20 best shows like Back to School (1986)

A group of East High students countdown to the opening night of their school’s first-ever production of “High School Musical.” Showmances blossom; friendships are tested while new ones are made; rivalries flare and lives are changed forever as these young people discover the transformative power that only a high school drama club can provide.

Glee is an American teen musical comedy-drama television series that airs on the Fox network in the United States. It focuses on the reconstituted William McKinley High School glee club, New Directions, which competes on the show choir competition circuit while its disparate members deal with relationships, sexuality, social issues, and learning to become an effective team.

Shake It Up is an American sitcom airing on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on November 7, 2010. Created by Chris Thompson and starring Bella Thorne and Zendaya, the show follows the adventures of CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue as they star as background dancers on a local show, Shake It Up Chicago. It also chronicles their misadventures on- and off-set, and their troubles and rising social status at school. Davis Cleveland, Roshon Fegan, Adam Irigoyen, Kenton Duty and Caroline Sunshine also are other main cast members in the series.The show's original concept was for Disney to create a female buddy comedy, only with a dance aspect. Shake It Up is Disney's third original series, after The Famous Jett Jackson and Sonny with a Chance, to use a show-within-a-show format. The series is also the first Disney Channel Original Series since So Random! to have more than six primary contracted cast members at one time.On September 29, 2011, Disney Channel announced it had increased Shake It Up's second season order to 26 episodes. A second soundtrack with songs from the series, Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance, was released on March 20, 2012. A 90-minute special episode Made In Japan aired August 17, 2012 as the season two finale. On June 4, 2012, Disney Channel announced that Shake It Up was renewed for a third season and announced that Kenton Duty will not be a regular cast member for season 3, but will make special guest appearances. The third soundtrack Shake It Up: I

Aspiring singer Tori Vega navigates life while attending a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts.

Pre-law student Marti Perkins' world is flipped upside down when she loses her scholarship, and realizes the only way she can stay in school is by reigniting her dormant teen gymnastic skills to win a place on Lancer University's legendary cheerleading team.

A '90s-set single-camera comedy about a hip-hop-loving Asian kid growing up in suburban Orlando, being raised by an immigrant father obsessed with all things American and an immigrant mother often bewildered by white culture.

Single father George Altman is doing his best to raise his sixteen-year-old daughter Tessa in the big city. When he discovers a box of condoms in her bedroom, though, he decides the time has come to move her to a more wholesome and nurturing environment: the suburbs. But behind the beautiful homes and perfect lawns lurk the Franken-moms, spray tans, nose jobs, and Red Bull-guzzling teens who have nothing in common with Tessa. It’s a whole new world, one that makes George wonder if they haven’t jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

High school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the "freaks"), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends (the "geeks").

A hilarious workplace comedy about a unique family of employees at a super-sized mega store. From the bright-eyed newbies and the seen-it-all veterans to the clueless summer hires and the in-it-for-life managers, together they hilariously tackle the day-to-day grind of rabid bargain hunters, riot-causing sales and nap-worthy training sessions.

3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet. The extraterrestrials pose as a human family in order to observe the behavior of human beings.

When Harvard philosophy scholar Jack Griffin finds himself teaching high school in Toledo, Ohio, he tosses the syllabus and recruits his students to help enact revenge on his rival.

A tight-knit group of best friends and family helps Wade embrace his “new normal” in the wake of the loss of his wife. As a sometimes ill-equipped but always devoted single parent to his two adolescent daughters, he is taking the major step of dating again.

A medical student who becomes a zombie joins a Coroner's Office in order to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat so that she can maintain her humanity. But every brain she eats, she also inherits their memories and must now solve their deaths with help from the Medical examiner and a police detective.

Best friends Raven and Chelsea, now both divorced mothers, are raising their children in a house together. Their house is turned upside down when they realize one of Raven's children inherited the same psychic abilities as their mother.

Baby Daddy follows Ben, a young man in his early 20s living the life of a bachelor in New York City with his buddy, Tucker, and his brother, Danny. Their lives are turned upside down when they come home one day to find a baby girl left on the doorstep by an ex-girlfriend of Ben's. After much deliberation, Ben decides to raise the baby with the help of his friends and his protective and sometimes over-bearing mother, Bonnie, and his close female friend, Riley.

Zeke and Luther is an American Disney XD animated sitcom about two best friends setting their sights on becoming the world's greatest skateboarders. The show stars Hutch Dano, Adam Hicks, Daniel Curtis Lee and Ryan Newman. Zeke and Luther is set in the northern part of Gilroy, California, specifically in the fictional area of Pacific Terrace, which is stated frequently throughout the series. Gilroy was also mentioned occasionally in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, which was also created by Zeke and Luther co-creator Matt Dearborn. The episode "Bros Go Pro" was made available to download for free on iTunes in the beginning of June, two weeks before the show's television premiere. The series premiered on June 15, 2009 in the U.S.On August 2, 2010, it was announced that Zeke and Luther had been renewed for a third season which premiered on February 28, 2011. On June 18, 2011, in an interview with Deadline.com, Matt Dearborn confirmed that the show's third season would be its last. The show is currently Disney XD's longest running original series and first to make it to a third season. The one-hour series finale aired on April 2, 2012.

The Hard Times of RJ Berger was an American television comedy series created by David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith for MTV. The show's central character is RJ Berger an unpopular sophomore at the fictional Pinkerton High School in Ohio who has an exceptionally large penis. Berger's two best friends are Miles Jenner, whose ambitions for popularity cause him to clash with Berger, and goth girl Lily Miran, who has been lusting after Berger for several years. Berger's love interest is Jenny Swanson, a cheerleader who is involved with Max Owens, a popular jock and bully. The show is presented as a coming of age story and has been described by Katzenberg and Grahame-Smith as a blend of the television series The Wonder Years and the film Superbad.The pilot episode premiered on June 6, 2010, and the first season of 12 episodes concluded August 23, 2010. MTV renewed The Hard Times of RJ Berger for a second season, which premiered on March 24, 2011, and concluded on May 30, 2011, but canceled the show that August.

After a traumatic year, all an Indian-American teen wants is to go from pariah to popular -- but friends, family and feeling won't make it easy on her.

The super-charged comedy-horror series is a modern take on the classic whodunit with a killer cast. 

Kickin' It is an American martial arts inspired comedy television series, which debuted on June 13, 2011 on Disney XD. Created and executive produced by Jim O'Doherty, the series is rated TV-Y7 and follows the karate instructor at an under-performing martial arts academy, played by Jason Earles, and his five misfit students, played by Leo Howard, Dylan Riley Snyder, Mateo Arias, Olivia Holt and Alex Christian Jones.On September 20, 2011, Disney XD announced the series had been renewed for a second season. The show's second season premiered on April 2, 2012. Disney XD announced on November 5, 2012 that the series had been renewed for a third season and would go into production in January 2013. The third season premiered on April 1, 2013. Alex Christian Jones is not a main cast member for the third season. In August 2013, Disney XD ordered a fourth season of the series, which is scheduled to air in 2014. Olivia Holt is leaving the fourth season cast to star in the Disney Channel series I Didn't Do It.

Ethan, Benny and fledgling vampire Sarah battle zombies, demons and the other supernatural beasties that regularly threaten their school.

Cassie Nightingale, Middleton’s favorite enchantress, and her young-teenage daughter Grace, who shares that same special intuition as her mom, welcome Dr. Sam Radford and his son to town. When the New York transplants move in next to the Grey House, they are immediately spellbound by the mother-daughter duo next door, but Sam and Cassie quickly find they may not see eye to eye. With her signature charm, Cassie attempts to bring everyone together, ensuring all of Middleton is in for new changes, big surprises and, of course, a little bit of magic!"Good Witch” is based on Bell’s beloved character Cassie, the raven-haired enchantress who kept audiences spellbound for seven installments of Hallmark Channel's longest-running and highest-rated original movie franchise of all time.

A teen navigates the complexities of high school, family and her sexuality while dealing with new superpowers. Based on Charles Forsman's graphic novel.

Kelly Quinn and her two BFF's, Darbie and Hannah, stumble upon her grandmother's mysterious cookbook in the attic and discover some far from ordinary recipes. When the Shut'em Up Shortcake silences Kelly's pesky little brother and the Healing Hazelnut Tart heals Darbie's ankle, the girls discover they have the power of magic. A single-camera live-action pilot based on the popular book.

Written by and starring acclaimed comedy troupe The Katydids, Teachers shows their hilariously warped perspective as six elementary school teachers trying to mold young minds, even though their own lives aren’t really together.

Zoey Johnson heads to college and begins her hilarious journey to adulthood but quickly discovers that not everything goes her way once she leaves the nest.

Elizabeth Thatcher, a young school teacher from a wealthy Eastern family, migrates from the big city to teach school in a small coal mining town in the west.

The relationship between Arthur, the gruff owner of a small donut shop, his enterprising new young employee, Franco, and their loyal patrons in a quickly gentrifying Chicago neighborhood.

With better luck, better choices, better posture...Josh Corman could’ve been a rock star. Now he teaches fifth grade, and though he loves his students, he still struggles to find happiness and meaning in a world that sometimes feels short on both.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various interactions with family, friends, and enemies.The show was created by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi and began as minute-long shorts in 1989 that aired in between regular programs. Owing to the popularity of the shorts, five half-hour specials were made, followed by a regular half-hour series that ran for three seasons and continued in reruns until around 1999. The N aired reruns of the show between 2002–2003. The first two seasons were released on DVD in 2005; the third was planned for 2006 but was indefinitely postponed.Jason Ankeny of Allmusic called the series "the greatest children's show ever," while IGN called it "One of the most well-written kids shows ever."

Angry Boys is an Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. Continuing the mockumentary style of his previous series, the show explores the issues faced by young males in the 21st century – their influences, their pressures, their dreams and ambitions. In Angry Boys, Lilley plays multiple characters: S.mouse, an American rapper; Jen, a manipulative Japanese mother; Blake Oakfield, a champion surfer; Ruth "Gran" Sims, a guard at a juvenile detention facility; and her grandchildren, South Australian twins Daniel and Nathan Sims. The series is a co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and US cable channel HBO, with a pre-sale to BBC Three in the United Kingdom. Filmed in Melbourne, Los Angeles and Tokyo, Angry Boys premièred on 11 May 2011 at 9:00 pm on ABC1.

A gay man with mild cerebral palsy decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after the life he wants.

Meet The Thundermans, a typical suburban family that happens to have astounding superpowers. At the center of the action are the 14-year-old Thunderman twins, who share the same bathroom, the same school, and the same annoying little siblings. Their only difference? The sister is a super student with a super sunny disposition who super looks forward to being a superhero someday, and her twin brother is a super villain.

Sam & Cat is an American teen sitcom that premiered June 8, 2013, on Nickelodeon. It is a crossover spin-off/sequel of both iCarly and Victorious. It stars Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett and Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine. The girls meet by chance during a bizarre adventure and become roommates, then start a babysitting business to earn extra money.

Parenthood is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Katims. Loosely based on the 1989 film of the same title, Parenthood tells of the Braverman clan which consists of an older couple, their four children and their families.

Four adults nearing 40, living under the same roof, struggle to keep their relationships and their individual dreams alive.

When the Weavers move to a gated community in New Jersey, they discover that the entire neighborhood is comprised of aliens from the planet Zabvron. But as the Weavers and the aliens face the struggles of everyday life together, they discover that some things -- the ups and downs of marriage, the desire to be a good parent and raise a happy family -- are universal. Intergalactic, even.

An irreverent look at the conflict, chaos and humor that defines teenage life through the eyes of 15-year-old Jenna Hamilton whose life begins to change when a simple accident becomes an epic misunderstanding and is blown way out of proportion. Narration in the first-person voice of Jenna's blog posts captures the humor within the struggles and experiences everyone can relate to from their formative years.

An ensemble workplace comedy about a group of underdogs trying to find their place in the world, set on the Friday night flight from LAX to Vegas and the returning flight on Sunday, who all share the same goal: to come back a winner in the casino of life.

A group of aspiring artists living in New York City try to make their dreams come true.

Living his best life in post-apocalyptic LA, a slacker strives to find the girl of his dreams while outwitting mindless ghouls and cliquish gangs.

Tommy is a chubby barista, whose perfect hands catapult him into the glamorous but ruthless world of modelling. He can take everything his new career throws at him but the hard part is dealing with his new roommates – a tough-talking catalogue model, a muscled lothario and a neurotic catwalk diva.

Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.

Terry Gannon Jr. was an All Star softball player until life threw her a couple curve balls: a baby, a lost college scholarship and a loser for a husband. After striking out on her own, Terry and her son Danny move in with her estranged father, Terry Sr. aka "The Cannon," an opinionated, beer-guzzling, ex-athlete who never quite made the cut as a single father or professional baseball player. When Terry reluctantly offers to coach Danny and a group of other athletically-challenged hopefuls, her past comes rushing back.

Off the grid and miles from civilization, Little Otter Family Camp has summer fun for everyone. Parents decompress over gin and tonics while their kids run wild, and teenage counselors fall in and out of love.Mackenzie Granger is the camp owner and director. Still reeling from her recent divorce, Mackenzie is ready for a fresh start. She is running things on her own for the first time and scrambling to keep the cash-strapped Little Otter from going under.

When five young outsiders on Community Service get caught in a strange storm, they discover that they have developed superpowers.

Dr. Ken is a brilliant physician with no bedside manner. He is always trying to be a good doctor, as well as a good husband and dad to his two kids. However, these good intentions have a way of driving everyone crazy at both work and at home. Luckily, his therapist wife Allison is just the right partner to keep things sane.

A dual coming-of-age comedy exploring the impact of internet porn and social media, Mrs. Fletcher follows empty nest divorcée Eve Fletcher — as she reinvents her life to find the happiness and sexual fulfillment that’s eluded her, and her college freshman son Brendan.

Centers on a rough-edged musician Craig, who's adjusting to his new life as a music teacher in a big-city middle school where he encounters teacher politics and the temptations of single moms.

Michelle, a Las Vegas showgirl, impulsively marries a man, moves to his sleepy coastal town, and takes an uneasy role at her new mother-in-law's dance school.