Every month Netflix giveth, and every month Netflix taketh away.
The streaming giant regularly updates its vast library, adding TV shows and films for your binge-watching pleasure and removing those it no longer has the rights to stream. Mix in the huge number of original series and films Netflix debuts each weekend, and there’s a ton of programming to sort through if you’re just looking for something new to offer distraction and calm amid a crazy world.
We have curated the best of the TV shows Netflix has available to stream as of March 2022 (in alphabetical order), from its smart new originals to absolute TV classics.
1. “30 Rock”
Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan make an endlessly appealing trio in this award-winning NBC sitcom that goes behind the scenes at a sketch comedy series. The show is also available on Hulu, Amazon Prime and NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock.
2. “American Crime Story”
Between “The People v. O.J. Simpson” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology has delivered narratives that lack the seedy exploitation so often associated with the genre. Instead, each season is a historical reckoning with huge cultural moments, portrayed with impeccable acting and writing.
3. “The Andy Warhol Diaries”
This six-part docuseries offers a poignant look at the eccentric pop- culture phenomenon that was Andy Warhol. Archival footage and expert commentary paint a compelling, layered picture of the iconic artist.
4. “Anxious People”
Eight people suddenly find themselves hostages when an incompetent bank robber goes rogue on a group of prospective home buyers at an open house. Contrasting narratives of what actually happened set the stage for an oddly bewitching comedy-mystery. The combination of wackiness and dark humor make this limited series an amusing watch.
5. “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Legend of Korra”
A Nickelodeon animated series with a devoted adult following, “Airbender” is a fantasy epic in kid’s clothing with drama to rival “Game of Thrones.” The gorgeously drawn series takes place in a world torn apart by war and genocide, where a pint-size chosen one might be able to save lives, if he can train hard enough and face his greatest fears. A follow-up series set a generation in the future and aimed at an older audience, “Korra,” surpasses its source material in maturity and storytelling complexity, becoming a modern classic.
6. “The Baby-Sitters Club”
Season 2 of Netflix’s heartwarming and sweet family series, based on the novels by Ann M. Martin, arrived last October and was just as wonderful, if not better, than Season 1. The series, about a group of middle school girls who form a babysitting business, is full of life lessons, great acting and humor for all ages. “Baby-Sitters” remains one of the best shows on TV.
7. “Better Call Saul”
A rare spin-off to outpace its source material in quality and complexity, Bob Odenkirk’s “Breaking Bad” prequel continues to reach new heights in every season and has long since stepped out of its parent show’s shadow.
8. “Big Mouth”
Nick Kroll’s animated celebration of preteen debauchery is one of the most reliably funny series on TV (and definitely the most cringeworthy). The animated middle schoolers navigate first periods, crushes and every other pubescent nightmare, along with actual Hormone Monsters (and a monstress) causing problems along the way. No series will make you happier that you’ve already lived through adolescence.
9. “BoJack Horseman”
A misanthropic Hollywood horse (Will Arnett) leads this animated satire series that is deeper, more clever and more thought-provoking than most live-action series even aspire to be.
10. “Bridgerton”
A bodice ripper taken seriously by its writers and stars, “Bridgerton” is a marvelous first entry in power producer Shonda Rhimes’ Netflix deal. The series follows a group of pretty upper-class Brits navigating the marriage market in Regency-era England. The resplendent series is an expensive, glossy manifesto for the weightiness of the romance genre: a story that deals with love, class, race and a host of other topics while expertly landing every choreographed ballroom dance. Season 2, which focuses on eldest son Anthony, arrives March 25.
11. “Call the Midwife”
This British period drama, set among nurse midwives serving poor families in 1950s London, is like an epidural injecting joy, tears and adorable babies into your life. Although it gets a little repetitive in later seasons, its raw emotion and British sensibility make it a must-watch for the “Downton Abbey” crowd.
12. “Cheers”
Sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your name. The classic Boston bar-set sitcom still holds up after all these years.
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13. “Cobra Kai”
The fantastic revival of “The Karate Kid” franchise, featuring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka in their original roles, is one of the smartest ways to bring a kids’ story into adulthood. It picks up three decades after the All Valley Karate Tournament, with Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence a gentler hero and Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso playing the villain.
14. “Community”
Wacky, weird and often wonderful, NBC’s comedy about a diverse group of friends at a community college defies genre and label in its first few excellent seasons to create engrossing television. The later seasons are fine but never as good as the first three.
15. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
A magnificent mélange of musical might, the four-season CW series ambitiously put original song and dance on network TV week after week. Anchored by creator/star Rachel Bloom as struggling heroine Rebecca Bunch, “Crazy Ex” mixed earworms with one of the best depictions of a mental health journey ever on TV.
16. “The Crown”
For devoted anglophiles and royal rejecters alike, Netflix’s dramatization of the reign of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II makes a juicy soap out of the royal family, in a prestigious, Emmy-winning package. Season 4 introduces Princess Diana (Emma Corrin), Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and a lot more drama to the Windsors.
17. “Deaf U”
This smart, addictive reality series follows college kids at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf and hard of hearing. In addition to illuminating the deaf and hard of hearing community, the show is incredible at creating relationship drama and comedy out of the lives of the students it follows, and it has the rare reality ensemble that pops off the screen with charm.
18. “Dear White People”
Stronger and more self-assured than the movie on which it’s based, this series, about Black students at an elite university full of microaggressions and outright racism, is whip-smart and often hilarious.
19. “Derry Girls”
You may have to watch with subtitles to parse the strong Irish accents, but this series about Catholic teen girls in Northern Ireland during the 1990s portion of the “Troubles,” the violent religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants, is one of the funniest shows on TV, even for Americans unfamiliar with the history.
20. “Elite”
One of the many stellar foreign-language offerings on Netflix, “Elite” is a captivating and thrilling teen drama from Spain. Set in a prestigious high school, the series follows three students enrolled on scholarships and some of their wealthy classmates. While it owes something to “Gossip Girl,” “Big Little Lies” and “The O.C.,” the series never feels derivative or tired. The chemistry of the cast and mystery elements make “Elite” an easy and addictive binge-watch.
21. “Emily in Paris”
From the creator of “Sex and the City” and “Younger,” this romantic comedy series revolves around Emily Cooper, a young woman who finds herself living in the City of Lights after being hired by a marketing firm to bring an American touch to the branding of chic French fashions. The show’s combination of titillating drama and lighthearted fun is a great palate-cleanser from darker fare.
22. “Friday Night Lights”
The drama on NBC’s acclaimed high school football series undeniably makes it one of the best shows to binge-watch, equally entertaining for teens and adults. They don’t make high school dramas like this anymore. (The drama is available on Peacock and Hulu as well.)
23. “Girlfriends”
Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones anchored this hilarious and affecting 2000-2008 UPN sitcom about the love lives and friendships of four Black women in Los Angeles.
24. “The Good Place”
NBC’s afterlife sitcom feels like a dose of palliative care with its bright colors, puns and visual gags. Underneath its appealing aesthetics, “Place” has great performances, great writing and some sincere thoughts about ethics and philosophy.
25. “Grace and Frankie”
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are a magnetic duo in this sitcom from the “Friends” creators. The actresses play the eponymous retirees who learn their husbands are leaving them (for each other). The sometimes raunchy series proves it’s never too late to start over.
26. “The Great British Baking Show”
Warm, friendly, full of soggy bottoms, underproofed loaves and decent people doing their best, this British import is one of the happiest TV series ever made. Don’t miss one of the early seasons (which aired in 2012 in the U.K.), billed separately from the rest under the title “The Great British Baking Show: The Beginnings.”
27. “Grey’s Anatomy”
Shonda Rhimes’ seminal hospital drama is still on the air after so many seasons for a reason. Sure, the series crossed over from soapy to full-on soap opera early in its tenure, but amid its constant barrage of tragedy and medical grotesquery are compelling relationship dramas that are emotionally honest.
28. “Human Resources”
This animated workplace comedy is a different kind of HR nightmare. The “Big Mouth” spinoff centers on a group of anthropomorphic monsters tasked with managing the emotional complications of their human clients. The absurd hilarity of it all will leave you feeling grateful for your 9-to-5.
29. “Inventing Anna”
This glamorous drama takes the cliché “fake it till you make it” to criminal heights. Inspired by the real-life story of Anna Sorokin (Julia Garner), the con artist turned New York socialite, “Inventing Anna” follows an intrepid journalist (Anna Chlumsky) as she tries to piece together the truth behind Sorokin’s social media persona Anna Delvey.
30. “Jane the Virgin”
The telenovela-style story of a virgin who’s artificially inseminated by accident started strong and rode high for five excellent seasons. Although the moving series isn’t a laugh-out-loud sitcom, its moments of joy and levity are plentiful.
31. “Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy”
This three-part docuseries chronicles the transformation of Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) from chart-topping rapper to savvy businessman and fashion designer. Compelling archival footage of the Grammy-winning emcee helps paint a more vivid picture of the mesmerizing – and at times perplexing – icon.
32. “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”
This Japanese action-adventure series centers on the psychically-inclined Joestar family, as each generation battles the evil of supernatural forces. Season 5 tells the story of Jolyne Cujoh, who faces a 15-year sentence in Green Dolphin Street Prison after she’s blamed for a deadly car accident. A pendant sent by Cujoh’s father unlocks a latent power within her, teeing up a series of fantastical adventures and nonstop action that make this show a must-add to your list.
33. “The Magicians”
Like an R-rated mashup of “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter” and “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the superb fantasy series follows a group of adult magicians who discover a fictional world from popular children’s books is real – and deathly dangerous.
34. “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”
There are comedy classics, and then there are the genre’s very foundations. If you are a fan of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” but have never seen the hysterical, groundbreaking sketch TV show from comedians Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin that came first, now is the time to correct that error.
35. “Never Have I Ever”
Mindy Kaling’s teen sitcom is a breath of honest, awkward fresh air. Loosely based on Kaling’s experiences, the series follows Devi (sparkling new talent Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), an Indian American teen fumbling her way through an angry, frustrating adolescence.
36. “One Day at a Time”
Like Norman Lear’s original, which premiered in 1975, this family sitcom reboot, about a Cuban American family in Los Angeles, is expert at combining frank discussion of social issues with hilarity. A shortened fourth season is available on Paramount+, but the first three wonderful years are still streaming on their original home.
37. “Orange Is the New Black”
Netflix’s groundbreaking series had ups and downs over its run, but especially its first three seasons are exquisite character portraits in a space we’ve rarely seen: the inside of a women’s prison.
38. “Pieces of Her”
This sinuous mystery thriller follows the existential unraveling of Andy Oliver (Bella Heathcote), a young woman whose world is thrown into disarray when a violent episode at the mall sheds light on her mother’s (Toni Collette) dark past. The show’s escalating tension is deliciously unsettling.
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39. “Pose”
The LGBTQ drama, set in 1980s ballroom culture, is ambitious, tragic and complex. It’s gorgeously filmed with especially strong performances from Emmy winner Billy Porter as Pray Tell, Mj Rodriguez as Blanca and Indya Moore as Angel.
40. “The Queen’s Gambit”
The story of a fictional 1960s chess prodigy (Anya Taylor-Joy, at her absolute best) battling addiction as she rises through the ranks of the chess elite is far more engrossing than it sounds. The miniseries, from the writer of “Logan,” manages to make its chess matches as epic as any football game and features a superb cast.
41. “Queer Eye”
Inspiration, triumph, overcoming obstacles: All those heartwarming attributes are here when the Fab Five swoop into someone’s life to offer as much help as they can in a week.
42. “Rebelde”
This musical drama follows a group of young performers at an elite boarding school, as they strive to win their school’s battle of the bands competition amid the highs and lows of adolescence — plus the intimidating antics of a secret society. Based on the Mexican telenovela of the mid-2000s, this reboot offers a mix of angst, raucous fun and heart that makes for a joyously nail-biting watch.
43. “Schitt’s Creek”
Full of beautiful romance, sunny settings and plenty of humor, Pop TV’s sitcom about a rich family that loses it all but gains love and a little perspective is always a mood-booster.
44. “Seinfeld”
If you’ve never seen Jerry Seinfeld’s landmark NBC sitcom (previously streaming on Hulu), now is a good time to start. Famously a show about “nothing,” “Seinfeld” is one of the comedies that (mostly) stands the test of time, from its hilarious and talented cast (also including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards), to its enduring jokes and even its own created holiday (a Festivus for “the rest of us”).
45. “Star Trek”
The iconic TV show that started it all still holds up after all these years. The other installments in the franchise have plenty to offer, but the original series is so wonderful and smart, it’s worth watching at least once through during your life.
46. “Stranger Things”
The nostalgic and paranormal series became one of Netflix’s first real sensations, and it almost lives up to all that hype. With fantastic kid actors, terrifying horror homages and all the 1980s pop culture references you can handle, the three seasons of “Stranger” are compelling and alluring.
47. “Unorthodox”
This slightly under-the-radar miniseries is based on the true story of a woman who escapes an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York and runs away to Germany. Often using Yiddish dialogue and authentic costuming, the series is an immersive, addictive journey.
