The 13 Best TV Shows on Netflix, According to Us

The 13 Best TV Shows on Netflix, According to Us

There are a lot of really good TV shows on Netflix that can get lost amongst all of the content the streaming service seems to be pushing out of late.

To weed through this, we decided to round up 13 of our favourite TV shows on Netflix, mostly older gems that are must-watches, but there are some new goods we reckon are worth a binge.

13 of the best TV shows on Netflix

In no particular order, here are 13 TV shows on Netflix the team at Gizmodo Australia urges you to watch at least once.

The Umbrella Academy

Netflix has three seasons of The Umbrella Academy up for watching and it’s one of the TV shows that has left its mark on us. If you’re unfamiliar, The Umbrella Academy is a superhero series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way (singer from My Chemical Romance).

Black Mirror

The world is stranger and more confusing every day, so it only seems fitting that Black Mirror — Charlie Brooker’s satirical, often eerily prescient sci-fi series — makes an appearance on our list. The sixth season just dropped, so now’s your chance to watch the show that constantly gives us life lessons.

Kaleidoscope

Spanning 24 years, Kaleidoscope centres around the largest heist ever attempted, and the vengeance, scheming, loyalties, and betrayals that surround it. It’s loosely inspired by the real-life story where seventy billion dollars in bonds went missing in downtown Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy. But this miniseries does something different: it serves the order of each episode up differently to each person that watches it. Very smart and engaging.

Arcane

Netflix’s first foray into Riot Games’ extremely popular MOBA and its focus on the sisterly duo of enforcer Vi and explosives anarchist Jinx has been met with pretty strong acclaim from those who’ve watched it, us included. Arcane’s animation style is incredibly good.

Wednesday

In typical Addams Family style (darkly humorous, delightfully poised), Jenny Ortega steps into the spotlight as everyone’s favourite macabre teenage goth, Wednesday Addams. Tim Burton helms the spinoff series that features the goth girl who had some absolutely devastating lines in the films. We don’t need to really give this one too much of an explanation. Wednesday was arguably Netflix’s best TV show of 2022.

Stranger Things

Stranger Things is part sci-fi mystery, part coming-of-age teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in the remote town of Hawkins who are forced to tackle supernatural creatures that the government has kept hidden after one of their own goes missing. Here are a few things we loved, and didn’t love, about the last season.

Who is Erin Carter?

If you’ve been keeping pace with Who Is Erin Carter?, you’re likely breathless by now. The high-octane thriller series stars Evin Ahmad as Erin Carter, a British expat teacher in Barcelona with a dangerous secret and an arsenal of tough moves. When Erin singlehandedly fends off a pair of gunmen during a supermarket robbery, she chalks it up to protective maternal instincts. But how can she explain away the violent threats that keep surfacing from her past? Season two has been confirmed, so get into the first.

The Witcher

The Witcher season three has arrived, so what better way to celebrate than to start from the beginning. This latest season, however,  will be bittersweet as it is Henry Cavill’s last season in the role of Geralt before Liam Hemsworth steps into the role (Superman something somethingWarhammer something something). But fret not: the departing star will be getting a worthy farewell.

Vortex

After reconnecting with his dead wife through a glitch in virtual reality, a police officer tries to negate the mysterious accident that cost her life. Vortex is more on the drama side than the sci-fi, but it’s still a decent watch nonetheless. No YouTube trailer, but a static pic to set the vibe for you.

netflix TV shows
The Vortex, underrated Netflix TV show, according to the team. Image: Netflix

Shadow & Bone

The TV adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s popular YA fantasy series, Shadow and Bone takes us on a journey where dark forces conspire against orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov when she unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world. Here’s our review of season two.

Squid Game

If you’re somehow yet to watch Netflix’s 2021 standout TV show Squid Game, now is your push to do so. Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama television series about hundreds of cash-strapped players who accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Why? Because the prize is a tonne of money and they’re in severe debt. Seems quite wholesome, right? Completely wrong, death is often the penalty for losing in a round of one of the ‘children’s games’.

Altered Carbon

Based on the novel series by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon tells the story of Takeshi Kovacs, a former rebel in a world where the human consciousness has been digitised. If you’re unfamiliar, in Altered Carbon, more than 300 years in the future, society has been transformed by new technology, leading to human bodies being interchangeable and death no longer being permanent.

The Sandman

Many have tried and failed to adapt Neil Gaiman’s pivotal comic book The Sandman. The sprawling story that follows celestial entities through time and space remains, to this day, one of the most intelligent graphic novels of all time. For a long time, it was considered impossible to adapt. Until now. Read our full review of The Sandman over here.

Here we have it, 13 TV shows the team at Gizmodo Australia reckon you should watch on Netflix immediately. Head on over here to sign up.

Want more suggestions across the other streaming services? Check out our guide to the best TV shows on Stan, the best TV shows on Prime Video, the best TV shows on Binge, the best TV shows on Disney+, the best TV shows on Paramount+, and the best TV shows on Apple TV+. This article has been updated since it was first published.