Netflix churns out content like an assembly line these days, and some of its shows are better than others.
But when it hits, it hits — and now that we’re about halfway through 2025, Watch With Us is ready to identify some heavy hitters.
We ranked the five best original series Netflix has released this year, from unscripted to comedy to drama.
Starring actors like Tina Fey, John Mulaney and Julianne Moore, these shows have made their mark on 2025. Check out our power rankings below.
5. ‘Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney’ (March 2025)
John Mulaney is never afraid to get experimental — and his experiment with being a late-night talk‑show host is a lot of fun. (There’s reportedly another season coming next year.) With Richard Kind as his trusty sidekick, Mulaney centers each episode around a topic (like “Lending People Money” or “Cruises”), consulting experts, celebrity guests and everyday people to create a zany tapestry of opinions.
Interwoven with sketches and musical numbers, this refreshingly different late-night format hits just right. With late-night shows having an identity crisis (we’ll miss you, Stephen Colbert), it’s fun to see a talented comedian mixing things up with the format.
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4. ‘Too Much’ (July 2025)
This highly anticipated series from Lena Dunham stars Meg Stalter (Hacks) and merges Girls–style emotional realism with romantic British‑rom‑com tropes. Stalter plays Jess, who moves to London after a brutal breakup with Zev (Michael Zegan from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). There she meets Felix (Will Sharpe from The White Lotus), an emotionally unavailable musician.
Confusion, heartbreak and laughter ensue — in a charming, sometimes bittersweet package. If Too Much is sometimes, well, too much, that just punctuates how real it is and how frustrating real-life romantic relationships can be.
3. ‘The Four Seasons’ (May 2025)
Adapted from the Alan Alda film of the same name, this ensemble comedy was intended as a limited series — but Netflix renewed it for a second season after a strong reception. The show follows three couples: Tina Fey and Will Forte, Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani, and Steve Carell and Kerri Kenney‑Silver, who vacation together annually.
When Carell’s character announces he wants a divorce, it upends the friend group and forces everyone to see how their relationships have shifted. The Four Seasons is often funny and occasionally heartbreaking — a moving exploration of how relationships change and how they stay the same.
2. ‘Sirens’ (May 2025)
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This limited series riffs on the mythological siren: a woman whose hypnotic song makes men crash their ships. The trio at the center — Devon (Meghann Fahy), her sister Simone (Milly Alcock) and Simone’s boss Michaela (Julianne Moore) — collide when Devon comes to Michaela’s majestic summer home seeking help with their ailing father. Over the course of the show, each is accused of having “made” the men in their lives do something terrible. But Sirens asks its audience — “Who’s really to blame?” Stunning visuals and pitch‑perfect performances make Sirens a deliciously twisty watch.
1. ‘Adolescence’ (March 2025)
This critically acclaimed series is a dark and disturbing must-watch for anyone who craves a compelling drama with bravura storytelling. Adolescence stars Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering his classmate. His mystified parents (Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco) grapple with the accusation, trying to figure out what happened, as police inspectors (Ashley Walters and Faye Marsay) and a therapist (Erin Doherty) try to understand how the “manosphere” led this boy down such a dark path.
A terrifying examination of toxic masculinity and incel culture, Adolescence is one of the most impactful shows of the year and the best Netflix series of 2025 so far.
