10 Of The Best Shows Set In New York City
Brooklyn Nine-Nine feel-good but still tackles tough topics that involve policing including racism, wrongful convictions, sexism, and more.
Here are 10 of the best shows set in New York City.
1. Sex and the City
Given that NYC is considered the fifth character, obviously Sex and the City is one of the best shows set in the Big Apple. The groundbreaking and truly iconic HBO series that ran for six seasons followed the lives of four best friends–Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha.
2. Friends
Friends, the one with the six pals who helped each other navigate their late 20s and 30s, is another awesome show based in New York City. The sitcom recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its premiere. Friends still is as loved in 2024 as it was when it was airing during the 90s and early 2000s.
3. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Starring Andy Samberg as Detective Jake Peralta, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a witty comedy series about the quirky but loavable detectives of Brooklyn’s 99th precinct and their serious, rarely smiling captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher).
4. How I Met Your Mother
In the LEGENDARY (iykyk) How I Met Your Mother, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) explains the story of how how he met his wife to their kids. The show is filmed from the perspective of flashbacks of Ted’s 20s and 30s dating, working, and playing in New York City. Also starring Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, and Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother is hilarious, poignant, and a beautiful portrait of friendship, love, and finding yourself.
5. Gossip Girl
Based on the book series, Gossip Girl is a show narrated by an anonymous blogger that goes by the name of Gossip Girl. On their blog, Gossip Girl delivers the latest tea on a group of particularly wealthy teenagers who live in Manhattan. The teens include Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). Gossip Girlis still iconic for so many reasons, from the fashion to the constant drama to the truly perfect casting.
6. Russian Doll
Russian Doll stars Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov, a bitter young woman living in NYC who is stuck in a time loop. The time loop in question is that she keeps dying but then returning to the party being thrown in her honor that same evening.
7. Everybody Hates Chris
Narrated by Chris Rock, Everybody Hates Chris is based on a younger version of the comedian. It’s a funny series about what it was like to grow up as a black kid attending an all-white school in Brooklyn during the 1980s.
8. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The hit Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel stars Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel, a young mother who gets left by her husband to raise two young kids. In a drunken rage after the abandonment, a drunk Midge stumbles into a comedy club and performs a stand-up act that ends up getting her arrested. But it also shows her that maybe there’s something greater for her out there.
9. Mad Men
A show about one of advertising most prestigious and influential agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, Mad Men primarily tells its story by focusing on the agency’s most mysterious ad execs, the elusive, handsome, and deeply talented Don Draper (Jon Hamm). Also starring Elizabeth Moss, January Jones, John Slattery, Mad Men is addicting to watch.
10. Succession
Succession was the breakout satirical black comedy-drama HBO series that tells the story of the Roy family, owners of the global media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo. When the family patriarch Logan Roy steps down as head of the company, his children fight for the open position. Succession was critically acclaimed for its writing, acting performances, musical score, directing, humor, and subject matter.
