under-the-radar picks most year-end lists are skipping.