Posted by Ross Johnson
https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/best-shows-like-emily-in-paris?utm_medium=RSS
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Considering we're awaiting word of a (likely) sixth season renewal, it's undeniable that Emily in Paris has been an unqualified success for Netflix, a reliable hit that rivals the success of buzzier genre shows like Stranger Things. Lily Collins stars as the faux pas-prone Emily Cooper, who moves to Paris and lands a temporary job at a glitzy French marketing firm kind of by accident. She doesn't speak the language and doesn't get the culture, but slowly manages to ingratiate herself to the locals while juggling work and romance in a new country. The series hails from Darren Star, creator of Sex and the City, so her budding high-fashion sense and tendency to narrate adventures à la Carrie Bradshaw make perfect sense.
While you wait for Emily's next round of misadventures, here are 15 other shows that offer similarly stylish coming-of-age vibes.
The Bold Type (2017 – 2021)
Inspired by the career of Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, this show follows three young besties—Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), Kat Edison (Aisha Dee), and Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy)—working for the fictional women's magazine Scarlet in NYC. As with Emily's mentors Madeline and Sylvie, the three are never without the firm guiding hand of editor-in-chief, Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin), as they navigate life and careers in their dramatically stylish world. Stream The Bold Type on Hulu, HBO Max, and Tubi.
Survival of the Thickest (2023 - )
No international travel here (or at least, not until the second season), but we do have a fashion-forward stylist who'd devoted herself to the wrong guy for way too long. As the series opens, Mavis (Beaumont (Michele Buteau, who also co-created the series) is ready for a fresh start, putting herself and career first—which does not preclude falling into a number of romantic entanglements. As she says more than once, she's going to take on the fashion world with a "body-positive attitude, cute v-neck, and some lip-gloss." Stream Survival of the Thickest on Netflix.
The Carrie Diaries (2013 – 2014)
Before Emily in Paris, creator Darren Star produced this two-season prequel to Sex and the City, and it's a good bet for fans of either show. Even as a 16-year-old living in Connecticut, Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) is firmly on the road to becoming the iconic New York fashionista that we know she'll grow into. The high school junior takes an internship at a law firm in the Big Apple, only to moonlight from that pretty-darn-good gig by taking a second job at Interview magazine. The young Ms. Bradshaw has to balance school, family, a volatile relationship, a budding career, and a new and very outgoing bestie named Samantha (Lindsey Gort). Stream The Carrie Diaries on The CW or buy episodes from Prime Video and Apple TV
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017 – 2023)
The connection here is largely based on style, as in Mrs. Maisel's impeccable period 1950s pairs nicely with Emily's heightened modern Paris, but there's also the aspect of a young woman striking out on her own, and damn the consequences. Maisel was one of Prime’s first truly buzzy original series, a comedy-drama from Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) about the title’s Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a New York housewife of the late 1950s who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Inspired by the real-life careers of comedians like Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, the show is warm and welcoming, with great performances and dialogue; it also achieves something rare in being a show about comedy that’s actually funny. Stream The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video.
Étoile (2025)
Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino returned to TV, and to the ballet world (following Bunheads), for this series about two world-renowned ballet companies (one in NYC and one in Paris) that decide to spice things up by swapping their most talented dancers. Each company is on the brink of financial disaster, and so Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), director of the Metropolitan Ballet, and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), director of of Le Ballet National, come up with the plan, and recruit an eccentric billionaire (Simon Callow) to pay for it. Much of the comedy comes from the mismatched natures of their swapped dancers, and there's a tangible love of ballet that keeps things light, despite the fancy title. The focus is a bit more on the dance directors than on the younger dancers, but there's still plenty of impeccable Parisian style on display. Stream Étoile on Prime Video.
I Love LA (2025 – )
Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby, Bottoms) created, produces, writes, and stars as Maia, who is 27, living in LA, and desperate for promotion in her job as an assistant talent manager. She's joined in town by Tallulah (Odessa A’zion), a former New York City influencer fallen on messy times, and an alternately fun and exhausting circle of friends that includes West Hollywood stylist Charlie (Jordan Firstman) and Maia's teacher boyfriend Dylan (Josh Hutcherson). It's a great looking show and, though tolerance for a coming-of-age comedy about twenty-ish-year-olds in LA will vary, it's smartly written and impressively acted. Stream I Love LA on HBO Max.
Fleabag (2016 – 2019)
There’s no high concept hook here. This critical favorite stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the title character (only ever referred to as Fleabag) in a comedy drama about a free-spirited, but also deeply angry single young woman in living in London who shares her romantic ups and downs via confessional asides to us, the audience. So...Emily in Paris, but messier? Waller-Bridge won separate Emmys as the star, creator, and writer of the series (all in the same year), and co-stars Sian Clifford, Olivia Coleman, Fiona Shaw, and Kristin Scott Thomas were lauded as well. Stream Fleabag on Prime Video.
The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021 – 2025)
Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) is an endlessly naïve scholarship student; Bela (Amrit Kaur), is an aspiring comedy writer on the make for the hottest guys; Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) is an overachieving athlete and senator’s daughter; Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is a closeted sorority girl. They're randomly assigned to room together as freshmen at the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, this comedy-drama isn't nearly as salacious as its title suggests: There's sex, for sure, but like Sex and the City before it, the funny, queer-friendly show is more about female friendship. Stream The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max.
Spellbound (2023 – )
A young woman movies from the U.S. to France to pursue her dream of dancing. Oh, and also she's magic. A successor to Find Me in Paris, set at that show's same Paris Opera Ballet School, Spellbound introduces a new cast and, where the earlier series dealt with time travel, Spellbound is all about real magic: Fifteen-year-old American Cece Parker Jones travels to Paris to join the prestigious dance school, only to discover that she's an actual witch with a family history of spellcraft. She struggles to balance dance, magic, and her desire to be a normal teenager while dealing with the Mystics, natural enemies to Cece's type of witch. It's a solid and stylish coming-of-age drama. Stream Spellbound on Hulu.
Call My Agent! (2015 – 2020)
There's no Chicago gal traveling overseas in this French series, so if you want your Parisian marketing industry workplace dramedy straight up, with no American hand-holding, you're in luck. The series shifts its focus between four talent agents at a prestigious agency who are forced to take the reins following the sudden death of the agency founder. They navigate their messy personal lives while catering to the needs of their real celebrity clients (Juliette Binoche, Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Huppert, and Sigourney Weaver are just some of the name guest stars playing faintly exaggerated versions of themselves). It's soapy, addictive showbiz fun, a dishy delight even if you know not a lick of French. Stream Call My Agent! on Netflix or buy episodes from Prime Video and Apple TV.
Gossip Girl (2007 – 2012)
Teen drama at its finest and most bitchy, Gossip Girl follows the many, many scandals of a group of young Upper East Side socialites and hangers-on. The tangled teenage lives of Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), her best frenemy Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), scholarship kid Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), and plenty more pretty young boys and girls are chronicled in meticulous detail by the title's mysterious, omnipresent Gossip Girl (voiced by Kristen Bell). This one shares with Emily an impeccable sense of style, as its leads never miss a fashion beat. The short-lived 2021 follow-up is also available on HBO Max. Stream Gossip Girl on HBO Max and Netflix.
Ugly Betty (2006 – 2010)
Just as Emily's tourist kitsch gets her read for filth in the opening episode of her series, Betty Suarez (America Ferrera) has a...let's say "distinct" sense of fashion that sets her much apart from the rest of the striving staffers at the prestigious fashion magazine Mode, where she manages to land a job despite not quite fitting into the mold (her opening episode poncho is, of course, iconic). Betty's only coming from Queens, but her adult braces and good heart set her well apart in the catty, high-pressure world of NYC fashion. Stream Ugly Betty on Hulu.
Sweetbitter (2018 – 2019)
Based on the novel of the same name from Stephanie Danler, drawing on her experiences as an NYC waitress, Sweetbitter stars Yellowjackets' Ella Purnell as Tess, 21 at the series' opening, as she arrives in the city and gets a job at a prestigious restaurant. As we (and she) quickly learn, there's at least as much drama (including drugs, booze, and sex) in the restaurant industry as there is in the world of social media. Stream Sweetbitter on Prime Video.
Younger (2015 – 2021)
Another Darren Star show, this one's seven-season run overlapped just a bit with Emily. It flips a more common premise on its head: rather than a young woman seeking to make a name for herself, Younger follows Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a recently divorced woman in her 40s who finds that her age is a barrier to reentering the publishing industry she left years earlier. After a compliment convinces her that she could pass for a younger woman, she lies that she's just 26 in order to land an entry-level job. Misadventures ensue. Think of it as a story of coming-of-age, again. Stream Younger on Netflix.
Real Girlfriends in Paris (2022)
How about Emily in Paris for real? This hard-hitting documentary series follows the lives of American ex-pats in Paris...just kidding, it's a Bravo reality show. Still, the vibes are not at all dissimilar, though this bit of reality TV nonsense somehow feels more heightened than the scripted drama of Emily (which probably inspired it). Six women trying to make names for themselves in the City of Lights: one a fashion designer, one an art historian, one an English teacher, etc. What they all share is a level of impeccable fashion that most people only experience by starring in a TV show. Stream Real Girlfriends in Paris on Peacock.
https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/best-shows-like-emily-in-paris?utm_medium=RSS
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oursin) wrote2025-12-18 05:21 pm
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