Shows Like Better Things
If you enjoyed Better Things, should consider this hand-picked list which questions the purpose and weight of our choices all while offering targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a solid addition to your watchlist.
Standard feature-length experiences.
Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.
★ Top Picks
Louie
Louis C.K. stars as a fictionalized version of himself; a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two daughters in New York City.
One Day at a Time
The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and new building superintendent in Indianapolis.
Mom
Aan irreverent and outrageous take on true family love‐and dysfunction. Newly sober single mom Christy struggles to raise two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls. Testing her sobriety is her formerly estranged mother, now back in Christy's life and eager to share passive-aggressive insights into her daughter's many mistakes.
8 Simple Rules
Paul and Cate are raising their three children -- Bridget, Kerry and Rory -- which is no easy task. Oldest daughter Bridget is traversing the dating scene. Kerry is cute and smart, but she has a hard time getting in touch with her true feelings because of her lack of self-confidence. The youngest of the three children, and only boy, Rory is beginning to discover one of life's greatest mysteries -- girls.
Gary Unmarried
A recently divorced couple shares custody of their two children while starting new relationships.
Motherland
Sitcom about navigating the trials and traumas of middle-class motherhood, looking at the competitive and unromantic side of parenting.
Up All Night
An irreverent look at parenthood through the point of view of an acerbic working mother, along with her stay-at-home husband and opinionated parents.
One Day at a Time
In a reimagining of the TV classic, a newly single Latina mother raises her teen daughter and tween son with the "help" of her old-school mom.
More Shows Like Better Things
My Three Sons
A widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and later the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.
Ben and Kate
Ben and Kate are a pair of odd-couple siblings - one, a responsible single mom; the other, an exuberant dreamer - who reunite to help raise Kate's daughter.
Suburgatory
Single father George Altman is doing his best to raise his sixteen-year-old daughter Tessa in the big city. When he discovers a box of condoms in her bedroom, though, he decides the time has come to move her to a more wholesome and nurturing environment: the suburbs. But behind the beautiful homes and perfect lawns lurk the Franken-moms, spray tans, nose jobs, and Red Bull-guzzling teens who have nothing in common with Tessa. It’s a whole new world, one that makes George wonder if they haven’t jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Younger
Liza Miller, a suddenly single stay-at-home mother, tries to get back into the working world, only to find it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at 40-year old. When a chance encounter convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 and lands a job as an assistant at Empirical Press. Now she just has to make sure no one finds out the secret only she and her best friend Maggie share.
SMILF
A raw and honest comedic look at a single, 20-something from Southie whose desires for relationships, sex, and a career collide with the realities of young, single motherhood.
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
The show revolved around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta led by patriarch Curtis Payne and his wife Ella.
Breeders
Exposing the parental-paradox that it is possible, in the very same moment, to love your child to the horizon of the universe, while being apoplectically angry enough to want to send them there.
Shameless
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.
Blossom
Blossom Russo is a highly intelligent and spunky teenager. The youngest of three, she lives with her divorced musician father, Nick, eldest brother and recovering substance abuser Anthony, and decidedly not-so-bright middle brother Joey. Along for the ride is Blossom's ditzy best friend, Six, who sometimes shows flashes of great perception.
Marlon
A loving (but immature) father is committed to co-parenting his two kids with his very-together ex-wife. While his misguided fatherly advice, unstoppable larger-than-life personality and unpredictable Internet superstardom might get in the way sometimes, for Marlon, family really always does come first - even if he's the biggest kid of all.
Duckman
Together with Cornfed, his portly, porcine partner in crime solving, this defective detective amazingly manages to solve crimes and be a single parent to his hilariously dysfunctional sons at the same time.
Workin' Moms
Four women juggle love, careers, and parenthood. They support, challenge, and try not to judge each other as life throws them curveballs. Whether it is an identity crisis, a huge job opportunity, postpartum depression, or an unplanned pregnancy – they face both the good and bad with grace and humour.
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Better Things (2016): Comedy and Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Better Things.
See full details for Better Things (2016)
