Shows that feel likeThis Is Us (2016–2022)
If you loved This Is Us, the closest series we have are given (2019), Six Feet Under (2001) and Euphoria (2019). All three share This Is Us' contemplative and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.
Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Diplomat (2023).
If This Is Us hit the spot, these will too
Grief thawing slowly through connection, tender and unhurried
The difference: A single short anime season — one quiet arc instead of six sprawling years
Siblings pulled back together by a father's death and its long echo
The difference: Mordant and unsentimental — it stares at death instead of consoling you
How one death quietly rewires every relationship around it
The difference: A whodunit engine drives it — grief filtered through a police case
Warmhearted and openly emotional, built to leave you a little teary
The difference: Episodic courtroom cases — gentle standalones, not a family saga
Wounded people learning to trust again, with romance as the healing
The difference: College romance scale — one couple's story, not a generational saga
Grief so heavy it rewrites reality around the person carrying it
The difference: A sitcom-pastiche puzzle box — decoding comes before the crying
Contemplative and melancholy in the same breath
The difference: Trades the romance of This Is Us for an angle of its own
Drama built on stillness, twice over
The difference: Takes it somewhere less romantic than This Is Us does
One thread runs through both: addiction
The difference: Easier on the romance than This Is Us
Romantic drama, and it commits to that
The same preoccupation in both: grieving
The difference: Leans harder into comedy than This Is Us does
In the mood for more contemplative?
all contemplative shows →The best-reviewed series that share This Is Us’ defining feeling.
