United States of Tara

Series Similar to United States of Tara

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

1. The Big C

   2010 · Drama, Comedy · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile, also on Paramount+ with Showtime.

   The Big C follows Minneapolis Westhill High School teacher Cathy Jamison – a reserved, suburban wife and mother – who is diagnosed with melanoma. The realization of this forces her to really begin to live for the first time in her adult life. At first she chooses to keep her diagnosis from her family, behaving in ways they find puzzling and increasingly bizarre. She finds new freedom to express herself. As the show progresses, Cathy allows her family and some new friends to support her as she copes with her terminal prognosis, and finds both humor and pathos in the many idiosyncratic relationships in her life.

2. Nurse Jackie

   2009 · Drama, Comedy · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile, also on Paramount+ with Showtime.

   Every day is a matter of life and death in a hectic New York City hospital, but for Nurse Jackie that's the easiest part. Between chronic back pain that won't quit, and a personal life on the constant edge of collapse, it's going to take a white lie here, a bent rule there, and a handful of secret strategies to relieve the pain, and stay one step ahead of total disaster.

3. Enlightened

   2011 · Drama, Comedy · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile, hidden gem.

   Enlightened focuses on a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening after a meltdown. Determined to live a more enlightened existence, the former career executive's new lifestyle wreaks havoc both at home and at work.

4. Happyish

   2015 · Drama, Comedy · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile, hidden gem, also on Paramount+ with Showtime.

   Happyish is a scathing examination of our pursuit of happiness, a pursuit that might just be the very thing causing our unhappiness in the first place. The new half-hour pilot stars Steve Coogan as Thom Payne, a 44 year-old man whose world is thrown into disarray when his 25 year-old "wunderkind" boss arrives, saying things like "digital," "social" and "viral." Is he in need of a "rebranding," as his mentor insists, or does he just have a "low joy ceiling," as his corporate headhunter suggests? Maybe pursuing happiness is a fool's errand? Maybe, after 44 years on this ludicrous planet, settling for happyish is the best one can expect.

5. Nathan Barley

   2005 · Comedy · ended

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

   Nathan Barley is 26. He is a webmaster, guerrilla filmmaker, screenwriter, DJ and in his own words, a "self-facilitating media node". He is convinced he is the epitome of urban cool and therefore secretly terrified he might not be, which is why he reads Sugar Ape Magazine - his bible of cool. Dan Ashcroft writes searing columns for Sugar Ape. He's considered astonishingly cool, but only by those he despises. He is surrounded by idiots and practically worshipped by Nathan (whom he considers to be their king). He is 34. Why has he failed to move on? Claire Ashcroft, 27, is Dan's sister. Like Dan she despises "cool". Unlike Nathan she despises novelty, trash, irony and gadgets. She is furious that no one will fund her hard-hitting documentary about a choir of reformed junkies.

6. Derek

   2012 · Drama, Comedy · ended

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

   An award-winning bittersweet comedy-drama about a group of outsiders living on society's margins, Derek centers around Derek Noakes (a tender, innocent man whose love for his job at a retirement home shines through. Derek cares deeply for the home's residents, because they are kind and funny and tell him stories of what life used to be like. Working alongside Derek is Dougie, his landlord, who is one of life's unlucky individuals; Kev, a lovable train wreck; and Hannah, a care worker in the home and Derek's best friend. She is smart, witty and hardworking, but unlucky in love, and, like Derek, always puts other people first.

7. The IT Crowd

   2006 · Comedy · ended

   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.

8. Better Off Ted

   2009 · Comedy · ended

   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.

9. Louie

   2010 · Drama, Comedy · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile.

   Louie is a comedy filtered through the observational humor of Louis C.K. Each episode puts a spotlight on Louis' hectic life as a successful stand-up comedian and newly single father raising his two daughters. The single-camera comedy is a mix of Louis C.K.'s stand-up comedy and scripted short films.

10. There She Goes

    2018 · Drama, Comedy, Family · ended

    Recommended for similar Drama / Comedy profile.

    There She Goes is about a severely learning disabled 9-year-old girl Rosie, her dad Simon, mum Emily and brother Ben.Each episode shines a light on day-to-day life with Rosie - unique experiences from simply trying to take her to the park to trying to explain that everyday isn't her birthday.A second timeline set in 2006 shows the effect having a severely disabled child had on the family unit, how it threatened to disintegrate but ultimately brought them even closer.