Television series

Duncanville

Duncanville is an animated comedy about a perfectly unremarkable teenager navigating high school with the kind of messy sincerity most shows avoid. Amy Poehler voices Duncan with genuine warmth beneath the awkwardness. It's funny without being mean-spirited, character-driven rather than joke-reliant, and genuinely interested in what it feels like to be fifteen and utterly ordinary.

TVMaze rating3.2

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BoJack Horseman2014

A show about a deeply flawed person that treats its characters with surprising tenderness. Like Duncanville, it balances comedy with real emotional stakes and refuses to mock its protagonist for simply being human and messy.

But It's considerably darker, drearier, and more nihilistic. The humor is sharper and meaner; Duncanville is gentler by design.

BoJack Horseman poster

Teenage Bounty Hunters2020

Two sisters hunt bail-jumpers and stumble through adolescence. It's energetic, weird, surprisingly touching, and genuinely funny about friendship and family without becoming saccharine.

But It was cancelled after one season. The serialized plot threads don't fully resolve, which is frustrating if you need closure.

Teenage Bounty Hunters poster

Daria1997

The spiritual ancestor of gentle high school comedies. Smart, funny, character-focused, and genuinely affectionate toward its cast even when mocking teen culture. A masterclass in observational humor.

But The animation is dated and deliberately flat. If you need slick visuals or constant action, this will feel very 90s-MTV and slow.

Daria poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

PEN152019

Both treat adolescent embarrassment and social failure as genuinely important, funny, and worthy of compassion rather than mockery.

A half-hour comedy that digs into actual middle-school trauma—shame, cruelty, awkwardness—with real honesty and humor. It's about the period just before Duncanville's high school, but captures a similar spirit of taking teenagers seriously.

But It's crude and deliberately uncomfortable, mining comedy from real social pain. The show doesn't soften its subject matter, and it can feel genuinely harsh.

PEN15 poster
More like this (8)

The Owl House2020

A show about misfits finding their place in a magical world. Genuinely character-driven, funny, warm-hearted, with real emotional depth. It trusts its audience and its characters in equal measure.

But It's marketed as children's animation, so some viewers bounce off the register before giving it a chance.

The Owl House poster

Craig of the Creek2018

Quietly excellent slice-of-life about kids being kids. No big stakes or constant jokes—just observation, friendship, and the small adventures that matter at that age. Deeply, surprisingly moving.

But The pacing is deliberately slow and contemplative. If you want plot momentum and narrative drive, you'll find it meandering.

Craig of the Creek poster

F is for Family2015

Mark Burr's animated comedy about a frustrated typewriter salesman in the 1970s. It's crude, profane, and genuinely funny, with real heart buried under the rage and vulgarity.

But It's aggressively mean-spirited about its characters and often relentlessly bleak. Very different energy from Duncanville's warmth.

F is for Family poster

Tuca & Bertie2019

A show about female friendship that's surreal, funny, and unexpectedly moving. Each episode is its own little world. The joy and affection between the leads is genuinely infectious.

But It's deliberately weird and frequently abstract. If you want straightforward narrative, this will feel frustratingly scattered.

Tuca & Bertie poster

Undone2019

A rotoscoped animation about a young woman discovering she might have superpowers. Visually stunning, funny, and deeply engaged with what it means to be uncertain and becoming an adult.

But The visual technique divides people sharply. Some find it gorgeous; others find it distracting or uncomfortable to watch.

Undone poster

Shrinking2023

Bill Lawrence comedy-drama about a grieving therapist breaking all his professional rules. Warm, genuinely funny, with real emotional stakes and a cast that works together beautifully.

But It tips toward drama more than Duncanville does, and the tone can feel uneven—sometimes the comedy undercuts the serious moments awkwardly.

Shrinking poster

Fleabag2016

Both understand that comedy and genuine character growth aren't opposites; that you can be funny and real simultaneously, and that flawed people deserve our attention and care.

A British comedy about a twenty-something disaster of a person who addresses the camera directly. Wildly funny, genuinely heartbreaking, and so smartly structured it rewires how you think about comedy and drama together.

But It's structured around sexual content, family dysfunction, and serious grief. The tone is incredibly tonal—it whips from hilarious to devastating in seconds.

Fleabag poster

Lovely Molly2011

Both are interested in what happens inside someone's head when they feel ordinary, trapped, and utterly alone—one finds humor there, the other finds horror, but both understand the psychological shape of that isolation.

A found-footage horror film about a newlywed woman spiraling psychologically after her mother's death. It's terrifying and genuinely sad, using the format to make you feel claustrophobic and isolated alongside its protagonist.

But It's a genuine horror film—slow-building dread, bleak ending, no comfort. If you're watching Duncanville for laughs, this is a hard swerve into genuine discomfort.

Lovely Molly poster

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