For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails
When you think of the most critically applauded TV shows of all time you’re probably thinking The Sopranos , The Wire and numerous other serious dramas. You wouldn’t be wrong, Metacritic holds those shows, as well as the likes of Breaking Bad and Twin Peaks as the highest rated shows of all time.
But what’s your favourite show is a completely different question. You may rate Homeland above The Simpsons but that doesn’t mean it’s the show you want to snuggle up with on the sofa every evening.
You can only really have one favourite show, and while you may suspect those in Hollywood would say one of the above dramas is there's, you would be wrong. Just like millions of us, even Hollywood insiders have a soft spot for Rachael, Joey, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Monica.
Hollywood Reporter Friends came up top.
Close behind the Manhattan comedy was Breaking Bad , the recent drug fuelled drama that spawned the spin-off Better Call Saul .
Show all 26 1 /2626 Netflix shows you need to watch 26 Netflix shows you need to watch Breaking Bad / Talking Bad If 37 of your friends haven't convinced you to watch this masterpiece by now, I'm not going to be able to. If not the best TV series of all time then certainly the most entertaining, Breaking Bad tells the story of a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher who throws his hand in and decides to cook crystal meth instead. If you're a devout fan and missing the series, its sister discussion show Talking Bad is also on Netflix and may be worth checking out, if just to reminisce on the weekly theorising that gripped us.
Frank Ockenfels/AMC
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Orange is the New Black Taylor Schilling plays a middle class woman who is forced to trade her comfortable New York apartment and Mad Men boxsets for a tough, tyrannically-run women's prison, but it’s the supporting cast you'll stick around for. As well as being very funny, OITNB packs an emotional punch as you learn how the rest of the Litchfield inmates came to be incarcerated, challenging your preconceptions of them. Season 1 is up now, and season 2 is right around the corner (arrives 6 June).
Netflix
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Trailer Park Boys A seven season micro-budget mockumentary might sound like hard work, but actually you'll find yourself chomping your way through this hidden gem in no time. It centres on the recidivists and down and outs of a Canadian trailer park, whose daily struggles include scraping enough money together to buy smokes, repelling cats who piss on their weed plants and trying not to pass out drunk in the street. You'll instantly feel bonded to protagonists Julian and Ricky, while their neighbour Bubbles is comedy gold. Each episode is only 20 minutes, get binging.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Californication Take one part Bret Easton Ellis novel, one part Showtime series Weeds, shake and pour over ice and you have Californication. It focuses on Hank Moody (David Duchovny), a struggling writer stumbling from bed to bed around LA. A love letter to dissolution, it took a nose dive at season 6, but the first five seasons are irresistible.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Louie (US only) Start by watching Louis C.K's stand-up Live at the Beacon Theater (also on Netflix) then plough on into this series. It sees the comedian play a semi-autobiographical version of himself gigging, raising his two kids and trying to cope with the world of dating far later in life than he expected to. It doesn't pack a high laughs-per-minute ratio, but that's not really what he's going for in this series. It's more Woody Allen territory really (indeed he went on to star in Blue Jasmine last year), and has a surprising emotional depth. Season 2 is shaky, but worth sticking through for season 3 which is brilliant and incredibly thoughtful.
FX
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Adventure Time Kids' TV is enjoying a golden age over on Cartoon Network right now, led by this surreal animation about a boy and his shape-shifting dog who live in the Land of Ooo, a world populated by candy people. Adventure Time has a massive following among adults, and is way funnier than most comedies actually aimed at them. Algebraic!
26 Netflix shows you need to watch House of Cards For too long US political dramas were all flags slowly unfurling in the wind to bugle calls and overblown final-hour speeches, but this Netflix original takes a much dimmer view of Washington. Kevin Spacey plays conniving congressman Frank Underwood, who will walk over anyone's dead body (maybe literally?) to get into power. Season 2 is even better than the first and watching it is like sitting down to eat a 16oz steak, so dense is the political plotting.
Netflix
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Archer Secret spy agency headed by a James Bond-like figure called Sterling Archer may sound like kind of a lame concept, but this cartoon is frequently hilarious. The dialogue is taut, with the cast forever finishing each other's sentences, the characters are unhinged and the voice cast is excellent.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Arrested Development Living in a pre-fab show house with his shallow, avaricious family, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is surrounded by fakery. When patriarch George goes to prison Michael must take charge of the family business, which turns out to be something of a poisoned chalice. Very funny and very innovative, though the latest season, a half-Netflix original, may be too meta and ambitious for its own good.
Netflix/AP
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Episodes Matt Le Blanc plays Matt Le Blanc, who lands a part in a US adaptation of a successful UK sitcom, much to the disappointment of its creators (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) who were hoping to cast someone a little more highbrow. Sounds like one of those brilliant premises that a show could never live up to beyond the pilot, but Episodes doesn't try and trade off this gag forever, instead going in some surprising and very funny directions. Watching Le Blanc send up himself is glorious.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Like watching a standard ABC sitcom if the entire cast were on amphetamines. Worth trying out a few episodes just to see Danny DeVito running amok.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch RuPaul Drag Race America's next top model. For drag queens! Forget Keeping Up Wth The Kardashians and E! Fashion Police, reality TV slop must doesn't get much better or more absurd than this.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Various Louis Theroux documentaries There is a ton of Louis Theroux documentaries on Netflix, from his quirky weird weekends in pro wrestling to more serious looks at crimes and drugs. Acting the simpleton, he is a master at establishing a rapport with interviewees, lulling them into a false sense of security and very often giving them enough rope to hang themselves. 'The City Addicted To Crystal Meth' is one of the best on the service.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Peep Show (US only) This list features prisoners, drug addicts and mobsters, and yet the plight of Mark and Jez seems somehow sadder than all of these combined. The pair live in a sh*t flat, pursue sh*t jobs and sh*t relationships, only getting through the day with the thought of the Muller Corner yogurt waiting for them in the fridge. Peep Show is flawless in its depiction of mid-Twenties 5-hours-sleep and office-kitchen-catch-ups boredom and is unrelenting in the dark and depressing situations it places its characters in.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch TED Talks: Life Hacks TED may be accused of reductionism when it comes to its explanation of complex science topics, but its Life Hacks series is silly, fun and eminently watchable. Seriously, if it's been a long day and you just need something to switch off to, a 3-minute video entitled 'How to tie your shoes' should help.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch I'm Alan Partridge Far and away Steve Coogan's best character, Partridge more than stands the test of time. After his mock chat show came this more conventional sitcom, which is unwaveringly brilliant and comes loads with the infamous 'Dan!' scene.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch The Thick of It Exposing the absurdity of politics in a very different way to House of Cards is The Thick Of It, which follows politicians on both sides of the spectrum bumbling to put together some kind of coherent policy. Peter Capaldi is gifted some wonderfully vicious lines as master of spin Malcolm Tucker, but for me it’s the long-suffering politicians in front of the camera who bring the belly laughs. Spawned the good but not quite as good US version, Veep.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Portlandia Mocking hipsters is like shooting fish in a barrel, but goddamn Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are nailing those fish. Nailing them right in the face. From the 'Women and Women First' hyper-feminist bookstore to a great cameo from Jason Sudeikis as a cult leader, the first three seasons have enough high points to make up for the sketches that don't land, and Portland serves as a pleasing, lush backdrop.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Pokémon Deadly serious here. Maybe you're forgetting how insanely trippy this show is? There are 100 episodes of the stuff on Netflix, so wilfully regress next time you're sick off work/school with this kaleidoscopic headf*ck.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch The Good Wife Often overlooked, but a confident and riveting drama. Alicia (Julianna Margulies) returns to her prior career as a lawyer after a scandal brings down her politician husband (Chris Noth).
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Lilyhammer Steve Van Zandt plays a mobster (essential reprising his role of Sil from The Sopranos) who goes into witness protection in the wintery climes of Norway, his "New Yoik" ways soon rubbing up against the Lilyhammer locals' simple, country life. Not fantastic, but more original than a lot of the Scandi dramas out there.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch The Bridge Speaking of which, this is like The Killing, but with actually interesting characters. Seriously, The Killing is awful.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch 30 Rock (US only) The zingers come at lightning speed in this much-loved comedy about the backstage workings of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch show. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are equally brilliant in the lead roles of showrunner Liz Lemon and NBC president Jack Donaghy and the satire on pop culture is always absolutely pin point accurate.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Freaks and Geeks (US only) Legendary teen comedy on which Judd Apatow cut his teeth. If nothing else, an answer to the question 'What did Jason Segal, Seth Rogen and James Franco look like in the 90s?'
26 Netflix shows you need to watch The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Tod Margaret (US only) British and American comedy collide in this effort from David Cross, who teams up with Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett to tell the story of an in-over-his-head American tasked with taking over a sales team in London.
26 Netflix shows you need to watch Parks and Recreation (US only) Just when you thought The Office US had exhausted workplace comedy, this charming sitcom came along centring on the petty bureaucracy of a fictional small town in Indiana. Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt and Rashida Jones are among its excellent cast, which has spawned about a million GIFs and 30-second YouTube clips such is its quotable brilliance.
In third comes The X-Files , which is getting a re-boot very soon, while in fourth is HBO’s blood soaked Game of Thrones . Rounding off the top five is Seinfeld , with Sopranos coming in sixth.
Many of the shows in the top 20 including Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Modern Family, Lost and Arrested Development only began airing in the last 12 years, while older comedies - such as Fawlty Towers, Monty Python and even Frasier - came a lot lower.
What's also interesting is that some more serious dramas, like the Wire (30) and Homeland (45) lost out to comedies such as Modern Family (14) and The Big Band Theory (25).
Here are Hollywood’s top 10 TV shows: 1. Friends
2. Breaking Bad
3. The X-Files
4. Game of Thrones
5. Seinfeld
6. The Sopranos
7. Saturday Night Live
8. I Love Lucy
9. Mad Men
10. The Simpsons
Vote on your favourite show below 
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies