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15 Best Movies and TV Shows to Stream on Peacock Right Now

The streamer offers something for everyone, from classic films to TV hits like ‘Yellowstone’


spinner image Kevin Costner wearing a cowboy hat and suit in a scene from the television series Yellowstone
Kevin Costner stars as John Dutton in "Yellowstone."
Courtesy Paramount+

NBCUniversal was late to the streaming game when it launched Peacock, but the service just got a big boost from its wall-to-wall coverage of this summer’s Paris Olympics. There’s plenty of other content to explore, too, from classic movies like Martin Scorsese’s Casino and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing to beloved TV hits like Murder, She Wrote and 30 Rock. Here are our picks of some of the streamer’s best offerings.

30 Rock (2006–2013, 7 Seasons)

Tina Fey’s behind-the-scenes comedy, inspired by her former SNL workplace, is like a live-action Simpsons, with visual Easter eggs and self-referential jokes landing at the speed of sound. But all that wit wouldn’t work without the development of characters as solid as a 30 Rock: Alec Baldwin’s arrogant executive, Jane Krakowski’s insecure starlet, Tracy Morgan’s oblivious man-child.

Watch it: 30 Rock

Burning (2018)

Like the Haruki Murakami story it’s based on, this Korean thriller creeps up on you in unexpected ways. American actor Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Beef) plays an enigmatic, wealthy man who insinuates himself into the lives of a young woman and her quasi boyfriend. It’s a slow-burn character study with a fiery payoff.

Watch it: Burning

Casino (1995)

Nobody depicts the Mafia quite like Martin Scorsese, and here he goes deep on the Mob’s infiltration of Las Vegas. Scorsese regulars Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are in top form, and Sharon Stone delivers a career-best performance as a streetwise hustler who weds De Niro’s casino operator and later turns on him.

Watch it: Casino

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Spike Lee’s breakout film is an explosive depiction of racial tensions in Brooklyn that seems every bit as relevant 35 years later. A simple dispute between a white pizzeria owner (Danny Aiello) and a Black customer (Bill Nunn) escalates into tragedy.

Watch it: Do the Right Thing

Downton Abbey (2010–2015, 6 Seasons)

Stuffy English drawing rooms have seldom been better drawn — or drawn in audiences better — than in this delightful saga about the aristocratic Crawley family and their army of below-stairs staff in the early 20th century. (Sadly for completists, the two follow-up feature films aren’t streaming on Peacock.)

Watch it: Downton Abbey

spinner image James Earl Jones and Andre Braugher staring at each other in an interrogation room in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street
(Left to right) James Earl Jones and Andre Braugher in "Homicide: Life on the Street."
NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999, 7 Seasons)

Andre Braugher first caught audience’s attention playing a Baltimore police detective in this gritty procedural, based on a nonfiction book by David Simon (who went on to create the TV classic The Wire, also set in Baltimore). The series looked and felt different than other cop dramas, with gritty realism, hand-held cameras and on-location filming.

Watch it: Homicide: Life on the Street

King Richard (2021)

Don’t let the hubbub over Will Smith’s slap-happy appearance at the Oscar ceremony where he won the best actor award for this performance distract you from the genuine artistry of this film. It’s a clear-eyed tribute to the complicated man whose tough love for daughters Venus and Serena Williams propelled them to GOAT status in the world of tennis.

Watch it: King Richard

The Little Foxes (1941)

This tightly plotted gem stars Bette Davis as a cold and calculating woman who stops at nothing to chase her dream of an affluent life — even if it means undermining her husband and brothers.

Watch it: The Little Foxes

Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996, 12 Seasons)

Who doesn’t enjoy a cozy mystery? The genre found its ideal TV version in this long-running series starring the great Angela Lansbury as a widowed mystery writer in a remote Maine town with a suspiciously high murder rate.

Watch it: Murder, She Wrote

The Office (2005–2013, 9 Seasons)

“That’s what she said.” Some comedies become so ingrained in the culture that they spawn a whole new way of talking. Ricky Gervais may have invented the format in the British original series of the same name — a mockumentary about a small-town office with an overbearing boss — but the American version starring Steve Carell carved out a slice of the zeitgeist all by itself.

Watch it: The Office

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On Golden Pond (1981)

Henry Fonda won his only Oscar for his last big-screen performance, playing a curmudgeon in the early stages of dementia. He’s guilted into looking after the teenage son of his estranged daughter’s new fiancé — a plot point that gets an added lift from the casting of real-life daughter Jane Fonda as his offspring as well as Katharine Hepburn as his ever-patient wife. Hepburn also earned Oscar gold, her fourth, for the part.

Watch it: On Golden Pond

Poker Face (2023, 1 Season)

Natasha Lyonne stars as a modern-day Columbo in this absorbing mystery-of-the-week show, renewed for a second season. But instead of working as an actual police detective, she travels the country taking dead-end jobs (and fleeing a Mob-connected baddie she crossed back in a Reno casino). She has a preternatural gift of detecting when people are lying, which she uses to help solve a series of murders. As with Columbo, we see a whodunit in the opening scene, so the joy is discovering how she cracks the case.

Watch it: Poker Face

Top Chef (2006–2024, 21 Seasons)

Pack your knives and go back to the beginning of Bravo’s beloved show pitting aspiring chefs against one another in elaborate cook-offs to win the approval of famed foodies like Tom Colicchio and Food & Wine’s Gail Simmons. Early seasons amp up the interpersonal drama, generating memorable moments with over-the-top personalities. But the show has lost none of its flavor even as it’s matured.

Watch it: Top Chef

The Traitors (2023–2024, 2 Seasons)

This social-strategy competition series, hosted by the witty Alan Cumming in ever-more-outrageous outfits that would be perfect for a Met Gala, is an addictive hit for its glossy Scottish castle setting and clever gameplay. The second season upped the ante by restricting the contestants to former reality-show stars. Once you get hooked, you can also binge the U.K. and Australian versions.

Watch it: The Traitors

Yellowstone (2018–2024, 5 Seasons)

Taylor Sheridan almost single-handedly reinvented the Western genre with this saga about a powerful Montana ranching family led by Kevin Costner. The series’ success has spawned a sprawling multiverse that includes multiple prequels and spinoffs.

Watch it: Yellowstone

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