These are 12 of our best romantic series tv show recommendations perfect for streaming now. These shows are perfect for the rom-com lover who crave a meet cute.
The Best Romantic Series TV Shows to Watch Now
From our marriage & parenting contributor, Mary Carver.
Do you love reading romance novels but have trouble concentrating on books right now?
Do you lament the lack of true rom coms these days (you know, the big-budget ones with Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan)?
Did you finish watching Sweet Magnolias or Virgin River or Bridgerton—and now you’re looking for another romantic comedy to fill the void?
I’m here to help!
I have a show for every kind of romantic comedy fan.
If you love romantic comedies and want a new TV series to watch to scratch that rom-com itch, I have a dozen shows for you. (However, if you haven’t watched Sweet Magnolias or Virgin River yet, pause. Do not pass go. Watch those shows first. They’re both streaming on Netflix, and you will thank me.)
On to the rom-com shows!
12 TV Shows to Watch if You Like Romantic Comedies
If you love time travel with a romantic series bend…
Timeless is an action-adventure about a team that travels through time to stop the bad guys from changing history.
But also?
It’s about a soldier and a professor on that team who seem like they might not get along, BUT THEN THEY DO.
Of course, you’ll see that coming from the first episode, but the story (like the history and the science in this show) isn’t relatively so straightforward.
It is, however, lovely—and is wrapped up with the prettiest bow at the end of its two seasons.
Watch on Hulu.
If you love a family drama romantic series…
Jane the Virgin is a show about a young woman who’s accidentally artificially inseminated.
That plot might hint at the show’s (and character’s) love of telenovelas and all their messy drama.
And this show is twisty and silly and way over the top with the drama!
But also?
What none of that tells you is how incredibly sweet and moving it is.
The characters in JTV grow and change and make you fall in love every single week.
Watch on Netflix.
Chesapeake Shores is a Hallmark Channel family drama full of old flames and new loves, and plenty of family issues.
It’s like Parenthood, or This is Us, but less stressful.
Watch on Hallmark Movies Now.
The Baker & the Beauty is an adorable show perfect for anyone looking for a quick binge or anyone who loves the famous person who falls in love with an average person trope.
An international superstar meets a baker from Miami, and sparks fly.
Her friends and his family disapprove, but they’re forced to deal with everything that comes with a star-and-civilian romance anyway.
The supporting characters are just as lovely and loveable as the main two characters, and you can’t help rooting for every single one of them (even when they’re at odds with each other).
I still can’t believe this only aired for one season, but it’s still totally worth a watch.
Watch on Netflix.
If you love young love…
Never Have I Ever is about a teenage girl who wants to be popular and lose her virginity.
At least, that’s how it starts.
But this show from Mindy Kaling is so much more.
It’s about tricky family dynamics, and it’s about a first-generation Indian American girl trying to navigate her family’s culture with American culture and her interests and values.
And it’s about teenagers and falling in love and friendship.
It’s fun, funny, and moving. (And season 2 comes out this summer!)
Watch on Netflix.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series has too much punctuation. I know.
But despite the ridiculous name and silly-seeming premise (students at the school where the HSM movies were filmed put on the HSM musical), the show is darling!
Sure, it has plenty of meta, wink-wink-nod-nod references to the High School Musical franchise.
But it also has original characters and just…TRY not to fall in love with these kids!
I watched this with my kids, and we’re excited about the second season, too.
Watch on Disney+.
If you love romantic series shows about friend groups…
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a series (also created by Mindy Kaling; I have a type) inspired by the Hugh Grant movie.
It is not a remake or a reboot, so don’t go in expecting that!
It’s about a group of college friends, some of whom have had or will have romantic relationships with each other.
It’s romantic and funny and, at times, heartbreaking.
I loved it, and I think you might too.
Watch on Hulu.
New Girl is one of my all-time favorites, which you might have picked up on (since I’ve written about this show before).
But it fits here too!
If you love seeing friendships develop and grow and fracture and heal, this is for you.
If you love outrageous hijinks and hilarious inside jokes, this is for you.
If you love shipping characters you know are meant for each other or watching two unlikely lovers connect, this is for you.
Watch on Netflix.
If you love small towns…
Hart of Dixie is a funny, emotional show about a New York surgical resident forced to work in a one-doctor practice in small-town Alabama.
It’s about a love triangle—no, wait!
It’s about several love triangles!
It’s about falling in love with characters you thought you hated.
It’s Doc Hollywood as a TV series or the Gilmore Girls in the South. (It’s also about a Black man being mayor of a small town in the South, yet nobody ever mentions race. So head’s up on that.)
Watch on Prime.
If you love magic…
The Good Witch is another show from the Hallmark Channel, and it’s about a widow who moves to a small town to raise her daughter.
Is she a witch?
Or…not?
The town doesn’t know for sure, but the (handsome) local doctor doesn’t believe it.
And yet, he’s drawn to her anyway.
Of course!
Watch on Netflix.
If you love musicals…
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is one of my very favorite shows, and for so many reasons!
It’s about a young woman who undergoes a medical test and suddenly can hear people’s emotions as if they are singing them.
It’s incredible.
The singing!
The dance numbers!
And don’t forget the friendships and family dynamics that are real and hard and lovely.
But for our purposes here today, I assure you: Zoey finds herself in a love triangle, and you will be hard-pressed to decide which guy to root for!
Rent season one on Prime; watch season two on Hulu.
The soundtrack is exciting.
It doesn’t feature singing performances like Zoey’s does.
Instead, it has the characters lip-sync and dance to songs that kinda-sorta move the story forward.
That story is about how the lives of seemingly unconnected people in Los Angeles intersect over the years.
I loved the story, and some of those connections are undoubtedly romantic!
Watch on Netflix.
What’s your favorite romantic comedy on TV?