10 Years Ago Today, The Greatest Show in Netflix History Debuted

TV, as an industry, has become a pop culture phenomenon on par with blockbuster Hollywood films. A huge spectacle on the small screen used to be unheard of, but some series pushed the boundaries of the medium and made it normal to make large-scale stories accessible in your living room.

10 years ago today, a show that is largely responsible for this debuted on Netflix: Stranger Things. You might have heard of it, I don't know? The series has turned into a running gag for drawn-out productions and a poor series finale.

Still, the Duffer brothers' science fiction story about children in a small Midwestern town haunted by a mysterious and dangerous alternate dimension turned into a cultural explosion that helped Netflix transform itself into the giant it is in the streaming industry today.

Stranger Things is so much more than just marketing and flash, though. The reason it became so popular was that the first season that came out a decade ago reminded fans of their favorite sci-fi and horror classics from the 1980s, but with a modern feel and flair. Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg were inspirations, but the show didn't just copy those people's work.

The child actors were revelations from the start. Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, and especially Millie Bobby Brown carried the weight of the story unusually well for pre-teen actors. Yes, the performances started to get a little suspect the longer it went, but the first season was incredibly well-acted.

Globally, Netflix says viewership on the fourth and fifth seasons of the show is third and fourth all-time for viewership on the streaming service. Stranger Things changed not only the potential for popularity of original shows on Netflix, but also on all streaming services. No longer would Netflix just be for other networks' shows and older programming.

If you watch any original programming on Netflix today, the chances are that it was influenced and successful because Stranger Things paved the way for it.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jul 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published July 15, 2026 at 12:00 AM.