Category: Sports

‘What a songwriter!’

Last year, Bob Dylan celebrated the Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson turning 80 by singing him “Happy Birthday.” In a new Facebook post, Wilson shared how he met Dylan, and it’s as strange as you might expect.

According to Wilson, the two were both in the emergency room in Malibu when they recognized one another and ended up in conversation. They proceeded to make plans for the next day.

Here’s the full story:

“Once I was in the Malibu emergency room getting a weigh-in and this guy walked up to me. He had curly hair and was on the short side. ‘Are you Brian Wilson?’ he asked. ‘Yeah,’ I said.“ Hi,” he said. ‘I’m Bob Dylan.’ He was there because he had broken his thumb. We talked a little bit about nothing. I was a big fan of his lyrics, of course. ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ was one of the best songs, you know? And ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ and so many more. What a songwriter! I invited him over to my house for lunch the next day. That was a longer conversation. We just talked and talked about music. We talked about old songs we remembered, songs before rock and roll. We talked about ideas we had. Nice guy.”

Female rappers often get compared to each other, but Flo Milli doesn’t want anyone short-selling her career to put Ice Spice down.

It’s a kind of sad inevitability that rap fans will compare two female rappers to each other, usually in an effort to put one or the other down just as she begins to see success. It happened with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. It’s happened in turn to Coi Leray, Doja Cat, Latto, and Megan Thee Stallion. And now, it’s happening to two of rap’s biggest it-girls of the moment: Flo Milli and Ice Spice.

When a fan account noted Ice Spice being recognized by Billboard, some fans took the opportunity to try to let the wind out of Ice’s sails by negatively comparing her to Flo Milli. “i can give u 2 flo mili verses better than her entire discography,” wrote one spiteful commenter.

Flo Milli caught wind of the comparison and took steps to shut it down. “i wish yall would stop with this tired ass narrative yall love to push about my career,” she wrote. “and stop mentioning me while trying to degrade another artist its WEIRDDD. im doing great i went from being broke to traveling the world with my talent and im only 23.. pls RELAX.”

Plenty of Flo’s fans were quick to show their support, as well.

One thing is clear: The comparisons need to stop. There’s no accounting for taste, but underselling one rapper’s career in order to demean the other serves neither side.

Vic Mensa is the latest celebrity to launch a weed brand and he’s doing Chicago proud.

The west coast is spoiled when it comes to weed. Not only do we have some of the best brands on the market — California is still the capital of weed in the United States, that’s not up for debate — but even our celebrity brands are high quality. Seth Rogen’s Houseplant, Bella Thorne’s Forbidden Flowers, and Shavo Odadjian’s 22Red (also available in NV/AZ) are all legit top-shelf lines that can compete with the very best strains on the market. And while I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon, as more states and cities legalize recreational weed usage, brands nationwide are going to keep coming for California’s crown.

This brings us to the latest celebrity weed brand — Vic Mensa’s 93 Boyz. Right off the bat, here’s what I like about 93 Boyz: instead of relying on the star power of Mensa, the brand focuses on the fact that it’s the first black-owned cannabis brand in Chicago. The weed is Chicago-owned, Chicago grown, hand-trimmed, and makes reinvesting in the community core to the overall 93 Boyz mission.

The community-first branding isn’t lip service, either. 93 Boyz is made in partnership between Illinois growers Aerīz and Mensa’s nonprofit SAVEMONEYSAVELIFE, an Indigenous and Black-led organization that advocates for sustainable community change. 93 Boyz has committed to using portions of its profits to sponsor initiatives aimed at prison reform and equity in the cannabis space.

The products available from the brand include flowers, pre-rolls, and vape cartridges. To get a sense of what 93 Boyz has to offer, we sampled each form factor. Here are our thoughts, starting with my favorite of the trio.

Flower — Jealousy Thin Mints // Jet Fuel

THC: 28.35% // 32.59

Terpenes: b-Caryophyllene, Limonene, Humulene, Linalool // b-Caryophyllene, Mycene, Limonene, Humulene

Strain: Hybrid // Sativa

Tasting Notes and Effects:

Before we get into the flavors and the high, we need to talk about this packaging. I don’t like it. I’ll always take a glass jar over a thick zip lock bag, I find that it tends to keep the bud fresher, and stickier, and helps to retain the natural flavors.

Both my Jealousy Thin Mints and Jet Fuel strains lacked stickiness. Would a glass jar have stopped that from happening? We can’t say for sure, but I’m going to guess “yes,” considering I have weed that is from 2022 in my bedroom and it’s still sticky as f*ck.

Luckily, Jealousy Thin Mints and Jet Fuel still provided a lot of flavor and a strong high — at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

The Jealousy Thin Mints is a hybrid strain made from a crossbreed of, as you might’ve guessed, Jealousy and Thin Mint, two beloved strains, and the result is great. It’s sweet and tantalizing on the nose, smoking through my vaporizer I tasted hints of chocolate, lavender, mint, and pine.

After just a few hits, I felt a strong full body buzz as my eyelids got heavy, and feelings of euphoria rushed in. This is a great, feel-good strain, and while it’s incredibly relaxing, I never felt too tired to get up, manage tasks, and generally just change my environment to experience the high in new ways.

This is a stay-at-home high though — I couldn’t imagine myself out in the open while on this stuff, it’s too relaxing.

This brings me to the Jet Fuel, which offers the opposite experience. The strain is bred from Aspen OG and High Country Diesel and has that pungent skunky smell typical of Diesel strains. That experience transfers over to the taste as well, it’s earthy, citrusy, and a bit peppery but with a sweetness that balances out the harsher aspects.

The high had me hyperactive and euphoric, I wasn’t content with sitting around and taking in the experience so I threw some headphones on and went for a mid-afternoon walk. This was the best experience, I found myself fixated on the colors around me, particularly transfixed by blue sky and white clouds.

I probably looked insane walking around looking at the sky, but I was too in my own world to care. Unfortunately, this was followed by a very sluggish crash that had me pretty tuned out for the rest of the day. That could be easily remedied by smoking more though. Or maybe a solid nap.

The Bottom Line:

Both strains offer a pretty great experience. For flavor and relaxation, go with the Jealousy Thin Mints, if you’re looking to be high on the go, Jet Fuel is your herb. Just be careful with the latter’s crash.

Pre-Roll — Lotto

THC: 18.95%

Terpenes: Myrcene, Limonene, b-Caryophyllene, Humulene

Strain: Hybrid

Tasting Notes and Effects:

Starting off with the packaging, I wish the pre-rolls gave me more. All that was available on the label was the strain’s THC content, nothing about what type of strain I was smoking or the terpenes. Obviously, I was able to find this information, but it would be great if it was on the packaging.

93 Boyz pre-rolls come in .5 and 1.0-gram sizes, both form factors are pretty small. As a relatively heavy smoker, the pre-roll was good for a nice strong head change but it isn’t the type of thing I’d want to share with another smoker.

Lotto is a crossbreed of GG4 and Do-Si-Dos and sports a super skunky diesel smell. Luckily the taste is more citrusy than it is earthy and harsh, with a strong zesty finish that gave me a sneezing sensation. The high was a feel-good stress buster, strong enough to feel the buzz but light enough to keep me on my feet.

I can see myself smoking this tiny joint during a break between tasks.

The Bottom Line:

A nice strong steady high that results in a refreshing head change. A great option for those who want to get high but don’t want to be pushed into the psychedelic stratosphere.

Vape Cart — Super Donutz

THC: 81.18 (Total per cart)

Terpenes: b-Caryophyllene, Humulene, Limonene, Myrcene

Strain: Hybrid

Tasting Notes and Effects:

The 93 Boyz vape carts are pretty standard stuff, a mix of plastic and metal housing a thick distillate that fits into standard battery vape pens.

Super Donutz is a cross between Banana Creme Cake and Jealousy and that lineage results in sweetened top notes with a bright citrusy character, and a little bit of funk on the backend.

The high knocked me the f*ck out. After a single hit, a rush of euphoric feelings hit my senses, which had me supremely couch-locked. It’s the sort of high that makes you feel good to lie down and do nothing. So if that’s not your speed, be wary — there is no conquering that feeling for a few hours.

My suggestion would be that if you plan on doing anything while under the influence of Super Donutz, you get it prepared in advance. That includes getting your snacks, picking any movie or tv show you plan to watch ahead of time, or queuing up the right playlist.

The Bottom Line:

A highly euphoric experience that’ll make you content with laying around and doing nothing. Just don’t try to do anything else (unless you have a sturdier constitution than me). This is the sort of high that comes across like a mini vacation. Save it for your most stressful days when you need a respite from all the noise.

Find 93 Boyz products here.

The Big Takeaway:

93 Boyz isn’t just a celebrity-endorsed brand that tries to sell weed on a big name. It’s a passion project from Vic Mensa that reflects how much he cares for both the city he calls home and good quality herb.

93 Boyz is a brand exclusive to Illinois, shop the herb at a dispensary near you here.

The CNN anchor lectured detractors for living in an information ‘silo.’

Anderson Cooper is getting raked over the coals after mounting a defense of CNN for hosting a town hall with Donald Trump that has been widely criticized across the board. Even Fox News couldn’t believe what they saw as Trump not only spread lies but smeared E. Jean Carroll less than 24 hours after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming the author.

In Cooper’s defense, he started out by fully agreeing with the condemnation of Trump’s rhetoric.

“Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment,” Cooper said. “Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie, after lie, after lie. I get it. It was disturbing.”

However, things went south when Cooper chose to criticize detractors of the town hall event by accusing them of living in an information “silo.”

Via USA Today:

“The man you were so disturbed to see last night, that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president,” Cooper said. “You have every right to be outraged today, angry and never watch this network again, but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”

Cooper’s lecture did not go over well on social media where people were quick to point out on how fast the CNN anchor kicked his longtime friend Kathy Griffin to the curb after her infamous Trump photo sparked a controversy.

As for other Twitter users, they didn’t appreciate Cooper’s condescension and blasted the anchor for pretending like everyone doesn’t know what Donald Trump’s views are by now. The guy’s been running for president since 2015, and that’s not counting his threats to run so he could get a better Celebrity Apprentice contract.

(Via USA Today)

Janelle Monáe’s rollout for ‘The Age Of Pleasure’ has been turning fans’ heads with their NSFW antics

What Janelle Monáe is doing isn’t new. The singer, who has long been known for their campy style and high-concept songwriting, has been turning heads ahead of the release of her fourth studio album, Age Of Pleasure, which she announced earlier this week with the video for “Lipstick Lover.” In that video — and in many of her public appearances before its release, such as at the Met Gala — Janelle makes it a point to show off aspects of theirself many fans are just seeing for the first time.

Those aspects include her physical attributes, yes — she most recently flashed a crowd during the video release party for “Lipstick Lover” — but they’ve also included her unabashed approach to sexuality. In the “Lipstick Lover” video she not only flaunts her gorgeous features, but also displays a downright impressive collection of sex toys (the use of which she “demonstrates” toward the end of the video), and what appears to be a feet kink, eating chocolate cake out of a high heeled woman’s shoe.

Fans on Twitter have been flabbergasted; the best example being the viral tweet that compared her ArchAndroid-era bichromatic suits to the Monopoly mascot, Rich Uncle Pennybags. However, those fans probably just haven’t been paying attention. Janelle Monáe has always centered her sexuality in her music. Her “titties out for the next 15 years” Twitter declaration isn’t a symbol of her sexual awakening; instead, it’s a wake-up call to the audience and a gesture of defiance at what’s been happening in the news lately.

Not to get you down or anything, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed: A lot of people are under direct attack by the political system in this country. Regressive politicians and pundits are lashing out at women, Black folks, and queer people for the past five years, in many cases with the full weight of the government behind them. These monsters are trying to legislate whole segments of the population out of existence; those they don’t want to wipe out, they definitely want to see singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” in the cotton fields again.

And with the next election cycle a year away and the legal options looking bleak, there’s been little recourse for those targeted but to get a little louder every day — a little less abashed, a little more aggressive, and a lot more visible, in spite of the hatred radiating their way from nearly every side. The only real way to fight propaganda is with information. So, if Fox News wants to paint trans and queer people as a threat to the American way of life, then those people’s weapon to fight back is to show America they’re just folks like the rest of us.

The same goes for Black people. If state representatives are going to rally against “wokeness” — a dogwhistle for Black people just showing up and refusing to assimilate to whiteness — then the antidote is more representation, not less. And women, whose sexual health is being restricted by the so-called “small government” party, must indulge their desires as much as they can while they still can. If so-called “conservatives” are so threatened by women’s sexual freedom, then women owe it to themselves to enjoy menacing those concern trolls right out of existence.

Janelle Monáe has been doing these things her whole career. If fans are just catching on, it’s their own fault for just scratching the surface and not engaging because of her androgynous, early-career style. Their politics have always been right there in the music, even if they were veiled by the grand metaphor of her “Cindi Mayweather/Electric Lady/ArchAndroid” persona and storytelling. The whole point of Cindi Mayweather as a messianic figure is that she defies the oppressive oligarchy that wishes to suppress freedom and love with the power of time travel. Sound familiar?

Even on her most recent album, 2018’s Dirty Computer, she made clear references to her sexuality and her pleasure in defiance of the autocratic regime. “Pynk” was a song specifically about pussy power, while “Django Jane” evokes Quentin Tarantino’s antebellum revenge film as Monáe declares feminine supremacy. “Remember when they used to say I look too mannish / Black girl magic, y’all can’t stand it / Y’all can’t ban it, made out like a bandit / They been tryin’ hard just to make us all vanish / I suggest they put a flag on a whole ‘nother planet.”

And yes, in this time, she was already beginning to shed the guise of the Android — a guise fans disrespect a little too much with flippant jokes about her dressing like Fonzworth Bentley. She dressed this way to honor her blue-collar family; in her mind, the black-and-white was a uniform that celebrated their uniforms as they went to work cleaning homes and delivering mail. Even then, she was telling us who she was; it’s not a reach to see the bichromatic outfits reflecting her bisexuality and non-binary status.

But now, she doesn’t get to have the luxury of metaphors or double entendres. The situation has become more dire than ever. So now, she’s taken off the pretexts as well as the clothing. She’s still presenting herself as the martyr and messiah, fighting back by being louder, bolder, and brighter than the hatred and those who’d rather see her silent and diminished. That’s not new either. It’s the story of America, of being Black, of being queer, of being non-binary, and always fighting to be seen, to be heard, and to not just survive in a hostile world but thrive.

The visual is the first one from the singer’s new EP, ‘Live At Electric Lady.’

Clairo has fully resurfaced, which could only mean one thing — indie pop is healing. The singer lent her talents to Beabadoobee, appearing on the track “Glue Song” and even released a song, “For Now,” to raise funds for non-profit organizations, For The Gworls and Everytown. However, not the musician is making her first on-camera sighting in a while.

With her live performance EP Live at Electric Lady now available across streaming platforms, Clairo shared the official visual for the single, “Amoeba.” The track was originally featured on the musician’s 2021 album Sling, along with several of the other tracks, including “Blouse,” “Partridge,” and “Zinnias.” The project’s remaining track, “Bags” was first featured on Clairo’s 2019 album Immunity.

Produced by Jack Antonoff (who’s also listed as a co-writer), on “Amoeba,” Clairo examines the lack of balance between her relationship with fame and her family as she sings, “Aren’t you glad that you reside in a Hell and in disguise? / Nobody yet everything, a pool to shed your memory / Could you say you even tried? / You haven’t called your family twice / I can hope tonight goes diffеrently / But I show up to the party just to leavе.”

The live in-studio performance directed and edited by Andy Madeleine puts those conflicting emotions on full display. In a statement, Clairo spoke about her new EP, saying, “I’m extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to perform at Electric Lady. A huge thank you to everyone involved!”

Watch the full video above.

Live At Electric Lady is out now via Fader/Republic. Find more information here.

The best Netflix Original slate is stacked. Like Rian Johnson whodunnits and Charlize Theron sci-fi epics, stacked.

Netflix’s content library is filled with blockbusters and indie darlings, but a good amount of those come courtesy of the streamer itself. Netflix’s original films are stacked with sci-fi action epics and sports comedies, and Oscar-winning aueteur entries. So, to whittle down the smorgasbord of choices, we’ve rounded up the best Netflix feature-length creations that deserve to be added to your queue.

You can see the full list of the best original movies on Netflix below:

Last updated on May 12, 2023.

25. The Luckiest Girl Alive

Year: 2022
Cast: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton, Scoot McNairy
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Rating: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Mike Barker
Trailer: Watch here

None of us are who we were in high school, but that’s especially true for Ani Fanelli, a New York City journalist on the cusp of having it all. Mila Kunis plays Ani as tough, street-smart, and a bit of a black sheep amongst the Manhattan elite whose circles she now navigates while trying to keep a lock on her troubled and violent past. But, when a documentary crew comes knocking, hoping to get Ani’s take on an infamous school shooting incident that she survived during her teenage years, old ghosts rise to the surface, threatening her carefully cultivated persona in ways she could never expect.

Watch it on Netflix

24. Luther: The Fallen Sun

Year: 2023
Cast: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 129 minutes
Director: Jamie Payne
Trailer: Watch here

Idris Elba returns as the brilliant but troubled copper, John Luther, in this thrilling mystery from Netflix. Would it help to know Luther’s disgraced-detective origins via the BBC drama? Sure. But just jumping straight into this cat-and-mouse game between the on-the-run anti-hero and Andy Serkis’ twisted serial killer might also be a hell of a lot of fun.

Watch it on Netflix

23. Set It Up

Year: 2018
Cast: Glen Powell, Zoey Deutch
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Claire Scanlon
Trailer: Watch here

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell star in this office rom-com with a bit of a twist. Instead of the two young co-stars falling in love, it’s Deutch and Powell who try to set up their overbearing, workaholic bosses with each other so that they can get a break from their demanding jobs. Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs play the employers from hell, and Deutch and Powell put themselves through the paces to make the pair fall in love, and to make us laugh. It’s superficial, it’s cute, and it’s proof that Glen Powell has always been charming.

Watch it on Netflix

22. Eurovision Song Contest: A Song of Ice and Fire

Year: 2020
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Will Ferrell, Dan Stevens
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 123 minutes
Director: David Dobkin
Trailer: Watch here

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams take on the planet’s most-watched singing competition with this campy comedy about an Icelandic duo named Fire Saga, who are set on achieving glory on the world’s biggest stage. Ferrell and McAdams play Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, artists chosen to represent their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, a real competition that features musicians from all over the world, who are often performing in wild get-ups. Dan Stevens almost steals the show while Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato make appearances. We’re calling it now: “Volcano Man” is going to be a bop for the ages.

Watch it on Netflix

21. White Noise

Year: 2022
Cast: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 136 minutes
Director: Noah Baumbach
Trailer: Watch here

Director Noah Baumbach partners (again) with Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver to adapt a work of fiction many said could never translate on screen. Based on a 1985 novel of the same name, this Netflix film follows a blended family living in ’80s-era Ohio whose lives are upended when a contamination event throws everything into chaos. Driver plays a meek, uninspired professor name Jack, Gerwig his neurotic, death-obsessed wife named Babette. The two share a fear of dying that’s only exacerbated when a train accident causes a cloud of chemical waste to envelop their small town. It’s absurdist comedy with heart and a surprisingly fun dance number at the end.

Watch it on Netflix

20. The Wonder

Year: 2022
Cast: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kila Lord Cassidy
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 108 minutes
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Trailer: Watch here

Florence Pugh delivers a devastating-yet-subtle performance in this period drama that deep dives into the superstition and oppression that surrounds religion in a small hamlet in the Irish Midlands. Pugh plays Lib, a young nurse with a dark past who’s hired to investigate whether a young girl who claims to be touched by God is a miracle or a fraud. It’s a tense, slow-plotting thriller, one that gives Pugh ample space to show off her skills amidst a gorgeous backdrop of rainy, rolling hills.

Watch it on Netflix

19. Do Revenge

Year: 2022
Cast: Maya Hawke, Camila Mendes, Austin Abrams
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Trailer: Watch here

Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes star in this teen comedy filled with cheeky winks to the genre’s early aughts classics. Mendes plays Drea, a popular student at an elite private school whose reputation is trashed after her boyfriend (Euphoria’s Austin Abrams) leaks an intimate video of her. She seeks revenge and enlists the help of the school’s new girl Eleanor (Hawke) who undergoes a makeover to infiltrate the popular clique Drea once belonged to and destroy them from the inside. Come for the “Glenn-ergy” of it all, stay for the plot twist near the film’s end.

Watch it on Netflix

18. Matilda The Musical

Year: 2022
Cast: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: PG
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Matthew Warchus
Trailer: Watch here

An adaptation of a Tony Award-winning musical, itself an adaptation of a Roald Dahl children’s book, this exquisitely-directed adventure is one of the best Netflix has delivered in quite a while. Most of that is thanks to the choreography, the music, and the dizzyingly-colorful sets, but newcomer Alisha Weir does excellent work as Matilda, a young, misunderstood girl with brains and gumption and parents who fail her time and time again. Emma Thompson is deliciously evil as Miss Trunchbull, and Lashana Lynch proves she’s an on-screen chameleon, following up her Woman King role with a heartbreaking, inspiring turn as Ms. Honey (the teacher we all wish we’d had).

Watch it on Netflix

17. Longest Third Date

Year: 2023
Cast: Khani Le, Matt Robertson
Genre: Documentary
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 83 minutes
Director: Brent Hodge
Trailer: Watch here

A strange, surprisingly compelling time capsule of a film, this doc chronicles the quick-moving relationship of Matt and Khani who match on Hinge and enjoy a whirlwind romance that’s interrupted in the unluckiest of ways when the Covid pandemic hits. What do you do when you’re stuck in a foreign country with a person you just met thanks to a worldwide shutdown that cuts you off from family, friends, and any sense of civilization? It’s a question we’ll thankfully never have to answer, but there’s a weird sense of entertainment and hope in watching these two figure it out.

Watch it on Netflix

16. The Platform

Year: 2019
Cast: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 94 minutes
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Trailer: Watch here

This Spanish-language sci-fi flick is all kinds of f*cked up, but in the best way. The film is set in a large, tower-style “Vertical Self-Management Center” where the residents, who are periodically switched at random between floors, are fed by a platform, initially filled with food, that gradually descends through the levels. Conflicts arise when inmates at the top begin eating all the food, leaving the people lower down to fight for survival.

Watch it on Netflix

15. You People

Year: 2023
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Jonah Hill, Lauren London
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Kenya Barris
Trailer: Watch here

Kenya Barris tells another story focusing on interracial dynamics, this time with the help of a roster of comedic powerhouses. Jonah Hill plays Ezra, a young executive struggling to make a career change. He meets Amira by happy accident, but blending their Jewish and Black families prove difficult when Ezra fails to impress Amira’s father (Eddie Murphy) and Amira points out some issues of performative woke-ism in Ezra’s parents (Julia Louis Dreyfus and David Duchovny).

Watch it on Netflix

14. The Devil All The Time

Year: 2020
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan,
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 138 minutes
Director: Antonio Campos
Trailer: Watch here

This time-hopping drama set in the backwoods of West Virginia is basically an excuse for director Antonio Campos to assemble his own Avengers-style squad of Hollywood A-listers. Seriously, everyone’s in this movie: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Haley Bennett, that kid who played Dudley in the Harry Potter franchise. The whole gang’s living in shacks and picking up hitchhikers, only to murder them later and speaking in tongues and falling victim to generational trauma. It’s a heavy watch, and there’s not really a happy ending, but boy does Pattinson deliver a batsh*t crazy turn as a perverted preacher.

Watch it on Netflix

13. Hunger

Year: 2023
Cast: Nopachai Chaiyanam, Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 146 minutes
Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
Trailer: Watch here

Thai filmmaker Sitisiri Mongkolsiri gives us his version of The Menu with this deliciously tense, inexplicably-eerie restaurant thriller. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying plays Ayo, a young woman working at her family’s noodle shop who dreams of more. She gets it after scoring a job with a dictator-like food auteur in Nopachai Chaiyanam’s Chef Paul. Paul is uncompromising and abusive and Ayo subjects herself to that abuse in order to climb an imaginary ladder but, once she reaches the top, the view looks grim.

Watch it on Netflix

12. Okja

Year: 2017
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 120 minutes
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Trailer: Watch here

Bong Joon-Ho’s send-up of corporate farming and environmental abuses isn’t subtle. Tilda Swinton goes all-out as the CEO of an evil corporation only to be outdone by Jake Gyllenhaal’s broad turn as an unstable TV host. But its tale of an endearing, genetically modified “super pig” and the girl who loves him is effective and contains both some terrific action set pieces and the most affecting child/strange beast relationship this side of E.T.

Watch it on Netflix

11. Hustle

Year: 2022
Cast: Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Juancho Hernangómez
Genre: Sports, Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
Trailer: Watch here

Adam Sandler has plenty of comedy favorites housed on Netflix, but we’re highlighting this one because Sandler gets to channel his everyman charm in a sports story that lets his comedic sensibilities control the game. He plays Stanley Sugerman, an aging 76ers scout, who discovers a potential NBA star during a pick-up game in Spain. Stanley risks his career and his family’s future to back the unknown player, eventually squaring off against his old boss and confronting his own troubled past to help someone else achieve their dreams on the court.

Watch it on Netflix

10. The King

Year: 2021
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Robert Pattinson
Genre: Historical, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 140 minutes
Director: Joel Edgerton
Trailer: Watch here

Timothee Chalamet is everywhere right now so really, are you that surprised he’s playing a boyish, rebellious King Henry V in this big-budget Shakespeare adaptation from Joel Edgerton? Chalamet and his bowl-cut bring Hal to life, the wayward prince forced to assume the throne after his father’s death. Hal has to grow up quickly to lead his men into battle against a bloodthirsty French foe (Robert Pattinson having too much fun with his overdramatic accent) and preserve England’s reign. It’s all medieval warfare and political intrigue and it’s held up by Chalamet who stands out — even amongst a stellar supporting cast.

Watch it on Netflix

9. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Year: 2020
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis, Toni Collette
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 134 minutes
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Trailer: Watch here

Charlie Kaufman’s latest film is based on a book of the same name and stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley as a young woman meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time — which normally would be a happy event except she’s secretly been planning to break up the with the guy. That guy is Jesse Plemons, who seems to be in everything these days, and along with Toni Collette and David Thewlis who play his parents, they make for hellish dinner mates. There’s a sinister vibe permeating everything about this straightforward plot so if you think you know how this ends, let us be the first to tell you: You don’t have a clue.

Watch it on Netflix

8. Bo Burnham: Inside

Year: 2021
Cast: Bo Burnham
Genre: Comedy, Music
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Bo Burnham
Trailer: Watch here

Bo Burnham distills our collective quarantined experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, directing, starring in, composing, and editing this bleak-yet-hilarious bit of performance art that might be the most exciting, inventive thing we’ve seen yet. Is it a movie, a stand-up routine, or a comedy special? We really don’t know, but it’s damn funny so we’re putting it on this list. The self-deprecating humor and catchy tunes are here of course, but Burnham goes darker, crafting complete bangers about everything from the white savior complex to cancel culture, toxic masculinity, depression, and global economic inequality.

Watch it on Netflix

7. Triple Frontier

Year: 2019
Cast: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Pedro Pascal, Charlie Hunnam
Genre: Action, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 125 minutes
Director: J.C. Chandor
Trailer: Watch here

This Netflix original heist thriller stars a whos-who of Hollywood hunks. Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal play a group of former special ops bros who reunite to take down an infamous cartel kingpin and steal his profits in the process. Isaac and Affleck look to be the leaders of the team, two men fed up with risking their necks for a country that doesn’t look after them once they’re back on home soil, and Isaac’s A Most Violent Year director J.C. Chandor is at the helm, which means a couple of plot twists and some high stakes action are in store.

Watch it on Netflix

6. Da 5 Bloods

Year: 2020
Cast: Delroy Lindo, Chadwick Boseman, Jonathan Majors
Genre: War, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 154 minutes
Director: Spike Lee
Trailer: Watch here

Any Spike Lee joint is worth a watch, but this genre-bending thriller about a group of black Vietnam War vets returning to the battlefield decades later feels especially timely. That’s because Lee manages to shed light on a little-known part of our shared history: the way our country treated Black soldiers returning from the war, but he also raises the stakes with a subplot that includes a buried treasure hunt and a heartwrenching mission to retrieve the remains of a fallen comrade. The cast, which includes Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman in one of his final roles, is brilliant, the story is gripping, and the direction is top notch.

Watch it on Netflix

5. Pamela: A Love Story

Year: 2023
Cast: Pamela Anderson
Genre: Documentary
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 112 minutes
Director: Ryan White
Trailer: Watch here

After decades of having her image stolen, twisted, and used for others’ gain — most recently in the critically-acclaimed Hulu series Pam & Tommy — Pamela Anderson is finally defining her legacy on her terms. The result is this brief but powerful documentary that rehashes painful plot points in the star’s life — some we already know and some we don’t — but through Pam’s eyes. She’s brutally candid and bravely vulnerable throughout it all, whether it’s visiting past diary entries on her boxes of legal pads or recounting childhood abuse. Whoever you thought Pamela Anderson was, this doc will likely prove you wrong.

Watch it on Netflix

4. Roma

Year: 2018
Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 135 minutes
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Trailer: Watch here

Academy Award-winning writer/director Alfonso Cuaron delivers what may be his most personal film to date. The stunningly-shot black-and-white film is an ode to Cuaron’s childhood and a love letter to the women who raised him. Following the journey of a domestic worker in 1970s Mexico City named Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), the movie interweaves tales of personal tragedy and triumph amidst a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest.

Watch it on Netflix

3. Glass Onion

Year: 2022
Cast: Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista, Edward Norton
Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Crime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 140 minutes
Director: Rian Johnson
Trailer: Watch here

Rian Johnson delivers a deliriously fun follow-up to his breakout 2019 murder mystery with Daniel Craig returning to play famed detective Benoit Blanc. This time around, Blanc, equipped with a colorful new wardrobe and his same slow, Southern drawl, heads to Greece to investigate a murder amongst a group of friends reuniting for an island holiday. Most of the culprits are out-of-touch elites — to the nth degree — with stars like Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Edward Norton playing supermodels, Twitch streamers, politicians, and tech moguls who are as ridiculous as they are corrupt.

Watch it on Netflix

2. The Irishman

Year: 2019
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
Genre: Biography, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 209 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Trailer: Watch here

Martin Scorsese delivers another cinematic triumph, this time for Netflix and with the help of some familiar faces. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up (again) for this crime drama mostly based on a true story. De Niro plays Frank Sheeran a World War II vet who finds work as a hitman for the mob. Pacino plays notorious Teamster Jimmy Hoffa, a man who frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and the criminals he worked with. The film charts the pair’s partnership over the years while injecting some historical milestones for context. It’s heavy and impressively cast and everything you’d expect a Scorsese passion project to be, with some interesting de-aging CGI that does its best to show the scope of Scorsese’s storytelling.

Watch it on Netflix

1. All Quiet on the Western Front

Year: 2022
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch
Genre: War, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 148 minutes
Director: Edward Berger
Trailer: Watch here

Sometimes the best argument against war is to show it fully, in all its brutality and heartbreak, and inevitable devastation. That’s what this film does well, following the story of a young, idealistic German boy who enlists to serve his country during World War I — and its nine Oscar nominations are proof of that. Instead of finding glory and honor on the battlefield, he and his friends witness unimaginable horrors while struggling to survive in a wasteland created by man’s greed and insatiable appetite for violence.

Watch it on Netflix

Netflix’s stake in the Original TV game continues to be unrivaled on streaming. Here are the 35 best selections ready for the binging.

Netflix changed the game when they shifted from mailing something called “DVDs” to sending the shows straight to our TV back in 2007. They changed it again when they made it clear that they weren’t content to stream other production companies’ movies and TV series — aiming a moonshot at making their own original programming in the hopes that they’d become a dominant studio as well as the spot where you can binge old episodes of Frasier. Make their mark, they did. Within only a few years, they became a powerhouse of original programming, due to a massive budget and the ability to say yes to some unusual ideas that became top Netflix series.

Here are the 35 best original series on Netflix you can watch right now.

Last updated on May 12, 2023.

35. In From The Cold

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Margarita Levieva, Cillian O’Sullivan, Lydia Fleming, Charles Brice, Alyona Khmelnitskaya, and Stasya Miloslavskaya
Genre:Action Thriller, Conspiracy, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 8 episodes
Created By: Adam Glass
Trailer: Watch here

As you might guess from the le Carre-evoking title, this spy story cares as much about the human pawns as it does the labyrinthine plot. Jenny Franklin has a ton on her plate: she’s newly divorced, has to chaperone her daughter and a bunch of teens on an international trip, and the CIA thinks she’s the legendary Soviet spy nicknamed “The Whisper.” That last part is true, which is good for her because the CIA was going to kill her if she wasn’t. Instead, they offer her an outstanding deal to either help them track down a new assassin or face life behind thick, thick bars. Jenny aka Anya aka The Whisper has little choice but to help them out, but her past quickly catches up with her, complicating her new mission and threatening to end the life she’s built outside of her spy craft. As a bonus, there’s a sci-fi bent that adds a dash of fun to the heart-pounding action.

Watch it on Netflix

34. Outer Banks

Year: 2020-present
Cast: Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, Rudy Pankow, Drew Starkey, Austin North, and Charles Esten
Genre: Teen Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Adventure
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-2: 20 episodes
Created By: Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, Shannon Burke
Trailer: Watch here

This is a special show because it’s based on…nothing. It’s an original series that throws the genre kitchen sink at a group of teens (naturally played by actors in their 20s). Set in the tourist town in North Carolina, it features the typical rivalry between the slobs and the snobs that’s interrupted and intensified by the discovery of a massive hidden treasure. Finding the treasure may also solve the mystery of what happened to the scruffy diamond in the rough John B.’s long-lost dad. It’s a stirring teen drama even before it swan dives into the murky waters and high stakes. It’s also A+ guilty pleasure material that evokes Riverdale without going Full Riverdale.

Watch it on Netflix

33. That ’90s Show

Year: 2023
Cast: Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, Reyn Doi, Sam Morelos, Maxwell Acee Donovan, Laura Prepon, Andrea Anders, and Wilmer Valderrama
Genre: Comedy, Sitcom
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Lindsey Turner, Gregg Mettler
Trailer: Watch here

Somehow, the team behind That ’70s Show has captured lightning in a bottle again, reforging their feel-good, trippy sitcom vibes where teenagers do their best thinking while getting high in the basement. It’s a fun cast who all play ball, anchored by the twin souls of the series, Red and Kitty Forman. The classic pairing of crusty-yet-lovable and lovable-squared works brilliantly here, with the comedy veterans in fine form (and slightly updated because they’re dealing with an unruly grandkid instead of an unruly kid). Prepon and Valderrama clearly loved doing the show, and it has drop-ins from Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and Tommy Chong to fully capitalize on the nostalgia of the original. Somehow a show made in the 1990s about the 1970s has been successfully followed-up by a show made in the 2020s about the 1990s, which also lands That ’90s Show squarely in the horror genre for reminding Millennials how old they are. Stay tuned for That 2020s Show premiering January 2043.

Watch it on Netflix

32. Big Mouth

Year: 2017-present
Cast: Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, and Jordan Peele
Genre:Adult Animation, Comedy, Coming-of-Age
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-6: 61 episodes
Created By: Andrew Goldberg, Nick Krolll, Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett
Trailer: Watch here

Nick Birch and Andrew Glouberman are having a tough enough time navigating 7th grade without the comically horny hormone monsters that live on their shoulders shouting at them to do the most depraved stuff they can dream up. This series is a hilarious ride through puberty’s highs and lows, making huge laughs out of the most awkward time of everyone’s lives. Kroll does heavy lifting by voicing a dozen or so characters, with the rest of the cast a who’s who of comic all-stars. But it’s the absurdist bent that sets it apart from other animated shows about vulgar kids, dropping ridiculous, fantastical manifestations in front of the pre-teens, like the ghost of Duke Ellington and a talking Adderall pill. The kids get “advice” from all kinds of sources, and it’s always ridiculously funny.

Watch it on Netflix

31. The Diplomat

Year: 2023 –
Cast: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Rory Kinnear, Ali Ahn
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (8 episodes)
Created By: Debora Cahn
Trailer: Watch here

The Diplomat: Keri Russell isn’t quite an anxiety-provoking spy in this series, but this show does call back her old FX stomping grounds. Here, Russell portrays a career-consumed diplomat who’s also struggling to maintain a complicated marriage. Spy or not, this show still sits squarely within the same meat-and-potatoes, mainstream-appealing arena as the similarly-toned The Night Agent, so expect the binging to happen, along with the nostalgia associated with seeing Russell back on TV.

Watch it on Netflix

30. The Umbrella Academy

Year: 2019-present
Cast: Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castañeda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher
Genre: Action, Drama, Superhero, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Steve Blackman
Trailer: Watch here

The adaptation of the bombastic comic book from Gerard Way (yes, the dude from My Chemical Romance) and Gabriel Ba continues to unfold in bizarre and fantastical ways. It features a dysfunctional team of supers who were all born of a confounding event wherein 43 women all gave birth at the same time on the same day even though none of them were pregnant. What’s the right response? If you’re eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, you adopt a bunch and see what weird powers emerge. It often follows traditional superhero storytelling with villains, fights, and the combination of cool powers, but it’s consistently transgressive in vibrant, colorful divergences from the tropes that have been burned into our brains by Marvel.

Watch it on Netflix

29. Godless

Year: 2017
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kim Coates, Sam Waterston, Jeff Daniels
Genre: Western, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 7 episodes
Created By: Scott Frank
Trailer: Watch here

We’re in a bit of a Western resurgence, and Godless is a major part of dusting off the old tropes. Released the same year as Frank’s Logan (or Western Wolverine), it takes the genre seriously even as it slyly reinvents the wagon wheel. O’Connell plays an outlaw on the run from his crime lord after stealing his loot, taking refuge in a town populated almost entirely by women following the horrific collapse of a mine that killed all the men. Life is nasty, brutish, and short, and now they’ve got a fugitive from a revenge-hungry bastard heading right for them. Every character could be described as not taking no guff from no one, and everyone in this murderer’s row cast understood the assignment. A stellar series where the premise is simple so that everything else can be complicated.

Watch it on Netflix

28. The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance (RIP)

Year: 2019
Cast: Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jason Isaacs, Simon Pegg, Benedict Wong, Mark Hamill
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews
Trailer: Watch here

Gone too soon, but nowhere near forgotten, the prequel to the Jim Henson movie that scarred every ’80s kid permanently was a triumph of puppetry and fantasy storytelling that was too excellent to survive the streaming jungles. The imagery of the planet Thra is astonishingly beautiful, and that world is filled with an imaginative journey offering us the origin of a conflict between the cruel and corrupt ruling Skesis and the other entities living under their thumb. Whereas the iconic first film was about fulfilling a prophecy, Age of Resistance is about a population waking up to the truth about the ruthlessness of those in power. Plus, that cast list is only about half of the notable names breathing life into these characters, and hearing Mark Hamill’s raspy take on skekTek is a true joy.

Watch it on Netflix

27. The Night Agent

Year: 2023
Cast: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Sarah Desjardins, Eve Harlow, Phoenix Raei, Enrique Murciano, D.B. Woodside, and Hong Chau
Genre:Action Thriller, Spy, Conspiracy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Shawn Ryan
Trailer: Watch here

This twisty action show shoots straight as an arrow with its concept and its execution. It’s not trying to reinvent the thriller wheel, focused instead on making the chases, fist fights, and gun play as intense as possible while the hard left turns leave audience jaws on the floor. It focuses on FBI Agent Peter Sutherland, a bomb-finding hero who is assigned to the Tippy Top Top Secret “Night Action” unit where he’s tasked with the pulse-pounding job of answering their phone that barely ever rings. Fortunately, when it does, it draws him deep into a potential conspiracy with a highly-placed mole, a powerful tech entrepreneur, and a horrific plot that they will either thwart or maybe doesn’t actually exist. It’s a fun ride that should come with motion sickness meds for as quicks as the twists come.

Watch it on Netflix

26. Santa Clarita Diet

Year: 2017-2019
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Victor Fresco
Trailer: Watch here

When Sheila Hammond turns into a zombie, she and her family have to figure out how to transition into a slightly more murdery lifestyle. A girl’s gotta eat, right? But beyond the inconvenience of regularly scheduled killings, the biggest change is that Sheila has almost zero impulse control. Great for parallel parking confidence, but bad for just, you know, general living in society type stuff. There’s probably a version of this show that’s gritty and surreal and dominating an alternate universe HBO, but Fresco and the team decided to go super goofy with it, establishing a hilarious series where Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant can smile their way through it all, no matter how much blood is on their business casualwear.

Watch it on Netflix

25. Sweet Tooth

Year: 2021 –
Cast: Christian Convery, Nonso Anozie, Will Forte, James Brolin
Genre: Fantasy, comic book adaptation
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 2 (16 episodes)
Created By: Jim Mickle, Beth Schwartz
Trailer: Watch here

Season 2 recently dropped and is ready for the taking in this savory slam dunk from Team Downey. The odd pairing of Gus (Christian Convery) and Jeopardy (Nonso Anozie) grew separated in the first season finale, which will pull at your heart strings while Gus works to gather strength to push back against the Last Men. The show will also dig further into the cause of the Great Crumble while sussing out whether a cure is possible. This show is much more than the “Mad Max Meets Bambi” label and it’s frankly irresistible.

Watch it on Netflix

24. Lupin

Year: 2021-present
Cast: Omar Sy, Ludivine Sagnier, Clotilde Hesme, Soufiane Guerrab
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: George Kay, Francois Uzan
Trailer: Watch here

Slick, smart, twisty. This French riff on the iconic thief did most of its heavy lifting by casting Sy, who has perhaps never been in the Bond conversation because he’s too cool. In Lupin, he plays a second-generation Senegalese immigrant named Assane Diop who is gifted an Arsene Lupin book by his father — a humble man who is wrongly arrested for stealing a valuable diamond necklace, leading to his committing suicide in prison. The show weaves heists into an ongoing tale about Assane trying to get revenge while balancing his complicated personal life. With directors like Louis Leterrier behind the camera, the series is a fun crime spree with a lead worth cheering on.

Watch it on Netflix

23. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Year: 2015-2019
Cast: Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane, Jane Krakowski, Daveed Diggs
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-4: 52 episodes
Created By: Tina Fey, Robert Carlock
Trailer: Watch here

After 30 Rock, everyone wanted to know what Tina Fey and Robert Carlock would do next. Their follow-up concept couldn’t have been further from the sketch show writer’s room. It takes a world-class comedic brain trust to turn a childhood victim of kidnapping and sister wife brainwashing into belly laugh gold. Kimmy missed out on her youth, attacked by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) and locked in a bomb shelter with several other women until they’re all rescued as adults. Now, she’s trying to adjust to the modern world with the curiosity and mind of a middle schooler. Fortunately, even though New York City is a hell of a town, she has human firework show Titus and cranky landlady Lillian to guide her toward independence.

Watch it on Netflix

22. Emily In Paris

Year: 2020-present
Cast: Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Ashley Park, and Lucas Bravo
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Darren Star
Trailer: Watch here

While shows about men breaking bad and doing crime end up at the top of the Best Of All-Time list, it’s important to remember that delightful things can be the best things, too. Emily is single, she’s in Paris, and everyone on the show is absurdly attractive. It’s a potent foundation for a lot of fun. Maybe there’s a little heartbreak thrown in for good measure, but that’s all balanced out by the champagne and flirtation. Maybe it makes fun of French stereotypes too much (an American tradition since we first forgot we couldn’t have won the Revolutionary War without them), but it’s a quirky romantic spree with postcard cinematography and a plucky lead who owns the spotlight.

Watch it on Netflix

21. Dark

Year: 2017-2020
Cast: Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Schone, Anne Ratte-Polle, Florian Panzer
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 26 episodes
Created By: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
Trailer: Watch here

There’s no definitive evidence for it, but my theory is that the creators of Dark took the True Detective missive of time being a flat circle and just ran with it. The German series dares to set up a mystery where the main question is not whodunnit, launching a harrowing search for missing children without losing sight of the science fiction weirdness laced throughout its first-degree foundation. As it turns out, the missing kids are just the start, allowing the lives of the Kahnwald, Nielsen, Doppler, and Tiedemann families to unravel thanks to their own secrets. Jumping effortlessly between four separate time periods, Dark matches popcorn-munching intrigue with the chilling terror of a good mystery.

Watch it on Netflix

20. Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Even Peters, Richard Jenkins, Molly Ringwald, Niecy Nash, Penelope Ann Miller, and Michael Learned
Genre: True Crime, Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan
Trailer: Watch here

Debate rages about how shows glorify serial killers and the question of making a true crime dramatization that may harm living victims and their families. Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is at the heart of that debate, and while each viewer’s moral mileage will vary, the series is still a powerful showcase of Peters’ acting talent as one of the most famous killers in American history. It’s a gruesome tale, and the deep dive into the muck here pulls zero punches in delivering us perhaps too close into the mind of a monster. Yet it also presents cases of investigative malpractice and police incompetence — a fascinating antidote to the Law & Order worship of quick and perfect actors in the justice system. Monster dramatizes those failures to apprehend Dahmer up through his eventual conviction and aftermath.

Watch it on Netflix

19. Bridgerton

Year: 2020-present
Cast: Adjoa Andoh, Julie Andrews, Nicola Coughlan, Regé-Jean Page, Jonathan Bailey, Phoebe Dynevor
Genre: Regency Romance, Historical Fiction
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-2: 16 episodes
Created By: Chris Van Dusen
Trailer: Watch here

Courtship. Is. War. Stamped with the Shondaland pedigree, Bridgerton has the plot of a ’90s teen rom-com in the bodice of a Regency era romance. Oh, and a little Gossip Girl thrown in for good measure in the form of Lady Whistledown’s hand-delivered rumor rag. Festooned with all the gorgeous costuming and set decoration befitting something of its high title, the show focuses on Daphne Bridgerton, a young woman newly presented to society but deemed unworthy of marriage. She strikes up a mutually beneficial deal with the highly sought-after Duke of Hastings, who both agree to pretend to be attached to each other to solve their problems. But will it develop into something real?

Watch it on Netflix

18. Midnight Mass

Year: 2021
Cast: Hamish Linklater, Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Annabeth Gish
Genre: Horror, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 7 episodes
Created By: Mike Flanagan
Trailer: Watch here

Mike Flanagan had tried to get Midnight Mass made since the earliest part of his career, keeping the passion project alive first as a fictionalized novel in his movie Hush, and then using the fake book as an Easter egg in other projects like Gerald’s Game. When he finally got the chance to tell the tale, he nailed it right to the church door. Brimming with his continual obsession with “hauntings,” Flanagan’s series focuses on a declining island where a slew of strange things start happening when a cagey priest rides into town. Pro tip: if hundreds of dead cats show up on a beach after a weird priest shows up, get out of town. At least for a little while. Take everyone who will listen with you.

Watch it on Netflix

17. Orange Is The New Black

Year: 2013-2019
Cast: Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Natasha Lyonne, Samira Wiley, Dascha Polanco, Laverne Cox, Diane Guerrero
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-7: 91 episodes
Created By: Jenji Kohan
Trailer: Watch here

The original hit is still one of the best Netflix has to offer. Kohan’s Weeds follow-up delved into deeper into the world of crime by jumping inside a woman’s prison. A bit of a Trojan Horse, the show initially focused largely on Schilling’s character — a middle class white woman who was in prison on a kind of fluke — but quickly morphed into an ensemble piece about women from all backgrounds and walks of life. Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, the series continually pushed boundaries, utilizing a format which gave us deeper and deeper backstories into dozens of prisoners that layered a tight, complex plot about these people who all had to live together against their own will. They found love, hate, violence, and grace while rattling their cages.

Watch it on Netflix

16. Heartstopper

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Kit Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Sebastian Croft, Stephen Fry, and Olivia Colman
Genre:Romantic Comedy, Teen Drama, Coming-of-Age
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 8 episodes
Created By:
Trailer: Watch here

It’s possible you’ve already binged this wildly popular rom-com about a charming outsider named Charlie with a crush on the most popular boy in school, but a second binge will probably be just as refreshing. Like Sex Education before it, Heartstopper wins by treating teens like real human beings with complicated feelings about life and love and sex and friendship and the future. It’s the timeless formula of two polar opposites questioning why they conform to the expectations their peers and parents place on them with a spoonful of will-they-won’t-they updated for a savvy, modern audience. It’s also incredibly sweet, lacing in the prospect of hope and romance amid all the traumatizing growth that seems necessary to break away from the small-minded world.

Watch it on Netflix

15. You

Year: 2018-present
Cast: Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, Zach Cherry, Shay Mitchell, Victoria Pedretti
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Greg Berlanti, Sera Gamble
Trailer: Watch here

The hit show that dares to ask the question: “Is it okay for me to like this?” Based on Caroline Kepnes book series, the show stars Badgley as a handsome, charismatic stalker sometimes named Joe who…we’re supposed to root for? It’s gross and manipulative and so, so, so compelling. It’s Talented Mr. Ripley run through the romance ringer where the narrator’s voice in our heads is the man of many names who should really be in prison. The magic of the series is in watching this American psycho get away with following his worst impulses while surrounded by an enthusiastic cast of characters (some of whom are just as bad as he is). The fourth season lands February 9th, and it very well could run as long as “Joe” can. Even then, jail probably wouldn’t put an end to the show’s potential.

Watch it on Netflix

14. Russian Doll

Year: 2019-present
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Greta Lee, Charlie Barnett, Elizabeth Ashley, Chloe Sevigny
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Urban Fantasy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-2: 15 episodes
Created By: Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland, Amy Poehler
Trailer: Watch here

This show is an absolute delight. A harsh-lipped riff on Groundhog Day where a snarky software engineer keeps dying at her 36th birthday party. Honestly, the start of your late 30s can feel that way. She, appropriately, freaks out before using her seemingly infinite lives (all restarting in a bathroom to an infectious Harry Nilsson jam) to figure out what the hell is happening. Then she meets a man experiencing the same thing. The show’s unique blend of comedy, nihilism, and personal tragedy is a tightrope walk of perfection that the whole team manages episode after episode. Like other repeating day stories, it’s about righting wrongs, but Russian Doll does it with both a towering sense of glee and a big middle finger stuck high in the air.

Watch it on Netflix

13. Narcos/Narcos: Mexico

Year: 2015-2017/2018-2021
Cast: Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal, Michael Pena, Diego Luna
Genre: Drama, Crime, Biographical
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes/Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro
Trailer: Watch here

There are few outlaw figures in the modern era we’re more obsessed with than Pablo Escobar. The drug lord with the biggest mug shot smile of all time has been the subject of tons of books, movies, and TV shows, but the crime drama Narcos is at the top of the powdery heap. Escobar (played with fantastic intensity by Wagner Moura) faces off against rivals and the DEA while trying to expand his cocaine market dominance through brutal terrorist acts. The show, and its companion series Narcos: Mexico shifts smartly beyond Escobar to explore other drug reigns over a combined 6 seasons of pulse-pounding genius. It’s a good show to watch before you try your hand at the global illicit drug trade because it’ll convince you to take up kite flying or literally anything else.

Watch it on Netflix

12. American Vandal

Year: 2017-2018
Cast: Tyler Alvarez, Griffin Gluck, Jimmy Tatro
Genre: Mockumentary
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-2: 16 episodes
Created By: Dan Perrault, Tony Yacenda
Trailer: Watch here

The most important question of the last ten years: who drew the dicks? Parodying Serial might have been simple in a sketch comedy kind of way, but the team behind American Vandal went all in to create a full series focused, first, on the drawing of 27 penises on cars in the faculty lot of a public high school and, then, on the truly corruptive act of putting laxative in a Catholic school’s cafeteria lemonade. The temptation to wink throughout both seasons must have been excruciating, but everyone involved never flinches as they treat these sophomoric pranks with the deadly seriousness of overturning a wrongful murder conviction.

Watch it on Netflix

11. The Sandman

Year: 2022 –
Cast: Tom Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie, Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Mason Alexander Park, Kirby Howell-Baptiste
Genre: Fantasy, comic book adaptation
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (11 episodes)
Created By: Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer, Allan Heinberg
Trailer: Watch here

A second season of this series will one day arrive to deliver more breathtaking glory, and Neil Gaiman’s legion of fans will be ready after waiting three decades for this deserving adaptation of his lugubrious comic book series. Tom Sturridge plays Morpheus in all of his angular glory, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste is pitch-perfect as Death. Gwendoline Christie’s Lucifer Morningstar is on par with the other Gaiman version rolling around on Netflix (in Lucifer, starring Tom Ellis, obviously), and Patton Oswalt was destined to voice Matthew the Raven. That’s only the beginning of the ensemble cast who really brings it, so enjoy this gorgeous tapestry infused with mythology, which floats in like a Dream. “The Sound Of Her Wings” turned out to be the most beautiful TV episode of 2022, too.

Watch it on Netflix

10. GLOW

Year: 2017-2019
Cast: Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron, Chris Lowell, Sydelle Noel, Kate Nash
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-3: 30 episodes
Created By: Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch
Trailer: Watch here

Way, way back in the 1980s, Ruth Wilder was an inch away from giving up on her dream of becoming an actress. She was broke, cheating with her friend’s husband, and then she was drawn like a moth to the flame of a vague audition. A last chance. If she’d known what it was for, she probably wouldn’t have gone because it was for a rinky dink wrestling show angling for an F- grade from OSHA. Inspired by the real-world creation of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, this show gave a safe place to a dozen weirdos all looking for a tribe. And health work-life balance. Sometimes you only get to pick one. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, unleashing the intense pressure these women are under as kinetic energy in the ring. Plus, any show with a Rocky IV-esque robot with drugs inside it is an automatic winner.

Watch it on Netflix

9. Maid

Year: 2021
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Tracy Vilar, Billy Burke, Andie MacDowell
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Molly Smith Metzler
Trailer: Watch here

Stephanie Land’s memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive opens with the line, “My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.” It’s an unflinching look at the strain of poverty, the hatred baked into the red tape system of public assistance, and the struggle to bring up a child when you can’t afford to take care of yourself. The series based on the book carries that unflinching spirit, led by an outstanding performance from Margaret Qualley as a young woman fleeing with her toddler from an alcoholic, abusive partner with no money in her pocket and almost no options. She gets a job cleaning houses, and the daily struggle continues. And continues. And continues.

Watch it on Netflix

8. Wednesday

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Emma Myers, Hunter Doohan, Christina Ricci
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Drama, Supernatural
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seasons 1: 8 episodes
Created By: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Trailer: Watch here

The Addams Family has existed for almost a century, and who could have guessed that the morbid family that first graced issues of The New Yorker would one day go viral for a limb-bending dance sequence on a Netflix show? This series is a huge hit because it focuses in on a single member of the family — offering the scene-stealing Wednesday a chance to lead her own YA horror show — and because Jenna Ortega is a blast in the role. She’s creepy. She’s kooky. She’s altogether ooky. Stuff all that into a winning YA formula of a private school for special/weird kiddos, mix in some nostalgia bombs, set it all to a Danny Elfman score, and you’ve got a show that’s more fun than burning down a summer camp.

Watch it on Netflix

7. Ozark

Year: 2017-2022
Cast: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skyler Gaertner, Julia Garner
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-4: 44 episodes
Created By: Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams
Trailer: Watch here

Here’s the deal: there are a lot of crime shows on this list. There are a lot of crime shows on television. We love watching people commit crimes — especially big ones that dominate their entire lives and continue on for years and years as they evade capture and death. What makes Ozark special is how the Byrde Family all pull their weight when they have to relocate from Chicago to Missouri to expand a money laundering scheme. It’s miraculous that they kept the plates spinning so fast for four full seasons, performing a circus act of deception and violence that made for hellaciously dramatic television. Bateman (him?) is fantastic in the against-type role, and Linney commands every scene, whether they’re butting heads with low level criminals or the, no kidding, Kansas City Mafia.

Watch it on Netflix

6. Squid Game

Year: 2021-present
Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, HoYeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Wi Ha-joon, Heo Sung-tae
Genre: Drama, Survival, Thriller, Horror
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 9 episodes
Created By: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Trailer: Watch here

It’s easy to see the young woman from Maid being targeted to play the Squid Game. Another series exploring the cruelty heaped upon impoverished people, the South Korean phenom features a group of people all trying to survive a sadistic game show for the pleasure of the wealthiest business people from around the globe. The smirking design of children’s games where you can get shot by a giant doll or tug-of-warred off a high ledge is deviously clever, but the appeal of the show goes far beyond the plot concept. Seong Gi-hun offers us a man to root for, cheering this broken divorcee with a gambling addiction who only wants to get enough money to buy his daughter a nice birthday present. That sweet instinct lures him into a horrorscape of late night fights, fallen friends, and an ever-growing piggy bank of cash.

Watch it on Netflix

5. The Queen’s Gambit

Year: 2020
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Harry Melling, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Bill Camp
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1: 7 episodes
Created By: Scott Frank, Allan Scott
Trailer: Watch here

Elizabeth Harmon is so cool that I wish chess were a real game. All jokes aside, this show is whip smart and turned an ancient game into a global powerhouse of popularity. Starting in her troubled years as an orphan, the limited series follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she discovers a natural gift for chess and develops it to international acclaim while her home life with adopted parents collapses. A colorful cast of characters flows in and out of her life as she finds a home and a giant mountain of sexism inside the professional chess world. It cruises through the cool styles of the 1950s and 1960s while making chess a sexy clash of big intellects. It’s addictively easy to binge and will have you hooked before you can even Google “En Passant.”

Watch it on Netflix

4. Beef

Year: 2023
Cast: Ali Wong, Steven Yeun
Genre: Dramedy
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 1 (10 episodes)
Created By: Lee Sung Jin
Trailer: Watch here

Road rage: it doesn’t pay. Resist it at all opportunities, but do watch this A24 series that made waves as one of the best shows of the year so far. One flip of the bird transforms two dissatisfied lead characters’ lives into sheer madness while Ali Wong and Steven Yeun feed us the full spectrum of human emotions. These two went through virtual hell (and their bodies paid the price) while they filmed this project, which is also a lesson in not eating random berries, no matter what. That’s two valuable life lessons in one show, and somehow, the show delivers an adrenaline-fueled ride share that you won’t be able to stop watching, so carve out some binging time.

Watch it on Netflix

3. The Crown

Year: 2016-present
Cast: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, Jonathan Pryce, Vanessa Kirby, Helena Bonham Carter, Lesley Manville, John Lithgow, Gillian Anderson
Genre: Historical Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-5: 50 episodes
Created By: Peter Morgan
Trailer: Watch here

It’s hard to overstate the scale of ambition it takes to produce a show about 8 decades of Queen Elizabeth II‘s life. Somehow, through the clatter and acclaim and scandal, Morgan and a seasoned cast have made it happen. At least, they’re five seasons in, up through the 1990s, with still a little ways to go, but so far the results are impeccable. From the ashes of WWII through Thatcher and Princess Diana, the show has been a jaw-dropped that always edged slightly more toward soap opera salaciousness than historical truth. The results are magnificent, crafting a through line of history that offers fascinating context once it lines up with people and places we recognize from our own childhoods and beyond. A peerless life, drawn in lush costuming, high drama, and memorable performances.

Watch it on Netflix

2. Stranger Things

Year: 2016-present
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seasons 1-4: 34 episodes
Created By: The Duffer Brothers
Trailer: Watch here

Somehow the Duffer Brothers found a Nostalgia Tree and tapped it, letting flow raw, pure nostalgia into a giant tin bucket before dumping it over all of our heads. Naturally, we couldn’t stop asking for more. The series where a group of Dungeons and Dragons-loving kids have their fantasy monster game spill out into real life has evolved since the early days of little science experiment/orphan Eleven telekinetically fighting back against bullies. They’ve grown up a bit, had hearts broken, and explored places as wild as Soviet gulags and the food court at the mall, all while staying true to a wicked 1980s aesthetic that clashes with the muddy hellscape of the Upside Down. It’s a fun ride unafraid to shred Metallica while the monsters close in, and still the best advertisement for frozen waffles.

Watch it on Netflix

1. BoJack Horseman

Year: 2014-2020
Cast: Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, Aaron Paul
Genre: Black Comedy, Drama, Satire, Surreal Animal Pun Delivery Service
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Seasons 1-6: 77 episodes
Created By: Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Trailer: Watch here

One of the best (if not the best) television show of the 21st century, it’s impossible to describe the tonal balance of all human emotion to be found in a cartoon show about a talking horse who used to be the star of a wholesome ’90s sitcom who’s trying to claw his way back to relevance in Hollywoo. It is a show about fame, about addiction, about found families, about trust, about life, the universe, and everything. Couched in the colorful world of talking animals and world-class puns, it’s impossibly silly while presenting the depths of depravity of a broken man. No show is as funny or as sad, and beyond its sarcasm and sorrow, several episodes experimented with form in a way almost no other series would dare to even conceive. An absolute all-timer.

Watch it on Netflix

We’re tasting 10 iconic Cali IPAs and ranking them.

If you’ve paid attention to the beer world over the past decade or so, you know there are a lot of breweries operating in the US. At last count, well over 9,000. And while there are great options all over the country — from Vermont to Washington State — featuring endless styles of beer, you’d have a tough time finding a better state for brew, in general, and IPAs, specifically, than California. The state is home to more than 1,000 breweries on its own and San Diego is the undisputed nexus of the West Coast IPA universe.

Meaning that picking the ten best IPAs from California is no easy task. Still, we tried our very best — re-tasting the most popular, sought-after, beloved California-made IPAs to come up with this ranking. Regardless of their previous ratings, our metric was based on overall flavor and balance. Keep scrolling to see where your favorite IPA landed on this list.

10) Ballast Point Sculpin

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $14 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This popular West Coast IPA from San Diego’s Ballast Point gets its name because its hoppy sting is reminiscent of the sting of the Sculpin fish. Citrus, fruit, and a gentle bite of hops make this a memorable beer.

Tasting Notes:

A nose of light caramel malts, lime peels, grapefruit, and floral hops greet you before your first sip. The palate is all citrus peels and pine needles with a fairly aggressive, biting hoppy finish. People love this beer, but it’s a little too one-dimensional and bitter for some.

Bottom Line:

Ballast Point Sculpin is like a blueprint for a classic West Coast IPA. But with only light malts, citrus, and pine… it’s fairly muted.

9) Stone Enjoy By IPA

ABV: 9%

Average Price: $13 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The name of this popular series of beers is a reference to one when the brewery feels you should drink the beer. Brewed to be fresh and imbibed as soon as possible, depending on the bottles or cans you buy, the drink by date will be listed. The last Stone Enjoy By IPA was 04.20.23 Hazy IPA.

Tasting Notes:

Brewed with Rakau and Citra hops, this hazy IPA begins with a nose of tangerine, ripe peach, mango, caramel malts, and floral, lightly dank pine. Drinking it reveals more peach and tangerine as well as bready malts, mango, caramelized pineapple, and gentle, floral hops. It leans a little on the sweeter side and could use a bit more balance.

Bottom Line:

This is a tasty hazy IPA. It’s juicy, sweet, and loaded with tropical fruit aroma and flavor. That said, it’s just a bit one-dimensional.

8) Moonraker Dojo

ABV: 8%

Average Price: $19 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

This hazy, juicy, unfiltered New England-style IPA was brewed with a proprietary English yeast strain as well as Simcoe, Galaxy, Mosaic, and Citra hops. This creates a lightly bitter, memorable beer filled with tropical fruit flavors.

Tasting Notes:

Classic hazy IPA aromas of ripe pineapple, peach, guava, and passionfruit greet your nose prior to your first sip. The palate continues this trend with tangerine, caramelized pineapple, mango, and more peach, The finish is lightly resinous and bitter, but there’s not much of a malt backbone to be found.

Bottom Line:

It’s obvious why this hazy IPA is wildly popular. It’s hazy, juicy, and loaded with tropical fruit flavors and a nice, dank, piney finish. It could use a little more malt character though.

7) Alpine Nelson

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $14 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This beer gets its name from the liberal use of Nelson Sauvin hops. Used both on the kettle and through dry-hopping, this hop variety gives the beer pine, tropical fruit, and citrus flavors. European rye malts give this beer a well-rounded flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

This IPA begins with aromas of caramelized pineapple, ripe peaches, mango, tangerine, and just a hint of peppery rye. This interesting start makes way for a palate of pineapple, orange peel, peach, guava, and even more rye. The finish is lightly bitter, dry, and filled with pine.

Bottom Line:

This is a well-balanced, highly drinkable IPA. The rye spice is a welcome addition and one that makes this the kind of beer you’ll go back to again and again.

6) Noble Ale Works Citra Showers

ABV: 8.8%

Average Price: $10 for a 22-ounce bottle

The Beer:

This beer gets its name because this double IPA is hopped exclusively with Citra hops. The result is a surprisingly complex beer with a ton of lemon, mango, grapefruit, and pine. This is an IPA for the citrus fans.

Tasting Notes:

The nose starts with a healthy dose of caramel malts and works its way into grapefruit, tangerine, lime peel, and tropical fruit flavors. Drinking it reveals hints of more sweet malts, grapefruit, orange zest, lemongrass, light pepper, and floral, lightly resinous hops. Subdued bitterness at the finish.

Bottom Line:

Citra hops live up to their name — it’s a hop varietal bursting with citrus aroma and flavor. The folks at Noble Ale Works use it perfectly to make a citrus-filled yet balanced IPA.

5) Kern River Citra

ABV: 8.5%

Average Price: $6 for a 16-ounce can

The Beer:

This 8.5% ABV IPA might be called Citra, but it’s not just a one-trick pony by any means. On top of being dry-hopped with Citra hops, it’s also dry-hopped with Amarillo hops. This creates a balanced IPA with a ton of citrus, tropical fruit, and dank pine tree flavors.

Tasting Notes:

A backdrop of caramel malts leads to honeydew melon, ripe pineapple, grapefruit, and orange zest aromas on the nose. The palate is centered around more sweet malts, tangerine, grapefruit, peach, melon, berries, and just a hint of acidity. The finish is dry and semisweet with little bitterness.

Bottom Line:

The use of Citra and Amarillo hops gives this beer a great balance. It also has a great malt backbone to hold everything together nicely. A very well-rounded beer.

4) Societe The Pupil

ABV: 7.5%

Average Price: $14 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This award-winning IPA is brewed with Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and Centennial hops. It’s known for its well-balanced flavor profile featuring a mix of citrus, tropical fruit flavors, and a crisp, lightly bitter finish.

Tasting Notes:

Candied orange peel, caramelized pineapple, mango, ripe melon, and just a hint of floral, piney hops. Drinking it brings forth notes of lime peel, lemongrass, honeydew melon, pineapple, mango, and a nice kick of lightly bitter pine needles at the very end. It’s not overwhelming though.

Bottom Line:

This is a very well-balanced IPA. Everything seems to be working together in perfect unity to make a fruity, dank, highly drinkable beer.

3) Russian River Pliny The Elder

ABV: 8%

Average Price: $8 for a 16.9-ounce bottle

The Beer:

One of the most sought-after beers in America, Russian River Pliny The Elder is definitely the easier to find of the Pliny duo. Brewed with Centennial, CTZ, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops, this beer is renowned for its fresh flavor and perfect balance of malts and hops.

Tasting Notes:

Classic West Coast IPA flavors of lemon zest, grapefruit, tangerine, caramel malts, and floral, herbal, piney hops start the nose off on the right foot. Drinking it reveals more grapefruit, ripe orange, lemongrass, caramel malts, and more dank pine. The finish is dry, crisp, and has a bit of hop bitterness that only adds to the overall experience.

Bottom Line:

The hops and malts selected for this beer give it a ridiculously complex flavor profile that still manages to be well-balanced. There’s a reason this beer is so popular.

2) Monkish Foggier Window

ABV: 8.1%

Average Price: $22 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

This 8.1% ABV double IPA was double dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, and Citra hops. The result is a fruity, dry, lightly bitter IPA well-suited for warm-weather drinking.

Tasting Notes:

A vibrant nose of passionfruit, mango, guava, pineapple, peach, tangerine, and literally any tropical fruit you can imagine greets you before your first sip. The palate is filled with more tropical fruit goodness, but there are also some berries, honey sweetness, and a nice hoppy, resinous bitter finish that will leave you craving more.

Bottom Line:

This beer is like a tropical fruit salad meets your favorite dank weed. It’s a perfect combination and one that we can’t get enough of.

1) Russian River Pliny The Younger

ABV: 10.25%

Average Price: Limited Availability

The Beer:

In the pantheon of California IPAs, it’s pretty tough to beat Russian River Pliny The Younger. This highly coveted, hard-to-find triple IPA is widely known as one of the most balanced, well-made American craft beers of all time. Drinkers love it for its hoppy aromas and flavors and citrus zest.

Tasting Notes:

This beer is like the textbook definition of a classic IPA. The nose is a perfect balance of resinous pine, freshly cut grass, and citrus. The palate has all of those flavors but expands on them with the addition of sweet caramel malt, tropical fruits, and candied orange peel. It all ends with a dry, resinous, dank, floral, hoppy, lightly sweet, and lightly bitter finish that leaves you wanting more.

Bottom Line:

Good luck finding a better, more balanced California IPA than Russian River Pliny The Younger. Well… also good luck finding Pliny The Younger.

Al Michaels is a fan of this year’s Thursday Night Football schedule.

Amazon’s first year as the home of Thursday Night Football didn’t go especially well, in large part due to the fact that the games tended to be pretty bad. While the ratings were pretty solid, it was common to see fans complaining about the caliber of games, as the NFL wasn’t exactly putting marquee matchups on Amazon every week.

The league remedied that a bit this year, as the schedule for Thursday Night Football this time around seems to be better. Here’s what the schedule looks like this year:

While we’re still waiting to see if late season games can potentially get flexed to Thursdays, the schedule is a hit with Amazon’s top broadcaster. Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated reached out to Al Michaels to get his thoughts on the TNF slate, and he’s a big fan.

“Absolutely!” he says. “Love the way we come out of the gate. Three ‘A’ grade games. Two Aaron Rodgers games. Baltimore-Cincinnati, another good one. League did us a solid.

“I was raring to go the minute I saw the whole slate. Already thinking of story lines for each game, of which there is no shortage.”

Of course, an NFL schedule can look really good in May and, when you fast forward to the fall, it’s nowhere near as appealing due to teams being disappointments and big-name players getting hurt. But after how last year went, it’s hard to fault Michaels for feeling excited over this.