The Alleged Best Show In Netflix History Is A Controversial Choice

While ranking something the “best” anything is always a bit subjective, there’s a new list of the Best Netflix Series of All Time that is being passed around social media and drawing a fair bit of debate and controversy.

It’s from arguably the biggest entertainment outlet left on the internet, Entertainment Weekly, which took on the arduous task of picking the 25 best Netflix shows ever, where of course this is among hundreds and hundreds of options. These are all Netflix originals, not licensed series. I’ve added their Rotten Tomatoes scores just for reference:

25) The Upshaws – N/A critic score, 86% audience score

24) Kingdom – 98% critic score, 92% audience score

23) Arcane – 100% critic score, 87% audience score

22) Hilda – N/A critic score, 94% audience score

21) Chef’s Table – N/A critic score, 81% audience score

20) Never Have I Ever – 94% critic score, 86% audience score

19) Dead to Me – 89% critic score, 85% audience score

18) Lupin – 98% critic score, 79% audience score

17) Mindhunter – 97% critic score, 95% audience score

16) The Crown – 81% critic score, 92% audience score

15) American Vandal – 98% critic score, 91% audience score

14) Russian Doll – 97% critic score, 76% audience score

13) Midnight Mass – 87% critic score, 79% audience score

12) Sex Education – 93% critic score, 78% audience score

11) Master of None – 94% critic score, 71% audience score

10) Wednesday – 80% critic score, 82% audience score

9) Bridgerton – 84% critic score, 74% audience score

8) Stranger Things – 92% critic score, 90% audience score

7) Squid Game – 86% critic score, 67% audience score

6) When They See Us – 96% critic score, 89% audience score

5) I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson – 97% critic score, 73% audience score

4) Adolescence – 97% critic score, 74% audience score

3) Baby Reindeer – 99% critic score, 80% audience score

2) Beef – 98% critic score, 87% audience score

1) The Haunting of Hill House – 93% critic score, 91% audience score

Okay, that’s a lot of shows, and I have a few thoughts on some of these entries, and one enormous series that’s missing.

The Haunting of Hill House – I actually agree with this as #1. Mike Flanagan’s haunted house opus is, in fact, my favorite thing I’ve seen on the service, and I understand why his profile’s been so elevated and Amazon poached him. I’ve seen some people say Midnight Mass is better. Not sure I agree, but it’s also amazing.

Mindhunter – Mindhunter at #17 has to be some kind of joke. This is routinely cited as one of the best Netflix shows ever, and lands at the top of many lists. Ranking it so low seems totally absurd.

I Think You Should Leave – I am fully okay with this being the highest-ranked comedy on the list. I guess there are funny parts in Beef, but I wouldn’t consider that one in full. I also think you can certainly make the case for Beef being in the top five. As soon as I saw it, I said the two leads should get Emmys. They did.

Russian Doll – That show is not good, I have no idea why it’s so high and ranked above so many better series.

Kingdom – I’m glad this made the list. One of the best zombie pieces of media ever made, up there with 28 Days Later and Train to Busan. Easily the best zombie show (sorry Walking Dead).