15 Best Limited TV Series You Need To Watch At Least Once

There really is so much television, right? So many shows with multiple seasons to binge that can sometimes be a struggle to get through. What's a good number to draw the line at? Four seasons? Five? If that's a number you're happy with, then we'd advise keeping your distance from the likes of "Supernatural," "Grey's Anatomy," or both "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." If you think less is more, though, then you're in luck, as we've gathered together a great batch of miniseries that were one-and-done in a single season, and we promise none of them will be a waste of your time.

With such limited time to spare, each show on this list tells an incredible story in just a few episodes, so good that you might find yourself rewatching them every year once you're finished. We have superheroes, serial killers, old-school shoot-outs, and spine-tingling scarefests that carry just as much heart as the horror that surrounds them. There's also a small section in this list that features unbelievable true stories, which might be hard to sit through. Still, give it your best shot, as it'll let you see some of the best TV moments from the past two decades, and depending on your binge-watching skills, you could finish them by the end of this week. Pick any, and you'll be pleased with all of our options. The only downside might be that these shows stopped after just one season.

There's a handful of detective cases waiting to be cracked open on this list, but "Mare of Easttown" is undoubtedly one of the best, thanks to a fantastic lead at its center. Oscar winner Kate Winslet makes one of her rare appearances on television as Mare Sheehan, a police detective who is already being monitored by the local townsfolk after failing to recover a missing girl from the year before, and feels twice as much pressure when a new case involves a girl found dead. From there, the show creator, Brad Ingelsby, does a remarkable job of balancing a gritty crime story with more familial issues, just as he did with the show's unofficial successor, "Task," with characters that feel raw and real as the tension builds with every episode.

It was reported that Winslet went to great lengths to portray Mare as a flawed but unforgivingly honest individual, whose mistakes extend beyond her work desk and also find their way home. Not only is she being followed around by a county detective (Evan Peters) who's keen to prove his worth and impress his partner, but there's also trouble in the Sheehan household with a troublesome daughter (Angourie Rice) and a mother (Jean Smart) who is always available to chime in with an opinion, even when it's not needed. Surprisingly, while the case is the show's biggest draw, it's the family dynamics that Mare is forced to handle that make you want to stick around, all because of wonderfully relatable characters in an at-times dark and thrilling detective story.

Just before Riz Ahmed became the superstar he's known as today, he made a notable appearance and delivered an incredible performance opposite John Turturro in the crime drama series "The Night Of." Based on the first season of the British TV drama "Criminal Justice," the show sees Ahmed as Nasir "Naz" Khan, who, after a night out on the town, awakes to find the woman he went home with stabbed to death in bed next to him. From there, a nail-biting story unfolds in the quest for Naz's innocence, with the help of John Stone (Turturro), who takes on the case as his client's lawyer, accompanying him every traumatic step of the way.

Earning an incredible 14 Emmy nominations, "The Night Of" serves as a brilliant display of talent, featuring standout performances from Ahmed and a notable turn from Turturro, who has rarely been better. Prior to him taking on the gig, James Gandolfini and Robert De Niro were also considered for the role of Stone before Turturro got the part. His casting set the stage for a powerful performance of a man doing everything in his power to keep his client out of harm's way, even when that doesn't succeed. Besides the exceptional chemistry between the attorney and client, the show also boasts an impressive performance from late "The Wire" star Michael Kenneth Williams, who watches over Naz as a prisoner in Riker's Island but also plays a part, like so many others, in corrupting him, setting up Ahmed's remarkable yet infuriating transformation as Naz.

Taron Egerton is tasked with getting pally with the devil in the Dennis Lehane-written thriller series "Black Bird." Up there as one of the many great Apple TV+ limited shows, "Black Bird" sees Egerton step into the real-life shoes of James "Jimmy" Keene, who, in an effort to lighten his criminal sentence, is tasked with buddying up with a real-life serial killer to learn the full details of his exploits. Paul Walter Hauser is the soft-spoken serial killer, Larry Hall, who is unaware that his new prison pal is squeezing him for information regarding other missing persons that he may be responsible for, setting up a brutally dark buddy series like no other.

Hauser won an Emmy for his performance as Hall, whose timid personality soon gets chipped away to reveal the monstrous individual hiding underneath that has no remorse for the violence he's inflicted. Egerton may have only earned a nomination for his part on the show, but he's just as essential in being our reluctant eyes and ears to conversations that tap into the same unsettling tactic that Netflix's "Mindhunters" applied. We never really see just what kind of brutal activity Hall has been involved in, but his recollection and drawn-out fantasies are enough to make your skin crawl. This is another massively overlooked series that you can hammer through a week, if you've got the stomach for it.

It's surprising that amid Taylor Sheridan's mission to fortify the "Yellowstone" universe with more spin-off shows, the one that follows how the foundations of the Dutton dynasty were built remains the best chapter in the television mega-franchise. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill play James and Margaret Dutton, who head to Montana to find a new place to call home. The journey there, however, is a hellish one, riddled with danger that might bring them the future they want, but not without enduring great tragedy in the process.

Sheridan is known for creating compelling characters built on hardship, so believe us when we say you might need to be made of sterner stuff to endure this epic period drama that has harrowing moments at every turn. Real-life couple McGraw and Hill unsurprisingly show natural chemistry as the original heads of the family, and meet their match in toughness with Sam Elliott playing their cowboy guide, Shea Brennan. The brilliantly beating heart of the show, however, lies with Isabel May as the untameable and charming eldest Dutton daughter, Elsa, whose presence lingers beyond this solitary story of the family that would become an enterprise.

Even for those not well-versed in the history of the Dutton family, "1883" is simply a great limited series that doesn't demand you venture further into the "Yellowstone" timeline. If you're going to start anywhere, it might be where it all began in one of the best Western shows in recent years.

One of the few truly important television shows to take from this list, "Dopesick" is an excellent but extremely alarming insight into the opioid epidemic in America and the many tiers of impact that would leave so many lives ruined as a result. Created by Danny Strong, the show sees everyone from doctors, patients, to the salesman who were essentially drug dealers in hundred-dollar suits introduced to a wonder drug that quickly became something far worse.

Boasting a top-tier cast comprised of Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Will Poulter, Michael Stuhlbarg, and an astounding performance from "The Last of Us" star Kaitlyn Dever, "Dopesick" plays like a televised version of "Contagion," but instead focuses on a man-made disease that spreads like wildfire. With excellent writing that maintains a steady yet harrowing pace, we witness the escalating damage until it reaches a point of no return.

The show earned Keaton both an Emmy and a Golden Globe win, with Sarsgaard, Poulter, Dever, and Stuhlbarg all earning Emmy nominations themselves. While it may be a fictional take on an issue that is still sweeping a nation, "Dopesick" still lands very real emotional hits as those involved slowly wake up to a nightmare they've created for themselves. Like a few other shows, "Dopesick" is an at times, incredibly hard watch and tough pill to swallow, but the important ones always are.

Chris Evans takes a surprisingly dark turn in this one-off show from Apple TV+, where he portrays District Attorney Andy Barber, desperate to avoid a trial that could tear his family apart. As the head of a relatively happy home, his world gets turned upside down when his son is accused of murdering a classmate. Such a scandal in the family is bad enough, but it's in being forced to address present matters that lead him to look into the past and question whether this potentially dark trait in his son is a homegrown one he's fought to ignore.

Ignore the obvious comparisons to Apple TV+'s other court case drama series, "Presumed Innocent," and instead be impressed by Evans in a more serious role with, dare we say, a little more edge than his other works. Barber is a good father willing to do bad things to keep his son out of trouble, which becomes even more difficult when Jaeden Martell's performance as the titular Jacob has you questioning just how innocent his angelic son really is. Throw in a surprise appearance from J.K. Simmons as the father Andy would rather forget, and "Defending Jacob" is a show that will leave you building your own theories until its final frame.

Easily the show that put Mike Flanagan's name on the map after turning in a terrifying binge watch, "The Haunting of Hill House" will have your heart pounding and breaking in equal measure. Taking key and creepy elements from the revered Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, the now-esteemed horror storyteller stitches together an incredible scare fest that sees the past and the present cross with one another, never wasting a single frame to bring audiences a level of unease that audiences would continue to go back to.

Those aware of Flanagan's early work would've already anticipated the kind of scares that were in store, but here he reaches another level. Besides the obvious scares that either jump or float into frame (curse you Bent-Neck Lady), the extra-terrifying treat is the ghosts of Hill House that demand you do a double take, with Flanagan intentionally letting specters sit lifeless in scenes with characters oblivious to their presence. 

More importantly, though, "The Haunting of Hill House" excels in its focus on the personal struggles of every Crain member, who each have their own issues to address, as well as the unspeakable shared trauma that comes back to haunt them. Flanagan's first Netflix series is a masterpiece, and an undeniable testament to an incredible storyteller-in-the-making.

The "unfilmable" comic got itself a sequel series in perhaps one of the most overlooked superhero shows ever. Damon Lindelof's "Watchmen" is set 34 years after the events of what is widely considered one of the greatest comic books ever written and tells a story that almost gives it a run for its money. Dropping us into an off-kilter America, secret identities have become a necessity for a police department as a white supremacist group known as the Seventh Kavalry wages a small war against law enforcement. Regina King plays Detective Angela Abar, also known as Sister Night, who is tasked with investigating the murder of her friend, which leads to a deeper conspiracy involving the country's history with vigilantism, including the forgotten "hero" Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons), who sent the world into chaos decades before as Ozymandias.

While perhaps a complicated watch for those that aren't well-versed in the original "Watchmen" comic, there's still enough in this show to keep the uninitiated invested. Earning 11 Emmys in 2020, which was the most any show had received at that time, "Watchmen" is littered with incredible performances all playing their part in a story that, just like its predecessor, holds up a mirror that you can't look away from. King is predictably incredible as Abar, and Irons does an impeccable job as the hero-turned-madman. Extra credit, however, must go to the likes of Jean Smart as a seasoned Silk Specter, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Angela's husband, who plays a part so integral to the show that it'll stop you in your tracks.

The show that dominated 2024, like its most intimidating character, emerged unexpectedly and shook Netflix audiences with this compelling and deeply disturbing mix of dark comedy and drama. "Baby Reindeer" is based on the real-life story of Richard Gadd, who wrote and stars on the show as Donny Dunn, a comedian who gets his biggest fan early in his career and can't seem to get rid of her. By having his life invaded by this stranger, Donny is forced to look inward and back at past experiences to come to terms with how he can evade this unstoppable and at times aggressive woman named Martha Scott, who becomes obsessed with this mild-mannered bartender-turned-funnyman.

Winning six Emmy Awards upon release, "Baby Reindeer" is an often uncomfortable watch, offering a poignant insight into the obsession and trauma present in both parties. Jessica Gunning earned an Emmy win for her performance as Martha Scott, but her performance and the show are the only ones on this list that sparked controversy when the subject matter the show was based on was brought to light, as fans' detective work and drama following the show's release reached exponential levels. Cutting close to the bone of reality or not, "Baby Reindeer" is a darkly funny but at times gripping watch that earned the attention it received.

While "Defending Jacob" sends us down an ambiguous trail on a child's innocence, "Adolescence" assures its audience in the first episode that we're dealing with an open-and-shut case. Eddie Miller (Stephen Graham) has his world kicked in by a police raid when his son is charged with the murder of a classmate, and there's video evidence to prove just that. From here, the Netflix series shifts from being a whodunit to a whydunit, as the show attempts to highlight just how and where things went wrong for young Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) and various parties who try to decide where the blame lies.

As each chapter is shot in a single take, we're forced to be caught up in the emotional rollercoaster that the Miller family is on and see the impact this tragedy has had on the local community. Exploring the ramifications of toxic masculinity and the detachment parents are at risk of having with their children and the world they have no understanding of, "Adolescence" teaches a hard lesson that is very important to learn. It provides a long-overdue platform to show the talent in Stephen Graham that earned him an Emmy win, along with that of Cooper, who is one of the youngest winners in history.

If "The Haunting of Hill House" was Flanagan's warm-up act, then "Midnight Mass" is his horrifying but heartwrenching main event. Feeling like the greatest Stephen King story never told, Flanagan's standalone scare fest follows the community of a small island that has a brush with God, or something else, when a new priest arrives on their shores and miraculous events begin to occur. These incidents spark curiosity for many but doubt for others as some of the islanders start to suspect that Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater) has brought something with him that doesn't belong, leading many to question the notion of life after death and the cost that can come from trying to find it.

Once again, with a more emotional beat than some horror stories, "Midnight Mass" allows Flanagan to expertly handle the matter of faith, while anticipating the inevitable thing that we all will face eventually. At the same time of tackling this compelling matter, he spends a reasonable amount of time scaring the living snot out of a great collection of cast members that all have their own stories to tell. Besides Linklater turning in a career-defining performance, Flanagan's familiar faces, including Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Annabeth Gish, and Zach Gilford, all have their own monsters to face long before the real one reveals itself. A "Salem's Lot" with soul, it's really no wonder why Flanagan has become King's go-to guy for handling some of his most harrowing tales, because this one of Flanagan's own making certainly isn't easy.

Plenty of shows on this list are essential viewings, but none may be as excruciating to watch as Craig Mazin's impressively unforgiving drama, "Chernobyl." Released in 2019, the five-part series chronicles the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the effort to contain and clean up after the worst nuclear disaster in history. Opening with the incident itself, director Johan Renck shoots the first harrowing installment like a horror movie, where the monster is an invisible and unstoppable threat that gets stronger the deeper the unsuspecting workers and firefighters go, trying to extinguish a nuclear nightmare. From there, Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) leads the effort to remedy the situation and clean up a catastrophe that is simply too far gone, leading to numerous casualties and deaths for those who had no comprehension of just how doomed they were.

Backing Harris, who is stepping into the shoes of a man who feels like the reluctant Angel of Death, are the likes of Stellan Skarsgård as Council of Ministers, deputy chairman, Boris Shcherbina, who is discovering just how bad things are, and Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk, a nuclear physicist who is joining the fight in a losing battle. Other impressive turns come from Jesse Buckley, the late Paul Ritter, and Alex Ferns as Andrei Glukhov, who, along with his mining crew, delivers the ultimate sacrifice against a tragedy that would linger for decades. Word of warning, for every episode you watch, be sure to have one of your favorite comedies to wash it down with after. Trust us on this. You're going to need it.

"'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' I said, 'No, but I served in a company of heroes.'" Perhaps one of the few shows on this list that's annually watched by millions, "Band of Brothers" is easily one of the greatest miniseries ever made, which provides a depiction of war that's on par with "Saving Private Ryan." Such a comparison shouldn't come as a surprise, given that the show was executive produced by the film's director and star, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, respectively, and comes with just as much emotion and realism on the battlefield.

Based on the book of the same name from Stephen E. Ambrose, "Band of Brothers" chronicles the real-life efforts of "Easy" Company, the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. Beginning with their strenuous training regime at Currahee under Captain Herbert Sobel (played by David Schwimmer) to their landing behind enemy lines on D-Day and beyond, "Band of Brothers" is a timeless watch that still holds, even 24 years after its release.

Littered with an incredible collection of stars, including Damian Lewis as Major Richard "Dick" Winters and Donnie Wahlberg as Second Lieutenant Carwood Lipton, "Band of Brothers" also houses talent that would go on to become massive stars, varying from Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy, to name a few. Cinematic in scope and often heartbreaking in its retelling of a company of brave men's incredible endeavors, "Band of Brothers" is an astonishing drama that proved what kind of power a miniseries could deliver.

The hit-and-miss ratio has been pretty inconsistent when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's ventures into television, but there's no doubt it's struggled because "WandaVision" simply set the bar far too high from the off. Still riding the wave of "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," "WandaVision" reunites us with Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her doting synthezoid superhero boyfriend, Vision (Paul Bettany), who we find in a 1950s sitcom and happily married ... somehow. While those not interested in the MCU might give it a miss, "WandaVision" deserves extra praise simply by delivering a fascinating meta trip down television memory lane, as every episode plays with TV tropes through the years, while telling a compelling superhero story at the same time.

Playing like a comic book run in its own way, every episode peels the curtain further back, giving Olsen more time to flesh out Wanda than she had in the role across the six years leading up to it in films. Naturally, there's a plethora of nods to Marvel lore that make the show more entertaining for fans, as well as Bettany also breaking free with Vision, and Kathryn Hahn quickly becoming a fan favorite as Agatha Harkness. In the end, though, this is a reality-bending tale of trauma and acceptance, making "WandaVision" a remarkable show that the MCU has often come close to but never quite matched since.

Sometimes the most straightforward premise is the best one. "Beef" sees Ali Wong and Steven Yeun as Amy Lau and Danny Cho, two strangers who, after an altercation on the road, quickly become obsessed with ruining the other person's life, as they weren't wrecked enough already. Lee Sung Jin, the writer and creator of the show, delivers an exceptional balancing act of mapping out the show's two lead characters drastically different worlds and making solid cases that make you struggle to pick a side. From there, Wong and Yeun do incredible jobs of molding these flawed but constantly furious characters that, even after calling the occasional truce, get drawn back into a battle that spans months.

Funny, emotional, and pushing all the right buttons that make you feel for both parties, "Beef" is a great watch that takes you on a drive with two brilliant characters who end up finding themselves in an unthinkable spot when the show reaches its final destination. Reports suggest that Netflix is planning a second season of "Beef," with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan apparently in talks to star. Given that it's been two years since we saw the last one, we'd say that "Beef" is still the prime cut that is worth your attention.