Netflix is far and away the biggest paid streaming service on Earth, which means they have enough money to produce tons of great original movies and TV shows, both ones that have become hugely popular and others you’ve never heard of. But that’s not how they got here. Netflix once hosted tons of big-name licensed content from other studios, and shows like The Office and Friends helped make it the juggernaut it is today.
After the streaming wars started, the networks behind a lot of those shows made their own streaming services and took back their content; nowadays, The Office is only available to stream on Peacock while Friends is on HBO Max, FYI. But there are still plenty of signature shows from other networks that you can stream on Netflix, because the subscriber base is so big it’s worth it for the originating studios to license them out.
If you want a great binge, start with these finished Netflix shows
These 10 Netflix TV shows will delight you from start to finish.
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Get hooked all over again
Breaking Bad is one of the best TV shows of the 21st century, a tautly written thriller about a mild-mannered chemistry teacher named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) who starts making methamphetamine to support his family…until he gets a taste for the drug business and ends up becoming a kingpin himself. The transformation is so gradual that you believe every minute, and get to know a rogue’s gallery of fascinating characters along the way.
It would be an exaggeration to call Breaking Bad the show that put AMC on the map, but it’s definitely the jewel in the network’s crown, and all five seasons are available to watch on Netflix. Some fans think that the prequel series Better Call Saul is even better, and all six seasons of that are also on Netflix. Might as well watch all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead while you’re at it. AMC is very generous with what they license to Netflix; they have their own service, AMC+, but they must know no one wants to use that.
- Release Date
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2008 – 2013-00-00
- Network
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AMC
- Showrunner
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Vince Gilligan
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Bryan Cranston
Walter White
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Dean Norris
Hank Schrader
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Betsy Brandt
Marie Schrader
Sex and the City (HBO)
And just like that, you’re binging this HBO classic again
HBO is usually very protective of its TV shows, so it was a big move to license a series as famous and iconic as Sex and the City out to Netflix. On the other hand, this guarantees that people will keep watching this sitcom about four 30-something women trying to make their way in New York City. Plus, HBO has kept the movie spinoffs as well as the sequel series And Just Like That… exclusive to HBO Max.
And that’s okay, because there’s no touching the original. Sex and the City may be a bit dated now, but the jokes still hit, the characters are still an addictive mix of endearing and infuriating, and the clothes are still as fashionable as they are confusing. And all six seasons are available to stream.
- Release Date
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1998 – 2004-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Darren Star
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Kim Cattrall
Samantha Jones
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Sarah Jessica Parker
Carrie Bradshaw
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Cynthia Nixon
Miranda Hobbes
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Kristin Davis
Charlotte York
Outlander (Starz)
Seven out of eight ain’t bad
Outlander is a long-running Starz show about a World War II-era nurse named Claire (Caitriona Balfe) who is transported back in time and falls in love with a dashing Scottish highlander named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Claire and Jamie’s love is tested again and again over the course of the next eight seasons. The show recreates actual historical battles, digs into the charms of eighteenth century medicine, and the time travel element technically makes it a sci-fi series, although that’s not the focus.
The eighth and final season of Outlander just wrapped up on Starz. It isn’t available to watch on Netflix yet, but it will be eventually, and newcomers will be able to watch this beloved show front to back.
- Release Date
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2014 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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Starz
- Showrunner
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Matthew B. Roberts
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Jack Tarlton
Kenny Lindsay
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John Sessions
Arthur Duncan
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Caitriona Balfe
Claire Randall Fraser
Gilmore Girls (The WB/The CW)
The one and only comfort watch
Gilmore Girls is an incredibly bingeable series about a resourceful single mother, Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), trying to help her over-achieving daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) achieve her dreams. That means Lorelai has to crawl back to her wealthy mother Emily (Kelly Bishop), with whom she is on horrible terms, and ask for money to help send Rory to a fancy prep school. That provides the foundation for seven seasons of fast-talking family drama, with colorful supporting characters and small town charm oozing out of every frame.
The drama on Gilmore Girls is serious, but the stakes are never so high that it becomes stressful. It’s a pleasant, easy watch, and after you’re done binging all seven original seasons, you can watch the Netflix-exclusive follow-up series A Year in the Life. Gilmore Girls may have been one of the best-known shows on The WB and the CW back during its original run, but it feels like a spiritual Netflix show now.
- Release Date
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2000 – 2007-00-00
- Network
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The WB
- Writers
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Amy Sherman-Palladino
Seinfeld (NBC)
The biggest nothing on Earth
Back in the day, Netflix was host to lots of big-name comfort food sitcoms from the ’90s and 2000s, but after shows like Friends and The Office were bled away, it needed a new secret weapon. Enter a $500 million deal to license all nine seasons of Seinfeld, one of the most iconic shows in the vast NBC catalog. That Seinfeld doesn’t stream on NBC’s own streaming service Peacock is mind-boggling, but that’s what half a billion dollars will get you.
As for what Seinfeld is about…it’s Seinfeld. Four amoral New Yorkers get into hilarious hijinx. Everyone’s got their favorite episode. Is it the one with the Soup Nazi? The one where Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) does the little kicks dance? The one where George (Jason Alexander) decides to do the opposite of whatever his natural instinct is and watches as his life improves? If you don’t have a favorite yet, get watching.
- Release Date
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1989 – 1998
- Network
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NBC
- Showrunner
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Larry David
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Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
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Jason Alexander
George Costanza
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Michael Richards
Cosmo Kramer
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Elaine Benes
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Nickelodeon)
The animated series and also the other one
The kid-focused channel has gone through a lot of phases over the years, but I don’t think I’ll get much pushback if I say that the three-season animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is the best thing the network ever produced. It follows a young boy named Aang who just so happens to be the Avatar, the one person in all the world who can control all four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The show takes on a thematic dense journey that builds a ton of momentum by the end, and which doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Netflix is in the midst of remaking the show in live-action form, but so far it’s got nothing on the original. Feel free to watch both shows and compare.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2008
- Network
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Nickelodeon
- Showrunner
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Michael Dante DiMartino
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Zach Tyler Eisen
Aang (voice)
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Jack De Sena
Sokka (voice)
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Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
21 seasons and counting
This medical drama has been running on ABC for 22 seasons on ABC, and there’s a 23rd on the way. It covers the professional and personal lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings at a fictional Seattle hospital, with plenty of high-stakes medical crises and shocking personal twists.
If this show cost a little less, it would be a soap opera, and I don’t mean that as an insult. Grey’s Anatomy is just fine the way it is, and all but the latest season is available to watch on Netflix. And the latest season is on the way.
- Release Date
-
March 27, 2005
- Network
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ABC
- Directors
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Rob Corn, Kevin McKidd, Debbie Allen, Chandra Wilson, Allison Liddi-Brown, Jeannot Szwarc, Tony Phelan
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Ellen Pompeo
Dr. Meredith Grey
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Chandra Wilson
Dr. Miranda Bailey
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James Pickens Jr.
Dr. Richard Webber
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Justin Chambers
Dr. Alex Karev
More on the way
Netflix isn’t likely to be toppled off its perch at the top of the streaming heap anytime soon, and other networks keep licensing their content to Netflix in the hope of getting new eyeballs on it. For instance, later this year, the prison drama Mayor of Kingstown — one of the signature shows on Paramount+ — will be making its way to Netflix, regardless of where it started.
That’s one of the reasons Netflix is still worth subscribing to, even if the service isn’t as cheap or user-friendly as it used to be. It’s so big that other studios are willing to put their content on there, because if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. As long as we, the users, keep benefitting, it’s hard to be too mad about that.