Watch all 6 of these series before you complain there’s nothing good on Netflix anymore

With the proliferation of streamers that exists these days, it can be hard to keep up with all the great content that’s constantly debuting on the likes of Disney+, HBO Max (soon to be just Max), Peacock, Apple TV+, and definitely Netflix — which releases an endless flood of new movies and shows every week. I suspect that, in the case of Netflix specifically, it can be such a chore to regularly identify worthwhile new series to watch that it might even make you question every now and then whether your subscription is even worth keeping.

If that includes you, then keep reading: I’m going to point out six Netflix series that, for whatever reason, might have escaped your attention up to this point, or you might not have gotten around to watching just yet, for one reason or another. Some of these series are well-known, while others are less so. In my opinion, though, any of these are perfect to add to your watch list specifically if you’re struggling to find something new to watch and are open to pretty much anything.

6 Netflix series to try before you give up on Netflix

These six picks from me are in no particular order — and, again, I’m specifically speaking to those of you who might be getting a little lukewarm on Netflix at the moment, and maybe even complaining there’s nothing good to watch anymore. These Netflix series below aren’t all my absolute favorites from the streamer. Then again, every show that I like doesn’t have to be my favorite. As long as I feel some degree of satisfaction at the end, I’m happy.

That, for me, is what each of these shows did — they reminded me, okay, I’m still paying for my subscription to get content like this.

Beef

I’m still standing by my contention that this 10-episode drama from Lee Sung Jin that will keep you glued to the screen — and staring slack-jawed through one WTF moment after another — is an early contender for “best Netflix series of 2023.” Somehow, a road rage encounter (between characters played by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong) turns into a complex, richly drawn character study between two people who you find yourself alternatively rooting for and disgusted by.

This one is an absolute 10/10, the kind of Netflix series that the streaming giant, in my opinion, doesn’t give us enough of.

Crash Landing on You

For me, this next Netflix series is the mother of all K-dramas. That genre just absolutely doesn’t get any better than Crash Landing on You, a series of cinematic scope and beauty that packs action, drama, romance, and geopolitical intrigue into one perfect and frustratingly single-season Netflix gem. (You’ll see what I mean after you try it and get it to the end. You’ll be ready to riot in support of a second season.)

The story, in brief: A rich, spoiled, South Korean heiress is swept across the border while hang-gliding during a storm and then literally crash lands into the arms of a handsome North Korean soldier. I bet you can’t guess what happens next.

Warrior Nun

Moving right along, we now come to the series that arguably fell victim to what might be one of Netflix’s most head-scratching decisions of all time.

Netflix, for whatever reason, decided to pull the plug on Warrior Nun after its second season, despite the show dominating its global Top 10 charts and developing perhaps the most hardcore, committed global fandom that I think I’ve ever seen a TV show produce. The show is about an order of nuns who fight demons, and it’s a gem that encompasses everything from love to action to epic battles, featuring solid writing and starring one of my favorite actresses (Alba Baptista). What’s not to like?

Russian Doll

I’m a sucker for stories in which protagonists have to figure out how to get out of a time loop. Just typing these words, in fact, is making me want to rewatch Hulu’s Palm Beach … but I’m getting distracted. In Russian Doll, Natasha Lyonne plays Nadia, a woman who keeps dying and reliving her 36th birthday party. Watching her figure out how to break the cycle is some of the most satisfying TV I’ve ever enjoyed from Netflix — never mind that in the process, it’s going to leave Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up” stuck in your head.

Kleo

There aren’t enough quality spy shows in the world if you ask me, and there are too many that rely on silly, old, and incorrect assumptions about the secret world. The German-language Netflix series Kleo combines a Killing Eve-style antihero with the rich espionage storytelling potential of Cold War Europe and a killer soundtrack to produce a can’t-miss show for fans of quality spy thrillers.

Thankfully, Netflix ordered up a second season of Kleo (and, while you wait, aficionados of the genre can also check out these other top-notch spy series).

Derry Girls

The overly simplistic summary of this final Netflix series I’d like you to watch if you feel like there’s nothing good on the streamer anymore is this: Derry Girls is about a group of friends who confront the trials of adolescence together while also growing up amid the chaos and strife of Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

Given that these are Irish characters we’re talking about here, Derry Girls alternatively had me roaring with laughter — like at the priest telling an assembly of students at one point to welcome “the weans from Chernobyl, who’ve come over to give their wee lungs a bit of a clear out, because, ah, sure, there’s all sorts wafting about in their neck of the woods” — and feeling absolutely speechless during moments of profound emotion.

Like at the end of season one, when the show’s core group of girls are dancing and laughing on a school stage, just an ordinary group of children at what could have been an ordinary school anywhere in the world. Except for the way the scene cuts back and forth between the school and the kids’ home, where their parents are huddled around a TV watching a news report about a horrific bombing amid The Troubles. It’s an emotionally devastating moment, made all the more so by the soundtrack’s use of The Cranberries’ Dreams. “All my life, is changing every day, in every possible way …”