The Greatest Exhibits Like ‘Wednesday’ You Ought to Watch Subsequent

Contemplating it started life as a collection of single-panel comics, The Addams Household has proven spectacular endurance. The ’60s TV present grew to become a Broadway musical and the mid-’90s films are cult classics right now, however extra lately, Wednesday was a surprisingly huge, social media-fueled hit on Netflix when it debuted in 2022.

After a protracted wait, the present is again for its second season, reminding us that in an age when the calls for of conformity are as nice as they’ve ever been, all of us crave a bit misfit inspiration—and it needn’t cease there. After you have binged Wednesday season two, you may end up craving extra adventures of the proudly bizarre, and these 13 exhibits will do you proud.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018 – 2020)

This one’s fairly apparent: a spooky younger woman leads a collection stuffed with supernatural shenanigans that (principally) retains tongue planted firmly in cheek all through. Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is an old-school witch residing in a family that’s in no way in contrast to the Addams household: two witchy aunts (performed by Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis) alongside her warlock cousin (Likelihood Perdomo) and her loyal acquainted, Salem the cat, all of them residing their witchy lives simply out of view of the native normies. On the outset of the collection, Sabrina’s pressured to decide on between signing her title in Devil’s e book and changing into a full-fledged witch, or staying in highschool together with her human buddies. As a substitute, she refuses to decide on. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, and blood rituals abound. You’ll be able to stream Sabrina on Netflix.

The Midnight Membership (2022)

The Midnight Membership, a Mike Flanagan collection based mostly on a number of totally different YA Christopher Pike novels, includes a bunch of eight terminally in poor health younger sufferers at a bucolic hospice house run by a secretive and mysterious physician (A Nightmare on Elm Avenue‘s Heather Langenkamp). Every night time the children meet secretly to share scary tales, every additionally promising to return from past the grave when their time comes. It is spooky and infrequently transferring with out ever getting schmaltzy or valuable. The tone is barely extra severe than that of Wednesday, however it nonetheless affords loads of creepy enjoyable in its prolonged, imaginative storytelling sequences. It was deliberate as greater than a miniseries, so the cancellation after only one season leaves a number of questions unanswered. You’ll be able to stream The Midnight Membership on Netflix.

Legacies (2018 – 2022)

A (sorta!) standalone spin-off from the Vampire Diaries universe, Legacies follows Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), an orphan descended from bloodlines that embody vampires, witches, and werewolves—which means the Salvatore Faculty for the Younger and Gifted fits her completely: supernatural beings of all kinds attend, and it serves as a secret haven and coaching floor for these with powers. It is a spot the place they will study to manage and/or conceal their talents—type of a cross between Wednesday‘s Nevermore Academy and Charles Xavier’s Faculty. Naturally, coming-of-age drama and teenage angst abound. You’ll be able to stream Legacies on Netflix or purchase episodes from Prime Video.

What We Do within the Shadows (2019 – 2024)

5 vampires share a gothic, appropriately run-down Staten Island residence alongside acquainted Guillermo, sometimes hatching plots to beat humankind…however principally content material to hang around at house and get on one another’s nerves. The tone is extra outright comedic than Wednesday, and there is a important flip within the premise: The place the Addams household, and Wednesday herself, are all the time introduced because the cool children in a world of squares, our Staten Island vampires are decidedly not. Although satisfied that their powers ought to grant them an exalted standing, they’re hopelessly out of contact with the fashionable world and self-centered to a degree of literal absurdity. What all of them do have in widespread is that they are very a lot outsiders—and do not care one bit whether or not you prefer it or not. You’ll be able to stream What We Do within the Shadows on Hulu or purchase episodes from Prime Video.

The Munsters (1964 – 1966)

A curveball, I do know, however, as a lot as all of us adore The Addams Household, I would give The Munsters a slight edge amongst these two Sixties sitcoms—taking into consideration that there have been two years throughout which you can have watched them each on totally different networks, and maybe been confused to search out that they had been two solely totally different exhibits (they even started and ended inside weeks of each other). Whereas The Addams Household‘s humor was sharper in a method that is ensured its endurance, The Munsters was the right parody of the sitcoms of its period, imagining the Common monsters of previous in a Depart it to Beaver-esque setting, with an impressively well-drawn forged of characters and a forged together with Fred Gwynne, the wildly under-appreciated Yvonne De Carlo, and Al Lewis, with grasp voice actor Mel Blanc taking part in the household raven. You’ll be able to stream The Munsters on Peacocok or purchase episodes from Prime Video.

Blood & Water (2020 – , )

This South African import would not go for darkish comedy within the method of Wednesday, however in all different regards it’s a top-tier teen drama, starring Ama Qamata as Puleng Khumalo, a teenage lady who’s lived her complete life within the shadow of a sister who was taken as a child by human traffickers; Puleng’s mother and father even maintain a birthday celebration for the sister annually. When invited to a celebration by widespread Fikile Bhele (Khosi Ngema), a pupil on the elite Parkhurst Faculty in Cape City, Puleng can’t assist noticing their similarities. May this be her long-lost sister? Puleng transfers to the college to unravel issues, navigating juicy faculty drama whereas uncovering household secrets and techniques. You’ll be able to stream Blood & Water on Netflix.

Lockwood & Co. (2023)

In an alternate fashionable Britain, ghosts are an on a regular basis prevalence, which isn’t to say they don’t seem to be a nuisance—their contact is lethal. Technological progress has largely floor to a halt, whereas ghost-hunting businesses abound and, since adults lose the flexibility to sense ghosts instantly, children and teenagers are on the entrance traces. Ruby Stokes (Bridgerton) performs Lucy Carlyle, a particularly delicate listener who was forged apart when she was unfairly blamed for a number of deaths at her first job. With nowhere else to go, she joins up with the shady, unregulated Lockwood & Co., a two-orphan operation working exterior the regulation. It is a solidly spooky teen drama with a good bit of motion and a beating coronary heart in and amongst all the lifeless individuals. You’ll be able to stream Lockwood & Co. on Netflix.

House Earlier than Darkish (2020 – 2021)

Having moved from Brooklyn to the a Twin Peaks-esque coastal city of Erie Harbor, preteen Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince) has used her weblog to report on a mysterious, little-discussed demise—solely to face heckling from children her age in addition to adults. It seems that she’s uncovered threads that stretch from an unsolved disappearance many years in the past to the latest demise of a girl linked to that earlier chilly case. Although the tone is extra grounded than Wednesday‘s (it is based mostly on the fairly unbelievable true story of real-life child journalist Hilde Lysiak), neither character will probably be informed what they will and may’t do, regardless of how a lot strain the world places on them to be regular. You’ll be able to stream House Earlier than Darkish on Apple TV+.

Spellbound (2023 – , )

Fifteen-year-old American Cece Parker Jones travels to Paris to affix the celebrated dance faculty, solely to find that she’s an precise witch with a household historical past of magic. Now, she struggles to steadiness dance, magic, and her want to be a standard teenager whereas coping with the Mystics, pure enemies to Cece’s sort of witch. It is a very solidly entertaining mix of stripling drama, magical duels, and uniquely, ballet. The present is a standalone successor to the time travel-focused Discover Me in Paris (additionally on Hulu). You’ll be able to stream Spellbound on Hulu.

The Bastard Son & the Satan Himself (2022)

Profitable the prize for greatest title on this checklist, Bastard Son stars Jay Lycurgo as 16-year-old Nathan Byrne, the son of a fiercely harmful witch in a world divided between Fairborn Witches (all the time assumed to be good and pure) and Blood Witches (much less so). He is judged for his parentage, which does not cease the daughter of the Fairborn chief, Annalise (Nadia Parkes) from changing into his bestie. When our bodies begin piling up, Nathan is assumed to have taken his father’s place because the nastiest Blood witch of all. It is all teen drama and tales of self-discovery, standing aside from the group by being far darker and bloodier than most. You’ll be able to stream The Bastard Son & The Satan Himself on Netflix.

Doom Patrol (2019 – 2023, 4 seasons)

Shifting away from teen drama for only a second, this uncharacteristically daring and really freaky entry within the superhero canon is a freaky delight. Primarily based on the indescribably bizarre comics, it finds a bunch of misfits and weirdos assembled by Timothy Dalton’s unhinged scientist Niles Caulder as a part of an experiment he is been working for many years. Their mansion house capabilities a bit like a faculty dormitory, however for adults who don’t know the way to operate within the exterior world. The group contains characters just like the non-binary Danny the Avenue (a literal road), paranormal investigators the Intercourse Males, Imaginary Jesus, and orgasm-generating physique builder Flex Mentallo. Nevertheless it’s additionally, remarkably, grounded in glorious, continuously emotional character work from your complete forged, together with Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, Michelle Gomez, Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, and Jovian Wade. It’s additionally queer and intercourse constructive, celebrating weirdness as these foul-mouthed unhappy sacks study admire their variations. You’ll be able to stream Doom Patrol on HBO Max or purchase episodes from Prime Video.

Riverdale (2017 – 2023)

A wild tackle the as soon as solely healthful Archie comics universe, Riverdale veers wildly between genres, beginning out by mixing coming-of-age ten drama with an attractive homicide thriller earlier than very going through the supernatural and alternate universes (Sabrina, of teenage witch fame, even exhibits up in a while). It is extra dramatic, in lots of regards, than Wednesday, however it additionally is aware of what sort of present it’s, and taking itself so severely within the face of completely bonkers plot twists may be very a lot comedy in and of itself, and a part of the enjoyable. You’ll be able to steam Riverdale on Netflix or purchase episodes from Prime Video.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003)

Nicely, clearly. Highschool is hell, posits this supernatural motion basic, and you will get no argument from me. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Buffy Summers, the one lady in tall the world who can cease the demons, vampires, and so forth. Buffy simply desires to be an everyday teenager, which places the tip of her journey of self-acceptance in a spot nearer to the place Wednesday’s, who’s not terribly concerned with “regular,” begins. What they do share, although, is a mix of motion, darkish comedy, and coming-of-age drama. Watch it once more, earlier than the in-production reboot launches. You’ll be able to stream Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Tubi and Hulu or purchase episodes from Prime Video.