Netflix truly changed the rules for TV. The streamer started dropping entire seasons at once, and all of a sudden, it was over for traditional programming schedules where the fans only got one episode a week. Binge-watching became the norm, and showrunners had the creative freedom to take bigger swings with storytelling without worrying about traditional network constraints.

Here’s the catch, though: When viewers can watch several episodes in a single sitting, they have very little patience for slow burns that don’t instantly click. A Netflix original, no matter how great, is expected to hook its audience within seconds. Sometimes, though, even the most promising shows need time to find their footing, and some Netflix series deserve a little more patience because they only get better after Season 1.

10

‘Sex Education’ (2019–2023)

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Sex Education felt like a breath of fresh air when it first premiered. The series, created by Laurie Nunn, follows a socially awkward teenager, Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), whose mom, Jean (Gillian Anderson), is a blunt sex therapist. The story kicks off when Otis partners up with the wildly intelligent Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) and launches an underground sex therapy clinic at their school to offer advice to their classmates. Sex Education Season 1 handles tough and awkward conversations about physical intimacy and delivers a story that feels exciting, inclusive, and emotionally grounded.

However, as confident as the show is in its first installment, the stakes are still relatively contained. Season 2 is when the narrative starts to expand, and one-off storylines evolve into longer arcs that directly impact the characters’ development. Sex Education also begins to explore institutional repression when the school’s new leadership attempts to control education about sex within the student body. The show suddenly goes from light-hearted teenage dilemmas to larger conversations about power and shame without ever feeling preachy. The writing remains character-first, and that ensures that things always feel relatable.

9

‘Never Have I Ever’ (2020–2023)

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In many ways, Never Have I Ever is the quintessential teen rom-com series about the messiness of growing up, falling in love, and finding oneself. However, beneath all that, the show is layered with so much more meaning. The series, created by Mindy Kaling, follows 15-year-old Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who is dealing with the death of her father while being determined to reinvent herself after a humiliating freshman year. Season 1 opens with Devi temporarily losing the ability to walk following the trauma of losing her dad so suddenly, and while she has recovered once the story actually starts, her emotions are still all over the place. That’s the key to understanding why Never Have I Ever gets better after Season 1.

Initially, Devi is shown to be a selfish, impulsive teenager who doesn’t care about how her actions affect others. However, that is the entire point. The audience has to stick with Devi in all her flawed, insecure, and sometimes even jealous glory. The great thing about the show is that it doesn’t ever try to fix Devi. Instead, the narrative slowly exposes why she is the way she is. The audience sees her attending therapy where she confronts all the emotions she has been trying to bury, and that becomes one of the most important elements of the show. Eventually, Devi’s storylines and her personality mature, but the audience has to trust the process and really embrace the chaos of Never Have I Ever Season 1 to fully understand that growth.

8

‘Grace and Frankie’ (2015–2022)

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Grace and Frankie is one of the most unique shows on Netflix. The series reunites legends Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as Grace and Frankie, respectively, two women in their seventies whose lives take a turn when their husbands, played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, reveal that they have been in love for decades and plan to marry each other. The premise is intriguing right off the bat, especially given that Grace and Frankie are forced to live together in a Malibu beach house as they rebuild their lives from scratch. Sadly, though, all of this feels more like a post-divorce drama than a fast-paced sitcom in Season 1. The pacing of the show is a bit too slow, and the jokes just don’t land the way they should. In fact, it often feels like Grace and Frankie are one-dimensional stereotypes, and it’s hard to get fully invested in their journey.

Thankfully, though, things shift in Season 2 when the show finally stops relying on the shock of the husbands’ announcement and starts exploring what Grace and Frankie’s life actually looks like afterward. That’s when Grace and Frankie start leaning into the ladies’ reinvention and the genuine friendship they find in each other. The show normalizes conversations about aging without being too on-the-nose, and watching these two women find themselves all over again, starting a business, makes Grace and Frankie the perfect comfort show for everyone.

7

‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ (2017–2019)

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A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the beloved novels by Lemony Snicket, is a genuinely hilarious show with lots of heart. The series follows the orphaned Baudelaire siblings as they are passed from one incompetent guardian after another, all while being hunted by the petty Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris). On the surface, the show paints the picture of a villain trying to steal a fortune. However, beneath the absurd humor and gothic production design, this is a story about what happens when young children are forced to grow up too fast. There’s no denying that A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1 is visually rich and extremely faithful to the books. Harris deserves a special shoutout for the way he transforms into Olaf and embodies his absolute madness.

Yet, the show truly finds its footing in Season 2 when the narrative expands beyond Olaf’s schemes. The second installment expands the larger mythology of the story as the children uncover the secret organization V.F.F (Volunteer Fire Department), and the moral grey areas their parents operated in. That’s when the show stops being about one bad man and becomes about a broken system. The tone darkens, the humor becomes more absurd, and the production leans harder into the surrealism of the source material. By the time A Series of Unfortunate Events reaches its end, the audience can practically see how self-aware the series becomes as it progresses.

6

‘The Crown’ (2016–2023)

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The Crown is one of Netflix’s greatest breakout hits, but the show definitely took its sweet time to get there. The series, created by Peter Morgan, chronicles the reign of Queen Elizabeth II across six seasons and reimagines decades of royal history. From the beginning, the ambition of the show is obvious. The Crown Season 1 stars Claire Foy as a young Elizabeth and her reluctant ascent after the death of King George VI. The stakes here feel extremely personal, with Elizabeth struggling to navigate marriage and duty. The first installment of the show is deliberately controlled and slow-paced as Elizabeth learns the rules of the institution that she will eventually go on to embody.

The drama is quiet, and the monarchy feels fragile. However, The Crown Season 2 takes all of that and puts it into a pressure cooker. The season covers events including the Suez Crisis and goes beyond the palace walls. It’s almost as if The Crown completely reinvents itself with each season to show the political instability the monarchy has always had to navigate. It’s easy to see why and how the series grows in scope and confidence as the story progresses. By the time Olivia Colman takes over the role of the Queen, The Crown feels like a more seasoned drama that explores the generational consequences of power. However, the careful groundwork of Season 1 is essential to the weight that the later seasons carry.

5

‘The Umbrella Academy’ (2019–2024)

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The Umbrella Academy isn’t a typical superhero show, and that’s exactly why it found its audience. The series, based on the comics by Gerard Way, follows seven adopted siblings raised by the cold, manipulative billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) to be child superheroes. Instead, they grow up completely damaged, estranged, and resentful of the man who treated them like experiments rather than humans. The premise is intriguing right from the start, with 43 women giving birth simultaneously, and Reginald adopting seven of these babies and training them as the Umbrella Academy. Season 1 introduces this strange, fractured family as they reunite for their father figure’s funeral, only to learn that the world is about to end. The show doesn’t pull any punches and throws its characters in the deep end while fully embracing the weirdness of it all.

However, the biggest issue with The Umbrella Academy Season 1 is its uneven tone. The story goes from the apocalypse plot to intense character drama, and that shift doesn’t always land smoothly. The show starts to find its footing in Season 2 after the first apocalypse resets everything, and the siblings land in 1960s Dallas. By this time, the emotional arcs feel sharper and more purposeful, and the narrative strikes the perfect balance between absurdity and heart. That’s when the story becomes about trauma and these siblings finding their way back to each other despite the damage their father inflicted on them. The Umbrella Academy ends as a messy, heartfelt family saga where every little storyline feels deliberate and earned.

4

‘Orange Is the New Black’ (2013–2019)

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Orange Is the New Black remains one of Netflix’s most unique original shows. The series, created by Jenji Kohan and based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, follows Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, a privileged New Yorker sentenced to 15 months in a minimum-security women’s prison for transporting drug money a decade earlier. The simple fish-out-of-water premise then transforms into something much greater as the audience is introduced to the diverse women in Litchfield Penitentiary, who live by the place’s own social code and order. Orange Is the New Black balances dark humor with an impactful storyline that humanizes these inmates and explores how they ended up behind bars. Now, Orange Is the New Black Season 1 was technically a smash hit and turned the show into Netflix’s most-watched original series at the time.

However, everyone can agree that it truly took off in terms of storytelling in Season 2 when the ensemble deepened, and other characters, including Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (Uzo Aduba), stepped into the spotlight. All of a sudden, the show doesn’t just follow Piper and her experience. Instead, it becomes an exploration of systemic poverty, addiction, abuse, and America’s broken prison system. The great thing about Orange Is the New Black is that it was willing to outgrow its premise, and in doing so, it refused to turn these inmates, including Piper, into stereotypes. The prison dramedy still stands as one of the most important ensemble shows of the streaming era, one that just cannot be missed.

3

‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014–2020)

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BoJack Horseman is an animated series like no other, set in a version of Hollywood where humans and anthropomorphic animals live together. The story follows BoJack (Will Arnett), a washed-up sitcom star from the ’90s who is clinging to relevance through a tell-all memoir written by Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie). The show sounds like yet another edgy adult cartoon with crude jokes and satire. Now, BoJack Horseman Season 1 featured all of this, and wasn’t exactly what critics received as groundbreaking TV. In fact, many viewers tend to drop off after the first couple of episodes because the show feels like it’s just being raunchy for attention. However, things change dramatically midway through Season 1.

The tone of the show shifts, and it starts asking uncomfortable questions about the human condition. BoJack, who comes across as selfish and cruel initially, transforms into a complex character whom the viewers slowly begin to understand. By Season 2, BoJack Horseman completely shifts gears and starts focusing a lot more on the emotional depth of the narrative. It tackles themes like depression, addiction, generational abuse, sexuality, and self-sabotage in ways animated series rarely ever do. The series evolves into a full-blown psychological drama, and its impact is felt long after the credits roll for the final time.

2

‘Ginny and Georgia’ (2021–Present)

Image via Netflix

Ginny and Georgia is a generational dramedy that follows a complex yet realistic mother-daughter relationship. The series follows 31-year-old Georgia Miller (Brianne Howey) and her teenage daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry) as they relocate to Wellsbury, Massachusetts, after years of running. Season 1 follows Georgia’s journey as a survivor of abuse who is willing to do anything to protect her kids, even if that means lying or stealing. Ginny, on the other hand, struggles to fit in at school as she navigates race in a predominantly white town. The show combines teen comedy, murder mystery, and melodrama to deliver a story that feels ambitious yet personal.

However, in the beginning, this ambition is the very problem the series has to overcome. It often feels like Ginny and Georgia Season 1 is taking the story in every possible direction, just to see what sticks. The story feels chaotic, and the characters are half-baked at best. Season 2 begins to treat storylines with more nuance instead of dramatizing things for shock value. The mother-daughter relationship also matures, and the show moves beyond its initial teen soap territory.

1

‘Locke & Key’ (2020–2022)

Image via Netflix

Locke & Key is hands down one of Netflix’s most intriguing fantasy series. The show follows the Locke family after their patriarch, Rendell (Bill Heck), is murdered. His wife, Nina (Darby Stanchfield), then moves their three children, Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott), to his ancestral home in Matheson, Massachusetts, which holds plenty of mysteries. Turns out that the house contains keys that unlock all kinds of magical abilities, but the children aren’t the only ones searching for them. A demonic entity known as Dodge (Laysla De Oliveira) wants the keys for herself, and so begins a battle over these artifacts. Locke & Key Season 1 builds a strong foundation, and the concept is pretty imaginative from the start.

The premise isn’t the issue here at all. Instead, it’s the execution. In the show’s early episodes, the Lockes repeatedly make confusing decisions that keep the audience from rooting for them. The show feels like a teen drama, which is engaging, but isn’t anything to write home about. Locke & Key reaches its true potential in Season 2, where the characters become more proactive, and the stakes escalate with real consequences. Instead of dragging the story out under the guise of setting up the lore, the series carries its worldbuilding and character arcs side by side. Once Locke & Key leans into its full mythology, it turns into a completely different show that ends on an extremely powerful note.

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Locke & Key

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Release Date

2020 – 2021

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Directors

Mark Tonderai

Writers

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Carlton Cuse, Aron Eli Coleite

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Inglewood Mayor
We’re Ready For World Cup
… Thanks To Taylor Swift

Published
March 1, 2026
12:30 AM PST

Kesha
Your Hot Shots Are Our Drug!!!

Published
March 1, 2026
1:00 AM PST

Tom Hanks’ son Chet Hanks faced more than a few Cast Away jokes after revealing he is stuck in Colombia without his U.S. passport.

“Free me! Free me,” Chet, 35, joked via an Instagram video on Friday, February 27.

The Running Point actor explained that he recently traveled to Puerto Rico for his “homeboy Max’s birthday party” and “had a good time.” After the birthday festivities, Chet decided to visit another friend in Medellín, Colombia.

“Sounds good, right? Well, check this out,” he quipped before revealing his nightmare travel story.

Per Chet, he has been “traveling with my Greek passport because I’m a dual citizen” and thus decided to leave his U.S. passport at home since it was about to expire.

“Sometimes they don’t let you in the country, even if it hasn’t expired, but it’s about to expire,” Chet claimed.

Chet apparently had a wild time in Medellín but the trip took a stressful turn when he showed up at the airport to fly back home.

“I go to the airport to check in [for] my flight three hours early,” he said. “This is an international flight. They tell me that if I’m using a foreign passport, I need a green card to get back into America.”

The problem with the airport staff’s request is that Chet doesn’t have a green card since he’s “an American citizen.”

“I’m literally stuck in Colombia. I’m stuck in Medellín,” he admitted to viewers. “Granted, there’s worse places to be stuck, but I literally have no f***ing idea what I’m gonna do, and the only embassy to get this s*** settled is in Bogota.”

Chet explained that he was reluctant to travel from Medellín to Bogota in order to get the travel issue resolved.

“So, free me,” he jokingly begged.

Us Weekly has reached out to Chet’s representatives for comment.

Chet did not seem too stressed about his travel situation, as he later shared numerous videos and photos of himself partying with friends.

The comments of Chet’s video were filled with fans humorously referencing his dad’s classic movie Cast Away, where Tom played a Fedex courier stranded on a South Pacific island.

“Better call someone in your family to have them FedEx your passport to you ASAP,” one Instagram user joked, while another added, “Tom Hanks doesn’t have the best of luck with FedEx.”

One commenter slipped in a sly reference to another of Tom’s movies by suggesting that the Oscar winner might be “waiting at the terminal” for Chet. (The 2004 comedy The Terminal starred Tom, 69, as an Eastern European traveler stuck at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport.)

Before his vacation troubles, Us Weekly exclusively chatted with the actor and musician about a potential collaboration with his mom, Rita Wilson. Chet — who has released music under the pseudonym “Chet Haze” — initially joked that he couldn’t “afford” to make a track with his mom. (While primarily known for her acting, Wilson, 69, has also released five studio albums as a singer-songwriter.)

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Related: Tom Hanks’ Son Chet Says He Grew Up Feeling Completely ‘Worthless’

Chet Hanks is sharing a glimpse into his childhood being raised by parents Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. During the Tuesday, July 23, episode of MTV’s Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets, Chet, 33, thought he was participating in an innocent game of uno with his housemates. The conversation, however, quickly turned into the cast discussing […]

“I’d probably have to sign my life away,” he joked to Us at the Clive Davis Pre-Grammys Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 31.

Pressed on what kind of music they might make together, Chet hinted, “I don’t know, maybe we’ll have to do, like, a really ratchet, like, strip club song or something, I don’t know. You never know. I think she’s got it in her.”

Chet is one of Tom’s four children. The Da Vinci Code actor shares his eldest son, Colin Hanks, and daughter, Elizabeth Ann “E.A.” Hanks, with his first wife, Samantha Lewes, and welcomed Chet and his brother Truman Hanks with Wilson.

Shia LaBeouf has once again been arrested in New Orleans in connection with an alleged Mardi Gras-related incident.

The Associated Press reported on Saturday, February 28, that LaBeouf, 39, was arrested earlier in the day on suspicion of misdemeanor simple battery. This charge is related to his previous arrest on two counts of battery for allegedly striking an unidentified victim multiple times while being escorted out of a New Orleans restaurant on February 17.

The incident allegedly occurred at the Royal Street Inn & R Bar, near New Orleans’ French Quarter, where LaBeouf allegedly had a confrontation with multiple people during Mardi Gras festivities.

His attorney, Sarah Chervinsky, told the Associated Press that LaBeouf voluntarily turned himself in at the Orleans Parish jail after learning that a new arrest warrant was issued on Friday, February 27.

Related: Shia LaBeouf Returns to Mardi Gras Hours After Being Released From Jail

Hours after being arrested following an alleged Mardi Gras party fight, Shia LaBeouf returned to the New Orleans festivities. According to photos obtained by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, February 17, LaBeouf, 39, was spotted holding a plastic cup of what seemed to be beer as he stood watching the annual celebration alongside fellow partygoers. […]

“No regular person would be required to post over $100,000 in bonds, and be jailed two separate times for one misdemeanor incident,” Chervinsky told the outlet. “Just as he does not deserve preferential treatment, Mr. LaBeouf also does not deserve to be treated more harshly by the police and courts just because he is a public figure.”

Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for LaBeouf and the New Orleans Police Department for comment.

Following his arrest on February 17, LaBeouf appeared in court that same day and now has a pretrial hearing set for Thursday, March 19. He was advised by the judge to return to drug and alcohol rehabilitation during his initial court appearance. (LaBeouf has yet to enter a plea for any of the three pending charges.)

The Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull actor — who has had multiple run-ins with the law over the years — initially responded to his arrest by tweeting “free me” hours after the alleged Mardi Gras altercation.

He has since sat down for an interview with Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, which was released Saturday, where he responded to his arrest by saying it’s “not nice to hurt people ever.”

“It’s f***ing lame,” he insisted. “People got hurt, I got to deal with that. I’mma deal with that in full. I’ll eat it all. It’s on me. I f***ed up.”

LaBeouf said he’d relocated from Los Angeles to New Orleans because he’d “failed [in his] marriage” to Mia Goth but admitted he’d “hit a roadblock” with this latest setback. (Goth, 32, and LaBeouf were together on an off from 2012 to 2025.)

“I was drunk, and then I felt infringed upon, like, in terms of my proximity,” the former Even Stevens star explained. “I wasn’t in my right mind, so it’s on me. … It was probably just my fault, for, somewhere. I don’t know how, but I’m going to figure it out.”

He then dismissed the idea of going to rehab, saying, “My behavior? Bulls***. I gotta deal with it. Does that mean I got to go to rehab again? I’m just not into it, bro. I don’t think my answers are there, I don’t. If I genuinely did, I’d go. I don’t think I have a drinking problem. I think I have a different problem, and I’m going to address it.”

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Related: Christy Carlson Romano Seemingly Shades Ex-Costar Shia LaBeouf After Arrest

Former Disney Channel child star Christy Carlson Romano is seemingly no longer keeping up with her former TV brother Shia LaBeouf in light of his recent arrest. “When they ask you about your old costar, but you’ve stopped ‘inserting yourself,’” Romano, 41, wrote over an Instagram video shared Wednesday, February 18. In the footage, Romano […]

As for why the Mardi Gras incident occurred, LaBeouf suggested that he has “a small man complex” which is “something that has to do with anger and ego more so than my drinking.”

“What kind of things set off that anger? I mean, boy, I haven’t experienced that for a while, but I’ll be honest with you, big gay people are scary to me,” he told Channel 5 News. “When I’m standing by myself and three gay dudes are next to me, touching my leg, I get scared. I’m sorry if that’s homophobic, then I’m that. It just happened one time, [and] that’s why I got arrested.”

LaBeouf ultimately admitted that he was “wrong for touching anyone ever.”

“That’s the end of my statement on this whole s***,” he insisted.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Whew! Things reportedly went left in a Texas relationship — and it all allegedly started over a phone. Authorities in Texas say Terriana Johnson is now facing serious charges after an argument with her boyfriend escalated inside their Waco home. What police claim happened next has social media talking, and it’s definitely not your average lovers’ quarrel.

RELATED: Miami Juveniles Reportedly Face Adult Charges In Connection To Alleged Rape Of 12-Year-Old Girl

Texas Woman Booked After Heated Argument

According to jail records reviewed by Law & Crime, Terriana Johnson has been charged with aggravated assault and was booked into the McLennan County Jail on Thursday. The incident reportedly took place on Wednesday at a residence on the 1900 block of South 5th Street in Waco, where Johnson and her boyfriend of about one year were living.

Police say the boyfriend was in the shower when Johnson allegedly walked in yelling at him. After he got out, he reportedly saw her coming out of the kitchen, holding three knives. Authorities claim she approached him and said, “I’m going to cut you if you don’t give me your f— phone.”

Argument Escalates, Knives Allegedly Pulled

Furthermore, according to the arrest affidavit, the boyfriend grabbed bed sheets in an attempt to shield himself, but Johnson allegedly cut him on the arm. He then ran to a neighbor’s home for help, and officers were called to the scene. When police arrived, Johnson reportedly claimed her boyfriend had taken her phone and pushed her to the ground — though officers noted she had no visible injuries.

Suspect Denies Knowledge, Posts Bond

The boyfriend later told officers that Johnson stabbed him, and police say they observed a cut on his left arm. When asked about the injury, Johnson allegedly said she did not know what happened. She also reportedly told officers she had scissors in her hand during the altercation “to cut the sheets.” Johnson was arrested and later released on a $10,000 bond, according to jail records.

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