The 10 HBO Shows with the Most Original Premises, Ranked

“What’s it about?” Every television recommendation has been met with those three words. With so much great TV, audiences want to make sure they are investing their time (and money) in a show that’s worth it. Is the premise similar enough to something they already like, or is it just out-there enough to intrigue them? Understandably, a familiar or easily understood premise can comfort the audience and pre-assure them of what they are getting into. However, an original and unexpected premise can be bold enough to arrest the audience’s attention and deliver surprising twists and turns.

HBO, which has made a reputation for delivering some of the best television shows in recent years, has often embraced bold and daring premises. From comedic spins or reimaginations of boilerplate premises, the network has an enviable collection of excellent television with completely out-there descriptions. However, not all premises are successfully executed and even from those that are, not all are created equal. Here, we rank the HBO shows with the most original premises based on how attention-grabbing they are and how effectively the show paid off on its hook.

10 ‘The Comeback’ (2005–2014)

Created by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King

In Lisa Kudrow‘s live-action return to television after Friends, she joined forces with Sex and the City executive producer Michael Patrick King to create The Comeback. Initially intended as a satirical depiction of the television industry, the show became, either intentionally or not, a prophetic and satirical look at the rise and prevalence of Reality Television. In an incredibly underrated performance, Lisa Kudrow stars as Valerie Cherish, a washed-up sitcom actress approaching a potential career comeback on a new network sitcom.

The first season (which debuted before the explosion of reality TV) was presented in a found footage format, with the idea being that it was footage for the in-show reality television show Valerie agreed to star in. The second season, which premiered nine years after the first and after the dominance of reality TV, is also presented as found footage, but this time commissioned by Valerie as part of a potential reality television pilot for Andy Cohen. Over the season, the footage morphs into behind-the-scenes web content and, eventually, a documentary on her resurgence. While skewering and satirizing the scripted and reality television industries, The Comeback also delicately engages with the ideas of aging in the industry, the relationship between the professional and the personal, and much more.

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9 ‘In Treatment’ (2008–2021)

Created by Rodrigo Garcia

Based on an Israeli series, BeTipul, In Treatment is the rare show that successfully rebooted itself in less than a decade and a half. The premise of both versions of both versions revolves around a psychotherapist’s weekly sessions. The first three seasons are led by Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne). Every season follows Paul’s weekly scheduled sessions, including an end-of-the-week session with his therapist — Dianne Wiest for the first two seasons (in an Emmy-winning performance) and Amy Ryan for the third season. Uzo Aduba‘s Brooke Taylor leads the fourth season, which covers her scheduled sessions and a weekly check-in with her friend and AA sponsor, Rita (Liza Colón-Zayas).

The show’s format provides a more intimate look at the mental health journeys of the patient characters while also carrying the audience along on their successes and failures. This approach helped to provide a deeper understanding of the highs and lows of talk therapy, as opposed to the sanitized, easy-solution portrayals that had populated film and television. The added investigations of Paul and Brooke’s mental health and addiction recovery helped to highlight the relatable infallibility of even professional therapists.

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8 ‘Westworld’ (2016–2022)

Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy

Based on Michael Crichton‘s feature film of the same name, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy‘s Westworld is set in a futuristic Wild-West-themed amusement park. In the park, humans have free rein over the almost indistinguishable android population, with the androids unable to harm any living organism. However, thanks to a recent update, several of the androids begin to gain sentience and, with that, the ability to harm human guests. While initially based on Crichton’s film, Westworld impressively expands on the 1973 film’s premise.

Apart from the obvious themes of artificial intelligence and human autonomy, Westworld also interrogates themes along the lines of humans’ propensity for violence, consciousness and the idea of the split mind, memory, and, as is common for Nolan, the co-writer of Interstellar, the power of familial love. Due to its multiple storylines and large ambitions, Westworld featured an impressive ensemble cast, including two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, Oscar nominees Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Emmy winner Thandiwe Newton, and many more.

7 ‘Barry’ (2018–2023)

Created by Bill Hader and Alec Berg

“What if a hitman stumbled into an acting class…and stayed?” Bill Hader and Alce Berf‘s HBO dark comedy took the basic premise of “hitman joins an acting class” and turned it into an examination of terrible people and the nature of evil while touching on themes of narcissism, PTSD and ambition. The fact that Barry could simultaneously skewer the military-industrial complex, the entertainment industry and the people that inhabit both industries remains a great testament to its range and the high quality of its writing.

Shepherded by Bill Hader, who directed 18 out of the show’s 32 episodes, the show never spared in its unrelenting examination of its roster of terrible and selfish characters. Arguabky dropping the “comedy” angle as it went on, Barry quickly became as harrowing and dark as some of its HBO contemporaries. With Emmy wins for Bill Hader and Henry Winkler (for Best Supporting Actor) and further nominations for Best Comedy Series, Best Writing, Best Directing and Acting nominations for Sarah Goldberg and Anthony Carrigan, Barry is not only one of the best HBO shows, it is one of the best in recent memory!

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6 ‘Lovecraft Country’ (2020)

Created by Misha Green

Executive Produced by Jordan Peele and J. J. Abrams, Misha Green‘s Lovecraft Country was an adaptation and a continuation of Matt Ruff‘s novel of the same name. The novel and the HBO adaptation use the works of notorious racist and white supremacist H.P. Lovecraft to dissect historical race relations in America and the racial themes of his horror writings. The HBO show adapts various aspects of the novel’s eight interconnected stories to create a time-hopping, genre-bending ten-episode series.

Lovecraft Country begins with Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), his childhood friend, Letitia (Jurnee Smollett), and Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) on a road trip across 1950s America to find his father. After finding an ancient occult secret society at the end of the road trip, their lives and the show itself are thrown into unexpected paths. Misha Green excellently uses Lovecraftian horror, science-fiction, and genre storytelling to engage with Jim Crow-era policies, American racism, female empowerment and wider cultural attitudes. Lovecraft Country proves the most evil things exist in the real world and not in fiction.

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5 ‘Room 104’ (2017–2020)

Created by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass

Anthology television shows are not a novel idea. From Black Mirror to True Detective, audiences are well versed in the idea of a different episode or season of a television show featuring new actors telling a new story. However, Room 104, hailing from mumblecore pioneers Mark and Jay Duplass, took the idea in an excitingly different direction. Set in a single room in a roadside motel, each episode told the stories of the guests occupying the room.

Like the best anthology shows, Room 104 expertly morphs its genre across episodes, sometimes within the same episode. The show efficiently modulated between horror, comedy, thriller and drama. Through its premise, Room 104 provides a brief glimpse into the lives of many different characters, thereby painting a rich tapestry of human behavior. Its anthology format also allows it to enlist top acting and directing talent, with Oscar-winner Mahershali Ali, Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, and Dave Bautista as some of the actors who lent their talents to the impressive anthology show.

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4 ‘The Third Day’ (2020)

Created by Felix Barrett and Dennis Kelly

Peculiarly split into three parts, HBO’s The Third Day follows the individual journeys of a man and woman who arrive at a mysterious island. Unable to leave the island during high tide, both characters are forced to stay and experience the island’s unsettling and suspicious citizenry. Jude Law and Naomie Harris lead Parts 1 and 2, respectively, with supporting performances from Katherine Waterston, Emily Watson and Paddy Considine. The first part, “Summer,” comprises the first three episodes and focuses on the man’s journey on the island and his first encounters with the unnerving islanders and their strange customs. Jude Law‘s disorienting and grief-stricken performance helps to sell the general confusion of The Third Day and draw the audience in.

The third part, “Winter,” picks up nine months after the events of the first part and follows a woman (Harris) and her two daughters visiting the island for her daughter’s birthday. Audiences are quickly assured that in the nine months between both stories, the island has not become any less disconcerting. The second part, “Autumn,” covers the island’s festival celebrating the transition from childhood to adulthood. The special was broadcast in between both parts as a 12-hour live event showcasing the full festival, shot in one continuous take to provide a fully immersive experience. Along with Jude Law and the regular supporting actors from part 1, it also featured Florence Welch. Luckily for viewers who may not be able to commit to watching a 12-hour one-take special, watching it is not essential for one’s understanding of the events in part 3 or the overall story.

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3 ‘The Outsider’ (2020)

Created by Richard Price

A young boy is found dead in a small town with suspicious human bite marks. While upsetting for the small town, all the facts indicate a straightforward case. However, there is video evidence placing the main suspect at both the scene of the crime and at an out-of-town conference at the same time. Adapted by Richard Price from a 2018 Stephen King novel, The Outsider is a thrilling, twisty, supernatural murder mystery.

The Outsider is first presented as a crime procedural before fully leaning into its supernatural elements, evoking some startling imagery and haunting backstory. Like the best crime procedurals, it keeps the audiences guessing and uses its horror iconography to investigate some upsetting questions about human nature and the battle between good and evil. Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo deliver standout performances and are supported by reliably excellent performances from Bill Camp, Jason Bateman, Julianne Nicholson and Paddy Considine, making The Outsider one of HBO’s best miniseries in recent years.

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2 ‘The Rehearsal’ (2022–Present)

Created by Nathan Fielder

Do you have an awkward conversation coming up that you’re dreading? Do you keep re-living that encounter that you wish you had thoroughly prepared for? Well, that’s exactly what Nathan Fielder‘s wildly absurdist The Rehearsal is for, with Fielder’s character helping ordinary people rehearse upcoming difficult discussions or life events. The show was inspired by his work developing Nathan For You and how he and the creative team would act out incorrect scenarios for how the interactions would go. The rehearsals are aided by hilariously detailed sets and extremely prepared and committed actors.

As is par for the course with Fielder, he takes the objectively funny premise of “helping people prepare for a tough conversation in their lives” and turns it into an exploration of basic human principles. The Rehearsal asks many questions, including how much we can ever really know or predict about another person. Similarly, it highlights the idea that everyone is always acting at all points. Its ability to transcend its innately absurd idea and reach for genuine human introspection is what makes The Rehearsal so good.

1 ‘The Leftovers’ (2014–2017)

Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta

What would happen if 2% of the world’s population just disappeared? Before the third-biggest movie of all time flirted with analyzing that question, HBO’s incredible The Leftovers attacked it head-on. Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta and based on Perrotta’s 2011 novel of the same name, the HBO adaptation begins three years after a global “Sudden Departure” in which 2% (140 million) of the world’s population mysteriously disappeared. Using its three lead protagonists — police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), grieving widow Nora Durst (Carrie Coon), and her brother, Reverend Matt Jamison (Christoper Eccleston) — the show examined both the intimate and wider aftereffects of the sudden disappearances.

Admirably unafraid to go to some truly dark places, The Leftoversboldly examines human nature through its unique premise. The show employs logical developments of such a disappearance to analyze our human nature, grief, and the lengths people can go to at the end of the world. One such logical development is the emergence of several religious-based cults in the face of conventional organized religion’s decline. Supported by an outstanding ensemble cast that included Amy Brenneman, Regina King, Margaret Qualley and Ann Dowd, The Leftoversquickly became a critical and cult favorite. Sadly, The Leftovers was repeatedly snubbed by the Emmys, an egregious snub the Academy will never live down.

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