Okay, so we’re doing this, huh? Looking back at 2025 TV. And honestly? What a year. I mean, every year they say it’s a golden age of television, and usually, I roll my eyes a bit. Because come on, there’s always a lot of dross to wade through, right? But 2025? It actually felt different. Like the good stuff really just kept coming, wave after wave. And the performances? Man.

Watch With Us, bless their hearts, decided to take on the Herculean task of ranking the seven best. Which, look, good for them. I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole. Trying to pick just seven out of everything we saw – from Matthew Macfadyen absolutely chilling as Charles Guiteau in Death by Lightning (Netflix, obviously, they just throw money at everything) to Kathryn Hahn being Kathryn Hahn, but somehow even more Martha in The Studio? And don’t even get me started on Owen Cooper in Adolescence. That kid. Just… wow. Chilling doesn’t even begin to cover it. The sheer range of talent, it was wild.

But hey, they asked for my thoughts, and you know I always have a few. Or a hundred. So let’s dig into this list, or at least the start of it, because the whole “best of” thing is always a minefield. Especially when the Emmys just happened, and everyone’s still buzzing (or complaining, mostly complaining) about who got what. It’s never as simple as it seems.

The Impossible Task of Ranking – And Why We Still Do It

Here’s the thing about these lists – they’re impossible. Utterly, completely, laughably impossible. How do you compare someone doing a deeply nuanced dramatic turn to someone else pulling off comedic gold? Or a truly terrifying villain against a heartwarming hero? It’s apples and oranges, but everyone insists on making a fruit salad. And then judging the salad.

But we do it anyway, right? Because it’s fun. It sparks conversation. It makes us remember things we loved, or debate things we hated. It’s a way to figure out what stuck with us. And sometimes, just sometimes, it shines a light on something you might have missed. That’s the real use of these lists, I think. Not the definitive ranking, but the reminder of the good stuff. (And let’s be real, a good excuse to argue with your friends over a coffee or three.)

2025, though, really did make it extra hard. I remember watching almost every week thinking, “Okay, this is the performance of the year.” Then the next week, something else would drop and blow me away again. It was a good problem to have, for us viewers. For the poor souls making these lists? A nightmare. An absolute nightmare. I’ve been doing this for fifteen years, seeing countless “best of” lists, and I still don’t envy the people who have to actually make them. My job is just to comment, which is way more fun.

The Double Whammy: Storrie and Williams in ‘Heated Rivalry’

So, Watch With Us kicks off their list at #7 and #6 with a joint entry: Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry. And you know what? Fair. Actually, more than fair. I was genuinely surprised by that show. When it first premiered, honestly, I was like, another sports drama? Another gritty look at the cutthroat world of competitive… whatever it was. Curling? Fencing? (It was competitive cooking, for the record. Culinary gladiators, essentially.) I was ready to skip it. But then the buzz started.

And what gets me is, it wasn’t just good writing, which it had in spades. It was these two. Storrie and Williams. They played these chefs, right, who were childhood friends turned bitter rivals. You’ve seen that trope a million times, I know. But they brought such an incredible, simmering tension to it. It wasn’t over-the-top melodrama. It was subtle. The way Storrie would just look at Williams across the kitchen, or the almost imperceptible flinch Williams would have when Storrie’s dish got rave reviews. You could feel decades of history, of shared dreams and crushing disappointments, in every single scene. That’s hard to do.

For me, the fascinating part was how they mirrored each other. One was the fiery, rebellious talent, the other the disciplined, technically perfect one. But they both had this deep-seated insecurity, this desperate need for validation from the other. It wasn’t just about winning the culinary competition; it was about winning a personal war. And they played it so, so well. Individually, fantastic. Together? Electric. A true masterclass in how two actors can elevate each other’s work.

I mean, think about it: they had to convey all this while also making us believe they were world-class chefs. (Which, okay, fair point, they probably had doubles for the super fancy knife work, but still.) The physicality of the kitchen, the stress, the exhaustion – they sold it. That’s a strong start to any list, putting them both there. It shows a real understanding of how chemistry can be a performance in itself.

The Art of the Unexpected Hit

The weird thing is, Heated Rivalry came out of nowhere. Seriously. No massive marketing push, no big-name showrunner attached that everyone was talking about. Just dropped on HBO Max one week and slowly, organically, people started talking about it. That’s one of TV’s greatest strengths, actually – its capacity to surprise. You get these quiet gems that just explode because the word of mouth is so strong. And usually, when that happens, it’s because of the performances. People connect with the characters, with the actors bringing them to life.

I’ve always thought that’s where streaming really shines, despite all its other issues (don’t even get me started on the content churn). It allows for these smaller, more focused stories to find an audience without needing to compete for prime-time network slots. A show like Heated Rivalry, with its intense character studies, might have struggled on traditional TV. But on a streamer, people could dig into it at their own pace, share it with friends, and really appreciate the craft.

And that’s why these specific choices – Storrie and Williams – make sense for a “best of” list. They weren’t just good; they were part of a larger phenomenon. They helped define one of those moments where everyone was saying, “Have you seen that show?” That’s a special kind of impact. It’s not just about the technical skill, but the cultural resonance. They made a difference, you know?

So, yeah, number 7 and 6? I can get behind that. It’s a testament to the power of two actors just absolutely nailing it, making you care about two competitive chefs more than you ever thought possible. And it reminds us that sometimes, the best stuff isn’t always the loudest stuff.

But wait – there’s more to this list, right? And I’m already anticipating some heated debates further up. Because if those two are at 7 and 6, who the heck is going to be at number one? What performance could possibly top that kind of nuanced, two-hander brilliance? I’m genuinely curious, and maybe a little terrified, to see the rest of it. What do you even put above something like that?