Summary
Black comedy is a popular genre these days for mini-series and anthologies, especially those that are grounded in real-life settings, and a recent example is HBO’sThe White Lotus. The story takes place in an upper-class resort and revolves around the various personal dramas of the guests and staff.
The series stays fresh by using a different location in every season, and other shows with the same or similar dynamic often use the same focus on setting and characters. There are a fewsimilar shows for people who likeThe White Lotusthatoften use dark comedyas well as elements of fantasy or magical realism while portraying real human drama; here are some of the best of them.
Big Little Liesis based on the 2014 novel by Liane Moriarty, whose written work has been adapted by various streaming services, and it takes place in an upper-class neighborhood in Monterey, California. The main characters are a group of five women who get mixed up in a murder investigation, which beginswhen a mystery person is killedduring an elementary school fundraiser that opens up the first episode.
The perpetrator is also not revealed, and the episodes are as much about the drama between the characters as the murder. Characters have to navigate social minefields that involve everything from domestic violence to children’s birthday parties, and the killing in question eventually turns out to be not so far away from their polished lives after all.
A wildly successful HBO series that spawned two movies and a reboot series entitledAnd Just Like That…,Sex and the Citywas a modern comedy that explored the fun, games, and often confusing agony of being a single woman in New York City. The four main characters are iconic now, and their adventures are a mix of comedy and drama that depict the seamy underbelly of late 20th-century urban life.
Carrie Bradshaw is the narrator of the series, which is fitting because she’s a professional writer, and she tells both her own stories and those of her friends. Her close-knit group of friends includes PR expert Samantha, art dealer Charlotte, and lawyer Miranda, and they all have similar trials and tribulations when it comes to their careers, love, and sex.
When it’s time to step away from the resorts or the beachside neighborhood,Severanceoffers a similarly dark and funny view of office and work culture. This isn’t just a dark comedy; it’s a dystopian psychological thriller with a fewexciting and sometimes confusing twists, taking the whole concept of work-life balance to a literal and terrifying level.
The show mostly takes place in the offices of Lumon Industries, a biotechnology company that works on sensitive and secretive projects. To work there, employees must undergo the “severance” process, which implants a chip in their brain that wipes all their recollection of work when they leave and restores it only when they return. The result of this process is often two personalities, one for work and one for home,often leading to dangerous results.
More of a comedy and not as dark as some other options,Hacksfollows the tumultuous relationship between a young writer struggling to find work and an older comedian trying to reinvent her stale image. The series is a satirical take on pop culture and public relations, but it also works as a sincere depiction of the relationship between Deborah Vance, a career comedian living and working in Las Vegas, and her already jaded new head writer, Ava Daniels.
Deborah evolves into a mentor for Ava while both of them navigate a variety of personal and professional issues, which includes a lack of social graces and bad attitudes on both sides. The overall focus is placed on how one can succeed in the cutthroat business of entertainment on the strip, even if doing so requires a “fake it ‘til you make it” approach.
It’s a dirty job, and the Fishers are the kind of family that does it.Six Feet Underis about a funeral home in Los Angeles and the family that owns it and maintains its operations. This involves not only funerals but also related events, and the plot of the business and the private family drama often overlap.
Not only is the show about the usual issues human beings face, but it also examines a specific experience that everyone is destined to eventually confront,which is death. The show owes most of the critical acclaim and ongoing popularity to the existential and dark, philosophical aesthetic that helped to shape its characters and plot.
2Industry
Disects A Heartless Process
It’s often the New York Stock Exchange that gets all the press and media attention, butIndustrymoves the action to the UK to give the viewer a different point of view. London, a city that exists in its own unique political bordermuch like Washington D.C., is the banking capital of the Western world, and this show was written by and about the people who work there.
Industryfocuses on graduates who are new to the game. They are fresh out of school and in a savage competition for permanent and high positions at a swanky investment firm, Pierpoint & Co. The main characters use a mix of their multilingual skills, mathematics abilities, programming knowledge, and personal appeal to find and secure their positions.
Successionis based on thereal-life drama that surrounds the Murdoch family, a hot topic now that patriarch Rupert is well into his golden years, and there’s a lot of public speculation about which of his children will come to control his vast and powerful media empire. That’s the plot of this series, and the story takes place in New York City, the headquarters of the Waystar Royco media organization.
The Roy family is preparing for a change in management when father Logan Roy’s health starts to decline, which leads to the children vying for power. Each has their own personal and professional issues to deal with, and the complicated relationship they have with their father further adds to the hilariously dysfunctional dynamics at play.
