We’ve all been overwhelmed by streaming TV choices, only to give up and watch something we’ve already seen. But this curated list of the best shows on Netflix is here to narrow down your choices and help you figure out exactly which titles you want to sample next.
Band of Brothers (2001)
After collaborating on the acclaimed feature film Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg reteamed as executive producers on HBO’s Band of Brothers. Based on Stephen E. Ambrose’s nonfiction book of the same name, this scripted miniseries tells the story of “Easy” Company, a parachute infantry regiment, from training through the end of the Second World War. The writing staff includes future Justified EP Graham Yost, while the cast includes such not-yet-famous faces as Damian Lewis (Billions), Ron Livingston (Search Party), Matthew Settle (Gossip Girl), and Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead). The miniseries would go on to be nominated for 20 Emmy Awards, winning seven; from here, you can head to Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, from the same creative team.
BoJack Horseman (2014)
The titular BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett, who’s currently lending his vocal talents to Peacock’s Twisted Metal) was, back in the ’90s, the star of a wildly successful family sitcom called Horsin’ Around. In the 2010s, he’s a has-been barely hanging on to his acting career. As part of a comeback attempt, he hires Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie, whose new limited series, Apples Never Fall, recently premiered on Peacock) to ghostwrite his memoir, drawing her into his world of substance use and depression. It really is a comedy! Paul F. Tompkins deserves special note for his work as BoJack’s onetime sitcom rival turned frenemy, a Labrador retriever named Mr. Peanutbutter.
Borgen (2010)
Need something to take your mind off American politics? How about the politics of a whole other country? As this Danish series begins, Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) is the leader of the center-left political party, the Moderates, and is heading into a federal election she does not expect her party to win. Then the prime minister’s wife embroils him in a minor but embarrassing financial scandal, and—to make a long parliamentary story short—Nyborg ends up as Denmark’s first female PM. While the original series ended in 2013, it was followed by a sequel in 2022, Power & Glory.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013)
The numbers show that NYPD detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is great at closing cases. But he still finds time to goof around at the station with Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), his main rival and the target of most of his pranks, and Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), the best friend who hero-worships Peralta. In the series premiere, the equilibrium at the Nine-Nine gets a shake-up with the arrival of new captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), a strictly regimented administrator with, it seems, zero sense of humor. The show comes to us from Dan Goor and Michael Schur, both formerly of Parks and Recreation, so: Yes, of course, this is absolutely one of the very best workplace sitcoms on Netflix.
Call the Midwife (2012)
Life can be rough in late-’50s Poplar, a disadvantaged neighborhood in London’s East End. But while struggling residents must endure hardships of all kinds—unethical landlords, insecure employment, open racism against new immigrants of color—one boon they can count on is top-notch medical care. Working with the UK’s National Health Service, an order of Anglican nuns, assisted by several secular nurse-midwives, provides pre- and postnatal care to Poplar families; as the series has progressed through more than 10 seasons (and counting!), it’s also moved forward in time to show characters dealing with limb differences caused by thalidomide; an outbreak of diphtheria; and the introduction of birth control pills. No less an eminence than Vanessa Redgrave narrates. The attention to detail in the period design, the understated performances, and the thoughtful portrayal of complex issues make this one of the best TV shows on Netflix. The 13th season is now airing on PBS. (Warning for anyone suffering with American health insurance—or suffering in the US without it: The care depicted on this show may cause intense jealousy.)
City of Ghosts (2021)
Adults have their mockumentary series—Parks and Recreation, The Office—so why shouldn’t kids? Elizabeth Ito, a longtime director on Adventure Time, created City of Ghosts, an animated series about the kids who make up the membership of the Ghost Club. As Los Angeles residents reach out with reports of supernatural activity, the children investigate, learning about the city’s rich history in the process. Though kids are the show’s target audience, the adults who watch with them will be charmed by its storytelling and adorable animation style.
The Conners (2018)
Forget, if you can, the scandal that caused 2018’s Roseanne revival to come to an abrupt end: Everyone else who worked on the show without being hateful was allowed to continue working on a spin-off of Roseanne without Roseanne Barr. The series premiere directly follows the off-screen death of the original show’s titular character, portraying how husband Dan (John Goodman), sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), and daughters Becky (Lecy Goranson) and Darlene (Sara Gilbert) go on without her. (Michael Fishman’s D.J., Becky and Darlene’s brother, also appears sporadically for the first few seasons.) After the conclusions of Shameless, Mom, and Superstore, The Conners is one of the last working-class sitcoms on TV, and it’s very much worth your time.
Entrapped (2021)
In 2015, the Icelandic network RÚV débuted Trapped, a classic Nordic noir: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson stars as Andri Ólafsson, the chief of police in a northern Icelandic town whose job gets harder when a dismembered human torso is found just in time for a blizzard to render the town entirely inaccessible to anyone outside it. A second season found Andri working a political assassination case. And after a long (COVID-related) delay, season three arrived on Netflix in late 2022, retitled Entrapped. This time, the murder that kicks off the action exposes the tangled relations between a pacifist commune and a biker gang. The chilly setting and short run make this one of the best binge-worthy shows to bunker down with.
The Crown (2016)
Writer Peter Morgan has defined himself as a premier interpreter of current events, particularly in the UK, from The Special Relationship (about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton) to Frost/Nixon (about the televised interview the former conducted with the latter) with many stops in between. When The Queen, about the eponymous monarch’s reaction to the death of Princess Diana, became a critical and awards sensation, a series follow-up about the royal family was the obvious next step. From 2016 to 2023, The Crown chronicled the entire professional life of Queen Elizabeth II, starting just before her coronation and extending into the adulthood of her most famous grandchildren. Though it’s one of the most controversial titles on Netflix—particularly if you ask a member of the family being portrayed—it’s also one of the most lavish. If the royal family has been on your mind and/or news feeds lately, this might tide you over between updates.
Everything Now (2023)
Sixteen-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde of last year’s breakout horror film Talk to Me) has spent the past several months undergoing in-patient treatment for anorexia. When she returns home and tries to reconnect with her friends, she discovers how much life they’ve all lived while she’s been away, and becomes determined to catch up by choosing all the experiences she needs to have as quickly as possible. The series follows her as she attempts to cross items like “first date” and “break the law” off her list. Netflix has long been a home for edgy teen fare, and this show is as funny as it is respectful about Mia’s complicated recovery.
Girls5eva (2021)
In the late ’90s and early ’00s, pop groups were routinely assembled not because of organic connections and shared musical influences, but because the members wanted to be famous and managers wanted to make money off them. So it was with the fictional Girls5eva, which had an entire rise and fall in a matter of months. Decades later, a chance sample by a new artist brings Dawn (Sara Bareilles), Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), Summer (Busy Philipps), and Gloria (Paula Pell) back together, and they decide to try for a comeback. While the first two seasons aired on Peacock, Netflix now has the entire run—including the brand-new third season, which premiered in March. You will need all your faculties to make sure you see and hear every gag in this extremely joke-dense show, hands down one of the funniest sitcoms on Netflix.
Godless (2017)
The same year that Logan was released, with a screenplay cowritten by Scott Frank, Netflix dropped one of its best crime shows, Godless. Frank wrote and directed the series, and also reteamed with executive producer Steven Soderbergh, who had directed Frank’s screenplay for Out of Sight nearly 20 years earlier. The seven-episode miniseries is set in La Belle, a New Mexico town mostly populated by women following a catastrophic mining accident that killed most of La Belle’s male residents; further crisis ensues when an outlaw on the run is pursued to La Belle by his former gang. Frank would receive further acclaim a few years later for his next Netflix miniseries, The Queen’s Gambit—and more still this year with AMC’s Monsieur Spade, starring Clive Owen as legendary PI Sam.
Good Girls (2018)
Now that an Arabic-language adaptation of Good Girls has been announced, why not check out how it all began? Three Michigan moms—sisters Beth (Christina Hendricks) and Annie (Mae Whitman) and their fried Ruby (Retta), whom they’ve known since childhood—run into pressing financial difficulties at the same time. What if they solved all their problems at once by robbing the supermarket where Annie works? Seems like a winning plan until they find out the store is entangled in a complex criminal operation, and that the only way they can avoid disaster is to let themselves get recruited to work in it themselves. Treat yourself to four seasons of one of the best crime dramedies on Netflix.
Insecure (2016)
If you’re curious about President Barbie’s exploits before she took office, look no further than this HBO original sitcom, which recently arrived on Netflix. Issa Rae adapted her web series, Awkward Black Girl, into this show about Issa (Rae), a nonprofit staffer stumbling through her postcollege years in Los Angeles. Yvonne Orji, currently on Hulu in Vacation Friends 2, plays Issa’s best friend, Molly, who seems to have her life together as a successful attorney, but still has as much to learn about love as her less polished pals.
Jane the Virgin (2014)
Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez, whose current sitcom, Not Dead Yet, is in its second season on ABC) was always taught by Alba (Ivonne Coll), the grandmother who helped raise her, that nothing was more important than her virginity—and given that Jane’s own mother, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo), became unexpectedly pregnant with Jane as a teenager, the lesson stuck. Thus, it’s a shock to everyone in her life when Jane also becomes unexpectedly pregnant—not through premarital sex, but in a gynecological mix-up, which embroils her in the dramatic life of an impossibly wealthy hotel heir (Justin Baldoni), who also happens to be a former crush. (Fun fact: Future Wednesday star Jenna Ortega plays young Jane!)
Love Is Blind (2020)
The Bachelor franchise is fine as far as it goes, but between 28 seasons of The Bachelor and 20 of The Bachelorette—to say nothing of Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor Pad, and The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart—you might be Bachelored out. If so: This is the time to embrace the suite of reality romance shows from chaos king Chris Coelen! Love Is Blind challenges brave singles to try dating partners they can’t see: Women and men are kept apart at the show’s filming location and communicate with each other only in pods connected by an opaque panel. If two participants make enough of a connection for one to propose marriage to the other, they (finally) get to see each other. They then live together for a time planning their wedding, and only at the altar do they both state whether they actually do take each other in lawful matrimony. The explosive sixth season wrapped up earlier this month. The show has also spawned Brazilian and Japanese versions, among others. Not sated? Coelen has also created The Ultimatum, in which couples who aren’t agreed on marriage figure it out by dating other people for a while. Netflix also has select seasons of Coelen’s Married at First Sight, which is exactly what its title promises. And as of February 2023, his suite of titles includes Perfect Match, a dating show that lets alumni from various Netflix reality shows try to find love with each other.
Magic for Humans (2018)
Those of us raised on David Copperfield specials may be rightly suspicious of the camera tricks that could be employed in translating magic illusions to the screen. But even if your rational mind knows that magic isn’t real, Justin Willman can make you believe. In addition to his skills as a prestidigitator, Willman is a legit comedic performer—and you don’t have to take my word for it: Alt-comedy legends Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (a.k.a. Tim and Eric) are among the show’s executive producers. Catch up now: Willman’s next series, The Magic Prank Show, hits Netflix in April.
Mo (2022)
Comic Mo Amer reteamed with Ramy Youssef—the star and cocreator of Ramy, in which Amer plays the titular Ramy’s cousin—to cocreate Mo. In this semi-autobiographical dramedy, which has never felt more urgent, Amer plays Mohammed “Mo” Najjar, a Palestinian refugee navigating life in Houston, Texas, and seeking asylum as a path to US citizenship. As with Ramy, Mo comes from beloved indie production company A24.
Money Heist (2017)
If you love the meticulous plotting and split-second timing of a heist movie, but wish you could see more of how the plan actually came to be, this series—among the best crime shows on Netflix—is for you. The Professor (Álvaro Morte) assembles a crew of thieves, each of whom has been carefully selected for their specific skills, and spends months training them to pull off a huge job: They’re going to barricade themselves in Spain’s Royal Mint and print their own euros to steal. But even a mind as brilliant as the Professor’s can’t anticipate everything that might go wrong. One of Netflix’s biggest-ever global hits, the show was followed by a Korean remake in 2022; a prequel, Berlin, premiered in December.
One Day (2024)
David Nicholls’s 2009 novel, One Day, has an innovative format: showing a couple’s meeting (just after their college graduation ceremony) and then every subsequent year of their lives, on the anniversary of that day. It was already adapted as a film in 2011, but if you read the book and felt the movie version was too rushed, Netflix seems to have agreed, as it greenlit a limited-series version from Nicole Taylor (Wild Rose), with each year’s day showcased in its own episode. Ambika Mod (This Is Going To Hurt) and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) star as Emma and Dexter in one of Netflix’s most romantic and devastating TV series.
Resident Alien (2021)
Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) was once a distinguished doctor. But he chose the wrong time to be at his lakeside cabin in Patience, Colorado, because when an alien with human-eliminating designs crash-landed nearby, he killed Harry, transformed himself into Harry’s exact double, and started passing as Harry around town—where, fortunately, no one really knew Harry well, and thus they can’t tell he’s acting like someone who learned English and human behavior from Law & Order marathons. Over time, Harry develops relationships with clinic nurse Asta (Sara Tomko); D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund), Asta’s best friend and a former Olympic skier; and Max (Judah Prehn), the mayor’s son, who happens to possess the rare power of perceiving both Harry’s real form and the glow of his extraterrestrial gear. “Fish out of water” is a story trope we’ve all seen many times, but Tudyk’s extremely committed performance elevates this to one of the funniest under-the-radar shows on Netflix.
Royal Pains (2009)
Given the enormous popularity Suits enjoyed on Netflix (and Peacock) last summer, it stands to reason that the platform would look for its next hit among USA’s “blue sky” shows. A new acquisition is my personal favorite: Royal Pains. Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) is a doctor at a fancy hospital in Manhattan. When a dispute ends in his firing, he partners with his business-major brother, Evan (Paulo Costanzo), to set up shop in the Hamptons, working as a concierge doctor to the ultrarich; every episode contains a medical mystery, but (spoiler) they pretty much all resolve within the hour, and against a backdrop of stunning real estate, looking its best in brilliant summertime. Look out for a pre-Barry Henry Winkler as Eddie, the Lawson brothers’ con artist father.
Seinfeld (1989)
Comedian Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side; endures the unpredictable antics of his across-the-hall neighbor, Kramer (Michael Richards); and shares the minute details of his life with his high school best friend, George (Jason Alexander), and unusually friendly ex-girlfriend, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). It’s a show about dating mores, cult-favorite New York delicacies, and surviving office jobs…but mostly, it’s about nothing. Watch this as a companion piece to the final season of its spiritual cousin, Curb Your Enthusiasm, airing on HBO now.
Warrior (2019)
In the 1870s, San Francisco is a city on the rise. It’s full of gold rush money, railway profiteers— and Chinese gangs, known as tongs. In the series premiere, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) arrives from Foshan with considerable martial arts skills, and a mission: to find his sister, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan), who fled an abusive marriage in China. Soon, Ah Sahm is a valued member of the Hop Wei tong, and when he finds Mai Ling, she has gone through significant changes. The show was adapted from a treatment originally created by the late Bruce Lee; his daughter, Shannon Lee, partnered with Banshee cocreator Jonathan Tropper to bring this show to (extremely bloody and exciting) fruition. The show was recently canceled by Max (its home for season three; the first two installments aired on Cinemax), but if we can all make it a massive hit, maybe Netflix will make more—so watch it and tell all your friends to do the same!
The Wonder Years (2021)
Starting in 1988, the original iteration of The Wonder Years followed Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) as he grew up in an anonymous American suburb in the late ’60s and early ’70s; from the present day, adult Kevin (voiced by Daniel Stern) looked back and narrated. The same format and time frame repeat in the more recent version, only this time the family at the center is Black and living in what is explicitly identified as Montgomery, Alabama. At home, Dean (Elisha “EJ” Williams) worries about schoolwork and crushes and spars with his popular sister, Kim (Laura Kariuki); meanwhile, everyone frets about the family’s eldest child, Bruce (Spence Moore II), serving overseas in the Vietnam War—a circumstance that tangentially connects him to a pivotal character in the pilot of the earlier series. Guest stars include Phoebe Robinson, Donald Faison, Tituss Burgess, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner; Dean’s wise future self is voiced by Oscar nominee Don Cheadle. Good as the original was in its day, the more recent one is among the smartest, most thoughtful, and best family sitcoms on Netflix.
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