Reba, Prison Break, and the 7 best throwback shows coming to Netflix in 2024

No, you didn't just step into a time machine. Netflix merely struck up an amazing deal with Disney that allows some of the latter's biggest and best titles to call the leading streamer home. The dueling companies ironed out a deal that allows the likes of This Is Us, My Wife & Kids, The Resident, and others to stream on Netflix. And there's more coming in 2024!

While the year kicked off with The Wonder Years reboot and This Is Us hitting Netflix, this spring will bring the likes of White Collar and Reba to the fold. The USA Network crime procedural fits in with series like Suits and S.W.A.T. that have found success on Netflix. Meanwhile, Reba's the classic sitcom we all know and love with a theme song we can sing by heart.

Throughout the rest of 2024, a handful of older shows will hit our watch lists, and there's even The Bernie Mac Show and Home Improvement to look forward to in early 2025. This year's selection of Netflix's acquired throwbacks are elite, but you have to be quick. The shows will only be available for 18 months, so add add these seven excellent throwbacks to your watch list while you can!

White Collar

• Seasons: 6
• Created By: Jeff Eastin
• Cast: Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Willie Garson, Marsha Thomason, Tiffani Thiessen, Natalie Morales, Hilarie Burton, Sharif Atkins, Diahann Carroll
• Release Date: April 1

On the heels of the Suits-aissance of 2023, Netflix continues to bet big on adding fan-favorite USA Network shows to its ranks. Most recently, Monk and Royal Pains were both made available for streaming on Netflix, and they will soon be joined by crime procedural White Collar. While those two shows weren't nearly as popular as Suits was on Netflix, there's a great chance White Collar could be the next ubiquitous hit that we all rediscover and binge-watch to make it a hit again.

Matt Bomer stars in the series as con artist Neal Caffrey, whose consistent forgeries and thefts have led him to be arrested by FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay). Because who can say no to those sparkling baby blues, Neal becomes a consultant and criminal informant for the FBI working side-by-side with Agent Burke. The six-season series is a breezy and exhilarating ride full of white collar crimes and fun times between the most unlikely enemies turned besties.

White Collar streamed on Netflix years ago, and its return comes just as Bomer spoke about the "very legitimate" talks about the series potentially making a comeback with a revival series. You know what would definitely solidify those talks? The series enjoying a Suits-level moment when it comes to Netflix at the top of April. If you have already watched the series, it's time for a rewatch, and if you didn't catch the show the first time around, get into it now!

Reba

• Seasons: 6
• Created By: Allison M. Gibson
• Cast: Reba McEntire, Christopher Rich, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Steve Howey, Scarlett Pomers, Mitch Holleman, Melissa Peterman
• Release Date: May 6

A single mom who works too hard, who loves her kids and never stops, is coming to Netflix! Although sitcoms can be hit or miss for success on Netflix, whether they're original or acquired, Young Sheldon and Brooklyn Nine-Nine have proven that as much as Netflix binge-watchers love a good limited series, there's still room for laughter. The WB and CW sitcom Reba lands on Netflix in May 2024, and with the title star plotting her sitcom comeback, it's the perfect time to rediscover the true Americana classic comedy.

Country music superstar Reba McEntire obviously headlines the series as Reba Hart, a recent divorcée whose husband of two decades cheated on her with his much younger, bubbly assistant and moved in next door. Reba can't stand Barbara Jean (Melissa Peterman), but now that she's pregnant, as is Reba's teenage daughter, they're all forced to become one big deeply dysfunctional (but hilariously so!) family. The series ran for 127 episodes, making for lengthy throwback binge-watch. There's no doubt the sitcom will be huge on Netflix!

Archer

• Seasons: 14
• Created By: Adam Reed
• Cast: H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Amber Nash, Adam Reed, George Coe, Lucky Yates, Dave Willis, Jeffrey Tambor, Kayvan Novak, Natalie Dew
• Release Date: May 13

Rather than acquiring other fan-favorite adult animated comedies, Netflix has built up its own library of original adult animate series. The streamer's biggest hits, BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth, have either ended (BoJack) or are prepping their final run (Big Mouth), so it makes all the sense that before attempting to launch another original into similar success, Netflix would call on a tried and true titan of the genre. Archer is definitely one of the top throwbacks coming to Netflix this year.

Featuring the voice of Bob's Burgers star H. Jon Benjamin, the Emmy Award-winning animated action series Archer first premiered in 2009 on FX before wrapping up with its final season in December 2023. After 14 inventive seasons and 145 hilarious episodes, Sterling Archer's adventures as a secret agent came to an end, but with every season coming to Netflix in May, it's time for both new and old fans to rediscover the animated series that pushed new boundaries and left a lasting legacy.

How I Met Your Mother

• Seasons: 9
• Created By: Carter Bays and Craig Thomas
• Cast: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Cristin Milioti
• Release Date: June 3

No matter how you might feel about the ending, you have to admit that How I Met Your Mother was one of the most influential sitcoms on television in the mid-2000s. Premiering in 2005 on CBS, the sitcom borrowed its basic setup from NBC's enduring hit Friends, which ended one year prior. However, the series introduced a bit of serialized mythology into its premise. Who does Ted Mosby marry and have two children with?

That's the question How I Met Your Mother sought to ask with each episode and season, as an adult Ted (voiced by Bob Saget) in the year 2030 tells his two teenage children the story of how he met their mother. As it turns out, the series would take a winding road to answer the question, and viewers would be left hanging on every yellow umbrella and other various clues and hints that pointed to the identity of Ted's eventual wife.

For those who will be watching the series for the first time on Netflix this June, I won't spoil the ending. But just know that Ted's a serious romantic who really wants to find The One. It can sometimes be an exhausting journey, especially since — spoiler alert — we don't meet the mother until the season 8 finale. Likewise, the jokes and storylines haven't all aged particularly well, with some characters flat-out aging like milk (sorry Barney fans, but it's him).

But that doesn't mean it's not still a fun throwback watch that can be enjoyed for exactly what it is. HIMYM has one of the strongest and funniest sitcom casts in recent memory, with all five main characters sure to make you laugh in every single episode. It's also one of the rare relationship comedies like Friends to have a number of its quotes and stories become part of pop culture. That ending, though... It will always be polarizing.

Lost

• Seasons: 6
• Created By: Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams, and Damon Lindelof
• Cast: Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Maggie Grace, Josh Holloway, Malcolm David Kelley, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lily, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O'Quinn, Harold Perrineau, Ian Somerhalder, Michelle Rodriguez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cynthia Watros, Henry Ian Cuscik, Michael Emerson, Elizabeth Mitchell, and more
• Release Date: July 1

Once upon a time, in the earliest days of streaming and Netflix binge-watching, Lost called Netflix its exclusive streaming home before moving to Hulu and it was a huge hit. It was the show everyone was watching or rewatching and still talking about well after its polarizing 2010 ending on ABC. Lost seemingly helped popularize the concept of Netflix binge-watching, and now it's returning to the platform that helped cement its legacy in summer 2024.

The series centers on a group of individuals who are lost (ha!) on a strange island after their plane crashes. While trying to survive, the group untangles the mystery of their circumstances as the series also traces their lives beyond the island via flashbacks and flashforwards. Lost lasted for six seasons and 121 total episodes before the series finale answered everyone's burning question. For some, it's a disappointing answer, but see for yourself when the series returns to Netflix in July.

Prison Break

• Seasons: 5
• Created By: Paul Scheuring
• Cast: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Robin Tunney, Peter Stormare, Amaury Nolasco, Marshall Allman, Wade Williams, Paul Adelstein, Robert Knepper, Rockmond Dunbar, Sarah Wayne Callies, William Fichtner, Chris Vance, Robert Wisdom, Danay Garcia, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Michael Rapaport, Mark Feuerstein, Inbar Levi, Augustus Prew
• Release Date: July 29

Prison Break has had an interesting run. When it first premiered on Fox in 2005, the series became a huge hit and just kept growing. It's ironic since the series was first conceptualized two years earlier, but the network originally turned it down before reconsidering in the wake of hits like 24 making a splash on the small screen. Unfortunately, the series ended with its fourth season in 2009. Apparently a show can only tell so many stories about inmates breaking out of prison.

However, Prison Break was revived in 2017 with a nine-episode fifth season that officially wrapped up the series and its characters' stories. While some fans are hoping that season 6 could still have a chance at happening, it's been shut down ever since season 5 ended. But now that it's coming to Netflix in summer 2024 and will likely have a resurgence in popularity as fans rediscover the gripping story, you never know what could happen. Make sure to give the throwback a watch!

The Hughleys

• Seasons: 4
• Created By: D. L. Hughley and Matt Wickline
• Cast: D. L. Hughley, Elise Neal, Eric Allan Kramer, John Henton, Ashley Monique Clark, Dee Jay Daniels, Marietta DePrima
• Release Date: Sept. 2

In the 2020s, Netflix has been leading the charge in making sure sitcoms that haven't been easily accessible have found the widest audience possible. The likes of Moesha, Sister Sister, The Parkers, One on One, and many other sitcoms have landed on Netflix. The Jamie Foxx Show and Martin are the latest to be added in 2024, with The Hughleys joining the party later this year in September. Of all the throwbacks coming in 2024, The Hughleys might just be one to throw it back the most.

The family sitcom centers on the Hughley family as they move from a South Los Angeles neighborhood to a wealthier and mostly white neighborhood in the Valley. The series first premiered in September 1998 on ABC, where it aired for its first two seasons before moving to UPN for its last two seasons. With four seasons and 89 episodes, its a decent binge that will have fans reminiscing on the late '90s and early 2000s and laughing all the while.

Which throwback shows will you be watching on Netflix in 2024?