Top 6 TV Shows Like Merlí (Ranked & Where to Stream)

Laurie Nunn’s Moordale High operates on a distinct, technicolor frequency where adolescent awkwardness meets frank anatomical literacy. The series centers on Otis Milburn, an anxious virgin who weaponizes the clinical wisdom of his sex-therapist mother to run an underground clinic alongside sharp-witted outcast Maeve Wiley. What prevents the show from collapsing into cheap bawdiness is its immense empathy, treating teen intimacy, consent, and queer identity with genuine intellectual curiosity. It operates with the same pedagogical warmth that made Merlí irresistible, replacing ancient Greek ethics with candid modern human sexuality while keeping the rebel mentor ethos intact.

Bristol party culture crashed into television history with Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain’s uncompromising, generation-defining drama. Bypassing adult moralizing entirely, the British classic tracks a messy cohort of sixth-formers navigating substance abuse, eating disorders, and brittle domestic homes through fierce communal loyalty. Each episode anchors itself to a single protagonist's interior perspective, granting characters like manipulative sociopath Tony and fragile Cassie room to break and rebuild. It possesses the unfiltered European edge, anti-institutional defiance, and raw sexual fluidity that viewers hunting for the free-thinking spirit of Merlí will instantly appreciate.

Adapted from Sally Rooney’s novel by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, this Irish drama observes the shifting power balances between Marianne and Connell across secondary school and Trinity College. The storytelling relies on micro-expressions, excruciating class divides, and an unhurried visual cadence that treats adolescent vulnerability as serious literature. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal anchor the narrative with astonishing psychological precision, rendering unspoken grief and sexual awakening palpable. If you connected with the rigorous intellectual debates and tender, complicated queer and straight dynamics in Merlí, this miniseries offers an equally thoughtful, mature mirror of emotional evolution.

Moving away from the manicured suburbs of its cinematic predecessor, Creekwood High becomes a nuanced battleground of cultural expectations and closeted anxiety for Victor Salazar. Navigating a devout, traditional Latinx household, economic strain, and his budding attraction to classmate Benji, Victor seeks guidance through heartfelt digital dispatches to an older mentor who has already walked the path. The writing balances sunny adolescent romance with honest examinations of internalized shame and intersectional identity. That relentless quest for self-definition against rigid institutional dogmas aligns directly with the philosophical awakenings and tender queer relationships found throughout Merlí.

Sam Levinson strips high school of its sunny cinematic tropes, filtering modern adolescence through neon-lit panic attacks and narcotic haze. Narrated by Zendaya’s Rue Bennett, an unreliable teen addict grasping for stability alongside trans newcomer Jules, the series crafts kinetic visual portraits of contemporary trauma, body dysmorphia, and digital intimacy. Its lavish cinematography and Marcell Rév's sweeping camera moves turn ordinary hallway politics into Greek tragedy. It shares with Merlí an unapologetic refusal to sanitize youth culture, confronting taboo sexual realities, destructive impulses, and existential dread without offering tidy, paternalistic conclusions.

Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher subvert the standard high school sitcom mold by filtering fierce academic ambition through the messy prism of sudden parental bereavement. Devi Vishwakumar is brilliantly chaotic—temperamental, selfish, and hyper-competitive—striving to overhaul her social status while avoiding the profound grief that paralyzed her legs just months earlier. Supported by John McEnroe’s hilariously combative voiceover narration, the show treats teenage desperation with both barbed comedy and psychological acuity. It delivers the same energetic classroom debates, clash of egos, and rebellious spirit that ignited the Peripatetics' loyalty in Merlí.