Amazon Prime Video is a video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service that’s free with a Prime membership, or $9/mo. for non-members. A legitimate contender to the likes of Hulu and Netflix, Amazon Prime Video also offers both licensed and original shows and movies.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member in need of binge-worthy suggestions, or new to streaming and curious about the best Amazon Prime shows, this guide is for you.
Amazon has one of the most expansive collections of shows in all of streaming. And you can use the Amazon app to access several services and networks. Premium shows from HBO like Deadwood and The Wire come for free with your subscription. Channels such as Showtime are available for a fee.
Amazon Prime Video TV shows come in all shapes and sizes. Beloved classics like 30 Rock and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and other popular trending shows are easy to find. But Amazon Studios also produces its own series like Bosch and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Amazon Prime Video is great when it comes to premium content, but if you’re looking for a traditional TV experience, Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV may suit you better.
To learn more about Amazon Prime Video, visit our review. To start watching the streaming service’s movies and shows right now, sign up for Amazon Prime Video below!
With Amazon Prime, get access to an extensive library of on-demand movies and shows, and additional entertainment with Amazon Channels.
Amazon Prime Video original shows
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
Winner of three Golden Globes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of Amazon’s flagship series. After divorcing her husband, a woman in the 1950s turns her woes into humor, realizing her talent as a standup comedian.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 87%
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Number of seasons: 4
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Zegen, Alex Borstein, Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
The Man in the High Castle has won two Primetime Emmys. In a world where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won the Second World War, a woman and a group of freedom fighters risk everything to topple the fascist regime.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 82%
- Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- Number of seasons: 4
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Geoffrey Blake, Rupert Evans and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Fleabag (2016)
Adapted from the play of the same title, Fleabag is another of Amazon’s award-winning series with two Golden Globe wins. It’s about a woman who falls madly in love with her priest.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 93%
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Number of seasons: 2
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ben Aldridge, Sian Clifford, Bill Paterson and Jenny Rainsford
Bosch (2014)
Amazon Studio’s first drama, Bosch is a crime series influenced by Michael Connelly’s novels City of the Bones, Echo Park and The Concrete Blonde. Heading into its final season, Bosch will be remembered as one of the original shows that put Amazon on the map.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 95%
- Genre: Crime, Drama
- Number of seasons: 7
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector, Annie Wersching, Amy Price-Francis, Amy Aquino and Lance Reddick
Shows that go back in time
Downton Abbey (2010)
Full of witty dialogue, grandiose set pieces and luxurious costumes, Downton Abbey examines the lives of the Crawley family and their servants in the early 1900s UK.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 95%
- Genre: Drama, Romance
- Number of seasons: 6
- Rating: PG
- Featured actors: Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Jessica Brown Findlay and Laura Carmichael
Anna Karenina (2017)
Adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s famous Russian novel, Anna Karenina is a portrait of an aristocratic woman in the late 1800s who second-guesses her life and choices. It’s a story that explores the capacity for love and the powerful inner workings of those captivated by it.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: N/A
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: N/A
- Genre: Drama, Romantic
- Number of seasons: 1
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Yelizaveta Boyarskaya, Maxim Matveyev, Kirill Grebenschikov
A Very English Scandal (2018)
Inspired by the true-life events of British Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe and the fallout after the murder of his lover. The story unfolds in the UK during the 1960s.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: N/A
- Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime
- Number of seasons: 1
- Rating: TV-14
- Featured actors: Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Alex Jennings, David Bamber and Jason Watkins
Carnival Row (2019)
After a string of serial murders goes unresolved on Carnival Row, a seasoned detective begins investigating. The action unfolds in a fantastical Victorian city where true evil lurks beneath the shadows.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 57%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 87%
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy
- Number of seasons: 2
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, Simon McBurney, David Gyasi, Tamzin Merchant and Andrew Gower
Shows you’ll want to rewatch
The Grand Tour (2016)
The Grand Tour is an audience favorite travel show in which stars drive all types of cars in far-flung places around the world.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 94%
- Genre: Comedy, Special Interest
- Number of seasons: 4
- Rating: TV-14
- Featured actors: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Brian Johnson
Band of Brothers (2001)
Band of Brothers follows soldiers attached to the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division during World War II. The series explores the horror of war and presents the experiences of men thrown into an extraordinary situation.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 98%
- Genre: Action, Drama, History
- Number of seasons: 1
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Michael Cudlitz, Donnie Wahlberg and Kirk Acevedo
The Tick (2016)
In a world where superheroes share the same humdrum existence as everyone else, an accountant uncovers a conspiracy involving a supervillain. Meanwhile, a mysterious blue superhero emerges and an unlikely alliance results.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 93%
- Genre: Comedy
- Number of seasons: 2
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: Peter Serafinowicz, Valorie Curry, Yara Martinez and Brendan P. Hines
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018)
Based on Tom Clancy’s novels, the series follows protagonist Jack Ryan as he enters the spy world as a CIA analyst.
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 71%
- Genre: Action & Adventure
- Number of seasons: 2
- Rating: TV-MA
- Featured actors: John Krasinski, Abbie Cornish, Wendell Pierce, Cynthia Preston and John Hoogenakker
The takeaway
Like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video offers an elite line-up of popular shows. And Amazon Prime original series have stacked up plenty of accolades and viewers. Also to note, Amazon’s streaming service functions as a TV alternative with its Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick-compatible app. To start watching your favorite shows (or maybe you’d rather watch a movie on Amazon Prime Video), sign up for an Amazon Prime membership, or subscribe as a non-member. Amazon Prime memberships come with a 30-day free trial.
With Amazon Prime, get access to an extensive library of on-demand movies and shows, and additional entertainment with Amazon Channels.
