Malcolm in the Middle

Series Similar to Malcolm in the Middle

If you enjoyed Malcolm in the Middle, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. The IT Crowd

   2006 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8.7).

   The comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.

2. The Office

   2005 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8.5).

   Steve Carell stars in The Office, a fresh and funny mockumentary-style glimpse into the daily interactions of the eccentric workers at the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company. Based on the smash-hit British series of the same name and adapted for American Television by Greg Daniels, this fast-paced comedy parodies contemporary American water-cooler culture. Earnest but clueless regional manager Michael Scott believes himself to be an exceptional boss and mentor, but actually receives more eye-rolls than respect from his oddball staff.

3. Black Books

   2000 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8.4).

   Black Books is a second-hand bookshop in London run by an Irishman named Bernard Black. He is probably the planet's worst-suited person to run such an establishment: he makes no effort to sell, closes at strange hours on a whim, is in a perpetual alcoholic stupor, abhors his customers (sometimes physically abusing them) and is often comatose at his desk. Help comes in the lumpy shape of Manny Bianco, a hairy, bumbling individual who (almost by osmosis) becomes Bernard's assistant. Manny is not exactly great at the job either but he is a million times better than Bernard. Next door is Fran, an anxious, frustrated woman who runs a sort of new-age shop selling the most unlikely bits of arty junk. Fran is friends with Bernard and, through him, with Manny; together the trio become embroiled in escapades that are sometimes extreme or violent or fantastically ludicrous, and always bizarre.

4. Arrested Development

   2003 · Comedy, Family · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8.2).

   After being passed over as partner at The Bluth Co., widower Michael resolves to quit the family business and move away to spend more quality time with his 13-year-old son, George Michael. But when his father George Bluth Sr. is arrested for shifty accounting practices and the family assets are frozen, Michael is forced to stay in Orange County to help his wildly eccentric family pick up the pieces.

5. Better Off Ted

   2009 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8.2).

   Better Off Ted is a satirical office comedy about successful good guy, Ted Crisp, who runs research and development at Veridian Dynamics, a company with a morally questionable approach to its employees. Whether it's standing by a memo with a typo that encourages employees to now (as opposed to not) use offensive language with each other, to championing interoffice dating based on DNA matching to save money on health care, Veridian is a company that puts its bottom line first and employees last. Ted's a single dad to a seven year old girl, and he loves his job, but he's starting to take a closer look at the company's extremely dubious practices.

6. That '70s Show

   1998 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8), also on FOX.

   Crank up the 8-track and flash back to a time when platform shoes and puka shells were all the rage in this hilarious retro-sitcom. For Eric, Kelso, Jackie, Hyde, Donna and Fez, a group of high school teens who spend most of their time hanging out in Eric's basement, life in the ‘70s isn't always so groovy. But between trying to figure out the meaning of life, avoiding their parents, and dealing with out-of-control hormones, they've learned one thing for sure: they'll always get by with a little help from their friends.

7. Modern Family

   2009 · Comedy, Family · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile.

   Modern Family revolves around three different types of families (nuclear, step- and same-sex) living in the Los Angeles area, who are interrelated through Jay Pritchett and his children, Claire Dunphy (née Pritchett) and Mitchell Pritchett. Patriarch Jay is remarried to a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado Pritchett (née Ramirez), a passionate Colombian with whom he has an infant son, Fulgencio (Joe) Pritchett, and a son from Gloria's previous marriage, Manny Delgado.Jay's daughter Claire was a homemaker, but has returned to the business world. She is now the chief executive of her father's previous business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds. She is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and self-professed "cool dad". They have three children: Haley Dunphy, a stereotypical ditzy teenage girl; Alex Dunphy, a nerdy, smart middle child; and Luke Dunphy, the off-beat only son.Jay's lawyer son Mitchell and his husband Cameron Tucker have one daughter, Lily Tucker-Pritchett. As the name suggests, this family represents a modern-day family, and episodes are comically based on situations which many families encounter in real life.

8. Kitchen Confidential

   2005 · Comedy, Food · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8), also on FOX.

   Celebrity chef Jack Bourdain, currently making pizzas at a chain restaurant, is offered an opportunity to become head chef of Nolita, a hip New York City restaurant. Pino, the owner of the establishment, has 300 reservations on the bookS and no food, crew or chef. He gives Jack the job and 48 hours to get it done. Jack raids other kitchens, bringing in an all-star team of chefs from his past. When a food critic Jack met during his wild days comes to Nolita, things have a horrible way of going wrong. Chaos ensues, but there is hope - the food critic gives Nolita a rave review on the "Exile on Main Street".

9. Parker Lewis Can't Lose

   1990 · Comedy · ended97% match

   Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8), also on FOX.

   For most teenagers, high school is filled with obstacles nearly impossible to traverse. But then there is Parker Lewis, the one teenager able to overcome any barrier with the use of his wits and the help of his best buds, rock n roller Mikey and their quintessential nerd assistant Jerry. Of course, that does not mean Principal Grace Musso will give up her attempts to foil the Buds' plans to maintain total coolness!

10. The League of Gentlemen

    1999 · Comedy · ended97% match

    Recommended for similar Comedy profile, highly rated (8).

    Dark, surreal comedy about the strange inhabitants of the small town of Royston Vasey.