Netflix‘s silly new series The Residence perfectly scratches the murder mystery itch that everyone’s had since Knives Out hit theaters in 2019.
Uzo Aduba stars as Cordelia Cupp, a star detective of the likes of Hercule Poirot or Benoit Blanc who is brought into the White House after a body is discovered during a state dinner. Lead usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) was found murdered on the third floor of the White House, but it was staged to look like a suicide. It’s up to Cupp to interrogate the entire White House staff and the several guests attending the state dinner to find the suspect.
The Residence cast also includes Ken Marino, Susan Kelechi Watson, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, and more.
The Shonda Rhimes-produced series is deliciously witty and fast-paced as it carries the viewer through the dozens of rooms and faces in this dizzying mystery.
Decider’s Joel Keller praised Aduba’s performance in the series, writing in our review, “We’re here to watch Aduba. She inhabits Cordelia in the same way Peter Falk inhabited Columbo, Tony Shalhoub inhabited Adrian Monk, and Daniel Craig (mentioned in the first episode) inhabited Benoit Blanc in Knives Out… She does this through supreme confidence in her abilities and the way she goes about doing her job.”
But, if you already zipped through all eight episodes of the mini series, you might be wondering what should you watch next. Luckily, we’re seeing a rise in comedic mysteries and thrillers that are definitely worth the watch.
Here are seven shows like The Residence series.
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A Man on the Inside
The new Netflix series A Man on the Inside stars Ted Danson as a retired widower who, in a bid to shake up his routine, answers an ad from a private detective to help investigate a crime. He uncovers more than he bargained for after going undercover in the senior living community, but the new job opens up his life in ways he couldn’t imagine as he finds new friends and reconnects with his daughter along the way. Based on the documentary The Mole Agent, the series was adapted by Mike Schur, the comedic mastermind behind The Good Place and Parks & Recreation. The show has already been renewed for a second season
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High Potential
You know her and you love her. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actress Kaitlin Olson is the star of the new Hulu series High Potential. Olson plays a scrappy single mother with a high IQ who lands a job consulting for the LAPD after she helps solve a crime during her shift as a cleaner. Olson is as chaotic as Dee Reynolds in the series, but it’s perfectly balanced out by her high capabilities and her no-nonsense partner, the handsome detective Adam Karadec. High Potential is more of a procedural than The Residence as each episode follows a standalone case, but it’s comedic flair keeps the drama lighthearted enough that it’ll scratch that true crime itch.
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Death and Other Details
Sigh. This short-lived but delicious series was sadly canceled at Hulu. But that doesn’t mean the soapy first season of Death and Other Details is not worth enjoying. Mandy Patinkin puts his detective hat back on after leaving Criminal Minds to play detective Rufus Cotesworth, yet another world renown detective who can spot details that everyone else somehow misses. But he’s not at the center of this story, Imogene Scott is. When she finds herself at the center of a murder investigation aboard a luxury cruise, Imogene and Rufus set their troubled history aside to solve it together.
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Poker Face
Knives Out director Rian Johnson put his knack for murder mysteries to work once again for the hit Peacock series Poker Face. Natasha Lyonne plays a casino worker who has a preternatural ability to tell when people are lying. But when she uses her special talents to solve the murder of a friend, Charlie is forced to go on the lam, thus uncovering a series of crimes to investigate and solve in each episode. The critically acclaimed series is nostalgic in its callbacks to Columbo, but Lyonne is as comedic as she is badass.
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The Afterparty
The Afterparty is a slightly different take on the comedic murder mystery. This anthology series premiered in 2022 on Apple TV+, following a group of high school reunion attendees who all remember that fateful night very differently – and all have their own secrets to hide. But Season 2 investigates a murder that took place at a wedding after party. Much like The White Lotus, each season introduces a new cast of characters you will either love or hate.
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The Outlaws
This BBC One comedic thriller follows seven strangers who are forced to complete community service together in Bristol. But their lives become intertwined when they come across a bag full of money and get dragged into a world of crime. The Outlaws is as thrilling as it is funny thanks to its cast, which includes Christopher Walken, Stephen Merchant, Jessica Gunning, and Eleanor Tomlinson.
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The Decameron
The Decameron is not technically a murder mystery but it handles serious subject matter with a similarly absurd hand as The Residence does. The Netflix series follows a cast of comedy heavyweights – Veep‘s Tony Hale, Girls star Zosia Mamet, Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and more –playing an ensemble of aristocrats and nobles who travel with their servants to a remote villa to escape the bubonic plague and indulge in debauchery, until they realize much too late that there is no escaping this virus.
The post 7 Shows Like ‘The Residence’ If You’re On The Hunt For Kooky Crime Solvers appeared first on Decider.
