The best TV shows on Binge (January 2021)
Foxtelâs drama streaming sidecar Binge has become the on-demand destination for some of the best, and most popular, TV shows in modern history. But with over 900 series to choose from, navigating the labyrinth of top-shelf telly can be a little overwhelming. Weâre hoping we can save you from the endless scroll with our monthly recommendations for the best TV shows streaming on Binge (you can find out top picks for movies here).
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High Maintenance
2012 – Present, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
4 | Comedy/Drama | 2012 | Stream it |
High Maintenance follows a Brooklyn-based weed dealer on his daily delivery route. Creator Ben Sinclair plays The Guy, an appropriately named character who serves only to frame disparate, standalone stories throughout each season. The dealer delivers the viewer to another customer who usually takes the episode from there, rarely revealing morsels of The Guy’s own personal life.
Each season is essentially a collection of short stories, only linked by their shared love of the Devil’s Lettuce. If you had to label it with a particular genre, my instinct would be to call it a comedy because there’s plenty of hearty chuckles to be had, but there’s also an ounce or two of sticky icky romance, drama and heart.
If you’re in need of some warm-and-fuzzies, give High Maintenance a good choof.
Bored to Death
2009 – 2011, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
3 | Comedy | 2009 | Stream it |
If you’re missing your weekly hit of Ted Danson now that The Good Place has wrapped up, you should give Bored to Death a shot. HBO’s Bored to Death only ever aired three seasons between 2009 and 2011, but it’s a tight three-season run that’s all killer and no filler.
Jason Schwartzman plays a sort of fantasy version of the show’s writer, novelist Jonathan Ames, who, true to the show’s title, finds himself bored and uninspired after discovering his girlfriend will break up with him. In an attempt to ignite his imagination, Jonathan posts a Craigslist ad claiming to be a private investigator and quickly gets a response for a gig shadowing a suspected cheater. Jonathan’s thrill-seeking detective work intersects with his personal and professional life as he finds himself too deep (and probably a little too high).
The MVP here is Ted Danson, who plays Jonathan’s wayward editor and proto father figure. Still, the show’s heart is the relationship between the three best friends. Zach Galifianakis rounds out the trio of buds as a comic book artist and Jonathan’s best bud, Ray Hueston.
Dave
2020, FX
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
1 | Comedy | 2020 | Stream it |
At the start of quarantine, quiet nights at home quickly became the worst setting possible for an intense TV drama, so I turned to comedy. I returned to a few of the classics; Curb, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Nathan For You, but I was desperate for something new. That’s about when I stumbled across Dave, a biopic series about comedy rapper Lil Dicky. Coming from the producers of Curb Your Enthusiasm, you can expect a fair deal of cringe comedy as a socially inept Lil Dicky claws his way through the world of American Hip Hop.
Dave isn’t shy of some good old fashioned gross out comedy, but I was surprised to find as much heart as I did digging further into its debut season. At times, the comedy takes a backseat to the fledgling love shared between a mismatched group of friends. Eventually, it leads to some real tearjerker moments before swerving quickly back into its musical comedy lane with surprisingly solid tunes like My Dick Sucks.Â
The Leftovers
2014 – 2017, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
1 | Sci-fi drama | 2019 | Stream it |
If you were left reeling after the Watchmen’s finale, you might be disappointed to know there are no solid plans with a second season. Showrunner Damon Lindelof cut his teeth on Lost, where he proved he wasn’t afraid to leave some questions unanswered (for better or worse). But none of Lindelof’s work will leave you with as many questions as The Leftovers. Not loose-end questions, that sort of manufactured intrigue that Lost was criticised for, questions you’re happy to explore and continue exploring long after the credits have rolled. We’re now three years from The Leftovers Season 3 finale, and it’s still a show I think about constantly.
I know a lot of people gave the first season a shot and dropped off after a few episodes, but I can’t recommend persevering enough. Season 2 and 3 go beyond the novel’s source material into some truly wild and fascinating places (including the Australian outback for the majority of Season 3).
If you never even took a crack at Season 1, the general gist is this:Â Three years after 3% of the world’s population disappears, the residents of small town Mapleton, New York are still grieving for the friends and family they lost in the ‘Departure’. It features historic performances from Justin Theroux, Ann Dowd, Amy Brenneman, and Christopher Eccleston as some of Mapleton’s most broken residents, but Carrie Coon is a revelation as Nora Durst, a government worker who lost more than most in the departure.
Watchmen
2018, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
1 | Sci-fi drama | 2019 | Stream it |
The famously âunadaptableâ graphic novel Watchmen was always going to be comfortable on the small screen. The politically-charged alternative history superhero epic is far too dense for a feature-length film. Iâm personally a big Snyder apologist, and I think his effort to cram such a complex narrative into a cinema-sized serving should be celebrated. But thereâs no doubt that it was always going to be better served as a TV series.
Still, Watchmenâs history with on-screen adaptations was enough fuel for a few nay-sayers to bet against the 2019 series before release. What we got, in the end, was not an adaptation of the same story, but rather a continuation, or sequel, set in a future that more closely resembled todayâs political climate. And to sweeten the deal, it was brought to life by Leftoversâ alumni Regina King (in the lead role as Sister Night), and creator Damon Lindelof.
While itâs not required reading, knowing the original Watchmen story will help you understand some of the show’s weirder elements. It wonât give you all the context you need, but you can catch the 2009 movie over on Netflix if you canât find a copy of the book.
Atlanta
2016 – present, FX
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
2 | Drama-comedy | 2016 | Stream it |
Only two seasons of Donald Gloverâs comedy-drama series of Atlanta are currently released but seasons three and four are already in the works, with both set to release in 2021. If youâre arriving late to this FX series, Atlanta follows Gloverâs Earn – a young university dropout trying to prove to his ex-girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz) that he can provide for her and their baby daughter, Lottie.
Earn reconnects with his cousin, Alfred, a rapper that goes by the name of Paper Boi, and quickly takes up the vacant position as the rising starâs manager. Thatâs the loose gist of it, anyway. Atlanta often detours into emotional, hilarious and absurd subplots, with occasional and unexplained departures from reality.
Atlantaâs Earn exists somewhere between Gloverâs bubbly Troy Barnes, and his musical persona Childish Gambino. If youâre a fan of either of those, pay Atlanta a visit.
Doom Patrol
2019 – present, DC Universe
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
2 | Sci-fi drama | 2019 | Stream it |
If DCâs TV show efforts havenât interested you so far, youâre not alone. Thereâs something about the soap-opera sheen on CWâs superhero shows that just doesnât gel with me. So I was wary when I first scouted Doom Patrol, DCâs original series for its own streaming service in America. But Doom Patrol is nothing like Arrow, or Flash. Itâs a more mature comic-book adaptation with a cracking sense of humour, and its multi-pronged character arcs arenât afraid to go to some dark places. It also has at least two of the most heartfelt scenes/episodes Iâve ever seen in a DC series or movie.
Itâs not Doom Patrolâs more mature themes that make it such an exceptional adaptation, itâs the superhero slant on the âfound familyâ trope and the tender handling of each charactersâ struggle and redemption. Oh, and Brendan Fraser. Brendan Fraser also makes it worth watching.
Succession
2018 – present, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
2 | Drama-comedy | 2018 | Stream it |
Dramas about rich people problems arenât typically my cup of tea, and there was nothing about Successionâs marketing that convinced me it wasnât just another Billions. But what I didnât realise until consuming both seasons over a single week was that Succession doesnât actually glorify the wealthy elite, rather tears them apart limb from limb with whip-smart satire and a healthy serving of schadenfreude.
Brian Cox is perfectly cast as a Super Saiyan-level bastard, Logan Roy; the Roy family patriarch and co-founder of a fictional media giant Waystar Royco that is maybe definitely based on Murdochâs media empire.
In my opinion, Succession is HBO’s best replacement for Game of Thrones. It has all the familial conflict and back-stabbing, but it’s much wittier.
Devs
2020, FX
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
1 | Sci-fi drama | 2020 | Stream it |
Very few writers and directors get an automatic pass when they bugger about with complex science fiction topics but Alex Garland is a creator that warrants season tickets, even when the science feels flimsy (see: Sunshine). Garlandâs track record of bringing fascinating sci-fi worlds to screen was topped with 2018âs Annihilation on Netflix (easily one of the best flicks on the service). So when Garlandâs television debut on FX was first announced, we started counting down the days, and we werenât disappointed with the results.
Devs takes place in a Google-ish tech campus run by a Mirror Universe Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) where a mystery project is taking place. When software engineer Lily Chanâs boyfriend Sergei ascends to DEVS godhood, the career opportunity seems like a dream come true. But Sergei doesnât return from his first day on the job, and Lilyâs quest for answers leads her down a rabbit hole as the true nature of DEVS reveals itself over the season.
Devs is a limited, single-season series, so thereâs no further commitment past whatâs currently available, making it the perfect weekend binge.
Chernobyl
2019, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
1 | Historical drama | 2019 | Stream it |
With no flesh-eating zombies, serial killers, or vampires involved, Chernobyl still manages to be the scariest TV show on this list. The fallout from the 1986 nuclear disaster in Pryp’yat’ is portrayed so graphically, your first instinct is to assume thereâs been some embellishment for the sake of drama – then you do your research and realise that itâs an almost entirely accurate retelling.
The impact of the accident can be hard to stomach at times, but the attempted cover-ups, sheer ignorance of the powers that be, and the buddy cop duo of Stellan SkarsgÄrd and Jared Harris make for a compelling drama.
Game of Thrones
2011 – 2019, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
8 | Fantasy drama | 2011 | Stream it |
Whatâs there to say about Game of Thrones that hasnât been said already. Itâs the most popular and most expensive drama in history, and if youâre reading this list, youâve probably already seen it. If the TV showâs divisive ending left a bad taste in your mouth, weâd recommend revisiting the showâs glory days (roughly seasons 1 to 4).
If the disappointment is too fresh, thereâs more to see in the Game of Thrones Binge Centre, a home for every season, plus behind the scenes docos, cast interviews and more.
What We Do in the Shadows
2019 – present, FX
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
2 | Fantasy comedy | 2019 | Stream it |
When the U.S., adapts a British, or in this case, Kiwi comedy, the results are often disastrous. We had zero faith in the TV adaptation of Taika Waititiâs What We Do in the Shadows but the end product is an utter delight. Thankfully, itâs Jemaine Clementâs hand at the tiller, and the leading vampires; Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, and Matt Berry; are lovable substitutes to the original cast.
Unlike a lot of U.S. adaptations, What We Do in the Shadows doesnât recycle the same jokes as the original, rather continues that joke with new and hilarious setups and punchlines.
The Sopranos
1999 – 2007, HBO
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
6 | Crime drama | 1999 | Stream it |
If The Sopranosâ near-unanimous praise hasnât been enough to get you tied up in Tonyâs troubled and twisted family crime-drama, then itâs time to pull out the gabagool (capicola) , whipped cream, Neapolitan ice cream and buckle up for a Bada Binge.
Every season of the HBO classic is now streaming on Binge.
The Walking Dead
2010 – present, FX
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
10 | Horror-drama | 2010 | Stream it |
Even though the ever-popular zombie apocalypse series has never been shy of killing off main characters, over the past few years, a large portion of the primary cast just up and left. But even after losing some of its most notable and interesting players, The Walking Dead just wonât die.
Now in its tenth season, The Walking Dead is still ambling along somewhere in Georgia, with a few OG survivors, and an army of faceless randoms ripe for the picking.
To be blunt, I dropped off a few seasons back when my favourite character met the business end of a baseball bat after a needlessly vague cliffhanger. But Iâll still go to bat for those earlier seasons, and the enduring popularity of the show years later speaks for itself.
For years, Foxtel was the only option for Australians when it came to streaming The Walking Dead but with the advent of Binge, thereâs a friendlier and more affordable option in town.
Castle Rock
2018 – present, Hulu
Seasons | Genre | First Aired | Watch on Binge |
2 | Thriller-mystery | 2018 | Stream it |
If youâve ever spent time in Stephen Kingâs fictional version of Maine, youâve probably heard of the mysterious town Castle Rock. Kingâs Castle Rock is a town with inseparable ties to tragedy, a place where bad luck permeates the lives of everyone living in it.
The Castle Rock TV series isnât based on any one Stephen King story, it’s a menacing medley of Kingâs characters and themes, repurposed to tell a new story each season.
Season 1, for example, revolves around a cover-up at the Shawshank Correctional Facility, where a young man is discovered, locked up for most of his adult life. The reason for his unlawful incarceration drives the first seasonâs mystery, implicating some notable characters from Kingâs literary works, such as Alan Pangborn, a police officer from Needful Things and The Dark Half, and the niece of Jack Torrance from The Shining. But the connections donât stop there, a lot of the casting has throwbacks to King adaptations too, such as ITâs Bill SkarsgĂ„rd (minus the Pennywise makeup), and Carrieâs Sissy Spacek.