We’re halfway through 2022, and as far as TV goes, it’s been a pretty good year for new shows so far. One obvious highlight is Netflix’s LGBTQ+ romance Heartstopper. The wholesome teen romance had viewers feeling all the animated butterflies and lightning bolts while watching the friendship between Charlie and Nick blossom into something more, so it’s no surprise that that’s the series leading IMDb’s list of the Top 10 New TV Series So Far this year.
Heartstopper, which is based on the graphic novels by Alice Oseman, found an audience with Netflix subscribers worldwide, as it made the streamer’s Top 10 list in 54 countries and quickly picked up a rare two-season renewal. Let’s take a look at the rest of the Top 10 New TV Series of 2022 So Far, which are based on IMDb user ratings from January 1 to June 24 of this year:
- Heartstopper
- The Legend of Vox Machina
- Peacemaker
- Severance
- Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
- Reacher
- Tokyo Vice
- The Gilded Age
- Our Flag Means Death
- Slow Horses
Amazon Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina takes second-place honors on this list. The series — along with Heartstopper — has maintained a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on an actual Dungeons & Dragons campaign, this show takes viewers inside the role-playing game experience, and it doesn’t hurt that its guest stars include the likes of David Tennant, Stephanie Beatriz, Gina Torres, and Dominic Monaghan.
There’s a nice mix of genres in this list, with everything from the dramatic retelling of the Showtime Lakers era on HBO’s Winning Time (clearly popular despite multiple criticisms from the former Lakers themselves) to Apple TV+’s sci-fi workplace thriller Severance to the celebration-worthy historical comedy that is HBO Max’s Our Flag Means Death. Speaking of celebration, HBO should feel good about this list, as the network’s shows comprise half of the spots.
IMDb also released their Top 10 returning shows, based on user ratings from the same six-month period, and this year the beloved UK crime drama Peaky Blinders tops the list. The sixth and final season was finally released on Netflix in the United States last month, and it’s no surprise that audiences were excited to see how it all wrapped up. Let’s take a look at the full list of Top 10 Returning TV Series of 2022 So Far:
- Peaky Blinders
- Better Call Saul
- Stranger Things
- The Boys
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- This Is Us
- Ozark
- Euphoria
- Love, Death & Robots
- The Last Kingdom
Like Peaky Blinders, a number of shows in their final seasons drew the highest ratings from IMDb users. The second half of Better Call Saul’s sixth and final season returns to AMC on July 11. This Is Us left us after an emotional six-year run on NBC this spring, Ozark wrapped its series with Season 4 in April on Netflix, which also aired the final season of BBC’s The Last Kingdom.
Although not in its final season, Stranger Things made its return to Netflix after years of delays, apparently leading to some high user ratings for the first volume of Season 4 episodes (Volume 2 was released July 1). The Boys, meanwhile, is in the midst of a highly-anticipated third season that not only saw Jensen Ackles join the cast as Soldier Boy, but featured an episode based on the fan-favorite comic spinoff Herogasm. And yes, it’s just as obscene as it sounds.
So if you’re looking for a good show to check out, these come highly recommended by viewers like yourself, and if you haven’t checked out Heartstopper, I’ll leave you with 5 reasons why you should. Also be sure to take a look at our 2022 TV schedule to see what new and returning shows are premiering soon.
