Although it started out as a way for people to get rental DVDs shipped to them from the late-90s to the mid-2000s,Netflixhas gone on to become one of the biggest players in the film and television industry. Its massive success helped usher in a new era of streaming services, and though others have also found great success, Netflix remains the biggest streaming service around. Their dominance is even more impressive when it comes toNetflix’s original moviesand TV shows.
Netflix’s catalog of original programming has grown massively sinceHouse of CardsandOrange Is the New Black. With the plethora ofshows available on Netflix, the quality and longevity of their titles can vary significantly, with outstanding shows mixed in with less successful projects. That said,there have been some incredible shows on Netflix that were consistently great from start to finish.
Dark
Cast
Dark is a German science fiction thriller focusing on four families in a small town impacted by the disappearance of a child. As they search for answers, they uncover a web of interconnected secrets, revealing complex temporal and familial relationships spanning multiple generations.
Netflix is one of the best streaming services when it comes to curating a variety of foreign-language movies and shows, andDarkis a great example. A German science fiction thriller,Darkrevolves around the residents of the fictional town of Winden, where they uncover a time-traveling conspiracy following the disappearance of a child. While it has a fascinating setup,the best part of the series is how it explores its different characters and the complexity they are given, while sitting in the tense mystery of the narrative.
Darkhas a 95% rating onRotten Tomatoes.
Darkran for three seasons on Netflix from 2017 to 2020, and wasn’t prematurely canceled, meaning the series was able to see its story come to a proper conclusion. Because of this,Darkwas incredibly strong from the very first episode to its last, and has arguably become one of thebest science fiction shows of all time. Despite how fantastic it is,Darkstill feels underrated among a lot of Netflix’s more popular shows, but it’s a masterpiece.
Netflix struck gold when it decided to makeGLOW, a stellar dramedy revolving around the 1980s women’s professional wrestling circuit, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), where Alison Brie’s Ruth Wilder, a struggling actress, partakes in it.GLOWS' ensemble cast of characters is its biggest strength, and it perfectly balances the hilarious comedy alongside the more dramatic moments in the series. It’s an endearing, well-written piece of television that deserves as much praise as possible.
The fourth season ofGLOWhad already been commissioned when it was ultimately forced to shut down.
GLOWwas a delight from the very first episode and ran for three extremely strong seasons, with a fourth that was planned but ultimately canceled due to the rising cost of delays during the pandemic. It’s a shame thatGLOWwasn’t able to continue to tell its story, but it did a strong enough job of ending in a satisfying way. It kept some threads still open, but concluded some of the biggest that had been going on for three seasons. It’s one of the most entertaining shows on Netflix, and it’s a shame thatGLOWseason 4never happened.
Cobra Kai
Cobra Kai is a sequel series continuing the narrative of the Karate Kid saga, set 30 years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. It focuses on Johnny Lawrence seeking redemption by reopening the Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso, who strives to maintain balance in his life.
Cobra Kaimight be one of the most pleasant surprises in television history for many reasons. Not only did it succeed in recontextualizing Johnny from the original film, butit helped revive the entireKarate Kidfranchise. On top of that, the series actually started out as a YouTube Red original series before being ultimately scooped up by Netflix heading into the third season. When YouTube launched its own streaming service with original programming, there was no way anyone could have predictedCobra Kai’s success.
Cobra Kaienjoyed six seasonsof entertaining characters, a plethora of nostalgic callbacks, and all the high-stakes Karate action that fans of the series could have ever dreamed of. Seeing Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso back in action was a dream come true, andCobra Kaitook both of their characters in interesting directions. It would have been so easy for the series to be nothing more than nostalgia-bait, and while it does that often, it also does right by its other original characters, pushing the franchise forward.
Sex Education
Sex Education is a comedic-drama series that follows various students, parents, and staff of Moordale Secondary School and their awkward sexual dilemmas. The series primarily focuses on student Otis Milburn with a dour outlook on sex due to his mother’s occupation as a sex therapist who has several affairs with zero attachments. Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on his second-hand knowledge and ambivalence to sex, Otis and his friend Eric set up an in-school clinic to advise other students with sexual issues. This clinic becomes compromised when Otis begins to have feelings for one of his clients.
Sex Educationdefied expectations to become one of Netflix’s best shows. The series revolves around Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), a student at Moordale Secondary School, whose mother works as a sex therapist. He reluctantly sets up his own sex therapy clinic at his school, helping a variety of students with their questions, frustrations, and concerns about it.
It’s a rather silly premise on the surface, butSex Educationexpertly explores who each character is, focusing on teenage sexuality in often insightful wayswhile being heartfelt from beginning to end. It’s a joy to see these characters go on their respective journeys across the show’s four seasons, and it was able to go out on its own terms, finishing up its story the way the creators intended it. It’s an underrated gem in Netflix’s catalog and a must-watch.
Revolving around the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura),Narcosis a tense, action-packed crime dramathat tells the story of the fall of Escobar’s Medellín Cartel.Alongside Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal also elevate the show. The stakes always feel high, and when everything comes to a head in season 2, it is some of the best television that Netflix has ever made.
It’s a superb crime thriller that remains highly entertaining and often shocking throughout its three-season run.
Narcosran for three incredible seasons on Netflix, with the third going in a different direction following the death of Escobar. After telling its story from beginning to end,Narcosended up getting a spin-off in the form ofNarcos: Mexico, where the series went back to the 1980s and featured Escobar and other characters in minor roles. It’s a superb crime thriller that remains highly entertaining and often shocking throughout its three-season run.
Love
Love is a comedy-drama series that examines the modern dating scene through the awkward yet charming interactions between Gus and Mickey, two late bloomers who find love in each other in Los Angeles. From the awkward, cringe-filled moments to the sweet and tender ones, the series follows their journey from casual dating to a deeper, more complicated relationship.
Though it was co-created by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and features an impressive ensemble cast, including Gillian Jacobs coming off her breakthrough role inCommunity,Lovetends to feel incredibly underrated. The series revolves around Paul Rust’s Gus, an awkward and emotionally needy television tutor who strikes up an unexpected relationship with Jacob’s Mickey, a love/sex addict who isn’t honest with herself about her own issues.
Aside from starring in it, Paul Rust also helped co-create and produce the show, alongside Apatow and Lesley Arfin.
Lovetakes that set-up and runs with it, making it feellike nothing else that Netflix has produced in terms of romantic dramedies.It can sometimes be painful to watch during the show’s really cringe-inducing moments, but that is part of its charm, and it tells an emotionally satisfying love story in the process.Loveran for three very good seasons, which deeply explored the unlikely romance between Mickey and Gus in the best way.
Orange is The New Black
Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black follows Piper Champman (Taylor Schilling) after she turns herself in for a 15-month sentence in a minimum-security women’s prison for aiding in a drug-smuggling operation run by her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon). One of Netflix’s most popular original series, the show explores the corruption inherent in the US prison system through the lens of Piper’s experiences.
Not only wasOrange is the New Blackone of the first original shows that Netflix ever made, but it still remains one of their best shows. Based on the memoirOrange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prisonby Piper Kerman, the series focuses on Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who is sentenced to 15 months in prison following a decade-old crime of transporting drugs for her drug-dealing girlfriend.
Orange is the New Blackis an empathetic look at the American prison system, and succeeds in humanizing the cast of prisoners, something that often doesn’t happen to the same extent in other shows. It alsoexpertly discussed topics of race, sexuality, and gender, making it an important piece of television from the early to mid-2010s.Orange is the New Blackwas the perfect type of series forNetflixto show everyone else what they were capable of producing, and it remains one of the gold standards for the company.
