6 Apple TV Shows With No Weak Episodes

Image via Apple TV Published Aug 21, 2026, 3:08 PM EDT Sign in to your Collider account Apple TV only launched in November 2019, but in just a few years, it has already built a catalog filled with shows that feel destined to become modern classics. That’s because the streamer, unlike many other big players in the game, doesn’t chase whatever genre happens to be popular. Apple TV has consistently backed unconventional ideas, experimental storytelling, and shows that sometimes seem a bit too niche to attract a massive audience. Ironically, that is exactly what makes the platform stand out. The shows produced by the streamer take risks with structure, pacing, genre, and character arcs. That’s why the platform is home to some of the most distinctive stories of the streaming era, and what better proof of that than these Apple TV series that have never had a weak episode? 6 'Pachinko' (2022–2024) Image via Apple TV+ Calling Pachinko beautiful is an understatement. The series, based on Min Jin Lee’s novel, follows four generations of a Korean family, with Sunja (Minha Kim) at the center of everything. The audience first meets her as a young girl growing up in Korea under Japanese occupation before following teenage Sunja as she falls in love with wealthy fish broker Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho). Things come crashing down when she discovers that Hansu is already married after getting pregnant with his child. Sunja refuses to become his mistress, eventually marries kindhearted minister Isak (Steve Sanghyun Noh), and leaves Korea for Osaka. The new life she begins there is defined by poverty, war, and the constant need to keep her family alive. Decades later, an elderly Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) is living in Japan while her grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) is trying to build his career in 1989. The show moves between these generations rather than telling the story chronologically, which is a major departure from the novel. However, that structure is one of the best things about Pachinko. This way, the viewers get to see how one generation’s sacrifices shaped the next. The story stretches across Korea, Japan, and America and unfolds against the backdrop of major, world-changing events. However, Pachinko never loses its sense of intimacy because it focuses on how history is experienced through ordinary, everyday moments. This emotional core is why the show doesn’t have a single weak episode across its two seasons. 5 'Shrinking' (2023–Present) Image via Apple TV Shrinking examines the profession of therapy from a completely unexpected lens. The series follows therapist Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), who is struggling to raise his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) after the death of his wife. In the midst of all this grief, he suddenly decides to start telling his patients exactly what he thinks. He begins interfering directly in their lives, even when doing so goes against practically every rule of his profession. His colleagues Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Paul (Harrison Ford) are understandably concerned, but they are also dealing with problems of their own, which proves that at the end of the day, even therapists are sometimes just as emotionally messy as the patients they are supposed to be helping. Shrinking is hilarious when it has to be, but the story is rooted in Jimmy’s trauma, which gives it depth. His damaged relationship with Alice ends up becoming one of the most compelling, real parts of the story. In fact, some of Shrinking’s best moments come from awkward conversations and bad decisions, because ultimately, that’s what life is. In doing so, the series shows that people rarely heal in a straight line, and watching its characters stumble forward together is what makes even its less happening episodes worth watching. 4 'Slow Horses' (2022–Present) Image via Apple TV+ Slow Horses takes everything glamorous about the spy genre and throws it all away, which is why the show is so much fun. The series follows a group of disgraced MI5 agents who have been dumped at Slough House after making career-ending mistakes. River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), an ambitious young agent, lands there and meets his new boss, the brilliant but rude Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who is more interested in drinking and smoking than anything else. The rest of the office is filled with similarly troubled agents, including Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar), hacker Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), and Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), who lives with alcoholism. For some reason, though, these MI5 rejects keep finding themselves in the middle of very real national security crises. The setup could have gotten boring really fast, but Slow Horses constructs its episodes around high-stakes storylines including kidnappings, Russian agents, and political conspiracies that no one else seems to be able to pick up on. Slow Horses doesn’t suddenly transform this team of agents into heroes, but when they work together, they are surprisingly effective. Things can change at any given time in the show, and this unpredictability gives the action real stakes. The constant infighting between Lamb, River, and MI5 deputy director Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) makes even the more conversational scenes just as exciting. Slow Horses keeps things moving and maintains its momentum across its seasons, with each episode of the spy series being a masterpiece. Who knew a show about absolute failures could be so entertaining, right? Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 3 'Ted Lasso' (2020–Present) Image via Apple TV Ted Lasso is relentlessly optimistic, and that’s what makes the show special. The series follows American football coach Ted (Jason Sudeikis), who finds himself leading a struggling English soccer team, which makes for a perfectly comedic setup. However, the show uses that to tell a much deeper, more meaningful story. The catch is that owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), who received the club in her divorce, secretly wants him to fail because she thinks destroying her ex-husband’s beloved team will hurt him. Ted has absolutely no idea of this and gradually starts winning over the people around him, including assistant coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), veteran captain Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), and arrogant young star Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster). The football aspect gives Ted Lasso a natural season-long goal, but the show becomes much more interesting once the audience is invested in these characters and their messy lives. Ted might be the picture of positivity every morning, but even he is dealing with a collapsing marriage and panic attacks, which keeps him from feeling one-dimensional. The show strikes the perfect balance between comedy and genuinely sentimental moments that make room for a lot of character growth. Ted Lasso works because almost every episode feels deeply human. The problems are often ordinary, but the story's point is to show that life isn’t always as easy as it seems. That’s why the series has proven to be such a success. 2 'Silo' (2023–Present) Image via Apple TV Silo is an Apple TV series set in a dystopian future where thousands of people live underground after being taught that the world above is toxic and uninhabitable. The residents follow a strict set of rules, and anyone who asks to leave is permanently sent outside. The story centers on engineer Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), who begins investigating a series of mysterious deaths and quickly realizes that the people running things might be hiding far more than anyone realizes. Her search for answers leads her through different levels of the silo everyone inhabits, where she uncovers secrets about its history, forbidden objects from the past, and just how carefully information is controlled. The great thing about Silo is that it keeps expanding its central mystery without making the audience feel like they are being dragged along. Every masterful episode of the Apple TV show reveals something major about how this society works, and Juliette is the perfect person to lead the viewers through this investigation. There’s no denying that the world-building in the show is dense, but Silo distributes that information throughout the story. That constant sense of discovery is what keeps the series moving and practically forces the audience to keep wanting more. 1 'Severance' (2022–Present) Image via Apple TV Severance has one of the strangest premises on Apple TV, but the show fully commits to it. The series follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott), an employee at Lumon Industries who has undergone a procedure known as severance that surgically divides his memories between work and home. His “innie” knows nothing about his personal life, while his “outtie” has no idea what happens inside Lumon. The arrangement initially appears to be the perfect answer to the big question of work-life balance. However, the audience’s perception begins to change when new employee Helly R. (Britt Lower) arrives and immediately starts questioning everything that the other Lumon employees have become completely indifferent to. With each episode, Severance reveals another piece of the puzzle to show that the company is hiding something much bigger than one might think. Mark spends his days sorting mysterious numbers without even understanding what they mean, and this is the perfect mystery to hook the audience in. Lumon’s empty hallways, strange employee rewards, and an almost religious devotion to the founder all contribute to this growing sense of unease. Severance has perfected the art of pacing and carefully controls its information until the right moment. Every episode deepens the show’s mythology and provides just enough answers to keep the viewers wanting more. Severance Release Date February 17, 2022 Network Apple TV Showrunner Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman