I try not to be too obsessed with TV.
After all, there is so much more to life than what happens on the little (or big) screen in your living room.
That said, three terrific shows had me in an absolute chokehold this year – and if you haven’t watched them yet, you are in for a treat.
I’m not saying these are necessarily the best television shows of 2025, just that these three in particular had me obsessing and fangirling the hardest. There were other excellent shows, but these were the three with which I had the strongest emotional connection.
All three of these shows had me wishing hard for all episodes to be released at once so I could binge to my heart’s content.
And then, once I had watched all of the available episodes, each of these shows made me wish that I could go back in time and watch them again for the first time. They have all been re-watched multiple times. They are THAT good.
In no particular order, they are:
1. The Summer I Turned Pretty – I’ve written before about this beloved show, which brought us its third and final season in the summer of 2025. Steeped in summer romance, love triangles, coming of age, family and the people, places and seasons that fill us with yearning and longing all our lives, TSITP is pure summer magic wrapped in an incredible Taylor Swift-infused soundtrack. This last season was so good it was just too hard to say goodbye, which is why author and show creator Jenny Han immediately announced there will be a feature film follow-up with the entire cast sometime in the next year or two.
2. Stranger Things – Another long-running show that I have written about before, Stranger Things has delighted viewers for nearly ten years, ending in 2025 with its fifth, final and some would argue best season. It began as an 80s homage scifi mystery adventure show about kids, and ended as a true horror story as the cast and their audience grew into young adults. This show has an epic soundtrack yanked right from my middle, high school and college days. I will miss Stranger Things and imagine there will be many rewatches in my own and my daughter’s future. It’s been a joy watching it together as she grew up from middle school to HS herself!
3. Heated Rivalry – I had not read Rachel Reid’s wonderful, steamy gay hockey romance before watching the show on HBO, but the second I finished the available episodes, I bought her novel and downloaded it to my Kindle. I fell head over heels in love with young hockey stars Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov and their secret, torrid affair. Talk about an amazing first season of a show – but hopefully there will be many more, since Reid has written six in her Game Changers series so far. The sex scenes in this show get talked about a lot, because they are groundbreaking and the chemistry between the talented lead actors is off the charts. But even if you come for the smut, you’ll stay for the sweet, sweet love – Shane and Ilya’s story is irresistible!
There you have it: two romances and one action show for your viewing pleasure. I enjoyed other TV shows this year too, but these three had my heart in the tightest squeeze.
What have you been watching lately?
