Top 250 Tv Shows Like Hard Times

A young boy growing up in the suburbs of 1980s Brisbane faces the harsh realities of life — and the looming dangers that threaten his family.

Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator, has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served.

In Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war, Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.

Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC for 35 years from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. Set in the fictional town of Bay City, the show in its early years opens with announcer Bill Wolff intoning its epigram, “We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds,” which Phillips said represented the difference between “the world of events we live in, and the world of feelings and dreams that we strive for.” Another World focused less on the conventional drama of domestic life as seen in other soap operas, and more on exotic melodrama between families of different classes and philosophies.

Billy and Cody LeFever dream of a new life and move to "The Bakken" in North Dakota, booming after the biggest oil discovery in American history. They’re soon pitted against a ruthless tycoon who forces them to put everything on the line, including their marriage.

Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers and other modern technology. It was originally broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One, and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Carnival Films.

Charles Dickens' haunting semi-autobiographical tale of a boy who is sent away by his stepfather after his mother dies but manages to triumph over incredible adversities.

Johnny Smith discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma.

The story of the early days of Deadwood, South Dakota; woven around actual historic events with most of the main characters based on real people. Deadwood starts as a gold mining camp and gradually turns from a lawless wild-west community into an organized wild-west civilized town. The story focuses on the real-life characters Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen.

Budding entrepreneurs get three minutes to pitch their business ideas to five multi-millionaires willing to invest their own cash.

What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in "The Walking Dead"? This spin-off set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world, will answer that question.

Life is hard on the Flemings' ranch in the Alberta foothills where abused or neglected horses find refuge with a kind, hard-working family. Debts abound and the bank is about to foreclose. Can they keep the ranch running?

Set fifteen years in the then-future year 1983, the series tells the tale of the crew and passengers of a sub-orbital transport ship named Spindrift. In the pilot episode, the Spindrift is en route from Los Angeles to London, on an ultra-fast sub-orbital flight. Just beyond Earth's boundary with space, the Spindrift encounters a magnetic space storm, and is dragged through a space warp to a mysterious planet where everything is twelve times larger than on Earth, whose inhabitants the Earthlings nickname "the Giants". The Spindrift crash-lands, and the damage renders it inoperable.

A team of teenagers with attitude are recruited to save Angel Grove from the evil witch, Rita Repulsa, and later, Lord Zedd, Emperor of all he sees, and their horde of monsters.

The world's smartest dog and his boy host a zany late-night comedy show from a swanky penthouse, with time-traveling historical figures and a live audience.

The misadventures of a divorced mother, two teenage daughters, and new building superintendent in Indianapolis.

Out Of This World is an American fantasy sitcom about a teenage girl who is half alien, which gives her unique supernatural powers. It first aired in syndication from September 17, 1987 and ended on May 25, 1991. During its first season, the series was originally part of NBC's Prime Time Begins at 7:30 campaign, in which the network's owned-and-operated stations would run first-run sitcoms in the 7:30-8 pm time slot to counterprogram competing stations' game shows, sitcom reruns and other offerings. Out of This World was rotated with the original series Marblehead Manor and She's the Sheriff, a syndicated revival of the 1983 sitcom We Got It Made, and a television adaptation of the play You Can't Take It With You. NBC ended the experiment after the 1987-88 season due to the low ratings put up by three of the series, with Out of This World being one of the two that was renewed. After its first season the series was largely moved to weekend time slots, where it remained until its cancellation following the fourth season.

A young Healer armed with an unpredictable magic guides a runaway Elf in her perilous quest to save the peoples of the Four Lands from an age-old Demon scourge.

Take the beach town of Montauk, New York by storm while following a group of nine friends who make the exclusive enclave their go-to party spot between Memorial Day and Labor Day — that is, when they're not hustling at their day jobs. You could say they work hard and party way harder.

A young H.G. Wells time travels to modern day New York City in pursuit of the charismatic—yet secretly psychopathic—Dr. John Stevenson, better known as "Jack the Ripper," following the doctor's brazen escape from the Victorian London authorities.

A mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, who must use the machine's prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. But can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it's too late?

A dysfunctional family of superheroes comes together to solve the mystery of their father's death, the threat of the apocalypse and more.

The five-day-a-week syndicated successor to the popular CBS game show, where two contestants compete to match fill-in-the-blank phrases with those of the celebrities.

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

America's popular television News magazine in which an ever changing team of CBS News correspondents contribute segments ranging from hard news coverage to politics to lifestyle and pop culture.

In the Heat of the Night is an American television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name starring Carroll O'Connor as the white police chief William Gillespie, and Howard Rollins as the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995. Its executive producers were Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor. TGG Direct released the first season of the series to DVD on August 28, 2012.

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World is a 7-part British documentary/docudrama television miniseries that originally aired from 4 September 2003 to 16 October 2003 on BBC. The programme examines seven engineering feats that occurred during the Industrial Revolution.

Sesamstraße is the German-language version of Sesame Street, a children's television series. It airs primarily in Germany and the surrounding German-speaking countries. The show premièred on 8 January 1973, Sesamstraße has been running on Norddeutscher Rundfunk since 1973; it's now in its 40th season. Sesamstraße is also broadcast on Das Erste and KiKa.

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The miniseries is a continuation of the classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with science fiction and additional fantasy elements added. It focuses on the adventures of a small-town waitress named DG who is pulled into a magical realm called the O.Z., ruled by the tyrannical sorceress Azkadellia. Together with her companions Glitch, Raw, and Cain, DG journeys to uncover her lost memories, find her true parents, and foil Azkadellia's plot to trap the O.Z. in eternal darkness.

The Littlest Hobo is a Canadian television series based upon a 1958 American film of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, spanning six seasons and was revived for a popular second run on CTV from October 11, 1979 to March 7, 1985. It starred an ownerless dog. All three productions revolved around a stray German Shepherd, the titular Hobo, who wanders from town to town, helping people in need. Although the concept was perhaps similar to that of Lassie, the Littlest Hobo's destiny was to befriend those who apparently needed help. Despite the attempts of the many people whom he helped to adopt him, he appeared to prefer to be on his own, and would head off by himself at the end of each episode. Never actually named on-screen, the dog is often referred to by the name Hobo or by the names given by temporary human companions. Hobo's background is also unexplained on-screen. His origins, motivation and ultimate destination are also never explained. Although some characters appeared in more than one episode, the only constant was the Littlest Hobo himself.

Adaptations of mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's contemporary rivals in the genre.

The Addams Family is an animated adaptation of the Charles Addams cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1973. Many of the original actor's from the 1960"s television series returned in voice-over roles.

A three-part adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, where a young student commits a murder and is forced into incriminating himself.

Industrial Revelations is a Documentary show showing the connections between related industrial advances. The show's presenter has changed several times since the first series in 2002 hosted by Mark Williams.

FBI agent Audrey Parker arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine to solve a murder and soon discovers the town's many secrets—which also hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of her lost past.

The 1974 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' timeless classic - David Copperfield starring David Yelland.

Cambridge, Great Britain, 1980s. When the headmaster of Porterhouse College dies without naming a successor, the government appoints a former graduate whose ideas clash with the extreme conservatism that reigns at the institution.

Canadian version of the reality show in which budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hopes of securing business financing.

A two-part adaptation of Martin Amis's cult '80s novel with Nick Frost as John Self, a dysfunctional director who goes to America to make his debut movie but ends up speeding towards self-destruction.

The life of an orphan is changed by the providential intervention of a mysterious benefactor.

A series about the life, career and works of the movie comedy genius.

Choirmaster John Jasper is obsessed with his nephew's fiancé. Will he take his opportunity to get rid of Edwin Drood?

Mini-series based on the novel by Charles Dickens.

Imagine the perfect American town... beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets. Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you're going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines.

The story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Being a teenager is hard enough. Being a Wolfblood teenager is ten times more complicated. 14 year old Maddy loves her abilities - heightened senses, being faster, stronger and more graceful - but hates the secrets that come with them.

Examine how ancient civilisations built some of the most magnificent structures on the face of the Earth, many centuries before the industrial revolution.

Adaptation of Denise Mina's thriller set in 1982. When the story of a murder has huge implications for her family, newspaper copy boy Paddy Meehan battles prejudices to get to the truth. As she inches closer to revealing the truth, her investigations place her in mortal danger.

Michael Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser, gets drunk at a fair and for five guineas sells his wife and child to a sailor. When the horror of his act finally sets in, Henchard swears he will not touch alcohol for twenty-one years. Through hard work and acumen, he becomes rich, respected, and eventually the mayor of Casterbridge. But eighteen years after his fateful oath, his wife and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, return to Casterbridge, and his fortunes steadily decline.

Modern interpretation of the classic Charles Dickens tale about a young man who must support his family following the death of his father, turning to his sinister uncle for help.

77-year-old Maurice James Kingsley writtes a successful novel about a fashion model, in this Dennis Potter miniseries. But Maurice’s furious niece recognises her life in its pages.

A Colombian remake of the U.S. TV show Breaking Bad. After he is diagnosed with cancer, Walter Blanco teams up with José Miguel Rosas in order to sell crystal meth.

Adaptation of the Balzac novel. A poor and homely spinster, who feels she's been walked on all her life, teams up with a scheming courtesan to wreak elaborate revenge on her rich and handsome relatives.

In an old caravan parked in front of his crumbling estate lives Pompidou - a tubby, pompous, penniless, eccentric, yet lovable aristocrat. He is an elderly oddball who has fallen on hard times.

A lusty frontier saga about a pioneer woman and her love for her family, the man she marries, and the land on which she lives, dramatized from Conrad Richter's Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy: 'The Trees;' 'The Fields;' and 'The Town.' The series originally aired on NBC in three installments from February 19 to February 21, 1978 and stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Hal Holbrook.

Arthur & George is a three-part adaptation of Julian Barnes' novel about Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle as played by actor Martin Clunes. Set in 1906 in Staffordshire, Hampshire and London the drama follows Sir Arthur and his trusted secretary, Alfred ‘Woodie’ Wood as they investigate the case of George Edalji, a young Anglo-Indian solicitor who was imprisoned for allegedly mutilating animals and writing obscene letters.

Dennis Potter adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about how the rich languoring on the Riviera in the 1920s are slowly drawn into the coming depression is once again filmed with Peter Strauss, Mary Steenburgen, and John Heard in the leads.

The Mouse Factory is an American syndicated television series produced by Walt Disney Productions and created by Ward Kimball, that ran from 1972 to 1974. It showed clips from various Disney cartoons and movies, hosted by celebrity guests, including Johnny Brown, Charles Nelson Reilly, JoAnne Worley and many more, visiting the Disney studio and interacting with the walk-around Disney characters from the Disney Theme Parks. It was later re-run on the Disney Channel in the 1980s and '90s. The theme played over the previews of each episode was a fast instrumental version of "Whistle While You Work" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The song played over the end credits is "Minnie's Yoo Hoo", the theme song from the original Mickey Mouse Clubs that met in theaters starting in 1929. However, due to low ratings, the series was canceled after its second season.

Dickensian intertwines the realm of fictional characters in Charles Dickens’ novels—including Scrooge, Fagin and Miss Havisham—in half-hour episodes, as their lives intertwine in 19th century London. The Old Curiosity Shop sits next door to The Three Cripples Pub, while Fagin’s Den is hidden down a murky alley off a bustling Victorian street.

A darkly comic swamp noir story of two best friends set in the late 1980s. Based on the novels by Joe R. Lansdale, the series follows Hap Collins, an East Texas white boy with a weakness for Southern women, and Leonard Pine, a gay, black Vietnam vet with a hot temper.

Paige and her husband Wayne have worked hard at raising their five children. They succeeded four times! With Emmett around, every day without a visit from rescue workers in hazmat suits is a win!

A comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently and his reluctant assistant Todd. An adaptation of Douglas Adams’ wildly successful comic novels.

Bleak House is the first BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. It was adapted by Constance Cox as an eleven-part series of half-hour episodes first transmitted from 16 October 1959. It stars Andrew Cruickshank in the role of John Jarndyce, Diana Fairfax as Esther Summerson and Colin Jeavons as Richard Carstone. The complete series still exists.

Follow Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the “Aes Sedai” as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women. Moiraine believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it.

In this modern adaptation of "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare, Viola Messing is just your regular teenaged social justice warrior attending an all male boarding school in disguise to prove a point. However, when her handsome roommate Oren falls for Liv, the town recluse, Viola unexpectedly finds herself caught up in one of literature's greatest love triangles.

Dogged investigator Allegra Dill returns to her border-town Texas home after her sister is murdered. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees.

Adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel about a scientist who brings life to a creature fashioned from corpses and various body parts.

A six-part, true crime docuseries about a mysterious murder of Ken Rex McElro that took place in the ‘80s with at least 60 witnesses present, all of whom deny seeing anything.

Jess Oakroyd, discontented with his home, his work and his football team, tears up his Insurance Card and disappears into the night. He intends to go to Nuneaton, but instead finds himself on the ragged edges of show business. We share with him the trials and tribulations of the Good Companions as they tour seaside towns, industrial cities and rural backwaters in their search for success and stardom.

Merlin’s apprentice joins Arcadia’s heroes on a time-bending adventure in Camelot, where conflict is brewing between the human, troll and magical worlds.

A young girl moves from Brooklyn to the small lakeside town her father left behind. While there, her dogged pursuit of the truth leads her to unearth a cold case that everyone in town, including her own father, tried hard to bury.

Escaped convict Lin Ford flees to the teeming streets of 1980s Bombay, looking to disappear. Working as a medic for the city’s poor and neglected, Lin finds unexpected love, connection, and courage on the long road to redemption.

Gold Digger tells the story of wealthy 60 year old Julia as she falls in love with Benjamin, a man 25 years her junior. As this six part series progresses the impact their unconventional relationship has on her family is explored and the secrets of their past are revealed. Has Julia finally found the happiness she's always deserved? Or is Benjamin really the gold digger they think he is?

Stuck in a small Appalachian town, a young woman’s only escape from the daily grind is playing advanced video games. She is such a good player that a company sends her a new video game system to test…but it has a surprise in store. It unlocks all of her dreams of finding a purpose, romance, and glamour in what seems like a game…but it also puts her and her family in real danger.

In this modern adaptation of Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield," David is a teenager on the verge of graduating high school when his life is turned completely upside down.

Fun-loving friends Daisy and Cole use music and imagination to solve problems in a town filled with nursery rhyme characters.

It's the day after Halloween in 1988 when four young friends accidentally stumble into an intergalactic battle and find themselves inexplicably transported to the year 2019. When they come face-to-face with their adult selves, each girl discovers her own strengths as together they try to find a way back to the past while saving the world of the future.

The life and times of Canadian inventor and industrial genius, Joseph-Armand Bombardier.

With her son grown up, single mom Pearl Nolan decides to pursue her lifelong dream and launches a private detective agency, which she runs from her family's restaurant in the coastal town of Whitstable. Drawn by her caring nature, locals soon flock to her with all manner of cases. But when an old friend dies suspiciously, Pearl finds herself in conflict with gruff new cop in town, DCI Mike McGuire.

"Empires of New York” follows titans of the 80’s who shared a singular trait: the insatiable need to win at all costs. Drawing on exclusive interviews, these titans broke rules and flaunted their wealth. And oddly, at times America came to love them for it.

A Deputy Marshal inherits an unruly dog who helps him solve crimes and investigate a family mystery.

In 1980s East London, a gang of hopeless crooks become embroiled in a major gold heist.

A fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined an era, both on and off the court.

The only child in a wretchedly poor family in the Danish village of Odense, Hans Christian Andersen lives in a fantasy world. His hand carved dolls and puppets, his father's bedtime stories, and his own natural flair for fantastic tales brings the child temporary escape. It takes him all the way to Copenhagen where, he's been told, dreams can really come true.

The coming-of-age story of Pip, an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life, until a twist of fate and the evil machinations of the mysterious and eccentric Miss Havisham shows him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the true cost of this new world and whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be.

Rebecca Gibney and Charles Edwards star as two city slickers who inherit a failing vineyard in rural New Zealand.. the only problems are that neither of them has ever done a hard days' work- and they despise one another.

A young aspiring writer discovers secrets about her family's past when she finds herself mysteriously being pulled back and forth in time to a 19th century plantation.

A dream holiday becomes a nightmare for a young British couple who seemingly have it all, as heartbreak turns into fury and revenge.

12-year-old Lincoln Loud goes on new adventures in the town of Royal Woods with his best friend Clyde McBride, while also navigating the chaos of living in a family with 10 sisters.

This star-laden adaptation of Harold Robbins' best-selling 1949 novel about the birth of the movies features Mark Harmon as a drifter who comes under the wing of visionary nickelodeon operator Vincent Gardenia and goes on to become a pioneer in the incipient film business, facing the good times and the bad over a 20-year period.

A Philippine seasonal anthology TV adaptations of the popular Filipino Wattpad web novels. Produced by GMA Network in partnership with Wattpad Webtoon Studios.

An extended family and four young people are drawn into the world of ska and two-tone music, which exploded from the grass roots of Coventry and Birmingham in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, uniting black, white and Asian youths.

Dal y Mellt (Welsh for Catch the Lightning) is an adaptation of the novel of the same name. It follows the troubled story of Carbo, as he is drawn into a world of wrongdoing, lies, secrets and theft.

A new faithful adaptation of the iconic and megahit J.K. Rowling book series.

Cece Parker Jones' life is turned upside-down when she discovers she's a real witch. Magical mayhem ensues at the Paris Opera Ballet School when Cece begins to practice her spell work, making things harder to juggle as she balances new magical identity, dance, and simply being a teenager! Things get even more complicated when she accidentally summons her enemies, a group called the Mystics.

Adaptation of Miguel Torga's iconic short stories. An intimate look at a rural community in the 1940s. Each chapter has its own protagonist, whose existence is untouched by modernity or the outside world. Five portraits of humble lives with enormous resistance to suffering - and a capacity for violence that, at times, proves impossible to repress.

A workplace comedy about the hard of hearing manager of a second-hand sporting goods store, and the team of "hard-working" employees he leads.

A rich and comic drama about the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire town on the cusp of change in the 1840s. Adapted from the novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.