City, October 8 — A seasoned technology reporter has curated a list of 60 of the best TV shows available on Netflix, offering viewers a guide to navigate the platform’s extensive library and avoid investing time in series that may not be worth finishing. At its heart, the list highlights a mix of flagship Netflix originals, critically acclaimed series, comfort watches, and underrated gems.
Among the featured shows is the new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, which arrived on Netflix in October 2026 and stars Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, a manipulative woman whose presence disrupts the Trask family. The seven-episode limited series also features Mike Faist and Christopher Abbott as brothers Charles and Adam Trask, and was co-written and directed by Zoe Kazan, granddaughter of filmmaker Elia Kazan.
This adaptation shifts focus from the 1955 film version’s emphasis on the Trask brothers as allegorical figures of Cain and Abel to a deeper exploration of Cathy Ames’ role in the narrative. Another highlighted series is Party Down, a comedy about struggling Los Angeles cater waiters that originally premiered on Starz in 2009.
The show’s third season, released in 2023, reunited most of the original cast—Adam Scott, Ryan Hansen, Ken Marino, and Martin Starr—while introducing new cast members Zoe Chao and Tyrel Jackson Williams, and featuring Jennifer Garner as a recurring client. Lizzy Caplan did not return for the third season, as her character had become known for her work on Saturday Night Live.
The article also features SCTV, the Canadian sketch comedy series that launched in 1976 as a counterpart to Saturday Night Live and launched the careers of comedians including Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Rick Moranis. The full series is now available to stream on Netflix.
Additional mentions include The Beast in Me, starring Matthew Rhys as Nile Jarvis, a wealthy real estate developer suspected of murdering his wife, and Claire Danes as Aggie Wiggs, a grieving author who writes a book about him; the series was renewed for a second season after its initial limited run. Finally, the article references Outer Banks, Netflix’s action-adventure series set in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which premiered in 2020 and is approaching its conclusion.
The show centers on the class divide between the wealthy ‘Kooks’ and the working-class ‘Pogues,’ with the latter group, led by John B. (Chase Stokes), searching for treasure tied to the disappearance of John B.’s father, who vanished while hunting for gold. The list aims to guide viewers toward high-quality, binge-worthy content across genres, including drama, comedy, and limited series, with attention to new arrivals, departing titles, and critically acclaimed originals exclusive to the platform.
