TV and streaming shows can go a lot of different directions with how they choose their music. If a show isn't well-funded, they might choose to bypass paying for the rights to have a song on their episodes. While It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is hella popular now, for instance, the show wasn't always and so the producers didn't want to pay many times for the cost of the rights of a track.
The following three shows found a way around that issue, however. In one case, their choices that a show made didn't cost them a ton of money. In the other two cases, the funding behind the show was already there.
But let's put the money issue aside for now. Instead, let's discuss three shows that mesh their episodes with their song choices unbelievably well. Heck, these shows are great, but even just listening to the soundtrack is worth your time.
Three great streaming shows with fantastic soundtracks
Peaky Binders (2013-2022)
Peaky Binders, if you haven't seen the show, is set in the early 1900s in (mostly ) Birmingham, England, and focuses on a family of gangsters. Judging from that you might think the music would be from around that time, but oh no. Not only is the music more modern but the musical artist chosen are unique.
The soundtrack to the show consists of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Red Right Hand" as the theme song, but over the course of the program's six seasons, 13 more Nick Cave songs are heard. Add several songs by the White Stripes, PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead to Cave's and you get an idea of just how kick-butt the show's music sounds.
Letterkenny (2016-)
Letterkenny creator Jared Keeso and co-developed by Jacob Tierney do an exceptional job finding the right track for the correct scene. There are lots of fight scenes on the show and the bands that have been found to augment to intensity of the choreography include Keys N Krates. You might know many of the songs you hear on the show, but you will want to.
But the program isn't all fighting. There are some more tender moments as well (not many, but some). Artists such as Purity Ring enhance these moods. If you haven't seen Letterkenny, why not?
The Bear (2022-)
This dramedy is much better than the word "dramedy" implies. About a big-time chef who has to move back to Chicago after a family tragedy, there is enough nuance for three different shows. But The Bear is extremely well made with tight writing.
The soundtrack works differently from Peaky Binders in what one might expect. How the creators found so many songs so wonderfully beautiful and mixed them with songs wanting to explode with rage but somehow find a way to keep them under control is beyond my talent level. But the soundtrack fits perfectly with the show.