Television series

The Decameron

Name: The Decameron
Genre: Comedy, History
Released: 2024
Cast: Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet, Leila Farzad, Karan Gill, Saoirse-Monica Jackson

Other titles called The Decameron: the 1971 film.

Dark comedy

A gleefully anarchic sex comedy set during the Black Death, where Italian aristocrats and their servants hole up in a villa expecting refinement and get catastrophe instead. It's Boccaccio filtered through a modern sensibility—bawdy, irreverent, funny, and completely unconcerned with your comfort. For anyone who loves chaos, period farce, and characters who are their own worst enemies.

TVMaze rating

2.5

If you liked this

Schitt's Creek2015

Rich people stripped of status and forced into indignity, except here they're stranded in a small town. The same engine of humiliation driving comedy, the same found-family warmth underneath, same brilliant ensemble chemistry that keeps you watching.

But By season five it settles into something warmer and more conventional than The Decameron's anarchic energy. If you want pure chaos, this gets gentler.

Russian Doll2019

A group trapped together in escalating absurdity, dark comedy that doesn't flinch from real stakes, and characters who are sometimes terrible in ways that make you laugh and wince simultaneously. Feels like it understands how to mix tone.

But Much less interested in sex and bodily humour than The Decameron. Heavier, stranger, less rooted in physical comedy.

The White Lotus2021

Wealthy people in a closed space experiencing social breakdown and exposure of their worst selves. Sharp writing that lets you laugh at terrible behaviour while understanding it. Same dark comedy DNA applied to different isolation.

But Genuinely bleak in ways The Decameron isn't; this one ends badly. More interested in satirizing capitalism than in slapstick.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Decameron

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Amarcord1973

Both use historical crisis as liberation from conventional decorum; both see the past as an excuse to be weird and bodily and funny about desire.

Federico Fellini's semifictional memory of fascist Italy as theatrical farce: grotesque, sexual, anarchic, where history is a backdrop for human ridiculousness. Same DNA of using period setting as permission to be obscene and surreal. Pure cinema.

But In Italian with subtitles. Deliberately artificial and dreamlike rather than grounded. No narrative drive, just scenes of escalating strangeness. Requires patience for style over story.

Bridgerton2020

Ensemble cast in period drag doing sharp, anachronistic comedy beneath the romance. Similar commitment to making history look ridiculous. Great chemistry between the non-lead characters who actually do the funny work.

But Fundamentally romantic and aspirational where The Decameron is cynical. Wants you to believe in love; this show wants you to believe people are animals.

The Great2020

Period comedy that treats history as a playground for crude jokes and sexual farce. Yorgos Lanthimos's sensibility applied to Catherine the Great. Anarchic, well-acted, completely shameless about what it is.

But Heavier on the political intrigue and philosophical monologuing. Less pure chaos, more structured villainy.

What We Do in the Shadows2019

Mockumentary ensemble farce where people trapped in proximity drive each other toward ridiculous extremes. Improvisational feel, genuine affection for characters who are fundamentally selfish, comedy that doesn't require you to like anyone.

But Vampire stuff is incidental to the character comedy, which some find thin. Episodic structure means no sustained tension like The Decameron builds.

Fleabag2016

Completely unsentimental comedy about selfish people in crisis, fourth-wall breaking, frank about sex and disappointment, wildly smart writing that makes chaos feel like character development. Season two especially nails ensemble comedy.

But More introspective than bawdy; about internal chaos rather than external slapstick. Only six episodes total, so less sustained immersion.

Succession2018

Wealthy family trapped together by circumstance and obligation, tearing each other apart through ambition and resentment. Brilliantly performed ensemble work where everyone is terrible and the comedy comes from watching them fail.

But Genuinely tragic and bleak in a way that overwhelms the comedy. Takes itself seriously where The Decameron never does. Very long commitment.

Emily in Paris2020

Unapologetic ensemble farce in gorgeous locations where characters behave badly and face minimal consequences. Campy, colourful, committed to the bit. If you just want entertainment without needing to believe in the stakes.

But Critics hate it and not without reason—it's thin, occasionally offensive, and doesn't earn its lack of consequences. Requires genuine forgiveness of its own logic.

The Decameron1971

Same source text, radically different eras and permissions. Shows what could be said then versus now, what the Netflix version gains and loses in being network-safe.

Pasolini's actual adaptation of the same source material: sexually explicit, visually stunning, treating medieval literature as radical permission to show bodies and desire honestly. See where modern comedy comes from.

But Genuinely transgressive sexual content that makes modern TV look timid. Less interested in plot than in accumulation of sensation. Very 1970s in ways that date it.

News of the World2020

Both examine how people behave when removed from normal social structure; both find something unexpected (here: tenderness; there: chaos) emerging from enforced isolation.

Tom Hanks crosses a devastated landscape delivering stories to isolated communities after American civil collapse. Quiet, elegiac, about connection and meaning when everything is broken. Completely different register but same structure: people in crisis finding humanity through proximity.

But Slow, serious, meditative where The Decameron is frenetic. Western, not period comedy. Requires investment in emotional stakes rather than farce. Deliberately low-key.