![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/underdogs7-640x429.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEditor\u2019s note: Warning: Although we\u2019ve done our best to avoid spoiling anything major, please note this list does include a few specific references to several of the listed shows that some might consider spoiler-y.<\/p>\n
This was a pretty good year for television, with established favorites sharing space on our list with some intriguing new shows. Streaming platforms reigned supreme, with Netflix and Apple TV dominating our list with seven and five selections each. Genre-wise, we\u2019ve got a bit of everything: period dramas (The Gilded Age, Outrageous), superheroes (Daredevil: Born Again), mysteries (Ludwig, Poker Face, Dept. Q), political thrillers (The Diplomats, Slow Horses), science fiction (Andor, Severance, Alien: Earth), broody fantasy (The Sandman), and even an unconventional nature documentary (Underdogs).<\/p>\n
As always, we\u2019re opting for an unranked list, with the exception of our \u201cyear\u2019s best\u201d selection at the very end, so you might look over the variety of genres and options and possibly add surprises to your eventual watchlist. We invite you to head to the comments and add your own favorite TV shows released in 2025.<\/p>\n
Underdogs (National Geographic\/Disney+)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit:<\/p>\n
National Geographic\/Doug Parker<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Most of us have seen a nature documentary or two (or three) at some point in our lives, so it\u2019s a familiar format: sweeping, majestic footage of impressively regal animals accompanied by reverently high-toned narration (preferably with a tony British accent). Underdogs<\/a> takes a decidedly different approach. Narrated with hilarious irreverence by Ryan Reynolds, the five-part series highlights nature\u2019s less cool and majestic creatures\u2014the outcasts and benchwarmers more noteworthy for their \u201cunconventional hygiene choices\u201d and \u201cunsavory courtship rituals.\u201d (It\u2019s rated PG-13 due to the odd bit of scatalogical humor and shots of Nature Sexy Time.)<\/p>\n Each of the five episodes is built around a specific genre. \u201cSuperheroes\u201d highlights the surprising superpowers of the honey badger, pistol shrimp, and the invisible glass frog, among others, augmented with comic book graphics; \u201cSexy Beasts\u201d focuses on bizarre mating habits and follows the format of a romantic advice column; \u201cTerrible Parents\u201d highlights nature\u2019s worst practices, following the outline of a parenting guide; \u201cTotal Grossout\u201d is exactly what it sounds like; and \u201cThe Unusual Suspects\u201d is a heist tale, documenting the supposed efforts of a macaque to put together the ultimate team of masters of deception and disguise (an inside man, a decoy, a fall guy, etc.). Green Day even wrote and recorded a special theme song<\/a> for the opening credits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Warning: Although we\u2019ve done our best to avoid spoiling anything major, please note this list does…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-367640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}