It may have come as a surprise to some filmgoers that M. Night Shyamalan had returned to form with his latest thrillers like “Trap” and “Knock at the Cabin,” but Shyamalan fans were clued into his resurgence with the release of his psychological horror series “Servant” on Apple TV. The series follows a couple living in Philadelphia (as all Shyamalan protagonists must do) who hire a nanny to watch over their infant son. What the nanny doesn’t realize at first is that her job is to watch after a doll that the couple believes is their reincarnated infant son. Plenty of twists and turns abound from there, giving fans exactly what they want out of a M. Night Shyamalan joint.

• Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free, Rupert Grint

• Creator: Tony Basgallop

• Year: 2019-2023

• Runtime: 40 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” novels are a beloved children’s classic, giving us short glimpses into the cozy lives of best friends Frog, the happy-go-lucky green frog, and Toad, the more self-serious brown toad. And now, thanks to Apple TV, they have been brought into wonderful motion with 18 episodes that both adapt classic tales from the picture books and give us original stories of all new situations for the plucky duo. In a world full of sugary empty calories for children, “Frog and Toad” is a much needed alternative that stands up there with “Bluey” as some of the best children’s entertainment around.

Making video games may seem like all fun and… games, for lack of a better word, but “Mythic Quest” gives us an up-close look at just how chaotic making the industry’s biggest games can be. Rob Mac’s follow up to “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” keeps the sense of humor, with a band of bumbling fools bouncing into one another to catastrophic and hilarious results, while adding in a bit more pathos than we are used to on “Sunny.” “Mythic Quest” came to a sudden end after its fourth season, but luckily the crew were able to put together a new ending that gave a sense of finality to the whole production.

• Starring: Rob Mac, Charlotte Nicdao

• Creator: Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, Rob Mac

• Year: 2020-2025

• Runtime: 40 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Being a therapist requires you to follow strict protocols about what you can and can’t do as your clients share their deepest traumas with you. But in “Shrinking,” Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) throws that all out the window as he decides to become radically honest with his clients in the wake of his wife’s death. With a committed lead performance by Segel and a never-better turn from Harrison Ford, “Shrinking” is there for you when you need it most.

• Starring: Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford

• Creator: Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel

• Year: 2023-

• Runtime: 22 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA 

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

No one looks forward to their high school reunion, but maybe we would if it was as hilarious as “The Afterparty.” The show is a unique blend of an anthology series, murder mystery, and genre-blending parody, as each episode follows one suspect in a murder investigation. The twist is that, as they recount their story to the detectives, the episode then transforms into the style of a classic film genre — whether it’s an action movie, a musical, or a cutesy children’s show. There’s nothing else quite like it, and with only two seasons, this is a crushable series you could binge in a weekend.

• Starring: Sam Richardson, Tiffany Haddish

• Creator: Christopher Miller

• Year: 2022-2023

• Runtime: 18 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

As will become a recurring theme through this list, Apple TV has made ambitious science fiction programming a cornerstone of its lineup, and one of the latest hits is “Silo.” Based on Hugh Howey’s trilogy of novels, the series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where what little is left of humanity lives inside tall bunkers buried deep under the ground. Rebecca Ferguson follows up her commanding performance in “Dune” as the strong willed Juliette Nichols, who uncovers a conspiracy that goes all the way to the very foundation of the silo.

• Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Harriet Walter, Tim Robbins

• Creator: Graham Yost

• Year: 2023-

• Runtime: 20 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Most biopics work slavishly to recreate a bygone era, so focused on period accuracy that they can mistake authenticity with personality. That is not the case with “Dickinson,” in which Hailee Steinfeld gives the 19th century poet a decidedly 21st century inflection. Not only does this help keep the series from feeling self-important, but it also reminds us that even back then, teenagers were dealing with all the same complicated feelings and problems they have now.

• Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Toby Huss, Jane Krakowski

• Creator: Alena Smith

• Year: 2019-2021

• Runtime: 30 episodes

• Rating: TV-14

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Bill Lawrence is one of Apple TV’s regular producers, bringing “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso” to the streamer. But where those series are focused on bringing positivity, “Bad Monkey” isn’t afraid to get a bit darker, as it follows former detective Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn) getting pulled into a murder investigation after he discovers a severed arm in the tropical paradise of South Florida. Based on the crime novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen, the series is a capable mix of comedy and intrigue. With a second season on the way, there’s never been a better time to tune in.

• Starring: Vince Vaughn, L. Scott Caldwell, Rob Delaney

• Creator: Bill Lawrence

• Year: 2024-

• Runtime: 10 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

“Pachinko” may not be an epic science fiction series, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t equally as ambitious. Adapting the novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the series tells the story of one Korean family across four generations between 1915 and 1989, centered on Sunja’s (Kim Min-ha) decision to leave Imperial-ruled Korea for a new life in Japan. By using the specificity of this uniquely Korean point in history, “Pachinko” is able to tell a universal story about how far we’ll go to build a better life for our family. While the second season didn’t hit quite the same highs as the first, it’s still a remarkable achievement in adaptation, fusing the sweeping emotions of the novel with the vivid production design of a high budget TV series.

• Starring: Lee Min-ho, Jin Ha, Youn Yuh-jung

• Creator: Soo Hugh

• Year: 2022-2024

• Runtime: 16 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

You might have thought you’ve seen everywhere a nature documentary could go, from the lush greens of the Amazon rainforest to the deepest depths of the ocean, transporting us to far away worlds unlike any we get to see in our daily lives and revealing the beauty of the planet we call home. “Prehistoric Planet” takes that philosophy to a whole new world: Earth’s prehistoric past, bringing the world of dinosaurs to life like we’ve never seen before.

For anyone who grew up obsessed with dinosaurs, “Prehistoric Planet” is a must watch for its lovingly rendered specimens. And for everyone else, you can enjoy the dulcet voices of both David Attenborough in Seasons 1 and 2 and Tom Hiddleston in Season 3.

• Starring: David Attenborough, Tom Hiddleston

• Creator: Jon Favreau, Mike Gunton

• Year: 2022-

• Runtime: 15 episodes

• Rating: TV-G

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

What is there to say about “Ted Lasso” that hasn’t already been said? In these trying times, where it feels like we’ve lost all reason to hope, having a quick dose of optimism has never been more important — and for that, we’re thankful to have Jason Sudeikis’ “Ted Lasso” to keep our spirits up. With a great mustache and a constant stream of heartwarming moments, “Ted Lasso” is the perfect pick-me-up.

• Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham

• Creator: Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly

• Year: 2020-

• Runtime: 34 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

While he was once considered a controversial figure, no one in Hollywood is more beloved than Mr. Martin Scorsese is these days — but even those who have seen every one of his many wonderful films might not know much about the man himself. Do yourself a favor and spend the day with him in this five-episode documentary series that goes through every step of the acclaimed filmmaker’s career, from his humble beginnings to today.

Across his long tenure, Mr. Scorsese has assembled a long list of collaborators and peers. Everyone from Robert De Niro to Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma were happy to speak to his outstanding character. There was so much to explore in his life and career that what was originally planned to be a feature film turned into a five-hour series. But you can never get tired of spending time with Mr. Scorsese.

• Starring: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro

• Creator: Rebecca Miller

• Year: 2025

• Runtime: 5 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Artificial intelligence is the hot button issue on everyone’s minds these days, with the potential end of humanity seemingly on the horizon and all. Enter “Murderbot,” the satirical science fiction comedy that gives us a glimpse at one possible future in which technology advances so far that we not only have android helper robots, but they are also smart enough to be able to hack their own programming and override our security controls on them.

That’s exactly what the self-proclaimed Murderbot does in the opening of this slickly produced show based on a series of novellas by writer Martha Wells. Whether you find this premise humorous or disturbing is up to you, but it’s hard not to be smitten with Skarsgård’s committed performance as a free-minded security drone hiding his newly developed ability to feel genuine emotions.

• Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian

• Creator: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz

• Year: 2025-

• Runtime: 10 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series remains one of the science-fiction genre’s most ambitious accomplishments to this day. The series of novels charts the development of not just its characters, but the entire galaxy over the course of thousands of years. The story is kicked off by a mathematician developing the unique science of psychohistory that allows him to accurately predict the course of human history, which brings him to the frightening conclusion that humanity is about to enter a generations-long dark age. There is nothing we can do to stop this from happening, he says, but with the right inputs we could perhaps shorten this dark period to its absolute minimum.

Adapting a story like this to TV is not easy, which makes “Foundation” such a remarkable achievement. Retooling the story so that we can still have a consistent cast of characters ran the risk of undermining everything that made the novels unique, but “Foundation” proved us wrong and became one of Apple TV’s best shows.

• Starring: Jared Harris, Lee Pace

• Creator: David S. Goyer, Josh Friedman

• Year: 2021-

• Runtime: 30 episodes

• Rating: TV-14

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

History is made out of many small moments of climactic decisions, and the space race to the moon was one of those critical junctures that changed the course of human society. While we’ve lived in the wake of Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk our entire lives, “For All Mankind” provides us with a glimpse at an alternate timeline in which Soviet astronaut Alexei Leonov beats the U.S. in the race to the moon, kicking off the next evolution of our travel through the stars.

Capably balancing both the personal drama of the NASA team with an impressively realized 1970’s America, “For All Mankind” starts grounded and, with each season, takes us another 10 years into the future, until we find ourselves in a world that is remarkably different from our own — and is perhaps an even better one.

• Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman

• Creator: Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi

• Year: 2019-

• Runtime: 40 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

James Bond made the concept of a dashing British spy one of cinema’s greatest fantasies, providing men around the world a role model that has endured for generations. “Slow Horses” takes this concept and throws it in the basement, where the fantasy of spycraft meets the reality that more often than not, a mission blows up in your face.

That’s how River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) ends up banished to the basement of Slough House and put under the purview of one Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). What follows is a series of increasingly high stakes missions in which MI5’s worst agents find themselves as the only thing that stands between their country and utter annihilation. Come for the quick-witted spycraft, stay for the committed Oldman performance at his most comedically disheveled.

• Starring: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas

• Creator: Will Smith

• Year: 2022-

• Runtime: 30 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

“Pluribus” may be the newest series on this list, but it’s also the app’s biggest hit yet, and it’s not hard to see why. Anchored by a now Golden Globe-winning performance by Rhea Seehorn, whose stellar work in Vince Gilligan’s “Better Call Saul” was woefully uncelebrated by the awards bodies, “Pluribus” dropped us into a horrifying science fiction premise in which every person on earth is taken over by a mind virus that makes us all… happy?

Seehorn’s Carol Sturka is somehow immune to this assimilation, and finds herself increasingly at odds with what few freethinkers are left on the planet. With only nine episodes out so far and one intense cliffhanger, it’s hard to say just where the series is going to go from here – but it’s safe to say we’ll be watching with a big smile on our faces.

• Starring: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra

• Creator: Vince Gilligan

• Year: 2025-

• Runtime: 9 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Hollywood loves nothing more than to poke fun at itself, and Seth Rogen’s “The Studio” knows exactly which buttons to press. As the new head of fictional film studio Continental Pictures, “The Studio” follows insecure executive Matt Remick (Seth Rogen) on a series of blundering catastrophes as he tries (and fails) to make that case that he is destined to be Hollywood’s savior.

As we find ourselves knee-deep in IP cash grabs and AI slop, “The Studio” is downright cathartic for pointing out that Hollywood’s downfall is paved with (sometimes) good intentions. Everyone is just doing their jobs, even if that means crushing Martin Scorsese’s dreams. There’s no business like show business, and there’s no TV show as consistently funny as “The Studio.”

• Starring: Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz

• Creator: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, Frida Perez

• Year: 2025-

• Runtime: 10 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

If you’re one of the millions of people out there who hate their job, you’ve probably wished you could simply turn your brain off when you clock in at the door and go on autopilot until it’s time to go home. That is the premise of Apple TV’s “Severance,” in which sad sack Mark (Adam Scott) works at the mysterious Lumen Corporation.

Along with his coworkers Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro), Mark uncovers a brain-bending conspiracy that threatens to undo his sense of self, both inside and outside of work. The gap between Season 1 and 2 was downright torture, and we are not looking forward to how much longer we have to wait for Season 3 to pay off the excellent Season 2 finale.

• Starring: Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower

• Creator: Dan Erickson

• Year: 2022-

• Runtime: 19 episodes

• Rating: TV-MA

• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%