TamilTVShows

From Today's TV Programs to tonight's choice

The old TamilTVShows, as the Wayback Machine kept it, opened every day with a list called Today's TV Programs: the serials and shows of Sun TV, Vijay TV, Zee Tamil and the other channels, each with the date of its latest episode. It was a schedule, and a schedule answers one question above all: what fits into the time I have?

This guide keeps that question and drops the clock. TamilTVShows sorts 158 Tamil titles by length. Sixty-four series sit on four shelves by their number of episodes: up to six, seven or eight, nine to twelve, and thirteen or more. Ninety-four films sit on five shelves by their running time: under two hours, two hours to two hours nineteen, two hours twenty to two hours thirty-nine, two hours forty to two hours fifty-nine, and three hours or more. The board on the home page, Today's viewing: nine shelves by length, lets you pick a shelf by the evening you have, then a title by its rating.

Every shelf holds its most voted titles on TMDB, the community film database, so each shelf mixes famous titles with a few smaller ones. The series range from Marmadesam, a mystery serial of 1996, to the new streaming series of 2026; the films from Nayakan in 1987 to Blast and Made in Korea in 2026.

How the shelves are filled

TamilTVShows starts from Tamil-language titles on TMDB with an English synopsis and a poster: films with at least ten votes and series with at least one. Reality shows, talk shows and documentaries are left out. So are a few daily soap operas, such as Pandiyan Stores and Chithi, whose episode lists TMDB records only in part, because their episode counts would put them on the wrong shelf.

The series are then sorted by the number of episodes that TMDB lists, across all seasons, and the films by their running time in minutes. Each of the four series shelves keeps every series that fits, up to twenty, and each of the five film shelves keeps its twenty-four most voted films. Only nine of the most voted Tamil films run under two hours, and only thirteen of the most voted run three hours or more, so those two shelves are smaller.

TamilTVShows in figures

The 158 titles span 1987 to 2026 and hold 9,593 votes on TMDB, with an average rating of 6.98. The 64 series hold 1,174 episodes between them; the middle series has eight episodes, and nine series have more than one season. The 94 films run 152 minutes on average, two and a half hours, and together they last about 238 hours, almost ten days of viewing.

The series are young: 51 of the 64 come from 2020 or later, and 2022 alone brings fifteen. Their vote counts are small, 319 votes for all 64, so the films hold almost all the votes of the guide. The most voted film is Enthiran, with 274 votes, and the most voted series Suzhal - The Vortex, with 38. Twenty-nine titles are rated 7.5 or more with at least five votes and form the list Rated 7.5 or more.

The four series shelves

The series are the heart of TamilTVShows, as they were of the old site, and they also show how Tamil television has changed. The old site listed daily serials. Most of the 64 series in this guide are short, made to be watched in a few evenings. The middle series has eight episodes, and only eight of the 64 have more than twenty.

Series of up to six episodes

The shortest shelf holds thirteen series, each finished in six episodes or fewer, the right size for one long evening or two short ones. The most voted is the anthology Paava Kadhaigal, from 2020, four short films about people who dare to dream and those who stand in their way, rated 7.6 from 24 votes. The Village, from 2023, with Arya, follows a man stranded in the hinterland of Tamil Nadu who searches for his missing family with the help of three locals.

Anthologies suit this length well. Modern Love Chennai, from 2023, is a bouquet of love stories, funny and puzzling, created by Thiagarajan Kumararaja; Victim, created by Chimbu Deven, follows four people who must face the results of their choices; Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa tells five tales of love and hope; and Story of Things tells five stories of supernatural events around ordinary objects. Among the single stories, Chutney Sambar, from 2024, with Yogi Babu as an orphaned street vendor who finds himself part of his wealthy stepbrother's family, is rated 8.4, and Engga Hostel follows six students in an engineering hostel.

Series of seven or eight episodes

The busiest series shelf holds twenty series of seven or eight episodes, the most common length in the guide. November Story, from 2021, with Tamannaah Bhatia, leads with 17 votes: a celebrated crime novelist with Alzheimer's is found at the scene of a murder, unable to remember what happened, and his daughter must find the truth. Vilangu, from 2022, rated 8.0, follows a police officer under pressure at home who must solve a murder that puts his whole station on edge.

The shelf is rich in comedy and family stories as well. Triples sends three friends to Goa to save their business; Sweet Kaaram Coffee takes three women of three generations on a road trip; Kuthukku Pathu, rated 8.3, follows friends who try to sort out a couple's quarrel; Akash Vaani follows a divorced couple pretending to be married at a college reunion; and Meme Boys four students who run an anonymous meme page about their college. On the darker side, Live Telecast, Venkat Prabhu's haunted-house series, is rated 8.1, and Ayali follows a girl who dreams of becoming a doctor in a village bound by old customs.

Series of nine to twelve episodes

The third series shelf holds fifteen series of nine to twelve episodes, the length of a short television season. The most voted is Navarasa, from 2021, an anthology of nine films on the nine emotions of Indian aesthetic theory, created by Mani Ratnam, with 17 votes. Inspector Rishi, from 2024, follows a sceptical one-eyed crime branch inspector over two seasons, and Mathagam, from 2023, a police officer facing a gangster thought to be dead.

This shelf has the most varied subjects of the four. Auto Shankar retells the crimes of the late 1980s and early 1990s that Chennai still remembers; Queen follows a brilliant girl forced into acting who later turns to politics; Time Enna Boss!? makes an IT worker host four time travellers in his new flat; Journey puts five candidates through a contest for a single job; and Muthu Alias Kaattaan, from 2026, with Vijay Sethupathi, tells the story of a man who becomes a legend. It is also the shelf with the lowest average rating, 5.84, because several of its series have only one to three votes.

Series of thirteen episodes or more

The longest series shelf holds sixteen series of thirteen episodes or more, and it has the highest average rating of all nine shelves, 8.29, though many of its series have only one to five votes. The two most voted are crime series in more than one season: Suzhal - The Vortex, from 2022, with 38 votes, the most voted series of the guide, about a girl who goes missing in a small Tamil Nadu town, and Vadhandhi, about a police officer investigating the murder of a young woman. Iru Dhuruvam, from 2019, rated 8.2, and Fingertip, an anthology about the damage a single social media post can do, follow.

The shelf also reaches back to the beginnings of Tamil television drama. Marmadesam, from 1996, whose title means land of mystery, is a series of five stand-alone mystery stories in 83 episodes, directed by Naga. Ramany Vs Ramany, from 1998, is introduced as the first Tamil comedy in the sitcom format. At the other end sit the long new series of 2025 and 2026, such as The Court, about a young lawyer facing her famous opponents, Resort and Office, each running to fifty episodes or more.

The five film shelves

Tamil films are long. The 94 films of this guide run 152 minutes on average, and the middle film runs 154, more than two and a half hours. That is why the five film shelves are cut where they are: two shelves of 24 films each cover two hours twenty to two hours fifty-nine, while films under two hours are rare enough to fit on one small shelf.

Films under two hours

Only nine of the most voted Tamil films run under two hours, and they are some of the best rated of the guide: the shelf averages 7.04, and five of its nine films are rated 7.0 or more. Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, Karthick Naren's police thriller of 2016, leads with 99 votes and runs 106 minutes; Visaranai, Vetrimaaran's film of the same year about migrant workers beaten by the police, runs 118 and is the best rated at 7.9; Kaaka Muttai, about two slum boys who long to taste pizza, runs 109 and is rated 7.8.

The shortest of the nine is Game Over, from 2019, at 97 minutes, a thriller with Taapsee Pannu as a game designer afraid of the dark. Irudhi Suttru, Sudha Kongara's boxing drama, runs 109 minutes; Mysskin's ghost story Pisaasu 114; the horror film Demonte Colony 116; and Made in Korea, from 2026, about a woman from a small Tamil Nadu town who moves to South Korea, 113. For a weeknight, this shelf is the place to start.

Films of 2 hours to 2 h 19

The second film shelf holds 24 films that run two hours to two hours nineteen. It is led by the horror film Yavarum Nalam, with 94 votes, and Karthik Subbaraj's Pizza, with 90, and its best rated films are Tourist Family, the 2025 comedy about a Sri Lankan family who start again in India, at 7.8, and Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal and the mystery Chithha, both at 7.7.

Mani Ratnam has four films on the shelf, Roja, Kannathil Muthamittal, O Kadhal Kanmani and Raavanan, and Dhanush leads three, Velaiyilla Pattathari, its sequel Velaiyilla Pattathari 2 and Thiruchitrambalam, with Maari as a fourth. The comedies Soodhu Kavvum and Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum, both by Nalan Kumarasamy with Vijay Sethupathi, sit beside thrillers such as U Turn, Maanagaram and Thadam, and beside Aruvi, about a young woman who takes on the society around her.

Films of 2 h 20 to 2 h 39

The middle film shelf holds 24 films of two hours twenty to two hours thirty-nine, the length of a full evening at the cinema, and it is the best rated film shelf, with an average of 7.13 and sixteen films rated 7.0 or more. It is led by Maharaja, with 273 votes, and Vikram Vedha, with 247, and its best rated film is Pariyerum Perumal, at 8.2, followed by Nayakan, the oldest film of the guide, at 7.9.

This is the shelf of the big modern classics: Kaithi, 96, Soorarai Pottru, Asuran, Thani Oruvan, Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect and Karnan. It also holds Mani Ratnam's Bombay, Rajinikanth's Baasha and Kabali, Shankar's 2.0 and Blast, the 2026 action thriller rated 7.8. If you can give a film two and a half hours, almost any pick from this shelf is a safe one.

Films of 2 h 40 to 2 h 59

The fourth film shelf holds 24 films of two hours forty to two hours fifty-nine and is the most voted shelf of the board, with 3,442 votes. It is the shelf of the star blockbusters. Enthiran, the most voted title of the guide with 274 votes, leads, followed by Amaran, Jai Bhim, Ratsasan and Vikram. Lokesh Kanagaraj has four films here, Vikram, Leo, Master and Coolie, and Vijay leads seven, among them Leo, Master, Mersal, Thuppakki, Kaththi, Sarkar and Bigil.

The best rated films of the shelf are Vada Chennai, at 7.8, followed by Vikram, Super Deluxe and Anbe Sivam at 7.7. The shelf also holds Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram, Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: Part I and Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal, a romantic comedy about two online scammers. For a weekend night with snacks and an interval, this is the shelf.

Films of three hours or more

The longest shelf holds thirteen films of three hours or more, and it is dominated by two directors. Shankar has four, Sivaji: The Boss, with 156 votes the most voted of the shelf, Anniyan, Indian and Nanban; Kamal Haasan stars in four, Indian, Hey Ram, Dasavatharam and Papanasam. Hey Ram is the longest film of the guide at 199 minutes, and Papanasam, at 181, is the best rated of the shelf at 7.8.

The other long films are Ghajini, Aayirathil Oruvan, Annamalai, Kanthaswamy, Thalaivaa and The Greatest of All Time. This shelf has the lowest average rating of the five film shelves, 6.63, and several of its films have low ratings, so it rewards a careful choice: start with Papanasam, Anniyan or Hey Ram, and keep a whole evening free.

Does length change the rating?

Read across the five film shelves, the ratings follow a gentle curve. Films under two hours twenty, 33 of them, average 6.91; films of two hours twenty to two hours thirty-nine average 7.13, the highest; films of two hours forty to two hours fifty-nine average 7.03; and films of three hours or more average 6.63, the lowest. The best rated Tamil films of the guide cluster around two and a half hours, and the very long films include several of its weakest.

The series shelves show a different pattern, because their vote counts are so small. The longest shelf has the highest average, 8.29, but most of its series have five votes or fewer, while the crime series with the most votes, Suzhal - The Vortex and Vadhandhi, are rated 6.9 and 7.1. For series, the vote count beside each rating matters more than the rating itself.

Film lengths across the decades

The films of the guide change length from decade to decade. The five films from the 1990s average 158 minutes and the fourteen from the 2000s 164 minutes, the longest decade in the guide. The 52 films of the 2010s average 146 minutes, the shortest decade, and the 22 films of the 2020s average 155. The 2010s are the decade of the compact film in this guide, from Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru and Visaranai to Kaaka Muttai and Maanagaram.

Directors and length

Each director has a typical length. Shankar's seven films in the guide average 176 minutes, from 2.0 at 149 to Sivaji: The Boss at 189, and four of the seven run three hours or more. A. R. Murugadoss's five average 166 minutes, and Lokesh Kanagaraj's six 162, from Maanagaram at 137 to Master at 179. Mani Ratnam, by contrast, keeps his films short for Tamil cinema: his seven films in the guide average 144 minutes, and only Nayakan and Ponniyin Selvan: Part I run past two and a half hours. Vetrimaaran's three average 142, with Visaranai, at 118, one of the shortest films on the board.

Stars and length

The stars have their lengths too. Kamal Haasan's eight films in the guide average 174 minutes and Vijay's twelve 170, the two longest averages among the leading actors; Rajinikanth's nine average 166 and Vikram's six 164. Suriya's ten films average 156 minutes and Vijay Sethupathi's ten 155. Dhanush's eight films average 144 minutes, the shortest of the leading actors, from Velaiyilla Pattathari 2 at 129 to Vada Chennai at 166.

If you want a shorter star film, then, Dhanush and Vijay Sethupathi are the safest choices; if you have a long evening and want a spectacle, Kamal Haasan and Vijay are the stars to choose.

What kind of series

The first genre that TMDB lists for each series shows what Tamil series are made of. Comedy comes first for 22 of the 64, crime for sixteen, drama for fifteen and mystery for eight. Counting every genre listed, comedy appears for 27 series and crime or mystery for 30. The comedies range from the campus comedy Meme Boys and the office comedy Office to the family comedies Ammuchi and Brothers and Sisters, and the crime series from Suzhal - The Vortex and Vilangu to Auto Shankar and Marmadesam.

Anthologies form a small group of their own: Paava Kadhaigal, Navarasa, Modern Love Chennai, Fingertip, Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa and Story of Things all tell several stories in one series. They are the easiest series to start and stop, because each episode or film can be watched on its own.

The old schedule

The capture of TamilTVShows from January 2017 shows a site built around a schedule. Its page title listed the channels it followed, Sun TV, Vijay TV, Raj TV, Jaya TV, Kalaignar TV, Zee Tamil, Polimer, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Puthuyugam and Thanthi TV, and its home page opened with Today's TV Programs, a dated list of the latest episodes of serials such as Valli and Kalyana Parisu. Its menu was a row of grey gradient buttons, each carrying a channel logo, with drop-down links to serials and shows.

That schedule belonged to daily television, with serials that ran for years. This guide keeps the buttons, the navy titles and the idea of choosing by time, and fills them with titles that can be watched from start to finish on legal services today: finished series, short and long, and films of every length.

Directors in both worlds

Several directors and creators appear on both sides of the board, with a series and with films. Mani Ratnam created the anthology Navarasa and directed seven films in the guide, from Nayakan to Ponniyin Selvan: Part I. Thiagarajan Kumararaja created Modern Love Chennai and directed Super Deluxe. Pushkar, co-director of Vikram Vedha, co-created Suzhal - The Vortex. Milind Rau made the series The Village and the horror film Aval.

The list goes on. Vetrimaaran is named as a creator of Pettaikaali, a series about a man who tames a bull to win the woman he loves, beside his films Visaranai, Asuran and Vada Chennai. M. Manikandan made the series Muthu Alias Kaattaan and the film Kaaka Muttai. Balaji Mohan made the comedy series As I'm Suffering From Kadhal and the film Maari, and Gautham Vasudev Menon, director of Vaaranam Aayiram, co-created Queen. For viewers who follow a director, these pairs are a good way to move between a series and a film.

The crime series

Crime and mystery are the backbone of the guide's series. The two most voted series, Suzhal - The Vortex and Vadhandhi, are both investigations of a young woman's disappearance or death, and both run sixteen episodes. Vilangu follows a police officer through a murder case; November Story a daughter who must find the truth about her father; Inspector Rishi a sceptical inspector; Kuttram Purindhavan a retired man who searches for a missing girl; and Irai, with R. Sarathkumar, a kidnapping case and a string of disappearances.

Some of the crime series reach for history or myth. Auto Shankar is based on real crimes in Chennai between 1985 and 1995; Om Kali Jai Kali sets a tale of revenge in 1995 against the Dasara festival; Aindham Vedham sends a woman to Varanasi for her mother's last rites, where a priest gives her an ancient relic to deliver. Oru Kodai Murder Mystery, set in a school, and Label, about an aspiring judge forced onto an unjust path, complete a shelf of puzzles that suit the short-series format.

The comedy series

Comedy is the first genre of more series than any other, and the comedies cover every kind of life. Campus and youth comedies include Meme Boys, Engga Hostel and As I'm Suffering From Kadhal; workplace comedies include Office, about analogue and digital habits clashing in a rural government office, and Police Police, about a policeman who hires a criminal to pose as a cop. Family comedies include Ammuchi, about an elder who solves every problem in the village of Kodangipalayam, and Brothers and Sisters, about a family bound by rituals and secrets.

Romantic comedies are here too: Nila Nila Odi Vaa, about a man who learns that the girl of his dreams is a vampire, Emoji, about a young couple drifting apart, and Akash Vaani, about a divorced couple at a reunion. The new long comedies of 2026, LBW: Love Beyond Wicket, about a washed-up PT teacher and a team of misfit students, and Resort, about a room-service boy in a luxurious hotel kitchen, run a hundred episodes or more each.

Family and village stories

A quieter group of series tells family and village stories. Anantham, from 2022, with Prakash Raj, follows a house that has sheltered families since 1964 and the son who returns to it; Parachute, from 2024, follows children who take their strict father's bike for a joyride; Ayali follows a girl who wants to become a doctor in a village of fearsome customs; and Chutney Sambar follows a street vendor drawn into a wealthy family.

These series are among the shortest of the guide, five to eight episodes each, and they are a gentle counterweight to the crime shelves. Most have only a handful of votes on TMDB, so they are easy to miss in a list sorted by popularity, and worth seeking out on their shelves.

The year of the Tamil series

The year 2022 is the busiest year for series in the guide, with fifteen of the 64. It brought Suzhal - The Vortex, Vadhandhi and Vilangu, three of the best known crime series; TamilRockerz, about the hunt for film pirates; Irai and Fall; the comedies Emoji, Kuthukku Pathu, Paper Rocket, Akash Vaani and Meme Boys; the anthologies Victim and Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa; and Anantham and Pettaikaali.

After 2022 the pace stays high: eleven series from 2023, seven from 2024, six from 2025 and five from 2026. Before 2017, by contrast, the guide holds only two series, Marmadesam from 1996 and Ramany Vs Ramany from 1998, which shows how recent the finished Tamil series on TMDB are.

Heroines first

Counting the first name on each cast list, eighteen titles in the guide are led by women, and thirteen of them are series, a much higher share than among the films. The series range widely: Tamannaah Bhatia in November Story, Kajal Aggarwal in Live Telecast, Anjali in Fall, Sai Dhanshika in Aindham Vedham and Abhirami in Oru Kodai Murder Mystery lead mysteries; Madhoo leads Sweet Kaaram Coffee, the road trip of three generations; Abi Nakshathra leads Ayali; and Yogalakshmi leads The Court, about a young lawyer facing her famous opponents.

Among the films, Taapsee Pannu leads Game Over, Samantha Ruth Prabhu leads U Turn, Aditi Balan leads Aruvi, Priyanka Arul Mohan leads Made in Korea and P. S. Keerthana, as the girl searching for her birth mother, leads Kannathil Muthamittal. All five films run two hours and twenty minutes or less, which makes them easy picks for a weeknight.

Short scares

Horror and suspense suit the short shelves. Eight films in the guide list Horror among their genres, and all eight run two hours and twenty minutes or less: Game Over at 97 minutes, Miruthan, a zombie thriller, at 106, Pisaasu at 114, Demonte Colony at 116, Pizza at 127, U Turn at 129, Aval at 136 and Yavarum Nalam at 137. Pizza, rated 7.0, and Demonte Colony, rated 6.9, are the best rated of the eight.

On the series side, Live Telecast, Venkat Prabhu's seven-episode series about a television crew trapped in a haunted house, is rated 8.1, and Story of Things tells five supernatural stories in one short series. For a scary night, start with one of these and keep the lights low.

Sequels across the shelves

A few stories in the guide come in parts, and their parts sometimes sit on different shelves. Enthiran, at 176 minutes, sits on the shelf of 2 h 40 to 2 h 59, and its sequel 2.0, at 149, on the shelf below. Velaiyilla Pattathari and Velaiyilla Pattathari 2, both with Dhanush, sit together on the shelf of 2 hours to 2 h 19, at 133 and 129 minutes. Suzhal - The Vortex and Inspector Rishi run over several seasons, and the guide counts all their episodes together.

When a story has a second part, check its length before you start: a sequel may be shorter or longer than the first film, and a second season can double the time a series needs.

Reading ratings and votes

The ratings on TamilTVShows come from TMDB and should be read with their vote counts. The films hold almost all the votes, 9,274 of 9,593, and their ratings are settled; Enthiran, Maharaja and Amaran each have more than 270 votes. The series hold only 319 votes between them, and many have one or two, so their ratings can jump with a single new vote. That is why the list Rated 7.5 or more asks for at least five votes, and why every row on the board is ordered by votes.

The best way to choose a series, then, is to use its length and synopsis first and its rating second. A series with eight votes and a rating of 8.1, such as Live Telecast, is a promising choice; a series with one vote and a rating of 10 tells you only that one viewer loved it.

Choosing by mood within a length

Within each length, the shelves mix moods, so you can choose by mood as well. On the shelf of films under two hours, Visaranai and Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru are tense, Kaaka Muttai is warm and funny, and Game Over is frightening. On the shelf of 2 hours to 2 h 19, Tourist Family and Thiruchitrambalam are gentle comedies, Pizza and U Turn are scary, and Kannathil Muthamittal and Aruvi are moving dramas.

On the middle shelf, 96 and Bombay are love stories, Kaithi and Vikram Vedha are crime thrillers, and Soorarai Pottru and Rocketry: The Nambi Effect are stories of ambition. On the fourth shelf, Super Deluxe and Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal are playful, Vada Chennai and Jai Bhim are serious, and Enthiran and Amaran are spectacles. Choose the length first, then the mood, and the evening will usually follow.

Two legends by the minute

Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan are the two stars whose films stretch the furthest across the guide, and their running times tell a story of their own. Rajinikanth's nine films run from Baasha, at 145 minutes, to Sivaji: The Boss, at 189. Between them sit 2.0 at 149, Kabali at 150, Jailer at 165, Coolie at 170, Petta at 172, Enthiran at 176 and Annamalai at 180. Six of the nine run more than two and a half hours.

Kamal Haasan's eight films run longer still, from Vishwaroopam at 147 minutes to Hey Ram at 199, the longest film of the guide. Nayakan runs 156 minutes, Anbe Sivam 160, Vikram 174, Papanasam 181, Indian 185 and Dasavatharam 188. Four of the eight run three hours or more. If you want to spend an evening with either legend, plan on the whole evening.

The longest series

Nine series in the guide run nineteen episodes or more. Iru Dhuruvam has nineteen episodes over two seasons, and Naam forty-four over two. The Court has 52 episodes, Marmadesam 83 over five stand-alone stories, Brothers and Sisters 84, Office, Police Police and Resort a hundred each, and LBW: Love Beyond Wicket 120, the longest series of the guide.

Six of these nine come from 2025 and 2026, and several of them have short episodes of twenty to thirty minutes, so a hundred episodes is closer to forty or fifty hours than to a hundred. They are the closest the guide comes to the daily serials of the old TamilTVShows schedule, but each one is a finished story that can be followed from the first episode to the last.

A month of viewing

If you have a month, TamilTVShows can fill it with variety. In the first week, take the four shortest films of the guide, Game Over, Miruthan, Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru and Kaaka Muttai, and two anthologies, Paava Kadhaigal and Victim. In the second, take a crime series of seven or eight episodes, November Story or Vilangu, and two films of about two hours, Pizza and Tourist Family.

In the third week, move to the middle and fourth film shelves for the modern classics, Kaithi, 96, Vada Chennai and Super Deluxe. In the fourth, settle into Suzhal - The Vortex over several evenings and close the month with one of the three-hour films, Papanasam or Hey Ram. Save the month to My list, and check each title with Watch now before its evening.

From daily serials to finished series

The difference between the old site and this guide is the difference between a schedule and a library. The old TamilTVShows followed serials day by day; a viewer arrived to see the latest episode. This guide holds titles that are complete, so a viewer can choose a whole story by its length, start it on the first evening and know when it will end.

That is the reason for the nine shelves. They turn the old question of what is on today into a new one, what fits tonight, and they answer it with a list of Tamil series and films that each have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Choosing for the company

Length is one question; company is another. For a family evening with children, the guide's warmest choices are Kaaka Muttai, at 109 minutes, Tourist Family, at 128, and Nanban, Shankar's college comedy, though at 181 minutes it needs a long evening. For two, the love stories 96, at 159 minutes, O Kadhal Kanmani, at 139, and Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal, at 162, are the obvious picks, and the series Akash Vaani and Emoji are short enough for a single weekend.

For a group of friends, the playful Super Deluxe, the haunted Pizza and the comedy series Triples, about three friends in Goa, all work well. For a night alone with a serious story, the guide offers Visaranai, Vada Chennai and the series Suzhal - The Vortex. Whatever the company, the length band printed on each poster tells you at a glance whether a title fits the evening you have.

And if the company disagrees, the anthologies are the peacemakers: Paava Kadhaigal, Navarasa and Modern Love Chennai each hold several short stories, so everyone can choose one, and the evening can end whenever the last story does.

Mani Ratnam by the minute

Mani Ratnam is the director to choose when you want a celebrated Tamil film that still fits a weeknight. His seven films in the guide run from Raavanan, at 134 minutes, to Ponniyin Selvan: Part I, at 167. Roja and Kannathil Muthamittal both run 137 minutes, O Kadhal Kanmani 139, Bombay 141 and Nayakan 156. Four of the seven run under two hours and twenty minutes, and all seven sit on the second, third and fourth film shelves, well short of the shelf of three-hour films.

His seven films also cover almost his whole career in the guide, from Nayakan in 1987 to Ponniyin Selvan in 2022, and they are well rated: Nayakan at 7.9, Kannathil Muthamittal at 7.7, Bombay at 7.3, O Kadhal Kanmani and Ponniyin Selvan at 7.1, and Roja and Raavanan at 7.0. A week of Mani Ratnam on TamilTVShows asks for less than eighteen hours in all, about seventeen, and it takes you from a Bombay gangster's rise to the Chola court, by way of Kashmir, the riots of Bombay and a little girl's search for her birth mother.

Planning by the evening

The simplest way to use TamilTVShows is to start from the time you have. For one evening of about two hours, open Films under two hours and choose Visaranai, Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru or Kaaka Muttai, or open Series of up to six episodes and start an anthology such as Paava Kadhaigal. For a longer evening, the middle film shelf holds the classics that run about two and a half hours, from Nayakan and Bombay to Kaithi, 96 and Pariyerum Perumal.

For a weekend, take a series of seven or eight episodes, such as November Story or Vilangu, or one of the longer films of the fourth shelf, such as Vada Chennai or Super Deluxe. For a whole week of evenings, Suzhal - The Vortex runs sixteen episodes over three seasons and Vadhandhi sixteen over two. And for a long holiday, the longest series, from Marmadesam to the new comedies of 2026, run from fifty to a hundred episodes.

A week of viewing

Here is one week that uses every shelf at least once. On Monday, watch Kaaka Muttai, 109 minutes. On Tuesday, start Paava Kadhaigal, four short films. On Wednesday, watch Pizza, 127 minutes. On Thursday and Friday, watch November Story, seven episodes. On Saturday, give the evening to Vada Chennai, 166 minutes. On Sunday, take on Papanasam, 181 minutes, the best rated film of the three-hour shelf.

That week covers about sixteen hours of Tamil storytelling, from a slum childhood and a haunted pizza delivery to a crime novelist's lost memory, a gangster saga of North Chennai and a father who hides a crime to protect his family. Save the titles to My list before you begin, and press Watch now on each to see where it streams in your country.

How to read the board

The board on the home page, Today's viewing: nine shelves by length, shows every shelf as a grey gradient button, like the menu buttons of the old site. The small line above each name tells you whether it holds Tamil TV shows or Tamil films; the name in navy gives the length band; and a grey bar at the bottom gives the number of titles. Click a button to jump to its row of posters on the same page.

Each poster card has rounded corners like the thumbnails of the old site. It shows the rating in a navy tag at the top right, the year in a grey tag at the top left and the length band along the bottom edge. Below the title come the first genre and the running time for a film, or the number of episodes for a series. The View all button at the end of each row opens the full shelf on its own page.

Searching TamilTVShows

The search box in the header looks through titles, alternative titles and cast names. Type Suzhal to go straight to the series, Vijay Sethupathi to see his titles, or Kaithi for the film. Tamil titles are often spelled in several ways in English, and familiar short forms such as Robot for Enthiran or VIP for Velaiyilla Pattathari also work. The A–Z page lists all 158 titles in alphabetical order.

Watch now on TamilTVShows

Every title page has a Watch now button. It opens the title on JustWatch for the country you choose, where you can see which official services offer it to stream, rent or buy. Offers change over time, and the button always opens the current page. TamilTVShows itself is a guide; the watching happens on the official services.

My list on TamilTVShows

The My list button on every title page saves that title to a personal list kept in your browser, on the device you use. A good way to use it is to build a list for a week, choosing titles from different shelves so that each evening gets the length it needs.

TamilTVShows on a phone

On a small screen the menu moves behind the grey button in the top corner, the board folds into two columns and each row of posters arranges itself in fewer columns. Title pages, lists and the A–Z page all read comfortably on a phone.

Where the data comes from

Titles, synopses, cast, directors, genres, ratings, vote counts, running times, seasons and episodes come from TMDB, the community film and television database, as listed in October 2026. Episode counts are those that TMDB lists for each series across its seasons; ratings and votes keep changing as viewers add their own.

Short guides on TamilTVShows

Every part of the guide has a short help page. Begin with Start with TamilTVShows, then read The length of an evening. The shelves have their own guides: Short series, Long series and Films by length. The numbers are in The figures, a ready plan in A week of viewing, and the design in The look of TamilTVShows.

For practical help there are Search tips, Watch now, My list, On your phone and Where the data comes from.

Frequently asked questions

For a first visit to TamilTVShows, take one title from each kind of shelf. A short film, Kaaka Muttai; a short series, Paava Kadhaigal; a long series, Suzhal - The Vortex; and a long film, Nayakan. Four evenings of four lengths, and a first feel for how much time Tamil stories like to take.

Questions