NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service only launched a few years ago with The Office being the obvious flagship series, but the situation has changed a lot. Much like Netflix is becoming a stand-up comedy standout, no streaming service is currently better at serving up classic TV series with fresh additions.
Here are the best shows on Peacock you can watch now.
Last updated on August 27, 2024.
1. SNL
Year: 1975-Present
Cast: Various
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 49 seasons (and counting)
Created by: Lorne Michaels
Trailer: Watch here
Saturday Night Live is four decades into its run for a reason: the sketch comedy follows a classic formula that is uninterrupted by a rapidly changing world. While everyone has their favorite era of SNL (it usually depends on when you grew up) and it can be hit or miss, it’s reliable entertainment that introduced the entertainment business and the world to some of the greatest comedians including (but certainly not limited to) Martin Short, Will Ferrell, Bill Hader, and Kate McKinnon.
2. Friday Night Lights
Year: 2006-2011
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Michael B. Jordan
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Five seasons, 76 episodes
Created by: Peter Berg
Trailer: Watch here
A television show about a football team had no right to become one of the best television shows of the Golden Age and one of the best of all time. Among a group of prestige programming including The Sopranos and Mad Men, this little football show kept up in terms of quality, because it was always more about people and relationships than it was about the sport. It will make you cry buckets, and you won’t even be mad about it.
3. The Office
Year: 2005-2013
Cast: Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Nine seasons, 201 episodes
Created by: Greg Daniels
Trailer: Watch here
Gen Z’s favorite comedy is a favorite for a reason. The sitcom that launched the single-cam revolution features one of the greatest performances ever from Steve Carell as the horrible but somehow sweet boss Michael Scott, with a sprawling cast of comic geniuses that worked like comedy magic together.
4. Law and Order: SVU
Year: 1999-Present
Cast: Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 24 seasons, 525 episodes
Created by: Dick Wolf
Trailer: Watch here
Even if you’ve never seen SVU, you probably know about Benson and Stabler. The crime procedural following cases in a Special Victims Unit in New York City is ideal for every kind of viewing: one episode at a time, a massive binge, while you’re working, or when you just want to sit down and pay attention to something.
5. Suits
Year: 2011
Cast: Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle, Sarah Rafferty
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 9 seasons
Created By: Aaron Korsh
Trailer: Watch here
In Suits, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) uses his photographic memory to talk his way into a job with Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), one of the top legal closers in the business. There’s just one small problem: Mike is a college dropout who never made it to law school. However, the two prove to be a dynamite combo in the courtroom, but if Mike’s secret gets out, there could be big trouble for not just both men, but Harvey’s entire firm. Also, yes, let’s address the elephant in the room. The show does star Meghan Markle before she married Prince Harry and became a literal Duchess. It’s a neat little factoid, but at the end of the day, Suits is just a damn good legal drama.
6. Cheers
Year: 1982-1993
Cast: Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Woody Harrelson, Kelsey Grammer
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 11 seasons, 275 episodes
Created by: Glen and Les Charles, James Burrows
Trailer: Watch here
The heart-warming but sharp comedy series is as comforting as it is clever. The series, which dominated NBC primetime throughout the ’80s, follows a group of eccentric regulars at a Boston bar and its equally eccentric employees. A lot of sitcoms feel of their time, with pop culture references you have to Google to understand if you weren’t alive, too young, or simply don’t remember. Cheers looks a lot like the ’80s with its costumes and hairstyles, but the jokes feel just as fresh as they did when the original series aired.
7. Columbo
Year: 1968-2003
Cast: Peter Falk
Genre: Mystery
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 69 episodes
Created by: Richard Levinson and William Link
Trailer: Watch here
Ahhh, Columbo. As soon as you see that long beige coat, his thick cigar and hear him saw, “just one more thing” you will feel relief. On this sort of procedural, Detective Columbo catches killers by, for lack of better words, annoying the sh*t out of them. The series spans decades, and the first pilot, “Murder by the Book,” was directed by none other than the master, Stephen Spielberg.
8. Yellowstone
Year: 2018-Present
Cast: Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley
Genre: Drama, Western
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Five seasons, 47 episodes
Created by: Taylor Sheridan and John Linson
Trailer: Watch here
Everyone (a.k.a., everyone’s dad) is talking about Yellowstone for a reason: it’s like a contemporary western Game of Thrones. The neo-western starring Kevin Costner, which follows the dysfunctional Dutton family who has owned the Yellowstone Ranch (the largest ranch in Montana) for generations is filled with water-cooler talk-worthy moments of bloodshed and betrayal, if only there were water coolers anymore. I suppose group chats are the new water coolers?
9. Bel-Air
Year: 2022-Present
Cast: Jabrai Banks, Cassandra Freeman, Jimmy Akingbola
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA tk
Runtime: One season, ten episodes
Created by: Morgan Cooper, Malcolm Spellman, TJ Brady, and Rasheed Newson
Trailer: Watch here
Bel-Air is the most Peak TV show to ever Peak TV (in a good way). The series started off as a short film that reimagined The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitcom as a serious drama. Lo and behold, the edit is now a dramatic television series that dives into class and race, and makes Will’s culture shock upon moving from West Philly to Bel-Air more dramatic than comedic.
10. Parks And Recreation
Year: 2009-2015
Cast: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seven seasons, 125 episodes
Created by: Greg Daniels and Michael Schur
Trailer: Watch here
What started as a riff on The Office but with a lady boss became, by its second season, one of the best network comedies of all time while launching several enduring comedy careers. The series explores the mundanities of working at city hall in the small, strange town of Pawnee, Indiana.
11. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Year: 2013
Cast: Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Andre Braugher
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 8 seasons
Created By: Dan Goor, Michael Schur
Trailer: Watch here
Boasting one of the best comedy ensembles of all time, Brooklyn Nine-Nine focuses on Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and the detectives of the 99th Precinct as they adapt to the new leadership of incoming police chief Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher). Together, this tight group of friends hilariously navigate crimes, personal problems, and the inner-workings of the NYPD as they grapple with life as a cop. It’s not your usual spin on the police genre, but that’s what makes Brooklyn Nine-Nine so great and one of the most recommend binge watches out there.
12. Longmire
Year: 2012-2017
Cast: Robert Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips, Katee Sackhoff
Genre: Crime drama, Western
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 6 seasons (63 episodes)
Created By: Hunt Baldwin, John Coveny
Trailer: Watch here
Years before Yellowstone craze caught on, this series adaptation of Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire books bought strong Western vibes to A&E Network and (later) Netflix while a Wyoming sheriff did his best to hold his sh*t together following his wife’s death. Fortunately, he has good friends and colleagues and an all-consuming job (keeping his county clear of crime) to motivate him to keep his feet moving forward and his wit sharp.
13. New Girl
Year: 2011
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfeld, Lamorne Morris
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 7 seasons
Created By: Elizabeth Meriweather
Trailer: Watch here
After a bad breakup, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) moves into an apartment with the directionless bartender Nick (Jake Johnson), the looks-obsessed corporate bro (Schmidt), and the struggling pro athlete Winston (Lamorne Morris). Their dysfunctional group dynamic sets the stage for New Girl, which quickly earned its place alongside shows like Friends as one of the top comfort sitcoms that’s perfect for bingeing. The show really hits its stride in Season 2 as the shared apartment life of Jess, Nick, Schmidt, and Winston really starts to gel, and a TV romance for the ages starts to bloom.
14. 30 Rock
Year: 2006-2013
Cast: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Seven seasons, 138 episodes
Created by: Tina Fey
Trailer: Watch here
Former SNL writer Tina Fey’s meta NBC comedy about writing a late-night sketch comedy for NBC is a classic, known for its idiosyncratic characters and rapid pace: there are jokes almost every single second, maybe even more than that, but we won’t do the math. The series was the perfect satire for the strange time that was the late aughts/early 2010s, blending political commentary with pop culture commentary, all wrapped up in an NBC show that very frequently made fun of NBC and capitalism.
15. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
Year: 2020-2021
Cast: Jane Levy, Lauren Graham, Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, Bernadette Peters
Genre: Musical, dreamed
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 2 seasons (25 episodes)
Created By: Austin Winsberg
Trailer: Watch here
Musicals might not be everybody’s thing, but this show entertained a small-but-devoted audience and gave Jane Levy a reason to portray joyousness onscreen, and although she might be one of the most convincing scream queens in recent memory, the Evil Dead star can pull off whimsical, too. Her Zoey comes upon her “ability” to hear “heart songs” naturally after an earthquake causes a freak download to her brain during an MRI. Happens.
16. Poker Face
Year: 2023 –
Cast: Natasha Lyonne
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 10 episodes
Created By: Rian Johnson
Trailer: Watch here
After taking the detective film genre by storm with Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson set his sights on TV with his new series Poker Face. Starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, the Peacock original series is a throwback to old Columbo-style, mystery of the week TV episodes. Thanks to her gift/curse for telling when anyone is lying, Charlie is on the run and moving from town-to-town after landing on the wrong side of a ruthless Las Vegas casino owner. Along the way, she can’t help but solve a few murders as a slew of guest stars populate this highly addictive new series.
17. Mrs. Davis
Year: 2023
Cast: Betty Gilpin, Jake McDorman, Andy McQueen
Genre: Science-Fiction, Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 8 episodes
Created By: Tara Hernandez, Damon Lindelof
Trailer: Watch here
In the wild sci-fi series, Mrs. Davis, Betty Gilpin stars as Sister Simone, an exiled nun hellbent on destroying a powerful AI named, you guessed it, Mrs. Davis. With her ex-boyfriend roped into her mission, Sister Simon sets off on a quest filled with religious relics, secret societies, tragic pasts, and an underground resistance movement that’s fighting to free a populace that’s maybe not all that interested in being liberated. This inventive, head-scratching series comes from Tara Hernandez and Lost writer Damon Lindelof, who’s coming in hot from his critically acclaimed Watchmen miniseries.
18. Girls5Eva
Year: 2021-Present
Cast: Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, Renée Elise Goldsberry
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Two seasons, 16 episodes
Created by: Meredith Scardino
Trailer: Watch here
The comedy from executive producer Tina Fey about ladies who unite their late 1990s/2000s girl group after decades apart gets bolder and weirder as it goes along. Although the girl group Girls5Rva is fake, the show, which calls back to the strange period of time that was Y2K, feels weirdly nostalgic. The original songs are better than most of the songs that win Oscars.
19. Based on a True Story
Year: 2023
Cast: Kaley Cuoco, Chris Messina, Tom Bateman
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 8 episodes
Created By: Craig Rosenberg
Trailer: Watch here
Based on a True Story follows Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and Nathan (Chris Messina) as a married couple stuck in the midlife doldrums. Nathan’s tennis career is over, the bills are stacking up, and a baby is on the way. Their marriage has seen better days. Thanks to Ava’s obsession with true crime, an opportunity drops in their laps. Their family friend is implicated in a series of murders, so Ava concocts a plan to blackmail him into creating a podcast about his crimes. Is working with an alleged serial killer a great idea? Nope, and Ava and Nathan will learn that lesson the hard way.
20. Love Island USA
Year: 2019 –
Cast: Endless
Genre: Reality TV
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 5 seasons
Created by: ITV Studios
Trailer: Watch here
Plenty of reality TV dating shows exist, but this one has stuck with the right ingredients to keep people tuning in several times per week for casts of several different countries. This series goes down in real time where competitors are attempting to win a mere $100,000 per couple, but the resulting notoriety and prospects of lush surroundings and tropical villas must make this worth the gamble.
21. Chucky
Year: 2021
Cast: Zackary Arthur, Jennifer Tilly, Devon Sawa
Genre: Horror
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 8 episodes
Created By: Don Mancini
Trailer: Watch here
In the follow-up to the classic Child’s Play horror series, Chucky stars the titular murder doll as he goes on a killing spree in a small New Jersey town after he purchased by a 14-year-old boy named Jake (Zachary Arthury) at a yard sale. There’s just one small problem, Jake is being blamed for the murders and who’s going to believe him that the real killer is a doll? Even worse, Chucky seems to be corrupting his new owner and doing his best to cultivate a new partner in crime in this thrilling update to the horror franchise.
22. Twisted Metal
Year: 2023 –
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 10 episodes
Created By: Michael Jonathan Smith
Trailer: Watch here
Twisted Metal slaps Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) into a post-apocalyptic hellscape where they’re forced to do vehicular combat with the psychotic clown Sweet Tooth (Will Arnett) in this live-action adaptation of the hit video game series. Mackie and Beatriz will also lock horns with marauders as they traverse across a world full of automative mayhem in the hope for a better future.
23. Dr. Death
Year: 2021 –
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Edgar Ramirez, Mandy Moore, Christian Slater, Alec Baldwin, AnnaSophia Robb
Genre: True crime dramatization
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 2 seasons
Created by: Patrick Macmanus
Trailer: Watch here
This series has, thus far, featured portrayals (from Joshua Jackson and Edgar Ramirez) of two nightmare surgeons who ruined scores of people’s lives (and in countless cases, sent patients to their deaths) with their unethical practices. Joshua Jackson stars as real life doom-neurologist Dr. Christopher Duntsch, whose terrifying reign of medical terror became the subject of a successful Wondery podcast. All told, dozens of Duntsch’s patients never recovered from their seemingly routine spinal surgeries, and it was up to two fellow surgeons, Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), to sound the alarm. The most recent season revolves around “Miracle Man” Paolo Macchiarini as featured in a broadcast with the story of how an investigative journalist got in too deep over his head while attempting to uncover his secrets.
24. Heroes
Year: 2006-2010
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Zachary Quinto, Kristen Bell, Milo Ventimiglia, Tawny Cypress, Ali Larter
Genre: Drama, action, superhero
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 4 seasons (78 episodes)
Created By: Tim Kring
Trailer: Watch here
Although not a lofty series, this superhero-based drama series captured high ratings for most of its NBC run and launched several careers — and a lengthy “villain track” for Zachary Quinto — in the process. Many similarly-themed stories have followed, although it was still a blast to witness the sheer variety of everyday lives that were upended in the process of juggling plain old “adulting” with saving the world from disaster.
25. Apples Never Fall
Year: 2024 –
Cast: Alison Brie, Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Jake Lacy
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 1 season
Created by: Melanie Marnich
Trailer: Watch here
Alison Brie and Annette Bening headline this adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel about high family drama that is stirred up when an injured passerby enters their home and then disappears, taking any existing home harmony with her. Before the adult children know it, their parents’ entire relationship is standing under a shadow, and also, viewers of the recent Challengers movie will agree that tennis-obsessed characters tend to spread that intensity to other areas of their lives. Is it a fair generalization? Probably not, but it does make for compelling viewing material.
