From the best shows you’re not watching to the hacks you’ve never heard of, Netflix is a one stop shop for binge-worthy television shows to occupy you and your significant other over a long weekend. And while we’re all for the new releases on Netflix every month, there are plenty of award-winning or otherwise fantastic shows that you should watch or rewatch if you’ve seen them already. Start with the 12 best shows on Netflix right now.
Archer
Sterling Archer is a covert black ops and espionage agent that occasionally makes ends meet as a drug dealer, arms smuggler, private investigator, and detective. That’s all when he’s not working for an intelligence agency run by his mother and supported by his baby mama, her current boyfriend, a mad scientist Hitler clone, a horny, occasionally coked up office manager and a batshit secretary who moonlights as a country star. Every episode is an animated tour-de-force through ludicrous exploits, crazy adventures and downright hilarious escapades that result in one helluva binge-worthy TV show. Watch
Black Mirror
In what boils down to a version of the Twilight Zone for those of us that have had computers for longer than we haven’t, Black Mirror is an anthology series that explores the dark side of all that tech and the Internet of Things brings along with it. Equal parts terrifying, eye-opening and prescient, each episode tells a unique story that will hit home for one reason or another. Plus, it’s a binge worthy Netflix title, so you’ll click play on episode 1 and start keeping track of the time based on episode numbers. Watch
Parks and Recreation
What started as a spiritual spin-off of The Office led to the creation of the show that’s so ingrained in the public consciousness it’s impossible to see a picture of Nick Offerman without thinking about steak or a picture of Amy Poehler without thinking of Leslie Knope’s general do-goodery. Between the pranks, the deadpan comedy and the heartfelt humor, Parks and Rec is a picture perfect definition of what a great sitcom should be. Except for the first season. This is one of those shows were it’s totally acceptable to skip the first season. Watch
Orange is the New Black
No list of the best shows on Netflix right now would be complete without their “most-watched original series,” Orange is the New Black. The prison dramedy based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of a similar name focuses on the lives of a hilarious collection of female inmates serving sentences in a minimum security federal prison. It’s funny and sometimes depressing. It’s clever while still being brutally real. It’s absolutely worth binge-watching and seeing as how Season 5 was just released you should probably get on that. Watch
The West Wing
The show that made Aaron Sorkin a household name, led to the creation of a great podcast, launched dozens of careers and found fans in the political players it was designed to represent still holds up more than twenty years later as a smart, sophisticated drama that also happens to be widely considered the greatest political television show ever created. The West Wing is one of those shows like so many other on this list that’s filled with more endearing qualities than we could ever hope to wax nostalgic on. Just watch it. Immediately. All seven seasons. Watch
Master of None
If Aziz Ansari’s “big bud, little bud” comedy about a thirty year old actor living through a crazy collection of misadventures in NYC was created by or starred anyone other than Ansari himself it might not have ended up here. There’s something about the realness, the awkwardness, the perspective and the downright brutal honesty of this show that transcends the screen and makes it feel unscripted. It doesn’t hurt that Ansari et. al made a point to touch on quite a few social quandaries in ways that no one show ever has (watch “New York, I Love You” in Season 2 immediately). Watch
Jessica Jones
Figuring out continuity when it comes to Marvel properties is more difficult than it should be. Their movies come out mostly in order, but like the comics, you’ll sometimes need to watch Captain America to understand why stuff’s happening in Iron Man. Jessica Jones throws that all out the window. In what is arguably Marvel’s greatest contribution to moving pictures—certainly their best TV show—Jessica Jones is primarily an old school, stylized detective noir with secondary superhero ties and one helluva villain in David Tennant. It’s this focus on style and genre, along with Krysten Ritter’s stellar performance as the titular character, that elevate Jessica Jones above the likes of Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Not that there isn’t plenty of superhero ass kicking along they way ’cause she’s beating dudes up regularly. Watch
Mad Men
Don Draper is the fictional character living the life every man simultaneously envies and dreads. He parties hard, does what he wants and always seems to end up with a beautiful woman. On the other hand, his family life is screwed up, he’s living a lie and he’s constantly tormented by demons (plenty of them alcoholic). It might be a show about a fictional ad agency—that ultimately led to some real life ads—but the focus was always on Draper as the eye of the storm. Make sure you watch all of Mad Men before it goes the way of the three martini lunch. Watch
Stranger Things
Last years most popular show tugged on all the right heart and nostalgia strings to create a dramatic thriller that revived careers, inspired Halloween costumes, gave birth to plenty of great gifs and left every single viewer clamoring for more. These are also some of the finest child actors since Stand By Me, which is saying a lot. Children in movies and shows are generally insufferable, so to actually like something with an elementary school aged cast is an accomplishment. If you haven’t watched Stranger Things yet, get through Season 1 before Season 2 drops October 31 of this year. Watch
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
From Dayman and Green Man to the D.E.N.N.I.S system and nightcrawlers, it’s hard to pick just one episode or hilarious compilation of shenanigans from the Always Sunny canon that’s our absolute favorite. After watching this show you’ll want to bust out in song, play Chardee MacDennis, terrorize locals and act like a collection of degenerates with little to no sense of wrong, right or what’s anywhere near politically correct… just like all the characters from the show. Watch
Breaking Bad
What’s there to say about Breaking Bad that hasn’t been said already? In what is quite possibly the greatest television show ever made. The actor responsible for portraying one of TV’s favorite dads became a criminal mastermind cooking meth and building a drug empire the likes of which the world has only ever seen a few times. There are quite a few reasons this show has more than 350 award wins or nominations, and if you don’t know why, start watching now before someone ruins it for you. Watch
House of Cards
And then there’s Netflix’s first big entry into what would become the most binge-worthy collection of TV ever created—House of Cards. It’s bleak. It’s darkly humorous. It even touches a little too close to home at times. Most importantly, though, Frank and Claire Underwood and the ensemble cast that surrounds them are absolutely riveting. The only reason to reach for the remote once you start the Season 5 is to tell Netflix you’re still watching. Watch
