HBO has brought us some of the greatest TV shows of all time — like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Wire," and "Game of Thrones" — throughout its history of original programming, which started in the early '80s.
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Every HBO show ranked from worst to best, according to critics
We ranked every HBO show according to their ratings on the review aggregator Metacritic.
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But which HBO shows are the best?
We ranked its shows according to their ratings on Metacritic, which aggregates critic reviews and assigns each season of a show a score.
For shows with multiple seasons, we averaged their scores. And to break ties, we brought in the audience score.
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The list is competitive. But like any other television network, HBO has released some stinkers in its lifetime.
Does your favorite HBO show top the list?
Here's how HBO's shows rank, from worst to best, according to critics on Metacritic.
(Note: We left off animated, children's, documentary/reality, and foreign programming, as well as miniseries, with a few notable exceptions.)
72. "Ja'mie: Private School Girl" (2013), one season
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Metacritic score: 40
"It's a painfully obvious shtick, so camp and arch it's impossible to enjoy the joke." — TV Guide
71. "Real Time with Bill Maher" (2003-present), 15 seasons
"Why would HBO, cable's most innovative network ... think it's a good idea to let Bill Maher bring the skeleton of his canceled ABC show, 'Politically Incorrect,' and stuff it into the tattered corpse of 'Dennis Miller Live'?" — Entertainment Weekly
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70. "Lucky Louie" (2006), one season
Metacritic score: 47
"A show so vile, it makes you think the company's arrogant It's Not TV — It's HBO slogan isn't a brag — it's a threat." — USA Today
69. "Angry Boys" (2011), one season
Metacritic score: 50
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Audience Score: 7.3
It "leaves only the flashes of comedic brilliance, and even they don't light up the sky very often." — The Wall Street Journal
68. "John from Cincinnati" (2007), one season
Metacritic score: 50
Audience Score: 7.4
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"Watching HBO's surfing drama 'John From Cincinnati' is like sitting through a bad play at a tiny experimental theater. ... In short, if Gary Busey were a TV series, he would be 'John From Cincinnati.'" — The Boston Globe
67. "Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons" (2016), one season
Metacritic score: 51
"His interview style is an effective one — opinionated without being overbearing, with just enough smugness to give some of his questions a provocative edge." — Yahoo
66. "The Brink" (2015), one season
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Metacritic score: 52
Audience Score: 7.6
"The show operates at a tone of constant hysteria, which, as justified as that may be, begins to feel exhausting." — Variety
65. "Sex and the City" (1998-2004), six seasons
Metacritic score: 52
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Audience Score: 8.0
"" — People
64. "Tell Me You Love Me" (2007), one season
Metacritic score: 58
Audience Score: 6.0
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"Unfortunately, it is difficult to stay interested in what happens to any of these characters because most of them are so absurdly unlikable." — Los Angeles Times
63. "Hello Ladies" (2013), one season
Metacritic score: 58
Audience Score: 7.4
"We've seen this show before, in fresher settings, with stronger comic structure — from, in fact, the same creators: [Stephen] Merchant and American 'Office' writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky." — Newsday
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62. "How to Make It in America" (2010-11), two seasons
Metacritic score: 59
"As a portrait of struggling Manhattanites, 'How to Make It' effectively homes in on that hope-filled effervescence historically associated with the idealized American dream." — Slant Magazine
61. "Ballers" (2015-16), three seasons
Average Metacritic score: 59.3
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"[Dwayne] Johnson himself is the best part of 'Ballers,' a charismatic, mostly responsive force that is our window to the precarious world of retirement from football. His perspective on the life of the partying ball player is one of nostalgia. But in the absence of forward momentum, the camera turns to looking for shock value anywhere it can." — Salon
60. "Unscripted" (2005), one season
Metacritic score: 60
Audience Score: N/A
"A faux documentary on actors who are not famous but who are struggling to be isn't inherently interesting to non-actors ... 'Unscripted' isn't a complete flop. It's just rare that HBO fails like this." — The San Francisco Chronicle
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59. "Divorce" (2016-present) one season
Metacritic score: 60
Audience Score: 5.2
"The laugh-out-loud viciousness of the opening, which involves both a gun and vomit, is clearly the work of series creator Sharon Horgan, who also co-writes and stars in Amazon's brilliant 'Catastrophe.' But 'Divorce' isn't always as biting as it is in those moments, leading to a solidly acted but somewhat mundane exploration of a breakup." — The AV Club
58. "Carnivale" (2003-05), two seasons
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"A bloated mess ... 'Carnivale' is a little too full of itself. Believing that it has a fascinating story to tell with all the complex themes you could imagine, the series nevertheless fails the first test of television: Move forward." — SFGate
57. "The Newsroom" (2012-14), three seasons
Average Metacritic score: 61.7
"The series is kind of a mess ... but one you can't really look away from." — SFGate
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56. "Doll & Em" (2014-15, two seasons)
Metacritic score: 63
Audience Score: 4.9
"Despite its refreshing commitment to realism, 'Doll & Em' is ultimately too relaxed and meandering for its own good. There are times when you may wish it had embraced the occasional cliches with more gusto." — Vulture
55. "Da Ali G Show" (2003-04), two seasons
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Audience Score: 7.7
"It's a nice gimmick, actually. Too bad the results seem so childishly undeveloped." — SFGate
54. "Life's Too Short" (2011 and 2013), one season
Metacritic score: 64
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Audience Score: 7.2
"Measured against the yardstick of their own lofty standards, the show comes up a little short." — Variety
53. "Bored to Death" (2009-11), three seasons
Metacritic score: 64
Audience Score: 7.3
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"'Bored' sometimes lags and drags, as if it took a few tokes, too. But when it's funny — and 'Bored' certainly can be — it's a winner." — Newsday
52. "The Comeback" (2005 and 2014), two seasons
Average Metacritic score: 64.5
"It would all be terribly sad it if it weren't so incredibly funny." — TV Guide Magazine
51. "Hung" (2009-11), three seasons
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Average Metacritic score: 65.5
"I feel that there's a really good dark comedy about the decline of the American dream struggling to emerge from the often-forced plots." — Time
50. "Entourage" (2004-11), eight seasons
Average Metacritic score: 66.8
"The show is vulgar, adolescent, and sexist — and seems proud of it." — The Baltimore Sun
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49. "Vice" (2013-17), five seasons
Metacritic score: 67
Audience Score: 6.5
"'Vice' tries to go where other news, documentary, and magazine shows do not. That's okay, though it does at times overstate its pioneering prowess." — New York Daily News
48. "Summer Heights High" (2007), one season
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Metacritic score: 67
Audience Score: 8.7
"A funny/sad 'Office'-style mockumentary depicting a year in the life of an Australian public high school, this wildly talented writer-star loves making you squirm (à la [Ricky] Gervais) while submerging himself inside the skin of characters so diverse (à la [Tracey] Ullman) you can hardly believe it's the same guy." — TV Guide
47. "Vice Principals" (2016-2017), two seasons
Metacritic score: 67.5
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"" — Entertainment Weekly
46. "True Blood" (2008-14), seven seasons
Audience Score: 7.0
"It's creepy, steamy and funny at times, and it's also a muddle, a comic murder mystery that is a little too enthralled with its own exoticism." — The New York Times
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45. "The Young Pope" (2017), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 68
Audience Score: 7.4
"'The Young Pope' is TV's equivalent of a dorm-room poster of Bob Marley blowing smoke or the Lenny Bruce mugshot: a depleted symbol of a radical reaction to society that finally most clearly represents the status quo." — Collider
44. "Rome" (2005-07), two seasons
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Average Metacritic score: 69.5
"'Rome' is most entertaining when it laces its wild, ancient antics with winks of the pedestrian." — Entertainment Weekly
43. "Oz" (1997-2003), six seasons
Metacritic score: 70
"'" — LA Times
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42. "Vinyl" (2016), one season
Metacritic score: 71
"'Vinyl' will leave you dancing to the music, but may leave you wondering why you should care." — New York Post
41. "Crashing" (2017), one season
Metacritic score: 73
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"There is a lot of talk — practical and philosophical — about comedy, and 'Crashing' is very good with the details of low-level nightlife. But what most makes the show entertaining are Pete's episodic adventures with characters who will help form him, challenge him and wake him from his self-satisfied sleep into a better sort of happiness." — LA Times
40. "Aril$$" (1996-2002), seven seasons
Metacritic score: 74
"A pallid imitation of 'The Larry Sanders Show,' the series works best when its real-life guests are funny." — People
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39. "Family Tree" (2013), one season
Metacritic score: 74
Audience Score: 7.2
"A quirky and hilarious gem." — The Hollywood Reporter
38. "Six Feet Under" (2001-05), five seasons
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Metacritic score: 74
"This challenging show offers the viewer nary a morsel of TV comfort food. But uncommonly good writing and acting are satisfying too." — People
37. "True Detective" (2014-15), two seasons
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Audience score: 7.8
"It's an okay cop drama, to be sure, but it's definitely a cop drama you have seen many, many times before." — Vox
36. "Flight of the Conchords" (2007-09), two seasons
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"There are no big sociopolitical statements here, no guerilla-style confrontations, no scenes of squirmy awkwardness, no multilayered pop culture references. It's just a very smart, very funny show." — Entertainment Weekly
35. "Westworld" (2016-present), one season
Metacritic score: 74
Audience score: 8.8
"It's the kind of trippy conceptual project that would be unbearable if it weren't so elegantly made. So far, it works, mostly — not because it's perfect but because it gets under your skin." — The New Yorker
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34. "Big Love" (2006-11), five seasons
Audience score: 6.9
"A very original, extremely well-acted and complexly written drama." — SFGate
33. "Togetherness" (2015-16), two seasons
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Audience score: 7.4
"It's a slower-paced, smaller-scale show about the sad reality of sticking it out in Hollywood into middle age. It also veers into weirder territory that would feel impossible outside California. But thanks to the chemistry between [Amanda] Peet and [Steve] Zissis, it's endlessly engrossing." — Entertainment Weekly
32. "Luck" (2011-12), one season
Metacritic score: 75
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Audience score: 7.5
"The parts that do work possess the doom-laden yet strangely optimistic romanticism of [David] Milch's best work." — The Huffington Post
31. "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" (2014-present), four seasons
Metacritic score: 76
Audience score: 8.0
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"Oliver is terrific at mining humor from the most popular topics of the day, that is, the idiocy of the media and politicians. He's funny when he's knocking our intelligence." — The Denver Post
30. "Big Little Lies" (2017), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 75
Audience score: 8.0
"Just when you worry the show is a pageant of ugly cliches about female rivalry, it gives you a poignant, nuanced scene to deepen the whole." — Entertainment Weekly
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29. "Looking" (2014-15), two seasons
Audience score: 8.0
"'Looking' doesn't make the mistake of arguing that gay men are just like straight women, or straight men, or gay women, or even each other. Instead it tells the story of three guys who are friends in a strangely wonderful and difficult time and what that looks like. To them." — LA Times
28. "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" (2014), one-season docuseries
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Metacritic score: 76
Audience score: 8.3
"'The Jinx' is wickedly entertaining: funny, morbid, and sad, at once exploitative and high-minded, a moral lasagna of questionable aesthetic choices (including reconstructions of ghastly events) and riveting interviews (of Durst, but also of other eccentrics, like his chain-smoking-hot second wife)." — The New Yorker
27. "John Adams" (2008), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 78
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"Both the book and the miniseries sketch admirably human portraits of historical figures such as Adams, Jefferson and Franklin." — Chicago Tribune
26. "Eastbound & Down" (2009-13), four seasons
Average Metacritic score: 78.3
"'Eastbound & Down' holds together so well that it's worth looking past the ugly for the solid performances and the charcoal-black humor beneath." — The New Yorker
25. "Girls" (2012-17), six seasons
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"It definitely has a voice, and it's a great one: witty and wise and warm and not exactly like anything you've heard before." — Uproxx
24. "In Treatment" (2008-10), three seasons
Average Metacritic score: 79.3
"" — Chicago Sun-Times
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23. "Dream On" (1990-96), six seasons
Metacritic score: 80
"This is a rare TV union where cast, writers, and directors appear to be of a single comedic mind; the humorous results speak for themselves." — LA Times
22. "High Maintenance" (2016), one season
Metacritic score: 81
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Audience score: 6.2
"'High Maintenance' stands out, not just because it's on the front end of what is apparently a reefer TV trend, but because it's so precisely made and has such an ambling, open heart." — Vulture
21. "Getting On" (2013-15), three seasons
Audience score: 7.8
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"It's a dark and astonishing gem of a show, with a bravely skillful cast juggling the petty obsessions of the workplace with Much Bigger Issues." — LA Times
20. "The Leftovers" (2014-17), three seasons
Audience score: 8.3
19. "Boardwalk Empire" (2010-14), five seasons
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Average Metacritic score: 81.2
"Like a good whiskey, it's rough and smooth in all the right ways. By a few episodes in, you'll want to order it by the case." — Time
18. "Veep" (2012-present), six seasons
Average Metacritic score: 83.1
"The series reserves its most blistering humor for the universal narcissism on display, always distracting from the real work at hand." — Slant Magazine
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17. "Treme" (2010-13), four seasons
Average Metacritic score: 82.3
"From scene to scene, 'Treme' is novelistic in the best sense — a long, complex, involving story that takes a while to settle into, but that you can't put down and don't want to end." — Salon
16. "Enlightened" (2011-13), two seasons
Average Metacritic score: 84.5
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Audience score: 7.2
"A black comedy working many shades of gray, 'Enlightened' is about dark mornings of the soul and the fool's-golden glow of the new convert, and it measures the weight of the world with an eccentric scale." — Slate
15. "Extras" (2005-07), two seasons
Average Metacritic score: 84.5
Audience score: 8.5
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"The most original and brilliant show on television." — The New Republic
14. "Show Me a Hero" (2015), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 85
"It's like a procedural drama, about the drama of procedure — it isn't ever dry. There are some superbly mounted, loud, crowded big scenes — [David] Simon is a great orchestrator of chaos — but there is an intensity to the quieter, more private moments as well. I wouldn't trade it for a bushel barrel of tortured detectives or all the kings and queens in Westeros." — LA Times
13. "Game of Thrones" (2011-present), seven seasons
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Average Metacritic score: 85.1
"The show beautifully depicts a massive game of musical chairs, a world at war with doom ever present just across the border." — The Boston Globe
12. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000-present), nine seasons
Average Metacritic score: 85.4
"An insanely funny romp thanks to its unique storytelling technique and an inspired performance by the star." — Chicago Tribune
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11. "Mr. Show with Bob and David" (1995-99), four seasons
Metacritic score: 86
Audience score: N/A
"Manages to be outrageous and innovative at the same time." — New York Daily News
10. "The Deuce" (2017-present), one season
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Audience score: 7.6
"A dark character drama, it’s a show for viewers who enjoy a deep dive into a culture, one that in this instance, happens to be ugly and exploitative." -Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
9. "The Pacific" (2010), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 86
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Audience score: 7.7
"Certain moments may verge on cliche (and once in a while, the dialogue is a little corny), but overall, 'The Pacific' is crafted and acted with such loving devotion that it's hard to find fault with its sincerity and sentimental forays." — Chicago Tribune
8. "Deadwood" (2004-06), three seasons
Audience score: 9.2
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"To call 'Deadwood' great television doesn't begin to do it justice." — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
7. "Band of Brothers" (2001), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 86
Audience score: 9.3
"It doesn't even look like a TV miniseries — it's more like 10 theatrical films that do an amazing job re-creating battles." — Deseret News
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6. "Silicon Valley" (2014-present), four seasons
Average Metacritic score: 86.3
"Silicon Valley is a comedy, certainly, and a very funny one, but it doesn't spend all its time reminding you of the fact." — LA Times
5. "Insecure" (2016-present), two seasons
Metacritic score: 87
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"It's a smart and often funny look at young people looking for love and professional satisfaction in Los Angeles, which is about as common a genre as TV has to offer these days. But taken in the totality of the TV landscape, Rae's voice is one that wasn't being heard and that voice is what makes 'Insecure' stand out, not necessarily as better than the Emmy winners or critical favorites in the field, but as gratifyingly distinguishable." — The Hollywood Reporter
4. "The Night Of" (2016), one-season miniseries
Metacritic score: 90
"As complicated and layered as life itself, 'The Night Of' is an instant classic." — TV Insider
3. "The Wire" (2002-08), five seasons
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Average Metacritic score: 91.8
"It slowly develops into an engrossing look at the methodical nature of police work and the limits of individualism." — Time
2. "The Sopranos" (1999-2007), six seasons
Average Metacritic score: 94.5
"Combining dark comedy and psychological drama, the show achieves a fresh tone to match its irresistibly winning concept." — The New York Times
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1. "The Larry Sanders Show" (1992-98), six seasons
"Razor-edged satire of late-night talk TV from people with an ear for truth and a taste for blood." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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