It has long been the viewpoint of perceptive individuals that the future of media is in decentralization.  Some day in the future all our games, all our music, all our tv shows and movies will stream directly to whatever human interface device we choose or can afford.  No more console or format wars, no more burdens of physical media, just pure unadulterated content.  Will this make it easier for Steve Jobs and our overlords the Chinese Military Industrial complex to know our every thought and whim?  Of course, but that's far of in the future.  Some time after 2020, at least.
 
In the present, however, the good people at Netflix have been sinking the money they made sending out round plastic reflective discs to people back into creating an infrastructure for streaming media content that we can use already.  Since it's a fair assumption that the majority of people who peruse this site own either an XBox 360, a Playstation 3 or a Nintento Wii and all three of these consoles have streaming Netflix capability, I'm going to try and use this blog post to create a repository of recommended viewing material available on the service.  I will be focusing on the TV shows as I find the movies to both a large enough selection that they are difficult to cover, and self explanatory enough that they don't need it.
 
I welcome any input in the comments, and if it's for a show I haven't seen I will try to add it to the main body of the post.  One final note; I've proven to be fairly incompetent with GiantBomb's posting and editing process, so if there are any kinks I hope they get ironed out. 
 
(PenguinDust provided the following link http://instantwatcher.com/ which is fantastic for keeping track of available streaming content.  Certainly worth a look.)
 
 
24  seasons 1-7 available   IMDB: 8.9
Not a ton to say here.  It's Keifer Southerland as Jack Bauer, he kill people and speaks gruffly, all the female characters are complete idiots.  I'm not a huge fan but enough people are that I figured I might as well include it here.

30 ROCK seasons 1-3
(coming soon)
 
ARCHER season one available  IMDB:  9.1  Metacritic:  78
Archer is probably one of the best shows you aren't watching, and if you are watching then you probably aren't working hard enough to get your friends to watch it.  This animated series is from Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, the team behind Sealab 2021 and the criminally underrated Frisky Dingo from the cartoon network's Adult Swim lineup.  This time they move to FX for a show about the spy agency ISIS, although the conversations around the desks in ISIS's headquarters is often more important and funnier than what happens in the field.  Think The Office merged with James Bond merged with... something very profane.  The art work is beautiful although the animation is simplistic, and the voice acting is top notch.  H. Jon Benjamin (Home Movies), Jessica Walter (Arrested Development), Judy Greer (Arrested Development) and Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) are special stand outs.   Watch this show.
 
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT all 3 seasons available     IMDB:  9.7  Metacritic: 88
Seriously?  Look at that IMDB user score.  9.7.  That is insane.  This is THE comedy of the last  decade, and will be what comedies are compared to for decades to come.  I honestly want nothing to do with anyone who does not like this show.  You don't like it, you are off the list.  No questions asked.  If you haven't watched it, watch it so people stop making fun of you.
  
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER season 1 available
(coming soon)
 
BETTER OFF TED season 1 available
(coming soon)

DEADLIEST CATCH, seasons 1-5 available
 (coming soon)
 
DOCTOR WHO (2005) seasons 1-4 available, select older episodes available     IMDB: 8.8
The rebirth of Doctor Who this millennium has proven fairly popular.   Characterized by fairly low budgets and fairly high quirk factor, this reinvention of the long running British sci-fi show moves modernizes several aspects of the show and makes it absolutely newbie friendly.  Older episodes are available, although they are more accurately considered seasons as the previous incarnations of Doctor Who would take a single story and break it up into half hour chunks.  Go here for all your hot scarf action.

FAWLTEY TOWERS, complete series available
(coming soon) 
 
FARSCAPE, seasons 1-3 available
(coming soon)

FIREFLY complete series plus Serenity available
(coming soon)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, seasons 1-3 available    IMDB:  8.6
 Two things I expected I'd have no interest in: 1) High School Football.  2)  Life in rural Texas.
Friday Night Lights proved me wrong.  This TV adaptation of Peter Berg's eponymous movie is moved from the very real setting of 1988 Permian, Texas to the more fictitious Dillon, Texas of the present.  The Panthers football team is still dead center of the action though.  Throw in a spattering of teenage drama along with some fantastic performances, notably from Kyle Chandler as Head Coach Taylor, and you get some damn entertaining drama.  The second season undergoes a slight hiccup, but it comes back just as strong in the third season. 
 
LOST seasons 1-5 available
(coming soon)
 
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, select episodes available
(coming soon)

NEWS RADIO seasons 1-3 available

PARTY DOWN season one available, season two as it airs
(coming soon)
 
RED DWARF series 1-8 available
There's a good chance that if you haven't heard of Red Dwarf yet you won't be interested in Red Dwarf.  Long before the Always Sunny crew started working on combining sci-fi and comedy, there was Red Dwarf.  The humor is pretty much a 50/50 mix of bodily functions and spoofing sci-fi tropes, but if words like Smeg make you giggle and you have an appreciation for time travel jokes then there could be a lot for you to like here.

SPARTACUS, season one available
 (coming soon)
 
THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK season one available
(coming soon)

THE OFFICE (BBC) series 1, 2, and Christmas Special available
(coming soon)
 
THE OFFICE (USA) seasons 1-5 available
(coming soon)
 
X-FILES seasons 1-9 available
(coming soon)
 
(and more.  lots of work still to do...)