Television series
The Profit
- Workplace drama
- Dip in and out
Marcus Lemonis invests his own millions into failing businesses, rolling up his sleeves to diagnose and fix what's broken. Part business rescue, part therapy session, The Profit is hypnotic watching: you're never quite sure whether he's saving a company or saving the owner from themselves. For anyone who enjoys watching problems get solved.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy watching a stranger's business get pulled apart and rebuilt, with the fun coming from blunt negotiations, awkward family dynamics and the slow reveal of what is really broken.
Skip it if you want a neat, self-contained story per sitting; each episode is a single company's rescue, so the format is repetitive and the host's dealmaking style can feel like a sales pitch.
What it asks of you: Each hour is one company from problem to deal to overhaul, so you settle in for a full episode at a time and the pace stays brisk without asking for much memory between entries.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Bar Rescue2011
Jon Taffer has the same formula—urgent money, brutal diagnosis, dramatic turnaround—but focused on restaurants and bars. If you loved seeing Marcus fix cash-bleeding operations, this scratches the exact same itch with added kitchen chaos.
But Taffer can be abrasive in ways that feel performative rather than purposeful, and the turnarounds sometimes look suspiciously temporary once the cameras leave.
Shark Tank2009
The inverse of The Profit: entrepreneurs pitch to investors rather than investors hunting businesses. Same ruthless honesty about what works, same high stakes, but compressed into pitches instead of deep dives into broken operations.
But Shark Tank is faster and more theatrical; if you loved Marcus's methodical diagnosis, the format here can feel like speed dating by comparison.
Dragons' Den2005
The original version of Shark Tank (British, then Canadian), with different dragons and a slightly less polished feel that lets you see the actual friction between investor and founder. More personality clashes, fewer sound bites.
But It's slower paced than Shark Tank, and if you haven't seen that version first, the format will feel oddly familiar and a beat too deliberate.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Profit
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Exit Through the Gift Shop2010
Both explore the psychology of how businesses get built and what separates the hustler from the con artist. Marcus asks 'how do I fix this?'; Banksy asks 'is there even a difference?'
Banksy's documentary about a street artist, a businessman, and a con—it's ostensibly about art but it's really about how someone with no product and pure chutzpah builds an empire. The con artist as businessman; Marcus's mirror image.
But The truth of what actually happened is deliberately obscured, and if you want clarity about outcomes, Banksy refuses to give it. Some find that intellectually smug.
More like this (7)
The Apprentice2005
Business problem-solving under pressure with real money involved and one host making all the calls. The tasks force teams to think strategically and fail visibly, which has that same satisfying diagnostic quality.
But It's more about interpersonal drama than operational fixes, and the business problems are often artificial rather than drawn from real, desperate situations.
Kitchen Nightmares2007
Gordon Ramsay tackles broken restaurants with the same intensity Marcus brings to struggling companies. He finds the core problem—usually people-based—and forces change. Loud where Marcus is quiet, but the structure is identical.
But Ramsay's aggression can overshadow the actual business analysis, and some episodes feel more like theater than genuine turnaround attempts.
Making The Billion Dollar Code2021
A three-part Netflix documentary about how three artists sued Google over stolen code. It's about intellectual property, betrayal, and the collision between idealism and ruthless business logic—same moral clarity Marcus brings to his deals.
But It's a legal thriller, not a business rescue, so if you came for watching someone fix operations, this offers vindication rather than solutions.
Undercover Boss2010
CEOs go undercover in their own companies to see what's actually broken. Same diagnostic energy as The Profit but from inside, revealing how disconnected leadership often is from ground truth.
But The format feels gimmicky, and the resolutions are usually feel-good moments rather than structural fixes, so it can feel shallow after The Profit.
Inside the Factory2015
A BBC series where presenters explore how everyday products are made at scale. Not about rescue, but about the same obsessive problem-solving and operational thinking that drives Marcus: how do you make this work consistently?
But It's a documentary about systems, not people, so if you loved Marcus's interpersonal confrontations, this will feel oddly peaceful and abstract.
Billions2016
A drama about high-stakes business warfare, money, and the psychology of deal-making. It captures the ruthlessness and moral ambiguity that lurks beneath The Profit's surface, just weaponized into fiction.
But It's a slow-burn character study about people who don't care if they win ethically, so if you liked Marcus's actual fixes, the nihilism here might feel exhausting.
Glengarry Glen Ross1992
Both examine what happens when an outside expert enters a broken organization with money and authority. Marcus fixes things; David Mamet shows you what happens when the fix is just more cruelty.
A brutal film about failing salesmen and a ruthless sales manager who comes in to fix the company. It's The Profit as tragedy: the same business logic, the same pressure, the same willingness to destroy people for profit—but nobody survives intact.
But It's bleaker than anything on television, with no redemption and no real solutions, just the raw machinery of capitalism grinding people down. Watching it is depressing.
People
Cast
Marcus LemonisHost
Production
- Amber MazzolaExecutive Producer
- Jim AckermanExecutive Producer
- Luke BauerExecutive Producer
Recommended by
The Family, The Last Blockbuster, Inequality for All, Undercover Boss, Bargain Block, Flip or Flop, Secret Life of a Vegas Casino, Moonshiners, Dragons' Den, Bar Rescue, Inside the Factory, Hotel Hell, Garage Rehab, Hot Coffee, Shark Tank, Nuts!