What Are The Best Netflix Series Of 2023?

Highlights

• Netflix has had a successful year in terms of content, offering a diverse range of genres to keep viewers satisfied.
• Despite facing challenges from competitors, Netflix has continued to produce high-quality content and attract viewers.
• Some standout shows of 2023 include “The Night Agent,” “Beef,” and “The Fall of The House of Usher,” each offering unique and compelling storylines.

Netflix has had another solid year of content in 2023, with a number of shows scoring highly with critics and fans alike. There has been a good mix of drama, comedy, thrillers, horror, and documentaries to keep everyone happy as they scour the streaming platform looking for their next fix.

It hasn’t been an easy year for Netflix, as the pioneer of streaming has been under constant strain due to consumer spending and the rising costs of production. They have also faced increased competition from Amazon Prime and Disney+, but competition is part of the game, and Netflix have rightly had to up their game.

They introduced an ad supported tier to try and entice subscribers, but analysts say they haven’t experienced a big increase in subscriptions. Netflix has also been cracking down on subscribers sharing accounts, in the hopes that this will free up spending on more original content in 2024. Despite these problems, Netflix has continued to produce a wide range of high quality content in 2023. Here is a look at the best of the bunch.

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The Night Agent

Shawn Ryan is most famous for the groundbreaking cop show, The Shield. His Netflix action thriller, The Night Agent, was based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk. It stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent who works at the White House as a Night Action telephone operator, until he is thrown into a big conspiracy about a mole at the highest level of the United States government.

Netflix premiered the series on March 23, 2023, and it became the third most viewed debuting series on the streaming platform in its first four days. Within a week, it was renewed for a second season. After a month, The Night Agent became the streamer’s sixth most watched series.

The show featured some stunning action sequences, and Gabriel Basson shone in the lead role. Despite being implausible, it had the kind of appeal that 24 had many years ago, with viewers enjoying the escapism of the show. It ran for ten episodes and was one of the most binge-worthy series of the year on Netflix.

Beef

Comedy-drama series don’t come much better than Beef, created by Lee Sung Jin. The show stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, two strangers who get involved in a road rage incident which escalates into a big feud throughout the ten episodes of this first season.

It was released on Netflix on April 6, and critics went wild for it, praising the lead performances and the exceptional writing. Netflix haven’t announced a second season, but this is partly down to the show being a contained piece, with the feud between Danny and Amy being resolved in the final episode. However, Lee Sung Jin did give fans hope that Beef might return in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter:

I’d love to make more. We initially pitched the show as an anthology series where every season is a new beef with new characters.

Get Gotti

Netflix excels when it delves into true-crime cases for its documentaries. Arguably the best of the year was the three-part series about John Gotti, the former mob boss of the Gambino crime family. It’s a fascinating insight into how the Teflon Don kept evading capture, and how the authorities eventually brought him to justice using some impressive techniques.

There’s a good selection of contributors from both sides of the law who offer their insights into the case. The documentary has a stunning 80s aesthetic to it which makes the viewer feel like they are actually watching a gangster movie. It’s fair to call it the best true-crime series of the year.

Beckham

2023 saw Netflix release a lot of profiles of famous icons, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Robbie Williams. But the best of the lot was the four-part documentary series about football legend, David Beckham.

Beckham is a fascinating character. Netflix expertly portrayed the life and career of the ex-Manchester United man, bringing back memories for anyone who lived through the 90s and early 2000s. It portrayed everything from the World Cup disappointment in 1998, and the subsequent abuse Beckham received for his sending off, to Manchester United’s stunning treble in 1999. This documentary series covered it all, and it was one of the best of 2023.

The Fall of The House of Usher

Based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe comes this stunning Gothic horror miniseries created by Mike Flanagan. It was viewed six million times in its debut week in October, which made it the most watched English language fiction series of that week. It was the third most watched overall, after the French series Lupin and the Beckham documentary series.

The story is about the rise to power of Roderick Usher, a powerful CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, and his equally powerful sister, Madeline Usher, who also works at the company. The first season ran for eight episodes, and featured a stunning ensemble cast including Carla Cugino and Bruce Greenwood.

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