From left: 'Mussolini: Son of the Century,' 'The Studio,' 'Common Side Effects,' 'Andor,' 'Such Brave Girls' and 'The Pitt.' Daniel Fienberg's Top 10 It is, I'm sure, a complete coincidence that the two shows that hit me hardest in 2025 were very different dramas cautioning viewers about fascism, each delving into the rise of banal evil - but only one offering a template for how to plant the seeds of revolution. It turns out that our contemporary lives have a lot in common with life a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (or 100 years ago in Europe). For the first time since critics and television executives began discussing "Peak TV," there were stretches of 2025 during which it was possible to feel the impact of a global pandemic, multiple extended industry strikes and the looming specter of unprecedented media consolidation. There was never too little television, but sometimes the search for greatness took us to offbeat outlets like Mubi or settings like the North Pole. Some of the creators behind my favorite shows of the year arrived fresh off acclaimed classics, but there was room for new voices as well. Greatness could be found in tried-and-true genres like the biopic or the medical procedural, but also in reality-comedy hybrids or animated shows that messed with our ideas of linearity and reality. My list contains shows that will tie you up in knots, reminding you of the uncertain state of the world at large, but also shows offering a bit of escapism or warmth. Here's just some of the good stuff from the small-screen year that was. 1. Mussolini: Son of the Century (Mubi) Image Credit: Andrea-Pirrello Some years I might look for a more polished, conventionally satisfying top choice, but unsubtle times call for unsubtle art, and Stefano Bises and Davide Serino's chronicle of the rise of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is an audacious and orgiastic warning about the mechanics of encroaching fascism. Joe Wright directs the eight-part series, borrowing aesthetic devices from opera, German Expressionism and the primordial ooze of early cinema, and fusing it all into a cacophonous piece of horror propaganda, elevated by Seamus McGarvey's breathtaking cinematography and a uniquely unnerving soundtrack from Chemical Brothers veteran Tom Rowlands. Towering over the whole thing is Luca Marinelli's terrifying, animalistic performance in the title role, perfectly pitched for a series that was probably the year's best and definitely its MOST show. 2. Andor (Disney+) Image Credit: Disney+ Poor Andor has to be satisfied with being only the year's second-best warning about the mechanics of encroaching fascism, though it's hard to equal creator Tony Gilroy's audacity in using Disney's Star Wars universe to deliver something this smart, this angry and this thrilling. Gilroy's great gift in the 12-episode sophomore season - split into four three-episode arcs - is providing both the epic excitement the franchise demands and a prism through which to view the rise of Trump 2.0, the quagmire in Gaza and any future conflict pitting authoritarian governance against civilian unrest. Andor is now the standard by which the aspirations of all future Star Wars projects must be judged. 3. Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977-2015 (PBS) Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO The mechanics of encroaching fascism are only in the background of the essential third installment of this essential Civil Rights Movement history, which HBO effectively buried in February. In the six-episode docuseries, a sextet of directors look past the uproar of the '50s and '60s at more recent struggles including community activism in the South Bronx, the fight for affirmative action and the organization of the Million Man March. Each chapter is a reminder that progress isn't always linear, with every hard-earned gain contextualized by the audience's awareness of the steps taken by the Trump administration to undo the good work. 4. The Rehearsal (HBO) Image Credit: John P. Johnson/HBO Underestimate Nathan Fielder at your own peril. The first season of The Rehearsal was already a dazzling fusion of comedy, reality TV and autobiography, but the second season took and landed a precarious leap. Fielder started with a jokey (if timely) premise about fixing communication between airline pilots and co-pilots and somehow leveraged it in directions as serious as sit-down meetings with actual DC politicians and as surreal and silly as a recreation of Sully Sullenberger's life, as impersonal as an ambitious fake singing competition and as heartbreakingly personal as the attempts to diagnose his possible autism. 5. Long Story Short (Netflix) Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix It isn't surprising that Raphael Bob-Waksberg's first solo creation post-BoJack never felt as buzzy as his exploration of Hollywood and depression. Built on a foundation of family and Judaism, Long Story Short is elliptical and evasive, playing with memory and time to illu