Paramount+, a former dumping ground for all the shows you never needed to watch, is suddenly worth the monthly fee as the official HQ for most things MTV and Comedy Central. Beyond the reality shows and comedy shorts that raised you, the curated collection of series on Paramount+ include hit dramas like Yellowjackets and Billions. Paramount+ is for the streamer with range, so with that in mind, here is every show you should stream on the platform right now.
Yellowjackets
Arguably the best series in the cannibalistic survival drama canon–a surprisingly stacked and growing genre, see Society of the Snow–Yellowjackets follows a high school girls’ soccer team who, circa 1990s, survives a plane crash and adjusts to life in the wilderness. The series, now heading into its third season, time-jumps between present day and past, showing the surviving final girls as they grapple with what they saw and did in the wilderness all those years ago.
RuPaul’s Drag Race
One of the most fertile franchises on television, RuPaul’s Drag Race began in 2009 and now umbrellas over 15 seasons, 4 spin-off series, and a number of international franchises. The reality competition series is, of course, hosted by the ever-iconic RuPaul Charles and features a rotating collection of amateur drag queens, all competing for the crown and the title of “America’s next drag superstar.” The series borrows from a number of competition series, featuring weekly skills-based challenges, musical performances, and themed runway presentations. At the end of each episode, the two lowest-performing queens compete in a lip-sync battle, ending in the elimination of one unlucky queen.
Billions
With all the sharp dialogue and high-stakes business moves of Succession, Billions presents a world of corrupt politics, dirty finance, and personal vendettas from inside the web of a high level hedgefund and the U.S. Attorney determined to take them down. The series, which officially wrapped in 2023, ran for 7 seasons, so there is plenty of content to stream, so do it on Paramount+.
Are You The One?
This iconic reality dating show began on MTV in 2014, running for 8 seasons on the network before moving to Paramount+ in March of 2022. The series’ 9th season premiered on the streamer in January of 2023, borrowing the post-Max host of Catfish, Kamie Crawford. Are You The One? brings together a group of single men and women and throws them in a vacation villa, tasked with the burden of finding their scientifically proven “perfect match” for the chance to win money. Important note: in order to win the money, everyone in the house must find their match. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t always happen.
The Good Wife
This legal and political drama premiered on CBS in 2009, starring Julianna Margulies as a woman who returns to her career as an attorney after her husband becomes the center of a political sex scandal. The series follows her personal and professional trials, also feeding that procedural drama craving with new cases each episode, a la Scandal.
Awkward
One of MTV’s most popular teen comedies circa 2011, Awkward follows a high school student who, upon showing up to school in an impossible-to-ignore arm cast, is dubbed “the suicide girl,” and met with instant notoriety in her teen ecosystem. The series spirals from there as she navigates friendship, family, and of course, sex. Awkward created one of MTV’s most memorable love triangles—IYKYK. Team Matty, obviously.
The Real World
The show every reality television historian should know, The Real World, is streaming on Paramount+. Praise be. Upon its premiere in 1992, The Real World became the first major reality show on television, and still gets the flowers for creating and influencing a genre which remains one of the most popular (and lucrative) in entertainment. The show, which stands at 33 seasons, follows a group of young adults who cohabitate in a new city each season, clashing and connecting over culture, background, belief, and more. The seeds of The Real World can be seen across such series as Big Brother, Jersey Shore, and even Love Is Blind.
Nathan for You
Fresh off his The Curse success, let's revisit the beginnings of Nathan Fielder. The Canadian comedian entered the pop culture space in 2013 with his Comedy Central docu-reality show, Nathan for You. Each episode features Fielder offering his expertise as a business consultant to struggling local businesses, but ultimately his plans are always absurd, unconventional, and hilarious. Think, a gas station offering a money-back rebate, but only to customers who climb a mountain and camp overnight to claim it.
Broad City
This comedy central gem stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson as two best friends in New York City, constantly in the midst of misadventures as they explore adulthood, sex, career, and beyond. The series is irreverent, unapologetic, and genuinely hilarious—but you already knew that.
Workaholics
Another Comedy Central hit, Workaholics follows three college dropouts working as telemarketers and partying their faces off. The offbeat comedy series stars Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson, and Anders Holm and grew a pretty massive cult following throughout its 7 season run.
Parental Control
One of MTV’s most famous reality series from the aughts, Parental Control featured parents who set up blind dates for their kid with the hopes of replacing their less-than-likeable romantic partners. Better still? The parents and the disliked partner sit on a couch together and watch the blind dates on candid camera. It’s truly peak television, and we’ve never done anything better than this since 2006.
Detroiters
Fans of I Think You Should Leave already know, and if you don’t; well, I think you should leave. Detroiters comes from comedy duo Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson and follows two best friends working as advertising execs in the Motor City. The quirky and endearing comedy pokes fun at the advertising world, specifically the world of low-budget, local campaigns across the city of Detroit.
Reno 911!
One of the earliest mockumentary comedies on television, Reno 911! premiered on Comedy Central in 2003 as a parody of popular police reality shows of the time like Cops. The series followed an incompetent Sheriff’s Department in Reno, Nevada, featuring quirky and absurd deputies on the job.
