3 Netflix shows you need to binge this weekend (July 2 - July 5)

From sci-fi shows to crime dramas to documentaries, there's something for everyone on Netflix, and new shows and movies are being added all the time. If you're looking for a new season of TV to binge over this long Fourth of July weekend, the best streaming service in the game has you covered.

Sullivan's Crossing Season 4 (June 30)

Small town escapism

Sullivan's Crossing is about a neurosurgeon named Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan) who suffers a severe career setback. She opts to leave her busy life in Boston to recuperate in her hometown of Timberlake, Nova Scotia while reconnecting with her rustic father, Sully (Scott Patterson). While there, she falls for a local handyman named Cal (Chad Michael Murray). Can the driven career woman find peace in the simple life?

Sullivan's Crossing is a low-impact romantic drama of the kind that will be familiar to you if you've watched shows like Gilmore Girls or One Tree Hill, both of which also starred Chad Michael Murray, coincidentally. It's pleasant, easy to watch, and full of soap-operatic twists. For instance, in the fourth season, Maggie finds herself torn between Cal and her estranged husband Liam (Marcus Rosner), who arrives in Timberlake hoping for a second chance. Who will she choose? Watch and find out.

If this kind of gentle romantic drama appeals to you, there are four seasons of Sullivan's Crossing to enjoy on Netflix.

Survival of the Thickest Season 3 (July 2)

All romantic comedies eventually go to Paris

Survival of the Thickest is a fun Netflix sitcom about Mavis Beaumont (Michelle Buteau), a up-and-coming stylist trying to make it in New York City. The series opens as her career is starting to take off, just as her long-term relationship to Jacque (Taylor Selé) falls apart. She pushes boundaries within the fashion industry as she tries to start something new with an Italian artist named Luca (Marouane Zotti).

Like any good sitcom, Survival of the Thickest depends on its ensemble, with Mavis' friends Khalil (Tone Bell) and Marley (Tasha Smith) providing plenty of color commentary as she sets off on her journey. Michelle Buteau, who also co-created the show, is incredibly charismatic and likable in the central role.

Like Sullivan's Crossing, there's an element of fantasy and wish fulfillment to Survival of the Thickest. The fashions are splendid to look at, and sometimes the show feels like a romantic travelogue; much of the second season takes place in Rome while the third season will take Mavis to Paris. The show is a little like Emily in Paris, another Netflix comedy, in how it hops from one photogenic city to another. It also recalls series like Friends and Sex and the City.

Survival of the Thickest is funny, sweet, and almost over. Season 3 will be the final season, so now is the time to catch up on the series.

Dark Winds Season 4 (July 4)

The latest season of the underrated detective show

Dark Winds is a detective series about a trio of Navajo Tribal Police officers working in the Four Corners area of the American southwest in the 1970s. Praised for its atmospheric tone, careful plotting, and a luminous central performance from Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn, Dark Winds is one of the best detective series you haven't watched.

Each season of Dark Winds tells a discrete story, so you can jump in at any time without getting lost. In Season 4, our central trio is tasked with tracking down a missing teenage girl, and then protecting her after learning that she was a witness to a mob conspiracy. We also get into the personal lives of the main characters.

Dark Winds is based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman, and is produced by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin as well as the late actor Robert Redford. It's a prestige detective series, something that will thrill you as well as make you think.

And that's just to start

There are three of the highest-profile new Netflix releases to watch over the weekend, but not the only ones. There are a few other shows worth checking out, including:

• Summer ’36 (July 1): This mystery series is set in the French city of Nice in the summer of 1936. Workers are enjoying their first-ever paid holidays, then a new concept. When a prosecutor gets murdered in a Riviera hotel, the lives of four very different women will be changed forever.
• Human Vapor (July 1): This Japanese sci-fi drama is about a strange, amorphous being who assassinates people while somehow evading capture, and the law enforcement officers determined to catch it.
• Sparks of Tomorrow (July 5): This anime series is set in a steam-powered, alternate reality version of Kyoto, where a grieving boy and a devout girl discover a book that could bring the wonders of electricity to the world.

And if that's still not enough for you, there are plenty of great finished Netflix series for you to sample instead.