HBO Max has always benefited from being the home for HBO hits likeGame of Thrones, The White Lotus, andThe Last of Us, but has also produced some quality original programming of its own.
Given the volume of streaming content out there, and the number of shows Max and HBO have already produced, together and separately, there are some great choices that might have flown under your radar. In our current streaming era, in which good shows aren’t just canceled but erased from existence (farewell,Raised by Wolves), it never hurts to take a moment to consider the slightly less talked-about shows that are equally worthy of your attention. In that spirit, I'm suggesting some popular hits and a few shows that might have flown under your radar.
It: Welcome to Derry(2025 – , )
Who doesn't love a clown? Set in the 1960s, thisItprequel fives into the backstory of Derry and Pennywise the clown through the eyes of some kids and grownups who met him during a previous visit to the town. I'm not entirely convinced that we need this backstory, but, rather than the obvious clownery, we open on a horrifying birth sequence and a lot of gory, nightmarish imagery. By the end of the first episode, it's clear that even the most adorable children aren't safe, and this is a show that will, if nothing else, go hard. And that's before Bill Skarsgård's memorably creepy Pennywise even shows up.StreamIt: Welcome to Derry.
Task(2025 – , )
Hey! Look at that—a streaming show actually getting a relatively quick second-season renewal. Must be that Mark Ruffalo magic, or perhaps it's the touch of Brad Ingelsby, creator ofMare of Easttown, who's operating in a similar detective-drama vein here. Ruffalo's Tom Brandis is half the story here: a former Catholic priest and current FBI agent with a troubled home life who's assigned to investigate the robberies of a series of drug trap-houses run by a local gang. Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey) is our robber, using his job as a refuse collector to scope out the houses and collect some relatively easy cash. The show smartly gives equal weight to both complicated characters before setting them on a slow-burn, but inevitable, collision course.StreamTask.
I Love LA(2025 – , )
Will wonders never cease? With its first season underway, the show received a renewal—the second of three just recently, so someone must be in a good mood over at HBO HQ. Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby,Bottoms) created, produces, writes, and stars in this take on twenty-something existence, part of a venerable TV comedic tradition that must, of necessity, receive an update every decade or so. Sennott plays Maia, 27, and desperate for promotion in her job as an assistant talent manager. She's joined in town by Tallulah (Odessa A’zion), a former New York City influencer fallen on messy times—alternately very fun and exhausting to a circle of friends that includes West Hollywood stylist Charlie (Jordan Firstman) and Maia's teacher boyfriend, Dylan (Josh Hutcherson). It's early days here, but the show looks great and, though tolerance for a coming-of-age comedy about twenty-ish-year-olds in LA will vary, it's smartly written and impressively acted.StreamI Love LA.
The Chair Company(2025 – , )
Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin followed up their sketch comedy Netflix show,I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, with this... cringe comedy/thriller? Somehow this surreal, genre-defying caper broke HBO Max records, and deservedly so. Robinson plays Ron Trosper, a middle manager in charge of building a new shopping mall. A collapsing chair during a public presentation sends Ron on a quest to uncover a massive conspiracy—he's convinced that the broken chair is just the first rung in a chain of sabotage. He's having a mid-life crisis and the show sends us along with him on a darkly funny, sometimes subtly horrific, journey down a rabbit hole that still, nonetheless, feels like a reflection of a modern American work culture that's no less nuts than a Ron's conspiracy of chairs.StreamThe Chair Company.
Creature Commandos(2024 – , renewed for a second season)
A pretty wild choice to kick off the current iteration of the DCU, the animated show sees Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, reprising the role) assembling a black ops team to protect a foreign nation from the Amazonian sorceress Circe. Waller can't be trusted with people, so her team is made up entirely of literal monsters: The Bride (Indira Varma), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), and aquatic mutant Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), along Nazi-obsessed G.I. Robot and the rodent-like Weasel (Sean Gunn). The cartoon is pretty violent with an extremely dark sense of humor, but James Gunn also brings an impressive amount of heart to the show, making it very hard not to care about these very unlikeable characters.StreamCreature Commandos.
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake(2023 – , )
BothAdventure Timeand its follow-up miniseries,Distant Lands, followed on the adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog. This show introduces their multiversal counterparts. In a universe without magic, Fionna and her cat live boring lives by day, but by night dream of adventures in a strange world. Meanwhile, the Ice King is struggling to exist without his powers when he discovers that Fionna and Cake, who he believed to be purely products of his fan fiction, are in fact real, and that they need help to save their own universe. The series hits all those sweetAdventure Timenotes while advancing both characters and lore.StreamAdventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
Dune: Prophecy(2024 – , renewed for a second season)
No matter how good the movies have been, aDuneprequel tie-in series was, most likely, going to be pretty inessential. But this one's been a surprise: a juicy space soap opera set 10,000 years before the Denis Villeneuve films, a time frame that puts it well out of the way of later events and lets it stand alone. There are a lot of threads here, but the series focuses on Valya and Tula Harkonnen (Emily Watson and Tula Williams), struggling to build and maintain the Sisterhood that we'll later come to know as the Bene Gesserit in the face of an unstable political order. The ruling dynasty has a new weapon in Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a manipulative former soldier who seems immune to the persuasive abilities of the Sisters, thus threatening their places at the Emperor's side. Especially given that we're on HBO Max, it's not entirely unfair to suggest that the vibe (full of intrigue, shady dealings, and violent plot-twists) is a bit that of a star-spanningGame of Thrones.StreamDune: Prophecy.
It's Florida, Man(2024 – , renewed for a second season)
This comedy anthology, based on truly true Florida stories, kicks-off with the tale of a man (played by Sam Richardson) in need of money placing a Craigslist ad, offering to do anything within reason for cash. The response? He'll get $4,000 if a guy gets to cut off and eat a couple of his toes. The show includes testimonials from actual people involved in these events, as well as famous actors and comedians (Anna Faris, Ego Nwodim, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, etc.) performing in recreations (think:Drunk History). Horrifying, but very funny, particularly if you don't live there.StreamIt's Florida, Man.
And Just Like That...(2021 – 2025)
We loved it and we hated it, sometimes all at once, but this weird, messy, very occasionally profound series won't soon be forgotten—the series finale, wrapping up decades ofSex and the Citystorylines, generated tremendous chatter and plenty of online arguing. What the series did inarguably right was to present these women, now in their 50s, as being every bit as complex and alive as they were a quarter of a century ago. As for the rest of it? Sporadic highs and baffling lows, along with a seemingly steadfast commitment to tossing in awkward and unlikeable characters. It could have been great, but it's something almost as good: never boring.StreamAnd Just like That...
Duster(2025)
J. J. Abrams is back, and Hollywood's preeminent excavator of faded genres (for better and worse) is taking on the hard-driving (literally) 1970s, with Josh Holloway (Lost,Yellowstone) starring as Jim Ellis, a getaway driver with a sweet cherry-red Plymouth. He's becoming increasingly disenchanted with his crime-syndicate boss, Ezra Saxton (Keith David), especially when he's tasked to transport a just-harvested human heart and then asked to then help with the surgery. Into his life walks Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson), the FBI's first Black woman agent (this is 1972, after all) who enlists Ellis in her plan to bring down Saxton. It's fast-paced and (mostly) fun, with immaculate period vibes. The buzzy show was canceled after its first season, but that's hardly an indicator of lack of quality these days.StreamDuster.
The Pitt(2025 –, second season coming January 2026)
E.R.'s Noah Wyle is back in scrubs as Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinavitch, senior attending at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital’s emergency room. Robby’s mentor died during the height of COVID-19, and he’s only just recovering from his traumatic experiences. It's gonna be a long day, though: Each episode represents a single hour of a tumultuous 15-hour shift, peppered by tragedies including a mass shooting. It feels like medical dramas are a dime a dozen, but this one is quite a bit more interesting, and a lot buzzier, than most.StreamThe Pitt.
When No One Sees Us(2025 –)
A distinctive police thriller imported from Spain,When No One Sees Usstars Mariela Garriga (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) as a Cuban-American special agent of the U.S. Army, and Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth) as a Spanish Civil Guard sergeant, both investigating an apparent death by violent suicide on an air base during Holy Week. It's a twisty-turny mystery, but the performances and the emphasis on character over plot make it a standout. No word yet on whether or not we'll get another season.StreamWhen No One Sees Us.
Industry(2020 – , renewed for a fourth season)
This British co-production debuted somewhat quietly back in 2020, getting good reviews but not much in the way of buzz. Perhaps because it was a different era (meaning: barely five years ago), HBO brought the show back, giving it time to grow until the third season premiere was up by almost 90% in viewership over the series debut, and earned a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. (Wild, isn't it, what happens if you actually give viewers time to discover a show? Surely a fluke with no discernible lessons for networks and streamers.) The show, created by two actual former investment bankers, chronicles the cutthroat world of the fictional Pierpoint & Co in which, at the series' outset, a group of young graduates are made to compete for a vanishingly small number of permanent positions. There are juicy soap-opera vibes, but the attention to detail when it comes to the world of high finance gives the show a feeling that the stakes are very real when it comes to the lives, and mental health, of our leads.StreamIndustry.
Doom Patrol(2019 – 2023, four seasons)
Max’s early DC show was originally ported from the now-defunct DC Universe streamer (past and future episodes are now Max-exclusive), a largely forgotten effort. Thank goodness it survived; it was an uncharacteristically bold and freaky entry in the superhero canon. Nearly indescribably weird, the show includes characters like the non-binary Danny the Street (a literal street), paranormal investigators the Sex Men, Imaginary Jesus, and orgasm-generating body builder Flex Mentallo—while also grounded in some excellent, frequently emotional character work from the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, Michelle Gomez, and Timothy Dalton. It’s also very queer and sex-positive, making it a standout among the usually chaste and straight world of superhero cinema.StreamDoom Patrol.
Hacks(2021 – , renewed for a fifth season)
After getting canceled over a tweet, 25-year-old writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) struggles to get her career back in order, reluctantly taking a job for Deborah Vance (Jean Smart)—a comedy trailblazer who remains popular with an older Vegas crown, but whose career is largely on autopilot. They're an entirely mismatched pair, but their chemistry is ultimately explosive, with Jean Smart doing some of the best work of her incredible career as the often deeply unlikeable Vance, and Einbinder more than holding her own in return. It's funny, bitchy, and surprisingly moving when it wants to be.StreamHacks.
The Flight Attendant(2020 – 2022, two seasons)
Kaley Cuoco plays hard-living (i.e. alcoholic) flight attendant Cassie Bowden, who, in the first episode, wakes up in a Bangkok hotel room with no memory of the night before. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, given that she's sharing a bed with a dead passenger from her last flight. Afraid to call the police, she tries, on her own, to piece together the increasingly convoluted memories of that last night. Impressively twisty-turny, but also with a hallucinogenic sense of fun, it's a unique show that earned several Emmy nominations, including for a great Cuoco. Despite generating plenty of buzz and seemingly good numbers, it was canceled after two seasons—which will become something of a theme with Max.StreamThe Flight Attendant.
The Sex Lives of College Girls(2021 – 2025, three seasons)
Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) is an endlessly naïve scholarship student; Bela (Amrit Kaur), is an aspiring comedy writer on the make for the hottest guys; Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) is an overachieving athlete and senator’s daughter; Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is a closeted sorority girl. They're randomly assigned to room together as freshmen at the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, the comedy-drama isn't nearly as salacious as its title suggests: There's sex, for sure, but likeSex and the Citybefore it, the funny and queer-friendly show is more about female friendship.StreamThe Sex Lives of College Girls.
Jellystone!(2021 – 2025)
The Hanna-Barbera cartoon pantheon has been largely dormant in recent decades, but this is a fun revisit, with the titular town serving as home to dozens of characters from back in the day, led by Mayor Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear (now a doctor at Jellystone Hospital), Augie Doggy, Jabberjaw, Top Cat, and dozens more, with out-of-towners like The Jetsons and Space Ghost popping in now and again. The show's silly, anarchic style is definitely not a one-for-one match to the source material, but it's not a terrible thing that the show is focused on appealing to modern kids rather than their parents (or grandparents, at this point). It's fun for that older elementary age group.StreamJellystone!.
The Gilded Age(2022 – , renewed for a fourth season)
Julian Fellowes made period drama buzz-worthy withDownton Abbey, and does something similar here while shifting the time and place to the 1880s in New York City. We're introduced to the world of upper andextremelyupper-class New York City society by Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), poor relation to the estranged aunties who take her in, and Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), a young Black writer from a solidly middle-class family who becomes a secretary to Christine Baranski's Agnes van Rhijn. Old-money Agnes and sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) live across the street from new-money social climbers the Russells (led with juicy imperiousness by Carrie Coon's Bertha); established society isn't keen on letting in these upstarts—though money very much talks. In one sense, the stakes here could not possibly be lower (Bertha wants a better seat at the opera!)—so why is the show so addictive?StreamThe Gilded Age.
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai(2023 –, two seasons)
It was weird, but kinda cool, that the originalGremlinsmovie was marketed toward kids, given that the plot turns on moments like a Mogwai blowing up in a microwave and an anecdote about someone's dead dad mouldering in a chimney dressed like Santa Claus. That all being said, this animated prequel is legit kid-friendly, even if it doesn't shy away from the Looney Tunes-esque style of the live-action movies. It also takes the awkward Orientalism of those movies and makes it a virtue: Sam Wing (played by Hollywood legend Keye Luke inGremlins) is, here, a 10-year-old boy who meets Gizmo and is then forced to join him on a journey through the Chinese countryside, sometimes encountering mythical creatures. The stacked voice cast includes Izaac Wang, Ming-Na Wen as Fong Wing, B. D. Wong, and the great James Hong; no word yet on a third season.StreamSecrets of the Mogwai.
