Metalcore Nerds: A Music Podcast About Pop Culture · Sean Mott

Top Ten TV Shows of 2025 w/ TJ Zwarych of Agents of Fandom

January 13, 2026·56 min·3 clips

Stranger Things season five lands a 40-minute epilogue that Sean calls one of his favorite series finales.

1. Metalcore Nerds: A Music Podcast About Pop Culture ranks the top 10 TV shows of 2025 with Sean Ma and TJ Zwarych. 2. Sean Ma is the host, and TJ Zwarych is a podcaster, writer, and editor-in-chief of Agents of Fandom. 3. The episode asks which 2025 shows held up on quality, personal taste, and rewatch appeal. 4. Sean says he watched 62 series from 2025 and used that volume to justify his top 10. 5. Sean names Your Friends and Neighbors, All Her Fault, Smoke, and MobLand as honorable mentions. 6. TJ adds Ironheart, Stick, Skeleton Crew, Invincible, The Morning Show season four, Overcompensating, and Adults as his near-miss picks. 7. Sean and TJ compare how shows like Invincible and Gen V connect character trauma to powers and larger franchise setups. 8. The conversation treats The Rehearsal season two as a documentary-style project built around pilot and co-pilot communication. 9. Paradise gets framed as a Hulu puzzle box from the creator of This Is Us, with Sterling K. Brown at the center. 10. Sean cites the first episode of Paradise as the reason the show became a week-to-week watch. 11. Gen V season two earns praise for its college setting, its cast, and Hamish Linklater’s villain performance. 12. It: Welcome to Derry gets singled out for its 1960s setting, its lore, and the way it ties into the films. 13. Sean says Pluribus works as a sci-fi mystery box led by Rhea Seehorn as Carol Sturka. 14. He also says Pluribus invites multiple interpretations, including AI, capitalism, social media, and fascism. 15. Daredevil Born Again is described as a revived canon continuation of the Netflix Daredevil series after a major creative overhaul. 16. TJ says The Studio is the funniest show he watched in 2025, helped by meta structure and guest stars playing caricatures of themselves. 17. The tone stays conversational and fan-driven, with both hosts freely swapping rankings and reacting to each other’s lists. 18. The pace is energetic and opinionated, but the discussion stays grounded in specific shows, performances, and season details. 19. Fans who follow prestige TV, superhero shows, and puzzle-box dramas will get the most from this episode. 20. Viewers who avoid franchise television or end-of-year rankings may skip it.

As heard by us

A relaxed TV countdown that feels specific, lively, and lived-in.

Sean Ma hosts the conversation with TJ Zwarych, and the focus stays on year-end TV rankings. What makes it land is not the list so much as the way each pick gets a sharp, easy defense, with the talk moving naturally through superhero TV, horror, and broader pop culture…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a fan-brained TV ranking with real, specific opinions.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Metalcore Nerds: A Music Podcast About Pop Culture