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 out exactly which titles you want to sample next.

BoJack Horseman (2014)

The titular BoJack (voiced by Will Arnett, who’s currently lending his vocal talents to Peacock’s Twisted Metal) 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 Peacock) 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.

Borgen (2010)

Need something to take your mind off American politics? How about the politics of a whole other country? As this Danish series begins, Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) is the leader of the center-left political party, the Moderates, and is heading into a federal election she does not expect her party to win. Then the prime minister’s wife embroils him in a minor but embarrassing financial scandal, and—to make a long parliamentary story short—Nyborg ends up as Denmark’s first female PM. While the original series ended in 2013, it was followed by a sequel in 2022, Power & Glory.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013)

The numbers show that NYPD detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is great at closing cases. But he still finds time to goof around at the station with Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), his main rival and the target of most of his pranks, and Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), the best friend who hero-worships Peralta. In the series premiere, the equilibrium at the Nine-Nine gets a shake-up with the arrival of new captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), a strictly regimented administrator with, it seems, zero sense of humor. The show comes to us from Dan Goor and Michael Schur, both formerly of Parks and Recreation, so: Yes, of course, this is absolutely one of the very best workplace sitcoms on Netflix.

Call the Midwife (2012)

Life can be rough in late-’50s Poplar, a disadvantaged neighborhood in London’s East End. But while struggling residents must endure hardships of all kinds—unethical landlords, insecure employment, open racism against new immigrants of color—one boon they can count on is top-notch medical care. Working with the UK’s National Health Service, an order of Anglican nuns, assisted by several secular nurse-midwives, provides pre- and postnatal care to Poplar families; as the series has progressed through more than 10 seasons (and counting!), it’s also moved forward in time to show characters dealing with limb differences caused by thalidomide; an outbreak of diphtheria; and the introduction of birth control pills. No less an eminence than Vanessa Redgrave narrates. The attention to detail in the period design, the understated performances, and the thoughtful portrayal of complex issues make this one of the best TV shows on Netflix. The 13th season is now airing on PBS. (Warning for anyone suffering with American health insurance—or suffering in the US without it: The care depicted on this show may cause intense jealousy.)

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—now costarring in The Sympathizer 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.

The Conners (2018)

Forget, if you can, the scandal that caused 2018’s Roseanne revival to come to an abrupt end: Everyone else who worked on the show without being hateful was allowed to continue working on a spin-off of Roseanne without Roseanne Barr. The series premiere directly follows the off-screen death of the original show’s titular character, portraying how husband Dan (John Goodman), sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), and daughters Becky (Lecy Goranson) and Darlene (Sara Gilbert) go on without her. (Michael Fishman’s D.J., Becky and Darlene’s brother, also appears sporadically for the first few seasons.) After the conclusions of Shameless, Mom, and Superstore, The Conners is one of the last working-class sitcoms on TV, and it’s very much worth your time.

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, currently coheadlining Big Mood on Tubi.

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 Peacock, 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.

Good Girls (2018)

Now that an Arabic-language adaptation of Good Girls has been announced, why not check out how it all began? Three Michigan moms—sisters Beth (Christina Hendricks) and Annie (Mae Whitman) and their fried Ruby (Retta), whom they’ve known since childhood—run into pressing financial difficulties at the same time. What if they solved all their problems at once by robbing the supermarket where Annie works? Seems like a winning plan until they find out the store is entangled in a complex criminal operation, and that the only way they can avoid disaster is to let themselves get recruited to work in it themselves. Treat yourself to four seasons of one of the best crime dramedies 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.

Insecure (2016)

If you’re curious about President Barbie’s exploits before she took office, look no further than this HBO original 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, currently on Hulu in Vacation Friends 2, 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.

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.

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, currently on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along) 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.

Mo (2022)

Comic Mo Amer reteamed with Ramy Youssef—the star and cocreator of Ramy, in which Amer plays the titular Ramy’s cousin—to cocreate Mo. In this semi-autobiographical dramedy, which has never felt more urgent, Amer plays Mohammed “Mo” Najjar, a Palestinian refugee navigating life in Houston, Texas, and seeking asylum as a path to US citizenship. As with Ramy, Mo comes from beloved indie production company A24.

Money Heist (2017)

If you love the meticulous plotting and split-second timing of a heist movie, but wish you could see more of how the plan actually came to be, this series—among the best crime shows on Netflix—is for you. The Professor (Álvaro Morte) assembles a crew of thieves, each of whom has been carefully selected for their specific skills, and spends months training them to pull off a huge job: They’re going to barricade themselves in Spain’s Royal Mint and print their own euros to steal. But even a mind as brilliant as the Professor’s can’t anticipate everything that might go wrong. One of Netflix’s biggest-ever global hits, the show was followed by a Korean remake in 2022; a prequel, Berlin, premiered in December.

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.

Resident Alien (2021)

Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) was once a distinguished doctor. But he chose the wrong time to be at his lakeside cabin in Patience, Colorado, because when an alien with human-eliminating designs crash-landed nearby, he killed Harry, transformed himself into Harry’s exact double, and started passing as Harry around town—where, fortunately, no one really knew Harry well, and thus they can’t tell he’s acting like someone who learned English and human behavior from Law & Order marathons. Over time, Harry develops relationships with clinic nurse Asta (Sara Tomko); D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund), Asta’s best friend and a former Olympic skier; and Max (Judah Prehn), the mayor’s son, who happens to possess the rare power of perceiving both Harry’s real form and the glow of his extraterrestrial gear. “Fish out of water” is a story trope we’ve all seen many times, but Tudyk’s extremely committed performance elevates this to one of the funniest under-the-radar shows on Netflix.

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 Peacock) 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.