The new series Bad Sisters is the ultimate dark comedy. With a razor-sharp edge and top-notch performances from its cast, it manages to be both blazingly funny and, at times, deeply disconcerting. Of course, this peculiar mix is precisely what makes the dark comedy genre so enduringly popular for audiences.
There is something uniquely pleasurable about a series that uses sharp wit to excavate and expose the deepest flaws and insecurities of a given culture, and so it is worth taking a look at some of the best examples of this particular genre.
Dead To Me (2019 - 2022)
Stream On Netflix
Christina Applegate has had a fascinating career, and she brings all of her considerable charisma to her role in Dead To Me, in which she portrays a woman grieving the death of her husband who then befriends Linda Cardellini’s Judy, the woman who accidentally killed him in a hit-and-run.
Like Bad Sisters, the series toggles effortlessly between genuine emotional depth and outright hilarity, and both Applegate and Cardellini deliver first-rate performances. Above all else, the series is about friendship, and about how it can make people do and say strange things.
Fargo (2014 - )
Stream On Hulu
One of the most entertaining things about a series like Bad Sisters is the extent to which it can use comedy to elicit both laughter and discomfort from the audience. This dynamic is much in evidence in Fargo, arguably one of the best FX series.
As an anthology series, each season focuses on a different set of characters, and each one explores the depth to which people will sink. At the same time, it also has an unmistakable sense of humor, though it is often as lacerating (and disturbing) as the Coen Brothers movie on which it’s based.
Shameless (2011 - 2021)
Stream On Netflix
Over its many seasons, Shameless slowly but surely established itself as one of the best Showtime series. With its focus on the impoverished Gallagher family, led by its ne'er-do-well patriarch, Frank, it is a bracingly funny, disturbing, and ultimately evocative portrait of poverty in the U.S.
And, like Bad Sisters, it is also about the many ties which bind a family together. Though they often feud with one another, when the chips are down, the various members of the Gallagher family know that the only ones that they can truly count on are themselves.
Killing Eve (2018 - 2022)
Stream On Hulu
Killing Eve is one of the most unique series to have appeared on television. With its focus on an assassin (Jodie Comer’s Villanelle) and the woman who sets out to bring her to justice (Sandra Oh’s Eve), it has all the makings of a slick thriller.
At the same time, like Bad Sisters, it also has a very keen and cutting comedic edge. In fact, there are a number of times where the comedy in Killing Eve can almost become too dark for a casual viewer, but that is precisely what makes it such a sinfully delicious series to watch.
The Boys (2019 - )
Stream On Prime Video
During its time on the air, The Boys has proven that it is one of the best Amazon Prime series. Set in a world in which superheroes (called Supes) are treated and feted like celebrities but are secretly debauched and just generally terrible, it follows a group of rebels (called the Boys) who seek to bring them down.
Marked by bitter humor, truly staggering displays of violence and bloodshed, and profoundly world-weary cynicism, it is precisely the sort of dark comedy that is a great fit for fans of Bad Sisters.
Succession (2018 - )
Stream On HBO Max
As its title suggests, Bad Sisters is all about the bonds between family members, and that is also true of Succession, one of the best HBO series. In this case, however, it focuses on the Roy family, in particular patriarch Logan’s search for a suitable heir to his huge media empire.
Though it is primarily a drama, there is also much to Succession that aligns it with the dark comedy tradition. There are, in fact, many moments that make the audience – and sometimes the character – laugh in mingled shock and humor at what is transpiring on the screen.
The Righteous Gemstones (2019 - )
Stream On HBO Max
Danny McBride has created a number of fantastic characters, but his Jesse Gemstone in The Righteous Gemstones is certainly one of his most outlandish (and thus one of his most hilarious). In fact, The Righteous Gemstones is, like Bad Sisters, about the fraught dynamics that can often exist even in a family that loves one another.
In this case, the family in question is a group of televangelists, whose own dark past comes back to haunt them. With each season, the series heightens the absurdity, until it reaches truly sublime proportions.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005 - )
Stream On Hulu
When it comes to dark comedies, few series achieve quite the level of absurdity and blackness of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Over its several seasons, the owners (and, in Dee’s case, workers) of Paddy’s Pub have slowly revealed just how terrible they are, and it is precisely their unadulterated terribleness that makes the series so bracingly funny.
Like Bad Sisters, there are few envelopes that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will not push, and it is elevated by the truly spectacular performances from each member of the cast.
The Great (2020 - )
Stream On Hulu
The Great is one of the most unusual period dramas, and it certainly makes no effort to stay true to historical accuracy. Thus, though it focuses on the rise and reign of Catherine the Great, it never lets the facts stand in the way of strong storytelling.
It has a hard edge to it that will be familiar to those who enjoy Bad Sisters, and it also has to be said that it is one of Elle Fanning’s best roles. Despite its spiky and caustic sense of humor, it never loses sight of the fact that it is about one young woman’s determination to drag Russia into the modern world.
Physical (2021 - )
Stream On Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has already shown that it is willing to take some risks with its TV series, and Physical is one of its most fascinating and ambitious offerings. It stars Rose Byrne as Sheila Rubin, a woman with an eating disorder who is determined to seize some control of her life by becoming involved in aerobics.
It is a show with a very sharp sense of humor but, like Bad Sisters, it uses its own unique sensibility in the service of something greater, and, more than anything else, it is an indictment of the shallow superficiality that was such a hallmark of 1980s American culture.