Apple TV+ has released the trailer for For All Mankind Season 5, and it's a reminder that one of television's best dramas is also one of its least-watched. This is the prestige TV discovery problem in miniature.
For All Mankind, for the unfamiliar, is Ronald D. Moore's alternate history series that asks, "What if the Soviet Union won the space race?" It's a sprawling, ambitious show that combines hard science fiction with character drama, political intrigue, and genuinely spectacular production values.
It's also the kind of show that HBO would have turned into a cultural phenomenon a decade ago. But on Apple TV+, it's a footnote.
This isn't a knock on Apple. They've invested heavily in quality programming. Ted Lasso became a phenomenon. Severance broke through. But their subscriber base is still a fraction of Netflix or Disney+, which means even their best shows struggle for visibility.
The result is that For All Mankind has been running for five seasons to critical acclaim and virtually no mainstream awareness. It's won Emmys. It's developed a devoted fanbase. But ask a random person on the street about it, and you'll get blank stares.
This is the paradox of Peak TV: we have more high-quality television than ever before, and less shared cultural experience. There are dozens of shows as good as anything HBO made in its golden age, but they're scattered across eight streaming services, each with their own subscriber base.
For All Mankind deserves to be in the same conversation as The Expanse, Battlestar Galactica, and the other great science fiction series of the streaming era. It's thoughtful, character-driven, and willing to take big swings with its premise.
But it's also a show that requires patience and investment. It's not designed for viral moments or meme-friendly clips. It's designed to be savored over multiple seasons, watching the alternate timeline diverge further from our own.
That's a hard sell in 2026, when most shows need to hook you in the first ten minutes or you're scrolling to something else.
So here's my pitch: if you have Apple TV+ and you haven't watched For All Mankind, start with Season 1. Give it three episodes. Let it build. Watch the alternate history unfold. And then join the small but passionate group of people who've been shouting about this show for five years.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything—except me, occasionally. And I know that For All Mankind is one of the best shows you're not watching. That should change.
