When William Shakespeare wrote “What’s past is prologue,” he wasn’t thinking about television. But the Bard’s wisdom certainly applies to the latest batch of Emmy-nominated series. Here are the spiritual predecessors to eight of this season’s most-lauded shows. (All of the older titles are available on DVD and/or streaming.)
If you like “The Pitt,” check out “St. Elsewhere”
Gritty, graphic, authentic and told in real time, “The Pitt” has impressively elevated the big-city hospital drama. The popular genre has seen dozens of shows from “Dr. Kildare” and “Ben Casey” in the 1960s to “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Chicago Med” in the 2000s. But let’s not forget another groundbreaking ancestor of “The Pitt”: “St. Elsewhere,” which ran from 1982 to 1988. Smart, philosophical, at times darkly comic, the series took place at a run-down Boston hospital where, like “The Pitt,” a talented, if beleaguered, staff faced life-and-death choices for often underserved patients. If Denzel Washington was that show’s breakout star, which performer on “The Pitt” might follow suit?
If you like “Nobody Wants This,” check out ”Bridget Loves Bernie”
Fifty-two years before Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) fell for gentile podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) in “Nobody Wants This,” the CBS sitcom “Bridget Loves Bernie” found Jewish cab driver Bernie Steinberg (David Birney) meeting and marrying Irish Catholic schoolteacher Bridget Fitzgerald (Meredith Baxter). Conflict and chaos ensued — and not just on the series. It was canceled after one highly rated season following vociferous protests from religious groups over the show’s then far more controversial theme of interfaith marriage. Life imitating art, the show’s stars wed in 1974.
If you like “The Studio,” check out “Action”
The movie biz has long been ripe for parody, and “The Studio,” which follows the misadventures of hapless studio chief Matt Remick (Seth Rogen), takes its satire to frantic new heights. 1999 saw a more venomous forerunner in the short-lived Fox comedy “Action,” in which crass, ruthless and failing action-film producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr) took a chainsaw to Tinseltown in desperate pursuit of his next hit. Like “The Studio,” it featured a vivid ensemble of quirky industry types and frequent celebrity cameos. Yet if “The Studio” portrays Hollywood as competitive and chaotic, “Action” painted it as downright cutthroat.
If you like “The Bear,” check out “Chef!”
Running a high-end restaurant is no joke. But unlike “The Bear,” which eschews traditional TV comedy, the 1990s BBC sitcom “Chef!” (What, no “Yes, Chef!”?) leaned into the laughs, without sparing viewers the angst of its current counterpart. British comedian Lenny Henry starred in the show’s three seasons as Gareth Blackstock, the haughty chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant in the English countryside. Like Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) in “The Bear,” Gareth is a perfectionist, but he’s more dictatorial with his put-upon staff. The final season of “Chef!” added a laugh track. Imagine “The Bear” with one?
If you like “Abbott Elementary,” check out “Welcome Back, Kotter”
Public school has proved fertile territory for workplace comedy, and creator-star Quinta Brunson’s mockumentary-style “Abbott Elementary” deftly revived the genre. But in the mid-1970s, “Welcome Back, Kotter” hit the zeitgeist with its sarcastic Brooklyn high school teacher (Gabe Kaplan) and his diverse (for its time) band of remedial students called the Sweathogs. It also spawned its share of catchphrases (“Up your nose with a rubber hose!”) and made John Travolta a household name. Though broader and less issue-oriented than “Abbott,” and more focused on the students than the teachers, “Kotter” remains a worthy precursor to the current show.
If you like “Only Murders in the Building,” check out “Murder, She Wrote”
“Only Murders in the Building” continues the TV tradition of average folks becoming amateur sleuths, set around a primary locale — in this case, a Gothic Manhattan apartment complex. From 1984 to 1996, “Murder, She Wrote” saw another accidental detective, mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), solving crimes largely in her home location: seaside Cabot Cove, Maine. Though “Murder, She Wrote” was more homespun and gently dramatic than its stylish and farcical descendant, and wrapped up its cases by the end of each episode, both shows feature an ongoing gallery of famed guest actors performing with theatrical flair.
If you like “Shrinking,” check out “The Bob Newhart Show”
Before psychotherapy was de rigueur, the 1970s hit “The Bob Newhart Show” was the first comedy series whose lead character was a shrink. And if the deadpan Bob Hartley (Newhart) was less personally beset and more professionally detached from his patients than his “Shrinking” counterpart — grieving hot mess Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) — he was a memorable template for small-screen therapists to come. One a bouncy multicam sitcom, the other a soulful single-camera dramedy, both shows rely on quirky, amusing ensembles, though the folks in “Shrinking” are decidedly deeper and more layered. Welcome to the 2020s.
If you like “Slow Horses,” check out “MI-5”
The tense and propulsive “Slow Horses” unfolds within Britain’s domestic intelligence agency known as MI5, specifically a unit for disgraced operatives run by the gloomy, scathing and brilliant Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). Sound familiar? For 10 seasons, from 2002 to 2011, the BBC series “MI-5” (a.k.a. “Spooks”) covered similar ground as its band of counterterrorism agents battled Russian aggression, nuclear threats, kidnappings and more. But unlike the notoriously dumpy Slough House setting of “Slow Horses,” much of “MI-5” took place — though was not shot — inside the agency’s grand Thames House headquarters in London.
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