Best tv shows like The Optimists
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The early 1960s. The Soviet Union is experiencing a bright Khrushchev-era, full of hope. A group of young diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs come face to face with world-changing global events. Before long, these wide-eyed idealists find themselves deep in the breathtaking world of spy games, mortal dangers, and brilliant political maneuvering.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 157
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, clever, serious, exciting, intense
Best tv shows and movies like The Optimists (2017):
Similar in 82%
The Gromovs (2006)
Plot Summary:
At the end of 70s in little miner's town lives Gromovs family: Mary, Feyodor and their children - Nastya, Sasha, Sava and little Nick. Feyodor works at mine, Mary - the teacher. Their measured life full of daily cares, troubles and pleasures. Whatever happens they always have their stronghold - a loving family. Some people even jealous to Gromovs family - they are so happy together. But soon happens horrible tragedy: the father perishes, and mother with childs are compelled to leave the settlement and look for a new place where they will find their new happiness.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration:
Plot tags: touching, compassionate, disturbing, rough, emotional, sad, realistic, tear jerker, uplifting, sentimental
Similar in 81%
The Fall of the Empire (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Fall of the Great Russian Empire is the main storyline of this 10 episode mini series, however, every episode has a separate detective story of its own.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 416
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Russia
Duration: 520 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, exciting, stylized, captivating, political, realistic, epic, emotional, intense, detective
Similar in 87%
Vanished Empire (2008)
Plot Summary:
This story take place in Moscow during the 1970s and unfolds around the love triangle between two young men and a girl who study at the same university. They argue, make up, and face their first disappointments and victories. While busy with personal lives and loves, they miss foreseeing that the country in which they were born and live will soon disappear from the map.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 583
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, period piece
Similar in 88%
Blackout (2018)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 121
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 495 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, romantic, melancholic
Similar in 86%
Skippy (1968)
Plot Summary:
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo is an Australian television series created by John McCallum, produced from 1966–1968, telling the adventures of a young boy and his intelligent pet kangaroo, and the various visitors to the fictional Waratah National Park in Duffys Forest, near Sydney, New South Wales. Ninety-one 30-minute episodes were made over the three seasons of production. At the time of first screening, Australian television was still in black and white, however, the show was filmed in colour on 16 mm film to increase its international marketability, especially in the United States and Canada, where it aired in syndication between 1969 and 1972. The Nine Network readily repeated the series several times after Australian television switched to colour transmission in 1975. The series was dubbed into Spanish in Mexico, where it is known as Skippy el canguro, and has been distributed to most Spanish-speaking countries, including Cuba and Spain, where it became very popular. The series crossed the Iron Curtain and was aired in Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, and is still being broadcast in Iran.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Family
Country: Australia
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sitcom, children's program, offbeat, feel good, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Against the Wind (1978)
Plot Summary:
Mary Mulvane, an 18 year old Irish girl, is transported to New South Wales for seven years for doing little else than protecting her own property. She must endure the horror of transport to Australia, and years of anxiety as a convict. Mary, her friends and her family fight out their battle against a lively historical backdrop - Irelands 1798 Rebellion. Australia's Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 and the 1808 Rum Rebellion.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 928
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Australia
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 84%
Heimat 3: A Chronicle of Endings and Beginnings (2004)
Plot Summary:
Heimat 3 is the third cycle of Edgar Reitz's monumental Heimat series, which premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. The third Heimat completes the trilogy and brings together particularly the settings of Heimat 1. It follows the new generation of the Simon family, in a period spanning from 1989 to 2000. Germany changed dramatically in this period, and Reitz cleverly reflects the historical events through the characters’ lives.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Germany, UK
Duration: 689 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, epic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Brezhnev (2005)
Plot Summary:
About the last days of Leonid Brezhnev, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He is sick and depressed, but he is still trying to enjoy some pleasures of life. He is hunting, eating, and sleeping a lot. While awake, he is recalling his life and his career. Most depressing are his painful thoughts about his treason against Khrushchev, who promoted Brezhnev to the top. Other senile members of the Politbureau, are nervous about the choice of a successor. Andropov anxiously interrogates the doctor about Brezhnev's imminent death. He asks, "How soon?".
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 208 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, suspense, political thriller, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Amazonia (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on historical events 'Amazonia' recreates the story of the State of Acre, the latest territory to be annexed in Brazil.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 76
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Brazil
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 76%
Godunov (2018)
Plot Summary:
The TV show is about the Godunov family, which covers the period from the reign of Ivan the Terrible to the accession of Mikhail Romanov to the throne.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 284
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Anne Boleyn (2021)
Plot Summary:
The final months of Boleyn's life, her struggle with Tudor England's patriarchal society, her desire to secure a future for her daughter, Elizabeth, and the brutal reality of her failure to provide Henry with a male heir.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, historical drama
Similar in 82%
American Dreams (2002)
Plot Summary:
American Dreams is an American television drama program broadcast on the NBC television network, produced by Once A Frog and Dick Clark Productions in association with Universal Network Television and NBC Studios. The series was created by Jonathan Prince and developed by Josh Goldstein and Prince; the latter was also one of the executive producers with Dick Clark. It debuted on September 29, 2002. The show is set mostly in Philadelphia. It initially aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm Eastern time, but moved to the same time on Wednesdays from March 9, 2005, to the third season finale. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s. Season one takes place in 1963–64, season two in 1964–65, and season three in 1965–66. The show was known as Our Generation when it debuted in Australia, however it was changed back to American Dreams when it returned for the second season. The theme song "Generation" was written and performed by Emerson Hart, lead singer of the band Tonic. The song earned Hart an ASCAP award for Best Theme Song of Television in 2003. The show was the 2003 TV Land Awards "Future Classic" winner.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Family, History, Music, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, sincere, touching, realistic, retro, nostalgic
Similar in 78%
80's (2012)
Plot Summary:
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IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 421
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Russia
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: entertaining, stylized, feel good, captivating, sincere
Similar in 90%
Red Roses (2006)
Plot Summary:
Rote Rosen is a German telenovela produced by Studio Hamburg Serienwerft Lüneburg and broadcast by Das Erste since November 6, 2006. The show is a complex telenovela, who tells one love story every season about women in their forties.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 272
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sentimental, captivating, serious, telenovela
Similar in 75%
Granite Flats (2013)
Plot Summary:
It's the 1960s. The height of the Cold War. The rural town of Granite Flats, Colorado, suddenly becomes a hotbed for mystery and intrigue. Almost a year after Hershel Jenkins was released from jail, mystery is still a permanent resident in Granite Flats, Colorado. From small concerns plaguing the citizens of the small town to ongoing FBI investigations, Arthur, Timmy, and Madeline are eager to put their developing detective skills to the test. Their sleuthing goes further than ever before, and they may be biting off more than they can chew. And as it turns out, sleuthing is a family affair. The parents of all three miniature detectives have dipped their toes in the water. Chief Sanders works side by side with the FBI to find a citizen who is disloyal to the country, Beth is embroiled in the center of experimental work at the hospital, and the Doctors Andrews are the masterminds behind the shady experiments. This season, everyone has got a secret and nobody is ready to admit it.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, stylized, captivating, detective
Similar in 85%
Cloudstreet (2011)
Plot Summary:
Cloudstreet is an Australian television drama miniseries for the Showcase subscription television channel, which first screened from 22 May 2011, in three parts. It is an adaptation of Cloudstreet, an award-winning novel by Australian author Tim Winton. It was filmed in 2010 in Perth with Matthew Saville as the director, and script written by Tim Winton and Ellen Fontana.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 569
Genere: Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 342 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, captivating, emotional, atmospheric, epic, serious, contemplative, stylized
Similar in 90%
Huckleberry Finn and His Friends (1979)
Plot Summary:
Huckleberry Finn and His Friends was a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, based on the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American writer Mark Twain. The series was made up of 26 episodes and was a Canadian/German coproduction. Huckleberry Finn is played by Ian Tracey who is also the narrator. Tom Sawyer is played by Sammy Snyders. Directed by Jack B. Hively and Ken Jubenvill, this mini-series was broadcast in many countries such as Germany, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela and many other Latin American nations. The series was re-shown many times during the 1980s to early 1990s and has grown somewhat of a cult following. Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as separate units, this mini-series conjures up both literary works as only one story. Therefore, it places greater importance on Huckleberry's character without putting aside Tom Sawyer's. In 2007, the complete series was released as a 4 DVD box set by Fabulous Films in the UK. It contains many extras including a 12 page color booklet and a 30 minute 'making of' documentary featuring interviews with many stars of the series including Sammy Snyders, Ian Tracey, and Blu Mankuma.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 542
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, West Germany
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere, uplifting, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
Once Upon a Time in Rostov (2012)
Plot Summary:
The story about the activity in Rostov of the gang of "phantasms" that robbed state institutions and kept the entire city in fear. Vyacheslav Tolstopyatov, having witnessed the brutal execution of protesters in Novocherkassk in June 1962, completely rethinks his life and attitude towards the state and the authorities as such. Being a man of genius, he and his brother organized a gang that, from 1968-1973, keeps the whole city in fear.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, disturbing, tense, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Welcome to Reality (2011)
Plot Summary:
This dramatic series follows a group of troubled Mexican teens in their last year of school, coping with such challenges as drug abuse and sexual identity. In other words, growing up.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 77
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, sentimental, sincere, telenovela
Similar in 80%
Trouble in Store (2011)
Plot Summary:
In the spring of 1982, as Brezhnev’s power is waning, Yuri Andropov decides to tackle corruption and apathy in the Soviet Union.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, exciting, suspense, historical drama, psychological, rough, tragic
Similar in 83%
Catherine the Great (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of Catherine the Great from the time she came to Russia as the bride of the heir to the Russian throne.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 331
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 49 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, captivating, romantic, thought provoking, historical drama, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 85%
The Kingdom of the Winds (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Kingdom of The Winds, also known as The Land of The Wind, is a 2008 South Korean historial drama, broadcast on KBS from 10 September 2008 to 15 January 2009. It was directed by Kang Il-soo, written by Choi Wan-gyu, Jung Jin-ok, Park Jin-woo; adapted from manhwa by Kim Jin.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, History
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: sageuk, exciting, serious, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
King Sejong the Great (2008)
Plot Summary:
"The Great King, Sejong" is a full-scale political drama describing how King Sejong and his loyal retainers cooperate and contrive to make his dynasty a better place. While King Sejong was on the throne, the Joseon Dynasty enjoyed increasing prosperity. The drama shows the dramatic processes of how so many new cultural heritages have been devised. At that time, "Hangul", the native phonemic alphabet system for Korean language was first invented and introduced. Before it was made, Chinese characters had been used for a written communication, which makes it extremely difficult for ordinary people to learn and use. "Hangul" is easy to learn for its simple and scientific principles. Other than "Hangul" itself, there had been so many cultural heritages during his regime including a rain gauge, a sundial, an hourglass to name a few. Also, King Sejong’s pragmatic diplomacy is concentrated in the drama. Then, the Joseon Dynasty was facing a powerful Ming dynasty of China, and King Sejong demonstrates the essence of pragmatism with dignity.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 34
Genere: Drama, History
Country: South Korea
Duration:
Plot tags: sageuk, atmospheric, serious, political, realistic, stylized, historical drama
Similar in 79%
Show Me a Hero (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 358 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, rough, thought provoking, captivating, political, realistic, social, saga, clever
Similar in 88%
The Kennedys (2011)
Plot Summary:
The story of the most fabled political family in American history, told in a manner similar to The Godfather: a manipulative, egocentric father determined to live out his own ambitions through his sons, who in turn spent their lives dancing to his tune while at the same time trying to stand on their own. This is history through personality - the tangled relationships through which paint a picture of one of the most turbulent periods of the modern age. Viewers will be upstairs at the White House, not in the Cabinet Room. Through iconic events in history - the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil rights struggle, the mob connection - viewers will learn about the lesser known, yet critical personal stories.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 346 min
Plot tags: political, thought provoking, realistic, talky, serious, anthology, historical drama, controversial, contemplative, stylized
Similar in 88%
Mars (2016)
Plot Summary:
The maiden crew of the Daedalus spacecraft must push itself to the brink of human capability in order to successfully establish the first sustainable colony on Mars. Set both in the future and in the present day, this series blends scripted elements set in the future with documentary vérité interviews with today’s best and brightest minds in modern science and innovation, illuminating how research and development is creating the space technology that will enable our first attempt at a mission to Mars.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, clever, captivating, semi documentary, intense
Similar in 90%
Aristocrats (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, Aristocrats draws back the curtain on an 18th century English family near the summit of society, revealing a tapestry of romance, prejudice, infidelity, and revolution.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, Ireland, USA
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: period piece, captivating, serious, historical drama, realistic, stylized, costume drama, romantic drama, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 86%
Sons of Liberty (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of very different men fighting in the American Colonies for freedom, and how they will shape the future for the United States of America.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 270 min
Plot tags: captivating, historical drama, exciting, serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, political, period drama
Similar in 86%
Gagarin: First in Space (2013)
Plot Summary:
The film is dedicated to the first steps of mankind on the path of space exploration and direct the fate of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The main motif - the fight for the right to be first: the competition in the first cosmonaut, competition in missile technology, the confrontation of superpowers - the USSR and the USA. In the first group of astronauts were selected from three thousand fighter pilots across the country. In twenty of the legendary got the best of the best. Which of them will fly first, no one knew. In this way, had to contend not only with the pull of the earth.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Russia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: realistic, uplifting, exciting, serious, captivating, emotional, dramatic
Similar in 77%
The Right Stuff (2020)
Plot Summary:
At the height of the Cold War, newly formed NASA selects seven of the military’s best test pilots to become astronauts. Competing to be the first in space, these men achieve the extraordinary, inspiring the world to turn towards a new horizon of ambition and hope.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: factual, exciting, sincere, political, historical drama, experimental