From The Wire to BoJack Horseman, there are some really devastating TV shows that take some emotional preparation to rewatch. There are plenty of comfort shows that are a joy to rewatch. Feel-good shows like The Office and Gilmore Girls and Schitt’s Creek and the golden-age seasons of The Simpsons will never get old.
But not every TV show that demands a rewatch is easy to get through. Chernobyl, for example, is rich with historical details, so you need to watch it more than once to fully appreciate it. But it’s a haunting portrayal of a real-life nuclear disaster and all the death and destruction that followed, so it’s a tough rewatch.
10
Better Call Saul
The Comic Relief Fades After Season 1
In its first season, Better Call Saul was styled as a comedic counterpoint to its predecessor, Breaking Bad. But that comic relief fades after season 1, and by the end of the show, it’s just as dark and depressing as the original show. At just the midpoint of the series’ run, you have to watch Chuck McGill burn himself alive.
You have to watch Lalo Salamanca murder Howard Hamlin with a smile on his face. You have to watch Kim Wexler leave Jimmy McGill broken and alone. You have to watch Jimmy very almost murder Carol Burnett as the law is closing in. Who knew Walter White’s clown-like lawyer had so much darkness?
9
Band Of Brothers
A Harrowing Journey Through World War II
Executive-produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg as their follow-up to Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers is both one of one of HBO’s best miniseries and one of the earliest shows of the Peak TV era. It proved that TV shows could be just as visually stunning, powerfully acted, and epic in scope as movies.
But as great as Band of Brothers is, it’s tough to rewatch. It’s a harrowing journey across the battlefields of World War II. The whole series is brutal on its audience’s emotions, but the hardest scene to watch is when the Band of Brothers find an abandoned concentration camp. That one’s hard to get through just the first time.
8
The Walking Dead
You Have To Watch A Beloved Character Die Every Few Episodes
The best way to describe The Walking Dead is a zombie-infested soap opera. It has a sprawling cast of colorful characters, each with their own personal struggles, and they just happen to be surrounded by hordes of the undead. But the series isn’t as much fun as that makes it sound; it’s really, really dark.
When you rewatch The Walking Dead, you fall in love with characters like Hershel and Glenn and Beth and Tyreese all over again — except this time, you know they’re doomed to a grim fate. As you go through the series, you lose one of your favorite characters to a gruesome and untimely death every few episodes.
7
Six Feet Under
Death Is The Heaviest Subject
Alan Ball’s Six Feet Under is one of the most beautiful TV shows of all time, but it spends every single episode focused on the heaviest subject matter there is: our collective mortality. The series revolves around a dysfunctional family trying to keep their late patriarch’s funeral business afloat. In every episode (except the last one), somebody dies.
It’s a really touching family saga — and Six Feet Under’s final episode is one of the greatest series finales in TV history — but it’s also pretty devastating. The show’s pitch-black humor offsets its grim focus on death a little bit, but it’s not a show you’ll want to watch over and over again.
6
I May Destroy You
A Shocking Depiction Of The Trauma Of Assault
Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. It’s incredible filmmaking across the board: well-observed writing, keen-eyed direction, perfectly paced editing, a vibrant soundtrack, and compelling performances by its cast. But the story revolves around the horrific trauma of assault.
At the beginning of the series, Coel’s character Arabella is attacked on a night out. She spends the rest of the show reckoning with that horror and trying to come to terms with it with the help of her two best friends. It’s a masterpiece, but it’s not easy to watch.
5
Chernobyl
A Masterfully Crafted, But Deeply Horrifying Look At A Nuclear Disaster
HBO’s Chernobyl is a masterfully crafted chronicle of one of history’s worst tragedies: a disastrous nuclear explosion at a Soviet power plant in 1986. The performances are deeply affecting, the writing captures all sides of the fallout, and the production design pays impeccable attention to detail. But it’s not a show you can watch more than once or twice.
It’s one of the best TV shows ever made, but it often feels like an endurance test.
Every single episode has something that’s really hard to sit through, whether you’re watching people die of radiation poisoning (one of the most agonizing ways to go) or seeing soldiers gun down irradiated dogs. It’s one of the best TV shows ever made, but it often feels like an endurance test — and it’s not easy to pass.
4
Breaking Bad
Walter White’s Transformation Into A Monster Is Paved With Tragedy
Breaking Bad revolutionized television with a story of change. The medium had traditionally been used to maintain a status quo for years, but Vince Gilligan used this long-form storytelling format to chronicle a character’s gradual transformation. Walter White starts off as a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher, but he slowly morphs into a cold-blooded, meth-cooking monster.
Bryan Cranston gives one of the finest performances ever captured on film, and the storytelling is pitch-perfect from beginning to end. But Breaking Bad takes so many grim turns, from poisoning a child to blowing off half of a chicken entrepreneur’s face, that it takes a lot of guts to go back and rewatch it.
3
Pose
A Relentless Portrayal Of Prejudice
Ryan Murphy’s TV shows have been very hit-and-miss, but Pose is one of the undeniable hits. It’s an emotionally engaging depiction of New York City’s ball culture in the 1980s and 1990s, anchored by a stellar ensemble cast. It’s a brilliant show that everyone should watch, but you’ll have a hard time revisiting it.
The series is unrelenting in its portrayal of the traumas and tragedies faced by this underground LGBTQ+ subculture. It’s inspiring to see the characters persevere through unimaginable pain and hold onto their identities, but the pain itself is tough to watch.
2
BoJack Horseman
You Have To Be In A Good Place Mentally To Go Back Into BoJack’s World
You shouldn’t watch BoJack Horseman unless you’re in a good place mentally, because it takes some seriously dark turns. On first glance, it might appear to be a silly cartoon about a talking horse, but that’s the genius of it. It uses that premise to explore the darkest corners of the soul.
BoJack might be a talking horse, but he’s more human than most other characters on television. He’s full of self-doubt and self-loathing, he self-medicates a variety of mental illnesses, and he makes some of the most horrifying decisions you’ve ever seen. If you’re going on that journey with him all over again, you need to be emotionally ready.
1
The Wire
A Hauntingly Realistic Look At Society’s Darkest Problems
The Wire is one of the greatest TV shows ever made (it might be the greatest, period), but it’s not an easy watch. It’s a hauntingly authentic look at the darkest problems embedded in American society. It deals with poverty, drug addiction, police brutality — basically all the worst things happening on the streets of the average U.S. city.
As much as I love The Wire, it’s not a comfort show by any means. It takes a lot of emotional preparation before going into a rewatch and seeing Bubbles being incessantly bullied or Chiquan getting slashed across the face in the classroom or Duquan slowly slipping into heroin dependency. The Wire takes a lot out of you.