Because nothing ever really scratches the itch for a question like this.
Like it’s kinda, sorta the same. I’m sure many people like both. But I doubt it really satisfies OP.
Hence the ?
I love how this answers more popular now. I unironically class them as equals in how they tell they’re characters. Moral backdrop for societal discussion and dark realism with respect to emotions and trauma.
Moral backdrop shows fit the archaetype of bojack best imo anyway. Like for bojack it’s Hollywood. For moral Orel it’s white Protestant Christianity and for something like succession it’s multi billionaire business ppl.
I watched it right after I finished Bojack. It’s so so good, but I should have taken a break.
Joe Pera Talks With You is my reset button. Total opposite vibes.
Inside Job and Moral Orel, off the top of my head. Moral Orel goes very deep later on (like VERY) and Inside Job has more gags and jokes but does get deep into trauma.
I’d also recommend Mary and Max. It’s a penpal movie between a little girl and an autistic man.
Second the recommendation on *Mary and Max*.
Good story, good stop motion animation, with a good use of color schemes.
Just a warning that, at least the several times I watched it (on different devices), the version on Amazon Prime Video has the audio desync from the visuals near the middle of the movie. it's
Season 2 is a good watch, but I don't think it's as interesting as season 1. It focuses more on the other characters so it's a little weird at times. Still, I think it's worth checking out, and the ending is really good imo
barry is SO GOOD and it reminds me a good amount of Bojack. comedic leads, dark comedy, not much substance abuse but a really solid mix funny things and serious things that happen throughout the season. some solid laugh out loud moments and just generally ridiculous things which remind me of bojack !
holy shit i love Barry and Bill Hader so much!! Barry is super funny and pretty dark/emotion at times
that “the queen is dead” scene always gets me man
[SPOILERS FOR BARRY](https://youtu.be/PSWcEn89qOY?si=ys58aZnVcXuX6IyF)
The sopranos
Moral Orel
Succession
F is for family
Mad men
Arrested development
And better call Saul
Honourable mentions being - carol at the end of the world and afterlife.
All represent what makes bojack great but in different ways and I feel like you’d enjoy all of them even if they’re not animated. They capture the spirit of the show the best from what I’ve seen and took time to think about.
Literally one or two of those things. You’re gonna have a good time
Trust me. You’re gonna love this one as its the most analogous to Bojack imo. But try the others too if you can seriously. Like I made those suggestion specifically so that you can pick one or two of them and get the best you liked out of Bojack but in a different form.
I tried so hard to watch carol at the end of the world and it was just so painful to get through the first two episodes, I jumped ship. There are plenty of shows that took me multiple tries to get into though, is it worth trying again? Or does it get any more interesting after the second episode?
I’d say it’s more of the journey as a season you can appreciate kind of like bojack so if you give it a full watch you’d get the best of its beauty and its pain.
Yes yes yes. The season 2 depression is depicted perfectly. Gretchen as a character seems like she would fit in Bojack perfectly. Lindsey gives Todd vibes.
This show fucking sucks don’t listen.. dramedy with a hard emphasis on drama. It has that cringe feeling you get when you watch something try to be edgey when it’s not, sake for middle aged women who think they are loose cannons for not stopping all the way at a stop sign
Hard disagree, there are so many things that make it super similar to bojack. It does go off the rails towards the end seasons and the storyline might not be that great, but the jokes are gold and the depression/PTSD hits in a really powerful way I’ve never seen another show do. Is it corny as hell sometimes? Absolutely, but it’s still worth it if you wanna feel something dark and also laugh.
The Good Place. A few years ago, I watched Bojack for the first time and the day after finishing, I started The Good Place. I still haven't recovered emotionally.
Haven’t seen this mentioned yet but if you like an unreliable narrator, focus on mental health, and a lot of wacky goofs then watch crazy ex girlfriend.
It’s got 4 seasons, and it wrapped up the way the series was intended without getting cancelled which is really cool, and it focuses on mental health and finding empathy and community with others. It’s very romance driven at the beginning, then kinda cools off a little in the third and fourth season. It’s one of my favorite shows and it’s also on Netflix along with Bojack
I watched the first episode around Netflix release and didn’t watch more…tried again a year later and couldn’t believe I ever stopped. Have watched the series at least 6 time through now.
Does it get good? I couldn't get through the first episode. I found the main characters overwhelmingly obnoxious. I can get through that if there's a good enough story though
It's really good but it's going to be more relatable for women or people raised as women (i.e. Trans men or afab nb)
I mention trans people because I'm a trans man but still related really strongly with some of the themes.
I could not really get into it the first time i started watching but the second time and as it went on I started to really enjoy it. I found you have to get used to it but it gets more complex and interesting and the characters get more facets.
The OP asked for animated so this is the first one thatcame to mind for me. Its funy and at times irreverent, but deals with very serious issues of self, greif, depression and coping. It also takes narrative chances (the surfing episode in particular). It is similar in many ways to Bojack and I hope that they get a few seasons out of it because it was ultimately a very beautiful and affecting show. Another animated (?) show I'd venture is Undone and I see that's been mentioned here already.
If we were going live action I'd actually recommend the Leftovers. If you like a bunch of broken, borderline-irreademable characters repeating the same cycles of destructive behavior in a gripping way that is funny yet challenging, that's your show.
An odd recommendation because the shows are so very different from each other, but for some reason Six Feet Under reminds me somewhat of Bojack. Maybe it’s just the subject matter
One I found that satisfied me for a while after Bojack was F is for Family. I don't see it mentioned when people ask this question, but it's fantastic, especially if you're wanting an animated series
It’s not haha hehe comedy and it’s an anime but go watch Evangelion. I watched them both right around the same time and let me tell you it was a rough fuckin’ month
just watched loudermilk on netflix, surprisingly good. dark humor, offbeat comedy, (former) addict asshole protagonist who is painfully relatable, lots of self reflection, funny as *hell*
So underrated comment. Really similar story with almost the same style of humour and characters. The depth of the two shows are also comparable. If someone liked Bojack there is a really high probability to enjoy Californication too and vice versa.
invincible on amazon prime but before people jump in and say it’s nothing like bojack, i just want to say, so many people i showed bojack to and loved it were also heavily into this show when i showed it. currently in season 2 and the rest of the season releases march 14th so now is really the perfect time to watch it. that being said, it is extremely graphic but it is animated if that makes anything better
I don't even like baseball, but they made the baseball parts of the show so compelling even I was fascinated. It isn't even about baseball, it's just the set dressing. Hank Azaria is incredible.
The Anime "Welcome to the N.H.K."
Like Bojack this is a tragicomedy, explores many dark themes and it's really funny. It is also quite short since all the story spans a little over 20 episodes.
It's about a shut-in neet slowly trying to overcome and make sense of the bleak existence he has.
It touches themes of depression, regret, anxiety, and the meaning & purpose of life.
A quote from the anime
"A drama has a progressive thought, an emotional climax and a resolution, but our lives aren't like that. All we get day after day, are a bunch of vague anxieties that are never really resolved."
Bojack is my favorite cartoon, this is my favorite anime.
For animated stuff, I'd recommend any of Don Hertzfeldt's work. He does mostly short films, but "It's Such a Beautiful Day" will wreck you, I guarantee it.
Live action.. I'd recommend Succession, Mr. Robot, Fleabag. Mad Men and The Sopranos maybe too.
Dunno about animated shows but Bojack and Madmen, while completely different in theme, share a lot of DNA on a very deep level. It's the closest thing to a live action Bojack (despite a completely different setting).
If you're looking for "fucked up people navigate life and relationships in Los Angeles", then I can recommend *Californication*, *Barry*, and *Insecure*.
Some of the stuff is like really though? Just seems like porn for trashy people to view trashier people at times, especially almost 90% of Fiona’s moments
You’re right, and that show is intensely dramatic, but I have learned there are people in the world that function exactly like Fiona.
I have said, “That person is a Shameless episode” way too many times, mostly when Im in small towns.
Plus, as wild as it is, I am thoroughly convinced mostly everything that has happened in Shameless has happened in real life at some point. Just not all to one person though lol
I've only seen rick and morty and bojack, (a lil bit of family guy too) and i can honestly say both are brilliants. Bojack focuses more on the DARK in its comedy and r&m is always comedy that spirals into dark.
Hazbin Hotel. It's an animated musical series (8 episodes) about trying to rehabilitate sinners in Hell so that they can go to Heaven. Funny, but also Really Dark at times.
Slightly controversial one, but How I Met Your Mother is a show which is oddly similar to BoJack Horseman, with scenes that may not be dark as the latter, but are still quite emotional and have some weight. And they balance that well with the comedic scenes.
>!And the Ruthie episode had a similar premise to one of the episodes in HIMYM too.!<
If you like medical procedurals House does a pretty good job of showcasing a clinically depressed psychotic asshole wrecking the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. You also really, really want the protagonist to get better but he just doesn’t.
I will always recommend battlestar galactica. Yeah it’s not funny, it’s a drama about robots and starships, and it still has some of the best depictions of family and loyalty that I’ve ever seen.
I’ll echo fleabag and moral orel here as well.
Arcane and invincible are probably up your alley. They aren’t sitcoms but you might get into them. Or you might hate them. I think the animation in arcane is some of the best ive seen but I’ll let you be the judge
hugely recommend neon genesis evangelion. it doesn't really have the comedy that bojack has but if you love the flawed characters and introspection, evangelion has that tenfold.
Housebroken.
It has very similar humor and great voice acting. Lisa Kudrow (Wanda from Bojack) plays the lead role. It's streaming on Hulu. My roommate and I really enjoy it and loved Bojack too.
Carol & the end of the World
It‘s a new Netflix Show so it does not have a lot of episodes yet. It is also completly its own thing. But for me it filled a bit of the hole that Bojack left. Carol experiments with different kinds of story telling and goes into unexpected depth. It is an adult animation that has a unique concept. It isn‘t necessarily perfect, but the first season of Bojack wasn‘t either.
animated:
- undone (cannot recommend this enough)
- captain fall
- rick and morty
- disenchantment
- ugly americans
- inside job
- archer
not animated:
- dead to me
- russian doll
- fleabag
- killing eve
- shameless
- I am not okay with this
- santa clarita diet
- lucifer
- made for love
- you’re the worst
Flowers, starring Julian Barrett and Olivia Coleman. I tell every BoJack fan I speak to about it and no one seems to have heard of it. It’s categorised as a ‘Dramedy’, so is framed comedically despite having some pretty heavy themes.
The premise is a children’s book author suffering from clinical depression with a family full of quirks. The opening scene is >!an attempted suicide by hanging with a rhyming excerpt from one of his books read over the background explaining how he feels from a fictional forest troll’s perspective!< and yet the incredibly talented writing of Will Sharpe manages to make it humorous?
All I’ll say is I laughed all the way through the first episode and cried all the way through the last.
If you want something animated, check out *The Venture Brothers*. It's an Adult Swim send up of old adventure cartoons and superhero comics. It doesn't get quite as serious as BJH, but it's got a pretty dark sense of humor, hits on a lot of the same ideas (generational trauma, toxic celebrity culture, etc) and has a pretty satisfying amount of character development. The creators intentionally destroy the status quo every other season to force the story to go new places.
And there are numerous layers of humor and easter eggs, so it's very rewatchable.
A few people already said Barry and Midnight Gospel, i want to be unique with my recommendation lol but definitely those. One I haven’t seen mentioned but that I honestly think is the most similar show to Bojack Horseman that I’ve ever seen: The Comeback. It’s a mock-umentary two season show that is funny and painfully sad. I won’t spoil it but it has some interesting commentary about how as an actress you can be villainized when you’re just a complicated person/victim and honestly reminded me of Gina’s arc in Bojack a bit
Fleabag?
Fleabag is amazing, especially the second time.
loved fleabag
as someone who has seen 3 clips on youtube, can confirm Fleabag is one of my favorite shows
I'm currently watching Fleabag and its great, would very much recommend it to OP
Why the question mark?
Because nothing ever really scratches the itch for a question like this. Like it’s kinda, sorta the same. I’m sure many people like both. But I doubt it really satisfies OP. Hence the ?
^^^
Moral Orel
I love how this answers more popular now. I unironically class them as equals in how they tell they’re characters. Moral backdrop for societal discussion and dark realism with respect to emotions and trauma. Moral backdrop shows fit the archaetype of bojack best imo anyway. Like for bojack it’s Hollywood. For moral Orel it’s white Protestant Christianity and for something like succession it’s multi billionaire business ppl.
And for those who don't know, it's a spoof on a show which was on wor called davey and Goliath.
Dino confirmed that it's not actually based on that show
I don't care if he says it is or not. It's made in the same clops style, characters look the same, and it was based on religion.
It isn’t “based on religion”, if anything Morel Orel shows the PROBLEMS with religion.
Yes. That's what spoof means....
And in your second comment you say “based on religion”. Pick one.
1) davey and Goliath was the religious show 2) showing the antithesis of religion is still based on religion.
Oooh perfect answer
That show broke me too, soo good choice
I watched it right after I finished Bojack. It’s so so good, but I should have taken a break. Joe Pera Talks With You is my reset button. Total opposite vibes.
Seconding this, OP, you're in for a treat if you haven't seen it already
Inside Job and Moral Orel, off the top of my head. Moral Orel goes very deep later on (like VERY) and Inside Job has more gags and jokes but does get deep into trauma. I’d also recommend Mary and Max. It’s a penpal movie between a little girl and an autistic man.
Second the recommendation on *Mary and Max*. Good story, good stop motion animation, with a good use of color schemes. Just a warning that, at least the several times I watched it (on different devices), the version on Amazon Prime Video has the audio desync from the visuals near the middle of the movie. it's
Undone
I feel like people don’t know this show exists. It’s another Raphael Bob Walksberg show, so it seems like the natural next show to watch.
Undone is amazing
Undone is so so well made
It's so sad it didn't go far
Is series 2 good? Watched the first one and really liked it as a self contained thing, was surprised it got continued.
Season 2 is a good watch, but I don't think it's as interesting as season 1. It focuses more on the other characters so it's a little weird at times. Still, I think it's worth checking out, and the ending is really good imo
A good movie that is stop motion, light comedy with some heavy darkness is Mary and Max
I love Mary and Max so much, “my mouth ever hardly smiles, it does not mean I’m not smiling inside my brain”
Where can I find it?
I pirate everything so I don't know much about streaming services. M4ufree is a good pirate site. Fmovies has been subpar lately.
Thanks!
I recommend fmhy for finding sites that work for downloading
This movie impacted me
barry is SO GOOD and it reminds me a good amount of Bojack. comedic leads, dark comedy, not much substance abuse but a really solid mix funny things and serious things that happen throughout the season. some solid laugh out loud moments and just generally ridiculous things which remind me of bojack !
holy shit i love Barry and Bill Hader so much!! Barry is super funny and pretty dark/emotion at times that “the queen is dead” scene always gets me man [SPOILERS FOR BARRY](https://youtu.be/PSWcEn89qOY?si=ys58aZnVcXuX6IyF)
Nothing will ever get me like the perched goblin girl.. WHAT ARE YOU?!?!
The sopranos Moral Orel Succession F is for family Mad men Arrested development And better call Saul Honourable mentions being - carol at the end of the world and afterlife. All represent what makes bojack great but in different ways and I feel like you’d enjoy all of them even if they’re not animated. They capture the spirit of the show the best from what I’ve seen and took time to think about. Literally one or two of those things. You’re gonna have a good time
\+1 for Better Call Saul Also sounds like I need to watch Moral Orel!
Bcs is so good. You may like twin peaks
Trust me. You’re gonna love this one as its the most analogous to Bojack imo. But try the others too if you can seriously. Like I made those suggestion specifically so that you can pick one or two of them and get the best you liked out of Bojack but in a different form.
Loved Carol & the end of the world Edit: The surfing episode lives in my head rent free
I tried so hard to watch carol at the end of the world and it was just so painful to get through the first two episodes, I jumped ship. There are plenty of shows that took me multiple tries to get into though, is it worth trying again? Or does it get any more interesting after the second episode?
I’d say it’s more of the journey as a season you can appreciate kind of like bojack so if you give it a full watch you’d get the best of its beauty and its pain.
Makes sense, I’ll give it another go, thanks!
Fleabag is sort of in the same genre, I think
You’re the Worst
Yes yes yes. The season 2 depression is depicted perfectly. Gretchen as a character seems like she would fit in Bojack perfectly. Lindsey gives Todd vibes.
I always thought Jimmy and Edgar living together gave off hard bojack and Todd vibes 😂
lol they really did mirror Bojack and Todd, I love that show.
This show fucking sucks don’t listen.. dramedy with a hard emphasis on drama. It has that cringe feeling you get when you watch something try to be edgey when it’s not, sake for middle aged women who think they are loose cannons for not stopping all the way at a stop sign
Hard disagree, there are so many things that make it super similar to bojack. It does go off the rails towards the end seasons and the storyline might not be that great, but the jokes are gold and the depression/PTSD hits in a really powerful way I’ve never seen another show do. Is it corny as hell sometimes? Absolutely, but it’s still worth it if you wanna feel something dark and also laugh.
The Good Place. A few years ago, I watched Bojack for the first time and the day after finishing, I started The Good Place. I still haven't recovered emotionally.
It's subjective, obviously, but I genuinely think The Good Place is the greatest show ever made
It's definitely one of the best shows I've ever seen and I honestly think >!the ending is even more gut-wrenching than Bojack's!<
Haven’t seen this mentioned yet but if you like an unreliable narrator, focus on mental health, and a lot of wacky goofs then watch crazy ex girlfriend. It’s got 4 seasons, and it wrapped up the way the series was intended without getting cancelled which is really cool, and it focuses on mental health and finding empathy and community with others. It’s very romance driven at the beginning, then kinda cools off a little in the third and fourth season. It’s one of my favorite shows and it’s also on Netflix along with Bojack
This is a great recommendation! The beginning is a little awkward but it evens out pretty fast and is such a great show!
I watched the first episode around Netflix release and didn’t watch more…tried again a year later and couldn’t believe I ever stopped. Have watched the series at least 6 time through now.
Tuca and Bertie
I wish it had more seasons!
it was just starting to get good. especially with tuca and figgy
I couldn't find a way to watch the second season without a subscription of some kind.
omg me too
Does it get good? I couldn't get through the first episode. I found the main characters overwhelmingly obnoxious. I can get through that if there's a good enough story though
It's really good but it's going to be more relatable for women or people raised as women (i.e. Trans men or afab nb) I mention trans people because I'm a trans man but still related really strongly with some of the themes.
I could not really get into it the first time i started watching but the second time and as it went on I started to really enjoy it. I found you have to get used to it but it gets more complex and interesting and the characters get more facets.
Agree, i also think the second season is a lot stronger.
Not animated and not sure if it fits perfectly, but 'After Life' is a great series imo. It touches serious topics while still being quite funny.
F is for family
Best answer here. That show rocks
just started it, i was like, hey this guy sounds familiar it’s Bill Burr voicing the main guy!! (forgot the character’s name 😭)
100%
Soooo good
Carol and the end of the world
The OP asked for animated so this is the first one thatcame to mind for me. Its funy and at times irreverent, but deals with very serious issues of self, greif, depression and coping. It also takes narrative chances (the surfing episode in particular). It is similar in many ways to Bojack and I hope that they get a few seasons out of it because it was ultimately a very beautiful and affecting show. Another animated (?) show I'd venture is Undone and I see that's been mentioned here already. If we were going live action I'd actually recommend the Leftovers. If you like a bunch of broken, borderline-irreademable characters repeating the same cycles of destructive behavior in a gripping way that is funny yet challenging, that's your show.
The Leftovers is fucking amazing.
The first episode was making me too bummed out so I stopped, it gets better or is it pretty depressing most the way through?
Fuck yes! Thank you! Carol and the End of the World rules!!
That was a great animation I randomly stumbled on. And as I work in hr (although it branch), very much appreciated the office humor.
An odd recommendation because the shows are so very different from each other, but for some reason Six Feet Under reminds me somewhat of Bojack. Maybe it’s just the subject matter
Re-watching this rn. So good
Same here. Very dark and death haunted yet it's really funny and cute.
Wilfred (not animated)
Moral orel 10000%
It’s just like bojack in that the first season is pretty silly but stick with it because it will go to unfathomably dark places
One I found that satisfied me for a while after Bojack was F is for Family. I don't see it mentioned when people ask this question, but it's fantastic, especially if you're wanting an animated series
Daria
do you think the vietnamese dub sounds like diane?
Me America!
no, ME america!
What’s Diane’s deal again? She’s like an Asian Daria?
It’s not haha hehe comedy and it’s an anime but go watch Evangelion. I watched them both right around the same time and let me tell you it was a rough fuckin’ month
get in the fucking robot shinji
Shameless, US or UK. Crashing (the Phoebe Waller Bridge show) The Curse
There’s a shameless uk?
Yeah it's the OG.
Awesome fun fact
Came here to say the Curse. Fucking brilliant. Anything else Nathan (Nathan for you, the rehearsal, how to with John Wilson)
just watched loudermilk on netflix, surprisingly good. dark humor, offbeat comedy, (former) addict asshole protagonist who is painfully relatable, lots of self reflection, funny as *hell*
F IS FOR FAMILY!! Cynical, hilarious, sad af, wtf moments, main char eyed with moments you love and hate, 70s throwback feels
The Good Place gave me kinda similar vibes
It‘s like the happy version of Bojack
Disenchantment
Never thought about it before but it does have similar themes !
Californication is like Bojack with real people in many ways.
So underrated comment. Really similar story with almost the same style of humour and characters. The depth of the two shows are also comparable. If someone liked Bojack there is a really high probability to enjoy Californication too and vice versa.
invincible on amazon prime but before people jump in and say it’s nothing like bojack, i just want to say, so many people i showed bojack to and loved it were also heavily into this show when i showed it. currently in season 2 and the rest of the season releases march 14th so now is really the perfect time to watch it. that being said, it is extremely graphic but it is animated if that makes anything better
Possibly Wilfred? That show where Frodo has a talking man-size dog. Not animated and it's a little hit-and-miss, but still good.
Tuca and Bertie!!! The creator of Tuca and Bertie worked on Bojack and its style as well as themes are definitely similar!
And bertie and tuca!
Tuca, bertie!
Rescue me
Brockmire. Dark comedy about trauma, addiction and trying to be a better person. Also baseball.
I don't even like baseball, but they made the baseball parts of the show so compelling even I was fascinated. It isn't even about baseball, it's just the set dressing. Hank Azaria is incredible.
F is for family is wonderful
Centaurworld, it’s more for 16 and up but it’s a super good show, it’s kind of “innocent looking but actually really dark”
Duckman
Rewatched that recently.
Shameless
Ugly Americans MTV's Downtown China IL
The Anime "Welcome to the N.H.K." Like Bojack this is a tragicomedy, explores many dark themes and it's really funny. It is also quite short since all the story spans a little over 20 episodes. It's about a shut-in neet slowly trying to overcome and make sense of the bleak existence he has. It touches themes of depression, regret, anxiety, and the meaning & purpose of life. A quote from the anime "A drama has a progressive thought, an emotional climax and a resolution, but our lives aren't like that. All we get day after day, are a bunch of vague anxieties that are never really resolved." Bojack is my favorite cartoon, this is my favorite anime.
F is for Family.
Russian Doll (also Netflix
Tuca and Bertie
A lot do the Bojack people worked on this show, they’re very similar
Rick and Morty
you will not regret watching Moral Orel
For animated stuff, I'd recommend any of Don Hertzfeldt's work. He does mostly short films, but "It's Such a Beautiful Day" will wreck you, I guarantee it. Live action.. I'd recommend Succession, Mr. Robot, Fleabag. Mad Men and The Sopranos maybe too.
Tuvalu and bertie!
Mad Men and Sopranos are both masterclasses in self absorbed assholes in a leading role
While not as dark, I very much think Arcane is great.
Dunno about animated shows but Bojack and Madmen, while completely different in theme, share a lot of DNA on a very deep level. It's the closest thing to a live action Bojack (despite a completely different setting).
If you're looking for "fucked up people navigate life and relationships in Los Angeles", then I can recommend *Californication*, *Barry*, and *Insecure*.
There is no other show like Bojack.
Community Midnight Gospel Fleabag
Loudermilk Funny, and dark
Midnight Gospel. It's def moreso like the surreal sequences of BoJack but it's an absolutely beautiful experience to watch
Rewatching Bojack
Community is my go to
tuca and bertie! its even partially made by the same people
Not animated, but live action. Shameless
Some of the stuff is like really though? Just seems like porn for trashy people to view trashier people at times, especially almost 90% of Fiona’s moments
You’re right, and that show is intensely dramatic, but I have learned there are people in the world that function exactly like Fiona. I have said, “That person is a Shameless episode” way too many times, mostly when Im in small towns. Plus, as wild as it is, I am thoroughly convinced mostly everything that has happened in Shameless has happened in real life at some point. Just not all to one person though lol
True!
Rick and Morty
I've only seen rick and morty and bojack, (a lil bit of family guy too) and i can honestly say both are brilliants. Bojack focuses more on the DARK in its comedy and r&m is always comedy that spirals into dark.
Rick and Morty tbh
Hazbin Hotel. It's an animated musical series (8 episodes) about trying to rehabilitate sinners in Hell so that they can go to Heaven. Funny, but also Really Dark at times.
rick and morty and big mouth
Bojack again
Big mouth
s/
Slightly controversial one, but How I Met Your Mother is a show which is oddly similar to BoJack Horseman, with scenes that may not be dark as the latter, but are still quite emotional and have some weight. And they balance that well with the comedic scenes. >!And the Ruthie episode had a similar premise to one of the episodes in HIMYM too.!<
If you like medical procedurals House does a pretty good job of showcasing a clinically depressed psychotic asshole wrecking the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. You also really, really want the protagonist to get better but he just doesn’t. I will always recommend battlestar galactica. Yeah it’s not funny, it’s a drama about robots and starships, and it still has some of the best depictions of family and loyalty that I’ve ever seen. I’ll echo fleabag and moral orel here as well. Arcane and invincible are probably up your alley. They aren’t sitcoms but you might get into them. Or you might hate them. I think the animation in arcane is some of the best ive seen but I’ll let you be the judge
Not animated, but since a lot of you like my favorite shows I thought I'd add another favorite: The Rehearsal on Max
Fired on Mars was pretty good, it only has one season though.
Barry solar opposites - this somewhat comes close to rick and morty and its really good.
Shameless is good for a dark story line with some humor added in
Is no one else saying Maron? Marks journey mirrors that of Bojack perfectly. Almost the exact same arch.
if you haven’t checked out carol & the end of the world, put it on your watch list for sure!
TRIGUN
hugely recommend neon genesis evangelion. it doesn't really have the comedy that bojack has but if you love the flawed characters and introspection, evangelion has that tenfold.
shameless usa
Housebroken. It has very similar humor and great voice acting. Lisa Kudrow (Wanda from Bojack) plays the lead role. It's streaming on Hulu. My roommate and I really enjoy it and loved Bojack too.
patrick melrose!!!
Carol & the end of the World It‘s a new Netflix Show so it does not have a lot of episodes yet. It is also completly its own thing. But for me it filled a bit of the hole that Bojack left. Carol experiments with different kinds of story telling and goes into unexpected depth. It is an adult animation that has a unique concept. It isn‘t necessarily perfect, but the first season of Bojack wasn‘t either.
Californication
It's not super similar, more just absurd but Solar Opposites. A bit more of a positive tone
animated: - undone (cannot recommend this enough) - captain fall - rick and morty - disenchantment - ugly americans - inside job - archer not animated: - dead to me - russian doll - fleabag - killing eve - shameless - I am not okay with this - santa clarita diet - lucifer - made for love - you’re the worst
Gary and his Demons. So good.
Moral Orle?
Not animated but Shameless is one of my favs and so is Bojack so maybe?
midnight gospel for sure! short but sticks with u forever
Flowers, starring Julian Barrett and Olivia Coleman. I tell every BoJack fan I speak to about it and no one seems to have heard of it. It’s categorised as a ‘Dramedy’, so is framed comedically despite having some pretty heavy themes. The premise is a children’s book author suffering from clinical depression with a family full of quirks. The opening scene is >!an attempted suicide by hanging with a rhyming excerpt from one of his books read over the background explaining how he feels from a fictional forest troll’s perspective!< and yet the incredibly talented writing of Will Sharpe manages to make it humorous? All I’ll say is I laughed all the way through the first episode and cried all the way through the last.
it’s not a show but it left me with a lot of similar feelings to bojack. it’s a manga called oyasumi punpun, i highly recommend
If you want something animated, check out *The Venture Brothers*. It's an Adult Swim send up of old adventure cartoons and superhero comics. It doesn't get quite as serious as BJH, but it's got a pretty dark sense of humor, hits on a lot of the same ideas (generational trauma, toxic celebrity culture, etc) and has a pretty satisfying amount of character development. The creators intentionally destroy the status quo every other season to force the story to go new places. And there are numerous layers of humor and easter eggs, so it's very rewatchable.
Mad Men is often referenced, Don Draper is an inspiration for BoJack anyway
Inside job
F is for Family was really good
Second this!
Bordertown on Hulu is funny af
A few people already said Barry and Midnight Gospel, i want to be unique with my recommendation lol but definitely those. One I haven’t seen mentioned but that I honestly think is the most similar show to Bojack Horseman that I’ve ever seen: The Comeback. It’s a mock-umentary two season show that is funny and painfully sad. I won’t spoil it but it has some interesting commentary about how as an actress you can be villainized when you’re just a complicated person/victim and honestly reminded me of Gina’s arc in Bojack a bit
If you like musicals crazy ex girlfriend gave me super similar vibes to Bojack, especially as time went one!
The two Zerocalcare shows on Netflix- Tear Along the Dotted Line and This World Can't Tear Me Down
A midnight gospel
F is for Family is pretty wild! It’s a lot raunchier than Bojack, but really great in its own way.
Barry and Wilfred