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The Best TV Shows on Cinemax

Every Cinemax Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Our curated list, current as of January 2025, showcases over 20 of Cinemax’s highest-rated series. Notable series such as Second City Television and SCTV Channel from Cinemax first graced the screens in 1976 and 1983. Cinemax’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1976 to 2019.

  • Banshee
    Banshee (2013)8.0

    Banshee is an American drama television series set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country and features an enigmatic ex-con posing as a murdered sheriff who imposes his own brand of justice while also cooking up plans that serve his own interests.

  • Warrior
    Warrior (2019)8.0

    A gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs.

  • The Knick
    The Knick (2014)7.9

    Set in downtown New York in 1900, 'The Knick' is centered on the Knickerbocker Hospital and its staff, notably Dr. John Thackery, the hospital's brilliant chief surgeon who pushes medicine's boundaries, pioneering new procedures despite a severe drug addiction.

  • SCTV Channel
    SCTV Channel (1983)7.8

    This show was spun off from "SCTV Network 90" which was cancelled after two seasons on NBC. The same cast from 1982-83, with the exception of John Candy, appears on this 45-minute sketch comedy series. It all starts when "SCTV" mastermind Guy Cabellaro announces that he's turning his station into a pay cable channel. The results are amusing, as the same manic humor and wacky characters that made the old SCTV Network so great continued to thrive. Unfortunately, the show was too expensive to produce for Cinemax's tastes and it was cancelled after one year.

  • Second City Television
    Second City Television (1976)7.4

    Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.

  • Strike Back
    Strike Back (2010)7.4

    The series follows John Porter, a former British Special Forces soldier, who is drafted back into service by Section 20, a fictional branch of the Secret Intelligence Service.

  • Quarry
    Quarry (2016)7.3

    The story of Mac Conway, a Marine who returns home to Memphis from Vietnam in 1972 and finds himself shunned by those he loves and demonized by the public. As he struggles to cope with his experiences at war, Conway is drawn into a network of killing and corruption that spans the length of the Mississippi River.

  • Life on Top
    Life on Top (2009)7.1

  • Outcast
    Outcast (2016)7.1

    Kyle Barnes has been plagued by possession since he was a child. Now an adult, he embarks on a spiritual journey to find answers, but what he uncovers could mean the end of life on Earth as we know it.

  • Chemistry
    Chemistry (2011)7.0

    The scandalous lives of Liz and Michael, a cop and a lawyer who meet in a near-fatal coincidence. Drama and comedy with inevitable and powerful chemistry between a man and woman that completely alter a destined life plan.

  • Jett
    Jett (2019)6.9

    Fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

  • Femme Fatales
    Femme Fatales (2011)6.5

    This provocative hit series tells the stories of dangerous women who find extraordinary ways of coping with their problems, channeling their survival instincts and bringing out their inner guile.

  • Co-Ed Confidential
    Co-Ed Confidential (2007)6.3

    Co-Ed Confidential is a softcore pornographic cable program that is Cinemax's erotic remake of National Lampoon's Animal House, it is shown on Cinemax After Dark. The series made its premiere in 2007 and has currently had four seasons and 52 episodes and 6 compilations.

  • The Girl's Guide to Depravity
    The Girl's Guide to Depravity (2012)6.1

    The Girl's Guide to Depravity is a comedy/drama series based on Heather Rutman's popular book and blog of the same name. The show debuted in the US on Cinemax in February of 2012, and has aired internationally in Latin America, Spain, Canada, and Japan.

  • Hot Line
    Hot Line (1995)5.5

    Hot Line is an American erotic anthology series featured on Cinemax during their "After Dark" schedule. The series features simulated sex scenes, and thus can be categorized as "softcore" or "voyeur". The premise of the show is listeners of a fictional radio show titled, "Hot Line", call in to recount their sexual exploits. Many high-profile porn stars made an appearance on the show. Catherine Bell appears naked in the "Brunch Club" episode.

  • Hotel Erotica
    Hotel Erotica (2002)5.5

    Hotel Erotica is a Softcore porn anthology television show that is broadcast on the Cinemax cable television channel during its Skinemax late-night block. It is also broadcast in the after hours timeslot on The Movie Network. The show format usually involved the hotel's proprietor reading a letter from a former guest talking about their adventure at the hotel. The episode would then be a flashback of the guest coming to the hotel and falling in love with someone. The hotel proprietor was initially Cloe Wilson in the first season. In the second season it was Jenny. In the next season, the show was relaunched as Hotel Erotica Cabo which followed a similar format. Many notable softcore and hardcore porn stars appeared on the show, such as Beverly Lynne, Monique Parent, Angela Davies, Jenna Jameson, Ron Jeremy, and former WWE Diva Candice Michelle.

  • The Erotic Traveler
    The Erotic Traveler (2007)5.5

    The Midland Art Gallery is the home base for this erotic series starring Divini Rai as erotic photographer Marissa Johanson and Kaylani Lei as her pupil Allison Kraft. The series uses photographs and works of art to take episodic settings all over the world.

  • Lingerie
    Lingerie (2009)5.5

    Lingerie is an erotic drama about a struggling New York City lingerie company, its owner Lacey Summers, and her friends and associates.

  • The Best Sex Ever
    The Best Sex Ever (2002)3.8

    Veronica hosts a midnight radio show called "The Best Sex Ever". Each night "after all the good girls and boys have gone to bed", she invites listeners to call in and share their own personal erotic tale about "the best sex you ever had". In each episode Veronica suggests a theme for that night's show, and one caller's story is presented, with Veronica occasionally interjecting comments or questions.

  • Thrills
    Thrills (2001)3.0

    The paper edits the stories to include titillation and a seductive flavor that mirrors the lives of the reporters to push boundaries. The reporters take on increasingly bigger risque stories which leads to rivals, danger and intrigue.