Brigid Delaney and Benjamin Law made the Netflix comedy series “Wellmania.” It is based on Delaney’s 2017 book “Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness,” which is about a New York journalist and food blogger named Liv Healy (Celeste Barber) who gets her dream job as a judge on a competitive cooking show. For her best friend’s 40th birthday, she goes back to her home country of Australia for what she hopes will be a short visit. But her bag, which had her green card in it, was stolen, and when she tried to get a new one, her application was turned down because she didn’t take care of herself. Now, Liv has a short amount of time to get back in shape and go back to New York before she loses the chance of a lifetime.
As a comedy show, “Wellmania” is an unusual mix of physical comedy and satire. If you’ve seen the show and liked it, here are some ideas for other shows you might like. Most of these shows are like “Wellmania,” and you can watch them on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or HBO Max.
And Just Like That… (2021-)
“And Just Like That…” is a revival and continuation of the HBO show “Sex and the City.” It takes place about 11 years after “Sex and the City 2,” and it shows how Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda deal with life as women in their 50s. Samantha is missing from the group, which makes sense since Carrie said that she moved to London after they had a fight. At the start of the series, Carrie is still married to John “Big” Preston, but soon tragedy strikes and John dies of a heart attack, putting Carrie in a new set of situations. Some parts of Liv’s life in New York in “Wellmania” are like Carrie’s old life. Both women are in situations they didn’t expect because of things they couldn’t change.
Big Shot (2021–2022)
The show “Big Shot,” which was made by David E. Kelley, Dean Lorey, and Brad Garrett, is about a basketball coach named Marvyn Korn (John Stamos) who has anger problems. Korn has no choice but to accept the offer to coach the Westbrook School for Girls team in San Diego, California. He lost his job at the University of Wisconsin. When Korn gets to San Diego, he meets his boss, headmistress Sherilyn Thomas, and Holly Barrett, a friendly assistant coach, before he meets the girls he’s supposed to train. Even though “Big Shot” and “Wellmania” take place in very different places, they both have a chaotic core, and the main characters seem to be made of the same stuff.
Fleabag (2016–2019)
The BBC/Amazon Studio show “Fleabag” was created by and stars another very talented English woman comedian, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It was based on Waller-one-woman Bridge’s play of the same name, which she performed at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The main character doesn’t have a name, but the audience calls her “Fleabag.” The story is about how she deals with life, love, and awkward situations in modern London. Fleabag is the model for how characters like Liv, Arabella, and Suzie were made in more ways than one.
I Hate Suzie (2020-)
“I Hate Suzie” has a much darker premise than “Wellmania,” but it is still a comedy, and the main character, Suzie (Billie Piper), is similar to Liv in some ways. Both of these women have this self-destructive, thrill-seeking part of their personalities that often leads to their problems. In “I Hate Suzie,” the main character is a former teen pop star whose life seems to be going well until someone hacks into her phone and posts embarrassing photos of her on social media. Naomi, Suzie’s manager, tries hard to save her client’s career while Suzie, her husband, and their deaf son Frank try to weather the storm.
I May Destroy You (2020)
“I May Destroy You,” which was made by and stars Michaela Coel, is about Arabella, who turns her popularity on social media into a successful writing career. Her first book, “Chronicles of a Fed-Up Millennial,” was a big success. Because of this, people started calling her the “icon” of her generation. Arabella, on the other hand, is having trouble with her second book. When she wakes up one morning and can’t remember what happened, she asks her friends for help. Arabella is the personification of chaos, just like Liv and a few other characters on this list. Her life is too fast and unpredictable.
Shrill (2019–2021)
“Shrill” is based on Lindy West’s book “Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman” and was created by West, Aidy Bryant, and Alexandra Rushfield. It’s about an overweight woman named Annie Easton (Bryant) who wants to change her life so badly that she’s willing to do anything. Even though she feels good about her weight and how she sees the world, she slowly starts to see how biassed it can be. Even so, Annie is still determined to reach her goals in her own way and go back to the home she was given. Aidy is a journalist, just like Liv. Also, both shows show in an honest way how an industry has grown up around people who are considered overweight.
The Bear (2022-)
In both “Wellmania” and “The Bear,” cooking is an important part of the story. Jeremy Allen White plays “Carmy” Berzatto, a young and talented chef in New York City. After his older brother kills himself, Carmy has to leave his promising job in New York City and go back to his hometown of Chicago to run the restaurant he left behind. Carmy realises quickly that she will have a hard time. Not only is the restaurant in bad financial shape, but the staff is also very unprofessional.
