For those of you who have New Year’s Day off, you can celebrate by kicking back on the couch and enjoying some good television. Netflix, in particular, has plenty of new and classic shows on its digital library that you can watch to enjoy the holiday and prepare for 2026.
Some of these Netflix shows are easy watches that have long made for perfect television. Others have new seasons scheduled to come out later in the New Year. Whatever your resolution is for 2026, you should make sure you check out these must-see shows on Netflix this January 1.
Netflix will begin the New Year with the end of Stranger Things. This sci-fi streaming sensation will unleash its final episode, The Rightside Up, on December 31. While some of you may plan to go out for New Year’s Eve, you can still catch this exciting series finale on Netflix the next morning.
So far, Stranger Things season 5 has shown the return of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) as he begins kidnapping children throughout Hawkins, including Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Nancy’s (Natalia Dyer) little sister, Holly (Nell Fisher). We have also seen Will (Noah Schnapp) gain psychic powers and Eleven reunite with her “sister,” Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), all while Vecna and his monsters rampage through Hawkins.
Though so much has happened in season 5, the show clearly has many more surprises in store for audiences. The latest trailer for Stranger Things 5, volume 2, implies we are about to learn so much more about the Upside Down, defying everything we thought was true in this show. One can only imagine what kind of mind-blowing, gut-punching ending is in store for everyone in the two-hour series finale.
Stream Stranger Things on Netflix.
With season 2 of this live-action remake set to premiere in 2026, there’s no better time to catch up on this story so far with season 1. Based on the acclaimed animated series of the same name, Avatar: The Last Airbender re-envisions the epic tale of young Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) as he travels the world with his friends, training to master all four elements to protect the world from the Fire Nation and the evil Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim).
The first season saw Aang, Katara (Kiawentiio), and Sokka (Ian Ousley) traveling to the North Pole to defend the Northern Water Tribe against Admiral Zhao (Ken Leung). Like in the original series, the next season will introduce the blind earthbender, Toph (Miya Cech), to Team Avatar as they travel the Earth Kingdom and face off against the evil Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu).
Stream Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix.
Acclaimed writer Vince Gilligan’s latest show, Pluribus, has recently become a streaming sensation following its premiere on Apple TV in November. Fans of Gilligan’s surreal sci-fi show will also want to watch Breaking Bad, the gritty crime drama that made him a household name.
Many audiences have been captivated by the vast, harrowing story of how Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his former chemistry student Jesse (Aaron Paul) built an illegal drug empire from the ground up. Though it tells a very different story from Pluribus, Breaking Bad remains one of the most gripping, profound television shows in history.
Stream Breaking Bad on Netflix.
Classic, nostalgic sitcoms like The Honeymooners and The Three Stooges are known for having TV marathons broadcast on New Year’s. There’s one show on Netflix that is sure to be a hilarious blast from the past, and that’s Seinfeld.
Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) made their mark on popular culture with their hilarious antics and their memorable one-liners and catchphrases on Seinfeld. While the show serves as a time capsule of the 1990s, much of the humor remains hysterical and timeless.
Many of you may have had this show on your minds so close to Festivus. Regardless, this iconic “show about nothing” is the perfect choice for those looking for an easy day enjoying laugh-out-loud television.
Netflix’s popular period drama, Bridgerton, is set to return with the first volume of season 4 at the end of January. Audiences still have time to catch up on the history of the Bridgerton family and their romantic escapades in their alternate version of Regency-era England.
Each season of this series focuses on one of the many children of Edmund (Rupert Evans) and Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) in their pursuit of love. So far, the show has followed eldest daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), eldest brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), and third brother Colin (Luke Newton). The upcoming fourth season will center on Benedict (Luke Thompson), the second son of the Bridgerton family.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.