The Best TV Shows of 2025, So Far
The first half of 2025 saw the return of strike-delayed hit shows, like 'Severance,' 'The White Lotus' and 'The Last of Us,' that took turns dominating the cultural conversation. But only one of them made our top TV list.
Read on to find out which one and to see which other series, new and old, scripted and nonfiction, impressed our television critics the most (listed alphabetically).
'Andor'
A prequel series to 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' (2016) — and arguably the most acclaimed 'Star Wars' story of any kind since that film — 'Andor' offered one of TV's deepest explorations of the political realities and human costs of rebellion. Its two-season run wrapped up in May.
'Prequels are often where dramatic tension goes to die,' James Poniewozik writes. 'How invested can you be in a story whose outcome you already know? The genius of 'Andor,' created by Tony Gilroy, is to make that knowledge an asset.'
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
13 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Sean 'Diddy' Combs probably won't testify as defense says its case could be less than 2 days
NEW YORK (AP) — The possibility that music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs might testify at his federal sex trafficking trial all but vanished Tuesday after his lawyer predicted a defense presentation lasting as little as two days and a judge said jurors could begin deliberations as early as next week. Attorney Marc Agnifilo offered the hint when Judge Arun Subramanian asked him for an estimate on the length of the defense case, and the attorney said their presentation could last less than two days — but not more than five. If Combs testified, it was likely his testimony would take longer than a week. Testimony by two of his former girlfriends consumed two of the trial's six weeks. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. He has been jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September arrest at a Manhattan hotel. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey said prosecutors would rest as early as Wednesday and no later than Friday morning. The estimates were provided Tuesday after the irate judge scolded prosecutors and defense lawyers, saying information about a closed court proceeding involving a juror last Friday had leaked to a media outlet. The judge said he believed someone who was at the sealed court hearing violated his secrecy order. In the future, Subramanian said, he would hold Comey and Agnifilo responsible for any slipups, and any violations of his orders could result in criminal contempt penalties 'at the most extreme level.' 'This is the only warning I will give,' he said. Meanwhile, prosecutors resumed showing jurors evidence Tuesday of text messages, phone calls, hotel records to support charges that Combs oversaw a racketeering conspiracy that utilized his employees and associates and his stature in the hip-hop industry to help him control and abuse women, including two former girlfriends. Ex-girlfriends Casandra ' Cassie ' Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym ' Jane ' told jurors that Combs used threats and monetary incentives to coerce them into frequent multi-day sex marathons where Combs watched, directed and sometimes filmed them engaging with male sex workers. Defense lawyers say prosecutors were trying to criminalize consenting sex between adults by targeting Combs. Ventura's relationship with Combs lasted from 2007 to 2018 while Jane dated him from 2021 until his arrest last fall.
Wall Street Journal
22 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Why Celebrity Cellular Brands Are Everywhere
What do actor Ryan Reynolds, ESPN, the Trump family and the hosts of the SmartLess podcast have in common? They have all launched their own mobile carriers. Celebrity-backed brands are jumping into the wireless world despite it being a crowded, competitive business. The Trump Organization said Monday it will launch Trump Mobile and plans to offer a U.S.-built smartphone later this summer. President Trump's administration has tangled with mobile carriers over their diversity initiatives and pushed phone makers including Apple to bring manufacturing to the U.S.
Forbes
22 minutes ago
- Forbes
R. Kelly Claims Prison Staff Are Trying To Kill Him—Asks Trump For Pardon
Lawyers representing R. Kelly, the disgraced R&B singer serving decades in prison for racketeering and child sex crimes, have made multiple allegations in recent days that prison staff are attempting to kill him, which prosecutors slammed as 'fanciful' and 'deeply unserious,' as the singer pleads President Donald Trump for a pardon. Singer R. Kelly's lawyers have alleged prison staff have tried to kill him. (Erin Hooley/Chicago ... More Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) R. Kelly's lawyers claimed in a court filing Monday staff at his North Carolina federal prison had given the singer an excessive amount of his medication that caused him to overdose and 'could have killed him,' pleading the court to allow him temporary furlough to home detention. Kelly's lawyers called the alleged overdose a 'plot to take Mr. Kelly's life,' also claiming prison staff ignored blood clots Kelly had complained about in his leg, alleging they refused to let doctors perform surgery on him after they discovered the clots during his hospitalization for the overdose. Kelly alleged earlier this month in a filing requesting temporary furlough that a fellow inmate, Mikeal Glenn Stine, who is a leader of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood group, told the singer prison staff had enlisted him to kill Kelly. Kelly's lawyers alleged prison staff told Stine, who is terminally ill, he would be charged for Kelly's murder and that the evidence would be mishandled so he would not be convicted, but Stine had a change of heart and instead told Kelly about the alleged plot. Beau B. Brindley, Kelly's lawyer, has told multiple media outlets he reached out to President Donald Trump's office to seek a pardon, telling USA TODAY Trump is the 'only person with the courage and the power to fight corruption in the prosecution of public figures and stomp it out.' Prosecutors slammed Kelly's murder plot claims as 'deeply unserious' and 'fanciful,' with assistant U.S. attorney Jason Julien arguing Monday 'no court has the ability to enter an order freeing Kelly's victims from the prison that Kelly put them in' and that allowing inmates to seek release for fear of harm would be a slippery slope. A judge is set to rule on Kelly's motion for temporary furlough at a hearing on Friday, according to court documents. Should Kelly's appeal to Trump for a pardon succeed, he would be the latest in a series of singers and celebrities to be pardoned by the president. Trump most recently pardoned reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley in May, three years after they were convicted for fraud and tax evasion, with Trump arguing they were 'prosecuted because they were celebrities.' Also last month, Trump pardoned rapper NBA YoungBoy, who was previously sentenced to prison on weapons charges. Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black were among Trump's last-minute pardons before leaving his first term in office four years ago. Todd Chrisley walked free from prison in May after Trump pardoned him. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Trump pardoned Lil Wayne in 2021. (Photo by) Other celebrities have appealed to Trump for pardons, including 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic, who was convicted for plotting the murder of Carole Baskin in 2019. Some have speculated whether Trump will pardon Sean 'Diddy' Combs amid his sex trafficking and racketeering trial. Trump, in response to a reporter's question last month, said he would 'look at the facts' and said he hasn't spoken to Combs in years since he entered politics. Kelly, 58, was convicted in New York federal court in 2021 of sex trafficking and racketeering charges as prosecutors alleged he ran a scheme to recruit underage girls for sex, and he was sentenced the following year to three decades in prison. In 2023, Kelly was sentenced by a Chicago court to 20 years in prison, to be served at the same time as his New York sentence, after a jury found him guilty of child sex crimes related to his sexual abuse of his 14-year-old goddaughter. Kelly's convictions followed decades of allegations of sexual abuse, with some alleged incidents involving minors. He was previously acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008, and his allegations received renewed attention in 2019 with the release of the 'Surviving R. Kelly' documentary. R. Kelly's lawyer seeks Trump pardon, claims singer 'fears that he might be killed' (USA TODAY) R. Kelly Is Convicted of All Counts After Decades of Accusations of Abuse (New York Times)
