While there are tons of streaming platforms out there these days, Netflix is the original. It’s hard to believe it started off mailing DVDs to people’s homes. While streaming used to mean showing content produced by others, it seems natural now that streaming services all produce their own content. In recent years, Netflix’s original series and programming have become the dominant part of its library, and in that time, it has produced a truly extraordinary number of shows. It would honestly be hard to consume more than a fraction of the content its putting out. And as part of its content, it has produced some great TV.
The best of Netflix’s 0riginal television stands up to any other TV channel or streamer out there. It has produced shows across a variety of genres and formats, and it’s found success in pretty much every area it has experimented with. The Netflix original series listed below are the cream of the crop and the very best that the streamer has to offer.
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The Crown (2016)
84%
8.6/10
4 Seasons
Genre
Biography, Drama, History
Stars
Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton
Created by
Peter Morgan
Watch on Netflix
Of all of Netflix’s TV offerings, The Crown may be the most “high-brow” thing they produce. The series tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign from the time she became Queen of England in the 1940s all the way through the early 2000s. Even as it incorporates many real-life events, The Crown is above all else a work of speculative fiction. It creates scenes and dramas out of the royal family and is one of the best acted and written series on TV. The royals may not be the most relatable people, but they are people nonetheless, and creator Peter Morgan turns them into ones well worth watching.
GLOW
82%
8.0/10
3 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Sport
Stars
Alison Brie, Marc Maron, Betty Gilpin
Created by
Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch
Watch on Netflix
Canceled too soon, GLOW was everything you could possibly want in a TV show. Over the course of its three seasons, the series followed the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, a group of female wrestlers who begin wrestling on a cable series and eventually decide to take their show to Vegas. The series is fully aware of how silly wrestling often is, but never allows that silliness to turn into cynicism. The show features outstanding performances from Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, and Marc Maron, and it’s really about characters who have failed to get another shot at redemption and friendship with one another.
Big Mouth (2017)
7.9/10
5 Seasons
Genre
Animation, Comedy, Romance
Stars
Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jesse Klein
Created by
Jennifer Flackett, Andrew Goldberg, Nick Kroll
Watch on Netflix
A show as vulgar as Big Mouth shouldn’t work, but Big Mouth does because it’s both hilarious and incredibly smart about the horrors of adolescence. Shows about preteens going through puberty don’t often get into the gory details of what it means to have an insane amount of hormones coursing through you at all times, but Big Mouth does exactly that. Following a roster of adolescents who are moving from childhood toward adulthood, the show is about the horrors of that time in your life, and the terrible things that preteens often do to one another. It may also be the funniest, most ludicrous show on television.
Russian Doll (2019)
84%
7.8/10
1 Season
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Stars
Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee
Created by
Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler, Leslye Headland
Watch on Netflix
There have been plenty of riffs on the basic premise of Groundhog Day in the years since that film came out, but Russian Doll is one of the best. The series stars Natasha Lyonne as Nadia, a spunky, brash coder who has trauma buried not all that deeply below the surface. Russian Doll has serious things on its mind, but it’s also one of the most playful riffs on waking up in the same day over and over again to come along in the years since Groundhog Day popularized the idea. It also features a few twists that complicate the world in which it’s set, and ultimately make it one of the most rewarding ways you can spend four hours.
Mindhunter (2017)
80%
8.6/10
2 Seasons
Genre
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stars
Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv
Created by
Joe Penhall
Watch on Netflix
Thanks in part to David Fincher, Mindhunter is one of the best directed shows on Netflix. The series follows a pair of FBI agents as they found the Behavioral Science Unit, a unit within the organization focused on understanding the minds of serial murderers. Because the series is focused on the aftermath of brutal crimes, that in many cases, have already been solved, it’s not always a minute-to-minute thrill ride. Even so, the conversations that the agents, played by Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, have with some of history’s most famous killers offer plenty of thrills, even if they aren’t exactly the visceral kind.
American Vandal (2017)
76%
8.1/10
2 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Crime
Stars
Tyler Alvarez, Griffin Gluck
Created by
Tony Yacenda, Dan Perrault
Watch on Netflix
As true crime continues to be one of the most dominant forms of modern storytelling, American Vandal remains the best example of how to effectively parody the genre. Through two seasons, the show followed amateur, high school-age filmmakers as they attempted to solve two season-long “crimes,” both of which were very stupid. In both seasons, the show is packed with jokes, but what makes it work is that the show also has some trenchant commentary about life in high school buried within it. American Vandal was smart enough to combine stupid jokes with interesting ideas, and that’s what made it one of Netflix’s best shows.
The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
8.0/10
1 Season
Genre
Drama
Stars
Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Camp, Moses Ingram
Created by
Scott Frank, Allan Scott
Watch on Netflix
Chess is not the most natural subject for a riveting seven-hour miniseries, but The Queen’s Gambit managed to be riveting anyway. The series follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), a chess prodigy who also happens to be an orphan struggling with drug addiction. Plenty of time is spent on Beth, and Taylor-Joy delivers an excellent performance in the central role. What’s refreshing about The Queen’s Gambit, though, is how focused it is on chess itself. Large portions of each episode are dedicated to the game, and creator Scott Frank knows exactly how to make it feel like the best onscreen boxing match since Creed.
Dear White People (2017)
84%
6.2/10
4 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Stars
Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, DeRon Horton
Created by
Justin Simien
Watch on Netflix
Based on a movie of the same name, Dear White People carefully deconstructs ideas of race in a thoroughly modern context. The series is set at a fictional Ivy League university that has one primarily Black house, and typically focuses on the residents of that house and the situations they encounter while studying on a majority white campus. The ensemble cast is beautiful, and they’re all witty, gifted performers. Dear White People is the kind of show that sounds like a chore, but it’s exactly the opposite.
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
79%
8.6/10
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Stars
Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel
Created by
Mike Flanagan
Watch on Netflix
If you’re looking for pure scares, there’s not a better show on Netflix than The Haunting of Hill House. The series tells the story of a single family as they relive the trauma of one night from their childhood, which has come to define the rest of their lives. Hill House ends weakly but has several incredibly strong hours over the course of its 10 episodes. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the series does a tremendous job examining how each of these siblings handled the trauma of their youth in a totally different way, even as they remained a family.
Stranger Things (2016)
4 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery
Stars
Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo
Created by
Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
Watch on Netflix
Stranger Things is a science-fiction horror drama set in the 1980s, specifically 1983 and onward. The story takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and centers around a group of young friends who witness supernatural events and government secrets. Millie Bobby Brown’s breakout role as Eleven won her several awards and nominations. The Netflix original series explores themes of friendship, bravery, and the perils of growing up while being thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Stranger Things pays homage to 1980s pop culture references and has a distinctive retro feel. The series balances moments of humor and heartwarming friendship with suspense, scary creatures, and government conspiracies.
The Diplomat (2023)
2 Seasons
Genre
Drama, War & Politics
Stars
Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi
Created by
Debora Cahn
Watch on Netflix
One of the most compelling political dramas of the last 10 years (even if it is only loosely connected to the real world), The Diplomat tells the story of a career diplomat who suddenly finds herself being groomed for the vice presidency. While working in London, she also stumbles into an international terrorist incident with sinister origins and has to figure out if she actually wants to stay married to her star diplomat husband. Needless to say, there’s a lot going on, but The Diplomat is so fun that you’ll never feel like you’re struggling to keep up.
Squid Game (2021)
2 Seasons
Genre
Action & Adventure, Mystery, Drama
Stars
Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-jun, Park Hae-soo
Created by
Hwang Dong-hyuk
Watch on Netflix
One of the biggest phenomenons in the history of Netflix, Squid Game tells the story of a group of poor Koreans who enter a massive game to the death from which only one can emerge both alive and with a massive cash prize. The series’ combination of intimate character-based drama with thrilling set pieces that the characters have to try to survive makes it into a critically acclaimed and widely watched series, even though basically none of it is in English.
