The Best Shows on Amazon Prime Right Now (February 2021)

Flack (2019): The 'Devil Wears Prada' of PR

The first season of Flack comes to Amazon Prime in January. It stars True Blood actress Anna Paquin as Robyn, a public relations "flack" tasked with cleaning up the images of the troubled celebrities she represents, even as her own personal life falls apart. If you like watching rotten people in a rotten business being funny and messy at the same time, you might like this show.

The Great Escapists (2021): Best Engineers Trapped on a Deserted Island Show

The Great Escapists is the latest project from Richard Hammond (The Grand Tour) and Tory Belleci (MythBusters). The six-part series strands the pair on a deserted island, where they must use their engineering skills to survive and turn their temporary home into an island paradise. If you watch Survivor but feel that all it's missing is more science, this show may be for you.

Dexter (2006): Best Sympathetic Serial Killer Show

Dexter's premise seemed quite novel when the show first debuted in 2006. The eponymous Dexter is a forensic analyst who also moonlights as a serial killer hunting other serial killers. Although the show could be too gruesome for some, Dexter is a compelling anti-hero and the writing is clever. Maybe skip the much-maligned final season, though.

The Expanse (2015): Best Noir Sci-Fi Rescued From Syfy

The Expanse is science fiction at its most pure, painting a solar system colonized by humanity in gritty, realistic detail, and saddled with a murder mystery that grabs you and won't let go. Amazon pulled this sci-fi noir masterpiece off the trash heap when Syfy canned it after three seasons, so it doesn't end unceremoniously halfway through the story either.

Season 5 splits the crew of the Rocinante. Some of them hunt for the terrorist Marcos Inaros, while Amos (Wes Chatham) returns to Earth and confronts his past.

The Wilds (2020): 'Lord of the Flies' Meets 'Lost'

Fans of the mysterious drama series Lost might want to give The Wilds a try. The show focuses on a group of teen girls from various backgrounds who survive a plane crash and clash and bond as they wait for rescue on a deserted island. Along the way, they discover that the events aren't as random as they seem. Twist!

The Bernie Mac Show (2001): The Comedy Icon's Peabody Award-Winning Series

The late comedian Bernie Mac was one of the breakout stars of the 2000 film The Original Kings of Comedy. He also had memorable roles in movies like Bad Santa and Ocean's 11. But it's his eponymous sitcom fans likely remember best, and all five seasons came to Amazon Prime in December.

The Bernie Mac Show portrayed a fictionalized version of Mac as a standup comedian who gains custody of his sister's three children after she enters rehab. It won numerous awards during its run, including a Peabody, and it received two Emmy nominations.

The Man in the High Castle (2015): Best Dystopian Alternative History

This dystopian, alternate-history thriller features a very different United States that has fallen to Nazi and Imperial Japanese influence following World War II. Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick and developed for television by X-Files alum Frank Spotnitz, The Man in the High Castle revolves around mysterious film footage that shows the Axis powers losing the war.

Bosch (2014): Best Seasonal Procedural With Room to Breathe

This police procedural follows LA homicide detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), who is trying to solve one murder while being dragged into court over another as the series opens. Unlike most modern procedurals, each season focuses on a single case, allowing time for the story to breathe without the need to tie everything up with a neat bow at the end of each episode.

Sneaky Pete (2015): Best Con Man With a Heart of Gold

Sneaky Pete is about a con man (the always-watchable Giovanni Ribisi) who assumes his old cellmate's identity so he can hide from a vicious gangster (the equally watchable Bryan Cranston) he betrayed. Not having seen "Pete" since he was a child, the family accepts him with more or less open arms, but they end up having more than enough problems of their own, some of which "Pete" might be able to help them with.

The Boys (2019): A Hero Story Where All the Superheroes Aren't Heroes

The Boys is a darkly comedic take on what the world might look like if superheroes were actually real. Backed by a multinational megacorporation and imbued with powers like flight, laser vision, invisibility, super speed, and other old standards, the superheroes in this world are anything but heroic.

Loveable loser Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) falls in with a shadowy group known as The Boys after his girlfriend is obliterated in a superhero-related incident. Led by ultraviolent Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the motley group takes on rogue superheroes in often inventive and bloody ways.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017): Best 1950s Housewife-Turned-Comedian

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is the story of the titular Mrs. Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) and her journey to reinvent herself as a stand-up comic after her husband (Michael Zegen) decides he doesn't want to be married anymore.

This Golden Globe-winning comedy comes from Amy Sherman-Palladino, and fans of her earlier work will find much of the same here: a cast of quirky characters, rapid-fire dialog, and smart writing.

Good Omens (2019): Best Armageddon Avoidance Comedy

It's the end of the world, but not everyone is exactly on board with the whole thing. Demon Crowley (David Tennant) and angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) have enjoyed their time on Earth, and they aren't quite ready for it all to be over.

Aided by the descendant of a prophetic witch (Adria Arjona) and the last scion of the man responsible for her demise (Jack Whitehall), along with a conveniently-misplaced antichrist (Sam Taylor Buck), angel and demon try to engineer an armageddon that's slightly less apocalyptic than the norm.

Fleabag (2016): Best Uncomfortably Self-Aware Comedy Drama

Fleabag is a hilarious and sometimes uncomfortable look into the life of an acerbic, irreverent, grief-stricken Londoner (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who goes unnamed throughout the series. She is, clearly, a Fleabag, but we never know if that's actually her name or not, or if it really even matters.

Bridge created, wrote, starred in, and executive produced this fourth-wall-breaking comedy.

Billions (2016): A Soapy Melodrama About High Finance

Billions is about a hedge fund manager (Damian Lewis) who acquires his wealth and power through increasingly illegal acts. Paul Giamatti plays U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades, who's tasked with bringing the white-collar criminal to justice. Well-written and featuring an excellent ensemble cast, Billions is a show for anyone who enjoys watching compelling, if unlikeable characters.