Best tv shows like James at 15
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
James at 15 is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977-1978 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 made-for-TV movie James at 15, which aired on Monday September 5, 1977 and was intended as a pilot for the series. Both were written by Dan Wakefield, a journalist and fiction writer whose novel Going All the Way, a tale of coming of age in the 1950s, had led to his being contacted by David Sontag of Twentieth Century Fox. David Sontag had had a lunch meeting in NY with Paul Klein, the head of programming at NBC. At lunch Klein said he needed a series for Sunday night. On the spot Sontag created the idea for a coming of age series seen through the eyes of a teenage boy including his dreams, fantasies, and hopes. Klein loved the idea and asked Sontag who would write it. Sontag suggested Dan Wakefield.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 500
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like James at 15 (1977):
Similar in 90%
Year Of (2023)
Plot Summary:
The final two years of high school are simultaneously traumatic and exhilarating for both the kids at Jubilee High, and their parents and teachers.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 182
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Chimp (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Chimp is the nickname of a teenage boy (with large ears) who lives in the small town of Balyktchy, Kirghizstan, a former part of the USSR in central Asia. His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Kyrgyzstan, Japan
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The Days (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Days is a 2004 ABC television series. Each episode chronicles 24 hours in the lives of the members of the fictional Day family. The series was produced for ABC by MindShare Worldwide, a GroupM media agency within WPP Group that financed the series in exchange for ABC advertising time.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
TV 101 (1988)
Plot Summary:
TV 101 is an American drama series that aired on CBS from 1988 until 1989. The series stars Sam Robards, Brynn Thayer, Leon Russom and Andrew Cassese. Other notable cast members include Stacey Dash, Teri Polo, Alex Désert and Matt LeBlanc. The music for this show was created and produced by Todd Rundgren.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 112
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Just Dance (2018)
Plot Summary:
In a Girls' Vocational High School in Geoje, six students dream to win a dance sports competition.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 51
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 35 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Zac & Mia (2017)
Plot Summary:
"Zac and Mia", based on the novel by A.J. Betts, about 2 teens battling cancer in the same hospital. In the real world, Zac and Mia would have pretty much nothing in common, but in the hospital, where they're the only 2 teens on the ward, they develop an unbreakable bond. If cancer is the variable that changed everything, the only constant is their ever-deepening need for one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 12 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Amy George (2011)
Plot Summary:
Thirteen-year-old Jesse wants to be an artist, but believes that his mundane middle-class Toronto life has left him unprepared. After reading a book on what it takes to be a "true-artist", he sets out looking for risk, ecstasy, wildness and women. Amy George is a microbudget independent drama about the time in a boy's life when he's at his least likeable.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, unusual plot structure, contemplative, independent film
Similar in 84%
Gigantic (2010)
Plot Summary:
A half-hour dramedy that takes a fictional look at the glitzy, chaotic and often hilarious life of being a Hollywood "it" kid. Set in the world of the Hollywood elite packed with A-list parties and privilege, it tells a coming-of-age story infused with pop culture fame. It's not easy being teenagers growing up in the shadow of their parents' superstar status, and "Gigantic" skewers the celebrity machine while exposing the humanity and comedy beneath the glamour of Tinseltown. With an insider look behind the tabloids and gossip blogs, it features an ensemble cast that includes: 17-year-old Anna (Grace Gummer) and her younger brother Walt (Tony Oller), both kids of a famous movie star couple; their best friends Piper (Jolene Purdy) and Finn (Malcolm Kelley); frenemy Vanessa (Gia Mantegna) and Anna's boy crush with a big secret Joey (Ryan Rottman).
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 297
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating, light, sincere, offbeat, witty
Similar in 82%
Killing the Father (2018)
Plot Summary:
Through a portrait of this family, we witness the profound changes that have shaken Spanish society between the 1990s and the present, with the advent of the economic and political crises in the background.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 215
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration:
Plot tags: ironic, serious, suspense, realistic, suspenseful, dark comedy
Similar in 85%
Rip-Off (1971)
Plot Summary:
Best friends Michael, Steve, Cooly and Richie are seniors at a large Toronto high school. Foremost on their minds and that of many of their classmates are what they are going to do this upcoming summer and beyond. They don't want to waste away the summer much like they did this past summer. Mike is being pressured by his parents to go to university following graduation from high school, although Mike himself is unsure if that's what he wants to do. Other ideas they discuss are to tour with their band, Arctic Madness, or to start a commune on a five hundred acre parcel of wilderness property outside of Timmins that was deeded to Mike. As the end of the school year approaches and these successive ideas come and fall by the wayside, the four come to a realization of what their future together holds.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 64
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 75%
Unseen (2020)
Plot Summary:
The fiction series UNSEEN tells the story of how, over ten days, people and their families face a mysterious phenomenon : some of them become invisible. Out of sight, the invisibles can do anything without being seen, nobody to punish them, nobody to compliment them, nobody to judge them, - But is it really an advantage? Some of them are using invisibility as a tool of revenge or domination, others live it as an exile. But all of them will have to make a moral choice: is their invisibility a power or a handicap? What is left for humanity when no one can see us anymore? Facing the unimaginable, seen and unseen will try, each in their own way, to save their own world.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 169
Genere: Drama
Country: Belgium
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Otomen (2009)
Plot Summary:
Otomen is a Japanese romantic comedy manga by manga artist Aya Kanno, which began in Bessatsu Hana to Yume in late 2006 and concluded on November 26, 2012. The series has been adapted into a live action TV drama. The series has been one of the best-selling shōjo properties in America, since being licensed by Viz Media. The series is also licensed in France by Delcourt and in Spain by Planeta DeAgostini.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 64
Genere: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: dorama
Similar in 83%
Cross My Heart and Hope to Die (1994)
Plot Summary:
The young teenager Otto is entering the summer holidays in 60'ies Oslo, without getting a real holiday, and he is not accepted in the gang or the football team. But then he meets exciting mysterious Frank, which changes everything.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 687
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 77%
The Rotters' Club (2005)
Plot Summary:
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' adaptation of Jonathon Coe's novel follow a group of Birmingham teenagers, and their families, through the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 172 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 75%
The Chi (2018)
Plot Summary:
A relevant, timely and distinctive coming-of-age story following a half dozen interrelated characters in the South Side of Chicago. The story centers on Brandon, an ambitious and confident young man who dreams about opening a restaurant of his own someday, but is conflicted between the promise of a new life and his responsibility to his mother and teenage brother back in the South Side.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, mind bending, unusual plot structure, suspense, hood, sitcom
Similar in 89%
Finding Carter (2014)
Plot Summary:
A teenager finds out she was abducted as a toddler and returns to her biological family.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, tense, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 82%
Early Swallows (2019)
Plot Summary:
The series revolves around the lives of Ukrainian teenagers in a secondary school class. The teenagers struggle with bullying, including the Blue Whale Challenge, lack of parental support, suicidal behavior, LGBT identity crises-a subject that is rarely portrayed on Ukrainian television-alcoholic parents, and speech disabilities. In one of the show's main plot lines, the main characters are stalked on the Internet by an anonymous person who pretends to be their friend.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 487
Genere: Drama
Country: Ukraine
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, captivating, suspense, psychological
Similar in 77%
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990)
Plot Summary:
Beverly Hills, 90210 followed the lives of a group of teenagers living in the upscale, star-studded community of Beverly Hills, California and attending the fictitious West Beverly Hills High School and, subsequently, the fictitious California University after graduation.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, soap opera, realistic, teen, exciting, romantic drama, serious, uplifting, vintage
Similar in 88%
Black Irish (2007)
Plot Summary:
In South Boston, where Irish roots run deep and Catholic tradition reigns, two brothers face similar hardships but lead far different lives. While older brother Terry descends into drugs and crime, 16-year-old Cole vies to make the state baseball championships - but must struggle to withstand his brother's destructive influence.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 76%
Dawson's Creek (1998)
Plot Summary:
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series created by Kevin Williamson which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. Filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, at EUE/Screen Gems studios and on location around Wilmington, Southport, and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Many scenes were filmed at UNCW, including William Randall Library and Alderman Hall, which served as the facade of Capeside High School. Other college scenes in the fifth and sixth seasons were shot at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. It portrays the fictional lives of a close-knit group of teenagers through high school and college. The program, part of a new craze for teen-themed movies and television shows in America in the late 1990s, catapulted its leads to stardom and became a defining show for The WB. The series ended on May 14, 2003.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, teen, soap opera, light, sweet, sitcom, sex comedy, serious
Similar in 75%
The '70s (2000)
Plot Summary:
Four friends, fresh from tragedy at Kent Sate, graduate from college and begin their adult lives during the turbulent 1970s. But Dexter (Guy Torry), Eileen (Vinessa Shaw), Byron (Brad Rowe) and Christie (Amy Smart) find their paths are heading in different directions. Namely, toward the Black Panthers, the feminist movement, the Watergate Scandal and the Hustle. Peter Werner directs this poignant television miniseries originally aired on NBC.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 671
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, semi serious, sincere, clever, realistic, talky
Similar in 87%
Life Unexpected (2010)
Plot Summary:
Life Unexpected is a coming-of-age family drama that centers around 16-year-old Lux, who was given up for adoption at birth but never adopted. When she is put back into the custody of her estranged-since-high-school birth parents, Cate and Baze, the three form an unlikely family.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, feel good, semi serious, touching, humorous, sincere, captivating, teen, realistic, teen comedy
Similar in 90%
Everwood (2002)
Plot Summary:
After the death of his wife, world-class neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Brown leaves Manhattan and moves his family to the small town of Everwood, Colorado. There he becomes a small-town doctor and learns parenting on the fly as he raises his talented but resentful 15-year-old son Ephram and his 9-year-old daughter Delia.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, serious, sincere, rough, suspenseful, medical drama, teen, light hearted
Similar in 88%
Young Americans (2000)
Plot Summary:
Young Americans is an American television drama created by Steven Antin. The show debuted on July 12, 2000 on The WB network as a summer replacement for, and spin-off from, another Columbia TriStar Television production, Dawson's Creek. The series was originally ordered for the fall 1999-2000 season but was delayed due to unresolved matters between the ColumbiaTriStar and The WB. The main character, Will Krudski, was introduced late in season three of Dawson's Creek as a childhood friend of the group who has kept in contact with Pacey Witter. Will goes to Capeside to visit with old friends while on spring break. After briefly dating Andie McPhee he returns to Raleigh. The show explores themes of forbidden love, morality, social classes and gender roles.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, queer cinema
Similar in 76%
Off the Black (2006)
Plot Summary:
An aging, disillusioned alcoholic (Nick Nolte) gets a younger friend (Trevor Morgan) and wants him to pose as his son at a school reunion.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, touching, realistic
Similar in 86%
Brooklyn Bridge (1991)
Plot Summary:
Brooklyn Bridge is an American television program which aired on CBS between 1991 and 1993. It is about a Jewish American family living in Brooklyn in the middle 1950s. The premise was partially based on the childhood of executive producer and creator Gary David Goldberg. Brooklyn Bridge won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy Award as for outstanding television series in 1992, after its first season. The cast was led by Marion Ross; Art Garfunkel performed the theme song, which was titled "Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge." In 1997, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was ranked #46 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 453
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, period drama
Similar in 82%
Giant Little Ones (2018)
Plot Summary:
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, realistic, thought provoking, lgbt cinema, independent film, freeze frame, indie film, meditative, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Grand Army (2020)
Plot Summary:
Five students at the largest public high school in Brooklyn take on a chaotic world as they fight to succeed, survive, break free and seize the future.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, cute, emotional, entertaining, queer cinema
Similar in 87%
Skins (2007)
Plot Summary:
Irreverent comedy drama which follows the messy lives, loves, delirious highs and inevitable lows of a group of raucous teenage friends in Bristol.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: captivating, cynical, realistic, semi serious, teen, sexy, erotic, dark, controversial, sexual
Similar in 81%
The Paper Chase (1978)
Plot Summary:
Critically lauded drama about the life and pressures of a group of students at a prestigious Eastern law school, with a strict and domineering contract-law professor named Charles Kingsfield, who alternately inspires and terrifies the students.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: clever, intellectual, serious, realistic, witty, contemplative, talky