Are you looking for a good show to watch on Netflix?
Are you also looking to not have to explain cults, execution, graphic language, and sex
to your kids while watching?
Well, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s Netflix gems that are great to binge, just not with your children.
Co-created by comedian Nick Kroll, Big Mouth is a perfect example of something that looks
like it should be for children but absolutely isn't.
Big Mouth is a raunchy animated comedy that follows a group of seventh-graders as they
navigate the awkwardness and uncertainty of puberty.
Sure, it's got goofy-looking characters, and even a few musical numbers.
But make no mistake — Big Mouth is unequivocally R-rated.
Episodes examine the nitty-gritty of menstruation, sexuality, hygiene, and teen dating.
While it often offers thought-provoking lessons about speaking to kids about these issues,
letting them watch it outright is the equivalent of tossing them into the deep end of the swimming
pool without water wings.
For example, the first episode sees Andrew Glouberman, one of our young protagonists,
interacting with his Hormone Monster, Maury, who is essentially puberty incarnate.
Maury encourages Andrew to think constantly about sex, fall into blind rages, and enter
into nightmarishly ill-conceived relationships.
Big Mouth portrays all sorts of things with compassion and insight, but not in any way
suited for young, impressionable children.
Put the kids to bed, wait at least an hour, and then indulge in its animated antics.
Set in a sword-and-sorcery-style fantasy world, Disenchantment tells the story of Bean — the
rough-and-tumble princess of Dreamland.
While her fairytale destiny is to marry a handsome prince and unite Dreamland with another
politically advantageous kingdom, all she wants to do is drink, fight, gamble, and go
on adventures.
Created by Matt Groening, Disenchantment is similar in tone to his other shows, Futurama
and The Simpsons.
As is the case with those two series, some parents might be perfectly fine watching Disenchantment
with their kids, while others might not want to pause and explain jokes about alcohol and
one-night stands.
Kids will likely get a kick out of seeing the elves in their homeland singing about
making candy.
However, some explanation might be needed when they attempt to hang one of their own
while gleefully singing about execution.
As a parent, the choice to let your kids watch what they want is up to you.
However, if you find yourself wanting to check out Disenchantment and your little ones get
hooked by its bright colors and funny voices, be warned.
You might end up discussing the logistics of killing someone with a candy ax.
It becomes pretty apparent early on that Black Mirror is not for kids.
The first episode does, after all, tell the story of a kidnapper who demands that the
British Prime Minister have sex with a pig on live television.
While most episodes aren't quite as raunchy as the series' opener, many may have heard
it compared to The Twilight Zone over the years.
While that's an apt description, Rod Serling's original series consists mostly of family-friendly
morality tales.
Sure, a whole lot of them are scary, but not in a way kids can't handle.
Existential scares are a whole lot different than, say, the discomfort induced by the whole
pig thing.
Black Mirror is a show that gets into the intimate horror of a world overrun by digitization.
Episodes deal with murder, sex, grief, exploitation, and many more twisted things that can't be
adequately explained without spoiling numerous plots.
Virtual realities are used for torture.
Internet-enabled toys wreak havoc.
Androids built to bring loved ones back from the grave are hidden in attics.
Kids have surveillance tech implanted in their brains, allowing parents to censor their little
ones' realities.
It's terrific, but it's not exactly kid-friendly.
Stick to sharing Twilight Zone re-runs with your children, and save Black Mirror for yourself.
The Witcher is based on the popular Witcher video games, which are in turn based on a
popular series of books.
Your kids might, in fact, be more familiar with the show than you are in this age of
Let's Plays, but that doesn't mean it's a candidate for Family TV Night.
The series follows Geralt of Rivia as he hunts, fights, and kills various monsters and otherworldly
beasts.
When his journey leads him to Yennefer, a powerful sorceress, his life of killing for
hire is entirely upset — and that's before the kid destined to travel with him gets into
the picture.
The Witcher is one of the most violent, scary, and sexual shows on this list.
If those warnings aren't enough to keep your kids away from Geralt's story, perhaps show
creator Lauren S. Hissrich's tweet about the show not being kid-friendly will be enough
to convince you.
Trust her when she posted,
“Just watched a cut of [Witcher] with [my son], and the verdict is in: this show is
not for 5-year-olds.
Like, really not.”
You really don't want to have to explain undead monsters, war-time suicide, and magical cults
to your little one.
Kids might love superheroes, but not all superhero fiction is for kids.
Take Jessica Jones, one of Marvel's Netflix offerings.
The series might feature super-strength, but it also examines sexual assault, trauma, and
alcoholism.
The titular Jessica is a New York City-based private investigator.
She's a hard drinker plagued by memories of the car accident that killed her parents and
left her with super powers.
But that's not all she has to contend with.
Jessica Jones' first season pits the PI against Kilgrave, the man who used his mind-controlling
powers to abuse her for years.
Jessica Jones explores themes that are very important to tackle with children, from consent
to post-traumatic stress.
However, the show isn't a PSA and often sees its characters deal with their issues in self-destructive
ways.
There's no shortage of superhero content out there that's totally fine to watch alongside
one's kids — but not Jessica Jones.
At first, You seems like a love story.
It focuses on a young book store clerk named Joe who bonds with people over literature
in a technology-obsessed culture.
He's particularly enamored with one woman named Guinevere Beck.
Will You tell the tale of their romance?
In short, the answer is no.
Despite seeming to be an analog guy in a digital world, Joe is very tech-savvy.
He's able to stalk Beck's social media and orchestrate meet-cutes as a result of his
twisted obsession.
And we do mean twisted: Joe kills Beck's ex, steals her underwear, and spies on her.
You is most definitely not for kids, but its appeal to youth is strong.
After all, it's entirely about social media.
Add in some graphic language, violence, and nudity and you've got exactly the sort of
catnip kids are eager to grow up gravitating towards.
Make no mistake, however: You is for grown-ups alone.
You might wish you had your kid around to explain some of the intricacies of social
media, but trust us — it's better to just Google it yourself.
Sex Education focuses on a group of high school teens as they navigate the pitfalls of growing
up, popularity, and, of course, sex.
While that might sound like run-of-the-mill teen drama, it's a genuinely funny, heartfelt
series.
But seriously: A whole lot of it is about sex.
Those who tune in will be introduced to Otis Milburn, a socially awkward teen who has a
lot of questions about the birds and the bees.
He's a lot better-equipped to answer them than most teens, however: His mother is a
professional sex therapist.
She's fine with speaking candidly about the topic in front of her son, but consequences
arrive when Otis' knowledge increases his profile at school.
Otis begins to dole out sex advice to his classmates, leading to very difficult-to-explain
situations, like a chlamydia outbreak among the student body.
Now, parents should definitely educate their kids about things like sexually-transmitted
illness.
However, Sex Education is still entertainment at heart, and shouldn't be used as a textbook.
Its focus is to get laughs, and it gets them — but you're better off having a frank discussion
with your kids yourself.
Kids often grow bored, flipping through the list of potential shows to watch, and settle
on something with a fun title.
When it comes to titles, it doesn't get more fun than Peaky Blinders.
It's got a slightly goofy name, and appears to be a cops-and-robbers show at first glance,
but make no mistake — this show is anything but kid-friendly.
The show focuses on a gangster family living in 1919 Birmingham, England, just after World
War I ravaged the globe.
It tells the story of the real-life Peaky Blinders gang that clashed with law enforcement
sent over by Winston Churchill.
The show is violent, foul-mouthed, and deals with a lot of subject matter that, frankly,
some adults aren't ready for, let alone children.
Just as one should never judge a book by its cover, one should never judge a TV show based
on its title.
However, that doesn't mean that this critically acclaimed drama is a bad show.
Far from it.
It's worth a watch — just not with your kids.
If you grew up playing the old "Castlevania" games on the Nintendo Entertainment System
or Super NES, you might see the animated series of the same name on Netflix and assume that
it, too, is appropriate for kids.
Or maybe you just assume that if it's animated, it's probably fine for younger audiences to
enjoy.
But make no mistake — "Castlevania" is not for kids and, in fact, is one of the goriest
shows on the entire streaming platform.
"Castlevania" is really a story about the king of vampires and demons declaring war
on humankind, and it doesn't shy away from any of the darker implications of that.
Towns are slaughtered on screen, and the monsters themselves are grotesque and disturbing.
There are dark rituals, magic spells gone horribly wrong, gruesome deaths — the whole
shebang.
This is definitely one animated series that your kids should not be watching with you.
For age-appropriate audiences, however, "Castlevania" is stylish and compelling.
The animation is brutal at times, but it can also be gorgeous, and the cast of characters
assembled across the four seasons are all interesting and fun to watch.
The show excels at big battle scenes, but its best moments more often than not are simple
conversations between characters.
A lot of intriguing themes are explored in "Castlevania," you just have to be okay with
the heavy level of gore to get there.
"DOTA: Dragon's Blood" falls into a very similar category to "Castlevania" — an animated
series based on a popular video game designed with mature audiences in mind.
It's definitely not as far down the trail of occult themes, dark imagery and disembowelment
that "Castlevania" is.
However, it's still far from a kids' show, with plenty of blood, violence, and sex to
drive that point home.
The tone and content of "Dota: Dragon's Blood" map pretty cleanly onto the adult fantasy
genre.
With a TV-MA rating, the series makes it clear up front that this is meant for adult fans
of the video game and animated fantasy in general, not kids.
Still, if you're looking for a series with similar visual flair to watch with your children,
Netflix has some other great options from "Dota" animator Studio Mir.
"Voltron: Legendary Defender" and "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts."
Or, if you want something a little more fantasy-inspired and aren't too attached to the animation style,
"She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" is a great watch for all ages.
Hopefully, no one would ever mistake "Squid Game" for a kid-appropriate program, no matter
how popular it may be.
The smash hit Korean thriller about a deadly underground competition involves brutal reimaginings
of some classic children's playground games.
Even still, it's impossible to mistake the series for anything other than what it is
— a dark, terrifying takedown of capitalist greed filled with violent gladiator matches
disguised as games.
"Squid Game" is fantastic.
It became Netflix's biggest show ever in 2021, despite the fact that, as a non-English series,
the odds were severely stacked against it.
And creator Hwang Dong-hyuk and the stars of the show deserve every bit of praise they've
received.
But this is certainly not a show for kids, and you definitely should keep it off and
away when younger viewers are around.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite Netflix shows are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.