Stranger Things
Ranked 12 of 60 TV series by recommenders
A well-known Netflix hit that fans praise for its 80s nostalgia, high budget and strong early seasons, though critics say quality dips and plots recycle in later seasons.
A well-known Netflix hit that fans praise for its 80s nostalgia, high budget and strong early seasons, though critics say quality dips and plots recycle in later seasons.
61 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 23
- criticize it
- 38
- approval share
- 38%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 23 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Among Netflix's best-known hits
“Stranger Things, and back in the day Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards were the reasons to have Netflix.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Netflix spent over $135B on film, TV over last decade” “major hits like Squid Games, Stranger Things, (both became cultural phenomena)”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “the counterpoint is: House of Cards, Queen's Gambit, Stranger Things”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Warner Bros Begins Exclusive Deal Talks With Netflix” - Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros”
- Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros”
- Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Warner Bros Begins Exclusive Deal Talks With Netflix”
Strong early seasons
“First few seasons Netflix keeps it together before crapping the bed”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Netflix raises prices for every subscription tier by up to 12.5 percent” “The first season was the only really good one.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” High quality, high budget, well done
“Stranger Things is also high quality and high budget.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “As a fan of the franchise it was really well done.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” Good ending that sticks the landing
“I thought is was a good ending to a good show. It wasn't great, but it didn't need to be. They stuck the landing.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Stranger Things 5 Finale Ending Explained” “paying off invested time and staying true to the show's core themes”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 on Hacker News
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Quality drops in later seasons
“there is a dip in quality this season, it is no where near as bad as what happened to GoT”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” “Stranger Things is a great example, the decline is visible not just in the story but in the visuals”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Netflix raises prices for every subscription tier by up to 12.5 percent” “it verges on being garbage itself, a profound drop in quality compared to previous seasons”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” - Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “The End of an Era”
Recycled scenes and thin plot
“ran out of ideas three years ago and have just been recycling the same scene over and over and over again”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” “constant action, little real plot, character interaction felt a shallow reflection of prior seasons”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” “it's turned into a long sequence of Obligatory Scenes that feel increasingly forced”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment” - Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”
Improbable plot and heavy exposition
“there's a wild amount of in-scene exposition, where the characters explain what's happening while it's happening”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “The story line requires constant suspension of belief based on the endless succession of improbable events”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings” Stretched over too many seasons
“imho had too many long breaks between seasons”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “It was a show that should have been two seasons, which they stretched into five.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”
Other TV series people recommend
The four most recommended other TV series, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halt and Catch Fire | 166 | 20 | 89% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Babylon 5 | 86 | 21 | 80% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Silicon Valley (TV series) | 52 | 1 | 98% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Andor | 52 | 5 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Stranger ThingsThis page | 23 | 38 | 38% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 67 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“things that started strong but lost their way (stranger things, severance)”
“the storyline and some of the dialogue felt AI generated. It sucked by the way.”
“Stranger Things, and back in the day Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards were the reasons to have Netflix.”
“First few seasons Netflix keeps it together before crapping the bed”
“Stranger Things is a great example, the decline is visible not just in the story but in the visuals”
“the nostalgia for the 8-bit era that made me enjoy Stranger Things so much”
“I thought is was a good ending to a good show. It wasn't great, but it didn't need to be. They stuck the landing.”
“paying off invested time and staying true to the show's core themes”
“It's like they never had any idea how they'd wrap it up and just wrote something that checks the boxes to wrap up a series without much thought.”
“the whole premise of traumatic Vecna memory was useless pile of utter garbage”
“ran out of ideas three years ago and have just been recycling the same scene over and over and over again”
“It was a show that should have been two seasons, which they stretched into five.”
“The reason Stranger Things is garbage has nothing to do with my tv changing the colors slightly.”
“It's good in moderation, but this season it feels excessive.”
“almost none of the episodes are individually memorable or watchable on their own”
“constant action, little real plot, character interaction felt a shallow reflection of prior seasons”
“She isn't even really a character as she has no thoughts or desires or personality.”
“it verges on being garbage itself, a profound drop in quality compared to previous seasons”
“The story line requires constant suspension of belief based on the endless succession of improbable events”
“The first season was the only really good one.”
“Season four has a lot of "zombie-esque" stuff which just doesn't have near the dread horror that the first two seasons did”
“The episode 4 ending was up there with Dear Billy for me.”
“there is a dip in quality this season, it is no where near as bad as what happened to GoT”
“from what I’ve heard from friends I’ll be keeping the final season unwatched”
“it's turned into a long sequence of Obligatory Scenes that feel increasingly forced”
“I have watched five great seasons of TV this year”
“it seemed far too much like a Mixtape and not enough like a Remix”
“If anything, the show is covering all stereotypes that there are and paints them all in positive light.”
“As a fan of the franchise it was really well done.”
“the counterpoint is: House of Cards, Queen's Gambit, Stranger Things”
“imho had too many long breaks between seasons”
“Stranger Things, The Beast in Me, Last Samurai Standing”
“becoming dumbed down to second screen content like Stranger Things”
“there's a wild amount of in-scene exposition, where the characters explain what's happening while it's happening”
“Stranger Things is also high quality and high budget.”
“It's worse than previous series, I've noticed myself zoning out a few times, but the entire Stranger Things schtick is that it's a homage to the 80s.”
“as well-known stuff like Stranger Things and Squid Game”
“major hits like Squid Games, Stranger Things, (both became cultural phenomena)”
“Stranger things is okay but eleven, the female protagonist is insufferable.”
“Others - Stranger Things, Money Heist, Black Doves.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.