Almost every TV show has a shelf life, and Netflix‘s original programming is no different. Across the world, however, a select few scripted series run indefinitely with no end in sight. British soap operas like Coronation Street and Eastenders, Japanese anime such as Sazae-san and Case Closed, and cultural phenomenons along the lines of Doctor Who and The Simpsons.
Whether the fast-paced realm of streaming will ever develop its own “forever shows” remains to be seen, but parsing through Netflix’s current selection of TV series, three jump out as having the capacity to run continuously into the future.
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The Haunting Of…
2018’s excellent The Haunting of Hill House made Mike Flanagan the gloomy beacon of modern horror, and its not-quite-as-excellent-but-still-very-good successor, The Haunting of Bly Manor, brought further gothic delights two years later. A third entry in Flanagan’s The Haunting of… series hasn’t been forthcoming, but the central concept is still bursting with life.
Even if seasons arrive years apart, dropping the occasional new The Haunting of… chapter to celebrate Halloween is a tradition that could run long into the future. Ghost stories never lose their appeal, and there’s an entire library of haunted house tales for Flanagan to adapt. If that format begins to grow moldy, The Haunting of… could easily switch to original stories, or explore hauntings of villages, families, etc.
The Haunting of… is defined by a distinct tonal style, recurring cast members, and running themes of family, time, love, etc. As long as those components remain, the series is something Mike Flanagan can revisit periodically. Far into the future, when the filmmaker is enjoying retirement, there would even be an option to pass The Haunting of… to an up-and-coming horror storyteller who can carry the torch.
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Black Mirror
Black Mirror is too important to go away. Over the past 15 years, Charlie Brooker’s series has provided the sharpest satire around and offered scarily accurate reflections into humanity’s future. Like The Haunting of…, Black Mirror is a series that can come and go as it pleases, never growing outdated and never suffering after extended periods away.
Black Mirror’s remit of misery is so broad, there’s no reason to ever get bored of it. Encompassing sci-fi, horror, drama, romance, and comedy, the Black Mirror umbrella is any screenwriter’s dream, allowing a versatility no other long-running franchise can match.
Black Mirror is a world Charlie Brooker can keep coming back to until he retires or cheers up. After that, the franchise’s future will, again, depend on whether another writer will be up to the task of continuing what Brooker built.
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Beef
Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
A TV highlight of 2023, Beef pits Steven Yeun against Ali Wong in a feud of epic proportions, earning accolades and awards galore. With Beef season 1 ending in the perfect place, it wasn’t immediately clear how the miniseries could expand beyond that initial road rage incident. Nevertheless, creator Lee Sung Jin expressed an intention for Danny and Amy to have a three-season arc.
Instead, Beef season 2 is replacing Yeun and Wong with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan as a husband-and-wife duo, telling a completely separate story from the first season, but returning to the central concept of two people locked in a bitter battle of wills. That gives the Beef brand far more scope. Life will always inspire juicy stories where two well-written characters are consumed by their hatred of each other.
Isaac and Mulligan joining season 2 sets a precedent whereby the Netflix series can keep bringing different pairs of A-list actors together to work through some serious beef.