Television series

Love, Victor

Name: Love, Victor
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: 2020
Cast: Michael Cimino, Ana Ortiz, James Martinez, Isabella Ferreira, Mateo Fernandez

A gentle, big-hearted spinoff of Love, Simon that swaps the movie's tidy resolution for a slower, messier version of the same story. Victor's coming out unfolds alongside family strain, first heartbreaks and the ordinary chaos of being the new kid — funny, earnest, unabashedly optimistic. It's comfort viewing with real stakes, aimed at teens but warm enough for anyone who wants their queer stories kind rather than bruising.

TVMaze rating

7.5

If you liked this

Heartstopper2022

The obvious next step — British, even gentler, and just as committed to letting its queer teens be soft and happy rather than tragic. If Victor's warmth hooked you, this is more of exactly that.

But Even softer and slower paced; some viewers find its sweetness borders on saccharine.

Love, Simon2018

The film Victor's show spun off from — same world, same tone, tighter and funnier in two hours. Worth seeing to understand where all of it started.

But You've likely half-absorbed the plot already through cultural osmosis; less surprise on a first watch.

Never Have I Ever2020

Same messy-teen-comedy energy and warmth under the jokes, different family and different stakes. Devi's chaos makes a great companion to Victor's more careful unraveling.

But Its lead is far more abrasive and impulsive than Victor — a different kind of protagonist to root for.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Beautiful Thing1996

Same engine as Victor — a working-class kid, a nosy neighborhood, a first same-sex romance blooming in public — but made when this story was genuinely dangerous to tell, not merely difficult.

Made in 1996 on a London council estate — two teenage boys falling for each other while their families shout through paper-thin walls. It got here decades before it was safe to, with real tenderness.

But Dated visually and stylistically, and its politics are of its moment rather than ours.

Sex Education2019

British, raunchier, and far more explicit about sex and identity, but built on the same foundation of teens figuring themselves out while their families fall apart around them.

But Considerably more explicit and crude — a big tonal jump if you liked Victor's relative gentleness.

One Day at a Time2017

A Cuban-American family sitcom that treats a kid's coming out, a parent's own reckoning, and immigrant-family friction with real tenderness and genuine laughs — a spiritual cousin to Victor's home life.

But Multi-cam sitcom format with a studio-audience feel — a different rhythm than Victor's single-camera drama.

On My Block2018

Same diverse, working-class neighborhood texture and tangled friend groups, minus the romance focus — swap coming-out drama for gang-adjacent stakes and darker comedy.

But Tonally rougher and occasionally violent; not the same easy comfort-watch.

Alex Strangelove2018no page yet

A smaller, scrappier teen coming-out comedy that leans further into awkward, unglamorous confusion rather than tidy self-acceptance.

But Less polish and starpower, with a rougher sense of humor than Victor's glossy Hulu sheen.

The Fosters2013no page yet

A blended, multiracial family drama that spends years on identity, sexuality and the messy work of just being a family — a slower burn with real accumulated weight.

But Five seasons is a big ask, and its early-2010s Freeform polish shows its age.

Everything's Gonna Be Okay2020

Weirder and sharper — a family sitcom about grief, sexuality and neurodivergence that finds real feeling inside absurdist comedy.

But Much odder in tone and rhythm; its humor is stranger and less immediately comforting.

SKAM2015

Skam's Isak season is the blueprint — quiet, internal, achingly real coming-out story — that the entire genre, Love Victor included, has been remixing ever since.

The Norwegian teen drama that essentially invented this modern wave of realistic coming-out storytelling, originally released in real-time clips synced to the characters' actual days. Its Isak season is the direct ancestor of Victor's arc.

But Subtitled, released in a fragmented clip format originally, and paced much slower and more naturalistically than a polished Hulu season.

Moonlight2016

Same question Victor keeps circling — can you be fully yourself inside a family and neighborhood that didn't design a place for you — but Moonlight answers it with poetry and grief instead of sitcom warmth.

A three-part, hushed, visually stunning portrait of a boy becoming a man while queer, Black, and poor in Miami. It takes everything Victor gestures at — identity, family wound, first love — and renders it as art.

But Slow, quiet, and emotionally heavy; there's little comedy and no tidy uplift.