The most binge-worthy TV shows of all time

This is perhaps the most obvious show on the list, as the legacy (and existence on television) of "Friends" will apparently never die. Whether it’s in syndication — seriously, turn on your television right now and "Friends" is probably airing, somewhere — or streaming on Netflix, "Friends" remains just as popular today as it was when it was on the air because the youth keep “discovering” it, and they love it. Just like Ross loved controlling and possessing Rachel!

As a wise woman once tweeted: “The teens are all watching "Friends," but the older millennials know "Frasier" is where it's at.” It’s true, and in all the constant talk (seriously, there can be a new angle) of "Friends" not holding up well, it’s worth noting that "Frasier" actually fares much better on that front. It’s not perfect, but at the same time, it is perfect: Because it’s "Frasier."

This also kind of falls into the "Friends" realm, in that the kids are finally watching the series, so it will never truly die. Plus, if NBC has anything to say about it and its streaming platform, Peacock, that will literally be the case and there will be more "The Office." Well, there are nine seasons for you to get through, unless you find yourself wanting to bail at Jim and Pam’s wedding, or when Steve Carell leaves or after two seasons (to maintain the standard set by the original British version of the series).

These are the simplest of binge-watches, because there is only have one goal: to make you happy.  And they succeed at doing so.

"Happy Endings" is the ultimate hangout sitcom, and that extends toward its binge-watchability as well. Putting on on episode or eight is like hanging out with a few old friends who do pile-ons, which is exactly the vibe you want to go for when it comes to the perfect binge-watch. No draaaaaamaaaa.

You don’t have to choose a hangout sitcom; you can watch as many (of the good ones) as you want! "New Girl" is another one of the good ones, and as a bonus, it actually has seven seasons and a conclusion that allowed it to end on its own terms. It’s always nice to have assurances that your binge-watch won’t end on a cliffhanger, you know?

Honestly, with 13 seasons, "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia" makes it so you can either binge-watch it all from the beginning or just pick and choose what season(s) to watch. But you know in your heart of hearts that the best choice is to begin with The Gang from the messy start and just keep watching and watching and watching.

Some of us had to binge-rewatch all three seasons of "Arrested Development" on DVD in our friends’ college dorms. Now Netflix makes it much easier, with two additional seasons. Funnily enough, once the show actually got into the streaming model — Seasons 4 and 5 on Netflix— things seemingly went off the rails for the series. But honestly, Season 4 works best as a binge-watch (especially the "Fateful Consequence" recut, which is also surreal to watch if you remember the original Season 4 cut, because there are even tweaks to certain scene takes), and you can’t go wrong at watching hours upon hours of the Bluths.

Yes, you can stream and binge-watch "Jeopardy!" I know, I know —“What is ‘a total game-changer?’”

"Lost" is definitely better — at least, less maddening — viewing when you don’t have to watch week to week. I say this as someone who binge-watched the first five seasons during the Netflix DVD era too.

Kind of like with "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia," there are just so many seasons (14) to binge-watch, it’s a whole odyssey. And you definitely want to watch from the beginning here, because while Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are still beautiful guys, watching from the pilot to now is like watching a literal depiction of “Boyz II Men.”

It's one of the greatest series of all time, and it somehow always seems to get better on binge-watch. In fact, the much-maligned Season 2 (which was also the writers-strike season) is also better to get through this way. And just to make the binge-watch less rocky, just know the series goes back to greatness once you get past that season.

"Damages" doesn’t get talked about a lot these days, which is an absolute travesty. I personally don’t understand it, especially when you consider how much critical reverence FX has now, and the fact that it was a two-hander starring Rose Byrne and Glenn 'fricken' Close and the rest of the insanely talented supporting cast (including David Costabile, who was doing amazing work here before "Breaking Bad").

If you remember when "House" was constantly played on USA Network — the way "Law & Order: SVU" is now — then you absolutely know that it’s a great binge-watch. (Seriously: One minute you could stop to watch the last 10 minutes of an episode, and then it’s eight hours later and for some reason, you’ve watched the Jeremy Renner episode twice.) Especially good is Season 4, when it comes to the “game” of creating House’s new team.

Hot take: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is a better binge-watch choice than "Seinfeld." I mean, you can choose to binge-watch "Seinfeld" too, but it’s just not on this list. "Curb" is. Nine straight seasons of Larry David might seem like a lot to take — and it is — but honestly, the series only gets funnier when you’re able to watch it without the years-long breaks between seasons.

There’s a scene in "New Girl" where Schmidt says that one of his “desert island books” is “any of the scripts from the first season of "Vampire Diaries.” Oddly specific, right? Wrong. "The Vampire Diaries" was mad watchable and remains so. In fact, the way the series burned through seasons’ worth of plot in just a few episodes (in a good way!) actually makes it the perfect type of show to binge-watch — one where the binge is seamless and not too rocky despite being a show that originally aired on a week-to-week basis.

Say what you will about how the series ended and all the people who have way too much time on their hands by continuing to obsess about that, but "Game of Thrones" is a compelling binge-watch. It's the type where every episode is a new adventure, especially when you can’t remember characters’ names or what their relations are to other characters whose names you don’t know.

Can the teens get really into "Psych?" It was always a fun, clever series with great pop culture references and even greater chemistry between its two leads, James Roday and Dule Hill. USA Network has gotten out of the “Characters Welcome” business and out of shows like "Psych" — the pinnacle of said brand — but it truly is an era that holds up upon binge-watching "Psych." Very funny. Yes, that was TBS’ slogan, but it truly worked here.

"Community" ended up on a streaming platform in the end — if you even really want to call the now dead and then terrible-with-playback Yahoo Screen a “streaming” “platform” — and arguably, that was the way it was always meant to be. Somehow, "Community" lasted six seasons, and it honestly is impressive to watch all the ups and downs and ups again of the series in the binge-watch form. It’s like a fever dream but good.

Based on the number of "Veronica Mars" rewatches that occurred as a result of Season 4 on Hulu, there has been recent confirmation that the series makes for a good binge-watch, whether it’s your first time or just your latest rewatch. And of course, that fourth season was made with the binge-watching concept in mind.

Obviously, "Buffy" and "Angel" are no-brainers on this and pretty much any list, but the binge-watching method actually makes certain seasons of the series that were hard to get through during the original run much easier (or at least better). Actually, trying to binge-watch the last two seasons of "Buffy" might be an experiment in trauma desensitization, but Season 5, especially, was seemingly made for binge-watching. And Angel Season 4 is the true season made for this type of watching, long before such watching even existed: Essentially a graphic novel in weekly television form, "Angel" Season 4 was so dense and serialized that it was infuriating to watch from week to week, which is no longer a problem with the binge-watching model.

Look, there’s an entire "Portlandia" sketch about just how binge-watchable "Battlestar Galactica" (the 2000s, Syfy version) is. That says it all.

As easy as it is to say the finale “ruined” the series, it’s still able to work its romcom, hangout sitcom charm on rewatch. You just have to block out the part of your brain that remembers how it all ends. Ted Mosby is forever a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you should let that ruin your enjoyment of a series with both great rewatchability and binge-watchability.

This is another one where, arguably, the series finale “ruined” everything…but honestly, did it? Or did it add another (hilarious) perspective to viewing the series? And honestly, even if you go into this binge-watch without knowing the conclusion, "Gossip Girl" was always a highly addictive series made to eventually be consumed in the most unhealthy way possible. It was meant to be binge-watched. XOXO.

Here’s the thing: As messy as "Glee" got (both onscreen and off of it), kind of like Pringles, once you pop the top, the fun (or at least the binge-watch) doesn’t stop. You could spend an entire episode saying how much you hate everything that’s going on, only to immediately hit “I’m still watching” on Netflix to get to the next episode. It’s kind of the same principle that makes "Gossip Girl" such a great binge-watch, only more amplified. Classic Ryan Murphy, to be honest.

Tonally, you can’t get a more perfect combination of series to binge-watch. All three are executive-produced by Tina Fey, and all three are gems. ("Great News" was great and didn’t deserve to go out the way it did!) You can choose to go through all three seasons in chronological order (from "30 Rock" to "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" to "Great News") or just pick the series that you’re more in the mood for now. But you seriously cannot go wrong with picking any of these and just hitting play.

You don’t necessarily need to binge-watch both "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" at the same time, but if you want to somewhat relive AMC’s contribution to the Golden Age of TV, it wouldn’t hurt to do so. It’s actually all based on preference — which one you consider the better binge-watch — and that's why it didn’t quite make sense to keep them separated. If you like the slow burn combined with a surprising amount of humor, then maybe "Mad Men" is your better binge-watch option. If you prefer a build-up of tension before the ish hits the fan, then maybe it’s "Breaking Bad."

"Halt and Catch Fire" got a bad rap for being “'Mad Men but in the ‘80s,'” but the series was so much more than that; and once you could get past the early series setup that clearly fed into that belief (which is why binge-watching makes it a much easier task), you’d see just how special the series is. Honestly, once you get past Season 1, it’s almost impossible not to binge-watch the next three seasons. They’re truly that damn good.

"Scrubs" may have lasted longer than it needed to, but it shouldn’t be forgotten just how much of an original and memorable sitcom it was. And it also was pretty darn funny, even if all of the characters — an amazingly talented cast — became more like caricatures by the end.