(Photo by HBO Max)
Updated March 17, 2023
Debate over TV’s best shows will rage eternal, but what we’ve found here at Rotten Tomatoes is that not every season of those “best” series are created equal.
Some of the best series of all time ran long enough to see their season scores land all over the map, so we decided to collect the best of the best and rounded up the seasons with perfect 100% Tomatometer scores. They are listed below alphabetically by TV title.
Some you know: The third and fourth seasons of AMC’s Breaking Bad — “I am the one who knocks” — starring Bryan Cranston as one of TV’s iconic male antiheroes, Walter White. See also on this list: Mad Men’s Don Draper and Sons of Anarchy’s Jax Teller.
Others may be less familiar because they’re on premium cable or a streaming service that’s not as well known or they’re an international title like Back on AMC+ or Showtime’s Back To Life (no, the latter is not a sequel to the former).
Some shows appear multiple times on the list: two Big Mouth and Counterpart seasons are on the list; Amazon Prime Video’s Catastrophe and FX’s Justified scored three spots each; and Broad City has the most with four of its five seasons on our shortlist. Other recent series with multiple seasons in the 100% club: The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, One Day at a Time, Veep, Fleabag, Jane the Virgin, and Feel Good.
Only Murders in the Building season 1 has the most reviews on its perfect 100% score. The collective opinions of 106 critics puts it ahead of all other 100% seasons — the more critics’ opinions weighed, the more valuable that perfect score is. The next highest is Fleabag season 2 with 99, Yellowjackets season 1 and Hacks season 1 with 74 each, then Master of None season 1 and Insecure season 1 with 66 each.
Lastly, while several 100% seasons might have enough reviews to be included on this list (for example, season 4 of sci-fi fan-favorite The Expanse and season 5 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), they don’t meet all of the Certified Fresh eligibility requirements — yet. We’ll keep watching them.
Just Added: Happy Valley (season 3), Derry Girls (season 3), Harley Quinn (season 3)
Which is your favorite 100% Certified Fresh season of TV? Let us know in the comments.
100%
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything: Season 1
(2021)
100%
24: Day 5
(2006)
100%
Acapulco: Season 1
(2021)
100%
American Crime: Season 3
(2017)
100%
The Americans: Season 3
(2015)
100%
America to Me: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Arrested Development: Season 1
(2003)
100%
Babylon Berlin: Season 1
(2017)
100%
The Baby-Sitters Club: Season 1
(2020)
100%
Back: Season 1
(2017)
100%
Back to Life: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Bad Sisters: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Barry: Season 2
(2019)
100%
Bates Motel: Season 5
(2017)
100%
Battlestar Galactica: Season 3
(2006)
100%
The Bear: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Better Things: Season 3
(2019)
100%
Better Things: Season 4
(2020)
100%
Better Things: Season 5
(2022)
100%
Big Mouth: Season 1
(2017)
100%
Big Mouth: Season 2
(2018)
100%
A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Blindspotting: Season 1
(2021)
100%
BoJack Horseman: Season 2
(2015)
100%
BoJack Horseman: Season 3
(2016)
100%
The Bold Type: Season 2
(2018)
100%
Breaking Bad: Season 3
(2010)
100%
Breaking Bad: Season 4
(2011)
100%
Broad City: Season 2
(2015)
100%
Broad City: Season 3
(2016)
100%
Broad City: Season 4
(2017)
100%
Broad City: Season 5
(2019)
100%
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 6
(2019)
100%
Bunheads: Season 1
(2012)
100%
Catastrophe: Season 1
(2015)
100%
Catastrophe: Season 2
(2015)
100%
Catastrophe: Season 3
(2017)
100%
The Chicago Code: Season 1
(2011)
100%
Chuck: Season 5
(2011)
100%
Cobra Kai: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Counterpart: Season 1
(2017)
100%
Counterpart: Season 2
(2018)
100%
Cowboy Bebop: Season 1
(1998)
100%
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 2
(2016)
100%
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Season 4
(2018)
100%
Dark: Season 2
(2019)
100%
Dark Winds: Season 1
(2022)
100%
David Makes Man: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Dear White People: Season 2
(2018)
100%
The Defiant Ones: Miniseries
(2017)
100%
Derry Girls: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Derry Girls: Season 3
(2022)
100%
Dickinson: Season 2
(2021)
100%
Dickinson: Season 3
(2021)
100%
Documentary Now!: Season 3
(2019)
100%
Downton Abbey: Season 2
(2011)
100%
The Expanse: Season 3
(2018)
100%
The Expanse: Season 5
(2020)
100%
Fargo: Season 2
(2015)
100%
Feel Good: Season 1
(2020)
100%
Feel Good: Season 2
(2021)
100%
Fleabag: Season 1
(2016)
100%
Fleabag: Season 2
(2019)
100%
For All Mankind: Season 2
(2021)
100%
Freaks and Geeks: Season 1
(1999)
100%
Friday Night Lights: Season 4
(2009)
100%
Friday Night Lights: Season 5
(2010)
100%
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee: Season 1
(2016)
100%
Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Giri/Haji: Season 1
(2019)
100%
The Good Place: Season 2
(2017)
100%
The Good Place: Season 4
(2019)
100%
The Good Wife: Season 5
(2013)
100%
The Great: Season 2
(2021)
100%
Hacks: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Hacks: Season 2
(2022)
100%
Halt and Catch Fire: Season 4
(2017)
100%
Happy Valley: Season 2
(2016)
100%
Happy Valley: Season 3
(2023)
100%
Harley Quinn: Season 2
(2020)
100%
Harley Quinn: Season 3
(2022)
100%
Heartstopper: Season 1
(2022)
100%
High Maintenance: Season 2
(2018)
100%
High School: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Homeland: Season 1
(2011)
100%
I, Claudius: Miniseries
(1976)
100%
I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson: Season 2
(2021)
100%
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9
(2013)
100%
Insecure: Season 1
(2016)
100%
Insecure: Season 5
(2021)
100%
Jane The Virgin: Season 1
(2014)
100%
Jane The Virgin: Season 4
(2017)
100%
Jane The Virgin: Season 5
(2019)
100%
Justified: Season 2
(2011)
100%
Justified: Season 4
(2013)
100%
Justified: Season 6
(2015)
100%
The Kids in the Hall: Season 1
(2022)
100%
The Lady and the Dale: Miniseries
(2021)
100%
The Larry Sanders Show: Season 1
(1992)
100%
The Legend of Vox Machina: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Los Espookys: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Louie: Season 3
(2012)
100%
LuLaRich: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Mad Men: Season 2
(2008)
100%
Making It: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Malcolm in the Middle: Season 1
(2000)
100%
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 3
(2015)
100%
Master of None: Season 1
(2015)
100%
Master of None: Season 2
(2017)
100%
Mo: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Modern Family: Season 1
(2009)
100%
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return: Season 1
(2017)
100%
Mythic Quest: Season 2
(2021)
100%
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Season 1
100%
One Day at a Time: Season 2
(2018)
100%
One Day at a Time: Season 3
(2019)
100%
One Day at a Time: Season 4
(2020)
100%
Only Murders in the Building: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Painting With John: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Parks and Recreation: A Parks and Recreation Special
(2020)
100%
Peaky Blinders: Season 6
(2022)
100%
PEN15: Season 2
(2020)
100%
Penny Dreadful: Season 2
(2015)
100%
Planet Earth II: Miniseries
(2016)
100%
Pose: Season 3
(2021)
100%
Prehistoric Planet: Miniseries
(2022)
100%
Prime Suspect: Season 7
(2006)
100%
Pushing Daisies: Season 2
(2008)
100%
P-Valley: Season 1
(2020)
100%
Random Acts of Flyness: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Rap Sh!t: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Reaper: Season 1
(2007)
100%
Rectify: Season 3
(2015)
100%
Rectify: Season 4
(2016)
100%
Rebound: Season 1
(2012)
100%
Reservation Dogs: Season 2
(2022)
100%
The Responder: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Samurai Jack: Season 5
(2017)
100%
Schitt’s Creek: Season 6
(2020)
100%
Search Party: Season 1
(2016)
100%
The Serpent Queen: Season 1
(2022)
100%
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Sherman’s Showcase: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Sherwood: Season 1
(2022)
100%
Silicon Valley: Season 3
(2016)
100%
Sons of Anarchy: Season 4
(2011)
100%
South Side: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Starstruck: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Sweet/Vicious: Season 1
(2016)
100%
Time: Season 1
(2021)
100%
Transparent: Season 3
(2016)
100%
Treme: Season 2
(2011)
100%
Tuca & Bertie: Season 2
(2021)
100%
The Twilight Zone: Season 1
(1959)
100%
Ugly Delicious: Season 1
(2018)
100%
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 2
(2016)
100%
Veep: Season 3
(2014)
100%
Veep: Season 4
(2015)
100%
Vida: Season 1
(2018)
100%
The Virtues: Miniseries
(2019)
100%
We Are Lady Parts: Season 1
(2021)
100%
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3
(2021)
100%
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 4
(2022)
100%
The Wire: Season 3
(2004)
100%
The Wire: Season 4
(2006)
100%
Work in Progress: Season 1
(2019)
100%
Yellowjackets: Season 1
(2021)
100%
You’re the Worst: Season 3
(2016)
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