Know What You're Watching

Your TV has an IQ.
Do you know the score?

Every film and show, scored across three dimensions of intelligence. Cognitive depth. Educational value. Entertainment quality. One number that tells you what you're really watching.

Not a test of your intelligence — a measure of what the show demands of it. How we score →

Not sure what to watch tonight? See tonight's picks →

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Titles Scored
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Dimensions
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Sub-Metrics
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Critics Consulted

How We Compare

Critics rate quality. We measure intelligence. See where our IQ scores diverge most from Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb — and why.

What You Can Do

Top Lists

Highest Rated

Most Cognitive

Brain Diets

Curated viewing plans built around what you want to learn, develop, or explore.

Post-Work TV — New

Brain Diets for people with jobs.

Five playlists matched to the state you are actually in: post-call exhaustion, post-deadline decompression, post-travel jet lag, Sunday dread, and the nights you can't peak. Curated by Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH — surgeon, Navy veteran.

Explore the five
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Post-Call
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Post-Deadline
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Post-Travel
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Sunday Reset
05
Can't Peak

Compare Any Two Titles

Type two shows. See which one makes your brain work harder.

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The IQ Score Explained

Three dimensions, published methodology, built on cognitive science.

40% weight
Cognitive Stimulation
How hard does this make your brain work? Narrative complexity, dialogue density, cognitive load, conceptual novelty.
35% weight
Educational Value
Did you learn something you can use? Factual density, domain knowledge, practical applicability, accuracy.
25% weight
Entertainment Quality
Is it actually good? Smart content shouldn't be boring. Boring content fails our standard too.

About the scale: TV IQ is a proprietary 0–200 score — not a psychometric IQ test. It measures the intellectual demand a title places on its audience across three weighted dimensions. A score of 160+ (Masterclass) means peak cognitive engagement, not that you need a 160 IQ to watch it. The scale is purpose-built for media comparison, not human intelligence measurement.

Read the full methodology

Built for people who take this seriously.

1,892
Titles scored
3
Scored dimensions · 12 sub-metrics
22%
Masterclass tier — not inflated
177
Kids shows · reviewed and verified by a school psychologist
Scoring Distribution
Masterclass ≥160: 22.7%
Stimulating ≥130: 34.3%
Competent ≥100: 37.0%
Passive ≥70: 5.0%
Numbing <70: 1.0%
Normal distribution — not inflated crowd-pleasing.
Score Integrity
The IQ Score measures what a title demands of your brain — not how much people liked it. Popular shows score lower when they're cognitively undemanding. That's intentional.
Framework
Grounded in published cognitive science. Kids titles additionally reviewed and verified by Cordelia Witty, EdS., NCSP against the CASEL social-emotional learning framework.
Full methodology →

New scores and Brain Diets, every week. Free.

Every Saturday: 3 new IQ scores, 1 Brain Diet playlist, and the thinking behind what's worth watching. Free.

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New Scores Every Week

First look at every new title added to the database. Be the first to know when your favourites get their IQ.

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Weekly Brain Diets

Curated playlists built around what you're trying to get from your screen time. Think, learn, or unwind.

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Score Breakdowns

Deep-dives into how we scored trending titles. The three-dimensional analysis behind the number.

Get the Intelligentsia Report

New scores + Brain Diets, free every week.