I love a good TV show. I love to sit down and ignore all of my responsibilities and watch a good TV show. My senior year of high school, I began keeping a list of all of the TV shows I watched from start to finish, and it’s pretty long at this point. Lately, I’ve been struggling to keep watching shows I’ve started, and I’m worried I’ve exhausted all my options. I’ve officially seen all of the good ones. I know that’s not true, but I know there might be other people on the hunt for a good show to watch. So, here’s a list of all my favorite binge-worthy shows in case you’re in need of something new!
“You”
My first recommendation is Netflix’s hit show “You.” There are five seasons, the last of which came out in late 2024. Episodes are about an hour long each, with 10 per season. “You” is a dark psychological series about a man named Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, who navigates multiple scenarios of deep obsessions with a chosen love interest. He will do anything for these women and to keep them in his control. This show is hard to watch, devilishly creepy, and blatantly plays with every empathetic emotion you have. I was immediately hooked on “You” and am anxiously awaiting the last season to see Joe Goldberg’s final fate.
“How I Met Your Mother”
“How I Met Your Mother” is a sentimental, goofy, romantic series about Ted Mosby and his four friends living in New York City. The show is nine seasons long, with about 22-24 episodes per season. Episodes are only 22 minutes long, so it’s easy to fly through the series. Ted is telling his two children the nine-season-long story of how he met their mother, including all of the ups and downs of his friend group throughout the years. Ted’s friend group consists of his closest friends: There’s Marshall, his college roommate, as well as his college-sweetheart, Lily. Barney is his witty, sex-crazed “best friend” he met in a bar bathroom. And, lastly, Robin, a woman Ted asked out but ended up being adopted into the group. Their dynamic feels like family, and it’s so effortlessly silly.
“Sex and the City”
“Sex and the City,” or SATC for short, is a late 90s/early 2000s show centered around four women in New York City. The main character, Carrie Bradshaw, writes a newspaper column titled “Sex and the City,” all about her and her friends’ dating lives and sexcapades. This hilarious six-season romantic TV drama explores the single lives of a group of women in their thirties still trying to find “the one.” There’s Miranda, a headstrong lawyer, Charlotte, a preppy art dealer, and Samantha, a sex-positive publicist. Together, these four women take over the city together, maybe finding men valuable enough to keep around.
“Criminal Minds”
Oddly enough, “Criminal Minds” is one of my favorites to put on when I can’t fall asleep. It’s a police procedural thriller mystery revolving around the Behavior Analysis Unit of the FBI. Together, the group of agent profilers analyze the most dangerous and twisted uncaught criminals. The show has 18 seasons, but there are few show-long storylines and every episode is centered around a different “unsub,” or unknown subject, so it’s easy to leave off and pick back up whenever you choose to. While it can be quite graphic at times with unsettling tones, the psychological lens of the profilers intrigue you too much to turn it off.
“The White Lotus”
The Max series, “The White Lotus,” aired its first season in 2021, with the second season airing in late 2022 and the third in early 2025. The show follows a luxury hotel chain called The White Lotus, with the first season taking place in Hawaii and the second season in Italy. The show is a satire, black comedy drama that centers around a group of privileged families, all unleashing pure dysfunction onto the hotel and exploiting hotel employees until the chaos eventually reaches them, leading to dire consequences. Each season replicates a week-long stay and reveals everyone’s darkest sides in paradise. While each cast is different, the returning actress we’ve been able to count on so far is Jennifer Coolidge. Each season has seven episodes, with each one about an hour to an hour and 20 minutes long.
“Bones”
“Bones” is a perfect mix of crime and medical dramas. The 12-season show centers the life of Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institution. She and her team of specialists work with Special Agent Seeley Booth. Her team consists of Angela Montenegro, a forensic artist; Jack Hodgins, entomologist; Camille Saroyan, pathologist; Lance Sweets, a psychologist; and various other recurring interns and FBI agents. The team at the Jeffersonian finds and studies human remains, and uses those remains to catch the killer with Booth. The show is criminally underrated, and I’ve been watching it since middle school.
“Grace and Frankie”
“Grace and Frankie” stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, with the two navigating a newly single life in their 70s and 80s after their husbands leave them for each other. The seven-season witty and quirky show tells the cutest tale of two women moving to the beach, overcoming their differences, and healing, becoming soul sisters in the process. Frankie, a stoned and artistic hippie, and Grace, an uptight and sharp-tongued alcoholic, who initially despise each other, learn they’re all each other needs, even when it feels like the world is falling apart.
I feel some honorary mentions include “Grey’s Anatomy” (only the first eight seasons), “Shameless,” “Orange is the New Black,” ” Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Glee,” and “Gilmore Girls.”
These shows may not be your style, but give one of them a try. Every show on this list had me glued to my screen, either horrified, crying, or laughing. Some of them are a little more surface level, whereas some have a little more substance and depth. I hope there’s at least one show that piques your interest! Happy watching!