Television series
High Maintenance
High Maintenance drifts through Brooklyn one delivery at a time, using a nameless, unbothered weed dealer as our doorway into strangers' lives. Each half-hour episode is really two or three tiny character studies stitched together by his rounds. It's funny, tender, occasionally strange, and never in a rush — perfect for anyone who'd rather eavesdrop on a city than watch a plot happen.
If you liked this
Atlanta2016
Same appetite for letting a scene breathe, but Glover swaps warmth for surrealism — Atlanta's rap-scene satire drifts into full-blown magical realism without ever announcing it.
But It's stranger and colder than High Maintenance, more interested in dread and dislocation than in giving anyone a hug.
Master of None2015
Ansari's NYC comedy shares the same generous curiosity about ordinary lives, dipping into single-episode stories — an ageing parent, a first date — with real patience and empathy.
But Later seasons swing wildly in tone and format, including a whole season that abandons the original premise entirely.
Easy2016
Joe Swanberg's Chicago anthology is the closest thing to High Maintenance's DNA — loosely connected couples and singles, mostly improvised, always humane.
But The mumblecore looseness that gives it its charm also means some episodes wander without quite landing anywhere.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Night on Earth1991
Both use a transient, almost anonymous guide — cabbie instead of dealer — as the thread stitching together strangers' brief, revealing encounters.
Jarmusch's anthology follows five taxi drivers across five cities in one night — a stranger who moves briefly and intimately through other people's lives, told with the same deadpan patience.
But It's slower and more melancholic than High Maintenance, with none of the modern pot-culture specificity or comic warmth.
More like this (8)
Broad City2014
Same weed, same borough energy, but cranked into cartoonish farce — Abbi and Ilana turn New York into a playground of small disasters and smaller victories.
But It's broader and sillier throughout, with none of High Maintenance's quieter, melancholy moments.
Better Things2016
Pamela Adlon's show has the same unhurried, observational rhythm, following a single mother through days that resist tidy narrative shape.
But It leans further into single-protagonist family drama, with less of the anthology structure and stranger-hopping you might be craving.
Los Espookys2019no page yet
A weirder, warmer cousin — a gang of friends running a horror-themed odd-jobs business, shot through with the same deadpan love for eccentric characters.
But It's surreal and often absurd in ways that trade High Maintenance's grounded realism for pure gleeful nonsense.
Insecure2016
Trades the anthology structure for a tighter focus, but keeps that same lived-in, funny, unglamorous portrait of adult friendship and city life.
But Far more serialized — you're following Issa's arc across seasons rather than dipping into strangers' lives episode to episode.
Girls2012
An earlier HBO Brooklyn portrait with the same interest in messy, self-absorbed New Yorkers, just narrower in cast and sharper in its cringe.
But Meaner and more claustrophobic — it lacks High Maintenance's generosity toward its characters' flaws.
Ramy2019
Swaps the dealer for a spiritually confused millennial, but keeps the loose, episodic character studies and unresolved, human messiness of ordinary lives.
But Its focus on faith and identity gives it a more specific thematic throughline than High Maintenance's freewheeling structure.
Kiki's Delivery Service1989
Same structural engine — a delivery job as an excuse to wander into other people's lives — swapped from stoner comedy into tender, family-friendly magic realism.
Studio Ghibli's gentle coming-of-age film follows a young witch delivering parcels around a seaside town, meeting the townsfolk and quietly growing up along the way.
But It's a wholesome, all-ages animated film with zero drugs, zero cynicism, and none of High Maintenance's adult wit or melancholy.
Slacker1990
The literal blueprint for 'hang out with strangers, no plot required' storytelling — High Maintenance's episodic wandering owes it a real debt.
Richard Linklater's plotless Austin classic drifts from one rambling character to the next, the camera simply abandoning each person once someone more interesting wanders past.
But There's no protagonist at all, not even a dealer to loosely tie things together — it's structure without a throughline, which can feel aimless.
People
Cast
Writing
- Ben SinclairCreator
- Katja BlichfeldCreator
Production
- Emi IrikawaAssociate Producer
- Willy FriedmanCo-Executive Producer
- Ben SinclairExecutive Producer
- Katja BlichfeldExecutive Producer
- Russell GregoryExecutive Producer
- Gwen BialicProducer
Recommended by
Atlanta, Master of None, Easy, Broad City, Ramy, Tuca & Bertie, Random Acts of Flyness