13 TV Shows Like Wednesday That Are Worth Watching
Considering it started out as a series of one-panel comic strips, The Addams Family has shown impressive staying power. The ’60s TV series became a Broadway musical, and the mid-’90s films are now cult classics, but it was more recently in 2022 that Wednesday became a surprisingly massive, social-media-fueled hit on Netflix. After a long wait, the show is back for a second season, reminding us that in an age where the pressure to conform is higher than ever, we’re all craving a little outsider inspiration — and it doesn’t stop there. After binge-watching Wednesday season 2, you might be looking for more adventures in proud weirdness, and these 13 shows will make you proud.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–2020)
It’s pretty obvious: a creepy young lady leads a series full of supernatural shenanigans who (mostly) keeps her mouth shut throughout the series. Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is an old-school witch who lives in a house that’s not at all like The Addams Family: two witch aunts (played by Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis), along with her warlock cousin (Chance Perdomo) and her loyal cat familiar, Salem, all living their witchy lives, just off the radar of the local normies. Early in the series, Sabrina is forced to choose between signing her name in Satan’s book and becoming a full-fledged witch, or continuing to attend high school with her human friends. Instead, she refuses to choose. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, and bloody rituals abound. You can stream Sabrina onNetflix .
The Midnight Club (2022)
The Midnight Club is a series by Mike Flanagan based on several young adult novels by Christopher Pike. It follows a group of eight terminally ill young patients at an idyllic hospice run by a mysterious and enigmatic doctor ( A Nightmare on Elm Street ‘s Heather Langenkamp). Each night, the kids meet in secret to share scary stories, each promising to return from beyond the grave when their time comes. The series is creepy and often touching without becoming sentimental or simplistic. The series’ tone is a bit more serious than Wednesday , but it still offers plenty of creepy fun in its extended, original storytelling scenes. The series was intended to be more of a miniseries, so its cancellation after one season left several unanswered questions. You can stream The Midnight Club onNetflix .
Legacies (2018–2022)
(Sort of!) A standalone spinoff of The Vampire Diaries universe, Legacies follows Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), an orphan descended from vampires, witches, and werewolves. That means the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted is the perfect fit for her: It’s attended by all manner of supernatural beings, and serves as a secret haven and training ground for those with powers. It’s a place where they can learn to control and/or hide their abilities — a cross between Wednesday ’s Nevermore Academy and Charles Xavier’s School for the Sorcerer. Naturally, there’s plenty of coming-of-age drama and teen angst. You can watch Legacies onNetflix or buy episodes on Prime Video .
What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024)
Five vampires live in a gothic, appropriately squalid Staten Island house next to their acquaintance Guillermo, occasionally hatching plans to conquer humanity… but mostly content to hang out at home and get on each other’s nerves. The tone is more overtly comedic than Wednesday , and there’s a major twist to the premise: where the Addams Family and Wednesday herself are always presented as the cool kids in a world of squares, our Staten Island vampires are decidedly not that. Though they’re convinced that their powers should grant them an elevated status, they’re hopelessly out of touch with the modern world and self-absorbed to the point of literal absurdity. What they all have in common is that they’re all outsiders in so many ways—and they don’t care whether you like it or not. You can stream What We Do in the Shadows on Hulu or buy episodes on Prime Video .
The Munster Family (1964 – 1966)
It’s a cliche, I know, but as much as we all loved The Addams Family , I’d give The Munsters the slight edge between these two 1960s sitcoms — considering there were two years during which you could watch them both on different channels, and might be confused to discover they were two completely different shows (they even started and ended within weeks of each other). While The Addams Family had the sharper humor that helped ensure its longevity, The Munsters was a perfect parody of the sitcoms of its era, presenting the old Universal monsters in a Leave It to Beaver -style setting, with an impressively well-drawn cast of characters and a supporting cast that included Fred Gwynne, a greatly underrated Yvonne De Carlo, and Al Lewis, with voice actor Mel Blanc as the family crow. You can stream The Munsters on Peacock or buy episodes on Prime Video .
Blood and Water (2020 – , )
This South African import doesn’t go for a Wednesday -style dark comedy, but it’s otherwise a top-notch teen drama starring Ama Kamata as Puleng Khumalo, a teenager who has lived her entire life in the shadow of her sister, who was taken away by human traffickers as a child; Puleng’s parents even throw her sister a birthday party every year. When she’s invited to a party by the popular Fikile Bhele (Khosi Ngema), a student at Cape Town’s elite Parkhurst College, Puleng can’t help but notice their resemblance. Could this be her long-lost sister? Puleng transfers to school to get to the bottom of things, navigating juicy high school drama and uncovering family secrets. You can stream Blood & Water onNetflix .
Lockwood & Company (2023)
In an alternate modern-day Britain, ghosts are an everyday occurrence, which doesn’t mean they aren’t a nuisance — their touch is deadly. Technological advances have largely stalled while ghost-hunting agencies abound, and as adults lose the ability to directly sense ghosts, children and teenagers find themselves on the front lines. Ruby Stokes ( Bridgertons ) plays Lucy Carlyle, an extremely sensitive listener who is rejected when she is wrongly blamed for several deaths at her first job. With no other option, she joins the shady, unregulated Lockwood & Co., an operation run by two orphans working outside the law. It’s a solid, creepy teen drama with a fair share of action and a beating heart within and among all the people who have died. You can stream Lockwood & Co. onNetflix .
Home Before Dark (2020 – 2021)
After moving from Brooklyn to the Twin Peaks-esque coastal town of Erie Harbor, young Hilde Lisko (Brooklyn Prince) blogs about a mysterious, little-known death, only to be ridiculed by kids her age and adults alike. It turns out she’s uncovered leads that stretch from an unsolved disappearance decades earlier to the recent death of a woman linked to that same cold case. While the show’s tone is more grounded than Wednesday’s (it’s based on the rather incredible true story of teenage journalist Hilde Lisiak), none of the characters are told what they can or can’t do, no matter how much pressure the world puts on them to be normal. You can watch Home Before Dark on Apple TV+ .
Spellbound (2023–, )
Fifteen-year-old American CeCe Parker Jones travels to Paris to attend a prestigious dance school and discovers that she is a real witch with a family history of magic. Now she must struggle to balance dance, magic, and her desire to be a normal teenager while battling the Mystics, the natural enemies of witches like CeCe. It’s a highly entertaining mix of teen drama, magical duels, and, uniquely, ballet. The show is a standalone sequel to the time-travel series Find Me in Paris (also on Hulu ). You can watch Spellbound on Hulu .
The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself (2022)
Winner of the best film award on this list, Bastard Son stars Jay Lycurgo as 16-year-old Nathan Byrne, the son of a ferociously dangerous witch in a world divided between the Fairborne Witches (always considered good and pure) and the Blood Witches (less so). He’s on trial for his parentage, which doesn’t stop the Fairborne leader’s daughter, Annalise (Nadia Parks), from becoming his best friend. As the bodies start piling up, it’s assumed that Nathan has taken his father’s place as the most vile Blood witch of them all. It’s a solid teen drama and tale of self-discovery that stands out from the crowd by being much darker and bloodier than most. You can stream The Bastard Son & The Devil Himmés onNetflix .
Doom Patrol (2019–2023, four seasons)
Leaving the teen drama behind for just a moment, this uncharacteristically bold and deeply bizarre entry into the superhero canon is a quirky delight. Based on the indescribably weird comics, it follows a group of misfits and oddballs brought together by Timothy Dalton’s unhinged scientist Niles Caulder as part of an experiment he’s been running for decades. Their mansion is a bit like a high school dorm, but for adults who have no idea how to function in the outside world. The group includes characters like non-binary Danny the Street (the real Street), paranormal investigators the Sexmen, Fake Jesus, and orgasm-inducing bodybuilder Flex Mentallo. But it’s also, remarkably, anchored by excellent, often emotional character work from the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, Michelle Gomez, Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, and Jovian Wade. It’s also a queer, sex-positive series that celebrates queerness, where these foul-mouthed, pathetic morons learn to embrace their differences. You can watch Doom Patrol on HBO Max or buy episodes on Prime Video .
Riverdale (2017–2023)
A wild take on the once-perfectly healthy Archie Comics universe, Riverdale veers wildly between genres, first combining a preteen coming-of-age drama with a sexy detective, then tangling with the supernatural and alternate universes (Sabrina, aka the Teenage Witch, even makes an appearance later). In many ways, it’s more dramatic than Wednesday, but it’s also clear what kind of show it is, and the way it takes itself seriously amid its wild plot twists is its own comedy and entertainment value. You can watch Riverdale onNetflix or buy episodes on Prime Video .
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)
Well, obviously. “High school is hell,” this classic supernatural thriller claims, and I can’t argue with that. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Buffy Summers, the only girl in the world capable of stopping demons, vampires, and more. Buffy just wants to be a normal teenager, which puts her journey to self-acceptance closer to where Wednesday starts out, with little interest in “normality.” What they have in common, however, is a combination of action, dark comedy, and coming-of-age drama. Give it another watch before the reboot that’s in the works. You can stream Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Tubi and Hulu , or buy episodes on Prime Video .