Best tv shows like The Paper Chase
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like The Paper Chase (1978):
Similar in 88%
Judging Amy (1999)
Plot Summary:
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character is a judge who serves in a family court, and in addition to the family-related cases that she adjudicates, many episodes of the show focus on her own experiences as a divorced mother, and on the experiences of her mother, a social worker who works in the field of child welfare. This series was based on the life experiences of Brenneman's mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, realistic, touching, serious
Similar in 84%
Higher Ground (2000)
Plot Summary:
Higher Ground is an American-Canadian drama action television show shot outside Vancouver, British Columbia. The series ran from January 14, 2000 - June 16, 2000 and aired on Fox Family. It stars Joe Lando, Hayden Christensen, A.J. Cook, Meghan Ory, Kandyse McClure, and Jewel Staite. Higher Ground told the story of Mount Horizon High School, a therapeutic boarding school for troubled teens, where the students learned to face their personal struggles with addiction, abuse, or disorders.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, emotional, existential, realistic, wild
Similar in 90%
I'll Fly Away (1991)
Plot Summary:
I'll Fly Away is an American drama television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, in an unspecified Southern U.S. state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and starred Regina Taylor as Lilly Harper, a black housekeeper for the family of district attorney Forrest Bedford, whose name is an ironic reference to Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. As the show progressed, Lilly became increasingly involved in the Civil Rights Movement, with events eventually drawing in Forrest as well. I'll Fly Away won two 1992 Emmy Awards, and 23 nominations in total. It won three Humanitas Prizes, two Golden Globe Awards, two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Peabody Award. However, the series was never a ratings blockbuster, and it was canceled by NBC in 1993, despite widespread protests by critics and viewer organizations. After the program's cancellation, a two-hour movie, I'll Fly Away: Then and Now, was produced, in order to resolve dangling storylines from Season 2, and provide the series with a true finale. The movie aired on October 11, 1993 on PBS. Its major storyline closely paralleled the true story of the 1955 murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. Thereafter, PBS began airing repeats of the original episodes, ceasing after one complete showing of the entire series.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, feel good, serious, realistic, contemplative, vintage, period drama
Similar in 76%
The Best Years (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Best Years is a Canadian teen drama series set in Boston, Massachusetts. The series was created by producer and writer of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Aaron Martin. The first season was shown on Global in Canada and The N in the United States. The second season was shown in the U.S. on The N and in Canada on E!, CanWest's secondary network.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious, sincere, touching, sexual, sexy
Similar in 87%
St. Elsewhere (1982)
Plot Summary:
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions. The series was produced by MTM Enterprises, which had success with a similar NBC series, the police drama Hill Street Blues, during that same time; both series were often compared to each other for their use of ensemble casts and overlapping serialized storylines. St. Elsewhere was filmed at CBS/MTM Studios, which was known as CBS/Fox Studios when the show began; coincidentally, 20th Century Fox wound up acquiring the rights to the series when it bought MTM Enterprises in the 1990s. Known for its combination of gritty, realistic drama and moments of black comedy, St. Elsewhere gained a small yet loyal following over its 6-season, 137-episode run; the series also found a strong audience in Nielsen's 18-49 age demographic, a young demo later known for a young, affluent audience that TV advertisers are eager to reach. The series also earned critical acclaim during its run, earning 13 Emmy Awards for its writing, acting, and directing. St. Elsewhere was ranked #20 on TV Guide's 2002 list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.", with the magazine also selecting it as the best drama series of the 1980s in a 1993 issue.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: medical drama, realistic, serious, witty, talky, bad ending, dark comedy, clever, captivating, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
The Boys of Paul Street (1968)
Plot Summary:
In Budapest, two rival gangs of young boys lay claim to a vacant lot. The hostilities escalate yet never quite boil over into actual violence. Just when things do get out of hand, however, the problem is "solved" by the city government, which takes over the lot for future development.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sentimental, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
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 80%
Outlaw (2010)
Plot Summary:
Outlaw is an American television series that was aired on the NBC network. The one-hour courtroom drama stars Jimmy Smits as a Supreme Court Justice who resigns from the bench and returns to private practice in an elite law firm where Claire Sax, love interest to Garza, is a powerful senior partner. As part of the deal the firm has an Ex-Supreme Court Justice on their staff of lawyers and Garza is allowed to pick his team and the cases he works. The series premiered on Wednesday, September 15, 2010, and began airing on Fridays beginning September 24. On October 11 Outlaw was announced as canceled by NBC and the remaining four episodes were moved to a Saturday time slot. The series finale aired on November 13, 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, clever, psychological, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 82%
Raising the Bar (2008)
Plot Summary:
The lives and cases of young lawyers who work on opposite sides - the public defender's office and the district attorney's office - as well as those who sit in judgment on their cases.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, tense, clever, realistic, stylized
Similar in 83%
Kane & Abel (1985)
Plot Summary:
Kane and Abel are born on the same day the same year on each side of the Atlantic. William Kane is born in one of the richest families of Boston and grows up to be a banker on Wall Street. Abel Rosnovski is born in the Polish countryside and has to spend many years in Siberian prison camps before he travels to New York and eventually creates one of the world's largest chains of hotels. The confrontation between these two men, both striving for power and success, will make the finance capital of the world tremble.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 942
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, captivating, realistic, saga
Similar in 83%
Poison Friends (2006)
Plot Summary:
A group of college students are duped by a charming pathological liar.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 533
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: talky, psychological, thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, cynical, tense, witty, biting
Similar in 81%
Made in Jersey (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young working-class woman who uses her street smarts to compete among her pedigreed Manhattan colleagues at a prestigious New York law firm.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, talky
Similar in 84%
To Serve Them All My Days (1980)
Plot Summary:
David Powlett-Jones has just returned to England from the trenches of WWI. He was injured and shell-shocked and, after a spell in hospital he gets a job teaching in a boys boarding school in S.W. England. He is not at all sure he can do the job, but the avuncular headmaster has faith in him. David, although well educated, is just a humble lad from the Welsh valleys at heart and has to fit himself and his ideas into the heart of the English establishment.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 661
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 673 min
Plot tags: historical drama, clever, touching, serious, realistic, talky, period drama
Similar in 84%
The White Shadow (1978)
Plot Summary:
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27 1978, to March 16 1981.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Class of '96 (1993)
Plot Summary:
Class of '96 is an American drama series that aired on Fox from January to May 1993. The series was created by John Romano and filmed mostly at the University of Toronto.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 90%
Boston Public (2000)
Plot Summary:
Boston Public is an American drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox. It centered on Winslow High School, a fictional public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was named for the real public school district in which it takes place. It featured a large ensemble cast and focused on the work and private lives of the various teachers, students, and administrators at the school. It aired from October 2000 to January 2004. Its slogan was "Every day is a fight. For respect. For dignity. For sanity.".
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, humorous, realistic, sitcom, clever, offbeat, semi serious
Similar in 86%
Gross Anatomy (1989)
Plot Summary:
Joe Slovak is a brilliant first-year med student whose casual, nonconforming approach to life gets tested when he enrolls in Gross Anatomy, the toughest course in med school.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: clever, talky, sentimental, feel good, humorous, emotional, realistic, semi serious, medical drama, light
Similar in 88%
First Monday (2002)
Plot Summary:
A newcomer to the Supreme Court finds himself a pivotal force on an often deadlocked bench, frequently at odds over hot-button cases in this earnest but brief legal drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 211
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Hellcats (2010)
Plot Summary:
Pre-law student Marti Perkins' world is flipped upside down when she loses her scholarship, and realizes the only way she can stay in school is by reigniting her dormant teen gymnastic skills to win a place on Lancer University's legendary cheerleading team.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: humorous, feel good, semi serious, entertaining, teen, realistic
Similar in 79%
Canterbury's Law (2008)
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Canterbury is a force of nature. An attorney on the rise, she puts her career on the line to take on risky and unpopular cases, even when they take a toll on her personal life. Elizabeth and her law professor husband, Matt Furey, haunted by the unsolved disappearance of their young son, struggle to distance themselves from the tragedy and put their relationship back together. But those goals become elusive whenever Elizabeth's work provides a stark reminder of the justice absent in their own lives.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 644
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, psychological, atmospheric, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Cheaters (2000)
Plot Summary:
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sincere, clever, serious, realistic, offbeat
Similar in 82%
L.A. Law (1986)
Plot Summary:
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: realistic, stylized, clever, serious, thrilling, detective, telenovela
Similar in 77%
Silk (2011)
Plot Summary:
Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as "taking silk.".
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, captivating, realistic, dramatic, costume drama, fast
Similar in 79%
The Defenders (1961)
Plot Summary:
The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series that ran on CBS from 1961–1965. It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing. It was created by television writer Reginald Rose. The Museum of Broadcast Communications called it "perhaps the most socially conscious series the medium has ever seen", a show "singularly resonant with New Frontier liberalism." In 2002, The Defenders was ranked #31 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. and in 2013 TV Guide ranked it #8 in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 486
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, thought provoking, clever, talky, retro, contemplative, vintage
Similar in 90%
Philly (2001)
Plot Summary:
Philly is an American television series created by Steven Bochco that focused on criminal defense attorney Kathleen Maguire. It lasted a full season and was canceled due to low ratings. The final episode was advertised heavily as the series finale, a move not commonly used in network promotion, for a series lasting only one season. The complete series is not on DVD, but is viewable on Netflix in HD and 5.1 Surround Sound. The series briefly aired in syndication on Universal HD in 2008.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sentimental, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Chalk (2006)
Plot Summary:
Life in the trenches of that most honorable and frustrating profession...teaching. It's the start of a memorable new year at Harrison High. The self-conscious Mr. Stroope is convinced that his time has come - this year he will be furnished with the golden title of "Teacher of the Year," if only his smarter students would stop using words that he can't understand.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, humorous, semi documentary, psychological, captivating, clever, realistic, witty, semi serious, biting
Similar in 87%
With Honors (1994)
Plot Summary:
Convinced he'll graduate with honors because of his thesis paper, a stuffy Harvard student finds his paper being held hostage by a homeless man, who might be the guy to school the young man in life.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, feel good, inspirational, road movie, humorous, semi serious, realistic, light, sincere
Similar in 85%
Conrack (1974)
Plot Summary:
A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: deep, sincere, uplifting, thought provoking, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
The Paper Chase (1973)
Plot Summary:
A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: intense, uplifting, feel good, serious, captivating, tense, touching, clever, realistic, talky
Similar in 87%
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Plot Summary:
The story of Katherine Ann Watson, a feminist teacher who studied at UCLA graduate school and in 1953 left her boyfriend behind in Los Angeles, California to teach at Wellesley College, a conservative women's private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, United States.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, romantic, sentimental, period piece, sweet, educational, thought provoking, independent film, deep