The Best Shows to Watch With Friends When Everyone's on Their Phone Anyway

Start with I Think You Should Leave on Netflix. Fifteen-minute sketch episodes, no plot to lose, and every single person in the room will laugh at a different sketch, which means you get to relitigate the funny ones for an hour afterward. That's the whole job of a group-watch show — give people something to talk about without demanding they shut up first. Everything below is ranked by that test.

A note before the list. The best shows to watch with friends are almost never the prestige dramas your one friend keeps recommending. If it needs subtitles, silence, or a recap podcast, it's a solo show. Groups need shows that survive interruption. That's the bar.

Must-Watch Tier

I Think You Should Leave (2019, 3 seasons, Netflix)

Tim Robinson sketch show. Each episode is 15 to 18 minutes. Starter episode: S1E2, the one with the hot dog car. If nobody laughs at that, your friends are broken and there's nothing I can do for you. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Nathan For You or old Mr. Show, yes. If your idea of comedy is a marriage joke on a network sitcom, hard no. Time commitment: three seasons, 18 total episodes, none longer than a cigarette break. You could watch the whole show in an evening. Status: ongoing, Robinson takes his sweet time between seasons because he's making movies now. The reason it wins for groups is that every sketch is a whole comedic unit. Someone can walk in from the kitchen mid-episode and be fully caught up in 40 seconds. No one has to shush anyone. Somebody in the group will do the "tables" bit for the next six months and you'll be powerless to stop them.

🏆 DROP EVERYTHING

The Traitors US (2023, 3 seasons, Peacock)

Alan Cumming in a castle wearing capes while reality TV alumni try to figure out which of them is a murderer. Starter episode: just start at S1E1, it's not that kind of show. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Survivor when it was good, yes. If reality TV makes you feel physically ill, you'll still probably like this one because Cumming is doing Shakespeare in a fur collar. Time commitment: each season is about 10 hours. A weekend, or three weeknights if you pace it. Status: ongoing, next season is the biggest cast yet. Group-watch fuel because every 20 minutes there's a betrayal you can scream about together, and there's zero prerequisite knowledge. Your mom, your roommate, and your cousin who only watches Yellowstone can all follow along and have opinions. Do not watch alone. It loses 80% of its power.

🏆 DROP EVERYTHING

What We Do in the Shadows (2019, 6 seasons, Hulu / Prime Video)

Vampires in Staten Island, mockumentary format, adapted from the Taika Waititi movie. Starter episode: S1E1 is fine, but if you want to bail-test, jump to S2E7, "The Return." Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Parks and Rec or the original Waititi film, yes. If you can't handle any goofiness in your comedy, bounce. Time commitment: six seasons of 22-minute episodes. You'll never finish it and that's fine. Status: ended in 2024, went out clean. It's the rare group comedy where the jokes-per-minute count is high enough that you can miss three of them talking to your friend about their job and still catch two more. Colin Robinson alone justifies the whole show. Nandor is a top-ten sitcom character of the decade and no one talks about it.

🏆 DROP EVERYTHING

Worth Your Time Tier

Taskmaster (2015, 19+ series, YouTube)

British comedians do stupid tasks for a bald man who keeps score. Free on the official Taskmaster YouTube channel, every episode, every series. Starter series: Series 7. Not Series 1. Trust me. Series 7 is when the show hits its full form and the cast is loaded. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Whose Line, Ted Lasso, or any British panel show, yes. If you need a plot, bounce. Time commitment: infinite. There are like 200 hours of this show and it's all free. Status: ongoing forever, they crank out two series a year. This is the best group-watch show in the world and Americans still don't know about it, which is one of the great cultural crimes of the streaming era. You can pause it, argue about what you'd do for the task, then unpause. It's designed for a room. Put it on at a party at 11pm and everyone stays till 2.

🏆 DROP EVERYTHING

Peep Show (2003, 9 seasons, Prime Video)

David Mitchell and Robert Webb as two of the worst men ever committed to television, shot entirely in first-person POV, inner monologues on the audio. Starter episode: S1E1, it works from the jump. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked The Office UK or Curb, yes. If you need a character to root for, no — everyone in this show is a monster. Time commitment: 54 episodes, 25 minutes each. Realistic to watch the whole thing in a month. Status: ended in 2015, perfectly. The POV gimmick sounds annoying and becomes invisible in 20 minutes. What you're left with is the most brutally accurate depiction of male friendship in TV history, which is why watching it with your actual male friends is a kind of low-key exposure therapy. The show's screenwriters wrote a companion book about it if anyone in the group cares about that sort of thing. They don't.

✅ WORTH IT

Nathan For You (2013, 4 seasons, Paramount+ / Prime Video)

Nathan Fielder helps small businesses with the worst ideas ever pitched on television, shot as reality but somehow real. Starter episode: S2E5, "Dumb Starbucks." Skip to it. If the room isn't converted after that, they're beyond saving. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Borat or The Rehearsal, yes. If you find secondhand embarrassment physically painful, this show will destroy you. Time commitment: 32 episodes, about 22 minutes each. Status: ended in 2017, spiritual successor is The Rehearsal on HBO. Best comedy of the 2010s and it's not close. The finale, "Finding Frances," is a two-hour episode that becomes an accidental documentary about loneliness, and every group I've watched it with has ended up talking about it until 3am. You will not be prepared.

🏆 DROP EVERYTHING

The Bear (2022, 4 seasons, Hulu)

Jeremy Allen White runs a Chicago sandwich shop and nobody in the kitchen is okay. Starter episode: S1E1 sets it up in 28 minutes, or jump to S1E7, "Review," which is one 20-minute unbroken shot and will decide it for you. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Uncut Gems or any show shot like a panic attack, yes. If you want low-stakes chill viewing, absolutely not — this show will make you tense. Time commitment: four seasons of half-hour episodes. Manageable in two weekends. Status: ongoing, though season three took some hits from people who wanted more panic and less contemplation. Group watch caveat: this only works for a small, calm group. Three friends max. Get it under six people, get it quiet, watch S1E7 in one go. It's the only tense drama on this list because it's the one that earns the anxiety.

✅ WORTH IT

Detroiters (2017, 2 seasons, Paramount+)

Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson play best friends running a low-rent ad agency in Detroit. Yes, that Tim Robinson. Starter episode: S1E2, "Hank Chinaski." Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked I Think You Should Leave or old-school sitcom energy with modern jokes, yes. If you need cynicism in your comedy, you'll find this too sweet, and you'd be wrong. Time commitment: 20 episodes, 22 minutes each. One rainy Saturday. Status: cancelled after two seasons by Comedy Central, which is one of the crimes of the last decade of television. The reason it's on this list is that it's the rare group comedy where the show actually likes its characters. Everyone in the room will leave in a better mood than they arrived. That should not be underrated in an age when every comedy is about a divorced woman having a breakdown.

✅ WORTH IT

Only For Fans Tier

Reservation Dogs (2021, 3 seasons, Hulu)

Four Indigenous teenagers on a reservation in Oklahoma try to get to California, then don't. Starter episode: S1E1, but the show ascends in S2E1, "The (Curse) of the Legend." Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Atlanta or Better Things, yes. If your group wants plot velocity, they'll get bored — this show is a hangout show that occasionally punches you in the throat. Time commitment: three seasons of 30-minute episodes. About 14 hours total. Status: ended in 2023, on purpose, on its own terms, which almost nothing does anymore. Group-watch caveat: needs the right group. Four people who like slow shows will love this. Eight people who came to drink will hate it. Read the room.

✅ WORTH IT

Cunk on Earth (2022, 1 season, Netflix)

Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, a fake documentary host who interviews real historians and asks them if the Great Wall of China was built to keep out badgers. Starter episode: just start at E1, it's five episodes total. Who'll love it, who'll bounce: if you liked Borat or The Office UK deadpan, yes. If you need warmth, absolutely not. Time commitment: five 30-minute episodes. One evening. Status: ended as a limited series but Morgan is making more Cunk stuff, most of it also worth watching. It's a group-watch cheat code because every 90 seconds there's a quotable line. The historians she interviews genuinely don't know if she's serious, and their faces are half the joke. Small commitment, huge return.

✅ WORTH IT

Skip Tier

Emily in Paris (2020, 4 seasons, Netflix)

A marketing girlboss moves to Paris and everyone is very rude to her. Look, I know people put this on at parties as a joke. That's the problem. It's genuinely so bland that it doesn't even work as background comedy — background TV needs a floor of competence to laugh at. This is a Pinterest board that a French tax accountant sued Netflix over. If you want ironic bad TV for a group, put on the first season of Selling Sunset instead. At least those people are willing to say something insane on camera.

🐍 SLOP

FAQ

What show should I put on when friends come over and I don't know what they like?

Default to Taskmaster Series 7 or I Think You Should Leave. Both work with zero setup, both are funny inside three minutes, and both let people talk during without missing the plot. If your friends skew British-comedy-averse, go ITYSL. If they're comedy nerds, Taskmaster.

What's the best show to watch with a big group like six or more people?

The Traitors US. It's the only show on this list built for group screaming. Everyone picks a favorite contestant in the first episode, everyone has a theory about who's a traitor, and you'll spend more time arguing during the show than actually watching it, which is the point.

What if half my friends hate comedy and half hate drama?

Put on What We Do in the Shadows. It's a comedy that plays like a hangout show, the jokes don't demand attention the way sketch does, and the vampire premise gives the drama-only people something to latch onto. Nobody has ever hated this show, which is a small miracle.

Anything good on Prime Video specifically for a group?

Peep Show and old Nathan For You seasons rotate through Prime's catalog, and both are perfect group watches. If you don't have a Prime account, start a Prime Video free trial and burn through Peep Show before it expires. That's a legitimate strategy and I've done it twice.

The Closer

Put on I Think You Should Leave, Season 1, Episode 2 tonight. Fifteen minutes. If the room isn't hooked by the hot dog car, cut your losses and get takeout. If they are, cue up Taskmaster Series 7 next and don't come up for air until Tuesday.

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