Best tv shows like Shameless
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, emotional, realistic, cynical, captivating, sitcom, hilarious, erotic, feel good, social
Best tv shows and movies like Shameless (2004):
Similar in 79%
Trailer Park Boys (2001)
Plot Summary:
Follow the booze-fueled misadventures of three longtime pals and petty serial criminals who run scams from their Nova Scotia trailer park.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, sitcom, humorous, witty, semi serious, funny, dark comedy, feel good, absurd, offbeat
Similar in 85%
At Home with the Braithwaites (2000)
Plot Summary:
At Home with the Braithwaites is a British comedy-drama television series, created and written by Sally Wainwright. The storyline follows a suburban family from Leeds, whose life is turned upside down when the mother of the family wins 38 million pounds on the lottery. It was broadcast on ITV, for 26 episodes, from 20 January 2000 to 9 April 2003. At the beginning of the first series, each member of the Braithwaite family has an issue. Alison has to decide what to do with the winnings, and when to tell her family. David is having an affair with Elaine, his secretary at work. Virginia is on the verge of flunking out of university. Sarah has a crush on her drama teacher. Charlotte suspects that her mother may be the mystery lottery winner.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, cynical, semi serious, offbeat, dark comedy, surreal, black comedy
Similar in 79%
Blindspotting (2021)
Plot Summary:
Ashley was nipping at the heels of a middle class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: psychological, humorous, captivating
Similar in 86%
Friday Night Dinner (2011)
Plot Summary:
Two siblings share their Friday night dinners at their parents home and, somehow, something always goes wrong.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, not serious, realistic, captivating, light hearted, nostalgic
Similar in 82%
Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
Plot Summary:
Set in the world of fashion and PR, immature fun-loving mother Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy drive Eddie's sensible daughter, Saffron, up the wall with their constant drug abuse and outrageous selfishness. Numerous in-jokes and heavy doses of cruel humour have made this series a cult hit in the UK and abroad.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: sitcom, funny, hilarious, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, not serious, biting, game show
Similar in 85%
This Is England '88 (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set during Christmas 1988, Lol is haunted by the devastating events that took place two and a half years before. She and Woody both find themselves struggling to cope with their lives without each other after he leaves the gang. Lol is carrying the burden of her guilt, whilst Woody is trying to build a domestic life with a new girlfriend and a potential promotion at work. Shaun has started drama college and, although still in a relationship with Smell, he has grown close to a girl performing in his Christmas play.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: touching, rough, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, retro, gloomy, period drama, masterpiece
Similar in 88%
This Is England '86 (2010)
Plot Summary:
This Is England '86 is a 2010 British drama miniseries written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne, a spin-off from the 2006 film This Is England. Shaun has just finished his final exams and he realizes he is no longer a kid. It's mid 80's England, a World Cup summer, and the gang are back, looking for a laugh, a job, and something that resembles a future.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 47 min
Plot tags: emotional, sentimental, touching, disturbing, serious, realistic, gloomy, sexual, retro, rough
Similar in 82%
Sintonia (2019)
Plot Summary:
Told through three different characters' perspectives, the story of Sintonia explores the interconnection of the music, drug traffic, and religion in São Paulo. In the quest to be somebody, many paths will converge.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Music
Country: Brazil
Duration: 40 min
Plot tags: ironic, emotional, entertaining, realistic
Similar in 76%
This Is England '90 (2015)
Plot Summary:
Following on from This Is England ’86 and ‘88, this much-anticipated final chapter finds the gang embracing the rave scene of a new decade. But the utter hilarity and unadulterated joy of the second ‘summer of love’ soon gives way to a war torn winter. As the stark reality of life takes hold and, ultimately, takes life.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, retro, rough, bleak, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 80%
Pete versus Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
Pete versus Life is a Channel 4 sitcom created by George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore. It stars Rafe Spall and the first episode was aired on 6 August 2010. It was recommissioned for a second series after averaging 1.6 million viewers and a young demographic during its first run, and series two started airing on 21 October 2011.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, surreal, not serious, light, feel good, captivating, dark comedy, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 85%
Flowers (2016)
Plot Summary:
Dark comedy about the eccentric members of the Flowers family. Maurice and Deborah are barely together but yet to divorce. They live with Maurice's batty mother and their maladjusted twin children.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, funny, emotional, satirical, dark comedy
Similar in 83%
The Office (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. Gervais also stars in the series, playing the central character, David Brent. Although fictional and scripted, the programme takes the form of a documentary, with the presence of the camera often acknowledged. Two six-episode series were made, along with a pair of 45-minute Christmas specials. When it was first shown on BBC Two, it was nearly cancelled due to low ratings, but has since become one of the most successful of all British comedy exports. As well as being shown internationally on BBC Worldwide, channels such as BBC Prime, BBC America and BBC Canada, the series has been sold to broadcasters in over 80 countries, including ABC1 in Australia, The Comedy Network in Canada, TVNZ in New Zealand and the pan-Asian satellite channel STAR World, based in Hong Kong. The show began airing in The United States on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim on 18 September 2009 until 2012.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 121000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, mockumentary, sitcom, feel good, realistic, funny, dark comedy, hilarious, offbeat, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
Outrageous Fortune (2005)
Plot Summary:
Outrageous Fortune is a New Zealand comedy-drama television series, which ran from 12 July 2005 to 9 November 2010 on TV3. The series followed the lives of the career criminal West family after the matriarch, Cheryl, decided the family should go straight and abide by the law. The show was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and produced by South Pacific Pictures. Like the show itself, episodes took their names from Shakespeare quotations. The show concluded after 6 seasons and 107 episodes making it the longest running drama series made in New Zealand. The primary cast for the show's run consisted of Robyn Malcolm, Antony Starr, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Frank Whitten and Kirk Torrance; Grant Bowler appeared in a sporadic role throughout the show's first five seasons. The show premiered on 12 July 2005 and was welcomed by high acclaim. It won many of the major categories in the New Zealand television awards for its first 4 years, with Malcolm's performance warmly recognised by most New Zealand reviewers. Following the show's success, both the United States and England adapted Outrageous Fortune into their own respective series, neither of which were renewed after the debut season.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, sexy
Similar in 89%
Married... with Children (1987)
Plot Summary:
Married... with Children is an American sitcom that aired for 11 seasons. It featured a dysfunctional family living in a fictional Chicago, Illinois, suburb. The show, notable for being the first prime-time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. The show was known for handling nonstandard topics for the time period, which garnered the then-fledgling Fox network a standing among the Big Three television networks. The series' 11-season, 259-episode run makes it the longest-lasting live-action sitcom on the Fox network. The show's famous theme song is "Love and Marriage" by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, performed by Frank Sinatra from the 1955 television production Our Town. The first season of the series was videotaped at ABC Television Center in Hollywood. From season 2 to season 8, the show was taped at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, and the remaining three seasons were taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. The series was produced by Embassy Communications on its first season and the remaining seasons by ELP Communications under the studio Columbia Pictures Television.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, hilarious, parody, light, feel good, funny, retro, psychedelic, deep
Similar in 89%
Hung (2009)
Plot Summary:
Desperate times call for desperate measures and Ray Drecker's situation couldn't be much tougher. The former high school sports legend turned middle-aged high school basketball coach is divorced and struggling to provide for his kids when his already run-down house catches fire. Looking to take on a second job, Ray decides to exploit his best asset in a last-ditch attempt to change his fortunes.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: erotic, humorous, sexual, semi serious, realistic, captivating, satirical, sitcom, sensual, hilarious
Similar in 80%
Monarch of the Glen (2000)
Plot Summary:
Archie MacDonald, a young restaurateur is called back to his childhood home of Glenbogle where he is told he is the new Laird of Glenbogle.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, witty, semi serious, satirical, humorous, gloomy
Similar in 77%
Life Begins (2004)
Plot Summary:
Life Begins is a British television drama first broadcast on ITV between February 2004 and October 2006, starring Caroline Quentin and Alexander Armstrong, Anne Reid and Frank Finlay.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 255
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating, sitcom
Similar in 87%
Rock & Chips (2010)
Plot Summary:
Prequel to Only Fools and Horses, set in the 1960s, Joan Trotter is in an unhappy marriage with the work-shy Reg, with whom she has a teenage son, Derek ("Del Boy"). However, the reappearance in Peckham of bank robber, "art connoisseur" and womaniser Freddie Robdal, recently released after a ten year prison sentence, would bring about changes in Joan's life.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 90%
In with the Flynns (2011)
Plot Summary:
In with the Flynns is a British sitcom created by Caryn Mandabach, produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions, and broadcast by the BBC. The first series began broadcast on 8 June 2011 for six episodes on BBC One and in high definition on BBC One HD in the United Kingdom. It is an adaptation of the American series Grounded for Life. Set in Manchester in northern England, the series stars Will Mellor as Liam Flynn, Niky Wardley as his wife Caroline, and Nadine Rose Mulkerrin, Daniel Rogers, and Lorenzo Rodriguez as their children, Chloe, Steve, and Mikey. Other characters include Liam's brother Tommy and Liam and Tommy's father Jim. Originally given the working title of Meet the Doyles, this was changed during production. The theme song is "For Anyone" by the band Beady Eye. On 22 December 2011, Will Mellor confirmed in an interview that the show had been given a second series, which was filmed and broadcast in 2012. Taping took place at the new MediaCityUK in Salford and the second series, of six episodes, began on BBC One on 17 August 2012. On 30 October 2012, it was reported that BBC One had cancelled In With The Flynns.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 204
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, feel good, light, captivating, realistic, not serious
Similar in 85%
Outnumbered (2007)
Plot Summary:
Partly-improvised sitcom looking at the trials and tribulations of bringing up three young children - a regal five-year-old girl with a talent for interrogation, a seven-year-old boy who could fib for Britain and an 11-year-old who is gearing up for his scary first day at secondary school.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, semi serious, realistic, sentimental, touching, light, sincere, feel good, melancholic
Similar in 90%
Parenthood (2010)
Plot Summary:
Parenthood is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Katims. Loosely based on the 1989 film of the same title, Parenthood tells of the Braverman clan which consists of an older couple, their four children and their families.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, touching, semi serious, sincere, captivating, sitcom
Similar in 86%
Less Than Kind (2008)
Plot Summary:
Less Than Kind is a Canadian television comedy-drama series that stars Jesse Camacho as Sheldon Blecher, a teenager growing up in a loving but dysfunctional Jewish family in Winnipeg. The show's cast also includes Maury Chaykin and Wendel Meldrum as Sheldon's parents, Benjamin Arthur as his older brother Josh, and Nancy Sorel as his aunt, Clara. The Blechers struggle to operate a driving school out of their home in Winnipeg's fading North End. Less Than Kind made its debut October 13, 2008, on Citytv, and moved to HBO Canada in February 2010. The ensemble cast of the critically acclaimed series won Canadian Comedy Awards in 2009 and 2010.Less Than Kind received the 2010 Gemini Award for Best Comedy Program or Series and the inaugural award for Best Comedy Series at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards. The title sequence and logo for Less Than Kind were inspired by an iconic highway sign at Winnipeg's Confusion Corner intersection, depicting arrows pointing in every direction. The name of the series is found in the first line spoken by Hamlet: "A little more than kin, and less than kind.".
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, feel good, sitcom, sentimental, sincere, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 83%
Transparent (2014)
Plot Summary:
An LA family with serious boundary issues have their past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, captivating, sitcom, erotic, exciting, clever, mumblecore, sensual, heartfelt
Similar in 90%
Fresh Meat (2011)
Plot Summary:
A group of six students about to embark on the most exciting period of their lives so far: university!.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, semi serious, feel good, light, entertaining, erotic, dark comedy, sensual, realistic
Similar in 82%
Queer as Folk (1999)
Plot Summary:
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies. The first series was re-shown on More 4 between 14 and 18 October 2007, as part of Channel 4's 25th-birthday celebrations. Queer as Folk was produced by the Red Production Company for Channel 4. The title of the programme comes from a dialect expression from some parts of Northern England, "there's nowt so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people"; which is a word play the modern day English synonym of "queer", meaning homosexual. Davies had originally titled the series this, although at the suggestion of Channel 4 executives for a period during its development and pre-production it was known as Queer as Fuck, before it reverted to the former name.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: controversial, sensual, sexual, erotic, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, sex comedy
Similar in 84%
The Riches (2007)
Plot Summary:
A family of crooks assume the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban clan in the Deep South.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: light, humorous, captivating, disturbing, clever, offbeat, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black comedy
Similar in 82%
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 86%
Shameless (2011)
Plot Summary:
Chicagoan Frank Gallagher is the proud single dad of six smart, industrious, independent kids, who without him would be... perhaps better off. When Frank's not at the bar spending what little money they have, he's passed out on the floor. But the kids have found ways to grow up in spite of him. They may not be like any family you know, but they make no apologies for being exactly who they are.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 272000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: offbeat, emotional, entertaining, biting, realistic, humorous, sexy, funny, ironic, thought provoking
Similar in 77%
Weeds (2005)
Plot Summary:
Weeds is an American dark comedy-drama series created by Jenji Kohan. The central character is Nancy Botwin, a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling cannabis to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a heart attack. Over the course of the show, she and her family become increasingly entangled in illegal activities.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 28 min
Plot tags: humorous, dark comedy, sitcom, witty, realistic, cynical, erotic, funny, offbeat, explicit
Similar in 90%
White Teeth (2002)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Zadie Smith's bestseller concerning the lives of two families from as far back as the 1800s and India to late 1990s Willesden.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 770
Genere: Drama, Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, multicultural