Paramount Plus Best Shows and Movies: The Complete Guide

Paramount Plus combines a strong original lineup with one of the deepest legacy catalogs in streaming. The platform is home to content from CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, and the Paramount Pictures film library. At its best, the service offers prestige drama, beloved comfort shows, and franchise content that no other platform can match. Here is a guide to the best content available.

How We Selected: We assessed options using full-season viewing, critical analysis, and production quality assessment. We weighted acting performances, rewatch value, pacing consistency, production values. Our recommendations are editorially independent and not influenced by advertising.

Top-Tier Originals

Yellowjackets is the platform’s flagship drama — a dual-timeline survival thriller following a high school girls’ soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness after a 1996 plane crash and the adult women they became. Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, and Juliette Lewis lead an extraordinary ensemble in a show that blends survival horror, mystery, and character study with addictive results.

Tulsa King stars Sylvester Stallone as a New York mobster exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he builds a new criminal empire with the help of bemused locals. Stallone’s charisma carries a show that is lighter and more fun than most crime dramas, and the fish-out-of-water comedy is genuinely entertaining.

1883 and 1923 are the Yellowstone prequel series that some viewers consider superior to the parent show. 1883 follows Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on the Oregon Trail in a brutal, beautiful Western that does not flinch from the reality of frontier life. 1923 stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren navigating the Dutton ranch through Prohibition and the Great Depression.

Lioness features Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, and Morgan Freeman in a spy thriller about female CIA operatives embedded in close proximity to high-value targets. The action sequences are intense, and Saldana’s lead performance anchors the show with emotional weight.

The Showtime Library

The merger of Showtime content into Paramount Plus added some of television’s most acclaimed series to the platform. Dexter — the original eight-season run plus the revival — remains a defining serial killer drama. Billions brought Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis into an addictive battle of ego between a US Attorney and a hedge fund king. Shameless ran for eleven seasons of the Gallagher family’s chaotic, frequently heartbreaking Chicago existence. Twin Peaks: The Return is David Lynch’s 18-hour masterwork that defies description.

Yellowjackets originated on Showtime before the merger, and other Showtime originals including The Chi, Your Honor, and Super Pumped are available on the combined platform.

Classic and Legacy Content

The CBS library gives Paramount Plus unmatched depth in procedural and classic television. NCIS and its spinoffs, Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and decades of CBS comedy and drama are available. For viewers who grew up on network television, this catalog has enormous comfort-watch value.

The Nickelodeon library makes Paramount Plus valuable for families — SpongeBob SquarePants, PAW Patrol, Dora the Explorer, and classic series from the 1990s including Rugrats and Hey Arnold provide children’s content that Disney Plus cannot match in nostalgia value.

Movies

The Paramount Pictures film library includes the complete Mission: Impossible franchise, the Indiana Jones series, the Transformers films, Top Gun: Maverick, the Godfather trilogy, classic comedies, and new theatrical releases that arrive on the platform after their box office run. The film library is deeper and more varied than most subscribers realize.

Who Should Subscribe

Paramount Plus is best for viewers who want Taylor Sheridan’s expanding universe (Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Tulsa King, Lioness), Showtime prestige content, and a deep legacy library. The combination of original drama, classic television, family content, and a strong film library makes it a well-rounded service that covers more ground than its reputation suggests.

For comparisons, see Best Streaming Services Compared in 2025 and the Hulu Plans and Pricing Guide.