HBO has produced some of the best TV shows of all time across different genres, and a large part of their success comes from their flawless acting. Over the years, HBO has become synonymous with high-quality television, not just visually but also narratively. HBO has covered a variety of genres in its TV shows, thus appealing to a wider audience.
HBO’s TV shows stand out for their narrative and visual quality, complexity, well-developed characters, and for covering themes that other networks usually don’t. A huge strength of HBO’s best TV shows is their casts, and there are a couple of shows with truly flawless acting, such as Veep and Band of Brothers, along with the following.
Big Little Lies
Third Season In Development
Big Little Lies is a psychological dark comedy drama based on Liane Moriarty’s 2014 novel of the same name. Big Little Lies follows four mothers in California, with one of them, Jane (Shailene Woodley), having recently moved to the town and adapting to it, along with her son. Jane carries a big and dark secret, which ends up involving the rest in a shocking twist.
Big Little Lies counts on the talents of Woodley, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz, who, although they might seem like a strange combination, actually have tremendous chemistry. Each of them perfectly brought to life the complexities and depth of their characters, while also making them relatable and seizing their off-camera chemistry.
Succession
Four Seasons
One of the best TV shows in recent years is Succession, a satirical black comedy-drama created by Jesse Armstrong. Succession follows the Roy family, owners of Waystar RoyCom, a global media and entertainment conglomerate. As the patriarch’s health declines, his children fight for control of the company while also dealing with their personal issues.
Succession has been praised for its writing, tone, production values, and themes, and one of its biggest strengths is the performances of its main actors. The cast of Succession is packed with well-known talents, such as Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Kieran Culkin, and Sarah Snook.
The main characters of Succession are different from each other, and their stories range from different genres, so the show needed actors with experience in various genres, and that’s exactly what it got. Succession’s characters are complex and flawed, and the cast perfectly understood this, with many of them giving the best performances of their careers.
The Wire
Five Seasons
The Wire is one of HBO’s best crime dramas and TV shows, in general. Created by David Simon, The Wire follows the Baltimore Police Department as it investigates a drug organization. However, this extends to other institutions in the city, such as schools and the media, and shows how these and the community are affected by crime, corruption, and more.
The Wire has been praised for its gritty realism, and that’s thanks, in very large part, to its incredible cast, with names like Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Idris Elba, and Sonja Sohn, among others. Thanks to the show’s bigger focus on its characters and their development rather than its visual style, The Wire needed a strong cast to lead the stories.
The Wire brings together experienced actors with locals from Baltimore, giving it the realism and naturalness it needed, and the experienced actors brilliantly brought the flaws and complexities of their characters to life.
The Sopranos
Six Seasons
One of the best TV shows of all time, which also ranks among the shows with the best finales, is The Sopranos, created by David Chase. The Sopranos follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), the boss of the DiMeo crime family, as he struggles to balance his work and his family while also struggling with rage and anxiety.
The Sopranos is one of those shows that changed television forever, thanks to its main character being an anti-hero no one should really root for, its narrative quality, production value, writing, and, of course, its incredible cast, which also included Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, and Drea de Matteo, among many others.
The cast of The Sopranos brought realism to the show, depth, and went into the many layers of their characters, who were far from perfect. These performances were possibly thanks to The Sopranos’ impeccable writing, which focused on the psychology, inner struggles, and development of the characters.
Chernobyl
Miniseries
HBO has some heavy TV shows, and one of them is Chernobyl. Created by Craig Mazin, Chernobyl is a miniseries that explores the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed, along with the horrifying consequences of this event. Chernobyl tells the stories of those involved in the disaster and those who responded to it.
A story as delicate, serious, dark, and complex as Chernobyl’s needed a carefully selected cast who could carry that weight and bring the horrors of the disaster to life in a realistic and respectful way – and it achieved this wonderfully. Chernobyl counts on the talents of Stellan Skarsgård, Jared Harris, and Emily Watson, among others, who delivered grounded and emotionally complex performances.
