What to watch on Hulu: 20 best TV shows streaming right now

All the can't-miss shows on the streaming service, from the currently airing Atlanta to the about-to-return Only Murders In The Building

Top left: Zöe Kravitz in High Fidelity (Philip Caruso/Hulu); Top right: Michael Emerson in Lost (ABC); Bottom left: Maya Erskine in Pen15 (Jessica Brooks/Hulu); Bottom right: MJ Rodriguez in Pose (Eric Liebowitz/FX) — Top left: Zöe Kravitz in *High Fidelity* (Philip Caruso/Hulu); Top right: Michael Emerson in *Lost* (ABC); Bottom left: Maya Erskine in *Pen15* (Jessica Brooks/Hulu); Bottom right: MJ Rodriguez in *Pose* (Eric Liebowitz/FX)

There’s no dearth of options on Hulu. In fact, deciding what to watch can be quite overwhelming. So instead of wasting time trying to figure out which show will keep you on your couch for several hours, check out our roundup of the best of the best on the streamer. We’ve highlighted series that are coming (and going) this month (like Atlanta, which rolls out its brilliant third season through May 19), beloved Hulu originals, FX hits, return-worthy big-network classics and cult favorites.

This list is in alphabetical order. It was last updated on May 8, 2022. It will update monthly.

2 / 22

Atlanta (FX: 2016-)

Stars: Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Number of seasons on Hulu: 3

In a post-Community world, Glover found more mainstream success as musician Childish Gambino and through his FX comedy, Atlanta, which has won him two Emmys so far. Which isn’t to say the show is by any means mainstream. In it, he plays Earn Marks, a rookie manager trying to get his cousin Paper Boi’s (Henry) rap career to take off. Over three seasons, Atlanta has evolved into a sharp, incisive series with nuanced observations on race and other societal issues, with some can’t-miss standalone episodes. Later in 2022, the show will launch its fourth and final season.

3 / 22

Better Things (FX: 2016-2022)

Stars: Pamela Adlon, Celia Imrie, Mikey Madison, Hannah Riley, Olivia Edwards, Deidrich Bader, Alysia Reiner, Rebecca Metz, Kevin Pollak

Number of seasons on Hulu: 5

Adlon quietly created one of TV’s most sublime, must-watch comedies about motherhood, aging, and evolving familial bonds. Better Things borrows very specifically from her own life as a working-actor single mother of three daughters but feels eternally universal thanks to its resonant writing. Read our recent interview with the creator-star about the end of the show.

4 / 22

Castle Rock (Hulu: 2018-2019)

Stars: Bill Skarsgård, André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Jane Levy, Sissy Spacek, Lizzy Caplan, Elsie Fisher, Paul Sparks, Barkhad Abdi, Yusra Warsama

Number of seasons on Hulu: 2

Creators Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason struck gold when they made Castle Rock, a kaleidoscopic exploration of Stephen King lore that isn’t tied to one book or short story. Instead, it pulls liberally from the horror author’s entire body of work. Like a cursed curio cabinet, the show displays some of King’s eeriest ideas with unnerving elegance. Beautifully written with a rich atmosphere, it’s a short-lived titan of terrifying TV.

5 / 22

Cheers (NBC: 1982-1993)

Stars: Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Nicholas Colasanto, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Woody Harrleson, Kirstie Alley

Number of seasons on Hulu: 11

A mainstay on any sitcom list worth its salt, Cheers forever raised the bar for the half-hour ensemble comedy with an 11-season run that somehow still feels too short. What starts as a will-they-won’t-they between waitress Diane (Shelley Long) and bartender Sam (Ted Danson) becomes a fully lived-in ecosystem of situational humor and friendship that’s since been mimicked by The Office, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and plenty more beloved series. Still, nothing beats an ice-cold Cheers.

6 / 22

Cowboy Bebop (TV Tokyo: 1998, Wowow: 1998-1999)

Stars (Japanese subtitled): Koichi Yamadera, Norio Wakamoto, Megumi Hayashibara, Unshō Ishizuka, Aoi Tada

Stars (English dubbed): Steve Blum, Skip Stellrecht, Wendee Lee, Beau Billingslea, Melissa Fahn

Number of seasons on Hulu: 1

Widely regarded as one of the best animated series ever (and that’s some stupidly steep competition), Cowboy Bebop perfectly combines film noir melodrama, spaghetti Western sensibilities, and high-energy anime action. It’s a smooth-riding saga that’s timeless in its start-to-finish confidence, deftly bookending its half-hour adventures about a bounty-hunting space crew with a killer intro sequence and an equally iconic stinger. As cool as hero Spike Spiegel, Cowboy Bebop is slick, smart, top-shelf mystery writing with style to spare.

7 / 22

Difficult People (Hulu: 2015-2017)

Stars: Billy Eichner, Julie Klausner, Andrea Martin, James Urbaniak, Cole Escola, Jackie Hoffman, John Cho

Number of seasons on Hulu: 3

Difficult People follows two aspiring comedians trying to make a name for themselves, while seemingly hating on everyone except each other. Caroline Seide wrote it best in her review (in which she called the show “uber-specifically made for The A.V. Club”): “Difficult People isn’t for everyone. Despite the genuine sweetness of Julie and Billy’s friendship, the show’s barbed humor and unlikable characters are potentially off-putting. In an era when, as Billy puts it, comedies have “become 30-minute dramas,” the broad joke-a-minute style can feel almost old-fashioned. But for the right erudite, pop-culture-obsessed, sardonic audience, Difficult People is the kind of show that feels like it’s reaching out just to them.”

8 / 22

Fargo (FX: 2014-)

Stars: Billy Bob Thornton and Allison Tolman (season one), Kirsten Dunst and Patrick Wilson (season two), Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon (season three), and Chris Rock and Jessie Buckley (season four)

Number of seasons on Hulu: 4

A blood-soaked love letter to the Coen brothers (inspired by their 1996 masterpiece but bursting with references to a bunch of their films), creator Noah Hawley’s anthology series is that rarest of birds: a show completely steeped in the mythology of other peoples’ creations that somehow still feels remarkably fresh. Fargo’s second and third seasons, in particular, were marvelous, high-water marks in an era of peak television. And even when the show dips in quality ever so slightly (cough, season four, cough), it’s a fascinating, beautifully made dip that we can’t turn off.

9 / 22

The Great (Hulu: 2020-)

Stars: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Sacha Dhawan, Phoebe Fox, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Adam Godley, Belinda Bromilow

Number of seasons on Hulu: 2

Tony McNamara’s historical comedy isn’t necessarily a true story at all. It is loosely—like, very extremely loosely—based on the life of Russian Empress Catherine the Great (Fanning), who usurps power from her cruel husband, Peter III (Hoult). The show has a helluva time depicting how she plots to overtake his kingdom, all while avoiding falling in love with him. For his part, Hoult delivers an extraordinarily funny, awards-worthy performance.

10 / 22

High Fidelity (Hulu: 2020)

Stars: Zoë Kravitz, Jake Lacy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David H. Holmes

Number of seasons on Hulu: 1

We’re as pissed as Zoë Kravitz about the cancelation of High Fidelity, a fiercely smart, inclusive retelling of Stephen Frears’ 2000 rom-com about a heartsick record store owner. Not only did Kravitz’s star performance deliver a complex portrait of a queer woman looking for love, but the series also offered a comforting sense of old-school cool, something modern TV had been missing. Even if it ends on a cliffhanger, High Fidelity is worth watching on repeat.

11 / 22

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX: 2005-2012, FXX: 2013-ongoing)

Stars: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito

Number of seasons on Hulu: 15

Against all odds, The Gang and the havoc it inevitably wreaks don’t seem to be going anywhere—15 seasons and counting!—and that’s just fine by us. Dennis Perkins summed up Sunny’s endurance nicely in his recap of its most recent episode: “A lot’s been made about It’s Always Sunny’s unprecedented longevity, and how, despite the occasional misstep, its astoundingly consistent quality. As time’s gone on, the extreme difficulty built into Sunny’s singularly dark and bitter formula has only made that consistency more impressive.”

12 / 22

Lost (ABC: 2004-2010)

Stars: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Josh Holloway, Michael Emerson, Terry O’ Quinn, Henry Ian Cusick

Number of seasons on Hulu: 6

It can easily be argued that Lost, which follows a group of people who land on a seemingly deserted island after a plane crash, changed how ensemble-driven dramas can succeed on TV. The show reveled in a puzzle-box setting, using flashbacks, flash-forwards (and flash-sideways!) to set up an epic and gut-wrenching mystery. Despite a divisive finale—which actually rules hard, sue me—Lost remains one of the most groundbreaking TV shows of our generation. It’s always a good time to watch (or rewatch) it.

13 / 22

Normal People (Hulu: 2020)

Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Paul Mescal, Sarah Greene, Aislin McGuckin, Sebastian De Souza

Number of seasons on Hulu: 1

Few adaptations feel as innately “correct” as Normal People, Hulu’s hugely affectionate retelling of Sally Rooney’s beloved romance novel. Across 12 half-hour episodes, each more tender than the last, Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) come of age while falling in and out of love along Ireland’s Atlantic coast. The result is a tortured fantasy that will leave you screaming, “JUST FUCKING TALK TO EACH OTHER!” in the most satisfying way imaginable.

14 / 22

Only Murders In The Building (Hulu: 2021-)

Stars: Martin Short, Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, Aaron Dominguez, Amy Ryan, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jane Lynch, Jackie Hoffman

Number of seasons: 1

It’s only one season in, with the second one arriving in June 2022, but Only Murders In The Building is probably Hulu’s best offering to date. Short and Martin are frequent and terrific collaborators, but their pairing with Gomez makes the series an immediate hit. The three play residents of a fancy New York City building who begin a podcast to try and find out who killed one of their neighbors. As Danette Chavez put it in her review, “If you find personal revelations as thrilling as the resolution of a crime, OMITB could even become your next TV obsession.”

15 / 22

Pam & Tommy (Hulu: 2022)

Stars: Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, Taylor Schilling

Number of seasons on Hulu: 1

Although it wasn’t given the permission of the real Pamela Anderson or Tommy Lee (which, let’s be real, feels icky as hell), this limited series dramatization of the true story behind Pam and Lee’s infamous 1995 sex tape scandal is top-to-bottom bonkers–and deeply entertaining. Seth Rogen stars as Rand Gauthier, a down-on-his-luck contractor whose vengeful robbery of an A-list couple meets unforeseen consequences that changed both celebrity culture and the internet forever.

16 / 22

Pen15 (Hulu: 2019-2021)

Stars: Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, Taj Cross, Mutsuko Erskine, Richard Karn, Melora Walters, Dallas Liu, Taylor Nichols

Number of seasons on Hulu: 2

Cringe comedy is never easy to get through, and Pen15 has heaps of it. We’re talking full-body shudders. Created by Erskine and Konkle, the two play 13-year-old version of themselves, as they try to survive eighth grade and all the issues that come with it: first crushes, AIM chats (remember those?), pool parties, early stages of friendships. Pen15 is definitely wince-worthy, but damn if it doesn’t remain endearing from start to finish.

17 / 22

Pose (FX: 2018-2021)

Stars: MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Billy Porter, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar, Ryan Jamal Swain, Angel Bismark Curiel, Angelica Ross

Number of seasons on Hulu: 3

There isn’t another show quite like Pose. Set in the 1980s, it dives into New York City’s drag ball culture scene, assembling a history-making cast with multiple trans actors, led by Rodriguez. She plays Blanca, the mother of House of Evangelista, who takes in a number of struggling young folks. While it features the hardships that LGBTQIA and people of color went through during the time, Pose is still effervescent and joyous as it celebrates their existence.

18 / 22

Ramy (Hulu: 2019-)

Stars: Ramy Youssef, Hiam Abbass, May Calamawy, Mohammed Amir, Amr Waked, Steve Way, Laith Nakli, Mahershala Ali

Number of seasons on Hulu: 2

Created by and starring Youssef, the show follows Ramy Hassan, a first-generation Egyptian American living in New Jersey with his family who goes on a spiritual quest to explore facets of his community, including volunteering at and spending time in a Sufi mosque. He’s caught up between both of his identities and strives to make sense of the world while believing life is just a morality test. Ramy features stunning performances all over, especially from Abbass and Calamaway.

19 / 22

Taste The Nation With Padma Lakshmi (Hulu: 2020-)

Stars: Padma Lakshmi

Number of seasons on Hulu: 2

No one knows food better than the Emmy-nominated host of Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi. Taste The Nation is evidence of this. Her culinary travel docuseries doesn’t just celebrate delicacies across the globe, it takes a deep dive into various immigrant cuisines and how they impacted the food culture in the States. In his review, Randall Colburn noted: “By focusing specifically on the immigrant groups that have seen their native dishes appropriated, as well as the ways in which they seek to preserve those original traditions, it inches toward an answer more complex than ‘fast food.’”

20 / 22

Shrill (Hulu: 2019-2021)

Stars: Aidy Bryant, Lolly Adefope, Luka Jones, John Cameron Mitchell, Ian Owens, Patti Harrison

Number of seasons on Hulu: 3

Shrill may have met its maker in 2021, with an unceremonious cancelation that left protagonist Annie as lost in her identity journey as ever. But this feel-good Aidy Bryant vehicle about an ambitious Portland writer living life on her terms was really good while it lasted, delivering 22 episodes of delightful self-discovery and quirky comedy chops to fans who loved them deeply. Come for the promise of Bryant getting the starring role she deserves; stay for Lolly Adefope and Patti Harrison stealing scenes like crazy.

21 / 22

What We Do In The Shadows (FX: 2019-)

Stars: Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch

Number of seasons on Hulu: 3

When this American TV adaptation of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s hilarious 2014 mockumentary was announced, you’d have been forgiven for giving a skeptical shrug. How, exactly, would showrunners be able to capture the original’s offbeat magic and sustain our interests over several seasons? We’re not sure how they were able to pull off just that, but it could have a lot to do with the chemistry between these Staten Island-dwelling vampires (and one doting familiar). The particularly strong performances by Demetriou, Proksch, and fan fave Guillén certainly don’t hurt, either.

22 / 22