Missing someone — whether through loss, distance, or just the way things change — has a particular texture that's hard to describe. It's not just sadness. It's the specific ache of an absence. And it needs specific viewing to sit with it rather than against it.
What This Feeling Needs
The instinct is to reach for something distracting — action, comedy, anything to not feel it. Sometimes that's right. But often what missing someone actually needs is something that acknowledges the feeling without drowning in it. Shows that understand loss, that depict connection beautifully, that remind you the people who matter leave marks that don't disappear.
The Picks
For Sitting With It
After Life (Netflix)
Ricky Gervais plays a man whose wife has died and who has decided to be terrible to everyone as a result. It sounds grim. It is grim, sometimes. But it's also one of the most honest and unexpectedly funny shows about grief ever made, and it has an enormous amount of warmth underneath the bleakness. Three short seasons. A genuine comfort watch for this particular feeling.
This Is Us (Peacock)
A multigenerational family drama told across multiple timelines. Yes, it's emotionally manipulative — but it's also beautifully crafted and earns most of its tears. If you want a show that understands how much the people we love shape us, this is the one. Have tissues nearby.
For Something Lighter That Still Gets It
Somebody Somewhere (HBO/Max)
A woman returns to her Kansas hometown after her sister's death and slowly builds a new life. The show is funny and warm and understands grief without making it the whole story. Bridget Everett is extraordinary. Two seasons, both wonderful.
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
About love and connection and what happens when you decide to care about people even when it's hard. Not directly about loss, but about the way the right people can change you. Season 1 especially is about finding unexpected family.
What Will Make It Worse
- Shows where everyone is happy and connected and nothing bad happens (it'll feel like a taunt)
- Romantic comedies with perfect endings (same reason)
- True crime (adds anxiety to the grief — not helpful)
- Rewatching something you watched with the person you're missing (only if you're ready)
The feeling passes, and it doesn't — both things are true. Let us find something that fits where you are right now →