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.

A.P. Bio (2018–2021)

Jack (Glenn Howerton) derived most of his identity and self-worth from escaping his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, for a job as a philosophy professor at Harvard. But when he lost out on being named department chair to Miles (Tom Bennett), a toxically positive colleague, Jack had a breakdown that lost him his teaching position and sent him back to the only place available: his late mother’s Toledo townhouse. It’s fortunate for Jack that his starstruck former classmate Ralph (Patton Oswalt) is willing to help him earn an income by hiring him to teach AP biology; it’s less fortunate for his grade-grubbing students that Jack has no intention of teaching them the subject, and instead plans to use their superior intellects to help carry out revenge schemes against Miles. Start watching one of Netflix’s most joke-dense sitcoms now, and you’ll make it to season three’s loony “Katie Holmes Day” just in time for Christmas!

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 moved back to their native Korea after losing their family motel. There’s no reason Danny and Amy should ever know each other, never mind end up as each other’s sworn enemies. But after the two have an unfortunate parking lot run-in, they both become obsessed with avenging themselves in this pitch-black comedy, which cut a swath through awards season last year. Season two is coming, with an all-new cast.

BoJack Horseman (2014–2020)

The titular BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett, now one third 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) to ghostwrite 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 onetime sitcom rival turned frenemy, a Labrador retriever named Mr. Peanutbutter. Thought BoJack aired its finale nearly five years ago, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg recently set up his next show at Netflix—meaning the time is right to catch up on one of Netflix’s most critically acclaimed animated shows.

Cobra Kai (2018–)

Forty years ago—almost exactly—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 not only didn’t play, but 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 at middle age. Since their fraught teen years, things have changed: 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 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 second part of season six dropped November 15.

Dash & Lily (2020)

With the holiday season now upon us, the time is finally right to check out, or revisit, one of the most charming rom-coms on Netflix. Adapted from Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s YA novel series Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, the show revolves around the titular characters (Austin Abrams and Midori Francis, respectively) not quite meeting but deepening their knowledge of each other through notes and dares in a notebook that they take turns leaving in locations all over New York City. Also: It’s Christmas!

Detroiters (2017–2018)

When Tim (Tim Robinson) was a kid, his father, Big Hank (Kevin Nash), was a legend in the world of local ad production in Detroit. Then Big Hank went to what Tim refers to as “the nuthouse,” leaving his ad agency for Tim to take over. What Tim lacks in natural talent, he makes up for in enthusiasm, intensity, and platonic love for Sam (Sam Richardson), his business partner and best friend. The show really filmed in Detroit, and it is crammed with references to actual local ads that Robinson and Richardson—both favorite sons of the city—know from their youth. Guest and recurring stars include such comedy luminaries as Conner O’Malley, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jason Sudeikis, making this by far one of the funniest sitcoms on Netflix.

Documentary Now! (2015–)

Saturday Night Live alumni Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and (director) Rhys Thomas cocreated this anthology series, in which each episode is a painstakingly specific parody reimagining a real noteworthy—if not Oscar-winning—documentary film. Though its future is uncertain—these are busy people, and one episode of this show takes a lot of work—the four seasons we’ve got so far are impeccable. Spoof subjects include The Kid Stays in the Picture, The Thin Blue Line, When We Were Kings, and, in a rare departure, the Netflix docuseries Wild Wild Country; you quite simply can’t call yourself a fan of musical theater if you haven’t seen “Original Cast Album: Co-Op,” the show’s take on Original Cast Album: Company. Series guest stars include Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Alexander Skarsgård, and Maya Rudolph, with Helen Mirren appearing to introduce each and every episode.

Entrapped (2021)

In 2015 the Icelandic network RÚV débuted Trapped, a classic Nordic noir. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, currently costarring in the final season of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, stars as Andri Ólafsson, the chief of police in a northern Icelandic town. His job gets harder when a dismembered human torso is found just in time for a blizzard to render the town entirely inaccessible to anyone outside it. A second season found Andri working a political assassination case. And after a long (COVID-related) delay, season three premiered in Iceland in 2021, later arriving on Netflix in September 2022, with the new title Entrapped. This time, the murder that kicks off the action exposes the tangled relations between a pacifist commune and a biker gang. The chilly setting and short run make this one of the most binge-worthy shows with which to bunker down.

Feel Good (2020–2021)

Mae Martin charmed audiences in 2023 as a contestant on the British panel show Taskmaster; anyone who wants to see what they can do with material that’s less absurdist should check out their breakthrough role in Feel Good. In this highly autobiographical, now concluded dramedy, cocreated and cowritten by Martin and Joe Hampson, Martin plays Mae, a Canadian stand-up comic living in England who falls in love with George (Charlotte Ritchie, star of the UK Ghosts AND another past Taskmaster contestant). The road to happiness is rough for the couple, however; Mae is a drug addict who’s in recovery but still has lingering issues, while George is hesitant about coming out to loved ones. The show’s deep bench of supporting cast members includes Minx star Ophelia Lovibond, Four Weddings and a Funeral alumna Sophie Thompson, Buffy’s Anthony Head, and Lisa Kudrow (now starring in Apple TV+’s series adaptation of Time Bandits) as Mae’s mother, Linda.

Fisk (2021–)

Helen Tudor-Fisk (Kitty Flanagan, who cocreated 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—closer to 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; we can’t wait to see what future seasons will bring.

Friday Night Lights (2006–2011)

The small (and fictional) town of Dillon, Texas, doesn’t have much going on, but there is one obsession all residents share: Dillon Panthers football. Loosely adapted from H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger’s nonfiction book of the same name, the series revolves around Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), the new head coach at Dillon High School. Expectations for his performance are already impossibly high, and the pressure on him only grows after a catastrophe befalls his quarterback, Jason Street (Scott Porter), in the series premiere. The much-lauded show, which concluded its run (gulp) 13 years ago, also features Connie Britton in the breakout role of Tami, Eric’s eminently patient, impeccably coiffed wife; later seasons also boast future Creed star Michael B. Jordan. With the NFL season ramping up, this can help you fill the time between games.

GLOW (2017–2019)

Alison Brie’s Ruth is trying—and mostly failing—to make it as an actor in 1985 Los Angeles. After she blows yet another audition, a casting director gives her a tip on an unconventional production Ruth might be right for: highly choreographed women’s wrestling. Bringing in a bunch of actorly baloney doesn’t help the notably unathletic Ruth make a great first impression on director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), but before she entirely washes out, her frenemy, Debbie (Betty Gilpin), storms in to confront Ruth about a recent wrong, and Sam sees a great face-heel duo in the making. Gilpin—most recently seen in the Starz original series Three Women—earned Emmy nominations in the category of outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for all three of the show’s seasons. (A planned fourth wound up being a casualty of the pandemic.) There’s no wrong time to dig into one of the best-ever comedies on Netflix; you won’t be sorry you did.

The Great British Baking Show (2010–)

Ten-ish years into the reality-competition boom, a show came along that was the exact antithesis of the cutthroat Survivor or even Top Chef. The amateur contestants of The Great British Baking Show are genuinely warm and helpful to one another, the hosts and judges are gentle and encouraging, and everyone’s striving to produce their very best work in order to win an engraved glass cake stand and absolutely no cash at all. Don’t fret that TV’s sweetest reality-competition show ended its latest season in November: A new season of the special holiday spin-off premieres December 9.

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, who also costarred this year in Agatha All Along on Disney+) and Nick (Kit Connor). 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. Over the course of the first season, their relationship evolves. Season three dropped October 3.

Lost (2004–2010)

The passengers on Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 all board thinking they’re in for a routine flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Alas, it is not to be: The plane crashes on a remote island, having gone off its original course and disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The survivors have enough problems just figuring out what resources are available and how to remain alive until help can find them. But before long, they realize there’s more to this island than they could possibly imagine. Reasonable people can disagree on where (or whether) the show went on longer than it should have by the time it finally ended in 2010; what is not in dispute is that this game changer is one of the most culturally significant TV dramas on Netflix.

The Magicians (2015–2020)

Lev Grossman’s novels provide the basis for this long-running fantasy series, which originally aired on Syfy and revolves around Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy. But this is no Hogwarts: Though Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) enrolls with the simple goal of learning to use magic, he soon finds out that the Fillory and Further novel series he’s loved all his life is no mere work of fiction. It’s actually based on true events, offering a warning about other worlds that could impinge on his. Fortunately, his classmates are smart and talented, and maybe they can triumph if they combine all their powers.

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, of this year’s acclaimed feature film The Substance) 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, keeps her pushing through extremely challenging obstacles.

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 about which he can be excited. Right on cue, he finds a newspaper classified ad seeking a man, age 75–85, who has his own phone. Before long, he’s been hired 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 it’s perfect for filling the hole in your TV schedule left by the recent finale of Only Murders in the Building.

Mindhunter (2017–2019)

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, fans of true crime will call this one of the best crime shows 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.

Squid Game (2021–)

Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is a gambling addict crushed by both his personal debt and 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, spinning off an unscripted competition show, also on Netflix; the second season premieres December 26.

The Ultimatum (2022–)

Following the wild success of Love Is Blind, series creator Chris Coelen came to Netflix with The Ultimatum. In the most recent season, which premiered in August 2023, five established couples enter the process: In each case, one partner wants to get married, while the other isn’t sure if they’re ready. To clarify matters (or, at least, that’s the conceit), the couples part; each person pairs up with a new one from a different couple, with each new duo living together for eight weeks to see what happens. Who will find their way back to each other?! The third season arrives on the platform December 4.

UnREAL (2015–2018)

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s 2013 short film, Sequin Raze, is the inspiration for this drama series, set behind the scenes of Everlasting, a fictional reality dating show; Shapiro cocreated the series with Marti Noxon, formerly a producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Our antiheroine protagonist is Rachel (Shiri Appleby), a producer who, as UnREAL begins, is just returning to Everlasting after a mental breakdown. Rachel is bringing some very dark mother issues to the project, which is part of why she’s so susceptible to manipulation by Quinn (Constance Zimmer), Everlasting’s toxic bitch queen of an executive producer. Though later seasons lost the plot a bit, the first is pretty impeccable. After seeing the ways Rachel messes with the minds of Everlasting’s flock of aspiring brides—not to mention Adam (Freddie Stroma), the man they’re all vying for—you may never be able to watch The Bachelor the same way again.

Warrior (2019–2023)

In the 1870s, San Francisco is a city on the rise. It’s full of gold rush money, railway profiteers—and Chinese gangs, known as tongs. In the series premiere, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) arrives from Foshan with considerable martial arts skills, and a mission: to find his sister, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan), who fled an abusive marriage in China. Soon, Ah Sahm is a valued member of the Hop Wei tong, and when he finds Mai Ling, she has gone through significant changes. The show was adapted from a treatment originally created by the late Bruce Lee; his daughter, Shannon Lee, partnered with Banshee cocreator Jonathan Tropper to bring this show to (extremely bloody and exciting) fruition. In 2023 the show was canceled by Max (its home for season three; the first two aired on Cinemax). If we can all make it a massive hit, maybe Netflix will make more!

When They See Us (2019)

In 1989 a jogger was raped in New York’s Central Park. Five young Black and Latino men were wrongly accused and all spent time in prison. Years later, a man who was incarcerated on unrelated charges confessed to the jogger’s assault, and the so-called Central Park Five—more recently in the news for suing then candidate Donald Trump for defaming them (a Trump spokesman called the lawsuit “frivolous” at the time)—were ultimately exonerated. This acclaimed docudrama tells their story and is accompanied by a stand-alone special in which Oprah Winfrey interviews the exonerated men. Jharrel Jerome won an Emmy for his performance as Korey Wise; Joshua Jackson, star of ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, costars as Michael Joseph, who represented defendant Antron McCray.