After 12 years and 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory finished its run in 2019, leaving a legacy as one of the most successful and beloved sitcoms in the history of the medium. With its blend of nerdy cultural references, catchphrases and awkward humour, the show has been entertaining audiences since as far back as the Bush presidency—and those 279 episodes that Jim Parsons and his gang of misfits produced are destined to be rewatched for years to come.
That kind of bingeability isn’t easy to come by in the streaming landscape, but for fans looking to try something new, JustWatch might have you covered. Use our guide to discover ten great shows that—whether in terms of themes, humour, longevity, or all three—share some DNA with The Big Bang Theory. Some came before it, some have come since, and each has its own charms. Check out the list below to find out where to watch them on streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
Young Sheldon (2017-2024)
Young Sheldon is a bit of a no-brainer. Two years before the finale of TBBT, the legendary showrunner and “King of Sitcoms,” Chuck Lorre, teamed up with producer Steven Molaro again to delve into Sheldon Cooper’s time growing up in Texas in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. If you’re done with TBBT but want to step back into that world, this one is basically made for you.
Big Little Lies’ Iain Armitage stars as the young genius, and Jim Parsons returns to provide narration in a classic fish-out-of-water comedy setup—imagine the family dynamic of Malcolm in the Middle mixed with TBBT’s humour and a few splashes of nostalgia and you’ll have some idea of what’s in store.
Friends (1995-2004)
It’s easy: no Friends, no The Big Bang Theory. There were sitcoms before Ross, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe sat in Central Perk for the first time, but none quite felt the same before or after—and needless to say, if you’re a fan of TBBT and sitcoms that feel like a good hang, it’s pure comfort food.
Now over 30 years since release, and even if some of the story arcs and choices haven’t aged as well as others (including a couple that would probably be considered homophobic or body-shaming by today’s standards), Friends still holds up pretty well—mostly thanks to its timeless humour and the chemistry of the six lead actors. Throw in the occasional romantic story arc, A-list cameo, and unforgettable catch phrase, and you’ve got yourself one of the most rewatchable shows ever put to camera. Just remember, they were on a break!
The IT Crowd (2006-2013)
Already missing Sheldon and Co.’s endearingly nerdy idiosyncrasies? The IT Crowd might be just what you’re after. The show, which could be described as TBBT’s weird foreign cousin, concerns a group of disinterested techies who work in the basement of a London office building.
The IT Crowd only ran for four seasons and a total of 25 episodes, but remains highly influential, not least for introducing Chris O’Dowd to American audiences and alerting the world to the genius of Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade. It’s a crying shame what’s happened to the show’s creator in recent years (and it’s understandable if you’d rather avoid it as a result), but the show itself remains one of the funniest Irish-British sitcoms of the 21st century.
How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)
Like Friends and so many great sitcoms before it, How I Met Your Mother is pure TV comfort food. If you need a new long-running show to fill the gap left by TBBT, it’s well up to the task. There are 208 episodes, each one is 20-odd minutes long, and they are perfectly suited for either a quick lunchtime watch or as a multi-episode binge while curled up on the couch in the evening.
The cast, which featured already established actors like Alyson Hannigan, Jason Segel, and Neil Patrick Harris, is up there with the best long-running sitcoms, even if perhaps not quite enough time has passed for it to hit that ideal, nostalgic sweet spot. Still, fans of TBBT will recognise its humour immediately and be suiting up in no time.
Silicon Valley (2014-2019)
Arriving on HBO in the mid-2010s, just around the time when the public view of the tech industry began to sour, Silicon Valley comes with a bit more of a satirical bite than some of the other shows on this list. It’s also one of the smartest and funniest. If you’re finished with TBBT and looking for something a little bit meaner, it’s the ideal follow-up.
A lot of this is thanks to Mike Judge, a showrunner who has had his sceptical finger on the pulse of popular culture for over 30 years with shows like Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, and movies like Idiocracy. Fans of TBBT looking to dip a toe into the more worrying side of techdom will find much to enjoy.
The Good Place (2016-2020)
Before The Good Place aired in 2016, people like you and I would have had a hard time convincing a room of television executives to greenlight a show that was set in heaven (perhaps) and in which weekly sermons on philosophy and ethics went toe to toe with laugh-a-minute gags. But then you and I are not Michael Schur, producer of The Office (US) and co-creator of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
If for some reason you’ve not yet seen those shows, they are, of course, all worthy of your time—but fans of TBBT might feel most at home in The Good Place’s heavenly (perhaps) blend of silly and smart.
30 Rock (2006-2013)
We can just go ahead and put 30 Rock in the pantheon of endlessly rewatchable 20-odd minute-long TV shows. If you were to argue for Tina Fey’s joke-a-second send-up of her time as a producer on Saturday Night Live as the funniest TV show ever made, I reckon few people under the age of 45 would disagree with you. So if you need a laugh after finishing TBBT, look no further.
The show bombards you with gags that range from totally on-point to totally stupid, and in Liz Lemon (Fey), Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), 30 Rock boasts some of the most hilarious characters to grace the small screen.
Love (2016-2018)
If you like the idea of blending TBBT’s goofy sweetness with a little bittersweet romance, it’s well worth checking out Love. The show’s real LA settings might also feel like a breath of fresh air after 12 seasons in those beloved studio sets.
Much like one of TBBT’s central relationships, Love follows a lovable dork (played by lovable dork Paul Rust) who meets a cool girl (played by cool Gillian Jacobs) and maybe falls in love—what more could you ask for? This Judd Apatow-produced show, co-written by Rust and released on Netflix in 2016, was underappreciated at the time but deserves a second (or maybe first) look.
WeCrashed (2022)
It was tempting to put The Dropout in here, too, another dramatised account of a tech world rise and fall, but WeCrashed is just a lot more fun and accessible. It could work nicely as a quick, eight-episode, post-TBBT decompression session—especially if you want a show that’s based in the tech scene.
We should place a trigger warning as the recently embroiled Jared Leto stars, but the 30 Seconds to Mars singer has never been more hammy in a role. (In a way, it’s like you’re laughing at him, too.) Charting WeWork’s hubristic climb to becoming one of the biggest property owners on Earth on a business model of “free” coffee and neon-sign motivational quotes, the show is occasionally depressing. For the rest of the time, the only thing to do is laugh.
Our Flag Means Death (2022-2023)
Even without the unmistakable presence of Taika Waititi (as both actor, director, and producer) and his old pal Rhys Darby (in the lead role), there would be more than a whiff of What We Do in the Shadows to Our Flag Means Death, David Jenkin’s hilarious satire about the lives of some of the most (and least) feared pirates on the Seven Seas.
Fans of TBBT should immediately warm to the show’s offbeat humour, and are sure to stay for the band of delightful shipmates and Jenkin’s refreshingly candid acknowledgement of some lesser-known characters in queer history. Now let’s get that third season! Yarr.
