Netflix is an amazing way to find new shows, watch old favorites, and generally have an excuse not to leave the couch for a weekend (yes, Netflix, we’re still watching!). However, while the service is incredible, the search function can leave a little to be desired, and it is all too easy for great series to get lost in the enormous catalogue.
So that you don’t have to miss out on great comedies just because they aren’t in the trending menu, we’ve rounded up ten of the best comedies currently available. Grab your snacks and your comfy pants, settle in, and enjoy!
Here are 10 Underrated Sitcoms To Stream On Netflix.
10. Trailer Park Boys
This beloved Canadian mockumentary series has virtually no production value, no redeeming moral value and, best of all, no shame. Set at Sunnyvale Trailer Park in rural Nova Scotia, Trailer Park Boys centers on three friends who, between frequent stints at the local jailhouse, subsist on petty theft and drug dealing; they are forever working against their nemesis, Jim Lahey, an alcoholic trailer park supervisor who used to be a cop and still acts like one.
Despite its rough edges - or perhaps because of them - Trailer Park Boys has become fully-fledged phenomenon in its native Canada and a cult hit across the globe. After a five year hiatus, Netflix brought the series back in 2014, and it's just as raunchy and hilarious as it has ever been.
9. Grounded For Life
Something for parents who occasionally wonder if they aren’t any better at adulthood than their kids, Grounded for Life is perfect if you are sick of other sitcoms with moms nagging and dads drinking beer. While mom Claudia (Megyn Price) does nag at times, and Dad Sean (Donal Logue) definitely drinks some beer, these are far more than sitcom stereotypes.
First and foremost, they are clearly still madly in love, and while the show covers all the usual ups and downs of parenthood, the two never really stop having fun with it. Their screw-ups are much more realistic than the standard fare, and even though they have a long way to go before they feel like card-carrying adults, these are the parents we want to be.
8. Scrotal Recall
What happens when you don’t get regular check-ups, and then discover you have an STD? For Dylan (Johnny Flynn), it means tracking down every woman that you have ever slept with (with a little help from your friends), and giving them the (potentially) bad news.
The series is told almost entirely in flashback, as we revisit each of Dylan’s past conquests in alphabetical order, and he learns a little something about himself along the way. Fleshing out the simple premise is the will-they-won’t they love story between Dylan and his best friend Evie (Antonia Thomas), along with some razor-sharp wit. Funny rather than explicitly sexy, and only six episodes long, it’s a quick watch to make you smile.
7. Sirens
A sitcom take-off of medical dramas, Sirens follows the work and personal lives of three Chicago EMTs, each with their own particular quirks and issues. The show is definitely a dirty one, so keep this till the kids are in bed, but it’s more than just a way to laugh about genitals. The series has some real heart underneath some crass jokes and crazy situations.
Sirens is also worth a watch for representing a range of sexual orientations: not only is one of the main trio gay, but there is actually an asexual character in the series, which is incredibly rare to see in a sitcom (as anything more than a misguided punchline, anyway). The perfect bromance comedy to keep you in stitches, Sirens may have been cancelled after two seasons, but those two seasons are comedy gold.
6. Drop Dead Diva
This sweet and cheerful comedy may have a slightly out-there premise, but it absolutely works for this fluff-with-a-heart. Deb (Brooke Elliott) is a perky wannabe model in LA when she “dies,” but manages to get sent back to Earth (along with her guardian angel). However, when she returns, she finds herself in the body of an overweight, work-obsessed lawyer, and has to find a way to balance her old personality and her new life.
Drop Dead Diva is an incredible show for body positivity, as Deb/Jane decides that’s she’s more than capable of being just as sexy, sassy and confident as a large woman as she was as a tiny one. She brings her own special brand of flair to her law practice, and her journey to stop clinging to her past and truly embrace her future is sweetly inspirational.
5. Wilfred
This dark and quirky comedy follows Ryan Newman (Elijah Wood), a deeply depressed man who sees his neighbor’s dog as a man in a dog costume. It sounds strange, and well, it actually is pretty strange, but in a hilariously off-beat way. Elijah Wood is fantastic as Ryan, but the real star of the show is in co-creator Jason Gann, who also stars as Wilfred himself.
The strange set-up has a soft-center, as dog Wilfred becomes a way for him to step outside of his depression and start to enjoy the world again. It may lack some of the obvious laugh-track style of a traditional sitcom, but that’s all part of the charm.
4. Video Game High School
A wonderfully original variation on the typical high school drama, VGHS is set in a vaguely futuristic fantasy world where gaming has replaced physical sports, and talented teens get to train and compete for the world to watch. A Netflix series that first gained popularity online, Video Game High School features some particularly fantastic graphics as we see the students living out their video game lives.
The show takes all the usual cliques and chaos of high school and filters it through the world of gaming; the first person shooters as the popular kids, while the racers, musicians and tacticians form their own little gangs. A webseries-turned-real-series, VGHS is only five episodes long, but Video Game High School: The Movie is also available on Netflix.
3. The Guild
Felicia Day created and stars in this adorably geeky series about a young woman whose entire life revolves around “The Game," a massive multiplayer online game, where she spends all her time with her guild - even though she has never met them in real life. All that changes when the socially-challenged Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh) appears on her doorstep, forcing her to take her friendships from in-game to IRL.
The show started out as a webseries with very short episodes, so these have been pulled together to create six episodes of anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half, but don’t let that length put you off. These remain in easily digestible chunks of cute comedy, with wonderfully quirky characters and a heartwarming finish.
2. Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
Before Jessica Jones, Krysten Ritter starred in this hilarious odd-couple comedy about a bubbly naïve blonde, and her new roommate who borders on sociopathic (but somehow comes off as funny and relatable). It’s a new twist on a classic set-up, but Ritter shines and elevates the show beyond the expected cheese.
Don’t Trust the B takes the angel and the devil on your shoulder, and turns them into adorable young women; Chloe becomes softer and gentler with the positive influence of June (Dreama Walker), and June manages to gain a whole lot of confidence and a dose of street smarts to go with it. While the endpoint is somewhat predictable, the journey is well worth the watch.
1. Grace and Frankie
If you aren’t in the mood for yet another sitcom about sickeningly attractive twenty-year-olds making it in the big city, you will love the breath of fresh air that is Grace and Frankie. Two wives are looking forward to their golden years, when their husbands reveal that they haven’t just been business partners their whole life, they’ve been so much more. Despite being the classic odd couple (one a hippy, the other a prim and proper lady), the two women find comfort in each other in their very unusual situation.
Grace and Frankie is sweet, funny and refreshing. While it definitely delves into some serious topics, it does it with care and sensitivity (for the most part). It’s also wonderful to see a sitcom that is happy to make the “old people” the stars of the show, not just grandparents and crotchety footnotes.
-
Can you think of any sitcoms that deserve a bigger audience? Let us know in the comments!