31 Best Netflix Original Series Of All Time Ranked

It's hard to go a single day without hearing the word "Netflix." The platform has risen from its humble origins as a DVD delivery service and competitor to Blockbuster to become an unbelievably successful streaming service. New content is constantly being added, ranging from contemporary comedies to dark fantasies. Netflix also produces and distributes their own films and television series, which are branded as Netflix Originals. Though quality certainly varies from exceptional to downright dreadful, there really is something for everyone on the service.

It's getting increasingly difficult to find something good to watch thanks to an overwhelming cornucopia of choice. That's why we're here to provide a guide to some of the very best TV shows you can catch on Netflix. These are the 31 best Netflix original series.

Created by Robia Rashid, "Atypical" is a wonderful coming-of-age dramedy focusing on the life of 18-year-old Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), who is on the autism spectrum. Sam is very intelligent and extremely passionate about penguins. He works at a tech store with his best friend Zahid (Nik Dodani) and lives at home with his overbearing mother Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), father EMT father Doug (Michael Rapaport), and athletic younger sister Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine). "Atypical" has plenty to interesting say about living as a neurodiverse person and features a great cast and a genuinely compelling story.

• Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Rapaport
• Creator: Robia Rashid
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 38 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

This tremendous documentary series focuses on five legendary directors — William Wyler, Frank Capra, George Stevens, John Huston, and John Ford — and their work on the front lines during World War II. The series is narrated by Meryl Streep, and features talking heads from contemporary directors including Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Guillermo del Toro. Drawing on fascinating archive footage, the series is an incredible look at filmmaking and the remarkable challenges faced filming on the frontlines. The series is an absolute must for film fans, especially for those interested in the production process.

• Creator: Mark Harris, Laurent Bouzereau
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 3 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Inspired by President Donald Trump's order that created a new branch of the military called the Space Force, Greg Daniels and Steve Carell — the developer and the star (respectively) of the classic American workplace comedy "The Office" — created a dark, cynical, on-the-job look at what it might actually be like to work for the Space Force in its chaotic early days. Carell plays four-star Air Force general Mark Naird, selected for the thankless and demeaning job of head of the Space Force, where he must contend with all manner of indignities and employees who have no respect for him or the job, particularly the prickly scientists and engineers. All that, plus he has to deal with the fact that other countries' space programs are developing far more rapidly than the red tape-blocked American one ... and that his wife is in prison, and his teenage daughter finds him embarrassing.

• Starring: Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Tawny Newsome
• Creators: Greg Daniels and Steve Carell
• Year: 2020–2022
• Runtime: 17 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%

Based on the classic young adult novels by Ann M. Martin, "The Baby-Sitters Club" is a modern update on the novels, in which a group of middle-schoolers establishes their babysitting business in the charming town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. While you could dismiss the series as kids' stuff, you'd be missing out on one of the most surprising, charming efforts on television. The girls all come from different walks of life and each has a unique set of skills and problems. It's endlessly charming to watch these young girls go through the trials and tribulations of life, and this series is a warm hug the world desperately needs.

• Starring: Sophie Grace, Momona Tamada, Shay Rudolph
• Creator: Rachel Shukert
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 18 episodes
• Rating: TV-PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

A whole new take on the teen show, "The End of the F***ing World" is a pitch-black dramedy series. The series is based on Charles Forsman's graphic novel of the same name and follows Alyssa (Jessica Barden), a young rebel, and James (Alex Lawther), who has concerns that he may in fact be a psychopath. The pair end up becoming an unlikely duo and take off as runaways, living dangerously in a fresh, unexpected take on the classic road story. The brilliant second season goes bolder and darker, and you never really know what to expect watching "The End of the F***ing World."

• Starring: Alex Lawther, Jessica Barden, Steve Oram
• Creator: Jonathan Entwhistle
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 16 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

An ambitious, dark, and unpredictable comedy, "Saturday Morning All Star Hits!" is a tribute, send-up, and deconstruction of kid-oriented entertainment of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Squeaky-clean cartoons are made unsettling and weird, like the "Thundercats"-esque "Strongimals," the talking dinosaur show "Randy," and the deeply sad "Lil' Bruce," which riffs off "Bobby's World." The whole thing is hosted by surfer dude twins Skip and Treybor, both played by co-creator Kyle Mooney. Their relationship is torn apart by ambition, celebrity, and jealousy after Skip's animated cameo on "Strongimals" becomes a cultural sensation. It's dark, bizarre, and utterly hilarious.

• Starring: Kyle Mooney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Cree Summer
• Creator: Ben Jones, Dave McCary, Kyle Mooney
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 8 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

"Santa Clarita Diet" dares to call out the zombie mythos for what it is: absurd and hilarious. This breezy, diabolical sitcom follows Sheila Hammond, a suburban wife, mother, and high-end real estate agent who gets violently ill, dies, and is reborn. She's pretty much the same, post-resurrection — except for the fact that she constantly craves flesh and blood. Her doting husband Joel is extremely supportive, helping her fetch meals through all manner of illegal tactics. Meanwhile, their shrewd teenage daughter unlocks the mystical secrets of Sheila's plight.

• Starring: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson
• Creator: Victor Fresco
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 30 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Created by Charlie Brooker, "Black Mirror" is a British anthology series that focuses on stories about the perils of a technology-focused society. It originally started on British Network Channel 4 before moving to Netflix, which has produced more seasons. Each episode is entirely discrete, and the series covers a wide swathe of genres — from a classic sci-fi satire with a twist in "USS Callister" to a beautiful romance in "San Junipero" and straight-up horror in "Black Museum." Performers like Daniel Kaluuya, Andrea Riseborough, Miley Cyrus, and Jesse Plemons have all starred at various points. 

• Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jesse Plemons, Fionn Whitehead
• Creator: Charlie Brooker
• Year: 2011
• Runtime: 22 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes: 84%

Did Steven Avery do it? That's one of the many questions at the core of "Making a Murderer," the 2015 true-crime series that helped provide an enormous boost in the popularity of the true-crime genre. The docuseries uses painstaking reconstructions, talking heads, and many more devices to try and examine Avery's bizarre story. Once you start, it's incredibly difficult to not watch the whole season in one sitting. Season 2 throws even more twists into the mix, and we still have plenty of questions we hope will get answered one day.

• Creators: Moira Demos, Laura Ricciardi
• Year: 2015
• Runtime: 20 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Not to be confused with the original "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy," the Netflix "Queer Eye" reboot is a wonderful and life-affirming experience. The reality show has a fairly straightforward premise: a group of five queer men travels around America to change the lives of deserving people, doing everything from showing them new recipes to completely renovating their home. The show is absolutely exuberant, and practically every episode is going to make you laugh and cry. When times feel bleak, there's nothing quite like a joyous celebration of life like Netflix's "Queer Eye."

• Starring: Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown
• Creator: David Collins
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 58 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

"When They See Us" tells the tragically and aggravatingly true story of the "Central Park Five," a group of young Black and Latino men falsely accused and ultimately convicted of a crime they didn't commit. The public was so eager to convict someone for the brutal April 1989 attack on a Central Park jogger that these innocent men took the fall. But how exactly did this sad and frightening legal quagmire come to be, and how did it persist for years? "When They See Us" answers this question with insight, skill, and compassion.

• Starring: Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse
• Creator: Ava DuVernay
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 4 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%

High school is hard for everyone, but cynical, intelligent Sydney has more to deal with than most. Still reeling from her father's death, she's growing ever more distant from her depressed mother, who works around the clock to support the family. She's also realizing she has feelings for her female best friend and not for the persistent dude with a hardcore crush. On top of all of this, Sydney is struggling to keep her destructive superpowers from killing everyone she knows. Being a misfit has never been this hard, or this compelling.

• Starring: Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, Sofia Bryant
• Creators: Jonathan Entwistle, Christy Hall
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 7 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Created by Jenji Kohan ("Weeds"), Netflix's prison dramedy "Orange Is the New Black" made stars out of many of its cast, including Laverne Cox, Taylor Schilling, Taryn Manning, Uzo Aduba, and many more. Sure, the show was all over the place in its impressive seven seasons, picking up and dropped storylines seemingly at a whim, but the show's cast is absolute dynamite, and simply one of the best ensembles in the history of television. For what it gets wrong about prison, it more than makes up for in compelling stories, brilliant character dynamics, and straight-up entertainment.

• Starring: Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Kate Mulgrew
• Creator: Jenji Kohan
• Year: 2013
• Runtime: 91 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

"BoJack Horseman" casts a hypnotic spell; from the moment the brilliant theme song starts, it's pretty much impossible to look away. The story is about BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett), a washed-up alcoholic who was once the star of a '90s sitcom, and his efforts to make a comeback into the world of acting alongside his friend Todd (Aaron Paul) and agent and ex-girlfriend Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris). Raphael Bob-Waksberg's show is practically perfect, one of the greatest series of all time, animated or otherwise, and unafraid to examine a deeply troubled, and deeply troubling man.

• Starring: Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
• Creator: Raphael-Bob Waksberg
• Year: 2014
• Runtime: 77 episodes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

From the brilliant comedic minds of Tina Fey ("30 Rock") and Robert Carlock ("Mr. Mayor"), "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is comedy at its most optimistic and uplifting. The delightful Ellie Kemper stars as the titular Kimmy Schmidt, who finds herself readjusting to life in the regular world after being imprisoned in a cult for the last 15 years. While the synopsis reads like a miserable drama, the show is actually the opposite and is seemingly overflowing with joy. The incredible cast includes Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane, Dylan Gelula, Jon Hamm, and Jane Krakowski, and the show is undoubtedly one of the very best Netflix original series.

• Starring: Ellie Kemper, Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess
• Creators: Robert Carlock, Tina Fey
• Year: 2015
• Runtime: 52 episodes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%