Netflix began as a DVD rental service, but it transformed the business when it started producing its own content. The company’s first original series was House of Cards, which served as its first major original offering. That success paved the way for many more originals to follow quickly. We have gathered together the shows that best represent Netflix, spanning from its first big hit through its current top offerings.
From DVD Rentals to Streaming Originals
Netflix went online and started producing, buying, and showing its own original series. This change altered the landscape permanently. Its most-watched shows have made it onto lists of the best TV ever made, and some of the very first ones it produced can still be watched back to back today.
A number of other streaming platforms moved fast after Netflix, building their own original projects and taking over entire genres. Apple TV, for example, puts a great deal of weight behind science fiction. Netflix, however, continues to rank among the top streaming services when it comes to original content. Instead of trying to find a particular niche, Netflix has centered on a certain mood, with many of its shows being highly bingeable, featuring recognizable faces, and built to last.
House of Cards: The First Big Hit
Netflix took a chance on House of Cards, adapting the British TV series for its own platform, and it turned out to be a smart move. The American version became the streaming service’s first original show, and it quickly proved that Netflix could compete with traditional networks when it came to high-quality drama.
Due to serious allegations against Kevin Spacey, the show has not aged well. Yet its effect on the platform remains considerable. It could be called Netflix’s answer to The Sopranos, a title that helped put the service on the map. House of Cards started slowly, depending on standout work from actors such as Robin Wright to carry entire stories through brief exchanges and quick shifts in expression. The political thriller theme remains timeless and still feels uncomfortably relevant today.
Stranger Things: The Nostalgic Juggernaut
The show Stranger Things was a key part of building what Netflix has become today. It began as a mystery with a feeling of old stories by Steven King, then grew into a story about the end of the world, and reached its peak with a final season where each episode carried a record-breaking cost of $50-60 million. That series is now among many Netflix originals that have become a name known around the world, and it continues to stand for the platform itself.
The main characters of Stranger Things are so well known that even those who have not watched the show can recognize them, and the series has shaped the careers of many of its actors, including Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, and Finn Wolfhard. It brought together several very popular themes—supernatural elements, 1980s nostalgia, and small-town horror—which produced a hit that went far beyond television. That success carried over into other media: a stage play, novels, comics, and almost every type of merchandise are now part of the franchise.
Bridgerton: A Period Drama Breakthrough
Shondaland partnered with Netflix to create a brand-new kind of historical drama, one that redefines the genre. It is an adaptation of Julia Quinn’s book series, and it has drawn in record numbers of viewers. Season 1 reached 82 million households in its first 28 days, making it the most-watched Netflix original series when it debuted in December 2020.
The platform isn’t always the most daring of places, often cutting short shows that seem strange yet promising. Still, Bridgerton showed that breaking the mold can succeed. It’s a visual masterpiece from setting to costumes, blending Recency-era Britain with a modern twist, paired with surprising new recordings of well-known pop songs. Its steamy love scenes have become infamous.
A secret society columnist watches over the lives and loves of the Bridgerton siblings and their friends, perhaps closer to home than many believe.
Orange Is the New Black: The Binge-Watching Model
Piper gets locked up in prison and has to figure out fast how life there works. That is the premise of Orange Is the New Black, an early hit for Netflix. The show plays as a soap opera on the surface, but it can also be read as Netflix’s take on The Wire. It looks at crime as something that stems from deeper social issues.
Orange Is the New Black is a groundbreaking Netflix show that changed how we watch TV, and it did so by assembling a highly diverse cast that opened up new casting approaches and sparked demand for more. The series was a cultural phenomenon, while House of Cards established that Netflix could produce prestige drama.
The show released complete seasons all at once, which set up the binge-watching model as a replacement for weekly viewing. Since then, Netflix has grown steadily, yet the women-focused prison drama remains among its best shows, still.
Love, Death & Robots: Animation as Art
The streaming service is best remembered for its bingeable dramas and supernatural-themed shows like Stranger Things, but the anthology Love, Death & Robots has carved out its own identity. Each episode varies wildly in length, theme, and animation style, with no two alike, and that unpredictability proved to be the show’s biggest asset.
The anthology format allowed Love, Death & Robots to build complete worlds within short running times, and some of its finest episodes stand alone as masterpieces. That success helped establish Netflix as a real competitor in animation. The show also served as a useful test for the streaming service’s technical capabilities, since Netflix streamed its episodes in different sequences to gauge how viewers reacted to various presentation methods.
The show’s depiction of its cyberpunk setting caused a cultural conversation, since viewers responded with their own personal experiences and opinions. Some of the episodes may not suit everyone’s tastes, yet the work’s extremely violent and frequently disturbing content serves as an excellent illustration of why animation is not always meant for young audiences.
The List
The full ranking is available at screenrant.com.
- House of Cards — the first original, a slow-burn political thriller
- Stranger Things — the nostalgic supernatural juggernaut
- Bridgerton — the period drama that broke records
- Orange Is the New Black — the binge-watching pioneer
- Love, Death & Robots — the animated anthology that proved animation could be art
| Show | Genre | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|
| House of Cards | Political thriller | First original, Kevin Spacey allegations |
| Stranger Things | Supernatural drama | Record-breaking final season budget |
| Bridgerton | Period drama | 82 million households in 28 days |
| Orange Is the New Black | Prison drama | Dropped full seasons at once |
| Love, Death & Robots | Anthology | Cyberpunk anthology, streamed in different orders |
What Defines Netflix Today
This list captures a specific point in time for the platform, running from its very first original all the way through its biggest hits. It serves as a reminder of just how much Netflix has grown since its days as a DVD rental service.
The entries on the list run across various tones and genres, including the grim politics of House of Cards, the nostalgic horror of Stranger Things, and the bold animation of Love, Death & Robots. This variety is one reason Netflix stands out as a streaming service.
These series featuring recognizable faces have stayed essential viewing over time, and the platform’s emphasis on bingeable shows has proved enduring. None of them show any sign of losing relevance.
See the video the story is built around at Screen Rant.
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