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Over but not forgotten, Succession<\/em> spent four seasons as one of HBO’s centerpiece shows. It’s the darkly comic story of the Roy family, owners of media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, and the chaos and backbiting that ensue when patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) suffers a stroke, prompting the clan to begin fighting over what will remain after his inevitable demise.<\/p>\n Why should we care about what happens to these rich people and their evil company? Narratives about the ultra-wealthy being shitty or generally indifferent to the plight of us regular folk are common enough, but not inherently entertaining; we get enough of that in real life. Rich people being shitty to other rich people<\/em>, though? That\u2019s entertainment, and that is very much the appeal of Succession<\/em>\u2014and these 10 streamalike shows.<\/p>\n What if the very worst people imaginable had control of all the levers of power in America? What would\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0be like? In this highly satirical and in no way politically relevant HBO series, Julia Louis-Dreyfus brilliantly plays Vice President (and later President) Selina Meyer: part woman icon, part worst-case-scenario for the feminist dream. The cast of characters consists almost entirely of entitled rich people climbing over each other for infinitesimal extra bits of power while trying to appear as folk heroes to the rubes (aka us voters). It\u2019s one of the funniest shows with the nastiest put-downs…if you can handle the fact that it also sometimes feels uncomfortably close to a documentary. Stream Veep<\/em> on HBO Max<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n Terrence Howard leads a truly great cast (Taraji P. Henson, Gabourey Sidibe, and Vivica A. Fox) in this juicy, glossy, hip-hop-infused soap opera. The set-up is similar to\u00a0Succession<\/em>, so much that it\u2019s hard not to imagine that\u00a0Empire<\/em>\u2019s success provided some of the impetus for the similarly buzzworthy HBO series. Howard plays Lucious Jackson (ne\u00e9 drug dealer Dwight Walker), who changed his own fortunes by building Empire Entertainment from the ground up. As the series begins, the music mogul is diagnosed with ALS and given a life expectancy of only a few more years. Refusing to watch his empire die, he sets his three sons at odds to determine who\u2019ll be the one to control things when he\u2019s gone. His schemes are complicated by the release from prison of Cookie Lyon (Henson), the co-founder of the company, and Jackson\u2019s ex-wife. As the kids say: drama! Stream Empire<\/em> on Disney+<\/strong><\/a> and Hulu<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n The creators of\u00a0Succession<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Veep,\u00a0<\/em>Jesse Armstrong and Armando Iannucci respectively, collaborated on this political satire starring a pre-Doctor Who<\/em>\u00a0Peter Capaldi. The focus is on the government\u2019s relationship with the media, with Capaldi\u2019s foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker working to maintain a stranglehold on coverage of the British prime minister, to whom he\u2019s loyal, and on any cabinet ministers who might get out of line. The characters aren\u2019t rich to the degree that\u00a0Succession<\/em>\u2019s Roy family is, but their jockeying for power in an uncertain world feels quite similar (and though it\u2019s British, American viewers won\u2019t find the politics all that foreign). Stream The Thick of It<\/em> on Peacock<\/a><\/strong> and Britbox. <\/strong><\/p>\n Industry<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t concerned with a power struggle among people at the top of the ladder; instead, its focus is on the fight to climb said ladder. The young wannabe investment bankers it follows would all love to be the terrible rich people from that other show. It\u2019s what they dream of. The main characters come from a variety of backgrounds, but they\u2019re all competing for a limited number of permanent positions at the fictional Pierpoint & Co., a London bank, and they\u2019ll each do anything it takes to earn their shot at the big prize. Stream Industry<\/em> on HBO Max<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n Maybe you need a break from the worlds of big business and high finance. How about a seaside inn in the Florida Keys? It’s all relative (pun intended), and big family drama can crop up anywhere. Starring Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, and Sissy Spacek, this show finds Mendelsohn’s black sheep Danny returning home for the 45th anniversary of the family business, only to stir up a whole bunch of buried trauma that leads to his dad dying due to a series of strokes. That’s before we learn of the drug-trafficking, cover-ups, and murders past and present. Stream Bloodline<\/em><\/u> on Netflix<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n The set-up of this heavily memed sitcom is eerily similar to\u00a0Succession<\/em>, even if the vibe is more overtly comedic. George Bluth Sr., a corrupt real estate developer, goes to prison at the outset of the series, which is mostly just an inconvenience to his family members, who have no interest in giving up their lavish lifestyles. Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is the only one competent enough to take over the family business, and also the only one with any moral center (though not much of one, tbh), but his efforts are undermined by his siblings and mother, who have no interest in or awareness of austerity. By keeping the family afloat, Michael is only enabling all of their worst impulses. During its original three-season run (if not its unfortunate Netflix revival), it was one of the funniest, most biting shows on TV. Stream Arrested Development<\/em> on Netflix.<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n South Korean TV and movie creators have no problem criticizing the ultra-wealthy (Parasite<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Squid Game<\/em>\u00a0are hardly outliers), particularly the plutocratic chaebol families who control huge portions of the country\u2019s economy.\u00a0Mine\u00a0<\/em>targets the\u00a0<\/em>women who are jockeying for control of the massive, fictional Hyowon Group from within their family\u2019s outrageously opulent (and extremely photogenic) residential compound. The plans of the two increasingly powerful women who married into the family, Hi-soo and Seo-hyun, are thrown into disarray when the new housemaid begins a romantic relationship with one of the family\u2019s male heirs, while a new tutor seems ready to expose old family secrets. It\u2019s very much a\u00a0Dynasty<\/em>-style soap opera, with various family members crawling over each other seeking a sense of identity and control. Stream Mine<\/em> on Netflix. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n Billions<\/em>\u00a0doesn\u2019t have quite the bite of\u00a0Succession<\/em>, but it\u2019s a bit more fun, with Paul Giamatti playing attorney Chuck Rhoades (based, a bit, on the real-life Preet Bharara), who is working to bring down shady hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis). The tone, at least at the outset, is a bit lighter, and it plays like a darkly comic soap opera\u2014but it also manages to stay fresh by mixing things up now and again. The show also boasts the great Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor Mason, one of the very first non-binary characters in a major American TV series. Stream Billions <\/em>on Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n There\u2019s not much beating around the bush here, with the show\u2019s de rigueur opening flash forwards making it very clear that things are\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0going to go well for at least some of the vacationers at any given White Lotus property (thus far: Maui, Taormina, Sicily, and Thailand). In the opening episode of the first season, Murray Bartlett\u2019s harried manager Armond, makes clear to the staff that the ultra-wealthy guests are little more than overgrown children and need to be coddled as such. At these\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0fancy resorts, at which people have paid absurd amounts of money to be pampered, competitiveness and general toxicity ensure that everyone\u2019s going to have a miserable time, no matter how much it costs them. Over three seasons and counting, terrible rich people abound. Stream The White Lotus<\/em> on HBO Max. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This one is not really a show about rich people behaving badly (for the most part). It does, however, involve a succession crisis: three largely estranged siblings in distant cities are brought together by the death of their father, who has left them each an equal share in an 800-acre sugarcane farm in rural Louisiana. The Ava DuVernay-produced series has plenty of scandal and soapy drama, but ultimately, it\u2019s about a family that comes back together to preserve their legacy. So what\u2019s it doing here? Consider it a corrective to all the other shows and movies about wealthy people breaking bad\u2014this one\u2019s about\u00a0less<\/em>-rich people in a\u00a0Succession<\/em>-esque scenario who are at least trying\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0to be terrible. Imagine. Stream Queen Sugar<\/em> on Disney+<\/a><\/strong> and Hulu<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nVeep (2012 \u2014 2019)<\/h2>\n
![\"Veep](\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/imagery\/articles\/01KVNZZ71HVCSKFBVX9X5XS52B\/images-8.fill.size_autoxauto.v1782138531.jpg\")
\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\nEmpire<\/em> (2015\u00a0\u2013 2020)<\/h2>\n
![\"Empire](\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/imagery\/articles\/01KVNZZ71HVCSKFBVX9X5XS52B\/images-5.fill.size_autoxauto.v1782076918.jpg\")
\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\nThe Thick of It<\/em> (2005\u00a0\u2013 2012)<\/h2>\n
Industry (2020\u00a0\u2013 )<\/h2>\n
![\"Industry](\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/imagery\/articles\/01KVNZZ71HVCSKFBVX9X5XS52B\/images-9.fill.size_autoxauto.v1782138531.jpg\")
\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\nBloodline<\/em> (2015 \u2013 2017)<\/h2>\n
Arrested Development<\/em> (2003\u00a0\u2013 2019)<\/h2>\n
\n What do you think so far?
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\n <\/span>\n <\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nMine<\/em> (2021)<\/h2>\n
![\"Mine](\"https:\/\/lifehacker.com\/imagery\/articles\/01KVNZZ71HVCSKFBVX9X5XS52B\/images-6.fill.size_autoxauto.v1782077303.jpg\")
\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div><\/div>\nBillions<\/em> (2016\u00a0\u2013 2023)<\/h2>\n
The White Lotus<\/em> (2021\u00a0\u2013 )<\/h2>\n
Queen Sugar<\/em> (2016\u00a0\u2013 2022 )<\/h2>\n