What To Watch If You Loved Schitt's Creek

In April 2020, one of the sweetest, most earnest shows on television came to a touching end when Schitt's Creek closed out its six season run on PopTV. Created by Dan Levy, the son of Canadian comedy legend Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek starred the real life father and son as Johnny and David Rose, who — alongside Eugene Levy's frequent collaborator Catherine O'Hara as Johnny's wife, Moira, and newcomer Annie Murphy as their daughter, Alexis — make up the spoiled, entitled Rose family. After losing their enormous video store fortune when their manager takes off with their money, the Roses are forced to relocate to a small hamlet called Schitt's Creek, which Johnny and Moira once purchased for David as a joke.

However, once they start to make their way in Schitt's Creek, they discover their love for this tiny town with a big heart, creating full lives and even falling in love along the way. If you miss this loving, accepting show that made audiences laugh while simultaneously making huge strides for LGBTQ+ representation on television, here are some you should check out in between your regular Schitt's Creek rewatches, from other Canadian hits to hilarious families to shows that promote LGBTQ+ visibility.

Fans of Schitt's Creek loved the way the series balanced its enormous heart with its sharp sense of humor, which makes The Good Place a perfect follow-up. 

A four-season thrill ride developed by Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine Nine), The Good Place stars Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, a woman who wakes up to find out that she's dead, but on the upside, she's made it into the elusive "Good Place." Guided by Michael (Ted Danson), the architect of Eleanor's specific heavenly neighborhood, and Janet (D'Arcy Carden), a sort of human Siri who knows everything about the world, Eleanor must grapple with a difficult secret. As a self-described "Arizona dirtbag," she definitely doesn't belong in the Good Place.

Alongside Eleanor, there's her assigned soulmate Chidi (William Jackson Harper), neighboring socialite Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), and Jason (Manny Jacinto), a Florida DJ masquerading as a Buddhist monk. And with the threat of the "Bad Place" looming ever closer, Eleanor must learn to be a better person and fast, so naturally, she takes a deep dive into the world of ethics and moral philosophy.

The Good Place came to an end in January 2020, and though the show might be short, it's every bit as razor sharp and touching as Schitt's Creek. If you're craving another show with brains and heart alike, The Good Place is for you. The Good Place is available to stream on Netflix.

After her success on 30 Rock, fans were extraordinarily excited for Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey's next project, and she delivered perfectly with Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The dark comedy, which started its run in 2015 and concluded in 2019 after four seasons, tells the story of Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper), a plucky, undeniable young woman who spent the majority of her life trapped in a bunker, thanks to the evil Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm). After escaping the bunker, Kimmy moves to New York City and meets Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), a talented but struggling actor, Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), her insane but caring landlord, and Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski), a wealthy woman who hires Kimmy and ultimate becomes one of her closest friends.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has an undeniably bleak premise, unlike Schitt's Creek, but it balances its darkness with sheer positivity and quick wit in a way that would make the Rose family proud. And beyond that, both are classic "fish out of water" stories. Even after you make your way through all four seasons of Kimmy, there's still another treat for you, thanks to the show's 2020 interactive special modeled after Netflix's first "choose your own adventure" special, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. (Luckily, the Kimmy special is much more cheerful.) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is available to stream on Netflix.

At first glance, you might not think that Comedy Central's Broad City — which ran from 2014 to 2019 and spanned five seasons — has much in common with Schitt's Creek, but you might be surprised. The story of Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana (Ilana Glazer), two best friends trying to make their way in New York City, Broad City balances over-the-top, ridiculous humor (Ilana's antics are particularly oversized) with an earnest focus on relationships and friendship, as well as LGBTQ+ issues.

The show, which eventually made its way to Comedy Central after Jacobson and Glazer produced it as a web series, thoughtfully and carefully includes LGBTQ+ visibility, particularly where Ilana is concerned. As an unapologetically queer woman, Ilana is supportive and vocal about celebrating all sexual freedom and identities, and ultimately, both Abbi and Ilana come out as bisexual as the show continues. Broad City and Schitt's Creek differ in some pretty huge ways, but both shows celebrate all sexual preferences and gender identities, allowing their characters to truly be themselves no matter what. Broad City is available to stream on Hulu.

If you like dysfunctional families like the Rose clan, you'll definitely love the Bluths, the central family of Arrested Development. A beloved, critically adored sitcom that originally ran on Fox for three seasons, Arrested Development tells the story of a family that "lost everything" and must depend on one another to put the pieces back together, like the Roses. However, unlike the Roses, the Bluths never really end up banding together, preferring to duke it out among themselves rather than form a united front, which ends up being plenty entertaining in its own right.

With an all-star cast that includes Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Tony Hale, David Cross, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat and more, alongside Ron Howard as the series' unseen narrator, the first three seasons of Arrested Development remain as beloved as ever — though, unfortunately, Netflix's attempt to revive the series for ongoing seasons wasn't quite as popular. Still, if you're missing the Rose family's riches-to-rags antics, you'll love watching the Bluths squabble over what little capital they have left. Arrested Development is available to stream on Netflix.

The premise of PEN15 — a Hulu original produced by The Lonely Island and created by stars Anna Erskine and Maya Konkle — sounds absolutely ludicrous at first, in that Erskine and Konkle adorn themselves with braces and butterfly clips to play 13-year-old versions of themselves in a period piece set in 2000. However, if you give PEN15 a chance, you'll see that this crazy gambit pays off, creating a series with plenty of heart despite its obvious absurdity. As Anna Kone and Maya Ishii-Peters, Konkle and Erskine explore every possible struggle and plumb every depth of what it was like to be 13 in the year 2000, from trying beer together for the first time to dealing with puberty. At the same time, they each have their own problems. As Anna's parents prepare to divorce, Maya struggles with a newfound crush and even pushes back against racism when girls in her class exclude her for being Asian.

Much like Schitt's Creek, which features absurd characters like Moira Rose — who speaks in an unidentifiable fake accent and dons a different wig from scene to scene — PEN15 is ambitious in its weirdness, and exactly like Schitt's Creek, it succeeds thanks to its sweet core and extraordinarily clever writing. PEN15 is available to stream on Hulu.

Based on Norman Lear's 1970s sitcom of the same name, One Day at a Time — which originally aired on Netflix before moving to join Schitt's Creek on PopTV — stars Justina Machado as Penelope Alvarez, a United States Army veteran struggling with PTSD and single motherhood in Los Angeles' Echo Park. Though this might not seem like a hilarious premise right off the bat, One Day at a Time perfectly balances hot-button issues like immigration, racism, mental illness, and the Latinx experience in America, all alongside sharp writing and a pitch-perfect ensemble cast, which includes Todd Grinnell (as Pat Schneider, Penelope's friend and landlord), Isabella Gomez (as Elena, Penelope's activist, feminist daughter), and living legend Rita Moreno (as Lydia, Penelope's headstrong mother).

Much like Schitt's Creek, One Day at a Time proudly tackles LGBTQ+ issues, and it features a touching storyline where Elena comes out to her family as gay (as the show progresses, it even introduces a non-binary love interest for Elena, breaking even more barriers). It's possible to combine difficult issues with outright comedy, and as it continues to follow in Schitt's Creek's footsteps, One Day at a Time continues making strides for people of color and queer viewers everywhere. One Day at a Time is available to stream on Netflix.