The Chi is a coming-of-age drama series created by Lena Waithe. The Showtime series focuses on the story of a few residents living in a dangerous neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago, a fateful turn of events connects the lives of Emmett, Brandon, Ronnie, and Kevin. If you love The Chi here are some similar shows you could check out next.
All American (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Spencer James is a rising high school football player and A student at South Crenshaw High. Compton is the place he calls home. But when Beverly High School’s football coach Billy Baker recruits him to join his team in Beverly Hills, Spencer’s mother, Grace, and his best friend, Coop, convince Spencer it’s an opportunity he must seize. Spencer navigates two worlds, the south side neighborhood that he knows and the affluent Beverly Hills world that has offered him an opportunity for something bigger. When Spencer is forced to move in with Billy and his family to protect his transfer permit to Beverly, he struggles to find his footing. The series is Inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Paysinger.
Treme (Max & Prime Video Add-On)
Synopsis: From the creators of The Wire(R) comes this HBO drama series set during the rebuilding of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Experience the personal stories of the unique residents of Treme–one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and an important center of African American and Creole culture, especially music.
The Red Line (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: After an innocent African-American doctor is shot by a white police officer in Chicago, this drama follows three different families that all have connections to the case, as the story is told from each perspective.
Chicago Fire (Peacock & Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: The pressure to perform on such a high level has a way of taking a personal toll, sometimes putting team memebers from the Truck and the specially trained Rescue Squad at odds with each other. Despite any differences, this is an extended family, and when it’s “go time”, everyone inside Firehouse 51 knows no other way than to lay it all on the line for each other.
The Wire (Max & Prime Video Add-On)
Synopsis: In the city of Baltimore, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Sometimes you need more than a badge to tell them apart. This highly realistic and totally unvarnished drama series chronicles the vagaries of crime, law enforcement, politics, education and media in Baltimore as it follows a team of cops and the criminals they are after.
Snowfall (Hulu & Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: A young street entrepreneur, a Mexican wrestler, a CIA operative, a drug-running couple and other characters are set on a violent collision course during the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic in 1980s Los Angeles.
Blindspotting (Prime Video Add-On & Starz)
Synopsis: Blindspotting centers on Ashley, who is nipping at the heels of a middle class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she is forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister. The half-hour dramedy “Blindspotting” is executive produced by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, who also starred in the film in addition to writing and producing it. Casal also leads as the series showrunner and will direct an episode. Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment (One Night In Miami, Anomalisa) reunite with Casal and Diggs as executive producers on the series, along with Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee, and Tim Palen of Barnyard. Seith Mann (“#Freerayshawn,” “Homeland”) also serves as an executive producer and director on the first two episodes of the series.
Atlanta (Hulu & Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families. Donald Glover serves as Executive Producer, along with Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle and Stephen Glover.
Barbershop (Pluto TV & The Roku Channel)
Synopsis: This original series from the producers of the “Barbershop” movies is a spin-off set in a family barbershop on the South Side of Chicago. Omar Gooding takes the reins as Calvin Palmer, owner of the neighborhood establishment and popular hangout he reluctantly inherited from his father, who juggles his responsibilities to his clients, his family, and his community. Barry Shabaka Henley, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Anna Brown, John Wesley Chatham, Leslie Elliard, Toni Trucks and Dan White co-star.
Show Me a Hero (Apple TV, Max & Prime Video Add-On)
Synopsis: Six-part HBO miniseries from creator David Simon and director Paul Haggis based on a true story about the young mayor (Oscar Isaac) of Yonkers, NY who finds himself engulfed in a racially divided maelstrom that threatens the city’s future. Co-starring Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina, Bob Balaban, Peter Riegert, LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, Carla Quevedo, Jon Bernthal, and more.
