TV Shows Like Ugly Betty
If you like Ugly Betty, here are 11 similar TV shows — each with its current AI renewal verdict, so you can see which are still going and which have been cancelled.
ABC · Comedy · Ugly Betty is ended
Ugly Betty works because it builds a whole world around Betty's struggle to fit into a place where she fundamentally does not belong. She is qualified for her job, but the magazine industry and Manhattan itself see her as the punchline. What makes the show succeed is that Betty is never the actual problem. Her heart is genuine, her work ethic real, and her perspective often clearer than the beautiful people around her. The comedy comes from watching her navigate an environment built to exclude her, and from the slowly dawning realization that the industry and the people in it might actually be ridiculous.
The best shows like Ugly Betty
1. 2 Broke Girls
Like Betty, the leads of 2 Broke Girls are smart people in situations not of their choosing, scrappy and ambitious but starting from the bottom. The show shares Ugly Betty's interest in friendship forged across class and cultural divides, grounded in real work and real money struggles.
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2. 30 Rock
30 Rock shares Ugly Betty's love of New York, workplace chaos, and a smart protagonist juggling impossible egos around her. Like Betty navigating Mode magazine, Liz Lemon has to manage a world of self-absorbed people while chasing her own actual goals, all in a city that pulses through every episode.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
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3. Night Court
Night Court captures the same New York workplace comedy spirit as Ugly Betty, trading the fashion world for a night court filled with eccentric people and genuine absurdity. The show finds humor in an urban institution where the strangeness is real and the characters are survivors.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
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4. Alice
Alice centers on a woman starting over in a new city, taking a waitressing job that becomes the anchor for her rebuilding her life. Like Ugly Betty, it mixes comedy with genuine emotional stakes, finding humor in the workplace while letting the characters grow into real people.
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5. Just Shoot Me!
Just Shoot Me is the spiritual sibling to Ugly Betty, built around a magazine workplace where a talented young woman must prove herself amid vanity, incompetence, and people who see the magazine world as more important than actual talent. The dynamic between the capable hire and the superficial industry is nearly identical.
Stream on Hulu
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More on shows like Ugly Betty
Fans of Ugly Betty tend to seek out shows set in specific, vivid workplaces where a fish-out-of-water protagonist has to prove themselves. They like shows about New York or other cities with real texture and personality. They want comedy mixed with heart, where the stakes feel genuine and the characters develop beyond their initial types. They appreciate underdog stories where the underdog is not actually underdog material, but rather is surrounded by people with backwards values.
The recommendations here all center on workplaces, though none quite perfectly mirror Betty's setup. 30 Rock is the closest match, trading the fashion world for late-night television but keeping the same New York sensibility, the same tangle of egos and ambitions, and the same sharp-eyed comedy about an industry that can seem absurd up close. Just Shoot Me builds almost the same workplace dynamic around a high-style magazine, with a fish-out-of-water hire thrust into a world of vanity and incompetence. 2 Broke Girls and Alice both focus on underdogs trying to build better lives in specific cities and specific workplaces, diner settings that ground the comedy in genuine financial struggle. Night Court is the odd one out, set in a New York institution but trading the fashion-world comedy for the stranger chaos of a night courtroom. All of these shows understand that a good workplace comedy needs real stakes and real characters, not just a setting.
More shows like Ugly Betty
Frequently asked
- What is the most popular show like Ugly Betty?
- 2 Broke Girls is the most popular show similar to Ugly Betty in the IsItRenewed catalogue.
- Are shows like Ugly Betty still on the air?
- Of the 11 shows similar to Ugly Betty listed here, 0 currently carry a renewed verdict — the rest are cancelled, ended, or awaiting a decision.
- How does IsItRenewed pick shows like Ugly Betty?
- The recommendations come from TMDB's similar-titles data, and each is shown with its current AI renewal verdict so you know which are still going.