10 Best HBO Shows With Fewer Than 20 Episodes, Ranked

HBO has been a home for prestige television for several decades now. Whether it's long-running shows like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or medium-altering phenomena like "Game of Thrones," there's no shortage of series that remind audiences just how effective great television can be at keeping us tuned in every week. However, some of the most memorable or rewatchable titles in HBO's history are ones that barely even make it past double digits on their episode count. 

Whereas plenty of television shows, even on HBO, need entire seasons to find their footing, these 10 programs manage to strike a perfect balance in less than 20 episodes. For some, they're simply brand-new shows that have yet to air more than 10 episodes after only one season, while some are the best miniseries streaming on HBO that unfortunately don't have a future in sight. 

The one thing all these shows have in common across genres and tones? They make having an HBO subscription worth it, because you get to enjoy all these TV shows without having to commit to watching more than 20 episodes for any of them.

Kicking off this list is a show that deserves as many episodes as there are countries on Earth. "Conan O'Brien Must Go" continues the recurring segment from TBS' "Conan," in which the late-night host visits remote countries, interacts with locals, and engages in cultural traditions. "Conan O'Brien Must Go" links O'Brien with a fan of his podcast, "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend," from abroad, who invites the LA-based comedian to their country of origin

Of the show's three seasons, O'Brien has visited 11 countries, from his native homeland of Ireland to places like Morocco and the Philippines. Sometimes while in these countries, O'Brien meets up with a celebrity friend, such as Javier Bardem in Spain or Taika Waititi in New Zealand. Though a travel show seems like an odd recommendation considering HBO's vast library, "Conan O'Brien Must Go" mines entertainment out of even the most micro-interactions between a buffoonish American and foreign locals. 

Although O'Brien rose to acclaim by being a lover of the absurd, the best parts of "Conan O'Brien Must Go" are when he finds ways to relate to the common person even across language barriers. O'Brien might not have gotten exactly what he thought he was going to get in terms of hosting "The Tonight Show," but when you watch this HBO series, you really get the sense he's living the dream. 

Danny McBride created some all-time comedy shows for HBO, including "Eastbound & Down" and "The Righteous Gemstones," both among the best works of the comedian's career. However, "Vice Principals" is one of the most underrated TV shows on HBO, having only run for two seasons with a total of 18 episodes. 

In "Vice Principals," McBride plays Neal Gamby, an authoritarian co-vice principal at North Jackson High School alongside the duplicitous Lee Russell, played brilliantly by Walton Goggins. The two form an unlikely alliance after they're both passed up for the role of principal in favor of Belinda Brown (Kimberly Hébert Gregory), whose reputation they seek to destroy by any means necessary. As you might imagine, the snowball effect that results from Neal and Lee's conniving schemes escalates to absurd lengths.

Although "Vice Principals" is not as unanimously acclaimed as the more artistic "The Righteous Gemstones" or the edgier "Eastbound & Down," it's magic to have McBride and Goggins as screen partners. Additionally, the presence of future "Gemstones" standout Edi Patterson and a pre-"Outer Banks" Madelyn Cline makes this the kind of comedy show that's aged incredibly well over the years. Maybe now that "Gemstones" is over, the potential for a "Vice Principals" Season 3 is not too far-fetched. 

"Scenes From a Marriage" has the ambitious task of adapting the highly influential Swedish miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman for a modern American audience. Thankfully, Hagai Levi's interpretation is anchored by stellar acting from Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac, both giving career-best performances as Mira and Jonathan, respectively, a married couple whose relationship slowly breaks apart over the course of many years. 

Though it's a lot slower and more intimate than you'd expect from an HBO series with only five episodes, "Scenes From a Marriage" covers a lot of ground in contemporary relationship dynamics: sexuality, pornography, and grief, to name only a few. At times, the representation of these heavy topics as conveyed by Chastain and Isaac becomes uncomfortable to watch, like a train accident in slow motion, but it's equally as hard to look away given how transfixing and steamy the series is. 

Whether or not "Scenes From a Marriage" surpasses Bergman's original work from 1973 is up to the individual viewer, but modern-day audiences will definitely connect more to this complicated and nuanced portrayal of how even marriages, like all relationships, ebb and flow over time. It ends in a much more bittersweet place than any other series would, without ever making a definitive statement about the existence of true love or the sanctity of marriage. 

If you're not already a fan of Tim Robinson's work in the Netflix sketch comedy series "I Think You Should Leave," then "The Chair Company" might be a weird series to sit down and watch. Playing out like an extended piece from Robinson's oeuvre, "The Chair Company" follows Ron (Robinson), a man who has an embarrassing workplace incident involving a broken chair, causing him to investigate the chair company and begin to uncover what he believes is a vast conspiracy. 

As Robinson's first episodic venture since his short-lived cult sitcom "Detroiters," "The Chair Company" takes cringe comedy to a whole new level. The lengths that Ron goes to in unraveling this mystery that might not even exist often result in absurd interactions that wouldn't feel out of place in "I Think You Should Leave." Sometimes, these absurd interactions even border on thriller or horror in tone and execution.

Though it's already been renewed for a 2nd season, the 1st season of "The Chair Company" is only eight episodes. Assuming it gets renewed again, there's a good chance that by the time it ends, "The Chair Company" has way more than 20 episodes total. For now, though, Robinson's created eight episodes of a show that never lets up in surprising its viewers with each twist and turn. 

Based on Liane Moriarty's 2014 novel, "Big Little Lies" was only ever supposed to be a seven-episode limited series, following a group of mothers in Monterey, California, and their involvement in a local homicide. However, the success of this story about privilege and domestic abuse led to its renewal for a 2nd season, continuing from where the source material left off, and "Big Little Lies" hiring a writer for Season 3.

Part of the show's success across its 14 episodes is the star-studded and phenomenally talented cast, which includes Reese Witherspoon as town alpha Madeline Mackenzie, Nicole Kidman as the timid Celeste Wright, and in Season 2, the one and only Meryl Streep as Celeste's suspicious mother-in-law. All of these performers are acting circles around one another, resulting in a show where simple dialogue scenes can feel as juicy and nail-biting as other HBO shows' fight scenes. 

Although it will certainly cross the 20-episode mark, assuming the upcoming 3rd season retains the length of the first two, "Big Little Lies" is the rare kind of event TV that doesn't need flashy special effects or a massive budget. It gets you hanging onto the edge of your seat with a simple look from Witherspoon or Laura Dern. 

"Mare of Easttown" is another HBO series with a strong likelihood of a Season 2, but it still likely won't cross 20 episodes until a hypothetical Season 3. Kate Winslet nevertheless leaves it all on the floor for Season 1, which follows Mare Sheehan, a troubled Pennsylvanian detective investigating the murder of a young mother (Cailee Spaeny) while dealing with her own personal issues. Among those problems are Mare's fraught relationship with her mother (Jean Smart), her divorce from her children's father (David Denman), and her attempts to connect with her teenage daughter (Angourie Rice). 

In only seven episodes, "Mare of Easttown" provides audiences with one of the best performances of Winslet's career, which says quite a lot. Mare also stands out in the history of HBO protagonists as a proper hero who, despite all her flaws, cares about bringing justice to the people of her small town. Though she's far from a perfect mother, daughter, or even detective, watching her get to the bottom of a local homicide mystery makes for some of the most engaging crime drama that's ever aired on HBO.

Although its original status as a limited series has now been abandoned for the sake of getting to see more of Winslet in this role, audiences can still enjoy the entire first season as its own standalone, seven-episode project. Even though it's a rather short binge, "Mare of Easttown" holds up on rewatches. 

In 2001, HBO premiered one of the best miniseries ever made, as well as one of the best on-screen depictions of war in history. "Band of Brothers," created and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, adapts Stephen E. Ambrose's book about the United States Army's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, also known as the "Screaming Eagles," who were instrumental in World War II during the storming of Normandy and the occupation of Nazi Germany.

Many members from the ensemble cast have led impressive careers since "Band of Brothers," including the likes of Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender, Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, and James McAvoy. Though it's only 10 episodes long, "Band of Brothers" tells the story of dozens of American soldiers who fought for the Allied forces in 1944 and 1945. And not just that, it balances having reverence for their heroism with painting each of them as grounded, three-dimensional characters. 

Furthermore, before "Band of Brothers," television simply wasn't this cinematic. Of course, having Spielberg and Hanks involved behind the scenes was a big help in getting a budget this lucrative approved in 2001. Even so, pulling off such a highly ambitious concept and not letting the scale impact the intimacy of the story and its rich characters was a near-impossible feat. 

There's such a thing as "reality TV," but then there's also TV that makes you question what reality even is. That's an apt way to describe Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal," a follow-up to his Comedy Central series "Nathan for You" that takes his uncanny ability to coax the truth out of real-life people and pushes it to the extreme. What begins as a show in which Fielder sets up elaborate scenarios to help people rehearse difficult conversations evolves into a wonderfully weird and fascinating social experiment about parenting and self-deception. 

In a major shift, Season 2 sees Fielder focus on a completely new endeavor: investigating the root cause of airline crashes as being a result of power dynamics and fear of communication between pilots. In addition to building entire replicas of bars and restaurants, Season 2 sees Fielder constructing an entire fake airport for his own simulation purposes. Though he's always got a cringe, comedic edge to his type of documentary, the show throughout both seasons often finds Fielder interrogating his own failures as a human being. 

With only 12 episodes thus far and a 3rd season in the works, it'll probably be a long time before Fielder crosses 20 episodes with "The Rehearsal." However, we can be patient for that time to come, as there's only so much of his style of comedy you can take at a time. 

"I May Destroy You" is far from an easy watch, but in just 12 episodes, it makes for some of the most compelling, emotionally resonant TV ever made. Michaela Coel created, wrote, and stars in the HBO miniseries as Arabella, a young writer who is sexually assaulted on a night out with her friends, which forces her to confront the role that sexual assault has played in her life and the lives of her close circle of friends.

While plenty of television series, especially in this era, explore the topic of sexual assault, few are as unflinching and brutally realistic as "I May Destroy You." The moments in which it treads into comedic territory, showcasing the absurd life of a novelist, keep you hooked as a viewer, but then that tone is juxtaposed with the harrowing way victims of rape are treated. 

It's exactly why Coel was nominated as TVLine's Best TV Performer of 2020, because striking this razor-thin balance between socially conscious comedy and tragic drama is no easy feat. Though 12 episodes is rather long for a standard miniseries, every second of it is spent examining the contradictions in modern human behavior. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The Chernobyl disaster is common knowledge at this point, but rarely does a narrative about a historical event feel so attentive to detail about the individual people affected in the aftermath. HBO's "Chernobyl," created and written by Craig Mazin, does exactly that in a five-episode miniseries that doesn't pull its punches. Its ensemble cast plays various figures related to the Chernobyl disaster, including USSR chairman Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård), firefighter Vasily Ignatenko (Adam Nagaitis) and his wife Lyudmilla (Jessie Buckley), and Kurchatov Institute director Valery Legasov (Jared Harris). 

Stylistically, "Chernobyl" is nothing short of a masterpiece and easily one of the best HBO historical dramas, making the stakes of the disaster feel like both the end of the world and incredibly interior to each character. Though there is some serious creative license taken, such as the invention of a composite character in nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Watson), these choices feel deliberate and methodical in creating a story that doesn't just feel like a history lesson.

Whether you've got all the time in the world or not to devote to an HBO binge-watch, "Chernobyl" makes its five hour-long episodes fly by just based on how gripping it's made to be. It's perhaps the most tragic series on this list, but one that justifies that not every great series needs to have more than 20 episodes to get its point across.