Arguably the quintessential sitcom of Generation X's youth, this 1969-1974 comedy was the 35th-most popular show of all time among Gen Xers, per YouGov polling. By comparison, "The Brady Bunch" did not rate in the Top 100 for either millennials or baby boomers.
From 1994-2004, "Friends" reigned as one of the most talked-about and watched shows of its time. But in YouGov polling, the sitcom had relatively high unfavorable ratings; 19% of respondents said they held a negative opinion of it.
most popular tv series to watch
During its 1976-1983 run, this "Happy Days" spinoff was immensely popular. According to YouGov data, however, the show hasn't captured millennials; "Laverne & Shirley" was ranked as that demographic group's 299th-most popular TV show of all time.
According to YouGov polling, Will Smith's 1990-1996 breakthrough sitcom is a top favorite among both millennials and Generation Xers. Only a relatively modest 54% of baby boomers, however, reported a positive opinion of the series; overall, that demo group rated "Fresh Prince" as its 140th-most favorite show.
Ubiquitous in the era of the classic-TV rerun, "Gilligan's Island" is less appealing to millennials. In YouGov polling, the 1964-1967 castaway sitcom was the 107th-most popular show among those in that demo. The series performed better among Generation Xers and baby boomers.
"Bewitched" starred Elizabeth Montgomery as a suburban spell-caster. The 1964-1972 sitcom was responsible for a sizable generation gap in YouGov polling: "Bewitched" was the fifth-most popular show among members of Generation X, but just the 84th-most popular show among millennials.
A ranking of all-time most watched titles also lives on the site, detailing shows that have the most viewing hours in their first 28 days of release. Netflix also has these split into films in English, TV in English, films in non-English languages and TV in non-English languages -- but for our charts below, we don't differentiate between language.
Shows and movies need sustained popularity in many countries to crack into the all-time most watched charts. That means you can see titles with "Top 10" badges in Netflix's app for days, but they still may not be generating enough hours of viewing to make the all-time rankings.
For example, the second season of Ginny & Georgia, a mother-daughter comedy/drama series, has racked up an eye-popping 486.2 million hours in its first 25 days of release, and it still has a few days in its 28-day window to generate watch-time. You People, a romantic-comedy movie, has generated 55.7 million hours of watch time in just its first three days.
The following are Netflix's most watched series, based on Netflix's own reporting of total hours viewed in the first 28 days of each titles' release. Again, if a new season releases its episodes in two volumes on different dates, Netflix counts the watch time of the first volume's episodes for their first 28 days, then it counts the watch time of the second volume's episodes for their first 28 days.
After one week, Wednesday broke the record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix with an astonishing 341 million hours. Wednesday tied Stranger Things season 4 by going No. 1 in 83 countries.
Reelgood.com(Opens in a new window) helps people find out whether the TV shows and movies they want to watch are streaming and where to find them. It also pulls data from its millions of monthly users about what they're watching and uses it to extrapolate the most-watched programming in a given week.
If you've played the emotionally devastating video game The Last of Us, then you're prepared for the bleakness of this series. It takes place in an America that has been devastated by a populace turned into cordyceps-controlled zombies. Pedro Pascal plays Joel, maybe the most sympathetic unsympathetic character on any screen. One thing that's not a tragedy? The show could break the games-to-TV curse.
Before Forrest Gump, The Wonder Years was the best way for Baby Boomers to relive their glory years and watch a plucky young hero (played here by Fred Savage) come of age in one of the most tumultuous periods in American history as a kid in the 1960s. The Wonder Years was always entertaining, but it also struck a powerful chord with viewers both young and old.
One of the most popular anime titles in history, Cowboy Bebop transcended most known genres with a stylish, cinematic look at the ragtag lives of bounty hunters aboard the spaceship Bebop. With a jazz and funk-inspired score and a blend of science fiction and westerns, the series hit viewers with a moody noir atmosphere, amazing characters, smart dialogue, and existential themes of ennui and loneliness. Cowboy Bebop was a beautiful masterpiece that featured its own unique, compelling world.
After spending six full years contending with smoke monsters and island drama, Lost creator Damon Lindelof returned to television with a wholly unique follow-up, HBO's The Leftovers. Okay, perhaps not wholly unique (though certainly Holy Wayne), as it explores the same themes found throughout Lindelof's Lost: questions about destiny, how to handle grief, embracing life's great mysteries or else drown in the swamps of sorrow. A grueling but moving series from the start, The Leftovers is most notable for its Texas-set second season, a strong contender for the title of single-best television season of the modern prestige drama era.
Despite a hit-miss ratio that's not always skewed in a favorable direction, no one can deny The X-Files is anything but a legendary show. David Duchovny's sardonic Mulder and Gillian Anderson's cynical Scully boast as much individual identity and combined chemistry as any pair of leads in virtually any story, certainly within the science fiction genre and television medium. Despite a walloping 208 episodes to its name, X-Files is one of those shows where one can blissfully cherry-pick episodes as they see fit. Any day is a good day to watch one of the single most important and engaging genre shows of all time.
Few television endeavors are as culturally essential as Roots, the 1977 miniseries that spans more than a century, covering a generation of men and women subjected to slavery. With magnificent and important performances by LeVar Burton, John Amos, and others, the Emmy-winning Roots forces all Americans to take a long, hard look at the most shameful institution in the nation's history. It's gutting, it's empowering, and it's still tragically relevant all these years later.
The balance between light and dark is an iconic one, but coming from the mind of cult filmmaker David Lynch, it took on new life in Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is Lynch at peak quirkiness, but also, sometimes, his most sinister. While some critics lambast the latter half of Season 2 for needlessly dragging on unlikable arcs, Twin Peaks ultimately offered one of the most compelling murder mysteries in TV history. It both baffled and entranced cable TV audiences in the 90s with its unrelenting bizarreness, and its line-up of unforgettable characters. It also sparked a cult following so strong that, 25 years after its heartbreaking Season 2 cliffhanger, it inspired a series revival that will continue the strange, supernatural crime drama with an upcoming and much-anticipated season 3.
Looking back at Cheers, it's almost staggering to consider the 11-year comedy's incredible roster of actors. From Ted Danson and Rhea Perlman to George Wendt, John Ratzenberger and beyond, the faces that weaved in and out of the cozy Boston bar relieved the audience's end-of-day tensions just as much as the characters relieved their own. Among the many reasons to appreciate the series: its graceful and impressive handling of the tragic death of Coach actor Nicholas Colasanto and handoff to the new character who stepped up to fill the void: Woody Boyd, played by a little-known actor named Woody Harrelson.
Band of Brothers was bound for greatness, from the moment it was announced that Saving Private Ryan collaborators Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were developing an HBO limited series set during World War II. Fueled by beautiful performances from the likes of Damien Lewis and Ron Livingston, tightly written episodes, and spectacular direction capturing the literal and figurative explosions on the battlefield, Band of Brothers stands the test of time as one of the most moving and meticulously crafted explorations of war in any medium.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone's cutting cartoon satire requires no explanation for its place as one of the best shows of all time. The reasons to tip your ski-cap to South Park are endless, whether it's because you're in the tank for brilliant low-brow humor (a hallmark of the series from the first ever episode, the memorably named "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe"), timely and biting political commentary (the Turd Sandwich versus Giant Douche rivalry will always reign supreme), or simply wanting to watch an animated series pick a fight with any and every subject, no matter how controversial. (No Tom Cruises were insulted in the writing of this piece.)
The story of cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher Walter White's transformation into the meth maker and drug kingpin "Heisenberg" made for addictive television. There are arguably no truly bad episodes of the Vince Gilligan-created series thanks to its impeccable writing, direction, and, of course, the performances of its cast, most notably Bryan Cranston as Walter White and Aaron Paul as his former student-turned-drug partner Jesse Pinkman. Breaking Bad was the peak of American television's decade-long obsession with antiheroes that began with The Sopranos. The worse Walter became, the more despicable his deeds, and the more tragic the effects had on his family, the better the show became. Breaking Bad has since spun off another acclaimed but different kind of series, Better Call Saul.
The following is a list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States based on average viewership and household ratings measurement conducted by Nielsen. The Super Bowl has frequently been the most watched American television broadcast of the year. Super Bowl XLIX is currently the most watched U.S. television broadcast with 114.4 million viewers. 2ff7e9595c
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