10 Netflix Shows Everyone Knew Would Be Masterpieces After the First 10 Minutes

Image via Netflix Published Aug 13, 2026, 8:08 AM EDT Lisa Nordin is an actress, writer, and fan of all things performing arts. Her favorite genres are Sci-Fi and Fantasy. She is a self-published author and enjoys exploring how fictional stories help define and qualify the human experience. Sign in to your Collider account Netflix has always been a powerhouse when it comes to entertainment. As the mega-streamer continues to up its game in producing original TV series and movies, their caliber of excellence continues to improve. From mysteries to suspense to reality dating shows, Netflix has become the go-to place for some small-screen masterpieces. While some TV shows take a while to ramp up to their zenith, these 10 did not. They started as winners right out of the gate, and it was clear to everyone who watched that these series would be something special. From their universal appeal to award-winning prowess, these 10 Netflix original series were pure gold from the get-go, and it is not hard to see why. 'Love on the Spectrum U.S.' (2022–Present) Image via Netflix Based on the Australian TV show of the same name, Love on the Spectrum U.S. is a dating show unlike any other. The reality TV format follows single people who are on the autism spectrum as they go on dates and look for love. The series has won seven Primetime Emmys and is a massive hit for Netflix. The beauty of Love on the Spectrum is its pure look at love. In a genre where manipulation, producer involvement, and ratings bait have been the norm, Love on the Spectrum is like a breath of fresh air. It is exactly what everyone hoped a dating show would be. The participants of the show are unapologetically genuine, and so is their pursuit of romance. Love on the Spectrum has made many people believe in love and sincere connections again, proving its powerful ability to resonate deeply with viewers. 'Wednesday' (2022–Present) Image via Netflix It had been 24 years since a live-action project about The Addams Family debuted when Netflix launched its mystery-thriller Wednesday. Jenna Ortega stars as the pigtailed titular character, now a teenager, trying to acclimate to her new school, Nevermore Academy. As Wednesday's iconic woeful and detached personality makes her stand out, even among a school full of outcasts, she attempts to solve mysteries and murders that take place on campus and within the small, fictional town of Jericho, Vermont. Wednesday took no prisoners from the beginning. From the first opening scenes where a melancholy Wednesday stalks the halls of a public high school and admires the "sadism," to Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" playing as she dumps bags full of bloodthirsty piranhas into a pool with her brother's bullies. It was crystal clear from the outset that this show was going to make its own rules and give an ennui and macabre masterclass all its own. Wednesday is fast becoming Netflix's biggest triumph. It has the most hours streamed of any English-language series on the platform with an incredible 252.1 million views. It has revived interest in the "goth-girl" aesthetic and has impacted several avenues of pop culture. 'The Queen's Gambit' (2020) Image via Netflix From action to horror to drama, there seems to be no genre Anya Taylor-Joy can't conquer. One of her celebrated roles is playing Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit. In the series, Beth is a brilliant chess player who must face her inner and outer demons to become proficient at a predominantly patriarchal game. The Queen’s Gambit is Netflix's preeminent drama series. It won 11 Primetime Emmys and proved that Netflix could create a winning program in any genre it chose. From the intriguing and complex storytelling to the captivating performances and period mise-en-scène, The Queen's Gambit is perfection from beginning to end. 'BoJack Horseman' (2014–2020) Image via Netflix BoJack Horseman is a show unlike any other. The adult animated sitcom swings between comedy and tragedy like a pendulum. It focuses on the main character, who is a former star trying to make something of the latter days of his dwindling career. The entertainment industry, fame, popularity, drug addiction, and self-loathing are all on the table for this highly intentional series. Beyond the surface level, BoJack Horseman digs deep into more profound topics like depression, self-esteem, relationships, and more. Each episode packs a punch in only 30 minutes, and the show stays with viewers long after the credits have rolled. It has an impressive 93% and 96% critic and audience rating scores, respectively, on Rotten Tomatoes and continues to be an important series for devotees. Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Stranger Things' (2016–2025) Image via Netflix Widely hailed as one of the best sci-fi shows of all time, Stranger Things is the unstoppable hit that exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Right off the bat, Stranger Things was refreshingly original. It was set in the 1980s and focused on a group of kids as the protagonists. It had menacing monsters, Dungeons and Dragons, and Eggo waffles. It is easy to take Stranger Things for granted now, but it made tsunami-sized waves in the industry. It launched an appreciation for '80s nostalgia that impacted everything from fashion to music charts. It took home 12 Primetime Emmys, generated an entire franchise of shows, and continues to impact projects that are being made today. 'Adolescence' (2025) Image via Netflix Another Emmy-winning Netflix miniseries is the gripping drama Adolescence. It centers around a 13-year-old boy named Jamie (Owen Cooper) who is accused of murdering one of his classmates. Adolescence is an unsettling look into youth crime and raises many topics for debate. Each episode of Adolescence has its own viewpoint to explore, and the story is woven together like a symphony, each part playing the tune it was designed for, creating a crescendo of tension. From the very beginning, Adolescence feels different from other crime dramas. The filmmakers used one continuous take instead of several disjointed edits, giving the action an immediacy and palpable intensity. People going through traumatic circumstances don’t get the privilege of breaking into beats, and Adolescence didn't let its characters either. It is undeniably a masterpiece and exemplary of Netflix's catalog. 'When They See Us' (2019) Image via Netflix Based on a true story, When They See Us retells the events of the Central Park Five and their wrongful incarceration. Convicted for a crime they didn't commit, five young people spent years behind bars, serving a sentence that the real perpetrator deserved. The series touches on themes of racism and judicial prejudice and is a compelling depiction of an actual event. When creating a work based on a true story, there is a line to cross or not to cross about how far the creative license will be used. Do you remain strictly faithful to the actual events, or do you embellish? When They See Us does a great job of navigating that balance. As Collider's Jiminna Shillingford says, "It's a completely heartbreaking viewing experience, and the show remains incredibly powerful without exaggerating the tragedy portrayed." When They See Us is a triumph of the true crime genre, and it is profoundly impactful. 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' (2017–2019) Since there was already a feature film adaptation of the highly successful book series, many wondered what a Netflix TV show based on Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events could bring to the table. It turns out quite a lot. From the very first episode, the series doubled down on the dread and impending doom of the delightfully dreary IP. Neil Patrick Harris was exceptional as Count Olaf, delivering a kaleidoscopic performance as he morphed into each iteration of the devious fiend. A Series of Unfortunate Events delivers on all fronts. It is flawless from start to finish and is brimming with star-studded cameos. From the muted and melancholy atmosphere to the witty writing and foreboding narration, A Series of Unfortunate Events is a must-watch for any dark fantasy fan and continues to be one of Harris’ best roles. 'Dark' (2017–2020) Image via Netflix Nobody does science fiction quite like Netflix, and a show that exemplifies this strength is the German-language series Dark. Focusing on a group of families, it entangles time travel, parallel universes, and more. Dark is a high-concept sci-fi watch for fans who want something a bit more cerebral than Stranger Things. It is clear from the very beginning that Dark is going to weave a winding, labyrinthian tale and viewers are invited to go along on the journey. At three seasons long, Dark does not add any filler or extraneous episodes. Instead, it is a distilled shot of mystery for the senses. Dark was clearly an intentional and meticulously crafted project from the very first few frames, and it is no wonder that it has gone on to be widely celebrated. 'Squid Game' (2021–2025) Image via Netflix No series burst onto the scene with more instantly striking visuals than Squid Game. The South Korean thriller depicts a scenario where financially desperate people compete in a contest of simple children's games to advance toward a prize that amounts to around $31 million in U.S. dollars. The catch? If you get eliminated in the game, you get eliminated permanently, and a loss equals execution. Netflix has an impressive roster of K-dramas, and Squid Game is by far its most popular. The show is inherently captivating in that it features relatable everyday people simply trying to make their lives better. This makes every viewer wonder what they would have done in a character's stead, and it keeps audiences hooked from the first few moments on. Squid Game, like the other titles mentioned on this list, makes an unforgettable first impression, and it is clear from the very beginning that greatness is going to follow. Squid Game Release Date 2021 - 2025 Network Netflix Cast Wi Ha-jun Detective Hwang Jun-ho Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk Directors Hwang Dong-hyuk Writers Hwang Dong-hyuk Main Genre Mystery Seasons 3 Producers Han Heung-seok Creator(s) Hwang Dong-hyuk Streaming Service(s) Netflix Executive Producer(s) Hwang Dong-hyuk