The 25 Best Shows on Netflix to Watch in August

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 decision-making and help you figure out exactly which titles you want to sample next. (And if you’re in the mood for movies on Netflix instead, we’ve got a list of those waiting right here.)

Anne With an “E” (2017)

Following her work as a writer on Breaking Bad, Moira Walley-Beckett took a wild right turn: She adapted Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 young adult novel into this family drama series. Matthew (R.H. Thomson) and Marilla (Geraldine James)—middle-aged, unmarried siblings living together on their family farm—arrange to adopt an orphan boy to help work the property. But Matthew is not quite sure what to do when the orphan who arrives at the train station is Anne (Amybeth McNulty), a wildly imaginative girl. Fortunately, they eventually figure out how to be a family. Salute our neighbors to the north with one of the sweetest family dramedies on Netflix.

Watch 3 seasons of Anne With An “E” on Netflix

Arrested Development (2003)

With HBO’s Succession all wrapped up, perhaps you need a new show about a family business in which the family is made up entirely of unlikable jerks…but one that doesn’t leave you with existential despair? Enter the Bluths, southern California real estate developers whose company hits the skids when patriarch George (Jeffrey Tambor) commits “some light treason” and ends up incarcerated. Ron Howard—currently a first-time acting Emmy nominee for his performance in the freshman season of The Studio—serves as the dry, omniscient narrator.

Watch 5 seasons of Arrested Development on Netflix

Beef (2023)

Amy (Ali Wong) is an entrepreneur in the middle of a protracted negotiation to sell her independent store to a huge home-improvement chain. Danny (Steven Yeun) is a contractor and handyman desperately trying to scrape together enough money to buy a plot of land on which he can build a house for his parents, who lost their motel and moved back to their native Korea. There’s no reason Danny and Amy should ever know each other, never mind end up as one another’s sworn enemies. But after the two have an unfortunate parking lot run-in, they both become obsessed with avenging themselves on each other in this pitch-black, Emmy-winning comedy.

Watch one season of Beef on Netflix

Big Mouth (2017)

Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg went through puberty together as middle school friends, went into comedy as adults…and then, with Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, cocreated this animated sitcom. About kids but not really for them, Big Mouth has become one of the most outrageous comedies on Netflix by delving into such sensitive topics as first periods, masturbation, and sexual identity. It also uses the filthiest words you’ve ever heard (and some you possibly haven’t) for body parts and fluids. The voice cast features Kroll in roles as varied as protagonist Nick Birch, his classmate Lola, their coach Steve, and a Hormone Monster named Maury; you’ll also hear John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, and Maya Rudolph, among many others—including, starting in season four, Ayo Edebiri. The eighth and final season dropped in May.

Watch seven seasons of Big Mouth on Netflix

BoJack Horseman (2014-2020)

Back in the ’90s, the titular BoJack (voice of Will Arnett, now one-third of the wildly successful podcast Smartless) was the star of a wildly successful family sitcom called Horsin’ Around. In the 2010s, he’s a has-been barely hanging onto his acting career. As part of a comeback attempt, he hires Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie) to ghost-write his memoir, drawing her into his world of substance use and depression. But Bojack really is a comedy! Paul F. Tompkins deserves special note for his work as BoJack’s one-time sitcom rival turned frenemy, a Labrador Retriever named Mr. Peanutbutter. Though Bojack aired its finale four years ago, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s next animated series, Long Story Short, is coming August 22—so the time is right to catch up on one of Netflix’s most critically acclaimed animated shows.

Watch six seasons of BoJack Horseman on Netflix

City Of Ghosts (2021)

Adults have their mockumentary series—Parks & Recreation, The Office—so why shouldn’t kids? Elizabeth Ito, a longtime director on Adventure Time, created City Of Ghosts, an animated series about kids who form their own 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 its target audience, the adults who watch with them will be charmed by its storytelling, as well as its adorable animation.

Watch 1 season of City Of Ghosts on Netflix

Cobra Kai (2018)

Forty years ago, Lucille LaRusso (Randee Heller) moved her son Daniel (Ralph Macchio) from Newark to the Los Angeles suburb of Reseda. There, Daniel found out the hard way that Valley bullies didn’t play—and that they also had real fighting skills honed under toxic sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) at his Cobra Kai dojo. Eventually, Daniel hooked up with Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) to learn karate and face off against his main antagonist, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), at a local competition. The feature film The Karate Kid was followed by three sequels, a remake, and finally a series, which picks up with Daniel and Johnny in middle age. Since their fraught teen years, things have changed: Now Johnny is an underdog scraping together a living as a handyman, while Daniel is the Valley’s most successful car dealer. Karate is still the main preoccupation of everyone in the region, but now it’s Daniel’s and Johnny’s kids—biological as well as ad hoc—who are learning how to use it against one another. The show is unserious in the very best way, and both Zabka and Macchio are clearly having the time of their lives. The final five episodes dropped in February; a new feature film—integrating both the Macchio and Jackie Chan versions of Karate Kid—came to theaters in May.

Watch 6 seasons of Cobra Kai on Netflix

Crashing (2016)

Though American audiences may know her best from Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge had, by then, already created and starred in another TV series: Crashing, a hit on Britain’s Channel 4. Here, she plays Lulu, one of several twentysomethings whose precarious finances have led them to precarious accommodations: living cheaply as property guardians in a former hospital. Waller-Bridge’s castmates include Susan Wokoma (Netflix’s Enola Holmes series) and Jonathan Bailey (the recent Jurassic World: Rebirth).

Watch one season of Crashing on Netflix

Fisk (2021-)

Helen Tudor-Fisk (Kitty Flanagan, who co-created the series with Vincent Sheehan) was a successful lawyer in Sydney before her marriage fell apart. Seeking comfort, she moves back to her hometown of Melbourne—nearer her dad Anthony (John Gaden), a retired judge, and his new-ish husband Viktor (Glenn Butcher). Largely on the strength of her connections through Anthony, Helen is hired at Gruber & Gruber, a small sibling-run firm specializing in probate law. Working on wills and trusts doesn’t come naturally to the prickly Fisk, and seeing how she figures out how to relate to clients in times of heightened sensitivity is part of what makes this one of the most unexpectedly winning sitcoms on Netflix; season three arrives August 20.

Watch two seasons of Fisk on Netflix (2021)

Forever (2025)

Judy Blume’s 1975 novel Forever… has been a frequent target for censorship due to the frank sex scenes between its protagonists, two high school students who have fallen in love for the first time. In Mara Brock Akil’s loose adaptation, the action begins on New Year’s Eve 2017, as high school juniors Justin (Michael Cooper Jr.) and Keisha (Lovie Simone) run into each other at a party for the first time since they were elementary school classmates. But their instant attraction doesn’t result in an instant relationship, and the series tracks them as they deal with such issues as a scandalous sex tape, their parents’ expectations, Michael’s pride, and whether Keisha’s vision for her college career can include her boyfriend from back home. The show has already been renewed for a second season; while you wait, you can also watch Girlfriends, Akil’s first TV hit, on Netflix.

Watch one season of Forever on Netflix

Girls5eva (2021)

In the late ’90s and early ’00s, pop groups were routinely assembled not through 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 Girls5eva, who 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 this comedy’s first two seasons aired on Peacock, Netflix now has the entire run—including the third season, which premiered last year. 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.

Watch three seasons of Girls5eva on Netflix

Godless (2017)

Logan co-screenwriter Scott Frank wrote and directed this series in 2017, the same year that dark X-Men spinoff debuted. It also happens to be one of Netflix’s best crime shows. Frank re-teamed with executive producer Steven Soderbergh (who had directed Frank’s screenplay for Out of Sight nearly 20 years earlier) on the seven-episode miniseries set in La Belle, a New Mexico town mostly peopled 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. When you finish this one, check out Frank’s newest show, the crime drama Dept. Q.

Watch one season of Godless on Netflix

Holey Moley (2019)

The goofy obstacles of a typical miniature golf course are fun—but wouldn’t they be more fun if they weren’t quite so miniature? This is the premise behind Holey Moley, from Chris Culvenor, the prolific EP behind such reality shows as Stars on Mars and Farmer Wants a Wife. Each week, real sportscaster Joe Tessitore and fake sportscaster Rob Riggle call the action as golfers test their skills against gigantic fish, windmills, and in the first season, executive producer Steph Curry. The combination of actually talented contestants and charming interplay between Riggle and Tessitore make this by far one of the most crowd-pleasing shows on Netflix, and a perfect choice to come down with after a sunny summer day.

Watch 4 seasons of Holey Moley on Netflix

I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson (2019)

Saturday Night Live star/writer. Detroiters star/cocreator. The Characters star/writer. All of Tim Robinson’s truly superlative work in comedy led to this: one of the most confidently unhinged sketch shows in recent memory, and among the best comedy shows on Netflix. Each episode is well under a half hour, so it will take you no time at all to learn the origin of such memes as “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this” and “I don’t even want to be around anymore.” When you’re through, you can hear Robinson in the just-launched second season of Digman! on Comedy Central.

Watch three seasons of I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson on Netflix

Magic for Humans (2018)

Those of us raised on Doug Henning specials may, rightly, be 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 legitimately talented comic—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. Once you’ve caught up, move on to Willman’s next series, The Magic Prank Show. He also launched his first special, Justin Willman: Magic Lover, on Netflix in June.

Watch three seasons of Magic for Humans on Netflix

A Man on the Inside (2024)

Charles (Ted Danson) is a retired engineering professor in the Bay Area, uneasily trying to hew to a new routine since the death of his beloved wife. His daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) encourages him to mix things up by finding a hobby he can be excited about. Right on cue, he finds a classified ad in the newspaper seeking a man, 75–85, who has his own phone. Before long, he’s been hired as a subcontractor by Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) and installed as a mole at a local retirement home to investigate the theft of a necklace from Julie’s client’s elderly mother. The show, which is adapted from the Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, reunites Danson with Michael Schur for the first time since their celebrated collaboration on The Good Place, and is perfect to fill the hole left in your TV schedule between seasons of Only Murders in the Building.

Watch 1 season of A Man On The Inside on Netflix

Mom (2013-2021)

Christy (Anna Faris) had an unstable childhood with her single mother, Bonnie (Allison Janney), a petty criminal with substance use issues. Bonnie’s childhood was actually worse: she never knew her parents and grew up in the foster care system. As a thirtysomething single mother of two herself, Christy is also a recovering addict. But wait, it’s a comedy! Just as Christy is trying to plan the next phase of her life, two crises arise. Bonnie comes back into Christy’s life, announcing that she wants to get sober too; pretty soon, she also needs a place to live. And Christy’s daughter Violet (Sadie Calvano), a high school senior, tells Christy she’s pregnant. If you’re annoyed by Christy’s children, you’re apparently not alone; they eventually get phased out, making more room for the stalwarts at Christy and Bonnie’s regular AA meeting: wealthy divorcée Jill (Jaime Pressly), meek nurse Wendy (Beth Hall), and elder stateswoman Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy), Christy’s sponsor. The addition of the formerly incarcerated Tammy (Kristen Johnston), Bonnie’s former foster sister, is a casting master stroke. I know co-creator Chuck Lorre is very prolific, but Mom is far and away his best show.

Watch 8 seasons of Mom on Netflix

Narcos (2015–2017)

How did Pablo Escobar go from a comparatively low-level smuggler to one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins whose (uh, spoiler?) death came at the hands of an international law enforcement task force? Steve Murphy—a since retired DEA agent who worked on the case—is portrayed here by Boyd Holbrook, who also narrates the story of the DEA’s investigation into Escobar (Wagner Moura); Murphy’s DEA colleague Javier Peña is played by future Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal. The series was followed by a companion series, Narcos: Mexico, in 2018.

Watch three seasons of Narcos on Netflix

Peaky Blinders (2013)

During the Great War, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his brothers fought in France for the Crown, even though their Irish and Romani origins mean they’re not particularly patriotic. They generally strive to tamp down or drink away their traumatic memories, which still occasionally get in the way of their main project: running their titular street gang in Birmingham, England. (The show’s title refers to their signature move: sewing razor blades on the brims of their driving caps, then using them in fights to take out their opponents’ eyes.) In the first season, Tommy is bedeviled by Inspector Chester Campbell (Sam Neill), imported from Northern Ireland, who uses his knowledge of Tommy’s activities to blackmail him into acting as a reluctant agent for the police. Guest stars passing through the show’s long run include Paddy Considine, Tom Hardy, Noah Taylor, and two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody; a feature-length film coda started filming last fall.

Watch 6 seasons of Peaky Blinders on Netflix

Perfect Match (2023)

Netflix has so many original reality shows—including Love Is Blind, Sexy Beasts, The Mole, The Circle, and Too Hot To Handle—that the pool of alumni from past seasons is now well into triple digits. Sure, some of them may have failed to find love or win a cash prize on their first outing. But they’re still attractive and hungry for fame, so why not give them another shot? Perfect Match assembles a bunch of cuties to share a villa, pair up, and compete in challenges. Periodically, they get the chance to break up and pick new partners, with other reality castoffs joining and departing every couple of days. Season three premieres August 1.

Watch two seasons of Perfect Match on Netflix

Ripley (2024)

Patricia Highsmith’s book The Talented Mr. Ripley has already been adapted for the screen a few times, most notably by the late Anthony Minghella. This project, from writer-director Steven Zaillian, is the first to give Highsmith the series treatment. In his version, Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) is running short cons in New York when a PI named Alvin McCarron (Bokeem Woodbine) approaches him with an invitation to meet shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan). Only when one of Ripley’s go-to scams goes awry does he make contact, subsequently finding out that Greenleaf wants to send him to Italy to convince his wastrel son, Dickie (Johnny Flynn), to come back to America. That might have been a solid plan—if Greenleaf had done just a little more due diligence on this freelancer. Stunning black-and-white photography makes this one of the most beautiful shows on Netflix.

Watch one season of Ripley on Netflix

Running Point (2025)

Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) grew up around pro basketball: Her late father, Jack, owned the Los Angeles Waves, and brought all his sons into the business, leaving Isla to rebel by becoming a famous party girl. Her oldest brother, Cam (Justin Theroux), eventually brings her in to run the team’s charities, and definitely not to share her informed and insightful opinions about the team. Then one day, Cam has to name a replacement, and chooses Isla over her GM brother Ness (Scott MacArthur) and CFO half-brother Sandy (Drew Tarver). Mindy Kaling is among the creators of this sitcom, whose executive producers include Jeanie Buss, the president of the LA Lakers, who was preceded in the position by her father, Jerry. But any resemblance to people living or dead is probably coincidental. If the end of the NBA season has left you at loose ends, this may help fill the gap.

Watch one season of Running Point on Netflix

Squid Game (2021-2025)

Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is a gambling addict crushed both by his personal debt, and by his daughter’s imminent move to the US with his ex and her new husband. When a mysterious stranger approaches him, seemingly by chance, and offers him the opportunity to play a series of games with the possibility of winning an unimaginable cash prize, it seems too good to be true. Turns out: It is! The first season was a massive ratings and critical hit and spun off an unscripted competition show, also on Netflix; the third and final season premiered June 27.

Watch two seasons of Squid Game on Netflix

Too Much (2025)

Thirteen years after launching the eternally buzzy Girls on HBO, creator Lena Dunham is back with her first series on Netflix. Megan Stalter (Hacks) stars as Jessica, languishing in New York after a devastating breakup with Zev (Michael Zegen, somehow out-worming his own performance as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s ex). Jameson (Andrew Rannells), both Jess’s colleague and her former brother-in-law, recommends her to relocate to London for six months to join the team producing a high-profile Christmas commercial. On her first night, she meets musician Felix (Will Sharpe), and the two fall in love, taking turns being cautious and reckless. With a genuinely engrossing relationship at its center—and recurring guest stars including Richard E. Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Naomi Watts, Rita Wilson, and Dunham herself as Jess’s sister Nora, this is by far one of the best romcom series on Netflix.

Watch one season of Too Much on Netflix

The Waterfront (2025)

After Kevin Williamson became a mid-’90s sensation for writing the feature film Scream, his next move was the teen drama Dawson’s Creek, loosely based on his own adolescence as a movie fanatic and filmed in his native North Carolina—though that show is set in Massachusetts. The Waterfront, Williamson’s Netflix debut, returns him to Wilmington, and apparently hews even closer to his real life. Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) saw what the criminal life did to his family, and never wants to end up like his drug-smuggling father. But after he steps back from his legitimate fishery business, leaving his wife, Belle (Maria Bello), and son, Cane (Jake Weary), in charge, he has no idea that financial desperation has pushed them into using their fishing boats to transport narcotics. Savage performances by Bello and McCallany and some of the most shocking violence on TV this year make this one of the most gripping crime dramas on Netflix.

Watch one season of The Waterfront on Netflix