For millions of subscribers, Netflix is more than just a movie hub: It’s a place to get lost on a weeknight or weekend binging your favorite TV show. If you’ve already consumed perennial favorites like Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, and The Crown, check out these other shows worth your downtime.
1. Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)
The drama of small-town Texas high school football is captured in this series starring Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. It was the second time NBC tried adapting author Buzz Bissinger’s book, which also inspired a 2004 movie starring Billy Bob Thornton: When the network couldn’t get the rights, they aired a 1993 take-off, Against the Grain, with a young Ben Affleck as the quarterback.
2. Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present)
Ellen Pompeo leads a sprawling cast in one of the most popular primetime medical dramas in television history. As Meredith Grey, Pompeo navigates hospital politics and personal upheaval. All 19 seasons are currently streaming.
3. Lovesick (2014-2018)
You might have passed this show by when it came out under its original name, Scrotal Recall. But let us tell you something: Lovesick is an antidote to what ails you. It all starts when Dylan (Johnny Flynn) has to let his former lovers know that he has a sexually transmitted disease. What comes next is a dressing down of each of those relationships, one by one, and their absolute worst moments. Rounding out the cast are his two friends Evie (Antonia Thomas) and Luke (Daniel Ings). Lovesick is a heartfelt romp into relationship dysfunction and the things we do for love and intimate connection.
4. Jane the Virgin (2014-2019)
Gina Rodriguez stars in this winning CW comedy about a young woman forced to reconsider her future when she becomes pregnant after being mistakenly artificially inseminated.
5. Crashing (2016)
A pre-Fleabag Phoebe Waller-Bridge created and co-stars in this ensemble comedy about a group of disenfranchised twentysomethings who become live-in guards for an abandoned hospital and find themselves getting a little too close for comfort. It’s perfect for when you need a single-season, six-episode mini-binge.
6. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel star in this mother-daughter dramedy that never fails to win audiences over. Aside from work as an extra in 1998’s Rushmore, NYU student Bledel had no acting experience before being cast as Rory Gilmore.
7. Money Heist (2017-2021)
This Spanish-language drama has gotten raves for its suspenseful and original take on the heist genre. Instead of swiping cash, this group of thieves breaks into the Royal Mint of Spain to print it themselves. The show is among the most popular non-English titles on the service worldwide.
8. Dirty John (2018-2020)
This true-crime anthology series explores two wayward romances. In season one, a very suspicious John Meehan (Eric Bana) romances—and terrorizes—new wife Debra Newell (Connie Britton). In season 2, the vengeful Betty Broderick (Amanda Peet) lashes out at her attorney husband (Christian Slater) when he leaves her for a younger woman. The latter story was previously filmed as two 1992 made-for-television movies starring Meredith Baxter of Family Ties fame.
9. Sex Education (2019-2023)
If you haven’t started digging into Sex Education, what are you waiting for? The delightful coming-of-age series is funny, idealized, and in some ways totally retro—and features Gillian Anderson as a sensualist sex therapist mom to boot. Asa Butterfield stars as her son, Otis, an awkward teen grappling with his mom’s work and the skills he inherits from living with her, who then teams up with schoolmate Maeve (Emma Mackey) to help better the sex lives of his fellow students. (For money, of course.) The ensemble series that unfolds is equal parts earnest, hilarious, raunchy, and distinctly both British and American in its sensibilities, creating a fun universe in which to live.
10. Key & Peele (2012-2015)
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele headline this popular sketch comedy series. The two originally auditioned for the same open spot on MADtv.
11. The Blacklist (2013-2023)
James Spader headlines this long-running drama about a criminal who shares his wisdom with the FBI in exchange for immunity. A decade’s worth of twists and turns ensues.
12. Suits (2011-2019)
Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams star as lawyers, with most clients of their firm not aware that Adams is a college dropout. Though the show—which co-stars Meghan Markle—was a modest hit on USA, it has since become a powerhouse for Netflix, earning over 1 billion minutes of watch time.
13. Band of Brothers (2001)
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced this celebrated limited series about Easy Company, a tight-knit crew of soldiers hoping to survive World War II. The massive budget for the 10-episode show—a reported $125 million—made it among the most expensive small-screen productions of all time.
14. The Sinner (2017-2021)
Bill Pullman leads this psychological thriller series as a cop tackling a number of disturbing cases. In the first season, it’s Jessica Biel spontaneously stabbing a man to death without seeming cause or provocation. Those initial episodes were based on a 1999 novel of the same name by German author Petra Hammesfahr.
A version of this story ran in 2020; it has been updated for 2023.
This article was originally published on www.mentalfloss.com as The 14 Best TV Shows to Stream on Netflix Right Now.
