Wonder Woman 1984 was one of the biggest new releases to make its debut on a streaming service when it debuted Christmas Day on HBO Max. The film didn’t have the best box office showing for a number of reasons, starting with a pandemic and its simultaneous release on a streaming service.
The film’s director, Patty Jenkins, has publicly called that release after a lengthy delay “heartbreaking,” and that apparently wasn’t the only criticism of streaming and movies made for that platform. Jenkins spoke at length about Wonder Woman and the current state of movies, and she had much more to say about movies that were meant for streaming first.
“All of the films that streaming services are putting out, I’m sorry, they look like fake movies to me,” Jenkins said. “I don’t hear about them, I don’t read about them. It’s not working as a model for establishing legendary greatness.”
Seeing a huge blockbuster filmed in IMAX get pushed to HBO Max due to global catastrophe can’t be easy, but the comments may come across to some as sour grapes. There is certainly a difference in quality for some movies made exclusively for streaming, of course, but that’s not been the case with HBO Max releases thanks to Warners. Still, Jenkins certainly caused a stir as her comments made the rounds once again on Thursday.
There are plenty of good TV series on Netflix. Too many, in fact.
It’s a good problem to have but if mindlessly scrolling through streaming platforms is taking up too much of your time these days, and, well, we’re here to help. We’ve curated over 65 of the best shows on Netflix right now (including some of the best Netflix original series) and we’ll be updating them regularly, adding new seasons, removing expired titles, and dropping the latest offerings you’ll want to add to your queue. If the goal is to constantly be binge-watching great TV, you’re in the right place.
Even if you didn’t catch the original films, you’ll probably still enjoy this series which picks up 30-something years after that infamous Karate Tournament with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) deciding his path to redemption involves opening up a dojo, reigniting his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). It’s much better than it has any right to be.
Intimate, funny, warm, and kind, Master of None confidently tackles issues of sex and race from a perspective original to mainstream television. Creator, writer, and star Aziz Ansari loads the sitcom with smart observations and wry humor, and when it comes to dating as a thirty-something, Ansari just gets it. Sweet, sentimental, but never sappy, the mold-breaking Master of None may be the most thoughtful and well-considered dating sitcom on television.
The first creation to come from Netflix’s partnership with prolific TV show creator Shonda Rhimes is this Regency Era romance series that flouts tradition and goes all-in on sex, fashion, and instrumental covers of today’s biggest pop hits. It’s a bit campy, but the talent of its fairly unheard-of cast (especially leads Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor) and the refreshing diversity of its characters more than makes up for it. Warning: You will binge this thing in one sitting. Set aside the appropriate amount of time now.
Intimate, funny, warm, and kind, Master of None confidently tackles issues of sex and race from a perspective original to mainstream television. Creator, writer, and star Aziz Ansari loads the sitcom with smart observations and wry humor, and when it comes to dating as a thirty-something, Ansari just gets it. Sweet, sentimental, but never sappy, the mold-breaking Master of None may be the most thoughtful and well-considered dating sitcom on television.
In the early 2010s, you couldn’t have a conversation about favorite TV shows without someone in your friend group mentioning Downton Abbey. The British series about the inner workings of an aristocratic English family and their manner full of servants became the biggest thing to invade America from across the pond since The Beatles. Watching the crusty Crawley family navigate historic events like the sinking of the Titanic and the First World War while their servants dealt in gossip, intrigue, and scandal below stairs was as entertaining and juicy as any good British drama should be.
You don’t need to love chess to get obsessed with this drama from Scott Frank. That’s because the board game is just the setting, the battlefield where all the real maneuverings and suspense take place. Anya-Taylor Joy and her mesmerizing stare are front and center here as she plays Beth Harmon, an orphan and chess prodigy whose quest for greatness is only eclipsed by her life-destroying addictions. It’s a coming-of-age story wrapped disguised behind pawns and Sicilian defense tactics and it’s one of the most captivating, thrilling series to land on the streamer in a long time.
Even though this sports-centric docuseries was just released earlier this year, it already feels like a defining entry into the genre. That’s because over the course of 10 episodes, this show peers behind the curtain of one of the biggest sports dynasties in history: The Chicago Bulls, but it doesn’t take the path you might expect. The battles off the court, the complicated player relationships, the media’s influence, and the backdoor dealings of executives within the organization all come into play here, but the most gripping part of this series is how it humanizes a God-like figure in basketball for the generations that grew up in his shadow.
Netflix is giving this true-crime series a reboot which is good news for all the murder mystery junkies out there. UFOs, missing husbands, and a murderous French count still on the run are the highlights of the show’s first six episodes. Get your sleuth hats ready.
James Brolin narrates this surprisingly heartfelt DC comic adaptation from Robert Downey Jr.’s producing team. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where human hybrids are being born and no one really knows why. Of course, that makes them targets and we follow one little boy’s journey, a half-human, half-deer hybrid named Gus as he tries to uncover the truth about his past.
Has there ever been a sitcom as downright clever as Community? Aside from the gas leak year, Community was quicker than nearly every other comedy out there, with jokes flying fast but also taking seasons to reach a punchline. After getting caught with a phony degree, former lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) heads to Greendale Community College to get a legitimate degree. There he gets into increasingly hilarious hijinks with his Spanish study group. Between paintball wars, zombie outbreaks, and the increasingly ridiculous presence of Senor Chang (Ken Jeong), Community is never, ever boring. Quit living in the darkest timeline and get to watching.
Comedian Mae Martin stars in this feel-good dramedy series about a stand-up performer (named Mae), who falls for a young woman named George. Mae’s a recovering addict; George has just emerged from the closet. Sparks fly between the two, but Mae’s past drug use and George’s reluctance to come out to her friends and family threatens to break them up.
There are stories too bizarre, too mind-boggling to be true… and then there’s this seven-part docuseries. Cults, queer romance, exotic cats — this true-crime binge has it all. Is Joe Exotic, a gay, gun-loving conman running an exotic zoo out of his home in Oklahoma, a criminal or an American hero? Did animal rights activist Carole Baskin murder her husband and feed him to her tigers? Why are so many zoo employees missing limbs? These are just a few of the questions you’ll ask while watching this train wreck. Have fun, kids.
Good news: Narcos is back. Even better news: Mexico is basically an entirely revamped show, which means you don’t need to be familiar with past installments to enjoy the wild ride. Diego Luna plays the new big bad, a drug lord looking to expand his reach, while Michael Pena plays the fed tasked with busting his operation. Luna looks to be thoroughly enjoying playing the sleazeball gangster-type, and since this installment is set in the 1980s, expect plenty of decadence, a killer soundtrack, and a ton of cocaine.
Henry Cavill leads this fantasy epic based on a best-selling series of books and a popular video game franchise. The expectations are high, but they’re more than exceeded by Cavill, who plays a mutated monster hunter named Geralt. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich laid out for us the changes she made from page to screen, introducing key characters like the sorceress Yennefer and the destined princess Ciri early on, changes that take this show to the next level. It’s a cross between a police procedural and a Lord Of The Rings-style adventure. You’ll love it.
The only thing better than a series starring Paul Rudd is a show starring two Paul Rudds. The funnyman leads this new original series while playing a man named Miles, who seems pretty dissatisfied with his life so far. After agreeing to participate in a mysterious spa treatment that promises a better, more successful life, Miles is left with a practically perfect doppelganger intent on taking his life from him. It’s dark and weird, and did we mention the two Paul Rudds?
Director Ava DuVernay’s limited series about the wrongfully accused men in the Central Park Five case is an emotionally heavy reimagining of a truly tragic event in our history. The series sheds light on racial profiling and corruption in the NYPD as a group of young Black men are targeted for a heinous crime and put on trial with little evidence. It’s a gripping, heartbreaking retelling, but one that feels sadly relevant.
Saturday Night Live and Detroiters alum Tim Robinson creates and stars in this 15-minute sketch comedy series that is perfectly happy to offer up a few irreverent laughs without all of the post-comedy commentary that weighs down other funny shows in 2019. It’s a mixed bag of unconnected stories about toddler pageants and old men out for revenge and how Instagram has warped our social interactions in hilariously bizarre ways. What each of these skits has in common is Robinson’s particular brand of comedy and his unrivaled ability to make you laugh.
Ali Wong and Tiffany Haddish voice the stars of this animated comedy from BoJack Horseman artist Lisa Hanawalt. Wong plays Bertie, a 30-something songbird thrush with debilitating anxiety, a knack for baking, and a truly toxic work environment. Haddish plays her best friend Tuca, a loud-mouthed toucan who loves to party and hates the thought of settling down. The friends try to hold on to their single days, even as Bertie takes the next step in her long-term relationship and Tuca struggles to find her place in the world. It’s a more colorful, comforting world than BoJack, but it’s got the same great humor and surprisingly-thoughtful musings.
Christina Applegate returns to TV with this grief-com about a woman trying to pick up the pieces after her husband is murdered in a horrible hit-and-run accident. Applegate plays the angry, grieving widow with equal parts humor and empathy while Linda Cardellini plays her sunny, optimistic best friend. The two meet in a grief group and navigate the challenges of moving on after loss while also solving a murder mystery. There’s no way you’ll know what to expect here, which is half the fun of watching and the show dispelled any worries that it couldn’t keep up its cliffhanger-heavy intrigue with a second season that saw Applegate and Cardellini involved in a new, just-as-illegal cover-up.
Natasha Lyonne stars in this Groundhog Day-from-hell remake about a woman who’s forced to relive the last day of her life over and over again. It’s been done before, but this series stands out thanks to its mix of dark humor and a tinge of the supernatural. Lyonne is one of the often-overlooked OITNB stars, but it looks like this series is giving her a chance to show off her comedic chops as her character, Nadia, endures a constant loop of partying, dying, then waking up to do it all over again. As bleak as the premise is, Lyonne manages to find a silver lining, a universal message that basically read, “The world is sh*t, let’s help each other out if we can.”
Superhero team-ups are a dime a dozen, but the TV adaptation of this award-winning comic series created by Gerard Way — yes, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance — feels wholly unique and thus, totally refreshing. The show follows the story of seven kids, all born on the same day to mothers who didn’t even know they were pregnant. They’re adopted by a mysterious billionaire and trained to use their supernatural abilities to fight evil in the world, but when they grow up, their dysfunctional upbringing catches up with them, and they’re left struggling to live normal lives. In season two, that means time-jumping to the 60s, starting doomsday cults, and seriously f*cking with the assassination of JFK. It’s all kinds of weird, which is exactly what the genre needs right now.
Kiernan Shipka stars in this witchy revival of a sitcom classic. This Sabrina Spellman is darker than what millennials are used to. As a half-mortal, half-witch, Spellman is an outcast with the magical community and the first season explores the cult-like fervor of magic users, their worship of Satan, and why Sabrina is being pressured to sign her name over to the Dark Lord. The show also tackles issues of romance, friendship, and sexism in clever, crafty ways with a season two storyline that put Sabrina in a darker version of Hogwarts and explores her familial ties to Lucifer. The show’s latest installment sees her teaming up with Satan’s mistress — that isn’t a dig, she’s literally working with Lilith — to balance her duties in hell with the pressures of teenage life. It’s all weird, gothic, Craft-like nonsense and it’s addicting to watch.
The UK’s most popular new drama has made its way across the pond. The procedural thriller stars Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden as David Budd, a military vet turned police officer tasked with protecting a high-profile politician during a, particularly dicey time. There’s plenty of suspense and action to string you along, coupled with a vulnerable performance by Madden, who ditches his King of the North swagger to play a man conflicted by his past and his present duty to his country.
Mike Flanagan knows how to do horror, and his latest series for Netflix, The Haunting of Hill House, is proof of that. The show, like the book off which it’s based, follows the fractured Crain family as they try to make peace with their dark and twisted path. Of course, through some carefully-timed flashbacks, we see why the Crain siblings are so messed up: They lived in a haunted house as children, a house that eventually caused the death of their mother. There are plenty of frights to keep horror fans interested in this thriller, but the real point of this show is investigating trauma and its lingering effects. Makes sense that horror is the best way to do that.
Not just the best series on Netflix, Breaking Bad is the best series of all time. There’s no debate about that. Unless you’ve caught onto the Better Call Saul hype. Then there might be a debate to be had. Still, this series proved what a dramatic powerhouse Bryan Cranston was and launched the b*tchin’ career of Aaron Paul, two good reasons to give it a re-watch — or a first watch. No judgment.
Not enough people on the Internet have explained that BoJack Horseman is not what it might seem like. Not enough people raved that it was an often very funny, often very heartbreaking meditation on depression. It’s an animated sitcom about a washed-up horse, and somehow, it’s also an incredibly profound look at deeper themes. It’s amazing, but it may also leave you in a depressive funk for days afterward. Its fourth season even placed it among our best TV shows of 2017, and it’s just never left that list, not in its fifth or final sixth season, which ended as poignantly and darkly funny as you’d expect it to.
A throwback and love letter to the early 1980s movies of Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter, the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things feels both familiar and new. It’s about a boy named Will (think E.T.‘s Elliot) who is captured by a The Thing-like creature and trapped in a Poltergeist-like world. His mother (Winona Ryder) recruits the local sheriff to investigate Will’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Will’s dorky, Goonies-like best friends take to their bikes to do some sleuthing of their own and eventually befriend an alien-like girl with telepathic powers (the E.T. of the series). Season two continued that vibe as the show dove deeper into government conspiracies and alien monsters intent on wreaking havoc on small-town Indiana while the show’s latest season let its magnetic young cast grow up a bit, giving them more complicated villains to fight and a Soviet conspiracy to uncover. It’s great PG horror/sci-fi, like the blockbusters of the early ’80s, and even if you didn’t come of age in the era, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Opening theme song or no, Netflix dropping this beloved teen drama is exactly what we need right now. Dawson’s Creek is the reason shows like The O.C., One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl even exist and yet somehow, it still feels fresh and timely. It gave us an epic love story, likable characters, Katie Holmes, an unhealthy obsession with a young Joshua Jackson, and of course, the James Van Der Beek crying meme that just keeps on giving.
AMC’s 80s-centric tech drama is a seasons-long look behind the invention of the World Wide Web and the tech boom that came to define that era. Lee Pace plays Joe MacMillan, a smooth-talking salesman who worms his way into more than a few tech ventures over the course of four seasons. He’s joined by a couple of married computer engineers and a gifted programmer (Mackenzie Davis) in his bid to control (and make money off) the invention of the internet. Even if the more technical aspects of this series fly over your head, watching this kind of tangible human drama play out amidst a backdrop of Silicon Valley start-ups is more than enough reason to watch.
The series lost some of the mystique it had gained after its cancellation because Netflix’s season four wasn’t to everyone’s satisfaction — though it flowers with repeat viewings, especially with the recut version of it. Arrested Development still stands as one of the funniest, most inventive, and most influential sitcoms of the generation however and it’s got an unbelievably watchable cast in Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Jessica Walter, and David Cross. Seriously, you can’t go wrong here.
One of the best original shows on Netflix, this prison dramedy is a deeply human, funny, moving, realistic, progressive show about life and the bad decisions we’re all destined to make. OITNB humanizes the dehumanized, transforms labels — felons, thieves, murderers, embezzlers — into real human beings and reminds us that, even in prison, life isn’t put on hold. Life is being led. It’s a remarkably excellent series, and addictive as hell.
In its first season, Better Call Saul quickly put to rest any fears anyone might have had about a spin-off from arguably the greatest drama of all time, Breaking Bad (which sits atop this list). Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould return as showrunners, and they continue to bring the same level of complexity, intensity, and character development to Saul as they did for Breaking Bad. What’s most remarkable about the series, however, is that they managed to transform the Saul character into someone humane and sympathetic while staying true to the same character in the original series. Indeed, Saul is the most detail oriented and perhaps the smartest show on television, and one hell of an intense, suspenseful drama, which is all the more impressive because we know roughly where it will end up.
Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology on FX is an unpredictable tour-de-force that, when it sticks its landing, is one of the best shows on TV. The series chronicles truly terrifying, mind-warping plots across multiple seasons, connecting some, ignoring others. What grounds these outrageous storylines involving haunted hotels, murder houses, insane asylums, cults, and covens is the cast, most notably Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, and Evan Peters. Murphy relies on their visceral portrayals of individuals unhinged to sell this whacky, nightmare-inducing rollercoaster and sell they do.
At first glance, this bodice-ripper from Starz reads like the television adaptation of a dime-store paperback romance novel. It’s got time travel, sexy Scottish men in kilts, an arranged marriage, even a bit of witchcraft. But the show, starring Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, elevates itself beyond those tropes, touching on everything from love and loss to the politics behind some of history’s most infamous conflicts. From the highlands to the French court and eventually the New World, the series delivers awe-inducing visuals, career-making performances, and the kind of drama to keep you hooked.
Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers have created something truly unique with their riff on our culture’s obsession with docu-style TV series. The SNL alums mock the stylistic choices and subjects of other shows of its ilk, with episodes dedicated to everything from Grey Gardens to The Thin Blue Line. And the guestlist for this thing is unbelievable.
In Mindhunter, Jonathan Groff plays Holden Ford, a character based on the real-life John E. Douglas (the inspiration for Jack Crawford in the Hannibal series). The series itself is based on the origins of an actual behavioral science unit in the FBI used to study serial killers in the 1970s and 80s. Ford is a young FBI Agent who takes a keen interest in psychology which, in turn, grows into an interest in the psychology of sequential killers. It’s a fascinating exploration into the origins of what now seems commonplace, a science that has inspired dozens of police procedurals. What’s more interesting here, however, is that while Ford is studying serial killers (all of whom are based on actual serial killers from that era), Ford develops his own obsession with serial-killers that mirrors the obsession serial killers have with their victims. It’s engrossing and fascinating. The series comes from Joe Penhall and executive producer David Fincher (who also directs several episodes), and fans of Fincher’s Zodiac will appreciate Mindhunter for its same attention to detail, and the same dedication to character and research over surprising twists and reveals.
This Tina Fey-produced sitcom — which was originally supposed to air on NBC before the network agreed to give it to Netflix — is as dense and irreverent as 30 Rock, but it’s also immensely life-affirming. It’s funny, fast-paced, chock-full of pop-culture references and maybe the easiest Netflix original series to binge-watch. And, like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt also includes a lot of fun — and unexpected — celebrity cameos and pop culture references throughout its four seasons.
The Walking Dead is an up-and-down show. When it’s good, it’s phenomenal; when it’s not, it can be a slog (especially in the earlier half of the series, when Frank Darabont was showrunner). Greg Nicotero does fantastic work, and the series is particularly compelling because no one — no matter how high they are listed in the credits — is safe from the zombie apocalypse. Some of the binge-watching value, however, is lost because it’s so difficult to avoid being spoiled to plot points of one of the most talked-about series on TV. Nevertheless, unlike almost any television drama, up until the sixth season, The Walking Dead improved with age, Beware of the cliffhangers, however, in season six, and a precipitous fall off in quality thereafter.
Although the original trial took place 20 years ago, and despite the fact that anyone watching the series already knows the outcome, The People vs. O.J. Simpson somehow remains a tense, suspenseful watch. Buoyed by incredible performances (the season was nominated for over 20 Emmy Awards, winning 8), The People vs. O.J. Simpson recreates the events following the murder of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson and recasts them in the light of what we know now. In its second season, the shows moves focus on the assassination of design legend Gianni Versace by Andrew Cunanan. While not as strong as the amazing ensemble in Season 1, Season 2 boasts memorable portrayals of conflicted, complex figures by Darren Criss, Penelope Cruz, Édgar Ramírez, and (surprisingly) Ricky Martin.
Few comedians are as influential to the world of stand-up and sketch comedy as Dave Chappelle is but it’s been a minute since the icon headlined his own series. If watching his kill it on SNL recently got you jonesing for more Chappelle characters on screen, then revisiting this variety series that really cemented Chappelle’s status as a comedy legend is a must.
Packed full of hairspray, ’80s nostalgia, leotards, and neon eyeshadow, GLOW surprised us all with a comedy about a group of unconventional women wrestling with stereotypes in and out of the ring. Led by Alison Brie and Marc Maron, the show is both a subversive commentary on issues of gender equality and sexism, and a raucous imagining of what goes on behind the scenes of an adult women’s wrestling league. In other words, it’s a damn good time. Brie carries the series, playing a struggling actress forced to take a “role” in this televised nonsense, but she’s by no means a heroine. In fact, it’s her battle to find her character and herself (while making amends for her bad behavior along the way) that’s so entertaining. Well, that and some good ol’ fashioned body slamming. Season two focuses the spotlight on the supporting cast as the women ready for their television debuts and contend with sexual harassment and misogyny in the workplace and the show’s third season felt like it was setting up a satisfying conclusion to the rich story these women share. Unfortunately, it looks like the pandemic has taken that away from us too.
Riverdale is a dark teen comedy based on characters from the Archie comics. It mixes in elements of a conventional teen drama — romance, small-town life, and the high-school ecosystem — with a compelling, adult murder mystery. The series takes place in a small-town with a 1950s vibe (despite being firmly set in the present) where a high-school teenager is found dead under mysterious circumstances that implicate much of the community as suspects. Riverdale is powered not just by the mystery, but by characters who are instantly likable (Betty, Veronica, and Jughead are all standouts) and easy to invest in. The mystery is so incredibly intriguing that it’s almost impossible not to get wrapped up in it as the storyline guides us through numerous red herrings. It’s a madly addictive series, occasionally campy, and just self-aware enough not to take itself too seriously.
5 seasons, 22 episodes + interactive film | IMDb: 8.8/10
It cannot be stressed enough how amazing Britain’s Black Mirror is. It’s severely biting social commentary about the current and future technological age in the form of twisted, dark Twilight Zone episodes. It’s an incredible (and incredibly short) five seasons of television, and episode for episode, perhaps the best series on this list boasting a wide-ranging list of talent and digging into some heavy sh*t with increasingly futuristic sci-fi storytelling. Trust us, one episode, and you’ll be hooked.
Netflix’s original series Dear White People builds on the foundations laid by Spike Lee’s drama of the same name. The show kicks off during the aftermath of an event that happened in the film – a blackface party held by a white fraternity on a fictional college campus. Sam, a radio personality and student at the school, covers the fallout for her listeners and serves as a pseudo-narrator to all the goings-on at school. There are brief moments of humor and plenty of satire, but watching these kids deal with racist learning institutions and police brutality and ignorance from the privileged peers feels uncomfortable real and relevant. It’s a must-watch, not only because the acting is superb, and the storylines are rich, but because you’ll probably learn something you didn’t know but should.
Omar Sy stars in this gripping, deliciously fun mystery thriller about a man hell-bent on revenge. Sy plays Assane Diop, a master thief who seeks payback when his father’s wealthy employer accuses him of stealing a valuable diamond necklace. Assane’s dad commits suicide because of the shame, but the con-man decides to wreak havoc on his enemy’s life, inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by Maurice Leblanc in the early 1900s.
Exec produced by Steven Soderbergh and written, directed, and created by Scott Frank, who wrote Logan and Out of Sight, Godless, is equal parts a feminist Western and s a show about fathers and sons. The series is set in the 1880s in the small mining town of La Belle, where nearly all of the town’s men have died in a mining accident. Enter Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), a charming gunslinger on the run from the mentor he double-crossed, Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels), who — along with his crew out desperadoes — had already murdered everyone in another small town for harboring Goode. The series ultimately pits a town of mostly women against a brutal, merciless outlaw gang. Scoot McNairy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Sam Waterston play lawmen, but the standouts in Godless are Downton Abby‘s nearly unrecognizable shotgun wielding pioneer woman Michelle Dockery and Merritt Wever, a bisexual woman all out of f–ks to give. It’s a tremendously good series buoyed by beautiful cinematography, poetic language, a few great shoot-outs, and fine performances from the entire cast. It’s one of the best Netflix series of 2017.
Daredevil is unquestionably the best superhero series of all time. It has the addictive qualities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s darker and more intense than any of those films. It’s harsh, with brutal eye-popping fight sequences. It has an excellent cast (led by Charlie Cox as the title character) with tons of chemistry, and nails the tone of the source material. It’s a shame Marvel’s deal with Netflix ended because the show’s third season was a masterclass in how to act like a tortured hero from Cox and it set up some interesting storylines we’re still dying to see play out.
The animated, coming-of-age comedy from Nick Kroll is full of familiar voices and even more familiar life problems. Centered on a group of pre-pubescent friends, Kroll voices a younger version of himself, a kid named Andrew who’s going through some embarrassing life changes like inconvenient erections and strange wet dreams and bat-mitzvah meltdowns. All these traumatizing and hilarious happenings are usually caused by Maurice, Andrew’s own Hormone Monster (also voiced by Kroll) who takes pleasure (literally) in abusing the poor kid. As painfully accurate as the show is, if you’re lucky enough to be removed from that angst-ridden era of life, you’ll probably appreciate the humor in all of it.
As an episodic series, Jessica Jones occasionally falters in its three seasons-run but it always provides an unfiltered, refreshingly honest look at trauma, its aftermath, and choosing to do better. Jones is a private detective with certain special powers, but the series doesn’t put her P.I. talents to much use, instead focusing on one storyline surrounding the big bad, Kilgrave (David Tennant) for the show’s first season before pivoting to flesh out the character’s backstory and family ties in its two follow-up installments. Still, it’s a captivating, thematically-rich series that covers ground no other superhero series would dare to explore, and while that doesn’t make it the most entertaining Marvel series, it is the bravest and most unique among the Netflix originals.
In theory, American Vandal sounds silly and sophomoric, and it is, but it’s also a genuinely brilliant, incredibly clever, smartly written satire of true-crime documentaries. It plays just like any other true crime docuseries — interviews, investigations, multiple suspects, and numerous conspiracy theories — only the crime here is not a murder. In its first season, it’s a high-school student who has been accused by the school board of spray painting dicks on 27 cars, a crime that threatens his ability to graduate. It’s a brilliant whodunnit that just happens to also be the best parody of 2017, and it even took home a Peabody Award. The show’s follow-up season trades dick picks for explosive diarrhea which is just as fun, if not ten times as gross.
Maybe the wittiest, pop-culture rich drama ever, Gilmore Girls has nevertheless managed to hold up incredibly well over the years. It’s a great show to watch with a new generation of television viewers, it’s a great show to watch while bingeing on food, and it’s a great show to re-watch many times. The relationship between single mother Lorelai and her daughter, Rory, never gets old.
A young boy is found dead in a seemingly idyllic small town, and the detectives charged with solving the case turn up twist after twist in tracking down the murderer. Despite its familiar premise (see also: Twin Peaks, The Killing), Broadchurch relies on its ensemble cast — specifically the impeccable David Tennant and Olivia Colman — to keep viewers caring after each red herring is tossed back into the ocean. The first series centers on the hunt for the killer while the second is on both the suspect’s trial and a reopened case from the past, but they both don’t let up in intrigue. A word of warning, though: This isn’t one of those TV dramas you should binge even if you want to. It gets heavy and emotionally exhausting, and unrestrained streaming kinda negates the effect of the show’s mysteries.
Set in the afterlife, The Good Place sees a lazy, entitled selfish, Arizona woman Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) enter into “Heaven” only to discover that — due to a mixup — she was incorrectly assigned. With the help of her new friends and, Shellstrop endeavors to be a better person and earn her place in Heaven. In the early goings, the high-concept premise feels like it’s going to run out of runway, but Mike Schur (Parks and Recreation) continually finds new directions to take the show and the characters, as the show humorously and sweetly tackles an array of moral dilemmas before arriving at a surprising twist ending. It’s a charming, clever and delightful series with a freshly-imagined approached that only improves as the season progresses and new wrinkles are explored, while Ted Danson is his usual remarkable self. It’s a fantastic comedy, one of the best TV shows on network television in recent years.
The long-running Showtime series understands better than any other drama on television what it’s like to be poor in America. Set in Chicago, Shameless follows the lives of the Gallagher family as they struggle beneath the poverty line to make ends meet. The family is afflicted with alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, poor decision-making skills, and the kind of terrible luck that so often follows poor families, but they’ve also got each other, their resilience, and a determination to break the cycle, but in Shameless, impoverishment is the boogeyman that always comes back, hilariously and heartbreakingly.
Another British import, Peaky Blinders is roughly the Netflix UK equivalent of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, taking place in the same time period and covering similar terrain. Peaky has one thing that Boardwalk does not, however, and that’s the piercing, intense Cillian Murphy. The show also features Tom Hardy as a phenomenal recurring character debuting in season two (along with Noah Taylor) and it manages to seamlessly blend roughly-accented melodrama with historical events so everything feels timely and modern.
At once intimate and sweeping, The Crown presents an inside view of the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II, played by Claire Foy, and the first few years of her reign. John Lithgow is featured as the indomitable Winston Churchill, struggling with the ignominy of age at the end of his career. Churchill’s support and mentorship of Elizabeth, despite his limitations, creates an important emotional center around which various historical events turn. Elizabeth’s relationship with her husband, Prince Phillip (Matt Smith) is also wonderfully explored; his role as consort is one that he by turns delights in and rebels against. And because the show has committed to exploring Elizabeth’s length reign, we’re treated to different versions of these characters throughout their lives. In season 3, Olivia Colman picks up the crown while Tobias Menzies plays Prince Phillip and Helena Bonham Carter comes on board as Princess Margaret.
The Great British Bake Off (and this slightly retitled American version) is guilty pleasure binge material for so many that it’s no wonder it shows up here. If I watch other cooking shows to travel to exotic places and vicariously experience strange foods, GBBS is kind of the opposite of that. Its strength is that it’s goofily charming. And we’ve become so accustomed to camera-hogging reality villains and performative not-here-to-make-friendsing that a show featuring charming grandmas and shy Brits is really a breath of fresh air. It almost works more like a mockumentary than a cooking show.
Based on a Spanish telenovela, Jane the Virgin plays more like a brilliant but genial satire of conventional telenovelas. Gina Rodriguez plays the virgin here, who is impregnated through an accidental artificial insemination. Matters are complicated, however, because she has to break the news of her pregnancy to her deeply religious family, as well as her fiancé, with whom she has never had sex. Jane also develops feelings for another man who just so happens to be the baby’s father. It sounds like a premise that could not sustain itself beyond 5 episodes, but the writing is so good and the characters so delightful that Jane never gets bogged down by its premise. It’s a genuinely delightful, heartwarming show, and Gina Rodriguez lights up the screen every second she is on it.
Fox’s comedy about a quirky girl who moves in with three male roommates quickly evolved from a pretty straightforward premise to become one of the best shows on TV. Zooey Deschanel plays Jess, a teacher who’s forced to room with three other guys, Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Winston (Lamorne Morris) after she discovers her boyfriend’s been cheating on her. For the next seven seasons, the gang grows to become close friends — getting married, having babies, experiencing sympathy PMS, and getting stuck in Mexico, among other disasters. Still, it’s the chemistry between the four mains that makes every outlandish episode work.
House Of Cards, Netflix’s first major foray into original programming, is worth every cent of its $100 million production budget, featuring searing performances, a droll sense of humor, slick writing, engrossing plot-lines, and Kevin Spacey chewing the face off the scenery. The first season is phenomenal, but the show rapidly goes downhill with some sparks of life in scattered seasons, with the final season focused on Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood being cluttered at best.
A musical series about a woman who leaves her prestigious job in Manhattan to follow an ex-boyfriend to a small town in California, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is like no other show on a show on television. The premise is not unlike that of Felicity, but the tone is unique: Quirky and hilarious on the surface, but dark and subversive underneath. As co-creator (along with Aline Brosh McKenna) and star, Golden Globe winner Rachel Bloom provides catchy songs with irreverent lyrics that offer dark meditations on depression, insecurity, and the challenges of balancing careers and love lives. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is funny, feminist and infectious.
Once the Wachowskis’ underappreciated sci-fi series establishes its characters, there’s at least one profoundly moving moment in every episode. Sense8 is rich with brilliant ideas, and, though they’re not always executed with perfect logic, the chemistry between the characters is undeniable. It’s impossible not to root for them, to feel and experience their ups and downs, their confusion and heartbreak, and, most of all, their love. The Wachowskis first foray into television is at once romantic, life-affirming, and thought-provoking.
It’s rare that older women get a chance to shine on a half-hour comedy series, but if your stars happen to be Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, you’d be insane not to have all the action center on them. Grace and Frankie follows the pair as they discover that their husbands have been carrying on an affair with each other. The news throws life into chaos, forcing Grace and Frankie to room together and pick up the pieces. Along the way, there are family squabbles, online dating drama, and a battle over the ladies’ organic lube company but at the heart of the show are these two women who bond after a devastating ordeal and support one another during a time of change and growth. Did we mention organic lube? There’s that, too.
Travelers is a sci-fi series co-produced by Netflix and a Canadian television network Showcase starring Eric McCormick (Will & Grace). It’s a light sci-fi drama about people from hundreds of years in the future whose consciences are sent back to the present day to take the place of others who are already about to die. They’re sent back, a la Terminator, to prevent a bleak future from taking place. In the present day, this group of people is tasked with missions to prevent the future dystopia from happening, but they also have to acclimate into the lives of their host bodies. It is a quintessential Netflix show: Easy-to-binge, madly addictive, fun as hell, and immediately engrossing. While it certainly borrows heavily from other sci-fi shows and movies, it does an excellent job of shaking it up and bringing fresh life to the genre.
A remake of a 1970s sitcom produced by 94-year-old iconic television producer Norman Lear, One Day at a Time manages to not only match its predecessor but miraculously improve upon it. This new version centers on a Cuban America family headed by a single mom (Justina Machado) raising three kids with the help of her mom (Rita Moreno). It’s broad jokes and laugh track feels somewhat out of place on the streaming service, but the jokes still land and more importantly, the characters connect in an honest way as they attempt to live on a modest nurse’s salary and maintain their Cuban heritage while adapting to modern progressivism (much like Fresh Off the Boat). It’s more poignant sitcom than it is funny, but it’s a warm, loving look at difficulties of single parenting that resonates as much today as it did in the ’70s.
Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara star in this Canadian sitcom about a wealthy family forced to scale down their extravagant lifestyle with hilarious results. Levy plays Johnny Rose, a rich video-store magnate who loses his fortune when his business manager fails to pay his taxes. O’Hara plays his wife, Moira, a former soap opera star who, along with her husband and their two pampered children, must move to a town called Schitt’s Creek. The show finally started to get the critical attention it deserved in later seasons so rest assured, the quality of humor and storytelling never drops with this one — nor does the outlandish verbiage of its leading lady.
Ryan Murphy’s fashionable ’80s drama imagines the rise of the world of ball culture. Murphy focuses on warring houses in the scene, painting a myriad of queer portraits about gays, lesbians, and trans warriors, forging their own path amidst bigotry and hatred in New York City. There’s couture, there are catfights, and there’s plenty of vogueing, but there’s also nuanced, heartfelt portrayals of figures who paved the way for the acceptance of this fringe community.
Vampire roommates, a star-studded murder mystery, and several new installments of currently running TV shows. The streaming game belongs to Hulu this week as the indisputable champion of several genres. The service offers a new series starring Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, which will appeal to so many target audiences that it’s incredible. In addition, Hulu has the return of FX’s What We Do In The Shadows along with a John Cena comedy and Nicole Kidman’s new show about a wellness resort gone very wrong. New episodes of Reservation Dogs and Archer and American Horror Story: Double Feature in one place mean that there’s no contending with the king.
Meanwhile, Netflix continues to stack the coffers high, too, even if they don’t have the highest profile selections of the moment. Don’t count out Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, or HBO Max this week, either. Here’s the best of the new streaming selections for this weekend.
Hulu
Hulu
Only Murders In The Building: Season 1 (Hulu series) — Only a few short years ago, Selena Gomez stood awkwardly in a designer gown alongside t-shirt clad co-stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James at a photocall, and let’s just say that her current co-stars would never. Here, she stars alongside the legendary Steve Martin and Martin Short, and the three portray NYC neighbors who aim to unravel an apparent murder inside their apartment building. Yes, they’re all podcasting because everyone does it (duh), and before long, the killer might be after them, too. Martin hasn’t written a feature film since the Pink Panther movies and Shopgirl, and I don’t wanna come out and call this trio a “much cooler Three Amigos” update, but Martin wrote that, too, so why not?
What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 10:00 & 10:30pm) — Well, well, well. Guillermo turned out to be a vampire killer, which sure as heck came as a surprise to Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo, and Colin. The four Staten Island roommates must figure out how to handle this conundrum, along with tackling the other challenges of this season. Those include dealing with wellness cults and gym culture, along with gargoyles, werewolves who play kickball, casinos, and more. In addition, the vamps also receive a higher level of powers while Nandor experiences an eternal-life crisis, which forces him to examine whether he should be a bachelor for eternity or embrace love.
Vacation Friends (Hulu film) — If you can’t get enough of John Cena’s entry into mainstream movies, then this will be a raw, raunchy treat for you. The WWE star portrays a party guy who shows up uninvited at a wedding of former “vacation friends,” who happen to be a mild-mannered couple portrayed by Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji. Enjoy the chaos, and let’s all be thankful that romantic-esque, Frat Pack-esque comedies still exist for us to enjoy for a much needed break from reality. This film’s directed by Silicon Valley‘s Clay Tarver, who also co-writes here.
Archer (FXX, 10:00pm) — Season 12 continues with a trip down memory lane for Malory while it’s British history time for Pam during a voyage across the pond.
American Horror Story: Double Feature (FX, 10:00pm) — Alma takes matters into her own hands while Harry meets up with an unexpected visitor, who’s attracted by his newfound talent.
Reservation Dogs: (FX on Hulu) — Taika Waititi’s FX on Hulu followup to What We Do in the Shadows brings us a comedy series that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the lead quartet in this show rocks suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, yet they’re four Indigenous teens who fight crime and also commit it. The show (which has some Atlanta vibes) was shot in and near Okmulgee, Oklahoma (the home of the Muskogee Creek tribal headquarters) — where excitement is lacking. Not for long, though. This week, Cheese is doing the ride-along thing.
Nine Perfect Strangers: Nicole Kidman’s one of several A-listers who’ve made themselves at home on the so-called “small screen” in recent years, and after a few Emmys and a Golden Globe for Big Little Lies and a Globe nomination for The Undoing, she’s not done yet. She portrays a wellness guru that might remind you of certain celebrities who shill bizarre products and claim that they’ll change your life with a dash of snake oil. Yes, the Paddington villain is here to shake up your little world again.
Netflix
Netflix
Worth (Netflix film) — This based-on-true-events movie follows the inception of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, as led by a Congress-appointed attorney, Kenneth Feinberg, who’s portrayed by Michael Keaton. He’s up against an antagonistic Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), who’s in mourning of his own accord and must come to grips with the value of compassion. Amy Ryan plays Feinberg’s most powerful executive attorney, and overall, the film examines how humans must come together to recognize the power of empathy.
Q-Force: Season 1 (Netflix series) — A misfit gathering of LGBTQ+ intelligence-agency geniuses come together at the behest of Steve Maryweather, AKA Agent Mary. He came out as gay within the American Intelligence Agency (AIA), only to be relegated to West Hollywood, where he showed everyone what happens when a fired-up agent goes rogue. Eventually, the whole Q-Force transforms into Active Secret Agents status, but first, they’re tasked with dealing with Agent Buck, a straight-dude within their ranks.
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (Netflix docuseries) — This five-part docuseries marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with a timely examination of the War in Afghanistan and what, exactly, really led the war on terror to our current moment in history. Expect interviews from U.S. military veterans and Afghanistan National Army soldiers, along with Taliban commanders, and government officials from both the U.S. and the Afghan government. As well, 9/11 survivor voices will reverberate as the world continues to reflect upon how that day altered the globe forever.
UNTOLD: Crime & Penalties (Netflix film) — A trash magnate who’s in deep with the mob decides to buy a hockey team as a gift for his teenage son, who’s obsessed with The Mighty Ducks. This really happened in 2004 at the hand of Jimmy Galante — allegedly the inspiration for The Sopranos — who launched the Trashers team in Connecticut. Somehow, hockey collides here with pro wrestling, and everything went off the rails to the point where the FBI had to shut things down.
Sparking Joy: Season 1 (Netflix series) — Marie Kondo’s here to help you throw out your sh*t with abandon and transform your life in the process. This time, though, Kondo’s moving past home organization and into businesses and relationships, in order to prove that throwing out your sh*t can have surprising results throughout all facets in life. She’ll also give us a glimpse into her own family life, which hopefully will have a slight touch of messiness to offer? You gotta live a little, Kondo.
Afterlife of the Party (Netflix film) — Victoria Justice portrays a social butterfly who dies during her birthday week, and she unexpectedly receives a second chance to make things right in order to secure her position (according to the Netflix synopsis) “into the big VIP room in the sky.”
How To Be A Cowboy (Netflix series) — Dale Brisby is, uh, keeping cowboy traditions alive through… the power of social media. Alright!
Apple TV+
Apple TV+
See: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Apple TV+’s See helped launch the tech giant’s streaming service less than two years ago, and the show was so wild and wooly that it worked. Jason Momoa’s back in fur coats and in warrior mode as Baba Voss. This season, he’s antagonized by Dave Bautista, which should add enough drama to keep the (somewhat silly) story alive, in a world where no one can see, but everyone is beautiful to look at from an audience standpoint. One of those sighted miracle-twins needs rescuing, so that propels much of the action early this season, but mostly, it’s all about clashing egos and warring beards. A good time, in other words.
Truth Be Told: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Octavia Spencer and Kate Hudson star in this show about a true-crime podcaster who achieves notoriety, although everything comes back to bite her in the butt after someone that she helped to convict was, well, wrongfully convicted. In this season, Spencer’s podcaster (Poppy) launches a new case that’s deeply personal, given that it involves Hudson’s media mogul (Micah), and soon enough, their friendship may be on the line, along with their reputations.
Ted Lasso: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — First thing’s first: Everyone who’s caught a glimpse of this Bill Lawrence co-created and developed series loves it. That’s a notable feat, considering that star Jason Sudeikis first portrayed the title character way back in 2013 for NBC Sports’ promos for Premier League coverage. Fast forward to the fresh hell that was 2020, and the show surfaced as one of the year’s lone bright spots. Ted Lasso is somehow both relentlessly and charmingly cheery, although there’s always the spectre of Led Tasso to consider.
Disney+
Disney+
Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (Disney+ film) — Billie Eilish headlines this concert film that follows her newest album, Happier Than Ever, with an intimate performance from the Hollywood Bowl stage. Robert Rodriguez and Patrick Osbourne co-direct, and expect some dreamlike and animated elements as Eilish celebrates her Los Angeles roots with help from singer-songwriter FINNEAS.
Dug Days (Pixar series on Disney+) — Remember the tearjerking Up? Well, lovable dog Dug is back with a series of short features that take place in his very own backyard, and expect your heart-strings to be pulled, along with your funny bone. Your soul just might take off like a house attached to every balloon in the universe, too. Embrace it.
What If…? (Disney+ series) — We’re in the multiverse, baby. The MCU’s officially launching headfirst into that realm after Loki‘s season finale, and this show’s Twitter account clarified official participation as well. Enjoy this show full of alternate realities that stand separate from the existing canon (thus far), including Agent Carter taking the super-soldier serum, T’Challa materializing as Star Lord, and Black Widow and Nick Fury taking on a murder mystery while Tony Stark eats a donut. This week, Dr. Strange gets the tearjerking treatment.
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Cinderella (Amazon Prime film) — Pop star Camila Cabello stars in this slight reimagining of the classic fairytale. Expect all of the familiar beats, however, with the royal ball, attended ty the evil stepsisters, and a changed fortune for the orphaned main character. Co-stars include Idina Menzel, Billy Porter, Minnie Driver, James Corden (who can’t avoid a musical), and Pierce Freaking Brosnan. Don’t turn into a pumpkin; instead, put this into your queue.
Annette (Amazon Prime film) — Adam Driver’s singing into a vagina for some odd reason in this movie that includes the most outlandish of setups for reasons that don’t make complete sense. Yet Driver’s stand-up comedian is accompanied by Marion Cotillard’s opera singer, and the pair falls in love before giving birth to the title character, who is gifted beyond belief with an exceptional destiny. Expect an examination of passion and fame and everything in between.
AMC+
AMC
The Walking Dead: Season 11A (AMC series) — This zombie-apocalypse universe’s flagship series returns for one final rodeo with two spinoffs still in motion, so it’s time to wrap this puppy up before the various shows’ timelines begin to intersect. Negan’s no longer the show’s villain, Alpha’s been vanquished, and Carol’s about to split from the group. When one really thinks about all the careers that this show has bolstered (Steven Yeun, Dania Guerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, and so on), it’s impressive that Norman Reedus has stuck it out for the long haul, so Daryl and Carol must end this show by literally riding off into the sunset by motorcycle. We’ll accept nothing else.
HBO Max
HBO Max
The Other Two: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — Lorne Michaels of SNL fame executive produces this series that’s created, written, and also executive produced by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider (formerly co-head writers of SNL). The cast includes Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, Case Walker, Ken Marino, and Molly Shannon, and the plot follows a showbiz family, in which a 14-year-old pop star decides that it’s time to officially retire. Meanwhile, the family’s 53-year-old matriarch (Shannon) is enjoying ubiquity of her own, so “The Other Two” will do everything they can to shine as well.
Adventure Time: Distant Lands – Wizard City (HBO Max series) — The original series that ran on Cartoon Network receives another (fourth and final) one-hour special that gets dark while following Finn the Human and Jake the Dog throughout their land-of-Ooo life and times.
Sweet Life: Los Angeles: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — The WarnerMedia streaming service is keeping up with its summer of unscripted content that also includes The Hype and FBoy Island. In particular, this show follows a group of young, Black, and ambitious mid-20 somethings while they pursue dreams. Of course, those dreams not only happen to be professional but also involve loyalty and love. The quarter-life mark is a milestone unlike any other, and in South Los Angeles, this group of long-time friends comes together for a three-episode drop, which will be followed by more episodes running through September 2.
Samantha Bee already has her own self-titled show to handle on TBS, but the Full Frontal host has officially thrown her hat in the ring to become the next full-time host of Jeopardy! Well, kind of.
The former Comedy Central standout shared a Jeopardy! “audition” video on Thursday that saw her basically riff her way through a mostly not real attempt at taking the recently vacated job after Mike Richards resigned from the show in shame. But while Bee is enthusiastic about the gig, she may not have as much experience with the job as some others who served as guest host earlier in the year.
“There’s a category for four-letter words?” Bee asked at one point in the rapid-fire video. “Are you allowed to say f*ck on Jeopardy!?”
The video is a brief joke about the topsy-turvy ride the show has been on in recent weeks thanks to Richards, the once-crowned new host to follow Alex Trebek after his death. Richards has resigned in shame now, both from his hosting gig but also his work as an executive producer, so maybe there’s a chance what’s left of the show’s leadership will actually give Bee a shot.
“All those people who’ve been saying “who is Samantha Bee?” for years were right!” the video’s description said.
What’s more, though, the video posted on YouTube also serves as a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood so the added attention on what’s been a very tumultuous job has at least gone to a good cause here.
Does food get any better than the burrito? No. No, it does not. Hot, sumptuous proteins, fire-roasted veggies, gooey melted cheese, and deep and complex salsa wrapped in a warm flour tortilla that’s bigger than your face? Winner, winner carne asada dinner. It’s a fast and easy flavor bomb and if for some reason we had to choose to only eat burritos, burgers, pizza, or sandwiches for the rest of our lives, we’re choosing burritos in a walk.
Luckily we don’t have to live like that.
Point being, the burrito is a beautiful thing and in the vast fast food universe (and neighboring fast-casual and chain restaurant multiverses), it’s probably the least processed meal on any given menu. Beans are often slow-cooked (the good ones), over-processed and blended meats are generally ignored in favor of single cuts of juicy protein, the cheese is actually real cheese and not cheese product (looking at you, American cheese on burgers) and the salsa, when good, is known to display a level of craft and care that seems all but absent at the big chains.
It’s the most gourmet fast food can get.
Before we get into a ranking of the best burritos offered at the most popular fast food and fast casual restaurants, I’d like to take the opportunity to be “that guy” and remind you that if you want a truly great burrito, you’re more likely to find it at a small local Mexican eatery than you are at a place with a drive-thru. Support these businesses when you can, please. When you can’t… well, that’s why you have this ranking.
So here they are, the best fast food and fast-casual burritos around. And because they all need the help, we’re going to tell you how to make them even better by hacking the menu. Let’s get into it.
9. Baja Fresh — Mexicano Burrito
Baja Fresh
If you’re looking for the blandest Mexican food in the fast food universe look no further than Baja Fresh. The Mexicano Burrito has almost no redeemable qualities aside from the tortilla, which I’ll admit is a cut above a lot of other tortillas on this list. It’s pliable, gummy, and warmed on the flat grill right before they wrap it for you, ensuring all your fillings are nice and warm, which is great, except this burrito doesn’t come with cheese and a burrito without cheese is just sad.
There is a fair bit of customization here, Baja Fresh’s Mexicano burrito allows you to choose your protein but I’m sorry to report that the chicken, carnitas, and steak are all incredibly dry, with the steak easily being the worst option thanks to its gristly texture.
Now admittedly, I’m not a big fish-in-my-burrito fan so I’ve never actually had Baja Fresh’s seafood, so maybe I’m being too hard on this burrito as the fast casual chain also offers Crispy Wahoo, Grilled Wahoo, and Shrimp, but as far as land-roaming proteins are concerned, they’re all lacking in flavor, which is a problem that extends to the beans and the rice. Baja Fresh’s beans have a great texture, but almost no flavor, and their Spanish rice — which they call “Baja Rice” for some reason — is also devoid of any discernible flavors. You think you’re going to get notes of bright tomato and onion but instead, it’s all texture, which is to say, dry.
How To Make It Better
This is an easy one, add cheese.
The Bottom Line
Why are you going to Baja Fresh and spending money on something Taco Bell does better and for cheaper? Don’t go here.
Generally, when we run fast good rankings we keep each chain to one entry only, but we’re going to make an exception for Taco Bell because of its insane level of popularity. I get that the Beefy Five Layer Burrito has its rabid fans, but if you like food, run as far away from this as possible.
This thing is straight-up foul and its five layers feel like a real missed opportunity to give us something decadently delicious. Instead, the Beefy Five Layer combines all of Taco Bell’s worst ingredients into one disgustingly mushy burrito.
First, we have the salty seasoned beef, which is so greasy it leaks orange, resting on a bed of Taco Bell’s very dry powdered beans. Then Taco Bell just gives up with the rest of the layers, offering sour cream, a sadly sparse sprinkling of cheese, and a layer of Nacho Cheese Sauce spread across the tortilla, which is a nice idea that supplies a trail of melty cheese between every bite, but it doesn’t taste good. So with five layers, Taco Bell decided to double up on cheese, neither of which is good, and then just threw sour cream in there and called it a day. It’s an over-salted mess that you’re forced to taste over and over again throughout the day as you burp it up.
Even your body wants to reject this sh*t. Also, I have a major gripe with the name, yes the lack of actual ingredients gives more room for beef, but it’s not nearly as beefy as the photo would suggest. So you don’t really get the sense of eating through five layers of flavor and it doesn’t deliver on the beef.
How To Make It Better
Oh, where to start. Ditch the nacho cheese sauce and cheese for Taco Bell’s three cheese blend, add tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions, you know, actual layers, and for less than two bucks more you’ve got a burrito that is at the least edible.
The Bottom Line
It’s popular and it has an appetizing name, but that doesn’t mean you should eat it. This burrito requires so much customizing that you’re better off ordering any of Taco Bell’s other burritos.
7. El Pollo Loco — Chipotle Chicken Avocado Burrito
El Pollo Loco
It pains me to see El Pollo Loco ranked so low as I think it’s one of the best Mexican-inspired fast food restaurants out there, but they’re just not great at making burritos. While El Pollo Loco’s flame-grilled chicken is great with its nice charred texture and delicious citrus-y glaze, it can be pretty hit or miss, and when it’s over-cooked and dry it’s almost inedible.
Like Baja Fresh, El Pollo Loco has a pretty great tortilla, and the toasted texture is a nice touch that adds a pleasing crunchy mouthfeel, and I love the use of shredded Monterey Jack cheese, it provides a great melt. But El Pollo Loco’s Spanish rice is one of its weakest menu items. It has a great in your face tomato-forward flavor, but the texture is awful, it’s not fluffy, it’s dry and consistently uncooked. Couple that with the weird inclusion of cabbage and the whole thing has an off-putting grainy texture that no amount of sour cream, melted cheese and red salsa can mask.
The highlight of the sandwich is the slices of avocado and El Pollo Loco’s slightly spicy salsa, which they make fresh in-house but on the off chance you get an overcooked breast of chicken, or an over/under ripened avocado, or worse, both, the avocado and salsa aren’t good enough to make this thing worth picking up.
How To Make It Better
Ditch the rice and the cabbage, they’re nothing more than filler and they add to the dryness. This might sound crazy because I mentioned that it was a highlight, but we’re also going to suggest you ditch the salsa roja for El Pollo Loco’s spicier avocado salsa. Is that too much Avocado? There is no such thing. If you don’t want to double up on the avocado grab the creamy chipotle dressing instead.
The Bottom Line
Yes, El Pollo Loco DOES have burritos, but that doesn’t mean you should order one. They’re too dry to be worth your time.
6. Rubio’s — Burrito Especial With Grilled All-Natural Chicken
Baja Fresh
Calories: 1080
I’ve lived most of my life thinking Baja Fresh and Rubio’s were the same thing but now that I’ve compared both burritos, I have to give the edge to Rubio’s. While not as customizable, Rubio’s instantly sets itself apart from Baja with the quality of its grilled chicken. It’s not the juiciest, but it’s not distractingly dry and has a great charred flavor that you can actually taste, which convinces me it’s grilled on-site.
Rubio’s guacamole is also pretty solid, it has a nice balance of onion, garlic, lime, and salt and tastes remarkably fresh. Because you’ve got prominent lime in the avocado, I don’t think the citrus rice is necessary and would’ve preferred a more tomato-based Spanish rice. The burrito is also lacking in cheese, which can be easily added but we wish we didn’t have to.
How To Make It Better
You might be noticing a slight trend here but, ditch the rice. The combination of citrus rice and the citrus in the guacamole adds a bit of a sour undertone to this burrito. Sub out that citrus rice for Rubio’s Mexican rice and you’ve instantly got a better-tasting burrito. I’d also suggest subbing out the black beans for Rubio’s pinto beans, which have a distinct peppery flavor that pairs perfectly with cheese, which you should also add to this thing.
The Bottom Line
If you’re going to go to one coastal-inspired fast casual burrito spot, choose Rubio’s over Baja every time.
I’m going to go less into the details with Qdoba than I did with the burritos preceding it in this ranking because the menu is completely customizable, and while Qdoba has some pre-made burritos, I’m going to end up telling you how to customize it anyway. So in an effort to spare a Qdoba employee from having to deal with you, I’m going to suggest you completely ignore the fast casual chain’s pre-made burritos and start with the custom burrito.
My big problem with Qdoba is that they make an entirely forgettable burrito. If you’ve been living your life thinking Chipotle is bland, I promise you, try Qdoba, your mind will be blown by the lack of flavor. Having said that, the quality of ingredients is a significant step up from the burritos preceding it, they just never really come together in a way that’s harmonious.
With this burrito you have the option of Grilled Adobo Chicken, Adobo Steak, Slow-Braised Pulled Pork, Seasoned Ground beef, and even Impossible meat, so go ahead and pick your poison but I’m going to suggest the new Cholula-doused Hot and Sweet chicken, which combines Cholula sauce and honey and adds a whole lot of flavor to some otherwise bland meat. Then you’ve got your beans (black or pinto) and your cilantro lime rice, which isn’t nearly as intense as Chipotle’s rice, so for once I’m going to suggest you don’t skip it.
Qdoba’s salsas are great, for the spice averse I suggest the Chile Corn Salsa which is mild and more seasoned corn than it is a salsa, but if you can handle the heat definitely ask for the Salsa Verde or the Salsa Roja. If you’re not big on onions, do the Salsa Roja, it’s way spicier and actually brings some heat that excites the palate.
How To Make It Better
This is another easy one, you’re at Qdoba and the one thing they do excellently is queso, so definitely add that three-cheese queso to your burrito. It’s cheesy and smokey with the slightest hint of spice with a smooth almost-velvety texture to it and instantly adds some complexity to Qdoba’s very bland flavors.
The Bottom Line
Customize to your heart’s content but understand that the queso is a must, even if you don’t love queso. Without it the burrito is too bland for you to ever develop a craving for.
4. Taco Bell — Loaded Taco Fries Burrito/ Burrito Supreme
Taco Bell
Calories: 590
Taco Bell’s best burrito is easily the Burrito Supreme, which combines Taco Bell’s salty seasoned beef, cheese, tomatoes, onions, red sauce, beans, sour cream, and lettuce into a flavor bomb. But instead of including that burrito, which I love, I’m going to suggest you grab the new Loaded Taco Fries because it does some of the customizing work for me and it’s almost as good as the Supreme. With a little customizing we’re going to take it to the next level, don’t worry.
Fries in a burrito are a beautiful thing when done right, and of the Loaded Taco Fries burritos I’ve had, it seems like Taco Bell can’t mess this one up. Taco Bell’s delicious and crispy French fries deserve the credit for making this so good, they’re crunchy on the outside, keeping the burrito from getting too mushy and have a great flavor that combines onion powder, paprika, and salt.
The crunch doesn’t stop at the fries either, the burrito also contains red tortilla strips, which give the burrito a great textured mouthfeel that keeps your bites crunching once you’ve broken through the surface of the fries into the hot buttery inner. Like the Supreme, this burrito also has lettuce which isn’t really needed, tomatoes, a spicy ranch sauce, cheese, and nacho cheese sauce.
Because Taco Bell wanted to differentiate this burrito slightly from the Supreme, it suffers a bit, but once you swap some of those Supreme ingredients back in, you’ll have Taco Bell’s best burrito in your hands.
How To Make It Better
Always sub Taco Bell’s cheese for the three-cheese blend. Ditch the Spicy Ranch and sub in jalapeños, that’ll give you a better sense of spice without the wetness of the ranch. Forget about that nacho cheese sauce too, it’s way too salty and we’ve already got a good deal of salt from the fries, so in its place add Taco Bell’s red sauce to help glue the flavors together and keeps the ingredients from being too dry.
The Bottom Line
Taco Bell’s best burrito just got better thanks to the Bell bringing back their off-and-on French fries. Get it while you can!
I really wanted Del Taco to win this one because if I had to suggest one Mexican-inspired chain to frequent, it would be this one. Del Taco slow cooks their beans and the difference shows. They’re tender, fluffy, and well seasoned with a mix of garlic, pepper, oregano, and cumin, the way beans should be.
In fact, Del Taco makes one of the best bean and cheese burritos in the fast food galaxy, but this isn’t a ranking of bean and cheese burritos so Del Taco’s lackluster meat offerings really hold this one back.
You have the choice of grilled carne asada, marinated chicken, or Beyond meat. Go for the marinated chicken, it’s the juiciest of the three thanks to the marinating process but its lack of flavor makes me question just what they’re marinating this with. Is it water? Because the chicken offers mostly texture and nothing else.
Rounding out this burrito is cilantro lime rice, guacamole (which is great but heavy on the tomatoes), and pico de gallo. What I love about Del Taco’s Epic line of burritos is the huge flour tortilla, it’s very reminiscent of one of those large taqueria burritos and the way the flavors gravitate towards the bottom and seep into the folds create a final bite that is pure ecstasy. This burrito finishes strong, which will endure itself to you and actually make you develop a craving for the thing.
But like all of the burritos in this ranking, it needs a little help to take it to the next level.
How To Make It Better
It needs cheese. Cheese, like beans, should automatically be included in every burrito. Rather than going for Del Taco’s freshly shredded cheddar (which is great and has a nice sharp and nutty flavor) ask for the pepper jack cheese instead. It provides a better melt as it’s grated thicker, providing you with more cheese coverage and has a spicy edge to it.
Del Taco’s green sauce is also delicious so definitely add that and if you’re in need of some extra crunch, sub out that rice for some crinkle-cut fries.
The Bottom Line
Huge and flavorful with a strong final bite that lingers on the mind as well as the palate. Some of fast food’s best beans can be found at Del Taco. If you think Del is just another Taco Bell, you couldn’t be more wrong.
This burrito ranking gave me an excuse to trek out to a Moe’s Southwestern for the first time and even though I’ve had the Homewrecker just once, it’s made quite the impression on me. Moe’s ingredient quality is in line with Qdoba but they remembered to actually add some flavor to their ingredients which I appreciate.
For the Homewrecker, you’ve got a choice between white meat chicken, adobo chicken, ground beef, pork, tofu, or sirloin steak. I grabbed the white meat chicken so I can’t speak on the other meats, but the chicken was juicy with a citrus-forward flavor with notes of garlic and black pepper. Instead of the cilantro-lime rice, Moe’s uses rice that’s seasoned with what tastes like cumin and cayenne, adding a more complex flavor that pairs harmoniously with the citrus-marinated chicken rather than clashes.
Moe’s Homewrecker also features black beans, diced tomatoes, pico de Gallo, guacamole, a shredded cheese blend, and shredded lettuce. I take issue with some of these ingredients. The guacamole, while good, features tomatoes in it which I’ve always viewed as filler. Great guacamole doesn’t need tomatoes, not to mention the burrito already comes with diced tomatoes and pico de gallo, which also has tomatoes! There are too many damn tomatoes in this burrito and it weighs it down and masks some of the more interesting flavors.
Moe’s makes a point of mentioning that their guacamole is included and doesn’t require an up-charge. I never understood people complaining about guacamole costing extra, avocados are f*cking expensive and when isn’t guacamole an upcharge? When it’s filled with tomatoes, that’s when!
How To Make It Better
Ditch those diced tomatoes and the pico de gallo! Without the pico de gallo you’re missing some spice which is easily remedied by including Moe’s tomatillo salsa. It would’ve been nice to have more salsa options but Moe’s other two, the El Guapo and the Kaiser also feature diced tomatoes so unless you really really like tomatoes, the jalapeño-focused tomatillo is your only respite.
The Bottom Line
Moe’s almost has the best burrito in the fast food universe but its obsession with tomatoes and lack of salsa options really hold it back from being truly great.
It’s hard for me to admit this because outside of this fast food ranking I shit on Chipotle so often you’d think I just ate… well, Chipotle. As someone who has grown up in Los Angeles, arguably the burrito capital of America, I’ve watched friends and family obsess over Chipotle when for half the price they could get a much better burrito at literally every corner. But when I really break it down and think about the individual flavors and the quality of the ingredients, I have to say Chipotle is just operating at another level compared to its fast casual and fast food competition.
Like Qdoba and Moe’s the burritos here are customizable and each of Chipotle’s protein offerings is good. The steak is juicy with a great flame-grilled flavor and a texture devoid of gristly bits. The carnitas are tender and well seasoned, and the barbacoa is even better. But my favorite Chipotle option is the chicken, which features dark meat cuts that make the chicken supremely juicy. Of all the burritos on this ranking, Chipotle has the best meat, and the best chicken by a mile.
Chipotle’s beans are fine, both the black and pinto are tender and fluffy but I wish Chipotle would go heavier on the seasoning. That’s nothing salsa can’t remedy and each of Chipotle’s salsas, which include a mild tomatillo-based green chili salsa (it’s heavy on the onions be warned), a spicy tomatillo red chili salsa, and pico de gallo are delicious, offering a lot of complexity and heat. I also have to give credit to Chipotle’s guacamole, while heavy on the onions which give it a bit of a bite the inclusion of jalapeños peppers and cilantro add a great depth of flavor and spice. It’s part of what makes this guacamole so damn addicting.
The weakest link on this burrito is Chipotle’s ridiculous cilantro lime rice. By now it’s no secret that I think most fast casual and fast food Mexican-inspired eateries just don’t know how to make rice but Chipotle takes it to another level by including way more lime than any sane person can handle. Like Chipotle’s chips, the use of lime here is overwhelming unless you have the strange desire to eat a lime. Luckily you can skip the rice, and that will leave more room for a better wrap.
I also really like Chipotle’s cheese, which is a blend of Monterey Jack and white cheddar cheese. If they could figure out a way to make it melt, they might have something that rivals the corner taqueria.
How To Make It Better
I’ve seen this time and time again and Chipotle, just because you have the option to add all of these ingredients, it doesn’t mean you should. I love the customizable aspect of Chipotle, but that puts a little too much power in the hands of the consumer and sometimes let’s face it, we don’t know what we’re doing. That’s why were eating at Chipotle in the first place.
Know what you want, what you need, and don’t try to include it all. The last thing you want is a burrito that falls apart while you’re eating it. The more you know about making your own burrito, the better your result at Chipotle will be.
I suggest you skip the rice or at least ask them to go light on the portion to make room for some grilled fajitas and corn. Rather than getting your salsa in your burrito, ask for it on the side this will allow you to apply the perfect amount to each bite and will keep your burrito from being a wet mess that your burrito maker won’t be able to fold.
The Bottom Line
No, Chipotle isn’t as good as your local taqueria but compared to all the other fast food and fast casual options out there, they’re operating at a higher level. If the people at Chipotle ever figure out a way to serve hot food, they’ll actually be able to compete with the Mission-style burritos that inspired them. Maybe.
The world is just hours away from receiving Drake’s highly-anticipated album, Certified Lover Boy. It follows the promotion-heavy week that the Toronto rapper has put up to increase the excitement for the project. It includes “hacking” a SportsCenter broadcast to share the release date for the album as well as revealing its controversial artwork.
Just like he did for the guest features that were revealed on Thursday, Drake used digital billboards from across the country to share the additional features for Certified Lover Boy. Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Masego, and Nigerian singer Tems will also join Drake on his upcoming album. The rapper used shared the news on billboards in all of the additional guests’ hometowns except for Lil Wayne, whose birthplace of New Orleans is currently in the midst of extended power failures due to Hurricane Ida.
You can view the billboards announcing the new guests in the posts above.
Certified Lover Boy is out 9/3 via OVO Sound/Republic.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Bonnaroo is looking to make up for having to cancel its annual showcase due to waterlogged festival grounds. It was caused by Hurricane Ida, which left the campgrounds “flooded to the point that we are unable to drive in or park vehicles safely,” as an announcement from the festival revealed.
Now, to give fans a smaller treat for something to enjoy following Bonnaroo’s 2021 cancellation, the festival announced a live show set to take place in Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on September 4.
Hey Bonnaroovians! If you’re still around and looking for a little bit of Bonnaroo magic then come join us this Saturday night!
Bonnaroo Presents: Phoebe Bridgers, Brittany Howard, Sylvan Esso presents “WITH” at the Ascend Amphitheater – Nashville, TN, this Saturday, 9/4. pic.twitter.com/DdpqKlnYY5
The show is headlined by Phoebe Bridgers, Brittany Howard, and Sylvan Esso, with tickets for the concert available on Ticketmaster. The announcement comes after Bridgers altered her 2021 tour dates by moving all of her shows outdoors while requiring her attendees to have COVID vaccinations. She also released her Kyoto project with brand new remixes from Bartees Strange and more.
Howard also released a remix album of her own, with her own arriving for her 2019 album, Jamie. The updated version came with additional features from Childish Gambino, Bon Iver, and more. Lastly, Esso just shared a video for “Numb” and announced the dates for her 2021 tour. She also shared an updated version of “Ferris Wheel” with Terrace Martin and Robert Glasper.
Bonnaroo’s latest festival cancellation comes after they were forced to postpone the showcase on three occasions due to the coronavirus pandemic. You can check out the flyer for the upcoming show in the post above.
There are few highballs more timeless than the classic rum and cola. It’s simple, easy to make, and utterly refreshing. A great cocktail for any occasion, year-round.
When I make a rum and cola, I use the classic Cuba Libre recipe. That’s two ounces of rum — white, spiced, dark… that’s what we’re here to investigate — four ounces of cola (who are we kidding, we all reach for Coke), and a squeeze of lime juice with the lime wedge set on the rim (or in the glass, depending on how limey you want it). It’s not a difficult recipe and you definitely don’t need to be a seasoned mixologist to prepare this drink. Even if you eyeball it, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll taste good anyway.
The most exciting thing about the rum and Coke is that it can be tweaked to fit any rum drinker’s palate. While the classic rendition is made with white rum, I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to broaden your horizons. To underscore the point, I made eight rum and Cokes featuring myriad rums and put them in a blind taste test. All are easy to find and each is reasonably priced.
Here’s our lineup:
Goslings Gold Seal
Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
Appleton Estate Signature
Bacardi Superior
Brugal Añejo
Flor de Caña 4 Extra Dry
Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
Cruzan Aged Light Rum
Time to taste!
Part 1: The Taste
Taste 1:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The nose is filled with aromas of caramel, cinnamon, and ginger. On the palate, I found more notes of cinnamon and ginger, along with toasted vanilla beans, wood char, and light cracked black pepper.
All of these flavors stand up well when combined with cola and citrus.
Taste 2:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a bit light. After the other cocktail ingredients, I noticed slight vanilla beans and a subtle, indistinguishable fruit flavor. The palate is heavy on ethanol-like alcohol, more vanilla, and maybe some spices. It’s not exciting in any way.
Taste 3:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Complex flavors of brown sugar, vanilla beans, and subtle cinnamon mingle with the citrus and cola on the nose. Drinking it, I found more caramel candy, molasses, vanilla beans, and cloves that worked well with the rest of the cocktail’s ingredients.
Taste 4:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this rum’s nose — hints of sticky toffee, butterscotch, cinnamon, and oaky wood. Sipping it brought me notes of caramel candy, slight pepper, brown sugar, and more vanilla.
All in all, the most balanced rum on this list.
Taste 5:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
In all honesty, the nose is pretty bland. I mostly smelled cola and lime with just a bit of vanilla and some slight woody oak, that’s about it. The flavor was similar with nothing really jumping out to take away from the lime and soda. Maybe a hint of coconut and peppery spice, but not much else.
Taste 6:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Right away, the nose is dominated by spicy cinnamon and cloyingly sweet vanilla that totally detracts from the cola and lime flavors. The palate is overly sweet with hints of cloves, more cinnamon sugar, various other over-the-top spices, and more vanilla.
It’s a little much for a simple cocktail.
Taste 7:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
This rum has a unique, memorable nose with hints of toasted coconut, caramel, and vanilla beans that work well with the other ingredients in the cocktail. The palate is highlighted by slight oak, more coconut, brown sugar, and slight spice.
Overall, a great base for this iconic drink.
Taste 8:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
This rum’s nose is filled with tropical fruit aromas, butterscotch, vanilla beans, and subtle spices that all pair well with the cocktail’s other ingredients. One sip was enough (but I drank more) to unlock flavors of buttery caramel, vanilla, wood char, and more fruity flavor.
All in all, one of the best mixers of the bunch.
Part 2: The Ranking
Blind taste tests are a lot of fun. This is true when I get to try various forms of alcohol neat. But it’s really fun (and tests my senses more) to blindly nose and taste spirits mixed into highballs. Not only is there no brightly colored, glossy label to impact my choices, but the spirit (in this case rum) is actually mixed with Coke and lime juice — so I’m tasting its interaction with other ingredients.
Everyone knows Captain Morgan. The iconic pirate adorned in red that stands with his leg on a barrel in an epic pose. He’s the mascot for the well-known bargain rum brand of the same name. Its Original Spiced Rum is a blend of multiple spiced Caribbean rums. The brand doesn’t disclose the brands they source from, but this expression is known for its spicy, sweet, mixable flavor.
Bottom Line:
If you prefer your rum and Cokes to be ridiculously spicy and sweet, this is your jam. Otherwise, the spicy flavor is a little too dominant for this drink.
This rum, from the US Virgin Islands, is a blend of rums that were aged in American oak barrels for between one and four years. It’s light, dry, and known for its vanilla and caramel flavors that work well as the base for your favorite cocktail.
Bottom Line:
There isn’t much going on with this rum in terms of flavor. If you prefer your cocktail to not taste much like rum, this will be your go-to. Maybe add more rum if you want it to taste stronger.
There’s no rum brand more famous than Bacardi and its Superior White Rum is its flagship expression. It’s been made the same way since 1862 and is known for its light, easily mixable, not overly dominant flavor. It’s a great base if you want the other flavors of your cocktail to shine.
Bottom Line:
This rum was definitely made to be used as a mixer as it barely has any taste (other than the burn of alcohol).
Goslings is a well-known rum brand. Back in 2016, it changed its classic Gold Rum with Gold Seal Rum. It’s a blend of rums distilled in column and pot stills that are aged in ex-bourbon barrels. It’s gold in color (hence the name) and has enough flavor to stand up in your favorite cocktails.
Bottom Line:
While subtle, this rum has enough going on in the aroma and flavor department to make it stand up, even when paired with stronger ingredients.
This award-winning rum is not only carbon-neutral and sustainable but it’s aged for four years. While not changing the clear color, this imparts dry, sweet, sugary, and citrus-like flavors that were made to be used as the base for drinks like rum & Coke.
Bottom Line:
Spice, coconut, caramel, vanilla — this rum ticks all the boxes for a great mixer.
Name for Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins, an “old school” tattoo pioneer, this 92-proof, bold, spicy, sweet rum has been on the market for awhile now. In that time, it’s gained popularity with bartenders and drinkers alike. It’s cheap, flavorful, and designed for mixing.
Bottom Line:
Sometimes spicier rums can be a little too dominant as a base for a simple cocktail. This one manages not only to shine but make the other flavors stand out even more.
Appleton Estate is a big name in the rum world. While you can grab some of its higher-priced expressions, it’s hard to beat the value-to-flavor ratio of its bargain-priced Signature. A blend of pot and column still rums that are aged for an average of four years, this bottle is perfectly suited for sipping or mixing.
Bottom Line:
This is a very complex rum that is well-suited to be the base of pretty much any rum cocktail you enjoy. It’s sweet, rich, and works well with citrus and cola.
This rum from the Dominican Republic is made by blending rums that were aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The result is a sublimely rich, mellow, caramel, and vanilla-driven rum that is ideal for sipping or as the base for any number of rum-centric cocktails.
This cocktail is the perfect fit — simple enough to let the rum shine!
Bottom Line:
Not too spicy, not too sweet, this rum has pronounced, rich, smooth flavors that make it the perfect base for a rum & Coke.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
Back in the summer of 2015, The Weeknd’s career was reaching star status. He’d laced a No. 1 single with “The Hills” and was just weeks away from sharing his second album, Beauty Behind The Madness. That project would go on to be his first chart-topping album, but before it arrived The Weeknd graced the world with what would be his second No. 1 single, “Can’t Feel My Face.”
More than six years after the world received that track, the singer has returned with an alternate video for the song, one that shifts the perspective to another character in the story. In the new visual, the camera keeps much of its focus on a female companion that captures The Weeknd’s attention from start to finish.
The woman in question is presumably the person The Weeknd sings about in the song as he alludes to their relationship with lines like, “She told me ‘Don’t worry’” and “She told me, ‘You’ll never be alone.’” Altogether the new visual is quite sensual, and it turns out that the video is one the singer hoped to use for the song before it was sidelined due to a “shift in creative direction,” according to a press release.
The Weeknd’s alternate “Can’t Feel My Face” video comes after he joined Kanye West and Lil Baby on “Hurricane” and released the trailer for his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show documentary. The upcoming film brings viewers behind the scenes of his performance for February’s Super Bowl game.
You can press play on the alternate video for “Can’t Feel My Face” above.
And yet… over the past few weeks, one Big Mac hack kept popping up on my social feeds. One clever move purported to change the whole game.
Here’s the gist: This hack has you jettison the top bun, which is un-sauced and plain, and then flip over the top burger layer of the Big Mac to create a double cheeseburger with one bun, not one-and-a-half buns. The move came from a cake delivery Instagram handle via Jonathan Massaad in Australia, where Macca’s is taken very seriously — check out the original Instagram post below:
The idea here is that losing the top, un-sauced bun means that you’re able to find a better balance of sauce-to-bun and get back to the toppings-to-meat ratio found on the classic burger. Is this true? Could 2.4 million burger eaters per day be wrong about the best way to eat a Big Mac?
I ordered some McDonald’s to find out. In fact, I ordered two Big Macs so that I could have a “control” burger for comparison’s sake. Here’s how things shook out.
So… this is a bit of a pain in the ass to build. You remove the top bun and then gingerly yet quickly flip over the top half of the Big Mac while trying not to fling iceberg lettuce everywhere. I’d recommend using a spatula but Uproxx Life rules say that if you need an extra kitchen implement, it’s no longer fast food (being that the convenience level has dropped considerably).
The construction of the burger becomes the bottom bun with cheese, sauce, lettuce, and onion below the first patty and sauce, lettuce, pickle, and bun above the second patty.
Zach Johnston
When it comes to the taste … yeah, it’s a Big Mac. It’s way lighter without that crown bun. The new “top” bun is a little soft and damp though, which makes holding of the burger feel sort of weird (not gross but definitely less clean).
That being said, this wasn’t terrible. In fact, losing one bun was a nice way to lighten up the Big Mac. Moreover, the more concentrated sauce did make this juicier, more savory, and overall a better eating experience.
Zach Johnston
The Original Big Mac
Zach Johnston
Look, I haven’t had a Big Mac in … I really don’t know how long. If it’s not a double cheeseburger, Filet-O-Fish, or Big Tasty, I’m probably not ordering it from Micky-D’s. Like most folks, I often just drive through for the fries.
So digging into two Big Macs in one sitting was a lot.
That being said, this Big Mac wasn’t the worst thing ever. After one bite of each version, I might have given it to the un-hacked version of the Big Mac. After the second and third bites, it became clear why I never order this hamburger sandwich. It’s just too much freakin’ bread and gets really dry and cardboard-y really fast.
Zach Johnston
The Verdict
Zach Johnston
After finishing (most of) both burgers, I’m calling it for the hack. It seems super wasteful to throw away that top bun, but it’s just too dry.
On the flip side, I might just order a Big Tasty and have them hold the tomato and bacon, add pickle, and add a patty. It’d be pretty much the same thing but with a proper crown bun with those sesame seeds that add a little something to the experience. Oh, and it’ll have a heftier patty, which is a much bigger win than this Big Mac hack, in my opinion.
In the end, does this work? Yes. Is it worth it if you’re a Big Mac fan? Sure. Does it make the Mac great? Nooooope. Sorry, pals — we’re still talking about the most overrated burger in the fast food universe.
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If you’re still around and looking for a little bit of Bonnaroo magic then come join us this Saturday night! 
