Shows Like Special
If you enjoyed Special, are likely to find resonance in stories that 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.
Will & Grace
Will Truman and Grace Adler are best friends living in New York, and when Grace's engagement falls apart, she moves in with Will. Together, along with their friends, they go through the trials of dating, sex, relationships and their careers, butting heads at times but ultimately supporting one another while exchanging plenty of witty banter along the way.
Mid-Century Modern
Three best friends — gay gentlemen of a certain age – decide after an unexpected death to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs where the wealthiest one lives with his mother. As a chosen family, they prove that no matter how hard things get, there’s always someone around to remind you it would be better if you got your neck done.
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.
Atypical
Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, takes a funny, yet painful, journey of self-discovery for love and independence and upends his family.
Legit
Jim Jefferies, an edgy, foul-mouthed stand-up comedian from Australia, in his mid-30s and living in LA, is endeavoring to make his life and career more “legit,” only to find it a difficult, uncomfortable uphill struggle every step of the way. Jim is encouraged in his quest by Steve, his neurotic best friend and roommate, a cyber-law library salesman who struggles to stay on his feet in the wake of a divorce, and Steve’s brother Billy, who suffers from advanced staged Muscular Dystrophy and is confined to a wheelchair.
UnPrisoned
A messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom has her life turned right-side-up when her dad gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.
Growing Up Fisher
It's not every family that's brought closer together by divorce, but then again, the Fishers are anything but typical.
More Shows Like Special
Uncoupled
Michael thought his life was perfect until his husband blindsided him by walking out after 17 years. Michael has to confront two nightmares — losing his soulmate and suddenly finding himself a single gay man in his mid-40s.
One Day at a Time
The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and new building superintendent in Indianapolis.
Speechless
Maya DiMeo is a mom on a mission who will do anything for her husband, Jimmy, and kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her eldest son with special needs. As Maya fights injustices both real and imagined, the family works to make a new home for themselves and searches for just the right person to give JJ his “voice.”
Close Enough
A surreal take on transitioning from 20-something to 30-something centering on a married couple juggling such everyday challenges as parenthood, friendship, ham theft, stripper clowns and choosing the right day care.
Everything Sucks!
It's 1996 in a town called Boring, Oregon, where high school misfits in the AV and drama clubs brave the ups and downs of teenage emotions in the VHS era.
Grace and Frankie
Elegant, proper Grace and freewheeling, eccentric Frankie are a pair of frenemies whose lives are turned upside down - and permanently intertwined - when their husbands leave them for each other. Together, they must face starting over in their 70s in a 21st century world.
Married... with Children
Al Bundy is an unsuccessful middle aged shoe salesman with a miserable life and an equally dysfunctional family. He hates his job, his wife is lazy, his son is dysfunctional (especially with women), and his daughter is dim-witted and promiscuous.
Dollface
After being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, a young woman must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the world of women, and rekindle the female friendships she left behind.
Grandfathered
Successful restaurateur and man-about-town Jimmy Martino is used to being the most suave, most handsome and most single person in the room. All that changes with the surprise appearance of Jimmy’s adult son, Gerald, and his baby daughter, Edie. Now Jimmy has to unlearn a lifetime of blissful selfishness and grapple with the fact that he went straight from single to grandfather in six seconds flat.
Bupkis
Pete Davidson attempts to work through unique family dynamics and the complexities of fame to form meaningful relationships.
Better Things
Sam Fox is a single, working actor with no filter trying to raise her three daughters – Max, Frankie and Duke – in Los Angeles. She is mom, dad, referee and the cops.
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Special (2019): Comedy 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 Special.
See full details for Special (2019)
