What is The Leftovers's IQ Score?

The Leftovers has an IQ Score of 165/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Masterclass tier. The score breaks down to 44/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 34/50 Educational Value, and 47/50 Craft & Quality.

Is The Leftovers educational?

The Leftovers is moderate on educational value, 34/50 on TVI's rubric. Some learning happens, but it isn't the show's primary work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

The Leftovers IQ Score 165/200

The Leftovers has an IQ Score of 165/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-10-05·Methodology

dramamystery

165/ 200

Masterclass TVI Essential

Exceptional cognitive and educational substance, delivered with craft that sustains close attention

The Leftovers poster, IQ Score 165/200, Masterclass tier on TV Intelligentsia

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

Cinematic Score/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.
Cinematic Score: composition quality, emotional impact, and how the music integrates with the work. Does not affect the IQ Score.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,608 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

TVI Essential · Consensus

The Leftovers scores 165/200 on the TVI IQ Score, Masterclass tier. Across three seasons, Damon Lindelof's series treats grief, faith, and the limits of explanation through some of the most formally ambitious structural construction in 2010s television, earning Cultural Impact and Rewatch Value. TVI Essential is an editorial designation; IQ Score is a content rating, not an intelligence measurement.

The TVI Take

Two percent of humanity vanishes without explanation. The show uses this premise to explore grief, faith, identity, and the search for meaning when answers don't exist.

Exceptionally high cognitive and emotional demands. Educational value from its engagement with theology and philosophy.

People & Production Tom Perrotta · Mimi Leder · Warner Bros. Television Studios 27 connections