Bottom Row: Peacemaker Season Two (HBO); Severance Season Two (Apple TV+); Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV+).
It does what it says on the tin, as one might say. Look, in 2025, I was particularly pressed for time, and so I prioritized posting film reviews. That said, I saw a lot of television shows in 2025 (so many!), and I have a lot of thoughts on shows and seasons that I loved, liked, or was underwhelmed by, which I want to get out there before I post my list of the best television shows of that year. Do note that shows which are not referenced or listed in this collection of reviews or bite-sized reviews can still appear on the aforementioned future list, and that I did, in fact, review other television shows from this year, so please do seek them out on my all-time TV season review overview by clicking here.
Poker Face: Season 2 | Series | Created by Rian Johnson | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 12 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
The first season of Poker Face, which burst onto the scene in 2023, was a fast obsession of mine once it finally made its way to Danish streaming services (SkyShowtime). Its central heroine, a distinctively gravely voiced waitress-turned-amateur-PI played by Natasha Lyonne, had this fantastic Rian Johnson-given ability to tell whenever anyone was lying (“Bullshit!” she blurts out whenever someone tries to get something by her). She was an extremely entertaining Columbo-style protagonist in this case-of-the-week crime comedy murder mystery. The show featured intriguing mysteries, characters, and guest appearances, and it looked like a show that could go on and on for years and years. That was the case until it was canceled a handful of months ago. There has since been some talk of reviving it with Peter Dinklage as the central character, but I have to say that cancellation knocked me out. Because the show’s second season was almost just as good as the first.
The second season, which was notably two episodes longer (at twelve episodes), featured a great many exciting guest appearances from Richard Kind, Cynthia Erivo, James Ransone, Justin Theroux, John Cho, and Simon Rex, to name a few. It retained the case-of-the-week structure, and the cases themselves were great (you got everything from identical siblings to a murderous baseball player). The show remained witty, well shot, and well-thought-out. The one problem I had with the season was the serialized storyline that carried over from episode to episode, leading to a new series antagonist, capable of going undetected when lying. Although a natural opposite character, I thought the antagonist character took up too much space in the season (and I thought it was way too soon to basically annul the protagonist’s central power). Still, though, it was a great season. It’s just a shame, we won’t get more cases-of-the-week with this delightful crew and central character.
The Pitt: Season 1 | Series | Created by R. Scott Gemmill | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 15 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
Let’s be honest, there is no shortage of medical dramas. The wild success of ER basically gave us everything from Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy to The Resident and House, M.D., and yet this latest series — The Pitt, from ER writer and producer R. Scott Gemmill — may be the best of the bunch, if we’re looking at purely authenticity. It also feels necessary to say that this also owes a lot to the likes of The Bear, which has been a brutally honest look at the high-intensity and stresses of working in a professional kitchen. The Pitt sought to be the most realistic medical drama on television, and, in the process of living up to that, it also feels like The Bear’s medical cousin, though with a sprinkling of 24, since each episode of the fifteen-episode season covers an hour of its central characters’ shift.
The first season did a phenomenal job of introducing us to varied characters (newcomers to the hospital and veterans alike), putting outstanding actors into place to both perform as credible fictional medical professionals and deliver character-subtleties and personalities through their heartfelt performances. In addition to the expected star, Noah Wyle, other standouts include Katherine LaNasa as a warm and experienced nurse, Taylor Dearden as a sweet neurodivergent medical professional, and Patrick Ball as a gifted senior resident with a secret. The ensemble cast was spectacular, both the individual episode stories and the overarching narrative were gripping, and the show as a whole was one of the best television discoveries of last year.
The Studio: Season 1 | Series | Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 10 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
Only a select few shows feel as designed specifically for me as The Studio does. As a cinephile who grew up watching Entourage, Superbad (and similar comedies), and the Curb Your Enthusiasm-inspired Danish Klovn series, this blend of Goldberg and Rogen-esque comedy, Curb-like comedic everyday type moments, and film industry hijinx (with plenty of star cameos) hits pretty perfect, for me. Seeing Rogen, as rookie studio head Matt Remick, take meetings with Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, and the like, and stress over the many aspects of the industry, including finding some middle ground between artistic pursuits and economic savviness, is so much fun to watch.
It has just enough broad appeal and just the right blend of inside-baseball references to be capable of being a hit with multiple types of audiences, as they manage to utilize Rogen (who is in fantastic form here), the well-chosen cameos, and the spirited supporting cast really well. Catherine O’Hara is gold as the mentor figure with a complex relationship with the studio, and relative newcomer Chase Sui Wonders is good fun as the assistant-turned-junior-executive. Whether it’s watching Rogen’s Remick heartbreakingly have to choose the less interesting version of a film due to his CEO’s demands, seeing Wonders and Ike Barinholtz compete, or Remick be awkward around celebrities, the show always finds a way to earn laughs and give us a fun peek behind the curtain. It is such a smartly designed show about the difficulty of balancing ambition, personal happiness, and financial gain in an industry in desperate need of both artistry and originality, and making money.
Peacemaker: Season 2 | Series | Created by James Gunn | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 8 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
The big hurdle to overcome for Peacemaker season two was the problem that James Gunn had to find a way to have these funny, edge-of-the-frame type DC characters from the old DCEU continue in the new DCU, even though the first season had made that pretty difficult, given the heroes that showed up there. Amazingly, Gunn pulled that off with ease by trusting the audience to accept that it didn’t need explaining and to trust the opening previously on-segment to explain what needed to be remembered. It worked! The season as a whole did as well. John Cena especially upped his game with career-best acting from the former wrestler. Was the eventual parallel universe twist easy to see coming? Yeah, but Gunn handled it well, and the season largely felt like a step up in quality. The one major misstep was the season finale, which, frankly, felt more like an awkwardly designed backdoor pilot for a spin-off show than a satisfying season finale. But it was nonetheless a strong season of television.
Severance: Season 2 | Series | Created by Dan Erickson | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 10 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
Despite being based mostly in a mysterious office building and not on an island, the first season of Severance made it feel like the heir apparent to Lost, as the primary mystery box show getting people to discuss its quirks around watercoolers (if that kind of thing even happens anymore now that a monoculture feels like a thing of the past, what with the many streamers and the endless choices). The second season followed up on the instantly iconic season one finale in appropriately mysterious fashion, with a second season that provided some answers while deepening the mystery in other areas. Standout episodes included Woe’s Hollow, about a strange and eerie outdoor retreat, and Chikhai Bardo, about the relationship and marriage of Mark (played by Adam Scott) and Gemma (played by Dichen Lachman), both of which were some of the strongest episodes of 2025. In addition to the core four actors, the standouts this season were Dichen Lachman and Tramell Tillman. The only real downside of this show is how long it takes between seasons.
Mr. Scorsese | Documentary Series | Directed by Rebecca Miller | Release Year: 2025 | Season Length: 5 Episodes | Recommended?: Yes.
What a gift it is to have this five-part documentary. There are so many stories and so many relationships (romantic, collegial, or otherwise) that it’s already clear after the second episode that they won’t have time to cover all of it (and it doesn’t). It does fly by, it is so enthralling, and you just want more. Getting to hear Scorsese, who is my personal favorite filmmaker, tell his story (and confirm rumors) alongside interviews with a rich list of stars, family members, and friends is just so special. Getting to know about Joe ‘the Bug,’ Sally Gaga, Robert ‘Curti’ Uricola, and so on and so forth is such a treat for fans of Marty and cinema as a whole. I absolutely love this. I think of it as required viewing for cinephiles.
It is fascinating to discover which films get only, like, a sentence’s worth of coverage and which get large sections devoted to them, and, yeah, I would’ve liked so much more. But what we get is outstanding. There are stories and glimpses of his family (then, now, and through the years), his friends, and his collaborators. They take us through highs, lows, team-ups, flops, and hits, and it is so fascinating to watch. At one point, Scorsese remarks that his doctor warned him about how much of himself he pours into every project several decades ago, but you get the sense that, in actuality, making movies like that is what keeps him young and gives him lifeblood.
– Reviews written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 