The 25 Best Shows on Netflix to Watch Right Now (2024)

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 outexactly which titles you want to sample next.

BoJack Horseman (2014)

The titular BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett, now a host of the wildly successful podcast Smartless) 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 Peaco*ck) 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.

Carol & the End of the World (2023)

Many stories that speculate about the end of days revolve around characters who decide not to go out without attempting experiences that have always scared them. In Carol & the End of the World, from Rick and Morty producer Dan Guterman, the titular Carol (voiced by Martha Kelly) would actually prefer to act as though her life won’t really be changing at all—despite the upcoming apocalypse. The voice talent in this quietly beautiful dramedy includes Beth Grant as Carol’s mother, Bridget Everett as Carol’s sister, and Michael Chernus as a potential love interest. If Prime Video’s Fallout is too intense for you, try this much gentler vision.

The Chair (2021)

Before Bob Odenkirk was the mopey chair of a university English department in AMC’s Lucky Hank, Sandra Oh—whose latest show, The Sympathizer, recently wrapped on HBO—was the put-upon chair of a much better university’s English department in Netflix’s original limited series The Chair. Ji-Yoon (Oh), the first woman to run the department, takes over just in time for her recently widowed friend, Bill (Jay Duplass), to succumb to an in-class meltdown, causing a scandal Ji-Yoon has to deal with instead of enacting change the department actually needs. Excellent performances make this one of the best comedies and best dramas on Netflix.

Chicken Nugget (2024)

Choi Min-ah (Kim Yoo-jung) is waiting for her inventor father, Choi Seon-man (Ryu Seung-ryong), at his office, making small talk with intern Go Baek-joong (Ahn Jae-hong), when she notices a mysterious machine unobtrusively pushed up against the wall. Though Baek-joong doesn’t know what it is or where it came from, Min-ah assumes it’s a device intended to perk up the fatigued and decides to hop in. Seconds later, when Baek-joong flings the door back open, Min-ah has been transformed into a chicken nugget. Thus kicks off a mission to figure out what the machine actually is—and how to change Min-ah back. Chicken Nugget is probably unlike any other live-action sitcom you’ve seen before, and the season is funnier, weirder, and sweeter than any synopsis could possibly convey.

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.

Derry Girls (2018)

The Troubles, as experienced by residents of Derry, Northern Ireland, serve as the backdrop of this sitcom set in the mid-1990s. Primarily, though, the show is about four teenage girls (and one English boy mistakenly enrolled in their all-girls school) getting up to typical shenanigans: trying to raise money for a school trip to Paris; battling censorship at the school paper; and sneaking out of town to see a boy band. Keep an eye out for Nicola Coughlan, now headlining season three of Bridgerton.

The Devil’s Plan (2023)

Producer/director Jeong Jong-yeon would already be a reality TV legend if all he’d done was The Genius, a fiendishly complex game of skill, strategy, and insight. But we’re lucky he’s gone on to The Devil’s Plan. Twelve extremely impressive contestants—including an MIT-trained lawyer, a professional poker player who studies biomedical sciences on the side, and an actor/inventor/MSc in evolutionary psychology—face off in tests of their intelligence…but there’s a social game too. If you’re bereft by American competition shows taking a break for the summer, give this brain-breaker a shot.

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 Peaco*ck, 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.

Heartstopper (2022)

Adapted by Alice Oseman from her graphic novel of the same name, Heartstopper tells the story of British high school students Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor, soon to make his Broadway debut opposite Rachel Zegler in a new Romeo + Juliet). Charlie has been out—and not by his own choice—for the past year before meeting Nick. Since Charlie believes Nick is straight, the two start as platonic friends…but over the course of the first season, their relationship evolves. Thankfully, there’s plenty of time for you to catch up before season three drops in October.

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? That’s just math! This is the premise behind Holey Moley, from Chris Culvenor, the prolific EP responsible for 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 the charming interplay between Riggle and Tessitore make this one of the most crowd-pleasing shows on Netflix, and a perfect choice to come down after a sunny summer day.

Insecure (2016)

If you’re curious about President Barbie’s exploits before she took office, look no further than this HBO 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 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.

John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s In L.A. (2024)

This six-part series originally aired as a nightly live event in May, to coincide with the Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival (the reason everybody was, at the time, in Los Angeles). But missing it live is no reason to give it a pass entirely. John Mulaney presides over a project that’s part late-night talk show, part excavation of his complicated feelings about his relatively newly adopted city, and all experiment. The disparate guest list includes Marcia Clark, Andy Samberg, Mae Martin, Ronny Chieng, Cedric The Entertainer, and Weezer; well-known New Yorker Richard Kind occasionally pipes up as Mulaney’s sidekick.

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.

Maid (2021)

Stephanie Land’s memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, And A Mother’s Will To Survive provided the source material for this limited series. Alex (Margaret Qualley, who this month re-teams with her Poor Things writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos for Kinds Of Kindness) is a young mother whose decision to leave her abusive boyfriend Sean (Nick Robinson) is fraught with peril: severely limited finances, a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, and insufficient support from the people closest to her. Alex’s determination to create a safe and happy life for her daughter Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet) and to become a writer keep her pushing through extremely challenging obstacles.

Mindhunter (2017)

The 1995 nonfiction book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit provides the inspiration for this scripted series, created by playwright Joe Penhall and executive-produced by David Fincher, who also directs multiple episodes. FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) partner with psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) to pioneer the bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit. As part of their work, they visit prisons to interview some of the era’s incarcerated serial killers, most notoriously Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton), David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the Son of Sam (Oliver Cooper), and Charles Manson (Damon Herriman). Though we only got two seasons, true-crime fans will call this one of the best crime shows on Netflix.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman (2018)

For each short season of what is practically an event series, David Letterman—the original host of both Late Night and The Late Show—curates a tiny group of guests with whom he spends an entire episode. Past visitors include Tina Fey, Jay-Z, Howard Stern, and Barack Obama, giving his first interview after leaving office. The rhythms are definitely different from what you’re used to seeing Dave do, but it’s still a joy to see it done by one of the greats. Season five premieres June 12.

Narcos (2015)

How did Pablo Escobar go from a comparatively low-level smuggler to one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins to dying at the hands of an international law enforcement task force (er, spoiler alert)? Steve Murphy—a real DEA agent, since retired, 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.

O.J.: Made in America (2016)

Following the death of O.J. Simpson in April, O.J.: Made in America made its way to Netflix. Filmmaker Ezra Edelman originally produced the doc—which was released both theatrically and as a five-part miniseries—for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. But even the casual sports fan will find much to digest in this deep look at Simpson as a football star, pop-culture celebrity, and murder defendant.

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.

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. If this sounds a lot like Bachelor In Paradise, that’s no accident—and since ABC has stopped making those for the time being, this is a fine substitute. Season two premieres June 7.

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 this 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.

Royal Pains (2009)

Given the enormous popularity Suits enjoyed on Netflix (and Peaco*ck) 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.

Sex and the City (1998)

Candace Bushnell’s columns about love and sex in New York City spawned a 1996 book anthology and eventually an HBO series from Darren Star, the legendary wunderkind creator of Beverly Hills, 90210 and its first spin-off, Melrose Place. Here, Sarah Jessica Parker plays Carrie, a free-spirited writer looking for love, dating around, and comparing notes with her three best friends: gallerina Charlotte (Kristin Davis), attorney Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and publicist Samantha (Kim Cattrall). Six seasons, two movies, and a revival series, And Just Like That…, were ultimately brought to the screen.

Shameless (2011)

On Chicago’s South Side, negligent and substance-addicted Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy) has plenty of time to feed his worst impulses and very little for his many children. So the job of raising them primarily falls to the eldest, Fiona (Emmy Rossum). The supporting cast includes future The Conners star Emma Kenney, future Gotham star Cameron Monaghan, and future V.F. Hollywood cover star Jeremy Allen White, returning this month to FX/Hulu for season three of The Bear.

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