Update: Feeling the stay-inside vibe this weekend? This is all you need to while it away a glorious TV trance. This story was originally published on January 12, 2013 (but we've added some new must-watch entries!).We've been there. You've exhausted your Netflix queue, flipped through your entire spectrum of TV channels (twice), and seen every season of 30 Rock. It's tough, but don't despair. There's still uncharted territory out there! In fact, there's oodles of fun to be had from the comfort of your laptop this weekend. You just have to know what to look for.
These are our favorite finds on Netflix Instant Watch. Never heard of 'em? Good! Heard the word, but haven't gotten around to it yet? Now's the time.
Love Game of Thrones?
If your favorite part of George R.R. Martin’s sweeping saga is the various characters’ devious machinations and power plays for the Iron Throne, cue up The Tudors. There are no dragons or White Walkers, but the historical drama does tell the extremely scandalous story of England’s 16th-century royal court, led by King Henry VIII (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and there’s just as much sex as you’ll find on Game of Thrones. There’s even some Thrones crossover: Natalie Dormer, who plays Margaery Tyrell on GoT, stars as the doomed Anne Boleyn on The Tudors.
Love Degrassi: The Next Generation?
Really, who doesn’t? The hallowed halls of Degrassi Community School saw more than their fair share of D-R-A-M-A throughout the show’s 14 (yes, 14) seasons. Not only did the series deal with serious issues, including teen pregnancy, drug addiction, eating disorders, and school shootings, it also introduced us to then-unknown actors like Jake Epstein (who’s now a Broadway star), Nina Dobrev, and Aubrey Graham (now better known as the rapper named Drake). The Next Generation had a long run, yet fans seemed surprised when TeenNick announced its cancellation in June 2015. Luckily, Netflix swooped in to make loyal Degrassi viewers very happy. Degrassi: Next Class premiered on January 4, 2016, with a whole new cast of characters and updated issues for a new generation, including cyberbullying in the world of e-sports.
Love Narcos?
Sean Penn claims in his Rolling Stone interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman that Mexican actress Kate del Castillo is the one who connected Penn with El Chapo. del Castillo has since noted that some of the stories surrounding her involvement with El Chapo are untrue, but still, her involvement with a drug cartel leader is almost stranger than fiction. Why? del Castillo starred as Teresa Mendoza, who is also known as the “Queen of the South” on the popular telenovela La Reina del Sur. The telenovela is based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 2002 novel of the same name, which tells the story of the first woman to become the leader of a Spanish drug cartel.
Love Serial?
It seems everyone came back from the 2015 holidays talking about one thing and one thing only: Making a Murderer. Netflix’s 10-episode true-crime docuseries follows the trial of Steven Avery, who was accused of killing 25-year-old Teresa Halbach in 2005. Avery had a troubled history with law enforcement officials in his home county of Manitowoc, WI, which led his defense attorneys to argue that he had been framed by the police. The series offers a riveting look at the criminal justice system that will leave you wondering what to believe.
Love The Shawshank Redemption?
SundanceTV'sRectify tells the story of Daniel Holden, who was put on death row after being found guilty of rape and murder as a teenager. Almost 20 years later, his conviction is overturned after new DNA evidence nullifies it, and Daniel is released. He returns to live in the town where everyone is still convinced of his guilt, except for his younger sister, Amantha.
Love Office Space?
Better Off Ted is a criminally underrated gem of a sitcom about Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), who runs the R&D department at a soulless mega-corporation called Veridian Dynamics. It’s a send-up of everything that’s wrong with corporate America and evil companies content to destroy the environment without thinking twice. Yet the show always errs on the side of hopeful optimism while taking them to task. The biggest disappointment of all is that this delight of a series never got another season.
Love Friends?
But looking for a half-hour show grounded a bit more in reality with up-to-date references? You need Aziz Ansari’s Master of None. The series is a combination of lessons from the comedian’s book, Modern Romance, aspects of his own life, and the overall experience of being in one's late 20s and early 30s. The result is a poignant, funny, and an extremely accurate depiction of what it’s like to be alive right now.
Love Daredevil?
Netflix continues its dark dive into the Marvel universe with Jessica Jones. She’s not your typical superhero. Jessica (Krysten Ritter) works as a P.I. and floats along the outskirts of society. She’s suffering from PTSD after a mysterious man named Kilgrave (David Tennant) took control over her mind for months. The series has just the right amount of gritty badassary we’ve been longing to see from a female superhero. You can binge-watch all of season 1 along with us right here.
Love Top Chef?
You need The Great British Baking Show (or, as it’s called in the U.K., The Great British Bake Off) in your life. Picture all the things you like about Top Chef (drooling at the culinary creations, and worrying whether the contestants will finish them in the time limit provided) without the things you don’t like (the heavily sponsored and overly branded everything, and how they make the contestants extremely stressed and frazzled by keeping them isolated from their families). Add to that the most quaint, idyllic British location you can imagine — a tent outside a manor complete with a pond, adorable sheep, and rolling lawns for days — and two judges who take baking more seriously than you’ve ever thought anyone could. It’s basically a recipe for the most charming cooking competition you’ve ever seen, and it’s finally on Netflix.
Love UnREAL?
If shows featuring strong, take-charge women who aren’t afraid to show that they’re also flawed (because seriously, who among us isn’t) are your television milieu, you’ll easily sail through Rita. This Danish dramedy (yes, there are subtitles, but we promise it’s worth it) follows a fiercely independent teacher and single mother-of-three as she navigates through institutional bullshit and personal affairs.
Love Downton Abbey?
Picture the beautiful period costumes and luxe settings, but transport them to a gorgeous hotel in Santander. On Grand Hotel, there's mystery afoot when a maid goes missing from one of Spain's most elegant hotels. Soon, her disappearance reveals other secrets, and the drama is positively Downton-esque.
Love Outlander?
If you enjoy a bodice-ripping romance with dashes of true-to-life historical events mixed in, you’ll want to wait out the break between seasons 1 and 2 of Outlander with Reign. It’s a CW show, so the sex is much less explicit (sorry), but you’re still in for some sordid, nefarious plots against the monarchy in this story centered on the years Mary, Queen of Scots, spent in France during her youth.
Love Food Network?
If watching skilled chefs do their thing is your jam, Netflix’s six-part documentary series Chef’s Table is ideal for you. Each episode follows a world-famous chef, from Dan Barber of the renowned Blue Hill restaurants in NYC and Pocantico Hills, NY, to Niki Nakayama at N/Naka in L.A. You might want to eat before watching, though, because this series is going to make your mouth water.
Love Breaking Bad?
One of the taglines for Netflix’s newest original series, Narcos, which premiered on August 28, 2015, is “There’s no business like blow business.” It’s a pun on the famous line about show business, and also a true statement about the thriving drug empire run by Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and ‘90s. This series chronicles the inner workings of Escobar’s life and cartel, and the DEA’s increasing attempts to take him down.
Love Reading Rainbow?
Watch…Reading Rainbow! The beloved childhood show that instilled a love of reading in many generations is finally available on Netflix. Watching episodes from Volume 1 will make you feel all sorts of nostalgic for books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Miss Nelson Is Back. Take a look, it’s in a book…on Reading Rainbow.
Love Wet Hot American Summer?
The entire gang is back for Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, the prequel to end all prequels. Fifteen years after the cult classic film, head back to Camp Firewood for eight new episodes chock-full of absurdist humor, talking vegetable cans, and your favorite actors (Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks…the list goes on and on) playing 16-year-old camp counselors.
Love Empire&Beverly Hills, 90210?
Throw in a dash of Melrose Place, and you’ve got The L.A. Complex. The short-lived cult favorite is a painfully honest portrayal of a group of twentysomethings pursuing stardom in Hollywood. In the most compelling and dramatic storyline, closeted rapper Kaldrick King (Andra Fuller) tries to stage a successful comeback while resorting to violence to hide his gay relationships.
Love True Blood?
Drop in on the supernatural creatures of Bristol, England, including a ghost, a werewolf, and a sexy vampire, all shacking up in a house and doing their best to fit in with the locals on Being Human. Go for the original U.K. version (although Netflix also has the American remake), with Looking’s Russell Tovey as the werewolf who hates his time of the month, Poldark’s Aidan Turner as the brooding vampire, and A to Z’s Lenora Crichlow as the ghost with unfinished business.
Love Lost&The Matrix?
Sci-fi powerhouse siblings, the Wachowskis, have brought their flair for mind-bending, perception-and-reality-altering plotlines to the small screen with Sense8. The new Netflix original spares no expense in its scenic globetrotting (seriously, if you can’t afford to travel, this show might just be the next best thing) as it rambles through the lives of eight characters whose minds are somehow intertwined.
Love Supernatural?
Go deep into the paranormal YA archives with Roswell, the now-cult classic that ran from 1999-2002. On Roswell, not only did a UFO crash at Area 51, but it had three alien children aboard. When the show starts, they’re in high school trying to be normal teenagers and stay under the radar. They’re falling in love with humans and want to share their secret, though, so there’s clearly going to be some D-R-A-M-A.
Love 9 to 5 and The Golden Girls?
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star in Netflix’s newest original show, Grace and Frankie. The two play frenemies in their 70s whose husbands announce that they’re in love and are leaving Grace and Frankie to be together. What happens when you have to reboot your life as a septuagenarian? That’s what these two are bound to find out.
Love Gotham&Arrow?
Watch Daredevil, Netflix’s gritty new original series about Marvel hero Matt Murdock: blind lawyer by day, masked vigilante who protects Hell’s Kitchen by night (and, still blind). It’ll completely make you forget about that Ben Affleck travesty from 2003.
Love Friends?
Specifically, the episode where Joey models for a free clinic and unwittingly becomes the face of gonorrhea? Imagine a whole series using that conceit, only the protagonist (an affable British twentysomething named Dylan) really does have chlamydia, and he has to contact all of his past sexual partners to tell them. It winds up being sort of charming, because in the process, he reconnects with past loves who might have been the one. Also, the show is called Scrotal Recall, and if that’s not the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movie pun-based sitcom title ever, your pec-spectations are too high.
Love Flight of the Conchords?
Cue up the dulcet sounds of comedy duo Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, also known as Garfunkel and Oates. The duo writes and performs satirical songs about their personal and professional lives, which get incorporated into the framework of this clever half-hour comedy named for the pair.
Love Dynasty and Dallas?
Sounds like you love a good multi-generational familial drama. Dig into Netflix’s new original series Bloodline, which stars Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor on FNL) as the supposedly good son in the hard-working Rayburn family, who run a hotel in the Florida Keys.
Love How to Get Away with Murder?
It sounds like you enjoy watching strong female characters who know a thing or two about dabbling in the grayer areas of the law. Watch Damages, which stars Glenn Close as a ruthless, all-star attorney of questionable morals and Rose Byrne as her wide-eyed protégée.
Love Arrested Development?
Watch The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. David Cross (who played Tobias Fünke) stars as the titular bumbling American businessman, who’s sent across the pond to promote an energy drink called Thunder Muscle in England.
Love Skins?
But also feel like the show can be overwhelmingly serious at times? Get ready for some laddish hijinks courtesy of The Inbetweeners. The humor’s a bit sophomoric, but just try not to LOL as you watch Will, Simon, Jay, and Neil fumble their way through high school in England.
Love Game of Thrones?
Swords-and-sandals-clad warriors get even sexier and more bloodthirsty in Spartacus. If you thought the Unsullied were treated brutally in Astapor, just wait until you see the dregs from which the gladiators of Thrace had to rise.
Love Homeland?
Maggie Gyllenhaal just won a Golden Globe for her work in the political spy thriller The Honorable Woman. The eight-part miniseries follows a British-Israeli businesswoman as she tries to work toward peace in the Middle East.
Love Jane the Virgin?
Watch JTV creator Jennie Snyder Urman’s last CW romp, Emily Owens, M.D. The short-lived show was a sweet mix of Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs— plus it introduced the talented Aja Naomi King, who’s now blowing audiences away on How t o Get Away with Murder.
Love The Fall?
For starters, make sure you watch season 2, which hit Netflix back on January 16, 2015. Once you’ve done that, cue up Southcliffe, an extremely vivid portrait of a fictional English town wracked by a horrifying shooting spree. It’s a macabre study of the human condition you won’t forget.
Love Orange Is the New Black?
Get locked up in Wentworth, the equally compelling women’s prison drama from Australia. Bea Smith (played by Danielle Cormack) is thrown in jail while awaiting trial for trying to kill her violent husband, and the series follows her time behind bars learning the ins and outs of prison life.
Loved The Imitation Game?
Watch The Bletchley Circle, a British mystery about four women who worked at Bletchley Park breaking codes during World War II and reunite in the early 1950s to solve new mysteries.
Love Boardwalk Empire?
Journey across the pond for the British historical crime drama, Peaky Blinders. In the aftermath of World War I, a detective (Sam Neill) is tasked with taking down the Birmingham gang, Peaky Blinders, led by the quick-witted Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy).
Love The Twilight Zone?
Watch the spectacularly twisted Black Mirror. The Brit anthology series has just six episodes, each one telling a uniquely haunting tale about near-distant futures where technology can recreate dead loved ones, get the prime minister to commit bestiality on national television, and allow people to rewatch old memories that might destroy their lives. The scariest part is just how much of a reflection the series is of our current fixation with gadgets and the lives we lead online.
Love The Sopranos?
Watch Lilyhammer. Steven Van Zandt plays a New York gangster named Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano who tries to start a new life for himself in the titular isolated Norway town after he’s forced into the federal witness protection program.
Love Friends?
Cozy up with the wry Britcom Coupling. It's a clever and humorous exploration of looking for love when you’re absolutely terrified of everything that comes with it.
Love Halloween?
Cue up Netflix’s horror series, Hemlock Grove. Executive produced by gore-lover Eli Roth, the show focuses on the mysterious goings-on in the fictional titular town, which range from the supernatural to the just plain sadistic.
Love Breaking Bad?
Take a gun-running thrill ride with Sons of Anarchy. Loosely based on Hamlet, it brings the intra-familial intrigue of Shakespeare’s Danish royalty tale to a motorcycle gang unofficially responsible for keeping things going in the fictional city of Charming, CA.
Love Television?
We’re guessing you do because here you are, reading a slideshow of Netflix streaming recommendations. As an aficionado and appreciator of the finer TV series in life, we think you’ll also love The Writers’ Room. In this fascinating interview show, Academy Award-winning writer Jim Rash (who’s best known for playing Dean Pelton on Community) sits down with writers of some of your favorite shows to discuss how they’re crafted. In the first six episodes, he talks to the writers and creators of Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, Dexter, New Girl, Game of Thrones, and American Horror Story. If you’re a fan of television and love hearing about how it’s created, this is for you.
Love The Office?
Watch the British gem that is Peep Show. Part The Odd Couple, part The Office (British version), and filmed through each character’s eyes, the offbeat sitcom is perfect for a weekend binge.
Love Supernatural?
Tune your spidey senses into Psych. This playful show features the overly clever, extremely witty Shawn Spencer who uses his heightened powers of observation to serve as the resident psychic for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Come for the ridiculous fake clairvoyant act, but stay for the lovable characters like Gus, O’Hara, and Lassie. And, did we mention that there’s a musical episode? Because there’s a musical episode.
Love Flight of the Conchords?
Get your New Zealand fix with Short Poppies, a mockumentary series created and written by Rhys Darby, who you’ll recognize from his role as Murray, the Conchords’ clueless manager. On Short Poppies, Darby plays David Farrier, an entertainment reporter. Farrier interviews people he deems "extraordinary New Zealanders," who live in a fictional town known as The Bay. With just eight episodes, this is the perfect Sunday Funday binge-watch.
Love Friday Night Lights?
That’s a silly question; of course you do. You’re a human being with emotions and a heart, right? Also, you’ve seen Tim Riggins. Texas forever. Unfortunately, we don’t have any updates on the proposed movie (yes, that would mean a book that became a movie that became a show would be made into a movie again), but we do have a series currently streaming on Netflix that will make you feel as many feelings as FNL.
Jason Katims, the brilliant screenwriter who adapted Friday Night Lights for the small screen, also turned the 1989 dramedy Parenthood into a poignant drama now entering its fifth and final season on NBC. Warning: You will definitely need tissues for this one, but the emotional roller coaster of watching the Bravermans is so, so worth it.
Love The Mindy Project?
Check out the short-lived but hilarious Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23. Krysten Ritter plays the titular B, a hustler and legend in her own mind with a gorgeous apartment and a best friend/ex-boyfriend named James Van Der Beek. Yes, the Beek from the Creek. He plays a heightened caricature of himself complete with a tragic stint on Dancing with the Stars. Enter into the fray Dreama Walker, a small-town girl with a business degree who just wants to make it in New York City — plus a pervy neighbor across the air shaft — and you’ve got yourself a delightful little sitcom.
Love Twin Peaks?
After many requests, Netflix secured the rights to the newest British cult hit Happy Valley. Police sergeant Catherine Cawood is trying to cope with her daughter’s suicide, but things unravel when she spots the man she believes raped her daughter (which led to her death). She becomes obsessed with finding him, which uncovers an even larger mystery involving the kidnapping of a local girl.
Love Family Guy?
Or, any animated show for adults, really, including The Simpsons, The Critic, Bob’s Burgers, South Park, and Archer? Netflix debuted its first foray into original animated programming for grown-ups this week with BoJack Horseman. Will Arnett voices the titular character, a washed-up actor who starred in a popular sitcom called Horsin’ Around 20 years ago and has done nothing of note since. The world of BoJack is populated with humans and anthropomorphized animals alike, so it’s a bit surreal. Aaron Paul plays Todd, BoJack’s sycophantic perma-houseguest, and Alison Brie is Diane, who’s been hired to ghostwrite his memoirs. Can BoJack and his ragtag crew somehow turn his downward spiral of a life around? Watch and find out.
Love Downton Abbey?
If you’re especially attuned to the burgeoning role of women beyond the domestic sphere in Downton, cue up Call the Midwife. Imagine Sybil’s can-do nursing skills transported to a group of midwives in a convent in East London in the ‘50s. That’s exactly what you’ll find in this engrossing BBC series, which airs new seasons on PBS.
Love Pretty Little Liars?
First of all, read the books instead. They’re even more engrossing than ABC Family’s frothy mystery about Rosewood. When you’re done with those (or concurrently), cue up Skins. The British show made international headlines for the reckless lifestyle promoted by “Skins parties” and sent the U.K. into a nationwide panic about the hedonistic pursuits of Millennial teens. No matter what your takeaway, Skins will suck you right in.
Love True Detective?
If you love a slow-build, extremely tense, psychological thriller, watch The Fall. Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan, here causing much inner turmoil when you find yourself attracted to a deviant sociopath) is a serial killer terrorizing Belfast, and Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) is the detective trying to catch him before he strikes again. Season 1 is only five episodes, so you’ll burn through them in no time. Luckily, they’re filming the second season right now.
Love Gossip Girl?
Guilty pleasures: We all have them. Gossip Girl (well, the first few seasons) was one of ours. The South Korean series Boys Over Flowers follows the whole fish-out-of-water setup, only this time Lonely Boy is Jan Di, the daughter of a dry cleaner who finds herself falling for the spoiled
rich kid whose clique runs their elite private school. It’s somehow even more addictive than Gossip Girl— maybe it’s the amazing vintage Bieber haircuts all of the boys sport. And, because of the subtitles, watching it feels a bit more highbrow. Get watching. XOXO.
Love American Horror Story?
Dive even deeper into the uncanny valley with The Returned. The cult French show follows the lives — and afterlives — of a sleepy town where nothing is as it seems. Long-dead relatives return to life; residents try to leave — only to be thwarted by roads running in circles. There’s a serial killer on the loose, but no one seems to care. It’s a slow, eerie build but oh, is it worth it.
Love Silicon Valley?
Try turning your machine off and on again, then booting up The IT Crowd (that’s a joke you’ll get when you start watching). This hilarious British sitcom chronicles an odd couple of IT guys trying to do as little work as possible in their dungeon of an office at a horrible corporation. Chris O’Dowd (before he became a household name in Bridesmaids) plays Roy, the ringleader, while Richard Ayoade is Moss, his introverted, nebbishy foil. And, just like the Pied Piper guys on Silicon Valley, Roy and Moss’ world is rocked when a female enters their daily routine. Fire up the Internet and get watching.
Love The Killing?
You've undoubtedly heard of Top of the Lake— everyone, or at least everyone in this office, is talking about it. Like Twin Peaks and The Killing, it centers around a mysterious, troubled young girl and a small town with a lot of secrets to hide. Recipe for a good time, right?
Love Law & Order?
You'll go crazy for Swedish crime show Wallander. Though it doesn't cover sex-based offenses in particular, this thriller reminds us of SVU (our favorite iteration, obviously) because of its focus on the cops' and detectives' personal lives. There's also a Masterpiece Mystery version, but we recommend starting out with the original Henning Mankell.
Love House?
Well, this is basically the exact same concept, but British. And that's usually a good thing. Doc Martin follows the antics of a curmudgeonly MD after he moves to a provincial town, abandoning his prestigious London surgical post for unknown reasons. Weird diseases, even weirder people.
Love Parks & Recreation?
If you're a fan of all things dysfunctional, British sitcom Black Books is perfect for you. Focused on a perpetually down-and-out bookstore owner who regularly puts a mid-afternoon drink over customer service, this show should be heartbreaking — but instead, it's hilarious. Plus, if you're missing the glory days of TV, you'll dig the distinct early-2000s vibe.
Love Homeland?
British series House of Cards is chock-full of political drama and underhanded scheming, guaranteed to get your blood pumping. It's also great if totally inappropriate and unethical sexual relationships are your thing. This is a great pick if you've already binged through the American version, but are still hungry for more!
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