Television series

Scandal

Scandal is Shonda Rhimes at her most breathless: a Washington fixer with a wine glass permanently in hand, a president she can't quit, and a body count that keeps climbing. It's soap opera dressed as political thriller — dialogue delivered at a sprint, twists every episode, morality treated as an inconvenience. Watch it for pure velocity and Kerry Washington's magnetic control; watch something else if you need your plots to make sense afterward.

TVMaze rating7.9

If you liked this

How to Get Away with Murder2014

Same architect as Scandal — Shondaland's twistier legal cousin, with a magnetic law professor running a crew of students into moral freefall. The pace, the reversals, the shameless cliffhangers are all present and correct.

But The twists eventually outrun the characters, and by the final seasons the show is contorting itself just to keep surprising you.

How to Get Away with Murder poster

Homeland2011

Swaps DC glamour for CIA paranoia but keeps the addictive moral murk — a brilliant, compromised woman making impossible calls while the people around her lie for a living.

But Slower and more cerebral than Scandal's sprint; the espionage plotting demands patience Scandal never asks for.

Homeland poster

The Good Wife2009

A sharper, more grounded take on power and compromise — Alicia Florrick navigates law, politics and marriage with the same clear-eyed pragmatism Olivia Pope brings to fixing.

But Its pleasures are quieter and more procedural; don't expect Scandal's operatic reversals or breakneck plotting.

The Good Wife poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

I, Claudius1976

Both are studies of people who survive by managing the secrets of the powerful; Scandal's gladiators in suits are Rome's freedmen and wives, four centuries early.

Ancient Rome's imperial court runs on exactly the same fuel as Olivia's DC — poison, marriage as strategy, and fixers whispering behind every throne. Derek Jacobi's stammering Claudius watches an empire eat itself from the inside.

But Studio-bound 1970s production values and a slower theatrical pace will test anyone raised on modern television.

I, Claudius poster
More like this (8)

House of Cards2013

If you love the Oval Office intrigue, here's the version with the moral compass fully removed — Frank Underwood's ascent is Scandal's power games without the redemptive flickers.

But Cold and cynical where Scandal is warm and messy; some will miss Olivia's flashes of conscience.

House of Cards poster

Grey's Anatomy2005

The other Shondaland engine — same propulsive melodrama, same willingness to blow up a stable relationship for story, just relocated to a hospital instead of the West Wing.

But Seventeen-plus seasons of hospital soap is a serious commitment, and the tone drifts a lot over that stretch.

Grey's Anatomy poster

242001

Strip away the romance and you get Scandal's other engine: relentless real-time crisis management, impossible odds, and a protagonist who solves problems by refusing to sleep.

But The ticking-clock gimmick and torture-heavy plotting feel dated, and the politics are far less knowing.

24 poster

Madam Secretary2014no page yet

A gentler, more optimistic DC drama — a woman navigating international crises and Washington knives with competence rather than chaos, if you want the fixer fantasy without the wreckage.

But It's earnest where Scandal is feral; if you came for scandal and betrayal, this plays it safe.

Designated Survivor2016no page yet

An accidental president trying to hold the country together gives you the West Wing crisis mode Scandal thrives on, with a more procedural, conspiracy-thriller backbone.

But Loses some steam after its strong first season, and the tone shifts as it was cancelled and revived across networks.

Empire2015

Same DNA of empire-building, betrayal and family loyalty pushed to soap-opera extremes — swap the White House for a hip-hop dynasty and keep every twist turned up.

But Leans harder into melodrama and musical numbers; it's Scandal's chaos without the political stakes.

Empire poster

The Thick of It2005

Where Scandal makes crisis PR look sexy, this shows the same job as farce: frantic, undignified, and staffed by people barely holding it together.

British sitcom about government spin doctors, filthy-mouthed and shot like a documentary — it's the same crisis-management world as Scandal played entirely for comedy and despair.

But Broad British political satire and heavy accents may not land the same way, and there's zero romance to hook into.

The Thick of It poster

Weiner2016

It's the actual, unglamorous version of what Olivia Pope spends her career cleaning up — the same species of scandal minus the fixer and the soundtrack.

A real political scandal filmed from inside the collapse, following Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign as it implodes in real time — unscripted, mortifying, and impossible to look away from.

But There's no satisfying resolution or catharsis, just the genuine discomfort of watching someone destroy himself on camera.

Weiner poster

People

Cast

Writing

Production

Recommended by

The West Wing, House of Cards, A Very English Scandal, UnREAL, How to Get Away with Murder, The Good Wife, Tyler Perry's Beauty in Black, The Equalizer, Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots, Revenge, The Blacklist, The Morning Show, The American President