4 addictive HBO Max miniseries you can binge in a day

I’m not afraid to admit that I prefer binge-watching TV shows over the whole one-episode-a-week thing. The binge allows for a fuller, richer experience, regardless of whether the show contains multiple seasons or is a one-off miniseries. While I love the multi-season binge, I will say that diving into a miniseries sometimes proves more satisfying due to sharper writing and less filler.

Since HBO continues to pump out award-winning series that like to redefine what we think we know about television shows, we’re exploring four of the most addictive HBO Max miniseries that are so neatly packaged, you can binge them in a single day.

The Night Of

One of television’s most overlooked whodunnit mysteries

Easily one of 2016’s best and most overlooked HBO miniseries is The Night Of, an eight-episode crime thriller that keeps you guessing at every turn, thanks to some masterful execution techniques. Riz Ahmed (Prime Video’s Bait) and John Turturro (Barton Fink) star in this story about a complex murder case with heavy cultural and political overtones.

Pakistani-American college student Naz (Ahmed) is having a perfectly normal night until he meets an intriguing young woman. After spending the night together, he wakes up the next day to her bloody, lifeless body riddled with stab wounds. While in police custody, awaiting his arraignment, Naz comes to realize his survival doesn’t depend on his attorney, John Stone (Turturro), but instead depends on a certain inmate at Rikers Island.

As the show tracks the investigation, viewers are left trying to piece together what happened. Did Naz kill her? Was he set up? Was her murder the result of accidental bad luck? It’s a familiar premise with a complex mystery that is pieced together so brilliantly, it forces us to vacillate between thinking he did it and believing he’s innocent. If its 13 Emmy nominations, including for Outstanding Limited Series, and two Golden Globe nominations aren’t enough to convince you of its worthiness, its 94% critics’ score and 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes should do it.

The Staircase

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story meets The Jinx

If you’re a fan of true crime and haven’t seen The Staircase, you’re going to want to hop all over this gritty crime drama. The only thing more addictive than this dramatization is the 2018 Netflix documentary of the same name on which it is based. Both focus on American novelist Michael Peterson, who mostly wrote Vietnam War-based fiction, thriller novels, and biographical memoirs.

Peterson called 911 on December 9, 2001, to report that his wife had fallen down the stairs. On December 20, following an autopsy report indicating that she died from severe head trauma, Peterson was arrested and charged with her murder. HBO Max’s miniseries is full of numerous twists and turns, and they aren’t fictional, which makes the story that much more shocking.

Historically, dramatizations tend to pale in comparison to the documentaries covering the same topic, but The Staircase miniseries is a giant exception. The series is incredibly riveting, featuring great writing and acting that captivates viewers, even those who’ve seen the documentary first. You will be entranced.

Sharp Objects

Family roots cut deepest

Sharp Objects is an incredibly gripping, eight-episode Southern Gothic psychological thriller about a troubled journalist who returns home to cover the apparent murders of two girls. The miniseries is based on the debut novel of the same name by author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).

Amy Adams stars as emotionally troubled crime reporter Camille Preaker. Not only does she struggle with alcoholism, but recently, she has also been discharged from a psychiatric hospital after years of self-abuse. After returning home to Wind Gap, Missouri, to her childhood home, she finds herself stuck right back under the harsh, critical eye of her socialite mother, Adora (Patricia Clarkson), and is forced to confront her personal demons.

Praised by critics as a masterpiece, Sharp Objects features a slow-burn narrative with hypnotic pacing, a creepy Southern-Goth atmosphere, compelling performances by Adams and Clarkson, and an intense psychological mystery that is both disturbing and addictive. You will not be able to tear your eyes away from the screen. The show earned eight Primetime Emmy nominations, won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Clarkson, and two Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Actress in a Limited Series for Amy Adams and Best Supporting Actress for Clarkson.

Chernobyl

Zeroing in on one of mankind’s most epic disasters

Packing the impact of a King Kong-sized punch, Chernobyl is a 2019 historical drama series that revolves around the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster that occurred in the former Soviet Union when a reactor exploded, as well as the clean-up efforts that followed. The event caused numerous deaths and would later be responsible for health issues in tens of thousands of people.

The five-part miniseries follows the people who worked at the plant in Chernobyl and the investigation that followed the horrific explosion. I went into it with hesitation, thinking it was just another retelling of a disastrous event, but I was pleasantly surprised. The show features spectacular writing that drenches this technical topic with such engaging storylines that they generate undivided viewer interest. Furthermore, it’s very well directed, features superb acting, and utilizes creative techniques like using muted colors to capture the feel of the Soviet Union circa the 1980s.

Written and created by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us), Chernobyl won Emmys for Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. You do not need to have knowledge of or interest in Soviet nuclear reactors to get hooked on this show. It is 100 percent engaging from start to finish on its own.

HBO Max has the best one-day binges

One of the best things about HBO Max is its library full of addictive originals. Rest assured, though, that if you only have a day for a binge that won’t waste your time, any of the above-listed shows are worth it, as are any of the platform’s other miniseries.