Television series

Pose

Name: Pose
Genre: Drama
Released: 2018
Cast: Indya Moore, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Angel Bismark Curiel, Billy Porter

Pose is big-hearted, gorgeously mounted melodrama about New York's underground ball culture in the late '80s and '90s, told through the Black and Latina trans women who built families from nothing when their own rejected them. It has soap-opera swagger, incredible costume numbers, and real historical weight—AIDS, homelessness, chosen family—handled with tenderness rather than tragedy for its own sake. Watch it for the joy as much as the grief.

TVMaze rating

7.8

If you liked this

It's a Sin2021

Same decade, same virus, same terror and joy of a queer friend group building lives under threat—British, funnier and rawer, following young gay men through the AIDS crisis with tenderness and fury.

But The ending hits like a truck; some viewers find its grief overwhelming rather than cathartic.

Queer As Folk2000no page yet

The original chosen-family queer drama, brasher and hornier than its American descendants, following friends navigating identity, love and betrayal in Manchester's gay scene with real bite.

But Only eight episodes total, and its frank sexuality and dated attitudes toward some issues may feel abrupt.

Transparent2014

A sprawling, funny, painful family saga anchored by a trans parent's late-life coming out—messy, self-indulgent people finding themselves loudly, much like Pose's houses.

But The show's later years were overshadowed by off-screen controversy involving its lead actor, which colors the viewing.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Paris Is Burning1991

Pose's entire world—categories, houses, mothers, reading—comes directly from this documentary; several real ball legends it captures are namechecked in the show itself.

This is the actual footage—real ball walkers, real houses, real voices Pose dramatizes decades later. Funnier, sadder and more immediate than any fictional version could be.

But Low-budget documentary filmmaking, no plot to follow, and the fates of its subjects afterward are genuinely heartbreaking.

Orange Is the New Black2013

Another sprawling ensemble of marginalized women building fierce loyalty inside an institution that wants to erase them—same warmth, same range from comedy to gut-punch.

But Seven seasons is a big commitment, and quality dips notably in the back half.

Hollywood2020no page yet

Same creative team as Pose reimagines old Hollywood as a queerer, more just place—glossy, hopeful, unapologetically theatrical wish-fulfillment history.

But Its revisionism is deliberately fantastical, which can feel glib next to Pose's grounded stakes.

American Horror Story2011

Ryan Murphy again, same city, same era, this time filtered through horror—the AIDS crisis and gay New York rendered as dread and body horror rather than melodrama.

But It's genuinely frightening and bleak in ways Pose never is; not for anyone wanting warmth.

This Is Us2016

If it's the tearjerker family-across-decades structure you want, this delivers—big emotional swings, earned tears, characters you'll defend to strangers.

But It has none of Pose's specific cultural world; the family here is straight, suburban and much safer.

Empire2015

Music-industry royalty, family betrayal, a queer son fighting for his father's respect—big, campy, soapy drama with real heart underneath the theatrics.

But It leans harder into pulp than Pose ever does, and later seasons grow increasingly baroque.

Feel Good2020no page yet

A smaller, funnier, more contemporary queer love story about addiction, identity and chosen family—tender where Pose is grand, intimate where Pose is operatic.

But Only two short seasons, and its indie scale is a big tonal step down from Pose's spectacle.

Angels in America2003

Both dramatize the AIDS crisis through queer chosen family and performance, but where Pose finds hope in community, this finds fury in institutional betrayal.

The same New York, the same plague years, but delivered as feverish, angry, magical-realist theatre—angels appear, ghosts argue politics, and grief becomes something operatic and strange.

But It's dense, stagey and unapologetically political; six hours of heightened language rather than naturalistic drama.

Strictly Ballroom1992

Same engine as any ball scene—a judged performance world with strict rules, where daring to be authentic on the floor is the whole point—just transposed into competitive ballroom dancing comedy.

A joyous, ridiculous underdog dance-competition romance where breaking the rules of a rigid, judged performance world becomes an act of self-liberation—pure sequined joy.

But It's a broad comedy with none of Pose's stakes or history; pure escapism, not a serious companion piece.