Television series

Nurse Jackie

Edie Falco is magnetic as a brilliant ER nurse who lies fluently to everyone she loves while quietly medicating her own chronic pain and keeping the whole operation from collapsing. It's a workplace comedy with real teeth — funny, sharp, occasionally devastating — that never lets you off the hook for liking her. Half-hour episodes, hospital-corridor pace, a moral compass that keeps spinning.

TVMaze rating7.8

If you liked this

Weeds2005

Mary-Louise Parker plays a suburban widow turned dealer, and the show runs on the same dread of a double life wrapped in genuinely funny writing — Showtime's original antihero comfort food.

But Gets sillier and more cartoonish as seasons stack up; the sharp bite of the early run doesn't last.

Weeds poster

United States of Tara2009

Diablo Cody's tragicomedy about a mother with dissociative identity disorder finds laughs inside real suffering without ever cheapening it, much like Jackie's addiction never becomes a punchline.

But Toni Collette's shapeshifting is a showcase and can feel like a stunt if you want steadier, quieter character work.

United States of Tara poster

The Big C2010no page yet

Laura Linney hides a cancer diagnosis while rearranging her entire messy life, blending gallows humour with real tenderness in the same key as Jackie's secret-keeping.

But Softer and more sentimental than Jackie — less bite, more hug, especially as it goes on.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Days of Wine and Roses1963

Same premise — a likeable, competent person lying their way through addiction — played dead straight instead of for dark comedy, which reveals exactly what Jackie's jokes are shielding you from.

Jack Lemmon plays a charming, capable man whose drinking quietly destroys his marriage — filmed with total sincerity, no safety net, no jokes to soften the fall.

But Black-and-white, unhurried, and completely without Jackie's wit; it's a hard, sad watch by design, not a comfort.

Days of Wine and Roses poster
More like this (8)

Rescue Me2004no page yet

Denis Leary as a firefighter unravelling through grief and addiction — an unglamorous portrait of a competent professional who is a disaster the second he's off the clock.

But Angrier and more macho than Jackie, and some of its politics and jokes haven't aged well at all.

Getting On2013

A workplace comedy set in a geriatric hospital ward, mining the same institutional grime and dark laughs at the edges of mortality that Jackie thrives on.

But Quieter and more absurdist, with almost no plot momentum if you're craving actual stakes.

Getting On poster

Breaking Bad2008

The definitive study of a competent, ordinary person building an elaborate second life on lies — same slow-motion tension, vastly bigger canvas.

But Far darker, longer, and a crime saga rather than a workplace comedy, if a lighter touch is what you're after.

Breaking Bad poster

Scrubs2001

Same overworked hospital corridors and gallows humour to survive the shift, just with a much gentler, goofier heart than Jackie ever allows.

But Sitcom sentimentality and broad jokes where Jackie stays cynical and unresolved.

Scrubs poster

Six Feet Under2001

Another workplace built around death, where a family holds itself together with dark jokes, denial, and the occasional total breakdown.

But Slower and more meditative — a grief drama first, with none of Jackie's hospital-corridor urgency.

Six Feet Under poster

Grey's Anatomy2005

Same ER chaos and moral compromise, if you want it stirred into soapier romance and a much bigger ensemble.

But A vastly longer commitment with a glossier tone and less interest in lasting consequence.

Grey's Anatomy poster

The Waiting Room2012

Same institution and the same triage-and-improvise rhythm of a hospital shift, but with nobody performing for the camera — proof the show's chaos isn't exaggerated for effect.

A documentary following one real Oakland ER over 24 hours, uninsured patients and exhausted staff improvising care in real time — all the chaos Jackie fictionalises, unscripted and unresolved.

But No plot, no charismatic lead to root for, just patient, unglamorous observation of people waiting.

The Waiting Room poster

Fleabag2016

Same architecture of a brilliant, unreliable woman using wit and control to dodge a reckoning — just stripped down to one flat, no coworkers, and a camera she talks to directly.

A woman self-destructing in real time, breaking the fourth wall to let you in on jokes nobody else gets, using charm as armour for the grief underneath.

But British, half the runtime, no hospital, and an intimate scale rather than an institutional one — a very different engine room.

Fleabag poster

People

Cast

Writing

Production

Recommended by