Before striking gold with original series including Stranger Things and The Crown, Netflix captured and kept millions of subscribers by offering full seasons of popular shows like 30 Rock and The West Wing on its service. Series that were overlooked during their early seasons, like Breaking Bad, gained millions of new fans on the streaming platform too.
Playing host to these programs carries tremendous value, especially during quarantine. Committing to a new show can be a risk—what if it jumps the shark in Season 2 or, worse, gets cancelled during its prime? But revisiting critically vetted, familiar hits like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and ER is a reliable way to sate audiences looking for comfort binges.
As the streaming wars continue, networks and cable channels are launching their own streaming platforms—and outbidding Netflix for the rights to old, fan-favorite shows. Services like HBO Max and NBC’s Peacock, both of which launched this summer, offer new series like the Anna Kendrick starrer Love Life or an ambitious adaptation of Brave New World to lure subscribers. But in order to hold on to those new customers, they’re also building massive libraries of old content. HBO reportedly spent $425 million on the rights to Friends, while NBC bid $500 million for the rights to stream The Office beginning in January 2021.
Tracking where your favorite series are now moving and when can be confusing. Networks that originally aired certain series don’t necessarily retain the streaming rights. Downton Abbey has found a new home on Peacock even though the costume drama originally aired on ITV and PBS; CBS All Access is streaming Twin Peaks despite the fact that the mystery series first debuted on ABC.
To help you sort through the chaos, we’ve laid out where you can stream some of the most bingeable series in television history.
CBS All Access
Cheers (also streaming on Hulu and Peacock)
Frasier (also streaming on Hulu and Peacock)
The Good Wife (also streaming on Amazon Prime)
I Love Lucy (also streaming on Hulu)
Star Trek (also streaming on Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix)
Twin Peaks (also streaming on Hulu and Netflix)
Disney+
Boy Meets World
The Simpsons
That’s So Raven
HBO Max
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Friends
Game of Thrones
Luther (also streaming on Amazon Prime and Hulu)
The O.C.
Sex and the City
The Sopranos
South Park
The Wire
Hulu
30 Rock (also streaming on Amazon Prime and Peacock)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Cheers (also streaming on CBS All Access and Peacock)
Community (also streaming on Netflix)
ER
Family Matters
Frasier (also streaming on CBS All Access and Peacock)
Fresh Off the Boat
Friday Night Lights (also streaming on Peacock)
The Golden Girls
I Love Lucy
Living Single (also streaming on CBS All Access)
Lost
Luther (also streaming on Amazon Prime and HBO Max)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Parks and Recreation (also streaming on Amazon Prime, Netflix and Peacock)
Seinfeld
Star Trek (also streaming on CBS All Access and Amazon Prime)
Twin Peaks (also streaming on CBS All Access and Netflix)
The X-Files
Netflix
Breaking Bad
Community (also streaming on Hulu)
Gilmore Girls
Jane the Virgin
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
The Office
Orange Is the New Black
Parks and Recreation (also streaming on Amazon Prime, Hulu and Peacock)
Sherlock
Star Trek (also streaming on Amazon Prime, CBS All Access and Hulu)
Twin Peaks (also streaming on CBS All Access and Hulu)
The West Wing
The Americans
The Good Wife (also streaming on CBS All Access)
House (also streaming on Peacock)
Luther (also streaming on Hulu and HBO Max)
Now that the streaming wars are in full steam following the launch of Peacock and HBO Max, here’s where to find shows from Friends and the X-Files to Breaking Bad