The best shows to watch on Max in January 2024

You know the deal: It’s not TV, it’s HBO.

But ever since HBO rebranded to Max, guess what? You can name it TV once more, and no person can cease you.

We’re right here to spherical up a few of the best TV shows obtainable to watch on Max. More than sufficient individuals have doubtless already extolled to you the virtues of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, and Game of Thrones. (If not, the place have you ever been?) Consider this a supplementary checklist. A Max 2.0, if you’ll.

For extra nice TV, take a look at our lists of the bests shows of 2022 and 2023, which embrace many alternatives on Max.

Editor’s decide: Rome

Image: HBO

Before the fantasy renaissance Game of Thrones kicked off, Rome was the setting for HBO’s best sword-swinging status play. And whereas this amped up historic drama didn’t fairly hit the heights of HBO’s A Song of Ice and Fire adaptation, it’s nonetheless lots entertaining, and some of the attention-grabbing shows on Max.

Rome’s first season chronicles the rise and fall of Julius Caesar. The story is informed via the lives and intrigue of probably the most highly effective gamers, together with Game of Thrones vets Ciarán Hinds as Caesar and Tobias Menzies as Brutus, but additionally via two lowly troopers (Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd), who simply occur to be round to witness a few of the greatest moments in this era of Rome’s historical past.

As enjoyable as Rome is as a collection in its personal proper, it’s equally as fascinating as a historic doc for HBO. While it feels barely out of step with the slower dramas the community was identified for on the time, like The Wire, Deadwood, or The Sopranos, Rome’s quick-paced brutality and status sheen make it really feel proper at house in the present line up for Max. — Austen Goslin

Fringe

Image: Fox

Back in 2008, J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci launched a collection that was supposed to be non secular successor to The X-Files by the use of Lost. Over the course of 5 seasons, Fringe turned that and a lot extra: a cerebral procedural drama about city legends, parallel universes, anomalous oddities, and a beleaguered mad scientist’s lengthy quest for redemption.

The collection facilities on Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), an FBI agent assigned to examine unexplained phenomena associated to a mysterious collection of occurrences identified merely as “The Pattern.” With the assistance of a Department of Homeland Security advisor (Joshua Jackson) and his eccentric father (John Noble), an excellent but troubled researcher identified for his speciality in the sector of “fringe science,” Dunham is tasked with unmasking the culprits answerable for these unusual phenomena and bringing them to justice.

The collection overcame a number of threats of cancellation and precipitously declining scores to amass a passionate cult following, all whereas delivering some of the complicated and emotionally shifting storylines seen in a mainstream sci-fi TV drama. Featuring visitor appearances from such lauded sci-fi icons as Leonard Nimoy and Peter Weller and an absolute standout supporting efficiency by the late Lance Reddick as Fringe Division director Phillip Broyles, Abrams and firm’s present is an everlasting collection worthy of reappraisal and admiration. —Toussaint Egan

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal

Image: Cartoon Network Studios/Williams Street

What do you get once you mix Arthurian legend, the “rubber hose” artwork model of Osamu Tezuka and Max Fleischer, and the willpower of some of the profitable American animators of the previous 20 years? You get Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, after all — the eagerness mission of director Genndy Tartakovsky and author Darrick Bachman set in a Victorian steampunk world.

The collection follows a trio of immortal warriors: Melinda, a robust sorceress; Seng, a cosmic monk; and Edred, a warrior elf, who’re reincarnated throughout a number of generations by the wizard Merlin to struggle an never-ending battle in opposition to an historical evil. Upon realizing her future as the most recent reincarnation of Melinda, a younger bride-to-be named Emma Fairfax units off in search of how to get her outdated life again whereas keeping off the droves of malicious henchmen her reawakening has caused.

Brilliantly animated and exquisitely unique, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is indisputably one of many best animated collection Max has to provide. Both Tartakovsky and Bachman have expressed curiosity in exploring the world of Unicorn extra in future installments. Only time will inform if that comes to fruition, however one of many best methods to assist be certain that it does is by watching the complete collection in full. You gained’t remorse it. —TE

Banshee

Image: Cinemax

Like Antony Starr in The Boys and Warrior on Max? Have I obtained some excellent news for you!

Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper’s first present, Banshee, follows an knowledgeable thief lately free of jail who by chance turns into the sheriff of a small fictional Pennsylvanian city.

It’s an ideal fish-out-of-water setup for a terrific lead efficiency, and Starr is implausible, carrying this present very like he does The Boys. It’s additionally a kind of shows that falls in between the period of serial tv and the period of “10-hour movies,” and the combination typically offers Banshee the best of each worlds, as Starr’s Lucas Hood makes use of his unconventional background and expertise to be a really completely different type of sheriff. Not the whole lot works in the present — a few of the plotlines are extra thought via than others — however it’s a persistently good time anchored by a terrific premise and a implausible main efficiency. —Pete Volk

Batman: The Animated Series

Image: Warner Bros. Animation

My love for Batman: The Animated Series is a well-established public truth.

Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s seminal 1992 reinvention of the Dark Knight modified American animated tv without end. Set in an anachronistic Nineteen Fifties imaginative and prescient of Gotham City, the present follows billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne/Batman, after all, but additionally a rogues’ gallery virtually as massive as his arsenal of devices and automobiles.

The darkish coloration palette and artwork deco aesthetic is as a lot a revelation to behold now as they have been over 30 years in the past. The collection’ writing delivered a few of the extra memorable and defining tales associated to Batman’s numerous nemeses, whereas additionally inventing its personal enduring unique character in the type of Harley Quinn, the paramour and sidekick to Batman’s adversary the Joker. There’s an excessive amount of to say about Batman: The Animated Series to match into just one article, not to mention one blurb. To say that it is among the best collection to watch on Max is an understatement; it’s virtually a prerequisite. —TE

Veep

Image: HBO

For each occupation, there’s a TV present that makes individuals who work that job go, Yeah, that’s the one which obtained it actually proper. When watching Veep, the insult-filled comedy a few dysfunctional vice chairman and her dysfunctional employees, it gained’t convey you consolation to know that it’s the present most D.C. insiders nod alongside to because the best reflection of their life. But the genius of Veep is you’ll be able to put that out of your thoughts for a spell; you’re laughing too arduous to care.

In Veep, you’ll be able to see the roots of massive shows to come: Succession and its insult comedy, the comedy of errors of Barry. But Veep is singular as a result of it’s simply at all times fucking on. Where most shows are discovering themselves in the primary season, Veep confidently fees out with weapons blazing and F-bombs flying. And it solely will get stronger from there. As you watch, and also you inevitably do not forget that that is how our elected officers (on the very least) really feel they need to be mirrored, it may appear terrifying. Then once more, in a method it is sensible; Occam’s razor tells us the only rationalization is usually the suitable one. And that’s the identical ethos that makes Veep’s comedy so chopping — these are the only individuals, doing the only mismanagement you’ll be able to think about. At least right here, it’s humorous. —Zosha Millman

Watchmen

Photo: Mark Hill/HBO

People have loads of opinions about Watchmen. One of the extra widespread ones is that nobody ought to hassle adapting or increasing on it, and they’re, usually talking, proper. Damon Lindelof’s sequel/reinvention of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ acclaimed comedian appeared about as ill-conceived as each prior try to revisit Watchmen, and Lindelof even appeared apologetic about making an attempt the identical. How fortunate all of us are that he did: HBO’s Watchmen was dazzling, a nine-episode restricted collection that took the superhero metaphor to uncharted territory, turning a deconstruction of superheroes into a classy contemplation of American energy and racism. Violent, humorous, and surprisingly shifting, HBO’s Watchmen lures you in the identical method the comedian did: A person is discovered useless, and that demise exposes a conspiracy that threatens to unravel the complete world. —Joshua Rivera

I May Destroy You

Photo: Natalie Seery/BBC/Val Productions

Michaela Coel’s searing black comedy follows Arabella, an creator with a viral success beneath her belt and a horrible case of author’s block retaining her from her subsequent one. When Arabella blacks out following an evening with buddies on the pub, she learns that she was raped, and makes an attempt to reconstruct the night time as best she will be able to. What begins with abject horror grows — thanks to Coel’s unimaginable efficiency and razor-sharp writing alongside co-writer Sam Miller — to turn into a morbidly hilarious, compassionate portrait of contemporary womanhood, the place violence is an occupational hazard of being alive and surviving trauma turns into a marketable asset. I May Destroy You is outstanding for the tonal tightrope it walks but additionally its unsparing eye, which lets nobody — not the viewers, nor its characters — off the hook when it comes to its most biting satire or devastating blows. —JR

Starstruck

Photo: Mark Johnson/Max

A rom-com about Jessie (Rose Matafeo) — an unassuming Kiwi lady residing in London, the place she works at a movie show — and Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel), the actor and film star that she retains operating into and falling in love with, Starstruck makes allure look simple. Like most romantic comedies, loads of that is due to Matafeo and Patel’s simple chemistry, as each play characters with a naturalism that makes the unlikeliness of their relationship much less of an enormous deal and extra of an enormous complication. It is simply arduous to get entangled with somebody whose whereabouts are information, which forces the 20-something Jessie to be far more decisive than any 20-something is about something. Starstruck is, a minimum of in half, a rom-com about what number of good romances are ones that almost don’t work out, and its old-school screwball strategy to trendy love makes it really feel each particular and timeless. —JR

Station Eleven

Photo: Ian Watson/HBO Max

Look: If you’re going to watch one pandemic present, you must make it Station Eleven. The story itself is easy: In a world the place a flu-like pandemic worn out the majority of civilization, Kirsten (Mackenzie Davis) leads a touring theater troupe in the Great Lakes space. A run-in with a harmful wanderer makes her revisit her previous, and stare down a harmful future.

Like loads of HBO shows, Station Eleven tells its story by braiding people and their tales collectively. Through the varied views and gamers of the story, Station Eleven builds one thing new: a treatise on the worth of artwork, the issues that keep on with us, and the individuals we select to hold in our hearts, whether or not for causes glad or unhappy. Without being too preachy, the present breaks freed from mere COVID-19 relevance. What makes Station Eleven a related watch isn’t what makes it a robust one. What we supply via the pandemic isn’t all we’ll take away. —ZM

The Leftovers

Photo: Van Redin/HBO

The present kicks off a number of years after 2% of the inhabitants has vanished. Not a fiery rapture, nor an enormous robotic plucking a number of individuals off the face of the planet earlier than life goes on. No — that is extra like a quiet lacking, the type of act that’s confounding only for how sudden it’s, and all of the extra so when the world retains spinning. Such trauma is complete disorientation for everybody in The Leftovers, whether or not they prefer it or not. The world has been rocked, and as some attempt to maintain on to their outdated lifestyle, others need to get as distant from it as they will.

And so The Leftovers (and everybody in it) spins out from there. Like a lot of contemporary media, The Leftovers is “about” “grief.” But because it kaleidoscopes out and picks out one character or one other to focus an episode round, it tells a narrative rather more heady and richer than so many different tales of grief and coping. And because it goes on, The Leftovers grows extra daring, extra mysterious, till reaching its closing chapter, an all-timer of a finale. Each of those chapters and characters is its personal fault line, however in The Leftovers, you by no means know when issues will come tumbling down. —ZM

Adventure Time

Image: Cartoon Network

I’ve lately rewatched Adventure Time for the second time, and I’m glad to report it nonetheless holds up whilst you proceed to age out of its goal demographic.

The tales of Jake the Dog, Finn the Human, and the remainder of their colourful buddies and foes deftly transfer between foolish humor and intense drama in methods few different shows have. While ostensibly a youngsters’s present, Adventure Time isn’t valuable with its viewers: It isn’t afraid to delve into critical subjects (the finale stays a outstanding feat, utilizing the top of a long-running present as an allegory for grief), inform complicated tales and jokes, or throw in a number of actual scares.

That’s all packed right into a story with an enormous scope, informed in bite-size episodes as hilarious as they’re shifting. And the present seems good whereas it’s doing it, persistently pushing itself and the medium to discover new methods to specific itself. That’s how Adventure Time may be a superb present for youngsters that additionally gained a devoted fandom of adults: It’s simply That Good.

When you’re executed with Adventure Time, the post-finale specials Distant Lands and the brand new spinoff Fionna and Cake are additionally on Max and price your time. —PV