For a streaming platform that’s still relatively young, Apple TV has been strangely good at something most streaming services struggle with: consistency. Think about how many TV shows start with the perfect first season and then slowly lose their magic by Season 2 or 3. It happens all the time on bigger platforms like Netflix or even prestige-heavy outlets like HBO. Apple TV has quietly built a lineup where several series start great… and stay great.
That’s exactly what this list is about: Apple TV originals with no bad seasons. Every season keeps the momentum going with sharp storytelling, bigger stakes, and characters who only get more compelling with time. Although they already show promise, a few recent shows didn’t make the cut this time. Since The Studio and Pluribus only have one season so far, it’s too early to judge their long-term quality. If their future seasons achieve the same level of quality, they could easily earn a spot on a list like this. For now, these seven original series represent the gold standard of Apple TV.
7
‘Trying’ (2020 – Present)
4 Seasons
Most shows about wanting a baby are either too saccharine or achingly tragic. Trying sidesteps both these tones and lands somewhere more interesting. Created by Andy Wolton (who is himself an adoptee), it follows Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall), a London couple in their thirties who can’t conceive and decide to navigate the bewildering world of adoption.
With four seasons (and counting), Trying is an assured comedy. Season 4 has bold and creative storytelling, jumping six years forward in time so we can see Nikki and Jason as actual parents. Trying has never been about the destination. It’s always been about two people who are on a messy yet heartwarming journey, and it’s completely believable. Seasons 2 and 4 both earned 100% Rotten Tomatoes scores, which is almost unheard of for a comedy. Thanks to this moving central relationship, the show’s overall score sits at 96%.
6
‘Slow Horses’ (2022 – Present)
5 Seasons
Forget style. Forget gadgets. Forget saving the world. Slow Horses is a spy show about people who didn’t make the cut. The ones who got something wrong, embarrassed MI5, and were shipped off to a decaying office near the Barbican called Slough House. Based on Mick Herron’s acclaimed novels and adapted by Will Smith for Apple TV, Slow Horses is a comedy, but it’s also one of the most gripping spy series in years.
Gary Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, Kristin Scott Thomas holds her own as the ice-cold Diana Taverner, and Jack Lowden gives the show its conscience with a great performance as River Cartwright. The fascinating thing about Slow Horses is that it doesn’t just maintain its quality; it keeps getting better. Each season adapts a new Herron novel, which means a new self-contained story with rising stakes and no signs of fatigue. Slow Horses Season 6 has already been filmed, and a seventh has been greenlit, which means Slough House is nowhere close to shutting down.
5
‘Foundation’ (2021 – Present)
3 Seasons
People called Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels “unfilmable” for decades. It’s a millennium-spanning story about the mathematics of civilizational collapse, told across generations of characters who never meet. Then Apple TV came along, threw roughly $10 million per episode at it, and handed the adaptation to David S. Goyer. Three seasons in, it’s hard to argue with the results.
The scope of Foundation is unlike anything else on TV right now. While Season 1 was dense and demanded patience, it laid the groundwork for a Season 2 that critics called an enormous leap forward, and a Season 3 that was met with universal acclaim. Season 3, in particular, found room for levity alongside its grandeur, with Lee Pace turning Brother Day into a scene-stealing presence. Fans even nicknamed him “Brother Dude” for his stoner-like energy. Overall, Foundation is a show that keeps finding ways to surprise you.
4
‘Shrinking’ (2023 – Present)
3 Seasons
At first glance, Shrinking sounds like any other comedy. A grieving therapist starts ignoring professional ethics and tells his patients what he actually thinks. A feel-good ensemble, a sun-soaked California setting, and characters who address their feelings. It’s fine. Well, except for the fact that Jason Segel, Brett Goldstein, and Bill Lawrence co-created the series. Three people who have, in some way, worked on Ted Lasso, How I Met Your Mother, and Scrubs.
The trio ensures that Shrinking is meaningful. Jimmy Laird (Segel) isn’t chaotic in an adorable way. He’s a wreck, and the show takes that seriously. Then, there’s Harrison Ford as Paul Rhoades, a veteran therapist with Parkinson’s disease. The dynamic between Ford and Segel is one of the best things on Apple TV. Season 3 premiered in January 2026 and brought Jeff Daniels aboard as Jimmy’s father. All three seasons balance comedic and emotional currents in an entertaining and moving way.
3
‘Silo’ (2023 – Present)
2 Seasons
Silo drops you into a post-apocalyptic underground civilization where 10,000 people live inside a giant silo, which is governed by rules that nobody fully understands, and they’re punished for asking questions no one is supposed to ask. Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) is an engineer who begins pulling some threads. The show earns its tension through character and atmosphere.
Silo Season 1 is effortlessly watchable. It’s focused and always moving forward, and you feel safe going along for the ride. And then it ends on a cliffhanger. Silo Season 2 proved that it wasn’t a one-season wonder. Louise Griffin from Radio Times called it “a masterclass in how to follow up a successful first season” and many critics declared it one of the best sci-fi TV shows, with some going as far as comparing it to Lost in terms of gripping long-form storytelling. Season 3 and 4 are both confirmed, so Silo is definitely playing a long, deliberate game.
2
‘Severance’ (2022 – Present)
2 Seasons
Work-life balance is nearly impossible to achieve. However, Severance imagines a near-future corporate experiment where employees undergo a procedure that surgically separates their work memories from their personal lives. The result is two distinct identities: the “innie” who exists only inside the office and the “outie” who never remembers a day at work. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) is at the center of it all, and he becomes suspicious of the strange routines of Lumon Industries.
Severance is better than perhaps any other show at capturing the indignities of modern work. It uses sci-fi exaggerations like sterile hallways, bizarre departmental rituals, and “wellness sessions” to turn a sinister IKEA catalog into our corporate reality. Season 2 arrived after a nearly three-year wait to push further into stranger, more emotionally devastating territory. Critics called it trippy and fans called it emotionally resonant. While Adam Scott, Britt Lower, and Patricia Clarkson give stunning performances, the additions of Gwendoline Christie and Merritt Wever are also worth noting.
1
‘Ted Lasso’ (2020 – Present)
3 Seasons
The plot of Ted Lasso goes something like this: an American college football coach with zero soccer knowledge is hired to manage an English Premier League club… by an owner who secretly wants the team to fail. It sounds like a joke. However, across three seasons and an avalanche of awards, Ted Lasso became a show about how kindness, when practiced with actual conviction, is lowkey cool.
Season 1 became the most Emmy-nominated debut season for a comedy in television history, and the show followed that up by winning back-to-back Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys for Seasons 1 and 2. Ted Lasso accumulated 138 total nominations, winning 38, with the majority going to its cast. Ted Lasso Season 4 arrives in summer 2026, with Jason Sudeikis’ Ted taking on the challenge of coaching a second-division women’s football team. It’s a risky move, but it’s on-brand for the show.
Which of these is your favorite Apple TV original series? Let us know in the comments!