House of Cards

Series Similar to House of Cards

If you enjoyed House of Cards, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. The West Wing

   1999 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.6).

   The entire White House staff bristles with activity when it's learned that the President injured himself during a bicycle accident, and his absence becomes a factor as chief of staff Leo McGarry must juggle a host of impending crises, including a mass boatlift of Cuban refugees approaching the Florida coast and the reaction of conservative Christians to a controversial televised comment by deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman.

2. Commander in Chief

   2005 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Mackenzie Allen, the 45-year-old Independent Vice President of the United States, is about to venture into territory no woman has entered before. While at an official ceremony with husband and Chief of Staff, Rod Allen, she is informed by the President's Chief of Staff, Jim Gardner, and the Attorney General that President Bridges is about to undergo emergency brain surgery for a tumor.

3. Boss

   2011 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, hidden gem.

   Boss is an American political drama television series staring Kelsey Grammer as Tom Kane, the mayor of Chicago, who has recently been diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies, a degenerative neurological disorder.

4. Political Animals

   2012 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Elaine Barrish's husband Bud Hammond was a popular President of the United States during the 1990s despite his extramarital affairs. After leaving the White House, Elaine Barrish was elected Governor of Illinois and ran for the Democratic nomination for President, but lost to Paul Garcetti. The night Barrish conceded the nomination, she asked her husband for a divorce. Two years later, as Garcetti's Secretary of State, Barrish deals with State Department issues while trying to keep her family together.

5. Madam Secretary

   2014 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Madam Secretary follows Elizabeth McCord, the shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy, battles office politics and circumvents protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home. A college professor and a brilliant former CIA analyst who left for ethical reasons, Elizabeth returns to public life at the request of the President following the suspicious death of her predecessor. The President values her apolitical leanings, her deep knowledge of the Middle East, her flair for languages and her ability to not just think outside the box, but to not even acknowledge there is a box.

6. Borgen

   2010 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Danish Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg wins a shocking victory and ushers in a wave of political struggles.

7. When They See Us

   2019 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.

8. State of Play

   2003 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8), also on BBC One.

   The serial begins with the murder of a young man, in what appears to be a drug-related killing, and the apparently coincidental death of Sonia Baker, the young researcher for MP Stephen Collins (Morrissey). As the deaths are investigated by journalist Cal McCaffrey of The Herald (Simm) and his colleagues (including Kelly Macdonald as Della Smith and Bill Nighy as editor Cameron Foster) it appears that not only were the deaths connected, but that a conspiracy links them with oil industry-backed corruption of high-ranking British government ministers.

9. The Colbys

   1985 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.2), hidden gem.

   A spin-off from the television phenomenon, Dynasty, The Colbys explores the lives and loves of a fabulously wealthy California family as they confront challenges from both outsiders and within their own lineage. To maintain power and control over their empire, The Colbys will stop at nothing… and you will love them for every juicy scheme and shocking betrayal they enact.

10. Brideshead Revisited

    1981 · Drama · ended

    Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.1), hidden gem.

    Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, two years in the making, and the equivalent of seven feature films back-to-back, this epic drama tells a story of romantic yearning and loss in the glittering but fading world of the British aristocracy between the wars.