Television series
Rhoda
Rhoda is the spin-off where Mary Richards' brassy best friend moves back to New York, reinvents herself, and tries to make single life, then married life, work on her own terms. It's warm, wisecracking, mid-70s single-camera comedy — light on plot, heavy on character, doorman jokes, and Valerie Harper's motormouth charm. Good for anyone who likes their sitcoms with real bite underneath the punchlines.
If you liked this
The Mary Tyler Moore Show1970
This is where Rhoda came from — same warmth, same wit, and Mary and Rhoda's friendship is one of the great double acts in American sitcom history.
But Gentler and more office-bound than Rhoda; if you want her messier, more romantic energy, this can feel tame.
Maude1972
Norman Lear's brassy, opinionated take on the same era's liberated woman — louder and angrier, and unafraid to tackle abortion, divorce, and menopause head-on.
But The politics are loud and dated in places, and the comedy leans on shouting matches rather than Rhoda's softer self-deprecation.
Alice1976no page yet
A single woman rebuilding her life from scratch, waitressing her way through Mel's Diner with the same blend of wisecracks and quiet resilience.
But Broader and more slapstick, set far from the city glamour that gives Rhoda its particular flavor.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Fleabag2016
Both are studies of a witty, self-deprecating single woman narrating her own chaos — Rhoda's wry asides and diary-like tone were doing decades earlier what Fleabag's fourth-wall breaks do now.
It takes the same confessional, funny-sad, woman-alone-in-the-city formula and strips away the sitcom safety net entirely, going raw, grief-stricken, and startlingly intimate.
But Far darker and more explicit than anything Rhoda ever attempted; the laughs come laced with real anguish.
More like this (8)
One Day at a Time2017
Another Lear-produced starting-over story, this time a divorced mother raising two daughters, with the same mix of jokes and real emotional stakes.
But More earnest and issue-driven than Rhoda, and less interested in comedy purely for its own sake.
Kate & Allie1984
Two divorced women sharing a New York apartment and rebuilding their lives — practically Rhoda's spiritual sequel, a decade on and a little wiser.
But Slower and more domestic in rhythm; it lacks Rhoda's slightly frantic urban charm.
The Golden Girls1985
Female friendship carrying a sitcom on pure chemistry and one-liners, proof the formula that made Rhoda work only got sharper with age.
But Broader jokes and a much older cast give it a different flavor from Rhoda's twentysomething-in-the-city energy.
Murphy Brown1988
A single, sharp-tongued career woman navigating work and romance in a media-obsessed city — same DNA, dressed in eighties power suits.
But More topical and news-satire-heavy, and less about apartment life and family than Rhoda ever was.
The Bob Newhart Show1972
Its low-key, character-first comedy was Rhoda's CBS Saturday-night neighbor, and Newhart's deadpan plays nicely against Harper's motormouth energy if you want more of that era's ensemble warmth.
But Much quieter and more office-based, with almost none of Rhoda's romantic entanglement plots.
Cybill1995no page yet
A messier, funnier take on a woman juggling ex-husbands, a career, and her own insecurities, with the same sharp self-aware voice Rhoda pioneered.
But Nineties multi-camera gloss and a more cynical edge than Rhoda's essentially romantic optimism.
An American Family1973
Filmed the same year Rhoda premiered, this landmark PBS documentary followed a real family's marriage collapsing on camera — the unscripted version of the divorce Rhoda later dramatized for laughs.
A genuinely startling piece of television history — the first fly-on-the-wall reality series, watching an ordinary American family fall apart in real time with no writers softening the blow.
But Slow and unedited by modern reality-TV standards, offering none of Rhoda's comic relief; this is observation, not entertainment.
The Apartment1960
Billy Wilder's bittersweet comedy about a working woman tangled up with a married man in Manhattan is the blueprint for the single-woman-finding-herself-in-the-city story Rhoda later brought to television.
A perfect blend of comedy and heartbreak, gorgeously shot in black and white, with Shirley MacLaine giving one of the great performances of the era.
But It's a film, not a sitcom — slower and more melancholic, with office politics that feel a world away from Rhoda's apartment-block chatter.
People
Cast
Writing
- Allan BurnsCreator
- James L. BrooksCreator