It’s New Year’s Eve, and you have decided to stay in. A nice, quiet night is the perfect way to ring in the new year and recharge your batteries before the next 365 days of grind to come. You might be looking for a good series to binge-watch through the day and night to keep you entertained. Don’t worry; we have you covered with the 10 best shows to watch on New Year’s Eve.
These shows are available on all the top streaming services. Some have multiple seasons of short episodes; others have just a single season that you can blaze through easily in a single evening. Once midnight is about to strike, take a break to check out the ball drop or do your own countdown to celebrate. Don’t feel guilty about pressing play again to resume where you left off come January 1 because you deserve the couch potato break.
When you’re done here, check out the best new movies to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best new shows on Max, the best shows on Amazon Prime Video, and the best shows on Disney+.
Silo (2023 to present)
Silo is not only one of the best TV shows of this year, it’s also one of the best of this decade as well. The sci-fi dystopian drama is about a presumed apocalyptic event that has rendered the Earth an uninhabitable wasteland. Survivors reside in an underground silo that runs on a class-based system by a small group of people in charge. Residents are scared into believing that going outside means certain death. But one smart engineer named Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) starts to question things, which leads to the reveal of a devastating reality.
With the second season’s final episode set to stream on January 17, it’s the perfect time to catch up if you haven’t yet watched this show. Already renewed for third and fourth seasons to conclude the story based on the Hugh Howey novel series Wool, Shift, and Dust, Silo will probably become your new favorite show.
Stream Silo on Apple TV+.
Shrinking (2023 to present)
The perfect dose of comedy, drama, and feel-good explorations of mental health, Shrinking is another top series of 2024. Jason Segel stars as Jimmy Laird, a therapist grieving the sudden loss of his wife. While he falls into a depressive, self-destructive funk for a time, neglecting his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), he pushes through thanks to his friends. But his new lease on life and no-care attitude mean he also starts using unorthodox methods with his patients, with differing results.
Shrinking hails from Bill Lawrence, creator of Ted Lasso, and was co-created along with Segel and Brett Goldstein, who played Roy Kent in Ted Lasso. It has a similar tone and feel to that award-winning show, beautifully filling the hole that Ted Lasso left behind. Plus, with Harrison Ford counted among the cast in an against-type role that allows his comedic side to shine (he’s really, really funny in this series), Shrinking is one of the best-cast, best-acted, and most heartwarming shows you can kick off a new year with.
Stream Shrinking on Apple TV+.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 to present)
Plenty of folks have an annual tradition of powering through all the Lord of the Rings movies in one sitting, be it for New Year’s Eve, your birthday, or during a staycation week. This time, try out Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which currently has two seasons of eight episodes each. The story is based on the appendices of the J.R.R. Tolkien novels and is set thousands of years prior to the events depicted in both the books and the movies, so it actually makes sense to watch it first.
The setting is Middle-earth during the Second Age, and the series tells the history of the mythological place along with how the Rings of Power were forged in the first place. Follow the rise of Dark Lord Sauron and the fall of the kingdom of Númenor in each admittedly long but impressively shot episode.
Stream Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video.
A Man on the Inside (2024 to present)
Want something short and sweet to make you laugh? Check out A Man on the Inside, an adorable comedy starring Ted Danson as a retired college professor who takes a job working with a private investigator to fill his days. His first order of duty: Go undercover in a retirement community to uncover the mystery of a missing ruby necklace.
Based on a true story and the documentary The Mole Agent by Màite Alberdi, A Man on the Inside also stars Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Twisted Metal) and Sally Struthers (All in the Family). The show has been met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Shortly after its debut, A Man on the Inside was renewed for a second season.
Stream A Man on the Inside on Netflix.
The Lincoln Lawyer (2022 to present)
I personally binged almost all of The Lincoln Lawyer to date during several flights. If you watched the 2011 legal thriller starring Matthew McConaughey as the titular character or read Michael Connelly’s novel, you’re already familiar with the base story. Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is a talented defense lawyer who spends much of his time on the go, working from the backseat of one of his many Lincoln cars as his driver takes him from location to location.
He defends criminals, both guilty and innocent, something his ex-wife and prosecutor Maggie (Neve Campbell) doesn’t agree with. But Mickey is always laser-focused on his clients and their interests, possessing a talent for finding loopholes and bending the law to get them acquitted. He really does have a good heart, too, though.
The Lincoln Lawyer has a fabulous supporting cast, including Becki Newton as Lorna Crane, Mickey’s second ex-wife, legal aide, and an ambitious and talented legal mind in her own right; Angus Sampson as “Cisco,” Mickey’s in-house private investigator; and Jazz Raycole as Izzy Letts, a former client and drug addict Mickey hires to be his personal driver to make good on her legal fees. The show is like any other procedural but with a different case that runs the course of each season, always involving high stakes and dangerous situations.
Stream The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix.
Severance (2022 to present)
If you haven’t yet watched Severance, what are you waiting for? Fans have waited almost two years for the anticipated second season of the sci-fi psychological thriller, and it’s coming later in January 2025. To make sure you’re ready, use New Year’s Eve to watch the first nine episodes of season one.
Adam Scott stars as Mark Scout, an employee for biotech company Lumon Industries. He has voluntarily undergone a medical procedure that severs his brain in two, so he has a work persona called his “innie” and a personal persona called his “outie,” neither of whom is aware of anything that happens with the other. His goal was to work without being overtaken by the grief of the death of his wife. But when his “outie” is approached by a man claiming to be a former co-worker, Mark starts to question what’s truly going on.
It’s a twisted, mind-bending story that calls into question the importance of a work-life balance and how far we might be willing to go to get it. Severance touches on themes of free will and corporate control throughout its visually stunning, beautifully acted, smartly directed episodes.
Stream Severance on Apple TV+.
The Day of the Jackal (2024)
With 10 episodes running anywhere from 45 minutes each to just over an hour, The Day of the Jackal is a show you can watch in one day in anticipation of the already renewed second season. Eddie Redmayne is a mysterious assassin known only as “The Jackal” who is privately hired to kill marks. He uses an array of elaborate disguises and aliases to carry out his missions, always succeeding thanks to not only his talent but also his charm. In his real life, however, The Jackal’s wife knows nothing about his real job, annoyed that he’s always traveling and preoccupied, but also happy to have the luxurious life that she does.
The walls start to close in on The Jackal, however, when a talented and determined MI6 agent named Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch) starts to investigate him. She is adamant that she will discover the identity of this notorious killer and bring him down. The cat-and-mouse game begins, and The Day of the Jackal is a riveting ride all the way through. The British series is based on the Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name and follows the 1973 movie that starred Edward Fox (Gandhi) as the titular character.
Stream The Day of the Jackal on Peacock.
Cobra Kai (2021 to 2025)
With the third part of the sixth and final season of this martial arts comedy-drama coming February 13, bringing the series to a close, it’s the perfect time to binge-watch Cobra Kai and catch up on the action. The show is light and corny, and the episodes are barely over 20 minutes long each. So, while the sheer number of episodes might seem overwhelming, you can easily get through an entire season in one sitting (with breaks, of course) and keep the momentum going.
Since Cobra Kai released its third season on January 1, 2021, and its fourth on December 31, 2021, it has become a tradition for fans to watch on New Year’s Eve and Day. The show has plenty of nostalgia thanks to its ties to The Karate Kid movies, along with drama, dark moments, and hilarity to get you revved up for a new year.
Stream Cobra Kai on Netflix.
Dexter (2006 to 2013)
With the prequel series Dexter: Original Sin now streaming, you might be intrigued to watch but feel like you need to be familiar with the original series first. You probably should because you’ll understand Original Sin much better if you watch that one. Dexter is about Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer who uses a code his father taught him to only kill heinous people who do awful things (think rapists and child murderers), but only once he can prove their guilt. If they fall through the justice system, Dexter will handle it during his off-hours. It helps that he’s a blood spatter analyst for the Miami police, which gives him access to all the information he needs.
Dexter aired for eight seasons, so it’s a big investment for a single night. But you could at least get a head start. Stick with it through the first four seasons, which are arguably the best ones, and just read recaps of the last four to get caught up.
Don’t forget to watch the limited series revival Dexter: New Blood after as well, which set out to right the wrongs of the show’s abysmal series finale, albeit with mixed reception. Dexter: Original Sin is a worthwhile watch in the new year once you’re all caught up on the life of this oddly likable vigilante killer.
Stream Dexter on Netflix.
Emily in Paris (2020 to present)
Transport yourself to the beauty, fashion, and intrigue of Paris (or Italy in the fourth season) in this guilty pleasure rom-com drama. Emily in Paris is about Emily Cooper (MaXXXine‘s Lily Collins), a young marketing and social media employee who is sent to Paris to handle things with a newly acquired client, a French company called Savoir. She’s met with pushback for her American ways and naivety about the culture but quickly proves that she has a knack for tapping into people’s desires with social-savvy marketing campaigns. Her personal life, however, is messy. Emily finds herself courting numerous men, even getting involved in a few love triangles along the way that threaten both her job and her social status.
Emily in Paris is rife with French stereotypes, and it has received some criticism for its handling of the nation’s culture. But taking them as the humorous parodies they’re meant to be, the show is a refreshingly sweet, soapy drama that will not only entertain, but also have you wanting to plan your next summer vacation.
Stream Emily in Paris on Netflix.
