Sunday Special: The Best TV of 2025

About this episode

<p>In these final weeks of 2025, The Sunday Special is looking back at the year in culture.</p><p>Today, we’re talking about the TV we watched this year — the best shows, the most popular ones and the ones that allowed us to just enjoyably veg out. Gilbert Cruz talks with the TV critic James Poniewozik and the culture reporter Alexis Soloski about the year in television.</p><p>TV shows discussed in this episode:</p><p>“Severance”</p><p>“Common Side Effects”</p><p>“Too Much”</p><p>“Nobody Wants This”</p><p>“Dying for Sex”</p><p>“The Hunting Wives”</p><p>“The White Lotus”</p><p>“Dr. Odyssey”</p><p>“Long Story Short”</p><p>“Heated Rivalry”</p><p>“Andor”</p><p>“The Lowdown”</p><p>“Platonic”</p><p>“Pluribus”</p><p>“The Pitt”</p><p>“Adolescence”</p><p><strong>On Today’s Episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/james-poniewozik" target="_blank">James Poniewozik</a> is the chief TV critic for The New York Times.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/alexis-soloski" target="_blank">Alexis Soloski</a> is a culture reporter for The Times.</p><p><strong>Background Reading:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/arts/television/best-tv-shows-of-2025.html" target="_blank">Best TV Shows of 2025</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/arts/television/best-tv-episodes-2025.html" target="_blank">The Best TV Episodes of 2025</a></p><p>Photo Credit: Apple TV+; Netflix; Lucasfilm/Disney+; HBO</p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>