The 35 Best TV Shows You Can Binge-Watch From Beginning to End, Ranked

Looking for a great TV series to binge-watch? Check. Looking for a satisfying TV series to binge-watch? We got you. Using review-aggregate data from our sister site, Metacritic, we've ranked the 35 best TV series that can be streamed from start to finish, from pilot to finale, on the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access, and HBO Now. We're talking Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and more.

PHOTOS: These are the 35 best completed TV series to stream

All series featured here are listed by their highest-ranked seasons on Metacritic, and culled from the site's rundown of the best TV shows of all-time.

Series that are currently in production are not included; series that produced fewer than two seasons are not included; and, series that are currently only available to stream via rental or purchase aren't found here, either. Where ranked shows boast identical Metascores, Metacritic user scores have been used to break ties.

So, what show's No. 1? Click ahead to the get all the binge-watch-worthy shows, ranked from the very good to the very best.

(Disclosure: TV Guide is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS)

This 2010-2014 drama, featuring Kelly Macdonald and Steve Buscemi, is the first of 10 HBO series in this rundown. It offers five seasons' worth of critically acclaimed Roaring Twenties action.

"From its breathtaking cinematography to its meticulous period costumes to its smart, snappy dialogue to its talented cast," Heather Havrilesky wrote for Salon, "Boardwalk Empire presents a TV program that's so polished and beautifully executed, each episode feels as rich and memorable as its own little Scorsese film."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now

This 2000-2006 family comedy has 151 episodes available to deliver what the Deseret News called "laugh-out loud" fun. As an added bonus, you get the pre-Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston as the goofy TV dad.

Watch it on: Hulu

In this 2014-2019 Comedy Central favorite, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer play two buds living -- and occasionally working -- in New York City. "It's one of the most purely funny shows on television," Alan Sepinwall judged for HitFix.

Watch it on: Hulu

According to the critical consensus, it's well worth doing time -- especially in the early seasons -- with felon Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) in this life-behind-bars comedy-drama that produced seven seasons and 91 episodes from 2013-2019. "Piper's story may draw viewers to the show," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Rob Owen wrote, "but it's her fellow inmates who make time spent inside this women's prison worthwhile."

Watch it on: Netflix

This 2009-2016 legal drama gets better the deeper you get into it: Per Metacritic stats, its sixth season (of seven total) is its best. As the Chicago Sun-Times' Lori Rackl praised, "The best drama on broadcast TV hasn't missed a beat ... "

Watch it on: CBS All Access, Hulu

Arrested Development is pretty much two shows: the first aired from 2003-2006 on Fox; the second dropped two seasons on Netflix in 2013 and 2018-2019. The former batch of episodes won more critical plaudits (and Emmys) than the latter, but even the Netflix-produced installments have their fans. "At its best, the series continues to deftly skewer the interpersonal dynamics of a hilariously dysfunctional family," Michael Haigis wrote for Slant Magazine in 2018.

And, yes, while we know Arrested Development is more apparently done than officially done, there's been little buzz regarding a sixth season. It's a safe bet that this show will hold at five seasons and 84 episodes through your binge-watch.

Watch it on: Netflix

This Kiefer Sutherland-led action drama about a string of very long days in the life of hero Jack Bauer has a lot to offer the binge-watcher: namely, more than 200 episodes from eight seasons that ran from 2001-2010, plus, a de facto ninth season (billed as a 12-episode miniseries) that debuted in 2014 under the title, 24: Live Another Day.

In order to be a true 24 completist, you also need to become acquainted with 24: Redemption, the 2008 TV-movie that aired after Season 6. When you binge-watch the series, you'll find it in Season 7's block of episodes.

Watch it on: Hulu

In 2015-2017's American Crime, Felicity Huffman and the series' other stars play a different role in each of the ABC anthology series' three seasons. "It's stark, harsh and sometimes difficult to watch," the Lincoln Journal Star's Jeff Korbelik wrote of the show. "It's also some of the best-made television, dramatizing real-life issues that are as eye-opening as a slap across the face."

Watch it on: Netflix

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won six Primetime Emmys as politico Selena Meyer in this blisteringly funny 2012-2019 look at Washington, D.C. "Veep is incomparable in comedy," IndieWire's Ben Travers wrote. "...[T]he HBO comedy has crafted a style so unique the series itself is entirely its own beast."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Hulu

In this acclaimed 2004-2011 series that produced seven seasons and nearly 100 episodes, Dennis Leary stars as a firefighter plagued by ghosts in a post-9/11 New York City. "Daring and raw, FX's Rescue Me takes astonishing risks," Hal Boedeker wrote in the Orlando Sentinel.

Watch it on: Hulu

Featuring Kumail Nanjiani, this HBO ensemble comedy about the ambitions and moral dilemmas of a start-up tech crew produced 53 of-the-moment episodes from 2014-2019. "It's a series that...finds power in juxtapositions, and crafts its satire easily by exposing the absurd in sharp relief to the ordinary," Collider's Allison Keene praised.

Watch it on: HBO Now

Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Doctor Who alum David Tennant star in this 2013-2017 British crime drama. There are just 24 episodes in all over three seasons, but what the series lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality. The Daily Beast's Jace Lacob praised Broadchurch as a "gorgeously realized and emotive thriller."

Watch it on: Netflix

This 2015-2017 Emmy-winning Netflix comedy from Aziz Ansari (who also stars) and Alan Yang is another show that's slight on quantity, but heavy on acclaim. Each of its two, 10-episode seasons boasts an identical Metascore of 91. "If Master of None isn't perfect," Vulture's Margaret Lyons raved, "it's awfully damn close."

In 2018, Ansari hit pause on his career -- and Master of None -- amid sexual-misconduct allegations. While Netflix has expressed interest in a third season, this is a show that's over...for now.

Watch it on: Netflix

This period drama, featuring Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens, ran for six addictive seasons from 2010-2015. "Downton Abbey...is this generation's Upstairs, Downstairs, both in theme -- the daily dramas of a titled British family and their many servants -- and in stature," praised the Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara.

It's your call as to whether to include the 2019 feature film, also titled Downton Abbey, in your binge-watch. Plot-wise, the movie picks up about a year after the events of the series (which concluded on its own terms). The film received mixed-to-average reviews from critics. The movie is currently only available to stream via rental or purchase.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a new iteration of Arthur Conan Doyle's famed detective in this artisanal batch of a series that produced 15 episodes over four seasons from 2010-2017. "Sherlock strikes a perfect -- and delicious -- balance among comedy, pathos, murder, and mystery," the Philadelphia Inquirer's Tirdad Derakhshani wrote.

Watch it on: Netflix

The first of two Timothy Olyphant-in-a-cowboy-hat dramas in this rundown, Justified ran on FX for six seasons from 2010-2015. Slant Magazine's Chuck Bowen called the series, based on an Elmore Leonard short story about a U.S. marshal, "the strongest, liveliest, and most tonally accurate adaptation of the writer's work to date..."

Watch it on: Hulu

This drama about the computer industry of the 1980s produced 40 episodes in a four-season run on AMC from 2014-2017. "Halt and Catch Fire succeeds by making its tech narrative not a dry history lesson, but rather a battle of wills between four very flawed, compelling characters...," praised the Atlantic's David Sims.

Watch it on: Netflix

One of the quintessential examples of prestige television, this stylish, novelistic 2007-2015 AMC series about the denizens of the ad world of the 1960s won four straight Primetime Emmys as Outstanding Drama Series. "[Mad Men] is full of sharp writing, ambiguous segues, effective surprises and the usual array of pitch-perfect performances," the Huffington Post's Maureen Ryan wrote.

Watch it on: Netflix

Michael Chiklis stars as a bad cop on this brutal, Los Angeles-set detective drama that ran for seven seasons on FX from 2002-2008. Per Time's James Poniewozik, The Shield distinguished itself by "creat[ing] a richly imagined world with continuing story lines, driven by L.A.'s roiling racial politics -- achieving a payoff far bigger than solving the murder of the week."

Watch it on: Hulu

In this HBO drama set in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the 1870s, Timothy Olyphant's cowboy hat is a nod to the time period. Writing in New Jersey's Star-Ledger, critic Matt Zoller Seitz hailed Deadwood as the "greatest dramatic series in the history of American television."

The 2019 made-for-TV movie, Deadwood: The Movie, starring Olyphant, is a continuation of the 2004-2006 series, and is an optional, but satisfying addition to your binge-watch.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now

(Note: Deadwood: The Movie is only available via Amazon Prime as a purchase.)

This Amazon Prime series about the trans community and other families ran for five, Emmy-winning, groundbreaking seasons from 2014-2019. Variety's Maureen Ryan praised Transparent's "nimble energy and its ability to hopscotch between sadness and silliness without missing a beat."

(And, yes, the fifth season consists of a single, 102-minute musical extravaganza, but it still counts as a season -- plus, as we mentioned, it's a musical extravaganza.)

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

This 2005-2009 Battlestar Galactica reboot ran for four seasons on Syfy (or, as it was known then: Sci Fi), and raised the game for a franchise that hadn't known much prior acclaim. "Galactica is so beautifully designed, shot, edited and acted that you can practically smell and taste its emotional validity," Diane Werts wrote for Newsday.

Watch it on: Syfy

Its final seasons divided critics and fans, but on the whole, HBO's 2011-2019 fantasy epic, featuring Emilia Clarke, was arguably the most talked-about series of its decade. The Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara praised the Emmy-winning Game of Thrones as "breathtaking, heartbreaking, awe-inspiring and addictive."

Watch it on: HBO Now

This 2011-2013 Laura Dern comedy-drama flew under the radar with HBO viewers, and lasted only two seasons. But according to critics, its 18 episodes are a collective gem. "The show is an absolute original," People's Tom Gliatto praised.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now

This Cold War-era spy drama about married, undercover Soviet agents (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) ran for six red-hot seasons on FX. The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley wrote that "every season gets more complicated, and is all the better for it."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

This messy, real Amazon Prime domestic comedy from creators and stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney produced 24 episodes over four seasons from 2015-2019. It also gave Carrie Fisher one of her final roles.

"Catastrophe," wrote the New York Times' James Poniewozik, "has the raw honesty of a mom on her second martini at a play date."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Phoebe Waller-Bridge became an Emmy-winning phenom via this small-batch, two-season Amazon Prime comedy about a woman trying to find her way in the big city of London, with extra praise for its second season. The Sioux City Journal's Bruce Miller said the 2016-2019 show contained moments that "should be in a textbook for comedy writers."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

Appropriately, David Lynch's fever dream of a mystery-crime series is not a straightforward binge-watch: You can count the 1990-1991, ABC seasons as one series, and the 2017 Showtime revival as a separate series (as TV Guide does). Or, you can consider the Showtime-era Twin Peaks as the series' third season (as Metacritic does).

Either way, you'll find good, Lynch-ian TV. "...[T]he best stuff easily reminded true blue fans -- and only true blue fans -- why they loved this so deeply to begin with," Verne Gay wrote for Newsday of the Showtime season.

Watch it on: CBS All Access, Hulu, Netflix (1990-1991 seasons); Showtime (2017 season)

While the NBC version of The Office is not on our list, Ricky Gervais' groundbreaking, 2001-2003 original represents for terrible bosses everywhere. The Boston Herald's Monica Collins wrote that the British series "makes you cringe in delight and heave with giggles when you see the absurdity of it all."

Watch it on: Hulu

Justin Theroux stars in this eerie 2014-2017 HBO drama about the people left behind after 2 percent of the world's population disappears. Newsday's Verne Gay called the series a "baffling, beautiful, maddening, provocative puzzle."

Watch it on: HBO Now

This 1999-2007 HBO mob drama is where Peak TV began. The Hollywood Reporter's Barry Garron called The Sopranos an "instant TV landmark because of its riveting stories, wonderfully drawn characters, superb acting and intelligent direction."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Hulu

This 2002-2008, Baltimore-set HBO crime drama introduced U.S. audiences to Idris Elba (who appears in the first three seasons), and gifted all viewers with what the San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman called "one hell of an artistic achievement."

Watch it on: Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Hulu

Back when laugh tracks ruled and TGIF sitcoms reigned, Garry Shandling revolutionized the TV comedy with his 1986-1990, fourth-wall-breaking Fox series, It's Garry Shandling's Show. Then he topped himself with The Larry Sanders Show, his 1992-1998 skewering of the late-night talk-show wars. Variety's Ray Richmond called the HBO series "a piece of small-screen art."

Watch it on: HBO Now

For 62 episodes and five seasons, Bryan Cranston mesmerized as anti-hero Walter White on the 2008-2013 AMC drama. The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum called Breaking Bad "a very strange kind of must-watch: a show that you dread and crave at the same time."

The 2019 follow-up film, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, with Aaron Paul reprising his role as Jesse Pinkman, is an optional, but worthy, addition to your binge-watch. "That this film can stand on its own, all while paying tribute to the show that helped birth it, is maybe the most impressive escape act of them all," IndieWire's Steve Greene wrote in praise of it.

Watch it on: Netflix (and, yup, it has El Camino, too)

At the top of our list is a show that could be your next great binge-watch discovery: This 2013-2016 drama about a former death-row inmate (Aden Young) aired for four, mostly under-the-radar seasons on SundanceTV. "Few shows are so grounded," wrote The Wrap's Tim Molloy. "And, if you have a little patience, few shows are so worth watching."

Watch it on: Netflix