Election Day is here, and there’s really only one escape from all of the network coverage about who will be the next president. Just turn on Netflix and let your mind relax with a handful of the streamer’s most binge-worthy series.
Everyone has their own favorite shows, but we’ve put together a list of the five great Netflix TV shows that you should stream this Election Day. And all five of them are among the biggest hits in the history of the streamer.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new shows to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best shows on Amazon Prime Video, the best shows on Max, and the best shows on Disney+.
Better Call Saul
Breaking Bad would have also been a good choice, but the prequel series, Better Call Saul, is in some ways narratively more fulfilling. The show reveals what happened to Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) after Breaking Bad, and then does something even more amazing. It makes you care about the man who became Saul, Jimmy McGill. At the start of the series, Jimmy is a mostly honest lawyer who is trying to make his older brother, Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), proud of him. He just tends to take some ethical shortcuts to get to his desired results.
Jimmy’s descent into darkness doesn’t happen overnight, and the show also explores the fall of Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) before diving into the rise of Breaking Bad‘s most feared villain, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). These stories blend together in an impressive way, and the show arguably surpassed the series that spawned it.
Watch Better Call Saul on Netflix.
Resident Alien
Meet Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk), the main character of Resident Alien who is not from around here. In fact, he’s not even a doctor or human at all. Harry is an alien who was sent to Earth with a singular purpose: to destroy humanity.
At first, he diligently works toward that goal. But the more time that Harry spends among people, the more he comes to care about humanity. That leaves Harry in the odd position of having to protect the people he was supposed to destroy from other alien threats… if he can.
Watch Resident Alien on Netflix.
Designated Survivor
When Kiefer Sutherland was headlining 24, he was the top action hero on TV. So think of Designated Survivor as a long overdue promotion! Tom Kirkland (Sutherland) held a minor position in the president’s cabinet until a terrorist attack wiped out almost everyone in the three branches of government.
As the “designated survivor,” it falls to Kirkland to assume the presidency and attempt to hold the nation together. He also has to find people he can trust to hunt down the terrorists and prevent the enemy from striking again.
Watch Designated Survivor on Netflix.
The Night Agent
Gabriel Basso became a star after headlining Netflix’s hit action thriller, The Night Agent. Despite the cool-sounding title, FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Basso) was essentially a glorified operator standing by a phone that wasn’t meant to ring. When a call finally came, it was from a cyber security expert, Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), a woman who is targeted for an assassination.
Peter saves Rose, and he’s the only one in the government that she trusts after learning that someone close to the president is a traitor. That leads both Peter and Rose on a deadly journey to unravel a conspiracy before they both wind up dead and buried.
Watch The Night Agent on Netflix.
Prison Break
Out of all the acquired shows that came to Netflix in 2024, Prison Break is by far the biggest hit, a mere 19 years after it premiered on Fox. Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is the mastermind behind the titular prison break, but first he has to get sent to the same prison where his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), is on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. Michael is a genius, and he figures out how to escape from the prison by having the blueprints tattooed over his entire body.
Yet not even Michael can pull off that stunt alone. He and Lincoln need to make friends and allies in prison, and fast. Lincoln’s execution date is coming up fast, and rogue government agents are chasing down the brothers’ allies outside of prison to prevent the truth about Lincoln’s alleged crime from ever being revealed. Believe it or not, most of that story was resolved in the first two seasons, before Prison Break expanded its scope. It’s a really fun and twisty ride, even during the show’s occasional ridiculous moments.
Watch Prison Break on Netflix.
