Better Call Saul is an AMC show about a morally flexible lawyer who tries and fails to resist the urge to become corrupt…and who maybe comes back around by the very end. It ran for six seasons, it’s a spin-off of the gripping show Breaking Bad, and it may just be the best legal drama ever made.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t have competition. There’s little that’s going to go head-to-head with Better Call Saul when it comes to realism and dramatic tension, but there are plenty of other legal dramas out there that are at least as fun.
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The Good Wife
The good watch
The Good Wife is about a woman (Julianna Margulies) who has to return to work as a litigator after 13 years spent raising her family after her husband is jailed following a very public sex and corruption scandal. She has to start at the bottom of the prestigious law firm, raise her kids, and maintain the facade of the “good wife” who supports her scandal-plagued husband.
That sounds a bit soapy, and The Good Wife does have some soap opera-esque elements to it. But it’s also praised for its consistent character development, realistic depictions of legal ethics, and solid writing that carried it through seven full seasons, even if the last couple aren’t quite as good as what came before. And if you get to the end and want more, the spin-off series The Good Fight is also worth checking out.
Release Date
2009 – 2016-00-00
Network
CBS
Showrunner
Robert King
Directors
Robert King
Writers
Robert King
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Julianna Margulies
Diane Lockhart
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Matt Czuchry
Alicia Florrick
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Archie Panjabi
Will Gardner
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Graham Phillips
Cary Agos
Suits
Tens of millions of people on Netflix can’t be wrong
Suits is about a college dropout with a photographic memory (Patrick J. Adams) who secures a job at a major law firm despite not having a law degree; he and law firm partner Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) work to keep that fact hidden while winning as many cases as possible.
Suits may be the least realistic legal show on this list, but it has fun banter, likable leads, and off-the-wall situations that will keep you watching. It’s a comfort food show that got a second life when it became available to watch on Netflix in 2023, whereupon it exploded in popularity despite officially ending four years prior. It’s still there now.
Release Date
2011 – 2019
Network
USA Network
Showrunner
Aaron Korsh
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Gabriel Macht
Harvey Specter
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Sarah Rafferty
Donna Paulsen
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Patrick J. Adams
Mike Ross
The Practice
If you’re looking for realism
In contrast to Suits, The Practice does its best to depict the life of a lawyer as accurately as possible. It’s set in a law firm that specializes in criminal defense and doesn’t shy away from some of the ethical dilemmas that entails, like what happens when the lawyers have to represent people who have done reprehensible things.
The tone can be gritty and bleak, but this show was compelling enough to last eight whole seasons, giving viewers plenty to chew on. The spin-off show Boston Legal is also worth watching.
Release Date
1997 – 2004-00-00
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Dylan McDermott
Bobby Donnell
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Kelli Williams
Lindsay Dole
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Lara Flynn Boyle
A.D.A. Helen Gamble
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Steve Harris
Eugene Young
Night Court
If you’re looking for a good time
Night Court is a classic sitcom that originally aired on NBC for nine seasons between 1984 and 1991 before getting rebooted for three more seasons in 2023. It’s a pretty standard workplace sitcom with a cast of likable characters trying to get through their workday, which happens to be at night. Night court is a real thing, although the show doesn’t depict it particularly realistically; for instance, it will show trials happening at night, where real night courts are usually reserved for things like arraignments, bail arguments, and orders of protection.
But the show does capture the incredibly hectic lives of people who process legal matters in the small hours of the morning, when cases have to be cycled through very quickly as new ones arise. And the premise provides the writers with an excuse to introduce a never-ending stream of colorful plaintiffs and defendants. It’s light, it’s fun, and it goes down easy, especially if you find yourself up at night and looking for something to watch quick.
Release Date
1984 – 1992-00-00
Network
NBC
Directors
Jim Drake, Alan Bergmann, Jay Sandrich, Gary Shimokawa, Asaad Kelada, John Larroquette, Tim Steele, James Burrows, Lee Bernhardi
Writers
Nat Mauldin, Gary Murphy, Nancy Steen, Neil Thompson, Tom Reeder, Teresa O’Neill, Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn, Lee Maddux, Chris Cluess, Howard Ostroff, Leonard Mlodinow, Julie Fleischer, Tony Sheehan, Gene Braunstein, Jeffrey Davis, Reinhold Weege, Zachary D. Wechsler
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Adele Yoshioka
Miss Japan
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Alice Drummond
Mavis Tuttle
Goliath
Star power in the courtroom
Goliath stars Billy Bob Thornton as a washed-up, alcoholic ambulance chaser who finds himself taking on a wrongful death case against a massive aerospace company that’s represented by the huge firm he helped found. That’s where the gets its “David vs. Goliath” concept from. Everyone loves a story about the little guy triumphing over impossible odds, and Thornton is wildly charismatic in the lead role.
The caveat here is that the first season of Goliath is the best, and might be the only one really comparable to Better Call Saul in terms of quality. Each season focuses on a different case, so you’re free to stop wherever you want.
Release Date
2016 – 2021-00-00
Network
Prime Video
Directors
Dennie Gordon, Alik Sakharov, Anthony Hemingway, Bill D’Elia
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Billy Bob Thornton
Billy McBride
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Dominic Hoffman
Judge Walter Strauss
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Ever Carradine
Rachel Kennedy
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Haley Joel Osment
Dylan Zax
Your Honor
It’s almost a Better Call Saul crossover if you’re not paying attention
Your Honor stars Bryan Cranston as a New Orleans judge whose son accidentally kills someone in a hit-and-run accident. Cranston’s character decides to help his son cover up the crime, spinning a web of lies that threatens to collapse the longer the show goes on.
Your Honor imports some of the dramatic plotting of Better Call Saul, although it mostly leaves realism at the door. Still, Cranston’s electrifying performance ensures that you’ll be compelled anyway.
Law & Order
Respect the classics
There’s no way we could put together this list without including Law & Order, the study grandparent of legal shows. This series ran for 20 seasons between 1990 and 2010 (and then got revived some years later), with almost every episode focusing on a different case. We spend time with the police for the investigative phase of the case (law) before handing it over to the lawyers for the prosecution (order). It’s a formula that lasted so long because it works.
Law & Order is considered generally realistic when it comes to legal terminology and the general structure of the criminal justice system in the United States, but events are often highly compressed for dramatic effect. Despite that, the show will still entertain you no matter where you jump in. It’s earned its place in the Legal TV Show Hall of Fame.
Release Date
September 13, 1990
Network
NBC
Showrunner
Rick Eid
-
S. Epatha Merkerson
Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
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Jerry Orbach
Lennie Briscoe
Better Recall Saul
These shows bring a lot to the table: The Practice is realistic, Night Court is funny, Your Honor has danger around every turn…but as fun as they can be, I honestly don’t think any of them quite measure up to Better Call Saul, which manages to be all things at once.
Still, if you’re looking for a good legal show, you couldn’t ask for better representation. And if you want a show that follows in the footsteps of Better Call Saul, consider creator Vince Gilligan’s current project Pluribus, which may even be set in the same universe.
