Television series
Sisters
Sisters follows four grown sisters in Winnetka, Illinois as marriages fracture, careers stall and old family wounds resurface over five seasons of earnest, network-era melodrama. It treats a Thanksgiving blowup with the same weight as a divorce. This is patient, unhurried domestic drama for anyone who wants women's ordinary lives taken seriously and given room to breathe.
If you liked this
Brothers & Sisters2006
A sprawling, big-hearted ensemble about five grown siblings navigating grief, politics and each other's messes — the closest modern equivalent to Sisters' emotional scale and warmth overall.
But The political subplots and constant crises can feel soapier and busier than the quieter, slower-burn feel of the original.
thirtysomething1987
The prestige ancestor of adult ensemble drama — friends and siblings navigating marriage, work and mortality with the same unhurried, conversation-heavy realism that Sisters clearly loved and borrowed from.
But Glacially paced by modern standards, and its yuppie angst can feel dated and insular now.
Once and Again1999
A quieter, more intimate look at blended families and second chances, built on the same commitment to long emotional arcs over quick plot twists that made Sisters so rewarding.
But Its experimental talking-head interludes and moodier tone are a departure from Sisters' warmer, more traditional storytelling.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Hannah and Her Sisters1986
Both center adult sisters whose loyalty survives infidelity, ambition and disappointment — but this version trades earnest melodrama for philosophical comedy, and two hours instead of five seasons.
Woody Allen's warm, witty ensemble about three sisters juggling love affairs and existential crises in New York — sharp writing, gorgeous city photography, and real tenderness between its women.
But Allen's persona and off-screen history are a dealbreaker for some viewers, no matter how good the film is.
More like this (8)
Party of Five1994
Siblings raising each other after tragedy — less about mothers, more about surrogate parenting, but the same devotion to how family bonds hold together under real pressure.
But Younger cast and higher melodrama quotient; some seasons lean harder into soap opera plotting than you might expect.
Judging Amy1999
A mother-daughter dynamic anchors this one, blending courtroom drama with the same generational friction and hard-won affection that made Sisters' family scenes land so well.
But The legal procedural half dilutes the family focus; it's less ensemble, more single central relationship.
Providence1999
Another network-era family drama about grown siblings returning home, wrestling with parents, careers and old resentments in gentle, comforting, easily bingeable episodic doses each week.
But Its magical-realism touches, like ghostly visits from a dead parent, sit oddly against otherwise grounded family storytelling.
Army Wives2007no page yet
Swap sisters for a found family of military wives, but keep the same rotating ensemble of women supporting each other through crisis after crisis, week after week.
But Military setting and recurring deployment plots give it a different rhythm and stakes than domestic sisterhood.
Parenthood2010
A bigger, messier extended family saga with the same commitment to earned tears, slow-building arcs, and characters you will genuinely miss long after it ends.
But The larger cast spreads focus thinner; it's less intimate than Sisters' tighter four-woman core ever was.
Everwood2002
Small-town family drama with a slower pulse and strong parent-child throughlines, good for anyone who liked Sisters' patient, character-driven storytelling over its many quiet years on air.
But Centers on a father-son relationship rather than sisters, so the emotional core shifts noticeably from what you loved before.
Fleabag2016
Same tangled sibling love-hate at the emotional center, just filtered through blistering British comedy and a single lead's unraveling instead of an ensemble network drama.
A scorched-earth half-hour comedy about grief, guilt and one desperately complicated sisterly bond, delivered through fourth-wall confessions that turn devastating without a moment's warning, and it never once feels like a lecture.
But Twenty-two minutes an episode, sardonic and filthy — nothing like the earnest, unhurried tone of Sisters.
Our Little Sister2015no page yet
The same premise — sisters becoming each other's chosen family — but stripped of American melodrama for something slower, subtler and startlingly tender.
A quiet, Kore-eda Japanese film about three sisters who take in their estranged half-sister after their father's death — gentle, observational, deeply moving without raising its voice.
But Nothing much 'happens' by design; if you want plot momentum or confrontation, this patient, contemplative pace will frustrate you.
People
Cast
Writing
- Daniel LipmanCreator
- Ron CowenCreator