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This list of the best Hulu shows is full of great TV. On this page you'll find 10 TV hits including the likes of restaurant drama The Bear and last year's terrifying Alien: Earth – and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this great streaming service.
Hulu is one of the best streaming services for viewers in the US and the UK (where it can be found on the Disney Plus app), with a library that's packed full of shows that we just can't get enough of. We're talking titles as varied as Rivals, The Handmaid's Tale, the revived Scrubs, and more.
The 10 best Hulu shows
10. Rivals
Year(s): 2024–Ongoing
Seasons: 1
This drama-comedy is an adaptation of Jilly Cooper's steamy bonkbuster and tells about half of the story of her lengthy novel. Set in the Cotswolds, we catch up with a group of locals who spend more time sleeping with each other than investing in their own marriages.
The basic crux of the show follows David Tennant's Lord Tony Baddingham and his rivalry with Alex Hassell's Rupert Campbell-Black, a former show jumper turned Tory MP. Split on an old money and new money divide, the pair don't see eye-to-eye, which only worsens when the bid for a local television license comes up, and they both have their sights set on it.
The star-studded cast also includes Aidan Turner, Bella Maclean, Nafessa Williams, Oliver Chris, Luke Pasqualino, and Emily Atack. However, the real duo that will get you right in the feelings are Katherine Parkinson's Lizzie Vereker and Danny Dyer's Freddie Jones. They even made Olivia Colman cry...
9. What We Do in the Shadows
Year: 2019–2024
Seasons: 6
Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi exposed the lame mundanity of vampires in a hilarious fashion with their 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows. Clement expanded on the idea with this FX series of the same name.
What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy mockumentary following some vampires who are roommates living in Staten Island (the original movie is set in Clement's native New Zealand). Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja have been alive for centuries, but if anything, that long supernatural experience has made them especially ill-equipped to handle the modern world. They're also not the best at dealing with the supernatural world, either. Draculas, this trio ain't.
Curious about the movie that started it all? Read our What We Do in the Shadows review for more undead details.
8. The Handmaid's Tale
Year: 2017–2025
Seasons: 6
This blisteringly bleak sci-fi drama (inspired by Margaret Atwood's novel) is set in a dystopian near-future where a radical religious group has seized control of the United States, transforming it into a brutal totalitarian state named Gilead. The women of Gilead are forced into subservient roles, notably the Handmaidens like Offred, commandingly played by Elisabeth Moss. Over the course of the following six seasons we've seen Offred (whose real name is June Osborne) fight back against the oppressive regime, though her rebellion costs her dearly.
The Handmaid's Tale is frequently a tough watch, so be prepared to enter some dark territory here. It's never less than compelling, though, while its feminist themes feel more necessary than ever. The show recently wrapped up its sixth and final season, meaning that you can now watch the full story from beginning to end – and get ready for upcoming spinoff show, The Testaments.
7. Scrubs
Year: 2001–Ongoing
Seasons: 10
The beloved medical comedy returns for a 17-years-later revival. The new show takes us back to Sacred Heart hospital to catch up with J.D. (Zach Braff), Turk (Donald Faison), and Elliott (Sarah Chalke), who are all still saving lives but also dealing with a new set of interns. Carla (Judy Reyes) and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) will also be popping up as regular guest stars, with more old faces likely to show up as the series continues.
With the show's creator Bill Lawrence involved – though not showrunning – this looks set to be a faithful and funny continuation of one of the early '00s most popular shows. And it's not just the new season that's available: All of the first nine seasons are also streaming now on Hulu.
6. Alien: Earth
Year: 2025–Ongoing
Seasons: 1
The terror-filled universe of the Alien saga comes to TV with this series from Fargo and Legion-showrunner Noah Hawley. Alien: Earth takes place on our own world, now ruled over by various competing corporations. A spacecraft carrying a cargo of deadly extraterrestrial lifeforms (and we're not just talking about the classic xenomorph...) crashes into Prodigy City. Can a team of soldiers lock the situation down before it's too late?
Sydney Chandler plays Wendy, the world's first hybrid – a human consciousness transferred into the body of an android. That intriguing idea gives Alien: Earth a way into exploring murky ethics and corporate espionage as well as all the gruesome horror you'd expect from this franchise. If you're a fan of the Alien films then this is already appointment viewing. If you're new to the series, you can jump on here and watch this without needing to know anything in advance.
Find out what we made of the show with our Alien: Earth review.
5. 30 Rock
Year: 2006–2013
Seasons: 7
Tina Fey's comedy following the head writer of a Saturday Night Live-esque sketch show and the motley crew of creatives and executives she has to deal with might just be the funniest show on Hulu. Joke-dense and oddly prescient (one episode had a fake reality show called MILF Island that more or less became a real show called MILF Manor on TLC 15 years later), 30 Rock is exceptionally clever.
It's not just jokes, though (although there are a lot of them); the relationship between Fey's Liz Lemon and her boss-turned-friend Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin, arguably at his best) gives the show an earnest 'Odd Couple' dynamic that supports the wackiness and gives it some heart.
Studio magic! Read our list of the best movies on Hulu.
4. The Bear
Year: 2022–Ongoing
Seasons: 4
Every year, there's a debate at the Emmys about whether or not The Bear should be running in the comedy category. There are jokes in the series, which follows Jeremy Allen White as a chef who leaves Michelin-starred restaurants behind to inherit his brother's failing Chicago sandwich shop. But as the show progresses it becomes more and more of a drama with deeply realized characters and a smart approach to themes like family, trauma, and creativity.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. Winning performances from the entire talented cast, including Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri, make The Bear a filling meal of a TV show. Season 4 is now available to watch on Hulu. If you've not watched it yet, now's the time to get caught up.
For more on this must-watch, read our in-death The Bear season 3 review.
3. Reservation Dogs
Year: 2021–2023
Seasons: 3
One of the most refreshing and profound shows to grace the screen in recent years, Reservation Dogs follows four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma as they come of age in the wake of their friend's death. As Elora, Bear, Cheese, and Willie Jack get into and out of trouble, they must navigate their community, their own relationships, and challenges — some of which are universal, some of which are deeply specific to the Native American experience.
Featuring a cast and crew that's almost entirely Indigenous, Reservation Dogs isn't like any other comedy-drama on American TV. That's a shame because it's a rare show that's as good as it is important.
Read our list of the best shows on HBO Max for more modern gems that you can't miss.
2. Shōgun
Year: 2024–Ongoing
Seasons: 1
This isn’t the first time that Shōgun, James Clavell's 1975 historical fiction novel, has been adapted for TV. There was a miniseries in 1980, but it wasn't as big a deal nor as good as FX's 2024 take on the story. Part of that is because of how TV has changed; audiences are now used to reading subtitles, which means the struggle between rival daimyos over the future of Japan can play out organically in Japanese – much to the initial confusion of John Blackthorne, an English sailor who has been shipwrecked. Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, who won Emmys for their roles, star.
Shōgun was initially supposed to be a limited series, and the season covers the entirety of Clavell's book. However, the massive critical and commercial success the show has enjoyed prompted FX to make a second season, which should come out sometime in the next couple of years.
If you need more details on this one, head over to our Shogun review before pressing play on this Hulu masterpiece.
1. The Americans
Year: 2013–2018
Seasons: 6
Real ones know that The Americans, which came towards the end of the golden age of "Peak TV", is as good as Breaking Bad and Mad Men. It might even be better – and unlike those other two, it's streaming on Hulu.
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star as an average, all-American married couple living in the DC suburbs with their two children. Except, they’re actually Soviet KGB spies operating in deep, deep cover (their kids have no idea). It's a high-stakes, thrilling espionage series that is also a deeply cutting marital drama. With six seasons leading up to one of the all-time finales, The Americans is a sublime treat for anybody looking for a new binge.
Dive into streaming with our handy guide explaining the Hulu free trial. Or, for more TV, check out our lists of all the best Amazon Prime shows to watch right now.
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