Shows Like Dead Like Me That Dark Comedy Fans Need To See

Some shows never gain the popularity necessary to make it past a couple seasons. Most of these shows simply missed the mark. Some only work as a short-run series and the creators, recognizing this, opt to tell the story as it should be told, going out on a high note, rather than letting the show die a slow and painful public death. Then there are shows like "Dead Like Me," a brilliant dark comedy from the mind of Bryan Fuller, starring Ellen Muth as George Lass and Mandy Patinkin as Rube. "Dead Like Me" lasted only two seasons (2003-'04) on Showtime before being canceled, but the series has since garnered the status of a cult favorite.

This series sets the stage for a dark comedy in the first episode, when blasé 18-year-old college dropout, Georgia (George) Lass, dies from a falling piece of space debris. Death by toilet seat seems like the ultimate a cosmic joke, but poor George's day doesn't get any better when she learns she must continue on amongst the living, working as an undead grim reaper. It's a delightful dark comedy with sarcastic wit and charm. If you have a dark sense of humor, you've probably grown accustomed to your favorite shows being canceled after a couple of offbeat seasons, but don't fret, we know which shows you need to watch next if you loved "Dead Like Me."

While you're at it, you might as well complete the holy trinity of Bryan Fuller comedies by watching "Wonderfalls," a show with all the quirk, charm, and fantasy elements of "Dead Like Me," and "Pushing Daisies," but less death. In "Wonderfalls," Fuller revisits the life of underachieving 24-year-old Jayne Tyler. Jayne graduates from Brown University with a philosophy degree before moving back to her hometown of Niagara Falls, where she works at a tourist gift shop, lives in an airstream trailer, and drinks beer at a local tavern while flirting with the bartender.

In the first episode of the one-season series, inanimate objects at the gift shop begin speaking to Jayne. At first, she thinks she's going insane, but within a couple episodes it becomes obvious something or someone (possibly God) is trying to help people who have lost their way through her. "Wonderfalls" is as much a heartfelt coming-of-age story about disaffected, over-educated and underemployed millennials as it is a kooky situational comedy about family dynamics, community, and human connection.

When overachieving medical student Liv Moore spontaneously attends a boat party with a classmate, she falls victim to a zombie feeding frenzy. Although Liv escapes the boat intact, she is no longer technically human, or alive. Understandably, Liv struggles to accept her newfound status as a living-dead zombie, and drifts into depression. She's determined to pass for human — and gain access to brains — so she begins working in the Seattle coroner's office. When Liv discovers she temporarily absorbs the memories (and behaviors) of murder victims after eating their brains, she poses as a psychic, helping a homicide detective solve murders.

"iZombie" enjoyed more widespread appeal than many of the series on this list, having five seasons to explore a fictional Seattle as ground zero of the zombie apocalypse. While it's a dark comedy filled with wit and heart, it also explores themes of prejudice, government corruption, unethical scientific research, and morality. People do morally reprehensible things in response to the lawlessness the zombie apocalypse has brought to Seattle, giving us many chances to question who the monsters really are. "iZombie" is a lot of things — a procedural crime drama and a love story, with a fair measure of absurd hijinks, and a comedy with a dash of social commentary. If you loved "Dead Like Me," the CW's "iZombie" just might be your next binging obsession.

A ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf move in together. It might sound like the start of a joke, but it's the premise of the TV series "Being Human." Originally a BBC production in the UK, the show was reincarnated as a US-based series. The story begins with Aidan and Josh, two nurses working at the same hospital. Aidan is an experienced vampire trying to give up hunting humans, instead subsisting on blood bags from the hospital. Josh, a former med student and newish werewolf, is struggling with his monthly transformation into an animal that maims and kills. The duo decide moving in to an apartment together might give them a semblance of normality in lives dominated by the monsters they carry within.

After finding the perfect apartment, they come to find they have inherited a ghost for a roommate. Sally was the fiancée of their landlord and died in the apartment. She's trapped and doesn't know how to move on or accept her premature death. The comedy and the drama of this story comes from Aidan, Josh, and Sally struggling to maintain their identities as human beings after becoming something else entirely. Like most of the previous shows on this list, "Being Human" explores how people continue existing in this world once they are no longer technically human or alive. The UK version of the story leans into campy humor and the absurd while maintaining its oddball charm. The US version has better special effects and production values, with a brooding vibe. While the US version is certainly slicker, there is a well-matched competition between the UK and US versions for fan favorite status.

This next series moves on form our theme of the undead living amongst us, to what happens after we die. When Eleanor Shellstrop, brilliantly played by Kristen Bell, dies, she finds herself in "The Good Place," an afterlife filled with wholesome people, frozen yogurt, a house built specifically to her tastes, and a soulmate as the cherry on top. The only problem: Eleanor wasn't a nice person in life and fears she may have been sent to the wrong afterlife, one belonging to another Eleanor. Of course, she doesn't plan on fessing up to the mistake. Despite finding the Good Place and its inhabitants insufferably annoying, Eleanor fears the other place might be worse. When Eleanor confides in her soulmate Chidi, who studied ethics during his life, hilarity ensues. Chidi agrees to teach Eleanor to be a better person, and she tries to change.

Eleanor's mere presence in the Good Place throws everything out of balance, creating disturbances that plague the architect Michael, played by TV veteran Ted Danson. In this four-season series, Eleanor tries to change her ways, with the help of some new friends and also a few frenemies. Of course, this series has some hilarious plot twists, making us question if Eleanor isn't the only one who made it to the wrong afterlife. Despite the dark humor, this NBC comedy about the afterlife asks "What it means to be a good person," according to show creator Michael Schur.

In HBO's "Six Feet Under," we diverge from the fantasy world, finding ourselves in a bizarre new reality. This HBO original series shares none of the fantasy elements of "Dead Like Me," but it does explore death. "Six Feet Under" follows the lives of the Fishers, a family who run a funeral home in Los Angeles. Twenty years after the show first hit screens, it can easily be argued we wouldn't have the variety and quality of original programming now available without the early success of "Six Feet Under."

The cast of "Six Feet Under" is excellent, catapulting stars like Michael C. Hall, who would later star in the Showtime hit series "Dexter," into the limelight. In this series, we approach the subject of death from the perspective of the people who are there to help their clients put a loved one to rest. In "Six Feet Under" we must accept that death touches all our lives, and somehow find humor in the absurd ways we try to ignore the universal truth that everyone dies. "Six Feet Under" is one groundbreaking, offbeat, darkly funny, critically acclaimed show you simply must see.

What happens when you realize the husband you loved and lost tragically wasn't who you thought he was? Netflix's "Dead to Me" explores this question with Christina Applegate starring as Jen Harding, a Southern California realtor and mother of two, trying to pick up the pieces after her husband dies in a tragic hit-and-run accident. There are some mild similarities to Showtime's "Weeds," but "Dead to Me" goes in a different direction with surprising plot twists, leading to a tangled web of lies, regret and mayhem.

The casting in this series is flawless, with Linda Cardellini playing Judy Hale and James Marsden taking on two roles. As the title of the show suggests, "Dead to Me" leans into the anger phase of the grieving process, allowing a female character to fully explore an emotion women are often discouraged from expressing in our culture. This show also asks viewers to look at our own mistakes before judging others for theirs. "Dead to Me" explores this emotionally complex terrain while delivering non-stop laughs and asking how we continue to live while grieving and how we forgive ourselves for the mistakes we make along the way.