The era of prestige television has only gotten bigger and better recently, particularly with the number of high-quality dramas. Several digital platforms pulled out all the stops to deliver impressive dramas in 2023, with Apple TV+ leading the charge. Here are the best TV dramas of 2023.
Lessons in Chemistry
Brie Larson’s best performance of 2023 isn’t her return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in The Marvels but the Apple TV+ original miniseries Lessons in Chemistry, which premiered this past October. Larson, who also executive produced, plays Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who launches her own cooking show when she faces career obstacles as a woman in 1960s America within the scientific field. Zott’s cooking show not only provides audiences with easily digestible (that’s a pun) science lessons but features a feminist message to empower its viewers.
Despite its period-piece setting, Lessons in Chemistry feels just as important as ever, with Larson delivering one of the finest performances of her entire career. Supporting cast members Aja Naomi King and Lewis Pullman effectively fill out the solid ensemble, with the show delivering a strong moral message without being off-putting with the social injustices it depicts. Adapting the 2022 novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry is the perfect holiday season binge.
The Morning Show
The most star-studded Apple TV+ original series is The Morning Show, covering the behind-the-scenes business of running a nationally broadcast morning news show. Led by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, who both also executive produce the series, The Morning Show returned for its third season this past September. The season has the news team contend with the firm being hacked in the midst of looking for a new owner while covering the 2020 presidential election and subsequent storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Following the trend of preceding seasons, The Morning Show operates with the benefit of hindsight by setting its story approximately two years before each season as it covers the news. As tense and gripping as the news sequences are, the real beating heart of The Morning Show is the shifting interpersonal alliances taking place among the news team and those in their immediate orbit. The introduction of new characters, most notably with Jon Hamm’s tech billionaire Paul Marks, keeps the returning cast on their toes as they delve into uncomfortable subject matter headfirst and unafraid.
The Bear
If there’s one show that justifies keeping a Hulu subscription, it’s The Bear, which returned for its second season this past June. Following a small restaurant in Chicago, the second season revolved around the opening of the eponymous restaurant after the closing of their sandwich shop. With the pressures of starting a small business heightening the intensity, The Bear Season 2 goes even bigger and better as protagonist Carmy Berzatto lays his career and livelihood on the line with the restaurant opening.
After all the acclaim the first season of The Bear received, the Hulu original series upped the ante with the number of impressive guest stars appearing throughout Season 2. The Bear Season 2 goes deeper into each of its characters’ backstories while escalating the stakes right from the season premiere. A show that definitely delivers on all the hype it’s received, The Bear is must-watch television.
Perry Mason
The classic pulp hero Perry Mason, created by Erle Stanley Gardner in his crime novel series starting in 1933, received new life on television with a historical drama produced by HBO. Starring Matthew Rhys as the hard-on-his-luck criminal defense attorney, Perry Mason returned for its second season after a nearly three-year hiatus between seasons. In the second season, Perry becomes involved in a murder trial with far-reaching implications for the rich and powerful figures of Los Angeles.
Rhys really makes the audience feel for Perry, who navigates the messiness of his personal life while taking on court cases that nobody else would care to do. Perry Mason is a neo-noir series that doesn’t focus so much on the moody aesthetics of the genre as it does on telling an engaging story with compelling characters. Perry Mason was unfortunately canceled by HBO shortly after the second season’s cliffhanger ending, making it the most bittersweet addition to this list.
For All Mankind
Of all the streaming services currently on the market, who would’ve guessed four years ago that the biggest home for prestige television would’ve been Apple TV+? In addition to the previously mentioned dramas on this list, the alternative history series For All Mankind, which helped launch Apple TV+ in 2019, returned for its fourth season this year. Set in the early 2000s, the season saw renewed tensions between the United States, the Soviet Union, and other political entities as they settled into an uneasy alliance on Mars.
While its alternative history premise and interplanetary scale certainly lend a heightened scope to For All Mankind, the show is really a fantastic human drama underneath all the space travel and international gamesmanship. Having grown into their characters for several years, the main cast really digs into reopening old wounds and paying off on long-building arcs while new cast members add new dimensions to the stories. Growing deeper and enriching with each passing season, For All Mankind is finally getting its due as one of the best TV dramas.
For more of our Best of lists for 2023, check out the following:
