HBO produces the most well-reviewed original content around, per new analysis

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about a study that compared demand for various TV shows available on different pay-to-watch entertainment networks. That study found that HBO was the most-demanded network around, thanks in no small part to the popularity of Game of Thrones. There were graphs and everything.

As a follow-up of sorts, we present this analysis of pay channels and services by Cut Cable Today. In this case, author Andrew Dodson isn’t comparing how popular the shows produced by these networks are—he’s comparing how well-reviewed they are. He considered at how various critics rated shows by looking at their aggregated review scores on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, averaged those numbers together, and came up with a score for each network. With a combined score of 82.3, HBO once again came out squarely on top.

In fact, it didn’t just come out on top—it beat closest competitor Showtime by a decent margin, and avoided all the critical jockeying for placement the other networks in the analysis are doing. Once again, Game of Thrones had something to do with this. With a combined score of 92, it’s the highest-rated HBO show currently on the air.

Metacritic        Rotten Tomatoes         Average

If you count HBO shows that have gone off the air, both The Wire and The Sopranos beat out Game of Thrones just slightly, with scores of 94 and 95 respectively. Still, not too shabby. Also of interest: the highest-rated show Cut Cable looked at was Master of None, Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix-only comedy, with a score of 96. That’s a brand new show, though, and it’s possible the numbers will go down with time.

Anyway, I hope this satiated your bottomless need to look at graphs and charts for the day. It should do me for a few hours, at least.