Club Benefits
With Winter Storm Fern still causing chaos across the U.S., there’s never been a better time to bunker down and binge-watch some great TV shows on Prime Video. After all, what better way to escape the winter weather than with a streaming show that has you rapidly clicking the “play next episode” button almost as soon as the current one ends.
I’ve combed through Prime Video’s streaming library and picked out a few top picks. And in the name of variety, these selections run the gamut from a coming-of-age teen (melo)drama to a post-apocalyptic series based on a best-selling video game. And those are just a couple of my top choices. There’s a little something to suit every taste in my Prime Video picks.
‘Fallout’
Amazon’s TV adaptation of the popular post-apocalyptic RPG video game series “Fallout” hasn’t been suffering from the sophomore slump. Any fears that the ongoing second season would struggle to match the quality bar of the excellent debut run have been rapidly squashed. Now that “Fallout” season 2 is speeding towards the endgame with two episodes left (at the time of writing), it’s a great time to dive into the wasteland on Prime Video.
Set two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse, “Fallout” opens on the residents of Vault 33, an underground bunker housing what remains of humanity. Here we meet the plucky Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), who is forced to travel topside and face the horrors of the radiated surface when her father, the Vault Overseer (Kyle MacLachlan), goes missing. Beyond Vault 33, she meets a cast of quirky characters from a ghoulish bounty hunter (Walton Goggins) to a reluctant soldier (Aaron Moten).
Watch "Fallout" on Prime Video now
‘Friday Night Lights’
The 2026 Super Bowl is confirmed. The Seattle Seahawks are set to take on the New England Patriots in just shy of two weeks. But if that wait feels too long, why not fill the time with some football-themed television, and specifically, classic high school drama “Friday Night Lights.” Premiering back in 2006, it was one of the last bastions of pre-streaming TV, and you can enjoy all five-seasons (79 episodes in total) on Amazon’s platform.
The NBC series was never a ratings juggernaut, but over its five years on the air, “Friday Night Lights” slowly built a loyal fanbase and enjoyed a surge in popularity in the years following its finale. Set in a small Texas town, it follows the melodramatic lives of a team of high school football players, alongside focusing on the equally troubled coaching staff. It’s got recognizable names in the cast, including Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, with early roles for popular actors including Jesse Plemons, Michael B. Jordan and Taylor Kitsch.
Watch "Friday Night Lights" on Prime Video now
‘The Good Place’
“The Good Place” proves that a well-plotted sitcom can be just as narratively compelling as any prestigious drama. This fantastical comedy manages to offer slapstick laughs alongside an overarching plot that is quite remarkable. I’m trending lightly to avoid spoilers, but it manages to reinvent itself multiple times across its run, flipping the script and setting new stakes to keep things fresh. Plus, the ensemble cast knits together near perfectly, with Ted Danson stealing the show as overseer of the eponymous heaven-like place, Michael.
Arriving in the afterlife, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is a little surprised to learn she’s been granted access to the Good Place. After leading a less-than-ethical life on Earth, you would think she didn’t make the grade. Turns out she didn’t. A clerical error has assigned her to the wrong resting place, and now she’s got to hide her dark secret to avoid being condemned to the Bad Place. And that’s just the basic setup; there’s more at play here than you might expect, but I won’t say anymore. “The Good Place” should be watched unspoiled.
Watch "The Good Place" on Prime Video now
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’
If the winter weather and the ongoing seasonal storm have you already dreaming of a summer escape, then Prime Video has the perfect show to bring a little heat into your home. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” definitely falls into the guilty pleasure streaming category, but it serves up a knotty love triangle, a pop-laden soundtrack (with plenty of Taylor Swift), and enough relatable teenage angst to keep you hooked across its three complete seasons. Plus, with a feature-film follow-up on the way, now is the perfect time to meet the residents of Cousins Beach.
The coming-of-age romantic drama centers on Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), a 16-year-old who vacations in the idyllic Cousins Beach with her mother (Jackie Chung) and older brother (Sean Kaufman) every summer. There, she becomes caught in a complicated love triangle between two brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Let’s just say, Belly’s summer is going to be anything but relaxing.
Watch "The Summer I Turned Pretty" on Prime Video now
‘The Expanse’
If you want to get completely lost in an expansive series, “The Expanse” should be at the top of your Prime Video watchlist. It’s another pick with plenty of episodes to binge, 62 chapters to be exact, and it ranks as one of the finest sci-fi series of the 21st century. While it started life as a Syfy network show, its production values are nevertheless impressive, but while the stunning shots of intergalactic sights might draw you in, what will keep you watching is the fantastic character work and the gripping storylines that explore fascinating Milky Way politics.
Set hundreds of years in the future, humanity has colonized the solar system. Yes, humans actually live on Mars now. But some things about human nature never change, and there is a growing tension between Earth and the red planet. As a full-scale war threatens to break out, a detective (Thomas Jane) and a ship’s officer (Steven Strait) investigate the case of a missing woman, which spirals into a conspiracy that could change the fate of the universe.
Watch "The Expanse" on Prime Video now
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