Fans of the Netflix teen comedy seriesNever Have I Everhave been waiting a long time for new episodes, and thankfully Season 2 is finally here. Created byMindy KalingandLang Fisher,Never Have I EverstarsMaitreyi Ramakrishnanas Devi Vishwakumar, a 15-year-old Indian-American girl who avoids facing the trauma of her father’s recent death by focusing on getting a boyfriend and having sex for the first time — and in Season 2, Devi might be going a little overboard withtwoboyfriends. Devi’s smart but overly ambitious, with a temper that tends to get her into bad situations. Thankfully, she has her mother, Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar (Poorna Jagannathan), along with her two best friends Eleanor Wong (Ramona Young) and Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodriguez) by her side to navigate the ups and downs of teenage life.
Never Have I Everis a fan-favorite Netflix Original series, with consistent humor and adorable romance. But there are only so many episodes in a season. So what similar shows can you watch after Devi’s second chapter ofNever Have I Everends?
RELATED:‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 2 Review: Love Triangles, Identity Crises, and High School Drama Endure
Sex Education
you may think ofSex Educationas the British version ofNever Have I Everwith a few twists, one beingGillian Andersonas not only a sex therapist, but the mother of the protagonist,Asa Butterfield’s Otis Milburn. Given his mother’s area of work, Otis unintentionally learns a lot about sexual education while growing up. Despite not being too interested in the activity himself, his background makes him quite good at giving sex and relationship advice, which his classmates notice, leading Otis to set up a little business at school.Sex Educationworks by fusing its uninhibited humor with grounded storylines touching on day-to-day relationships and more serious topics, such as sexual assault, the personal journey of exploring an individual’s sexuality, and actual sex health education. As you’d expect,Sex Educationcenters around sex, but it presents every storyline with care and from a variety of mature, diverse perspectives.
On My Block
Another Netflix original,On My Blocksucceeds in the same way bothNever Have I EverandSex Educationdo when it comes to portraying diverse, grounded relationships. Set in South Central Los Angeles,On My Blockfollows four close-knit friends, Monsé Finnie (Sierra Capri), Ruby Martinez Jr. (Jason Genao), Jamal Turner (Brett Gray), and Cesar Diaz (Diego Tinoco), as they start high school after a transformative summer. Relationships and priorities are shifting, with Cesar getting pulled away from his friends and blossoming relationship with Monsé to get involved with his brother’s gang that rules the neighborhood. While the show is extremely hilarious and heartwarming,On My Blockalso presents an accurate picture of what some teenagers go through living in overlooked, less privileged — and less white — areas of big cities like Los Angeles.
Gilmore Girls
An older series but still one of the best teen dramedies ever made,Gilmore Girlsshares the same spirit ofNever Have I Ever, with a protagonist who always follows her heart and does what she thinks is right in the moment, even if she regrets it later. Just like Devi and her mother, the mother-daughter relationship between Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) is central to the story, and basically the heart of the show. The original seven seasons ofGilmore Girlsfollow Rory and Lorelai through their many good and bad relationships, with a supporting cast of many memorable characters like Lorelai’s friend and coworker Sookie (Melissa McCarthy), Rory’s best friend Lane (Keiko Agena), Lorelai’s parents Emily (Kelly Bishop) and Richard (Edward Herrmann), and of course, Lorelai’s love, Luke (Scott Patterson). After 13 years, the series came back for a short miniseries revival calledGilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, so there’s plenty to watch and keep you occupied as we wait for a possibleNever Have I EverSeason 3.
If you love everything embarrassing and relatable about Devi’s story, the 2011-2016 seriesAwkward.is definitely for you.Ashley Rickardsstars as Jenna Hamilton, an unpopular teenager who gets in an accident that her classmates and the adults around her think was a suicide attempt. As Jenna deals with the social aftermath of the misunderstanding, she starts writing a blog to cope with the situation, and fosters a budding relationship with the cool kid in school, Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff). After losing her virginity to Matty at summer camp, Jenna starts falling in love with him, despite Matty’s hesitancy to reveal the relationship to his friends at school. Like Devi with her unexpected connection with enemy-turned-romance Ben (Jaren Lewison), new feelings for a classmate named Jake Rosati (Brett Davern) lead Jenna to rethink if a relationship with Matty is what she really wants.
Love, Victor
First off, if you haven’t seen the original movieLove, Simon, starringNick Robinsonand based on the bestselling bookSimon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendabyBecky Albertalli, you need to remedy that immediately. But in the meantime, check out the Hulu spinoff seriesLove, Victor. Set at the same high school as the film just a few years down the line, the series starsMichael Ciminoas Victor Salazar, a teenage boy struggling with his personal identity and sexual orientation as he starts falling in love with a classmate. Victor contacts Simon (Robinson) for help navigating his feelings and coming out to his friends and family, and Robinson reprises his role through voiceover of the correspondence between Victor and Simon, as well as appearing in two episodes in the first two seasons.Love, Victorhas aired two seasons so far, and fans are hopeful for a third.
Derry Girls
If you’re a fan ofNever Have I Everand haven’t heard ofDerry Girls, you’ve just found your new favorite show. Set in the town of Londonderry, also known as Derry, in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, teenager Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) lets her ego and ambition get the best of her while attending Catholic school with her group of close friends. The other characters in the main cast are her cousin Orla McCool (Louisa Harland), best friends Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) and Clare Devlin (Nicola Coughlan), and Michelle’s English cousin James Maguire (Dylan Llewellyn). The comedy is so quick-paced that fast jokes and strong Irish accents make it hard to keep track of everything going on sometimes. But trust me, it’s worth watching twice — or more. The young actors on the cast are fantastic, andDerry Girlsis truly unpredictable, heartwarming, and extremely funny. It should be on everyone’s to-watch list.
Alone Together
Produced byThe Lonely Island’sAndy Samberg,Akiva SchafferandJorma Taccone, and created by and starringEsther PovitskyandBenji Aflalo,Alone Togetheris a comedy about two close friends who try to make it in Los Angeles. Yes, I know that the synopsis sounds like hundreds of other shows and movies out there, but this series stands out with the hilariously awkward protagonists, Esther and Benji, and the spot-on humor that succeeds in representing the Millennial generation through comedy in a way that doesn’t feel gimmicky or ridiculing. The series unfortunately never developed more than a small yet devoted following while it aired, so it was canceled after two seasons. But thankfully many more people can still check out the great series, hopefully giving it the attention and laughs it deserves.
KEEP READING:‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 2 Replaces Chrissy Teigen as Narrator With Gigi Hadid
