20 best shows like Real Life (1979)

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

Aan irreverent and outrageous take on true family love‐and dysfunction. Newly sober single mom Christy struggles to raise two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls. Testing her sobriety is her formerly estranged mother, now back in Christy's life and eager to share passive-aggressive insights into her daughter's many mistakes.

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.

Breeders exposes the parental-paradox that it is possible, in the very same moment, to love your child to the horizon of the universe, while being apoplectically angry enough to want to send them there.

Look who’s making the news again! One of NY’s most beloved news anchors, Mike Henry (Michael J. Fox), put his career on hold to spend more time with his family and focus on his health after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But now five years later, with the kids busy growing up and Mike growing restless, it just might be time for him to get back to work. Having never wanted Mike to leave in the first place, his old boss Harris Green jumped at the chance to get him back on TV. The trick, as it’s always been, was to make Mike think it was his idea. After several – okay, many - failed attempts, Mike’s family, anxious to see him out of the house, finally succeeded in getting him to “run into” Green. Now their plan is in motion. He’ll be back to juggling home, family, and career, just like the old days – only better.

My Wife and Kids is an American television family sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005. Produced by Touchstone Television, it starred Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin, and centers on the character of Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules his household with a unique and distinct parenting style. As he teaches his three children some of life's lessons, he does so with his own brand of humor. Wayans and veteran television writer/producer Don Reo co-created and executive produced the series.

A dysfunctional family of superheroes comes together to solve the mystery of their father's death, the threat of the apocalypse and more.

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.

An LA family with serious boundary issues have their past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out.

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

A gifted young teen tries to survive life with his dimwitted, dysfunctional family.

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama-mystery series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired Sundays at 9 P.M. Eastern/8 P.M. Central, on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012. Executive producer Cherry served as showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season included Bob Daily, George W. Perkins, John Pardee, Joey Murphy, David Grossman, and Larry Shaw. The main setting of the show was Wisteria Lane, a street in the fictional American town of 'Fairview' in the fictional 'Eagle State'. The show followed the lives of a group of women as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor who committed suicide in the very first episode. The storyline covers thirteen years of the women's lives over eight seasons, set between the years 2004–2008, and later 2013–2017. They worked through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their — at the surface — beautiful and seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood. The show featured an ensemble cast, headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp, and Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis. Brenda Strong narrated the show as the deceased Mary Alice Young, appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dream sequences.

A self-loathing, alcoholic writer attempts to repair his damaged relationships with his daughter and her mother while combating sex addiction, a budding drug problem, and the seeming inability to avoid making bad decisions.

The Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan is a wonderfully large and blended family. They give us an honest and often hilarious look into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted, embrace of the modern family.

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.

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.

Right out of high school, Sean Finnerty got his girlfriend Claudia pregnant. Now she’s his wife, and at just 32, he’s somehow found himself with 14-year-old daughter Lily, two little boys, and a constant struggle between his need to be responsible and his desperate desire to be irresponsible. His judgmental father Walt and devil-may-care brother Eddie are no help at all. When they all get together, stories always start to fly. Of course, Sean’s family will never let him finish a story; they interrupt, they debate, they derail, they defend themselves; just like any good family would.

Best friends Lizzy (gay and a bit type-A) and Luke (straight and more laid back) are like family. When they were kids and both of their parents were getting divorces, they stuck together, and they've been there for each other ever since. Now, all grown up and still single, they've decided to start a family of their own. No, not like that (there are some lines even they won't cross) - we're talking the non-romantic, go-to-the-doctor's-office type of baby-making. Then one night, after yet another failed attempt at conception, the two head out to a bar to let off some steam. That's where Luke meets Prudence, a free-spirited British girl who's slated to go back to England in a matter of days. Lizzy isn't a huge fan - it might have something to do with Prudence waltzing around their apartment naked - but Luke really hits it off with her... and next thing he knows, they're spending every last minute of her limited time together. But just as Lizzy discovers that she's actually pregnant, Luke announces that he and Prudence got married. Ta-da! A different kind of family is born.

Rob Brooks, a female record store owner in the rapidly gentrified neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn revisit past relationships through music and pop culture, while trying to get over her one true love.

George Lopez is an American sitcom starring comedian George Lopez. The show originally aired on ABC from March 27, 2002, to May 8, 2007.

Inexperienced Otis channels his sex therapist mom when he teams up with rebellious Maeve to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.

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

Charlie is a non-traditional therapist specializing in anger management. He has a successful private practice and he performs pro bono counseling for an inmate group at a state prison. Prior to his career as a therapist, he was a major league baseball player whose career was put on the shelf for good by his own struggle with anger issues.

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.

This iconic family—Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and D.J.—grapples with parenthood, dating, an unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging and in-laws in working-class America.

The story of a 10-year-old girl Dawn Haley whose sibling rivalry with her three brothers is heightened by the fact that they are quadruplets.

Having grown up in a world of manufactured happiness, Lucy, the cynical teenage daughter of a idealistic theme park princess mom, wants to get out and experience something real. When Ian, the new park owner's son, arrives and sweeps her off her feet, Lucy is left wondering if fairy tale endings do exist after all. But when a scandalous secret turns her life upside down, she learns Happyland is far from a walk in the park.

James "Jimmy" Chance is a clueless 24-year-old who impregnates a serial killer during a one-night-stand. Earning custody of his daughter after the mother is sentenced to death, Jimmy relies on his oddball but well-intentioned family for support in raising the child.

Melissa & Joey is an ABC Family original television series starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence that premiered on ABC Family on August 17, 2010. The series follows local politician Mel Burke and Joe Longo, whom Mel hires to look after her niece and nephew after a Ponzi scheme leaves him broke.

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.

Before there were parenting blogs, trophies for showing up, and peanut allergies, there was a simpler time called the '80s. For geeky 11-year old Adam these were his wonder years and he faced them armed with a video camera to capture all the crazy. The Goldbergs are a loving family like any other, just with a lot more yelling.

Obstetrician/gynecologist Mindy Lahiri tries to balance her personal and professional life, surrounded by quirky co-workers in a small medical practice in New York City.

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

Syd Burnett has left her complicated past behind to become an LAPD detective. Paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna, a working mom with an equally complex past, Syd is pushed to examine whether her unapologetic lifestyle might be masking a greater personal secret. These two women don't agree on much, but they find common ground when it comes to taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles.

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.

"Lab Rats: Elite Force" is set in a bustling metropolis after the Mighty Med hospital is destroyed by a band of unknown super-villains. After Adam and Leo volunteer to oversee the students at Davenport's Bionic Academy, Kaz, Oliver and Skylar join forces with Chase and Bree to form a powerful elite force that combines bionic heroes and superheroes. Together, they vow to track down the villains and keep the world safe.

Ed Goodson, a forthright and opinionated dad, relishes expressing his unsolicited and often wildly politically incorrect observations to anyone within earshot. Nobody is immune from Ed's rants, including his sons, Henry, a struggling writer-turned-unpaid blogger; and Vince, the meek half of his husband/wife real estate duo with domineering Kathleen. When Henry finds he can no longer afford to pay rent to his pretty roommate -- and secret admirer -- Sam, Ed reveals a soft spot and invites Henry to move in with him. Henry agrees, knowing that the verbal assault will not abate and now there will be no escape.

The story of a middle class family jumps in the high society unexpected.

Payton has known since childhood that he's going to be president. First he'll have to navigate the most treacherous political landscape: high school.

Fed up with her father, a woman moves in with her older half-sister, and her fiancé.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Running Wilde is an American comedy television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox Network. It stars Will Arnett as Steve Wilde, a self-centered, idle bachelor and heir to an oil fortune. The series follows Wilde's awkward attempts to regain the affection of his childhood sweetheart, Emmy, an environmentalist who had been living in the South American jungle, but whose young daughter does not want to return there and who secretly enlists Steve's help to keep Emmy at his mansion, leading to farcical situations and misunderstandings.

Chicagoan Frank Gallagher is the proud single dad of six smart, industrious, independent kids, who without him would be... perhaps better off. When Frank's not at the bar spending what little money they have, he's passed out on the floor. But the kids have found ways to grow up in spite of him. They may not be like any family you know, but they make no apologies for being exactly who they are.

A close-knit anthology series dealing with stories involving malice, violence and murder based in and around Minnesota.

After raising her two children, getting divorced and retiring from teaching, Carol Chambers embarks on a unique second act: she’s going to become a doctor.

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.

The story of David Hobbs, who has spent the last decade playing the perfect father on one of TV’s biggest sitcoms. But when the series ends and his wife resumes her own television career, he finds himself cast in his most challenging role to date: handling the day-to-day needs of three kids who've grown accustomed to not having him around. David soon learns that playing a dad on TV is child’s play compared to the real thing.