--- description: From ‘Russian Doll’ to ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ to 'Stranger Things,' here are the best TV shows to stream on Netflix. title: The Best Shows to Watch on Netflix image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b23cd5a0df45228/698a3b42457a526ca6d676ae/best-netflix-shows.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [streaming](/tag/streaming/) ## streaming Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Best Shows to Watch on Netflix Aug 7, 2024 6:31 PM CUT  Netflix (12) by [Laura Zornosa](/author/laura-zornosa/) and [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Aug 7, 2024 6:31 PM CUT _This list will be updated each month as titles are removed and added to Netflix_. Netflix may not be the very first online streaming service (iTV, based out of Hong Hong, [came before](https://producthabits.com/how-netflix-became-a-100-billion-company-in-20-years/#:~:text=Technically%2C%20Netflix%20wasn't%20the,the%20first%20streaming%20success%20story. "undefined") it), but it sure might feel like it. The old faithful of the streamers dates back to 1997, and since then, it has amassed an impressive supply of fan favorite shows. This is by no means an exhaustive list—nor a purely objective one—but it focuses largely on [original content created for Netflix](https://time.com/6243286/the-witcher-blood-origin-explained/ "undefined") (no, we didn’t forget about [_Sex and the City_](https://time.com/6963825/worst-carrie-bradshaw-sex-and-the-city-episodes/ "undefined")!). Tentpole shows include the ‘80s-infused [sci-fi smash hit ](https://time.com/6193891/stranger-things-season-4-series-end/ "undefined")_Stranger Things_; Netflix’s most-watched series, the South Korean survival drama [_Squid Game_](https://time.com/6109560/squid-game-vans-sneaker-sales/ "undefined"); and the well-pressed historical drama _The Crown_. Read on for our picks from Netflix. ## **_Bo_** **_Jack Horseman_** On paper, [_BoJack Horseman_](https://time.com/5774893/bojack-horseman-finale-recap-review/ "undefined") seems like an odd premise: the titular BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett) is an anthropomorphic horse—and the washed-up star of a ‘90s sitcom. On screen, though, the acclaimed animated black comedy works, and it works well. Hilarious and unexpectedly relatable, _BoJack Horseman_ is a smart take on the human condition in an anthropomorphic world. ## **_Orange Is the New Black_** Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) did a bad thing. Ten years ago, she transported a suitcase full of drug money for her then-girlfriend, Alex Vause (Laura Prepon). Now her world looks entirely different—she’s happily engaged to Larry Bloom (Jason Biggs—but [everything changes](https://time.com/5631804/orange-is-the-new-black-season-7-legacy/ "undefined") when the crime comes to light. Piper goes to prison, so does Alex, and we meet a whole [oddball cast of prison regulars](https://time.com/5351084/orange-is-the-new-black-season-six-review/ "undefined"). ## **_The Crown_** There’s something about the concept of monarchy—perhaps its privilege, power, or wealth—that fascinates and enthralls the rest of us. Peter Morgan [knows that well](https://time.com/6275116/the-crown-william-kate-middleton-photos-ending/ "undefined"), and has drawn from his 2006 film _The Queen_ and his 2013 play _The Audience_ to create and principally write _The Crown_, which will [ultimately span six seasons](https://time.com/6226938/the-crown-mohamed-al-fayed-dodi/ "undefined"), and portrays the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II through the years. ## **_Russian Doll_** In the same camp as _Groundhog Day_ and _Palm Springs_, there is [_Russian Doll_](https://time.com/5509932/russian-doll-netflix-review/ "undefined"), another time loop story—but this time infused with Natasha Lyonne’s trademark offbeat charm. Lyonne stars as Nadia Vulvokov, who finds herself ceaselessly reliving the night of her 36th birthday party. Season 2 sees Nadia shunted even farther into the past, with serious implications for her family. ## **_Stranger Things_** Mix investigative drama with supernatural elements, add a dash of horror and childlike worldview, drizzle that with ‘80s pop culture references, throw in an ensemble cast, and you’ve got yourself [one of Netflix’s flagship shows](https://time.com/6193891/stranger-things-season-4-series-end/ "undefined"). A human experimentation facility near the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana rips open a portal to the Upside Down, a dark alternate dimension, and otherworldly chaos ensues. ## **_When They See Us_** In 1989, a white woman jogger was assaulted and raped in Central Park. Five innocent young men of color were convicted and sentenced. In 2003, the “Central Park Five” filed a suit against New York City for wrongful conviction, and in 2014, they were awarded a settlement. Ava DuVernay created, co-wrote, and directed this [acclaimed crime drama miniseries](https://time.com/5605572/netflix-central-park-five-prosecutors/ "undefined") that tells their stories. ## **_Unbelievable_** Based on a string of serial rape cases between 2008 and 2011 in Colorado and Washington, _Unbelievable_ grounds its story around Marie (Kaitlyn Dever), a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped. Two detectives, Grace (Toni Collette) and Karen (Merritt Wever), [connect dots between cases across the map](https://time.com/5674986/unbelievable-netflix-true-story/ "undefined") to uncover the truth. ## _Baby Reindeer_ ## **_Unorthodox_** Inspired by Deborah Feldman’s 2012 autobiography, _Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots_, _Unorthodox_ follows Esty Shapiro (Shira Haas), a 19-year-old member of the Satmar sect of the ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But when she [flees to Berlin](https://time.com/5809043/unorthodox-netflix-review/ "undefined") to escape an arranged marriage and an unhappy life, her past follows her. ## **_GLOW_** GLOW, or the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, is a fledgling professional wrestling promotion that consists of a dozen or so “unconventional women”—including Ruth “Zoya the Destroya” Wilder (Alison Brie) and Debbie “Liberty Belle” Eagan (Betty Gilpin). Ruth and Debbie, former best friends, have a rocky past, and the tension between them continues into the ring. ## **_I Think You Should Leave_** The official name of this show is _I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson_—which makes sense, given that Robinson created the sketch comedy show (alongside Zach Kanin), and stars in most of its sketches. Sketches often consist of a character making a mistake, then doubling down and trying to convince the room that they are right and everyone else is wrong. ## **_The Queen’s Gambit_** Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a chess prodigy whose rising star just keeps climbing higher and higher. She beats everyone she plays, even—and especially—the men. But Beth has a troubled past: she’s an orphan who develops an addiction to the tranquilizer pills that the orphanage dispenses daily. But that won’t stop her on her way to a major international chess tournament. ## **_The Haunting of Hill House_** Horror icon Mike Flanagan created and directed this eerie and perhaps surprisingly affecting supernatural drama, loosely based on the 1959 novel of the same name by [Shirley Jackson](https://time.com/5847292/shirley-elisabeth-moss-review/ "undefined"). 26 years after Hugh and Olivia Crain and their five children—Steven, Shirley, Theo, Luke, and Nell—move into Hill House, they must reunite to reconcile with a past that won’t leave them. ## **_Maid_** Alex (Margaret Qualley) lives for her two-year-old daughter, Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet). Together, the pair escape from Alex’s abusive boyfriend, Sean (Nick Robinson), and set out to build a life of their own—built on the job Alex gets, cleaning houses for Value Maids. Inspired by [Stephanie Land’s](https://time.com/6102655/maid-stephanie-land-poverty/ "undefined") memoir _Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive_, [_Maid_](https://time.com/6101999/maid-review-netflix/ "undefined") is a poignant portrait of a woman enduring. ## **_You_** Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) has a problem. Well, he has a lot of problems. The New York bookstore manager doesn’t just fall in love—he gets absolutely, head-over-heels _obsessed_. In the first season of this popular psychological thriller, that obsession hinges on Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Beck), an aspiring writer who Joe tracks, stalks, and tries to ensnare. ## **_Mo_** Mo Najjar is a character, but [Mo Amer](https://time.com/6208985/mo-amer-interview-netflix/ "undefined") is a real-life comedian—and both are achingly funny. _Mo_ is loosely based on Amer’s life as a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas, with a few embellishments for style and flair. The comedy-drama, co-created by Ramy Youssef, reps Burin, Palestine and its olive oil just as hard as it goes for Alief, the Houston suburb once home to Beyoncé and Lizzo. ## **_Squid Game_** In Netflix’s most-watched series, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. Player 456, is flat broke and desperate for money. Desperate enough to kill. Gi-hun is one of 456 players who attempt increasingly perturbing versions of classic Korean children’s games for a chance at $35 million. The catch? Losing a game means death. ## **_Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt_** Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) is one of the Indiana mole women. That is to say, Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) kidnapped her 15 years ago, put her and three others in an underground bunker, and convinced them that they alone had survived the nuclear apocalypse. Newly rescued, Kimmy is on her own in New York City, hilariously discovering what she missed. ## **_American Vandal_** Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) says he’s innocent. He did _not_ vandalize 27 teacher and faculty cars in his high school parking lot with phallic images. This laugh-out-loud mockumentary follows two friends, Peter (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam (Griffin Gluck), as they launch an investigation into the crime, trying to exonerate Dylan. ## **_Heartstopper_** Boy meets boy. Boy one joins the rugby team to spend time with boy two. Boy two comes to the realization that maybe, just maybe, he likes boy one. Maybe he likes boys in general. This coming-of-age rom-com/drama is adapted from the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman, who wrote the show as well. Oseman’s hand drawn motifs pepper the show, epitomizing its warm charm. ## **_Queer Eye_** Antoni Porowski tackles food and wine. Tan France is in charge of fashion. Karamo Brown teaches culture. Bobby Berk leads interior design. And Jonathan Van Ness takes care of grooming. Together, these five queer people help reboot and refresh the lives of individuals around the country to heighten their lifestyles—and their love lives. ## **_The Great British Bake Off_** A group of amateur bakers—relatable and easy to cheer for—compete (politely, in their British way) to wow the judges with their baking skills. Each round, a contestant is eliminated, until a winner is selected from those who reach the final round. Thirteen seasons later, _The Great British Bake Off_ is delicious escapism at its finest. ## **_Derry Girls_** Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1990s—the tail end of [the Troubles](https://time.com/6270577/biden-visits-northern-ireland/ "undefined")—wasn’t necessarily a picturesque place. But to four girls—Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Clare (Nicola Coughlan), and Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell)—it’s home. The group of highschoolers, plus Michelle’s British cousin, James (Dylan Llewellyn), grow up together in this side-splitting teen sitcom full of Catholic school hijinks and teenage mischief. ## **_Sex Education_** Imagine your mother is a sex therapist. Now imagine that you’re a teenage boy in high school and your mom is overly involved in your life. Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) is a socially awkward guy who knows more about the mechanics of sex than most of his peers. So he starts a sex therapy clinic—alongside edgy Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey)—from inside his school’s bathroom stalls. ## **_Money Heist (La Casa de Papel)_** The Professor (Álvaro Morte) is a mysterious man. He recruits eight strangers—runaways, jewel thieves, miners, counterfeiters, hackers—to carry out his brilliant plot: rob the Royal Mint of Spain. With painstaking detail, the heist unfolds episode by episode, as viewers hold their breath. Will this ragtag group of lovable criminals get away with the crime of the century? ## **_Bridgerton_** This wildly popular fantastical period piece is dripping in glamor, intrigue, and secret affairs of the heart. In its first season, Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) is named by Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) as the “diamond of the season”—that is, the social season in Regency era London, when upper-class youth enter society and search for perfect pairings. ## **_Never Have I Ever_** Loosely based on the childhood of Mindy Kaling, who co-created and co-executive produced the show, this dramedy follows Indian American high school student Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) through her last three years of high school in the wake of her father’s sudden death.The fourth and final season, released in June, sees Devi graduate high school, having grown through the rough, awkward, hilarious patches of teenagehood. ## **_The Fall of the House of Usher_** An 1840 short story by Edgar Allen Poe meets a fictionalized version of the Sackler family. Daubed with macabre gothic horror, _The Fall of the House of Usher_ braids other Poe stories and characters into a story that spans the last 70 years. Roderick Usher (Zach Gilford/Bruce Greenwood), the magnate of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, seems cursed as death chases all six of his children. ## **_Gypsy_** Naomi Watts plays Manhattan therapist Jean Halloway, who has a seemingly perfect life: a husband in Big Law (Billy Crudup), Michael, an elementary school age daughter named Dolly, and a big house in Connecticut. But she's bored to tears with life in the suburbs and instead tries to live vicariously through her patients, following them around NYC to see if they're telling the truth and even befriending a patient's ex-girlfriend. A great show for people who can't get enough of Billy Crudup in _The Morning Show._ ## _Break Point_ For those who saw [_Challengers_ ](https://time.com/6971626/love-triangle-movies-challengers/ "undefined")and were inspired to start following tennis, start with the docu-series _Break Point,_ which shadows the top-ranked tennis players worldwide as they compete in the Grand Slam tournaments. Viewers will learn the big names in tennis at the moment, and retired tennis stars like Andy Roddick share their perspectives on what it's like to compete at this level. ## _Beef_ Amy Lau (Ali Wong) has a successful business and a family, but she's absolutely miserable. She is in the middle of talks to sell her plant company in what would be a multi-million-dollar acquisition, but all of that is thrown up in the air when she gets into a road rage incident with a contractor named Danny Cho (Steven Yeun). Each person is determined to have the final world, so the two stalk one another and take turns sabotaging each other's lives. A real nail biter, the 10 episodes of _Beef_ can easily be watched in one sitting. ## _Deaf U_ This engrossing reality TV docu-series follows seven students at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the only university in the world that functions entirely in American Sign Language for deaf and hard of hearing students. Viewers will see how students at this unique school navigate classes, the different cliques on campus, and dating. The goal of the series is to inspire compassion for deaf and hard of hearing people. ## _Inventing Anna_ A Shonda Rhimes production, _Inventing Anna_ is based on the shocking true story of New York journalist Jessica Pressler (Anna Chlumsky) who covered the rise and fall of Anna Delvey (Julia Garner), a social climber who tricked Manhattan's elite into thinking she was a German heiress and got them to invest in her plans to start a private social club. Adding to the drama, Pressler is depicted chasing Delvey all over the city and meeting up with her on Riker's Island—all while pregnant. In 2019, a jury convicted Delvey of second-degree grand larceny, theft of services and first-degree attempted grand larceny, and she has been out of prison since 2022\. She was a paid consultant on the Netflix series. ## **_Baby Reindeer_** A customer at an English pub named Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, starts stalking the bartender named Donny, played by Richard Gadd, who is also a struggling comedian. The show is inspired by a real-life stalking incident that Gadd had at one point in his early career. In the show, Donny initially finds Martha's attention flattering as he is struggling to get attention on the comedy circuit. "Baby Reindeer" is Martha's nickname for Donny because she thinks he looks like a baby reindeer. The show is gripping, as emails to him become more unhinged and she starts to go after other loved ones in his life. ## **_Master of None_** Aziz Ansari stars in a romantic comedy series as a South Asian actor in Brooklyn named Dev who is trying to date in the 21st century. Episodes tackle the hot-button topic of race in America and the experiences of children of immigrants in a fun way. ## _Simone Biles Rising_ The 2024 Summer Olympics may be over, but you can see more of Simone Biles's gymnastics in her Netflix docuseries _Simone Biles Rising._ The American medalist opens up about what was going on in her head when she withdrew from the all-around final at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and her doting husband Jonathan Owens talks about supporting her through that ordeal. Viewers get an up-close look at her training regimen, and she even takes viewers inside her home to show off her dazzling collection of leotards. ## **_Nobody Wants This_** At a dinner party in the Los Angeles area, a young rabbi (Adam Brody) named Noah—who just got out of a longterm relationship —falls for Joanne (Kristen Bell), the blonde host of a podcast on dating (think _Sex and the City_). Over 10 bingeworthy episodes, they try to figure out how to have a relationship when he's gunning for the job of head rabbi at his synagogue, where he is expected to marry a Jewish woman. ## _Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action_ Former producers for _The Jerry Springer_ show dish about the tricks they used to get guests to start fights on the show, which aired from 1991 to 2018\. The docu-series spotlights some of the most memorable guests, like a man who cut his penis off and a man who left his wife and kids to marry a horse. Springer, who died in 2023, appeared to be well-liked among his staff, but pressure for higher ratings from management pushed many of the producers over the edge. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6276424/best-shows-netflix/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6276424/best-shows-netflix/"},"headline":"The Best Shows to Watch on Netflix","datePublished":"2024-08-07T18:31:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T13:15:09.292Z","description":"From Stranger Things to Squid Game to The Crown","url":"https://time.com/6276424/best-shows-netflix/","keywords":["streaming","list","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Zornosa","jobTitle":"Laura Zornosa is a reporter at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/laura-zornosa/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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