Sweet Tooth is an oddly timely, but nonetheless bizarre fantasy drama series on Netflix. It is based on Jeff Lemiere's comic book series of the same name, who pulled triple duty as the comic's creator, artist, and writer. The series takes place in a dystopian future rocked by a global pandemic (again, timely) that not only killed countless people but gave birth to a new species of human-animal hybrid creatures. Among those creatures is Gus, a young boy living in the forest serving as the series protagonist.
As a show, Sweet Tooth emerged as a surprise hit on Netflix that not only had audiences begging for more once the eight episode-run ended, but had audiences wanting more shows like it.
10 Stranger Things: Real Emotions In The Midst Of The Surreal
Amid all of the bizarre imagery and motifs offered by Sweet Tooth lies a heartfelt family drama at its very core. The same can be said about Stranger Things, another series available on Netflix, this time centered around children who encounter aliens.
Like Sweet Tooth, Stranger Things introduced a high concept with fantastical elements and unique creatures to reel the viewers in, but what keeps them sticking around are themes regarding the importance of not only family, but the found-family trope centered around friends who treat each other like family.
9 11.22.63 is About Making The Most Out Of Life
With a global pandemic at the center of its plot, Sweet Tooth centers around characters who try to make the most out of their life and current situation, a similar lesson which readers may have learned in real life over the course of the past year.
11.22.63 offers a similar lesson by way of a plot centered around James Franco's Jake Epping, a time traveler sent to the year 1960 to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but instead finds a new life there that he can enjoy and make the most out of.
8 The Leftovers: A More Realistic, Grounded Take On The End Of Times
For those intrigued by Sweet Tooth's post-apocalyptic plot, but want to watch something more grounded in reality, The Leftovers is the way to go. Based on the Tom Perrotta novel of the same name, The Leftovers takes place three years after a pseudo-biblical event happens called "The Sudden Departure" where 2% of the world's population suddenly disappear from the face of the planet. Think the Thanos Snap, but with biblical implications.
The show treats the event with the utmost melancholy as the show centers around those still grieving over the loved ones they lost to this mysterious Depature.
7 The Umbrella Academy: Another Underseen Comic-Turned-Show By Netflix
Sweet Tooth is not the first time that Netflix endeavored on adapting an underseen comic book series. Previously, the streaming service found immense success in adapting The Umbrella Academy, written by My Chemical Romance's Gerald Way with artwork by Gabriel Bá.
Like the comic, the show focuses on estranged adopted siblings with powers (one of which is a human-ape hybrid, for anyone looking for the kind of animal creatures Sweet Tooth offers) all raised to be superheroes by their father and a talking chimp when they were children. When the father dies and an apocalypse presents itself, they must now learn to re-bond as both a team and as a family.
6 Doom Patrol offers Imaginative & Bizarre Imagery
In terms of premise and, in some respects, tone, Doom Patrol is by far the most vastly different show on the list compared to Sweet Tooth. However, it remains just as imaginative and creative with its imagery by use of unique-looking characters and scenarios. Anyone who fell in love with Sweet Tooth's imaginative fantasy side will likely love Doom Patrol for those same reasons.
Like Sweet Tooth, Doom Patrol takes comic book characters (this time from DC Comics) and inserts them into live action form. It's about a group of heroes who all were shunned by society and now must come together to save the society who shunned them from an immenient demise.
5 Zoo: Another Animal-Heavy Dystopian Future
Another animal-heavy show set in an apocalyptic future, Zoo is about a group of professionals (i.e. journalists, zoologists, safari experts, etc.) who team up to try to investigate a deadly outbreak where animals around the world are attacking human civilization until the worldwide population is reduced to thousands of survivors.
Zoo aired on CBS for three seasons before cancellation, which is a shame for fans of the show, but a relief for new viewers looking for something quick to binge when it's only 39-episodes long.
4 His Dark Materials: Another Fantasy Through The Eyes Of A Child
Many of the fantastical elements of Sweet Tooth derive from the narrative looking through the point of view of a 10-year-old boy, offering something of a coming-of-age story as well. The same can be said for a show like His Dark Materials, starring Dafne Keen, who fans of Logan will recognize for her breakout performance as X-23.
Here, she plays Lyra Belacqua, an orphan who discovers dark secrets and multiple worlds in the search for her missing friend. Both seasons of the show are based on a trilogy of books, with the third and final season set to adapt the final book.
3 The 100 is Frustrating, But Rewarding
Before Sweet Tooth offered its own view of a potential impending apocalypse, The 100 arrived on the battlegrounds of The CW to express a tale of a group of survivors who return back to earth from a space habitat in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse.
The 100 is, somehow, simultaneously frustrating and rewarding as a show. Its first few episodes fall into the worst CW tropes surrounding teenage angst, and gets even more cringey for queer audiences hoping for more rewarding representation (hence the controversy it sputtered). Yet, going through its current seventh and final season, fans remain devoted to the show because it continued to improve and has since rewarded its fans for sticking with it for so long.
2 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood offers More Optimism During Dark Times
This one is specifically for the anime fans out there. This is an adaptation of the manga called Fullmetal Alchemist, about two brothers who lose their limbs trying to bring their mother back from the dead. They make the most out of their situation not just through their love for each other, but by becoming State Alchemists working for the government.
There are actually two adaptations of the manga, this and one simply called Fullmetal Alchemist. Brotherhood is considered a much more complete and faithful adaptation by the masses and so this show is the way to go.
1 Loki: A New Weekly Obsession
Those who loved Sweet Tooth and binged it fast enough that they are vastly looking for a new weekly televised obsession to ease into, enter Loki. As of this writing, Loki has yet to finish its six-episode run, so fans who are interested enough to watch it live with everyone else better act fast. It's perfect for fans of comic books and mythical elements.
The show ties up loose ends from Avengers: Endgame where a past version of Loki meddles with time by taking the Tesseract. Once captured by the Time Variance Authority and considered a variant himself, the title character helps the TVA by trying to find another variant that's been killing off their agents.
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