These 10 streaming shows have remained great and lasted for more than five seasons. There are not nearly as many streaming shows that have aired for more than five seasons as you may initially guess. In the timeline of television, streaming is still a relatively novel way to consume media.
Most streaming apps aren’t more than 10 years old, and the ones that are took some time to figure out how to produce a winning, watchable show. For a series to go on this list, it needs to have premiered on a streaming service, not just been made available on one while it aired on network or premium cable, and it needs to have been great.
Big Mouth (2017-2025)
8 Seasons, 81 Episodes
The animated series Big Mouth had a lot of buzz about it when it first came out. Its frank depictions and franker discussions of sex and the human body made it scandalous, intriguing, hilarious, and empowering, all at the same time. Developed by Nick Kroll and featuring the voices of John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, and more, the series is a gross-out ode to puberty.
Big Mouth follows a group of middle school teenagers whose bodies are beginning to change, and the show represents this change with literal interpretations of all the sex-ed class concepts you can think of as monsters and creatures. It’s ugly, weird, and shocking, but also funny, intelligent, and empathetic.
Grace And Frankie (2015-2022)
7 Seasons, 94 Episodes
Grace and Frankie is a Netflix comedy series starring Jane Fonda as Grace Hanson and Lily Tomlin as Frankie Bergstein. Grace is a no-nonsense businesswoman, and Frankie is an easy-going hippie-type. The pair have a long-standing enmity that ends when their husbands announce they are in love with one another.
Single and unsure of what’s next, Grace and Frankie wind up becoming one another’s best friends and confidants, working through the tricky parts of life together and managing their new, stitched-together families. It’s a heartwarming series led by two confident actors capable of delivering the humor as well as the pathos.
Orange Is The New Black (2013-2019)
7 Seasons, 91 Episodes
Orange Is the New Black is one of the series that Netflix advertised early on to show that it was going to be more than a repository for paid content. This series, based on Piper Kerman’s memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, is still one of the best shows Netflix ever made.
The series stars Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, a 33-year-old woman from NYC who is sentenced to 15 months in a minimum-security prison for transporting drugs. The series actually improves upon the memoir, filling out characters and doing more to humanize a section of society most people would prefer to forget about.
Bosch (2014-2021)
7 Seasons, 68 Episodes
Prime Video’s Bosch is adapted from Michael Connelly’s character of the same name who appears in several of his crime novels. The series stars Titus Welliver as Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch. A boilerplate detective serves in the central idea; Bosch makes sure every aspect of the show works together.
It’s expertly put together and sharply written, with a fantastic performance from Welliver at the center of everything. Bosch balances character, mystery, and humor better than most detective TV shows. Its success has resulted in two spinoffs, Bosch: Legacy, which is essentially Bosch seasons 8 through 9, and Ballard, starring Maggie Q.
The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-2025)
6 Seasons, 66 Episodes
Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a harrowing, epic tale based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, starring Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne, a woman caught in America during the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic government that has gained power after collapsed fertility rates have led to global unrest.
In Gilead, society is structured into brutal social classes, with nearly all women enslaved. Those still capable of bearing children are called Handmaids and are trained to serve the ruling class as birthing mothers. Horrific, powerful, and frighteningly resonant, The Handmaid’s Tale is a meaningful adaptation that pushes its subject as far as it can go.
Cobra Kai (2018-2025)
6 Seasons, 65 Episodes
Cobra Kai began its life on YouTube Red before moving to Netflix, but at no point in its six seasons did it not premiere on a streaming platform. The series, set many years after the events of Karate Kid, finds Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) puttering around his old town, never having accomplished much.
After being inspired to reopen his Cobra Kai karate dojo, Johnny tries to redeem himself in more ways than one, and patches things up with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) along the way. The series is filled with callbacks to the original Karate Kid films, and is the rare legacy sequel that exceeds what it’s iterating on.
The Crown (2016-2023)
6 Seasons, 60 Episodes
Netflix’s The Crown is a historical docudrama focused on the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II, starting from when she is a Princess and ending with her 80th birthday. The course of modern British history, and consequently world history, is shown through the eyes of the Queen, played by, in order, Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, and Imelda Staunton.
The series takes a critical and honest look at the royal family, and it’s hard to tell if the creator, Peter Morgan, respects them, mistrusts them, or is simply glad not to be them. It’s a beautifully produced show with impeccable costuming, music, and dialogue, and its slow-moving depiction of life surprises you with moments of levity and tragedy.
The Good Fight (2017-2022)
6 Seasons, 60 Episodes
The Good Fight is a spinoff and standalone sequel to The Good Wife. The first episode of the show premiered on CBS, but the rest of the series went to CBS All Access, which later became Paramount+. The series stars Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, whose savings are wiped out after she is the victim of a massive financial scam.
Diane and her protégé Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) are forced out of their law firm and end up joining a prestigious, African American-owned law firm in Chicago. The series deals with very relevant social and cultural issues, including BLM, the alt-right, MeToo, and Trump-era politics.
Slow Horses (2022-Present)
6 Seasons, 36 Episodes
Apple TV’s Slow Horses is one of the best modern spy thriller shows you can find on streaming. The series follows the MI5 agents assigned to Slough House, a desk reserved for agents who have messed up in some major way but who can’t be fired for one reason or another. Banished is a better term for what happens to agents sent to Slough House.
The desk is run by Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), a lazy, cruel, angry agent who is far, far too talented to be relegated to Slough House, but enjoys not working and making everyone else’s lives’ miserable. It’s a brilliant series with standout performances, with a perfect sense of how to balance competing comedic and dramatic tones.
Reacher (2022-Present)
6 Seasons, 32+ Episodes
Reacher has been renewed through season 6, so I think it’s ok to put it on this list. Based on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novel series, Prime Video’s Reacher finally does justice to the character. One of the best casting decisions of the 2020s is selecting the barrel-chested Alan Ritchson as the hulking Jack Reacher.
The streaming series wears its heart on its sleeve, and is never afraid to choose the option that’s the most fun, even if it isn’t the most believable. Like in the books, Reacher is ex-military police who becomes a drifter, going town to town and helping out the people in need who he finds there.
