27 Best Releases Similar to Breaking Bad on Netflix
RIPLEY
SimilarA Fortunate Life, A Little Princess, A Respectable Trade,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Anna Karenina, Återkomsten, Atomic Train, Blackeyes, Christopher Columbus, Cleopatra, Dark Winds, Dead by Sunset, Dexter, Elizabeth R, G.B.H., Game of Thrones, Gossip Girl, Heidi, Intruders, Jack the Ripper, Jewels, Love You Just as You Are, M*A*S*H, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monarch of the Glen, Murder in the Heartland, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Peter and Paul,
Planet of the Apes Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Scully Sherlock Holmes Son of the Morning Star, Spies of Warsaw, Tales from the Neverending Story, The 100, The Buccaneers, The Chestnut Man, The Far Pavilions, The Fire Next Time, The Gold Robbers, The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, The Lost World, The Murder of Mary Phagan, The Phantom of the Opera, The Serial Killer's Wife, The Singing Detective, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Tientsin Mystic, Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie, Tira, Troubles, Ultraviolet, Unterleuten: The Torn Village, Viso d'angelo, Wedding Impossible, Witchcraft, World War II: When Lions Roared, Wycliffe,
StudioShowtime Networks,
Tom Ripley doesn't exist. Not just in the sense that he's a fictional creation of thriller novelist extraordinaire Patricia Highsmith, no; as a man, Ripley is a chimera, a shadow, a formless void that hungrily sucks in whatever nourishment it can from whatever or whoever is around him. Damn the consequences. He's one of literature's (and, in the case of several cinematic adaptations, moviedom's) greatest conmen, a remora with nothing behind the eyes except the next game, the next mark, the next place to flee when suspicions run too high. Now, writer/director/showrunner Steven Zaillian has adapted the first of Highsmith's novels into an eight-episode miniseries for Netflix (it was originally slated for Showtime before they sold it), and by virtue of those pedigrees, it's maybe the best original series the streamer has put out all year.
When we first meet Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), he's a low-level grifter eking out a living with some street-level mail fraud in New York City. But one day, a private dick (Bokeem Woodbine) taps him on the shoulder and hauls him in front of a wealthy shipping magnate (filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan) for a special mission: travel to Italy on his dime to find his layabout painter-wannabe son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and bring him back home to fulfill his business responsibilities. Ripley doesn't know the man, but he agrees -- the chance to start all over somewhere else (and be bankrolled for it) is too great. So he swans off to Atrani, a small beachside villa where he ingratiates himself to the pampered Dickie and his writer girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning), two people as insulated by their wealth as they are by their respective artistic mediocrities.
RIPLEY. (L to R) Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood and Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf in RIPLEY. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Unlike previous adaptations of the material, Zaillian barely (if ever) clues us into any kind of deeper humanity lurking under the surface for Tom Ripley. Matt Damon's version from The Talented Mr. Ripley was motivated by emotional impulse; here, Scott plays him like a reptile. There's something downright alien about his cold tilt of the head, those shark-like eyes (aided by Robert Elswit's chiaroscuro photography, which we'll get to later), the way his delivery teeters between blase deference and a flat, manipulative affect. He seems less like a desperate hanger-on than a predator, one all too happy to take rich people for everything they've got and discard them when he's sucked all the meat off their bones. He doesn't covet the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and even the script's frequent allusions to Ripley's subtextual lust for Dickie don't seem to fully account for his motivations. Continue Reading →
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Similar4400, A Dance to the Music of Time, A Step Into The Past, Ah! My Goddess, Amazing Stories, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Astro Boy, Atomic Train, Ben 10: Omniverse, Christopher Columbus,
Doctor Who Eureka Seven Fallen, Family Guy, Flower Boy Next Door, Golden Years,
Hospital Playlist I Dream of Jeannie, Intruders, Kamen Rider, Lost Love in Times, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Holo Love, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Phil of the Future,
Planet of the Apes Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Force Brave, Prehistoric Park, Renegade,
Scully Sentimental Journey, Sonny Boy, Stand Up!!, Star-Crossed Lovers, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The 4400, The Dead Zone, The Far Pavilions, The Fire Next Time, The Girl from Tomorrow, The Lost Recipe, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Wallflower, Thunderstone, Ultraviolet, Wedding Impossible,
StarringKieran Culkin,
The ScienceSaru-produced animated series rebuilds rather than retells Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved comic.
Late in the final volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2004-2010 comic series Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour), once the action's done and the hateful Gideon Graves has been slain, protagonists Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers take a moment to process everything. Defeating Gideon meant facing not only the vicious misogynist swordsman but also their respective character flaws (It's telling that one of Scott's key moments is his realizing just how alike he and Gideon are, and by gaining that understanding, he affirms that, yeah, Gideon has so got to die).
There are a few candidates for Scott's actual finest hour in Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. His after-action conversation/reconciliation/renewal with Ramona is my pick. Bryan Lee O'Malley/Oni Press.
As Ramona says, change is one of life's constants, which applies to Scott Pilgrim's ventures into new mediums. Edgar Wright's thoroughly enjoyable movie shifted around characters and reworked some of Scott's flaws. The colorful, impeccably soundtracked, hair-tearingly difficult Ubisoft-produced video game ramped up the goofy save for one particularly pointed ending. And now, with the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, creator O'Malley—joined by co-writer and co-showrunner BenDavid Grabinski and animation studio ScienceSaru (with episode director Abel Góngora) have changed things up yet again. Rather than retell Scott Pilgrim as it's been since 2004 (a story already told, with riffs, as a comic, movie, and video game), the creative team opts for something more radical. It's a work as much in conversation with the Scott Pilgrim that came before as an adaptation. Continue Reading →
Everything Now
Similar3rd Rock from the Sun, American Horror Story, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Eureka Seven Further Tales of the City, Gossip Girl,
HIStory Hospital Playlist Little Women Love, Victor, Loveless, More Tales of the City, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Noah's Arc, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Out of This World, Ravenswood, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Sentimental Journey, Stand Up!!, That '70s Show, The Alienist, The Nanny, The Wallflower,
As the TV series Everything Now begins, Mia (Sophie Wilde) is eager for freedom. After spending months in a hospital undergoing treatment for her anorexia, her supervisor, Dr. Nell (Stephen Fry), has decided she’s well enough to return to school with her best friends Becca (Lauryn Ajufo), Cam (Harry Cadby), and Will (Noah Thomas). Cooped up inside for what seemed like an eternity, Mia is bursting with enthusiasm about finally undergoing many teenage rites of passage like first dates and big parties. Continue Reading →
Who Is Erin Carter?
SimilarA Little Princess, Alias Grace, Cleopatra, Elizabeth R, Fallen, G.B.H., Love You Just as You Are, More than Blue: The Series, Narco-Saints, Peter and Paul, Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Queen Cleopatra,
Scully Son of the Morning Star, Star and Sky: Star in My Mind, The Buccaneers, The Fire Next Time, The Gangster Chronicles, The Gold Robbers, The Shining, Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie, Ultraviolet, Unorthodox, World War II: When Lions Roared,
In Who is Erin Carter? ’s precipitating event, the titular character (Evin Ahmad)—a British ex-pat living in Spain and trying to make a living as a substitute teacher—must fight a masked gunman during a grocery store robbery. At stake is the life of nearly blind daughter Harper (Indica Watson), who cowers unseen under a display of oranges. Continue Reading →
Survival of the Thickest
SimilarAgatha Christie's Poirot Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Fallen, Fate/Apocrypha, Fearless,
Hilda Furacão In the Land of Leadale,
Little Women M*A*S*H, Monarch of the Glen, Mr. Mercedes, No Escape,
Pride and Prejudice Sherlock Holmes Tales from the Neverending Story, The Buccaneers, The Far Pavilions, The Lost World, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Strain, The Sun Also Rises, Word of Honor, Wycliffe,
StudioA24,
In 1995, way back last century, I went shopping for a dress to wear to my cousin’s wedding. Accompanied by my mother, it soon became apparent to us both that I, both a big and tall girl, wouldn’t be able to buy a dress in the Juniors section. My options eventually whittled down to one adult black velvet dress that, while the saleswoman assured us was totally chic for weddings, nevertheless showcased to the world that I could not fit into a fun or stylish dress for someone my age and that’s rough. It’s very rough. Continue Reading →
Unstable
Unstable appears to be a deeply personal show for lead actor and co-creator Rob Lowe. After all, it revolves around a father/son duo played by Lowe and his real-life son, John Owen Lowe. Rob Lowe’s headlined worse stuff than this, for sure. Nonetheless, you’d think a series that seems rooted in something this personal would be more engaging to watch. At least, it might take some bold swings. Tragically, Unstable is a mostly just average comedy that leaves little in the way of an impression for good or ill. Continue Reading →
You
SimilarAround the World in 80 Days, My Holo Love, The Summer I Turned Pretty,
StarringEd Speleers,
You Season 4 Part 1 depicted its antihero protagonist, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), at his most straightforwardly heroic. He was teaching classes, avoiding romance, and trying not to commit any more murders. At least, that’s what Joe told himself and the audience in his omnipresent narration. It was a notable and perplexing turn for a character who viewers first met stalking, kidnapping, and murdering the object of his demented affections. Continue Reading →
The Recruit
From The Flight Attendant to The Rookie, there’s no shortage of comedy action series, flipping the script of formulaic procedurals and infusing a dose of relatable, if often quirky, characters as leads. Netflix looks to add to the roster with the new series The Recruit, which follows a dashing but stumbly new CIA lawyer Owen (Noah Centineo), as he falls deeper into internal espionage. While The Recruit gets muddled with an unbalanced tone, Centineo jumps in with enough charm and comedy to keep viewers coming back. Continue Reading →
Wednesday
SimilarKomi Can't Communicate, Stand Up!!, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
Jenna Ortega is having quite the year. Between the success of Ti West’s brilliant slasher X and leading the new Scream franchise, she’s poised to become our next reigning Queen of Creepy. This looks even more likely now as she brings the definitive goth teen to life in Netflix’s Wednesday, helmed by Tim Burton. Continue Reading →
Chad and JT Go Deep
There’s been a recent boom in the television sphere of hybrid comedy/documentary series, ranging from altered talk shows (The Eric Andre Show) to pranks with the pals (Jackass) and cringe “reality” series (The Rehearsal). Looking to join the ranks is Netflix’s new show Chad and JT Go Deep, a comedic mockumentary series that flirts with cringe comedy, advocates for important causes, and aims to make us all members of “stokenation.” Continue Reading →
Better Call Saul
NetworkAMC+,
SimilarBates Motel, Komi Can't Communicate, Unforgettable,
StarringGiancarlo Esposito,
Better Call Saul is a tragedy. From the beginning, it focused on a rough-edged, yet decent man whom the audience knows will one day become an unrepentant merchant of death and destruction. What makes it so tragic, beyond the known destination, is that the series is riddled with missed exits. Time and again, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) faced situations where -- if he’d just pulled back from the brink, if he’d only taken his lumps instead of wriggling out of them, if he’d simply chosen not to push things too far -- all of this could have been avoided. Continue Reading →
Tuca & Bertie
Tuca & Bertie Season 3 finds Tuca (Tiffany Haddish) and Bertie (Ali Wong) rebuilding their lives in the season two Bird Town flooding and moss infestation aftermath. They’ve got promising leads professionally with new jobs on the horizon. Plus, they’re both in solid relations. Bertie with adorkable long-term boyfriend Speckle (Steven Yeun) and Tuca’s new beau Figgy (Matthew Rhys). The two bird besties might be leveling up in careers and personal life, but there’s always some drama waiting around the corner to pounce in and disrupt their technicolor dreams. Continue Reading →
Stranger Things
The one thing that no one can deny is Stranger Things Season 4 remains aggressively itself right up to the end. Its final two episodes, feature-length films onto themselves, serve everything that one could enjoy about the first seven episodes with a side of everything that frustrates and annoys. The good news is that the bad bits remain a side dish, not the main course. The better news is that ratio tips even further in favor of what’s enjoyable. Continue Reading →
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
The story of Sarma Melngailis seems tailor-made for tabloid headlines. The former queen of New York’s vegan scene went on the run after embezzling millions of dollars and stiffing employees and investors. A year later she was captured after the police traced an order she made to the emphatically un-vegan Domino’s pizza. Continue Reading →
The Andy Warhol Diaries
There shouldn’t be anything more to say about the New York City art scene circa 1965 to 1985. True, it’s an exciting subject, depicting an era that was a unique combination of glamorous and trashy, inclusive and deeply snobby, and something we’ll never see again. Nevertheless, it’s been exhausted, a tragic, oft-told tale of excess decimated by drug use and AIDS. And we certainly seem to know all we could ever know about Andy Warhol, the father of that scene, who made superficiality and detachment seem fashionable. The Andy Warhol Diaries, however, is a rare, moving look at the person behind the carefully cultivated persona, who craved traditional domesticity while being drawn to the frenetic downtown party circuit at the same time. Continue Reading →
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Did you know that the earliest hair extensions on record are over five thousand years old? Doesn’t that just snatch your wig? That’s just one of the many facts you’ll learn by tuning into the latest arm of the Jonathan Van Ness empire, their new Netflix series Getting Curious. And it’s produced by World of Wonder – aka the company that makes the juggernaut that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. Continue Reading →
Centaurworld
SimilarTales from the Neverending Story,
Netflix's new animated show Centaurworld, created by Megan Nicole Dong, is a whimsical show set in a world of centaurs. It's chock full of catchy songs and comedic moments that adults and kids will enjoy, but it also bogs itself down with complicated mythology that steals time from its lovable characters. Continue Reading →