Woke Patrol
Woke Patrol
Most Woke Shows: Top 10 Woke TV Shows
As of June 2025
© HBO Max
Yes, this is an actual scene from 'Velma': race-swapped Velma's lesbian kiss with race-swapped Daphne. Yikes.
Remember when you first saw The Wire and for days afterwards you stayed up at night thinking about race, corruption and instutitional failure? Now imagine they remade it and instead of complex, nuanced narrative they just had the characters stare directly into the camera and repeat the words “racism bad”. Welcome to modern woke tv shows.
What Is a “Woke” TV Show?
Stories exploring race, gender, sexuality, power dynamics, or all of the above can be used as tools that we as a society use to self-reflect and grow. But the difference between “exploration” and “indoctrination” is whether those themes are woven naturally into the fabric of the narrative, or written as the fabric itself.
A Time to Kill, for example, is not woke even though it's central theme is racism in the justice system, because it does so via a realistic and compelling story and not lecture. A woke show, like the ones listed in this article, treat those themes like bolt-on accessories, usually overshadowing any semblance of plot or character development along the way. It's less “show, don't tell” and more “lecture, don't entertain.”
Top 10 Most Woke TV Shows
Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2022)
Plot: Penny Proud's has some toxic friendships.
What makes it woke? To any normal person a childrens show would seem an odd place to advocate for reparations for slavery and cheerfully and unironically proclaim “black people can't be racist”. Say hello to Louder and Prouder. Take one of those corporate DEI seminars you're forced to sit through at work, dial it up to eleven, remove any pretense of balance, and it'll still be not even half as woke as this show. If you can stomach the nightmare of a clip below then you're a stronger person than we are.
Velma (2023)
Plot: Why would we put Scooby-Doo in a Scooby-Doo property?
What makes it woke? The show that somehow has both the the left and right united in mockery. Velma is so aggressively “look how queer, diverse, and self-aware we are” that it forgets to add plot, jokes, or characters worth a damn. It treats the source material with such contempt that when it's not dropping Scooby altogether it's race-swapping everyone but white-skinned Fred (leaving Fred open to juvenile jabs like a ‘small penis’ joke—something that would never fly if reversed). Not clever. Not subversive. Just smug, overly loud and pointless.
Sex Education (2019)
Plot: Let's explore every corner of the sexuality spectrum.
What makes it woke? Sex Education begins strong (sharp writing and genuine emotional depth) which makes its decline into diversity bingo card in later seasons especially painful. Every new episode feels like a roll call of identities: gender fluidity, polyamory, asexuality, pansexuality, neopronouns, you name it, they’ve got it. Rather than weaving these themes organically into the story, the show shoehorns in each one and leaves the show feeling more after-school PSA than compelling drama. There’s still a story buried in there somewhere, if you can find it under all the labels.
Dear White People (2017)
Plot: Privileged Ivy league students definitely have a complete understanding of how the world works.
What makes it woke? Long, preachy monologues that sound more like Twitter threads than actual dialogue. Feels like the scriptwriters gave up on writing and just copy-pasted in essays from their racial studies class. Every conversation oozes with 'I’m right, you’re problematic' energy, like the characters are competing for who can be the most morally superior. Nuance? Gone. Humor? Rare. It's all so self-serious that any chance for genuine storytelling or character development gets buried under layers of ideological grandstanding, leaving scripts that seem written to score retweets rather than to open a dialogue.
Queen Cleopatra (2023)
Plot: Cleopatra pushes the definition of 'documentary' to its absolute limit.
What makes it woke? Queen Cleopatra doesn’t just take creative liberties, it steamrolls over established history, prompting the Egyptian antiquities ministry to call the show “a falsification of Egyptian history”. A race-swapped cast member isn’t necessarily an issue on its own (although it's certainly more dubious in a “documentary”). The actual problem is that the show builds an entire narrative around a distinctly modern identity lens. Instead of exploring the real Cleopatra’s political brilliance, strategy or lineage, we get a shallow, quasi-fictional character dumbed down to modern talking points.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014)
Plot: John Oliver demonstrates why he didn't get The Daily Show.
What makes it woke? Who needs nuance when you’ve got a studio audience trained to erupt on cue? Turns out journalism is a breeze when you have no qualms reducing every issue into a black-and-white, knowing your audience will eat it up rather than push back. It'd be more forgivable if the show were played entirely for laughs, but the pseudo-intellectualism and faux moral grandstanding mean the show comes off less NPR and more 'dorm-room diatribe'.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
Plot: Nothing says 'female empowerment' quite like defining yourself as the 'she-' version of a man's role.
What makes it woke? You know that friend-of-a-friend you've got who won't shut up about what their therapist told them this week? If that person were a tv show they'd be She-Hulk. What could’ve been a fun legal comedy with a unique perspective turns into a spite-driven meta-sitcom obsessed with telling off imagined haters. Every time the show hints at depth (Jen’s struggle with identity, career, or relationships) it’s immediately undercut by a pointless fourth-wall break about toxic fandoms. So brave. 'Hulk smash'? More like 'Hulk bored'.
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Plot: Offred escapes patriarchy but comes back to it every season.
What makes it woke? The Handmaid’s Tale starts with a chilling premise and strong execution, but as the seasons drag on (and oh boy, do they drag), and the show veers away from its source material, it slips quickly into the realm of internet fanfiction. The real-world parallels become so heavy-handed, it’s as if the writers fear the audience might miss the message unless it’s screamed at them in voiceover. And scream Offred shall.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Plot: The prime directive is now emotional validation.
What makes it woke? There's a reason that Trekkies call this one a soap opera in space. CBS revived a beloved sci-fi franchise only for it to become a checklist of modern ideological trends, wrapped in emotional monologues and whispered affirmations. Rather than letting themes of diversity and inclusion emerge organically (something classic Star Trek often excelled at) the show foregrounds identity politics in a way that feels performative and heavy-handed.
Sense8 (2015)
Plot: How many combinations of these eight people will hook up?
What makes it woke? The show is less interested in its genuinely interesting sci-fi premise than in delivering a constant stream of identity affirmations, group hugs, and slo-mo orgies set to synth-pop. It’s a diversity showcase where every character is a walking flag, and every plot point is an excuse for yet another speech about acceptance, liberation, or chosen family. Subtlety? Not in this galaxy.
Final Thoughts
That was ten of the worst but there are plenty more where that came from. Search woke ratings for films, shows, books and video games in our database, all for free.
Disclaimer: In a free society the right to critique art is essential and protected as a form of free speech and freedom of expression. The reviews and commentary on this site represent personal opinions and interpretations. They are not statements of fact and should not be taken as factual claims about any individual, company, or creative work.