20 Shows Like The White Lotus You Should Definitely Check Out

One of the reasons why "The White Lotus" was such a hit with audiences is that it was unexpected. We're simply not used to seeing social satire pulled off well in mainstream popular culture. When done correctly, satire holds a lens up to society and exposes a type of person, vice, or institution that is problematic or ridiculous in some way. It's not just imitation or parody. In fact, satire is so difficult to pull off without actually doing the offensive thing that you're trying to mock that it sometimes seems like networks — and maybe even writers themselves — shy away from it. 

But while "The White Lotus" is exemplary satire, it's not the only example on television. One might even argue that other shows were do it more successfully. There has been some conversation about whether or not "The White Lotus" reached the right audience — after all, what good is a satire if it only reaches those it is seeking to satirize? Musing on that, here are 20 other shows that pull off satire in one way or another, as well as a couple that just have those amorphous "White Lotus" vibes. 

Jenji Kohan is one of the best living writers when it comes to satire and class commentary. You probably watched Kohan's "Orange is the New Black," a Netflix series that used a privileged white woman's incarceration as a Trojan horse to tell comic and tragic stories about the prison-industrial complex and the American justice system. 

But before "Orange is the New Black," Kohan was the showrunner and creator of the long-running prestige sitcom "Weeds," which satirized upper-class suburban society through the lens of a housewife-turned-widow who starts selling marijuana in order to maintain the lifestyle she has grown accustomed to. Nancy Botwin's friends and clients would feel right at home bossing around the staff on "The White Lotus." The only thing that's missing is the murder mystery, although the Starz series did manage to pack in multiple twists and turns over its eight seasons. That also makes "Weeds" a perfect show to binge, if that's what you're looking for.

If you found yourself watching "LuLaRich," the four-part documentary series taking down the LuLaRue women's clothing company, in addition to "The White Lotus," then the next show you need to watch is "On Becoming a God in Central Florida." It's a dark comedy about a similar topic: multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes that become akin to cults. After an MLM ruined her family, Kirsten Dunst's character cons her way to the top of the organization with the intent to take them down from within. It's also technically a period piece, seeing as it takes place in the '90s.

Despite Dunst's critically-acclaimed performance, this Showtime series only lasted one season, due to scheduling complications in the midst of the pandemic. The upside is "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" won't take long to watch. If what you're looking for next is a quick bite, this could be perfect.  

"The White Lotus" was written by Mike White, who, in addition to being the screenwriter behind "Chuck & Buck," "School of Rock," and "Enlightened," has also studied human behavior extensively as a reality show contestant; he competed on "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor." So, what better satire to put on next than "UnREAL," Marti Noxon's series about a fictional dating show that's nearly identical to "The Bachelor?" 

The central character in "UnREAL" is a young producer who specializes in manipulating the emotions of contestants to get the television she wants to make. Read any kind of tell-all from real dating shows, and you'll find that this satire isn't far off from the truth. This show is hysterical, mean, and features some of the most complex female antiheroes you'll ever see on television. Whether you genuinely like "The Bachelor," despise it, or haven't watched a single episode but feel like you get it, there's surely something you'll enjoy about "UnREAL."

Several years ago, it seemed like "Veep" was an over-the-top satire about how nasty politicians are behind the scenes. Then it started predicting the future. Satire is supposed to feel just unrealistic enough that the audience knows it's a joke, but "Veep" got a little too real. If you're still a bit burned from the last election or two, this may not be the best show to watch next. If you're willing to laugh through the pain, however, let's get into it.

The long-running series is a crass and cynical story about the first female Vice President, Selina Meyer, and the ways she lies and cheats her way to the Oval Office. The characters are incredibly mean and the jokes are smart, although the characters are decidedly not. If you've ever had a suspicion that politicians don't actually care about serving their country and helping people, this show dials that hunch up to 11 and points a spotlight right at it. 

If you questioned Rachel's choice to stay with Shane at the end of Season 1 of "The White Lotus," get a load of the twisted romance on "Made for Love." In a satire with a science fiction twist, a woman named Hazel (Cristin Milioti) discovers that her tech-genius husband has implanted a chip in her brain (please, keep jokes about the COVID-19 vaccine to yourself). This chip allows for her so-called soulmate to not only "read her emotional data" but also to see and hear everything she sees and hears, which therefore prohibits her from running away from their abusive partnership. 

That doesn't stop her from trying. While Hazel's husband Byron Gogol (Billy Magnussen) is easily able to find her in his attempts to win her back, his mission forces him to leave his protective compound and experience the real world for the first time in a long while. He's a more heightened version of the clueless, rich babies we see in "The White Lotus," if that's even possible. Sadly, HBO Max canceled the show after two seasons and it's been removed from the streamer. 

No two actors have more fun on television than Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult of "The Great." On the hysterical Hulu series, the truth is often greater than fiction. A lot of the events portrayed really happened, but the show takes some creative liberties to make the true story of Catherine the Great's plot to murder her husband Peter III as big and silly as the imagination allows. 

Fanning's intellectually bored, scheming Empress is quite sympathetic when left alone in a palace full of obliviously tyrannical royals, led by Hoult's gleeful portrayal of a himbo Emperor. The showrunner, Tony McNamara, also co-wrote the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos' film "The Favourite," but while you'll recognize the biting sense of humor, the film and the series are absurd in very different ways. That just speaks to the authorial voice of a director in film, compared to the more writer-centric medium of television. 

If you love dark comedy, "Black Monday" may have been the best show you did not watch. The series, whose third and final season aired on Showtime in 2021, is about mediocre but cold-blooded stock brokers in the '80s who may or may not be responsible for an infamous crash on Wall Street. But while Black Monday is a real and mysterious historical event, the show based on it is completely fictional — and completely ridiculous. 

Don Cheadle, Andrew Rannells, Regina Hall, Paul Scheer, and June Diane Raphael make up the ensemble cast, who play misfits trying to conquer the world of over-privileged Wall Street bros. "Black Monday" satirizes the wealth and greed of the '80s in the same way that "Wonder Woman 1984" did, but it's a little more obvious that satire is the intent when there aren't any superheroes flying around. Of course, that doesn't stop the situations from getting increasingly ridiculous. 

"The White Lotus" brilliantly skewered the quirks and foibles of the overly entitled rich, something that "Arrested Development" took to hilariously exaggerated levels. Making its debut on Fox in 2003 and running until 2006 (and then revived by Netflix for two seasons, beginning in 2013), "Arrested Development" followed the exploits of the Bluth family, whose wealth is as vast as the family's dysfunction. The story begins with the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of patriarch George (Jeffrey Tambor), resulting in the family's assets being frozen and the cutting off of access to their money. Other characters include his imperious wife Lucille (Jessica Walter) and their grown children: wannabe stage magician George Oscar, a.k.a. G.O.B. (played by Will Arnett); level-headed Michael (Jason Bateman) and his son, George Michael (Michael Cera); socialite Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and her husband Tobias Fünke (David Cross), an eccentric therapist, and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat); and the omnipresent narrator, voiced by director Ron Howard.

Boasting a head-spinning array of guest stars and an endless stream of in-jokes (such as showbiz legend Liza Minnelli in the recurring role as Lucille's vertigo-stricken rival, also named Lucille), "Arrested Development" won accolades from critics for its over-the-top depiction of the one percent. The ridiculous antics of the Bluths may have been outrageous, even within the absurd storylines, but were never unbelievable. It wouldn't be difficult to picture Lucille staying at a White Lotus resort, rudely ordering around and insulting the staff.

"The White Lotus," both the first and second seasons, presented viewers with an array of inherently unsympathetic characters whom viewers nevertheless find themselves rooting for. That's most predominantly the case with series standout Jennifer Coolidge as ridiculously wealthy and wildly eccentric heiress Tanya McQuoid. A similar vibe pervades "The Flight Attendant," in which Kaley Cuoco ("The Big Bang Theory") stars as the titular character, Cassie Bowden. Cassie, viewers discover, is quite good at her job; when she's not working, however, she tends toward binge-drinking. That pastime yields unfortunate consequences when she awakens in a Bangkok hotel room, in bed with a dead guy, with no idea what happened or her role in his untimely demise. Luckily, Cassie receives clues from the aforementioned dead guy — or, that is, the alcohol-fueled hallucinations in which he appears. This fraught situation ultimately leads Cassie to become involved with the FBI, and then the CIA, for whom she's recruited to work as an asset assigned to cozy up to targets under the guise of her high-flying vocation.

Boasting 007-style intrigue, more than a hint of Hitchcock, and a darkly comedic edge reminiscent of "The White Lotus," "The Flight Attendant" is a fast-paced, action-adventure series full of twists and turns, all held together by Cuoco's masterfully vulnerable performance — although it's also fair to point out that the second season is not nearly as rewarding as the first.

Airing for two seasons between 2011 and 2013, "Enlightened" focused on Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), who returns to her job following two months of rehab at Open Air, a holistic treatment center in Hawaii, after experiencing an extreme psychological breakdown at work. Amy is adamant about using the lessons she learned at Open Air to turn her life around and finally conquer the self-destructive behavior that brought her there. This, however, is easier said than done when she discovers she's been demoted to a far lesser position than the one she'd previously held. Other obstacles include her ex-husband Levi (Luke Wilson), a former pro baseball player whose career cratered because of substance abuse, and her aloof and disapproving mother, Helen (Dern's real-life mom, Diane Ladd). Meanwhile, Amy is surrounded by an eclectic group of co-workers, including Krista (Sara Burns), her one-time assistant who now holds her former job, proudly obnoxious VP Dougie (Timm Sharp), and Tyler, a shy, socially awkward IT guy played by Mike White, who also created and wrote "Enlightened."

White, of course, also created "The White Lotus," and both shows share many thematic sensibilities. There's also an argument to be made that Amy's desire for self-improvement is similar to that of Tanya McQuoid — and, like Tanya, Amy's efforts to achieve spiritual contentment never do hit the mark. Fans of both shows enjoyed Dern's audio cameo on "The White Lotus," when she voiced the character of Dominic Di Grasso's (Michael Imperioli) estranged wife in season two.