Best tv shows like Halt and Catch Fire
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in the early 1980s, and about a fictional visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations confronts the corporate behemoths of the time. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas' Silicon Prairie.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: clever, realistic, serious, captivating, melancholic, retro, emotional, dramatic, crying, cerebral
Best tv shows and movies like Halt and Catch Fire (2014):
Similar in 86%
Lone Star (2010)
Plot Summary:
Lone Star is an American drama television series which originally ran on Fox from September 20, 2010 to September 27, 2010, airing Monday nights at 9 pm ET/PT. Fox announced Lone Star's cancellation on September 28, 2010 after two low-rated episodes.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 899
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Ordinary Lies (2015)
Plot Summary:
Exploring what happens when a bunch of white lies spiral out of control and the effect it has on an ordinary group of colleagues and friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, witty, serious, captivating
Similar in 83%
Breaking News (2002)
Plot Summary:
Breaking News is an American drama television series about the fictional Milwaukee-based 24-hour cable news television network I-24, with the motto 'Around the Clock, Around the World.' The series premiered July 17, 2002, on Bravo.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 48
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 75%
Strong Medicine (2000)
Plot Summary:
The lives of staff in the womens' health clinic of a fictitious hospital in Philadelphia.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, emotional, medical drama
Similar in 88%
LAX (2004)
Plot Summary:
LAX is a television drama set at the Los Angeles International Airport and draws its name from the airport's IATA airport code, "LAX". On May 17, 2004 NBC announced that they had picked up the pilot to series. This show was not renewed for season two.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 436
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, fast
Similar in 89%
Trauma Center (1983)
Plot Summary:
When a person is seriously injured in an accident, they often have only one hour to live. Dr. Michael "Cutter" Royce (James Naughton) leads a hospital's specialized emergency department that is designed to make maximum use of that one golden hour to save lives, a trauma center. However, even before that crack medical team can begin, it is the task of paramedics like John Six (Lou Ferrigno) and "Hatter" Pacelli (Alfie Wise) to rescue such victims and get them to the center within that hour. With all the emergencies that occur in their city, this medical team both in the field and in the hospital are challenged to the utmost.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 61
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: medical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
The Colbys (1985)
Plot Summary:
The Colbys is an American prime time soap opera, which originally aired on ABC from November 20, 1985 to March 26, 1987. Produced by Aaron Spelling, it was a spin-off of Dynasty, which had been the highest rated series for the 1984–1985 U.S. television season. The Colbys revolved around another wealthy, upper-class family, who were distant relatives of the Carringtons of Dynasty and who owned a large multi-national corporation. Intended to surpass its predecessor in opulence, the series' producers were handed an immensely high budget for the era and cast a handful of well-known movie stars among its leads, including Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Ross and Ricardo Montalban. However, The Colbys was ultimately a ratings disappointment, and was canceled after two seasons.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: soap opera, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, saga, campy
Similar in 80%
Lucky 7 (2013)
Plot Summary:
What would you do if you won the lottery? How would it change your life? Follow a group of seven gas station employees in Queens, New York, who have been chipping into a lottery pool for years, never thinking they'd actually win. They need to be careful what they wish for, because while the money could solve problems for each of them, it will forever change the close-knit bonds these friends have formed.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 84%
Mind Games (2014)
Plot Summary:
Clark and Ross Edwards are brothers and partners in a unique agency committed to solving clients’ problems using the hard science of psychological manipulation. Clark is a former professor and a world-renowned expert in the field of human behavior. He has a checkered history due to bipolar disorder, which sometimes results in quirky, manic episodes. His older brother Ross is a slick con man who spent time in prison. Each in their own way knows what makes people tick. Drawing from the most cutting edge research in psychology, they can a tailor a plan to influence any situation. It’s a little bit science, a little bit con artistry plus a smattering of Jedi mind tricks. The brothers, along with their team of master manipulators are offering clients an alternative to fate.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, psychological, offbeat
Similar in 81%
The Impostor (2014)
Plot Summary:
La Impostora, is a Spanish-language telenovela presumably to be produced by United States-based television network Telemundo Studios, Miami.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 91
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration:
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, serious, telenovela
Similar in 84%
C.P.W. (1995)
Plot Summary:
Central Park West is an American prime time television soap opera that ran from September 1995 to June 1996 on CBS. The series was created and executive produced by Melrose Place's Darren Star. As the title suggests, CPW was set in New York, in the affluent Central Park West area of Manhattan. Actresses Mariel Hemingway, Lauren Hutton, and Raquel Welch portrayed three of the central characters on the show. The program represented CBS's attempt to reestablish itself after a disastrous 1994-95 television season where the network lost a heavy amount of established affiliates due to affiliation switches related to Fox acquiring NFC football rights, and an attempt by the network to attract younger viewers. It was the network's most-promoted new show in many years with a promotional campaign exclusively produced to appeal to younger viewers, and attempted to recapture the network's past nighttime soap glory from the years of Dallas and Knots Landing. The series was not successful and was removed from CBS' schedule mid-season, returning some months later with new additions made to the cast. The retooling was not enough to save the show, which was canceled in June 1996. The failure of the series returned the network quickly back to their traditional broadcasting focus and repairing relations between both the network's new affiliates and their older stations which were frustrated by the network's moves in programming rights and programming within the Laurence Tisch era, which would end shortly thereafter with Westinghouse's purchase of CBS Corporation in 1995.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 368
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, soap opera
Similar in 87%
The $treet (2000)
Plot Summary:
The $treet is an American television drama series that aired on Fox in 2000. 11 episodes were produced and 6 aired in the U.S. The series was about a small brokerage house called Belmont Stevens located in New York and the lives of its employees. Freddie Sacker was one of the most notable characters played by Rick Hoffman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 386
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 78%
Purpose (2002)
Plot Summary:
A software developer becomes a billionaire and is distracted by fame, greed and power, then must save his invention and company from a hostile takeover.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 986
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, serious, stylized, independent film
Similar in 88%
UnREAL (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set against the backdrop of a hit dating competition show, "UnREAL" is led by Rachel, a young staffer whose sole job is to manipulate her relationships with and among the contestants to get the vital dramatic and outrageous footage the program's dispassionate executive producer demands. What ensues is a humorous, yet vexing, look at what happens in the world of unscripted television, where being a contestant can be vicious and producing it is a whole other reality.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: biting, realistic, semi serious, captivating, erotic, sexy, grindhouse, hilarious, tense, touching
Similar in 78%
The Politician's Husband (2013)
Plot Summary:
Aiden Hoynes is a senior cabinet minister who has always put his career before family, with the support of Freya, his devoted wife and mother to their two young children. But when Freya's own political career takes off and threatens to overshadow his, Aiden's life is thrown into chaos. As his political career comes to a standstill, and with his marriage turned upset down, Aiden takes increasing risks in his quest for power.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, tense, serious, political, psychological, clever, talky
Similar in 80%
Deadline (2000)
Plot Summary:
Deadline is a television series which was shown on NBC in the 2000–2001 season. It starred Oliver Platt as Wallace Benton, who worked for the fictional New York Ledger. This was a daily newspaper which was seen in many episodes of Law & Order.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 135
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 89%
Trust Me (2009)
Plot Summary:
The series revolves around Rothman, Greene, and Moore, a fictional advertising firm. The storylines center on the difficulties of securing accounts and the characters' personal lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, humorous, witty, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 88%
Leap Year (2011)
Plot Summary:
After being laid-off from their corporate day jobs, Aaron, Bryn, Derek, Olivia and Jack compete to get their businesses off the ground when a mystery benefactor promises to invest $500,000 in one of their startups.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 88
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: humorous, light, captivating, inspirational, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 78%
Silicon Valley (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. Partially inspired by Mike Judge’s own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late ‘80s, Silicon Valley is an American sitcom that centers around six programmers who are living together and trying to make it big in the Silicon Valley.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 162000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 28 min
Plot tags: realistic, humorous, entertaining, witty, not serious, sitcom, clever, talky, cynical, funny
Similar in 85%
The Deep End (2010)
Plot Summary:
The Deep End is an American television series created by David Hemingson and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC television network. Starring Mehcad Brooks, Matt Long, Tina Majorino, Clancy Brown, and Billy Zane, the show follows five first-year associate attorneys from diverse backgrounds as they learn how to cope with the challenges of working at one of the most prestigious law firms in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 788
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, humorous, stylized
Similar in 75%
House of Lies (2012)
Plot Summary:
Charming, fast talking Marty Kaan and his crack team of management consultants know how to play the corporate game better than anyone, by using every dirty trick in the book to woo powerful CEOs and close huge deals. In the board rooms, barrooms, and bedrooms of the power elite, corruption is business as usual and everyone's out for themselves first. Nothing is sacred in this scathing, irreverent satire of corporate America today.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 28 min
Plot tags: cynical, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, talky, sexy, suspense, erotic
Similar in 83%
The Paradise (2012)
Plot Summary:
An intoxicating love story set in England's first department store in the 1870s. The Paradise revolves around the lives of the people who live and work in the store, each bound in their own way by the power of the world they live in, and the pasts that follow them there. A love story, mystery, and social comedy all in one.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, costume drama, stylized, realistic, period piece, serious, intellectual, historical drama, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 76%
Billions (2016)
Plot Summary:
A complex drama about power politics in the world of New York high finance. Shrewd, savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby "Axe" Axelrod are on an explosive collision course, with each using all of his considerable smarts, power and influence to outmaneuver the other. The stakes are in the billions in this timely, provocative series.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 107000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, thought provoking, suspense, intellectual, political, smart, intelligent, entertaining, queer cinema
Similar in 78%
The Last Tycoon (2016)
Plot Summary:
From F. Scott Fitzgerald's last work, The Last Tycoon follows Monroe Stahr, Hollywood's Golden Boy as he battles father figure and boss Pat Brady for the soul of their studio. In a world darkened by the Depression and the growing influence of Hitler's Germany, The Last Tycoon illuminates the passions, violence and towering ambition of 1930s Hollywood.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 61 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, tense, captivating, historical drama, interesting, period drama
Similar in 79%
Mad Men (2007)
Plot Summary:
Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, located nearby in the Time-Life Building, at 1271 Avenue of the Americas. According to the show's pilot, the phrase "mad men" was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves. The focal point of the series is Don Draper, creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the people in his life, both in and out of the office. The plot focuses on the business of the agencies as well as the personal lives of the characters, regularly depicting the changing moods and social mores of the United States in the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 256000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 4400 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, atmospheric, stylized, clever, exciting, retro, sexy, thought provoking, touching
Similar in 77%
Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
Plot Summary:
This film is the semi-humorous documentary about the men who made the world of technology what it is today, their struggles during college, the founding of their companies, and the ingenious actions they took to build up the global corporate empires of Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: entertaining, tense, clever, talky, motivational, inspirational, epic, cyber, informative, sincere
Similar in 86%
Steve Jobs (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: realistic, cerebral, factual, thought provoking, melancholic, talky, serious, sincere, captivating, emotional
Similar in 82%
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Plot Summary:
As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gekko on a two tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader's mentor.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 106000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: stylized, captivating, psychological, informative, serious, realistic, entertaining, suspenseful, disturbing, tense
Similar in 76%
Jobs (2013)
Plot Summary:
The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 102000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Switzerland
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: inspirational, serious, factual, realistic, intense, romantic, captivating, motivational, educational, cyber
Similar in 84%
The Social Network (2010)
Plot Summary:
On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room as a small site among friends soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 745000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: intellectual, clever, realistic, motivational, entertaining, witty, inspirational, visually appealing, serious, informative