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The 29 HBO shows that critics and audiences both agree are wonderful

by Carrie Wittmer on Jan 19, 2018, 8:58 AM

HBO has given us the gift of some of the greatest TV shows of all time — like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Wire," and "Game of Thrones" — throughout its history of original programming.

But HBO has also released a lot of prestige shows that critics love, but normal people don't. And the other way around.

When audiences and critics agree, however, you know the show is definitely worth your time. This is especially relevant now that old shows are available to binge-watch on HBO Now or HBO Go.

So which shows do both groups agree on? There's "Game of Thrones," of course, but there are also 28 more that make the cut.

We ranked these universally beloved HBO shows according to their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates critic reviews and audience scores and assigns each show a score. We chose shows with a combined score average of over 80 percent, then ranked them by those averages (with audience score breaking any ties).

Here are all the HBO shows that critics and audiences agree on, according to their scores on Rotten Tomatoes:

(Note: We left off animated, children's, documentary/reality, and foreign programming, as well as miniseries, with a few notable exceptions.)

29. "Big Love" (2006-11), five seasons

Critic score: 85%

Audience score: 77%

Average: 81%

"A very original, extremely well-acted and complexly written drama." — SFGate

28. "The Young Pope" (2017), one-season miniseries

Critic score: 78%

Audience score: 85%

Average: 81.5%

"'The Young Pope' is TV's equivalent of a dorm-room poster of Bob Marley blowing smoke or the Lenny Bruce mugshot: a depleted symbol of a radical reaction to society that finally most clearly represents the status quo." — Collider