Television series

Disenchantment

Name: Disenchantment
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 2018
Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Nat Faxon, Eric André, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche

Disenchantment is Matt Groening's boozy fairy tale, a serialized fantasy comedy about princess Bean, her elf best friend Elfo, and her personal demon Luci stumbling through the collapsing kingdom of Dreamland. It's Futurama's snark stapled onto a medieval world, funnier as a hangout show than a plot machine, best enjoyed in a slouch with something cheap to drink.

TVMaze rating

7.1

If you liked this

Futurama1999

Groening's other found-family riff, this time in space: the same blend of throwaway one-liners and surprising heart, with a sharper satirical edge and jokes that reward rewatching.

But It swaps medieval fantasy for space opera, and its cynicism runs colder than Dreamland's warmth.

The Simpsons1989

The blueprint for everything Groening does: family dysfunction, a town full of idiots, jokes stacked on jokes. Essential if you want the source code for Bean's whole sensibility.

But Decades of episodes means wildly uneven quality, and the earliest seasons feel dated next to Disenchantment's pacing.

Rick and Morty2013

Another cynical adventuring duo hopping between absurd set pieces, with the same trick of hiding real sadness under the jokes and rarely resolving anything neatly.

But It's meaner and colder, with a nihilistic smugness that Disenchantment's warmth and slapstick mostly avoid.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail1975

Disenchantment's entire comedic engine — mocking fantasy tropes from inside a crumbling kingdom — is Monty Python's invention; this is where that joke started.

The original medieval-fantasy piss-take, still the funniest deconstruction of knights, quests and kings ever filmed — you can feel its DNA in every joke Dreamland makes about castles.

But It's a loose sketch-film with barely a plot, and some of the humor is very of-its-era British silliness.

Bob's Burgers2011

If you liked Bean's chaotic found family, here's the gentler cousin: a scrappy clan holding together through puns and genuine affection, low stakes, high charm.

But No fantasy, no adventure, no quests — just a burger joint. Won't scratch that itch at all.

Big Mouth2017

The same raunchy, crude comedic engine, aimed at puberty instead of princesses — anthropomorphized id, filthy jokes, and surprising tenderness hiding underneath.

But It's aggressively horny and body-focused in a way that makes some viewers wince rather than laugh.

Gravity Falls2012

Mystery-laced small-town weirdness with real narrative payoff — a tighter, more carefully plotted cousin if you want the jokes to actually add up to something.

But It's aimed younger and wraps in two seasons, a very different rhythm than Dreamland's sprawl.

Final Space2018no page yet

A scrappy misfit crew, a talking alien sidekick, and jokes that curdle into genuine grief — a similar tonal whiplash to Disenchantment's later seasons.

But Lower budget animation and a smaller cult following mean it's rougher around the edges.

Amphibia2019

A stranded kid, a frog family, and a fantasy world that gets stranger the longer she stays — good if you want the adventure dialed up.

But It's a Disney Channel show at heart, sweeter and more earnest than Dreamland's boozy cynicism.

Blackadder1983

Same premise as Bean's Dreamland — a bored, clever royal trapped by dumb tradition and worse advisors — delivered as live-action period sitcom instead of animation.

A scheming, self-interested prince stuck in a backward court full of idiots, played for cruelty and wit rather than warmth — the sardonic royal comedy Disenchantment only flirts with.

But It's a studio-bound British sitcom with a laugh track, live actors, and zero fantasy creatures — a real format jump.

Over the Garden Wall2014

Both use a fantasy kingdom of fools and monsters to sneak up on real grief; this shows what happens when that instinct is played almost entirely straight.

A ten-episode animated fable about two brothers lost in an autumnal, half-dreamed world — funny and strange, then quietly devastating in a way Disenchantment only occasionally risks.

But It's slower, sadder, and far more melancholic — closer to a half-remembered fairy tale than a joke machine.