In this strange year of quarantine and missed experiences, I have felt wholly unqualified to judge the merits of art made in a pre-COVID time. All Ive really wanted to do is watch travel shows to vicariously explore the world and break up the monotony of being trapped in a 500-square-foot studio apartment not intended for 24/7 use.

With that caveat, I still fell in love with a few Netflix Original series in 2020, all listed below in no particular order. In different ways, I was grateful for shows like The Crown that brought a truly transportive A+ storytelling experience, as well as the turn-off-your-brain-and-look-at-pretty-flowers joy of The Big Flower Fight.

I had little patience for shows with slow starts or demanding plot lines, but I also recognize that my fuse was extra short this year. The only Netflix show that I truly think was terrible was The Floor Is Lava and thats mostly because I was so excited by the premise and so let down by the execution.