Television series

Sneaky Pete

Name: Sneaky Pete
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2015
Cast: Libe Barer, Margo Martindale, Peter Gerety, Shane McRae, Giovanni Ribisi

A con man fresh from prison slides into his cellmate's family bail-bond business, where he secretly helps catch criminals to settle old debts. Sneaky Pete is a tightly wound crime drama with real emotional stakes beneath the con-artist thrills—it has the momentum of a heist show but the patience of character study. For people who loved the moral ambiguity of Breaking Bad but want something leaner and meaner.

TVMaze rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a con story where the fun is watching a liar keep his stories straight, with a family drama running underneath the grifts.

Skip it if you need every scene to move fast, since it lingers on family loyalties and bail-bond routine, and three seasons is a real commitment.

What it asks of you: Thirty episodes of roughly 49 minutes each, with patient setups and a lot of quiet dialogue that builds slowly.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Better Call Saul2015

A criminal lawyer's descent into moral compromise, told with the same meticulous craft and dark humour. Both shows believe that broken people deserve complex stories, not just punishment.

But It's slower than Sneaky Pete and much longer—five seasons to sit with one man's slow moral collapse can feel like a punishment itself.

Ozark2017

Ordinary person forced to navigate a criminal underworld using brains instead of violence. Same DNA: desperation, deception, family relationships tested by secrecy, and the question of who you become when you lie constantly.

But The protagonist's wife is deliberately passive in ways that frustrate many viewers, and the series outstays its welcome by at least a season.

The Sopranos1999

The godfather of shows about criminals with code and family complications. If you love the tension between Marius's two worlds—his con-artist past and his (genuine?) attempts at legitimate life—this invented that tension.

But 90s MTV dialogue and production can feel dated. It's also extremely long if you're new to it, and the early seasons move deliberately.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Sneaky Pete

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

American Animals2018

Sneaky Pete is about a man who performs a version of himself so convincingly he might believe it; American Animals is about young men who blurred the line between imagining a crime and committing one. Both examine how the story we tell ourselves becomes the life we live.

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But It's deliberately playful about a real crime, which some viewers find disrespectful. And formally it's restless—the style-shifting works but it's not smooth.

MINDHUNTER2017

Two men learning to think like criminals to catch them. Like Sneaky Pete, it's about the strange intimacy of understanding how bad people work—and what that understanding costs the people doing it.

But It's cerebral and slow, more interested in psychological process than plot momentum. The cancelled ending will frustrate you.

The Americans2013

Two Soviet spies living as American suburbanites: a master class in sustained double-life drama. The paranoia, the exhaustion of constant pretense, the way lies corrode every relationship—it's Sneaky Pete's spiritual cousin.

But Relentlessly bleak. There are few moments of levity, and by the end you may feel emotionally sandpapered.

Broadchurch2013

A murder investigation that slowly reveals how deception and secrets are woven into the fabric of a small community. Crime drama that trusts you to sit with moral ambiguity and uncomfortable truths.

But The second season drops in quality noticeably. The first is masterful; the rest are watching someone remake the same thing with less clarity.

The Affair2014

Unreliable narrators telling the same story four different ways. If you appreciate how Sneaky Pete plays with perspective and what people choose to reveal, this is the same game applied to infidelity and small-town secrets.

But It's exhausting watching the same scenes retold constantly, and the show sometimes mistakes repetition for depth.

Godless2017

A man on the run takes shelter in a town run entirely by women, forced to confront who he actually is beneath the performance. Western tone, short runtime, and a genuine exploration of reinvention and redemption.

But It's a miniseries that feels slightly underbaked—fascinating premise that needed either more episodes or a tighter edit.

Halt and Catch Fire2014

Ambitious, complex people building something from nothing while lying constantly about their motivations. Character-driven drama about ambition, partnership, and the cost of reinventing yourself in a specific era.

But The first season is clunky before it finds its footing. And it's fundamentally about tech entrepreneurs, which is a narrower premise than you might want.

Killing Ground2017

Both are about the moment when you realize the person across from you is not who you thought they were, and how quickly that realization can become lethal. The horror isn't supernatural; it's interpersonal.

A taut Australian horror-thriller about a couple stumbling onto a campsite where something has gone violently wrong. Not a crime drama, but it has Sneaky Pete's bone-deep understanding that danger lives in ordinary places and that trust is the thing most likely to destroy you.

But It's an intense home-invasion narrative that escalates into genuine horror. If you're watching Sneaky Pete for the con-artist cleverness rather than the dread, this will feel like a wrong turn.