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10 Of Netflix's Most Bizarre Secret Category Codes

Netflix has many mysterious categories for you to explore.
These codes can help you find some odd secret categories.
Thomas Trutschel via Getty Images
These codes can help you find some odd secret categories.

Netflix uses countless “secret categories” to organize its extensive library of content. You just need special codes to access them.

Many of these secret categories can be helpful. Plenty of publications have reported on the list of codes that access categories such as “Westerns” or “Classic Comedies” or “Foreign Documentaries.” These are pretty standard.

But I’ve recently become obsessed with the more bizarre secret categories Netflix has created. For example, what does “Party On!” mean and why did Netflix dedicate an entire category to that?

Of course, Netflix doesn’t make it easy to find these secret categories; you have to manually alter your URL to insert the specific code you want.

If you copy and paste “https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XXXX” into your browser, then you can switch out the “X” part for the codes I’ll talk about in this article. The aforementioned “Party On!” looks like “https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/1188010” once you switch in the code “1188010.” (You’ll need to be logged in to Netflix to view these pages.)

To find the weird and funny codes I have listed below, I had to essentially go fishing within the service. Netflix promotes various categories on the homepage and then again on its various category pages. But these pages will only show a few of the countless categories at one time, so you can wade into the Netflix content stream for quite a while without finding a category that’s interesting.

To illustrate how many weird categories Netflix has, here are just the first 10 codes on the service. Remember that “Party On!” has a code number over 1 million. I found these simply by switching the respective numbers into the place in the URL where the code goes. (N/A in the list below means Netflix doesn’t have a category for that number.)

  • Code 1: “African-American Crime Documentaries” (Nothing listed)
  • Code 2: “Scary Cult Movies from the 1980s” (Three movies listed)
  • Code 3: N/A
  • Code 4: “Tearjerkers from the 1970s” (Nothing listed)
  • Code 5: “LGBTQ Psychological Movies” (Three movies listed)
  • Code 6: N/A
  • Code 7: “Showbiz Movies based on real life” (10 movies listed)
  • Code 8: N/A
  • Code 9: N/A
  • Code 10: Movies starring Pradeep Kumar (Nothing listed)

As you can see, many of these categories have few (if any) titles listed. It’s unclear why Netflix made these codes. But for the purposes of this article, I’m only going to focus on the secret categories that actually have substantive content suggestions. That means I’m not highlighting genres like the bizarre but obscureCult Satanic Stories” with four titles or “Werewolf Horror Movies” with two. (Just figured I’d still mention them, though, with Halloween around the corner.)

A Netflix representative would not provide a list of the service’s codes to me, and so I had to just click around to surface what I could.

Many of the obscure categories I found seem like great ideas; you should check out “TV Shows Featuring a Strong Female Lead” with code “26118,” for instance.

Other times, I came across categories that seemed indistinguishable from each other. Does Netflix really need “Binge-worthy TV Dramas” (1019057) and “Critically-acclaimed Binge-worthy TV Shows” (2236980)? How about “Critically-acclaimed Criminal Investigation TV Shows” (2235177) and “Critically-acclaimed Binge-worthy Crime TV Shows” (2237608)?

Anyway, I ultimately focused on the 10 silliest categories I could find.

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“Teen TV for BFFs” Code: 2004791

Netflix

I’d like to think Netflix really designed this for BFFs of any age.

“Party On!” Code: 1188010

Netflix

Again, what does this mean? My best guess is that these are shows and movies you should watch when you’re drunk. Maybe Netflix staff tested this personally?

“Family Watch Together TV” Code: 2072262

Netflix

Now that’s just bad English.

“NX: Multiple Universes, One Home” Code: 2867911

Netflix

This makes slightly more sense when you know that Netflix launched a brand called “NX” that focuses on “everything super, sci-fi, the fantastic, and beyond.” Still, “multiple universes, one home,” could mean anything.

“True Bromance” Code: 2693465

Netflix

If you and your bros can’t hang out and you miss them.

“Girls Night In” Code: 1157040

Netflix

If the girls can hang out and you decide to watch television.

“Casual Viewing” Code: 2691054

Netflix

Basically nothing to see here. These titles won’t stimulate you at all. Maybe this is the secret category to watch while high.

“Brain Food Docs” Code: 2014872

Netflix

As opposed to regular documentaries that presumably aren’t “brain food.” Also, one of the featured movies in this category is “Animals with Cameras.” Sounds smart. Another one is “The Pyramid Code,” which makes claims about aliens affecting history.

“Fight-the-System TV Shows” Code: 26705

Netflix

Netflix has become one of the most powerful companies in the world. Netflix is the system. But maybe “The Staircase,” a true-crime docuseries about a potential murderer, will inspire you to thwart capitalism.

“Exciting Movies” Code: 5343

Netflix

All movies not in this category must be incredibly boring. I also enjoyed Netflix’s secret category “Classic Exciting Movies” (46571), which only has four titles.

Bonus: A few more unique “secret codes” I found...

  • “Absurd TV Comedies” Code: 77223
  • “Buddy Late Night Comedies” Code: 27665
  • “Cerebral TV Dramas” Code: 36151
  • “Comedy Duos” Code: 2707203
  • “Critically-acclaimed Showbiz TV Shows” Code: 2697653
  • “Ensemble TV Shows” Code: 71152
  • “Feel-good Food & Travel TV” Code: 72509
  • “High School TV Shows” Code: 25859
  • “Imaginative Animation” Code: 33226
  • “Lifestyle” Code: 2738568
  • “Mind-bending TV Shows” Code: 26239
  • “Oddballs & Outcasts” Code: 1073915
  • “Offbeat TV Shows” Code: 1625327
  • “Slightly Inappropriate” Code: 1191892
  • “TV Dramas about Friendship” Code: 1498535
  • “TV Mysteries” Code: 4366
  • “TV Soaps” Code: 10634
  • “TV Teen Dramas” Code: 52904
  • “Understated TV Shows” Code: 26188
  • “Unlikely Friends Comedies” Code: 1626249
  • “Wine & Beverage Appreciation” Code: 1458
  • “Witty TV Shows” Code: 25791
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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.