20 best shows like Life Stinks (1991)

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.

The chronicles of the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean Europe, Balki Bartokomous.

The story of a world-famous televangelist family with a history of deviance, greed and, yes, charitable work, all in the name of Jesus.

Esther and Benji are platonic best friends who want nothing more than to be accepted by the vain and status-obsessed culture of Los Angeles. Despite their sometimes contentious relationship, when push comes to shove, they’ve got each other’s back … And they have nobody else to hang out with.

A raw and honest comedic look at a single, 20-something from Southie whose desires for relationships, sex, and a career collide with the realities of young, single motherhood.

A family man struggles to gain a sense of cultural identity while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood.

The early life of child genius Sheldon Cooper, later seen in The Big Bang Theory.

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.

Martial Law is an American/Canadian crime drama that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the only East Asian headlining a prime-time network series in the United States. At the time, Hung was not fluent in English, and he reportedly recited some of his dialogue phonetically. In many scenes, Hung did not speak at all, making Martial Law perhaps the only US television series in history that featured so little dialogue from the lead character.

In 1980s LA, a crew of misfits reinvent themselves as the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

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.

Three women living in three different decades: a housewife in the '60s, a socialite in the '80s and a lawyer in 2018, deal with infidelity in their marriages.

It's 1996 in a town called Boring, Oregon, where high school misfits in the AV and drama clubs brave the ups and downs of teenage emotions in the VHS era.

The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.

Emily Owens, M.D. is an American medical drama television series created by Jennie Snyder Urman. It was picked up by The CW on May 11, 2012, It premiered on The CW on October 16, 2012, and aired on Tuesdays at 9:00 pm Eastern/8:00 pm Central. On November 28, 2012, the series was canceled by The CW. The 13th and final episode aired on February 5, 2013.

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.

Having recently lost his job and his girlfriend, 30-year-old Tom Chadwick has a rather unsure sense of his own identity. But when he inherits a mysterious box of belongings from a great aunt he never met, Tom starts investigating his lineage and uncovers a whole world of unusual stories and characters, acquiring a growing sense of who he and his real family are.

A romantic comedy anthology series which follows a different protagonist each season on the journey from first love to last love, with each half-hour episode chronicling one of their relationships.

In the early 1990s, a recently widowed, impoverished Orlando water park employee schemes and cons her way up the ranks of the multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme which ruined her financially in the first place.

A grieving teen finds an unexpected connection with two classmates at her new high school after they all land in the same Shoplifters Anonymous group.

"Hellfjord" is the story of the urban police officer Salmander - second generation Pakistani immigrant - who, after somewhat accidentally killing his police horse in front of thousands of children, gets relocated to the location farthest north in Norway: Hellfjord. Hellfjord is archetypical small Norwegian hick village, populated by simple-minded people keenly interested in keeping to themselves. But when Salmander scratches the surface, he discovers a secret that will turn Hellfjord upside down. Maybe even inside out.

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."

A contemporary and culturally resonant drama about a young programmer, Elliot, who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people that he cares about. Elliot will find himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations that are recruiting him to bring down corporate America.

Hilarious high school teacher Gabriel Iglesias tries to make a difference in the lives of some smart but underperforming students at his alma mater.

Two strangers are drawn to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial that will, they're assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently. Things do not go as planned.

The year is 1993. 14-year-old Alex Ryabinin lives a normal teenage life - looking for adventure, trying to protect himself from hooligans, does not want learn music, does not know how to meet girls and which adults to follow as an example. On the one hand - an honest but poor family with a saleswoman mother and a father who is a docent, on the other - the dangerous world of an Afghan veteran Uncle Alik. And there's also the girl Zhenya, whose encounter triggers a series of irreversible events that will forever change the life of Alex. Running away from hooligans, Alex steals a car of local criminal authority, and in an instant everything changes. Will he be able to cope with all the problems, being in the heart of events? Will he be able to save his family and finally understand who he is? Only one thing is clear - life will never be the same again. Not for Alex himself, nor for the whole of Russia.

Daniel Garcia is working in the family bakery and doing everything that his loving Cuban parents and siblings expect him to do. But on a wild Miami night he meets Noa Hamilton, an international superstar and fashion mogul, and his life moves into the spotlight. Will this unlikely couple upend their lives to be together and pull their families into a culture clash?

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 story of a double-glazing showroom in Essex in the 80s, led by charismatic Vincent Swan, and his unscrupulous sales team, Brian Fitzpatrick and Martin Lavender.

Over eight standalone episodes, the series explores love in its multitude of forms – including sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and self love.

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.

A love story about a middle-aged compression sock businessman from Detroit who unexpectedly falls for his cardiac nurse, a Nigerian immigrant, while recovering from a heart attack and sets his sights on winning her over.

Buddy Dobbs, a slacker on the run from a loan shark, steals a man's identity and ends up posing as a small town's new gay pastor.

Set in a single room of an average American motel, each episode tells a different story of the assorted characters who pass through it.

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 space family Robinson is sent on a five-year mission to find a new planet to colonise. The voyage is sabotaged time and again by an inept stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith. The family's spaceship, Jupiter II, also carries a friendly robot who endures an endless stream of abuse from Dr. Smith, but is a trusted companion of young Will Robinson

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.

A struggling hip-hop artist runs for mayor to promote his mix-tape and wins.

The nicest guy in the Midwest moves his family into a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone appreciates his extreme neighborliness. That includes their new next-door neighbor Calvin.

Three guy friends in a retirement community are the top dogs until they’re blown out of the water by the newest member of the community, a female rebel who’s ready to challenge their place – it’s high school with 70 somethings.

A group of high school students whose exploration of modern sexuality (devices and all) tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.

The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.

Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the remnants of humanity inhabit a gigantic, perpetually-moving train that circles the globe as class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out.

The comic/folk duo Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci hit prime time with their act in this scripted series for IFC. It follows hard-working underdogs trying to make their mark in comedy while muddling through messy dating scenarios, and doing so by performing one satirical (and often quite saucy) song after another. Nothing stops the ukulele- and guitar-wielding twosome from singing about life's unspoken truths, despite it leaving them detached from their peers. The series is titled after Lindhome and Micucci's band name, inspired by "two famous rock 'n' roll second bananas," Art Garfunkel and John Oates.

One day while returning home to stay with his widowed twin sister and her daughter, Kevin Finn, a self-centered man whose life brings him more trouble than he bargained for, is recruited by a celestial being named Yvette, who enlists Kevin with a new purpose in his life, which is to save the world.

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.

Charming, fast talking Marty Kaan and his crack team of management consultants know how to play the corporate game better than anyone, by using every dirty trick in the book to woo powerful CEOs and close huge deals. In the board rooms, barrooms, and bedrooms of the power elite, corruption is business as usual and everyone's out for themselves first. Nothing is sacred in this scathing, irreverent satire of corporate America today.

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.

Shipwrecked on a remote desert island, Hammond and Belleci use their engineering and scientific skills to not only to survive, but to construct a paradise island playground.

Ruby is living a humdrum existence when one day she gets a text inviting her to fulfill a youthful pact, promising true love and self-reinvention, by stepping out of her life to take a journey with her oldest flame.