Finished ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’? Start these shows
Finished ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’? Start these shows
Whether you loved the female-led mystery, the dark humor, or the constant twists, these shows keep the chaos going.
Tara and I have really enjoyed “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” because it walks a very difficult line. It’s a real thriller with blackmail, murder, and plenty of moments where things could go very badly, but it’s also surprisingly light and funny. Tatiana Maslany is fantastic as Paula Sanders, a newly divorced mom who keeps making understandable but increasingly terrible decisions after she thinks she witnessed a crime. She’s funny, frantic, and completely believable even when the story gets wild. And with that cliffhanger ending, it feels like this show is built for a second season. So if you loved watching Paula juggle danger, a custody battle, youth soccer, and the world’s most stressful children’s pizza party, these are the four comedy thrillers I’d watch next.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
A newly divorced mom falls down a dangerous rabbit hole of blackmail, murder, and youth soccer.
Loved ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’? Watch: ‘The Flight Attendant’
We love Kaley Cuoco, and Season 1 of “The Flight Attendant” is absolutely worth watching. Cuoco plays Cassie Bowden, a flight attendant who wakes up in a Bangkok hotel room next to a dead man with no memory of what happened. Instead of calling the police and calmly explaining the situation, Cassie panics, cleans up the room, lies to the FBI, and starts trying to solve the murder herself. You can probably guess how well that goes.
Cuoco is so good as a funny, panicked lead, and that’s what makes this the closest match to “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.” Paula and Cassie are both smart women who get pulled into murder mysteries, then keep digging themselves deeper with every impulsive decision. “The Flight Attendant” is glossier, more international, and a little more over the top, but it has that same mix of genuine danger and funny embarrassment. Season 2 isn’t nearly as strong as Season 1, but that first season is a slick, twisty, extremely fun ride.
The Flight Attendant
Flight attendant Cassandra Bowden wakes in her hotel room hungover from the night before in Dubai with a dead body lying next to her. Afraid to call the police, she continues her morning as if nothing happened. In New York, she is met by FBI agents who question her about her recent layover in Bangkok. Still unable to piece the night together, she begins to wonder if she could be the killer.
Check out: ‘Based on a True Story’
“Based on a True Story” is another Cuoco show (she plays these kinds of characters so well) and starts with her and her husband looking for a way out of their increasingly disappointing life. Ava, played by Cuoco, is a pregnant realtor obsessed with true crime, while her husband, Nathan, played by Chris Messina (who is very funny as well), is a former professional tennis player whose career has seriously stalled. When they realize their plumber may be connected to a string of murders, they come up with an unbelievably bad plan: make a true-crime podcast with the killer as the star and turn the whole thing into a hit.
Like Paula in “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” Ava and Nathan see a dangerous situation as a weird chance to take control of their lives. Both shows mix murder with money problems, relationship stress, and adults trying to reinvent themselves through choices no reasonable person would make. “Based on a True Story” is broader and more openly satirical, especially when it starts making fun of podcasts and America’s obsession with serial killers. But if you loved the screwball side of Paula’s investigation and watching ordinary people treat crime like a possible solution to their problems, this one really works. Once again, I felt the first season was stronger than the second, but both are worth watching.
Based on a True Story
The lives of a realtor, a plumber and a former tennis star unexpectedly collide, exposing America’s obsession with true crime, murder and the slow-close toilet seat.
Watch next: ‘Bad Sisters’
Tara and I kind of stumbled on “Bad Sisters” and we are so happy we did. Sharon Horgan leads the series as Eva, the oldest of five close-knit Garvey sisters, all of whom despise their controlling and abusive brother-in-law, John Paul (played by Claes Bang, whose performance is worth watching this show to begin with). When he ends up dead, an insurance investigation starts pulling apart the family’s stories. The show moves between the sisters’ attempts to get rid of him and the aftermath of his death, so you know what they wanted to happen long before you know exactly what did.
This is less about one woman unraveling and more about an entire family trying to keep its secrets straight. But like “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” it finds humor in a situation that’s genuinely tense and emotionally painful. The big difference is that “Bad Sisters” is warmer and more relationship-driven. Paula often feels like she’s spiraling alone, while the Garvey sisters have each other even when they’re lying, panicking, or completely botching another plan. If the family drama and character moments in “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” mattered to you as much as the mystery, this is a fantastic next watch.
Bad Sisters
The tight-knit Garvey sisters have always looked out for one another. But when the toxic brother-in-law they all wanted dead actually dies, it turns their lives upside down and tests their bond like nothing before.
Wildcard pick: ‘Widow’s Bay’
Things get a lot stranger in “Widow’s Bay.” Matthew Rhys plays Tom Loftis, the mayor of a struggling New England island town who’s determined to revive tourism and convince everyone that the place isn’t actually cursed. Unfortunately for him, the local stories may be true. Before long, he’s dealing with supernatural threats, eccentric residents, old folklore, and a growing mountain of evidence that marketing the island as a charming vacation spot might have been a terrible idea.
This one’s the wildcard because it leans into horror instead of crime, but it captures the same difficult balance that makes “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” so much fun. Both shows follow stressed adults trying to handle completely practical responsibilities while danger keeps getting weirder around them. Paula has youth soccer and a custody fight. Tom has town politics and a collapsing tourist economy. “Widow’s Bay” brings in curses, sea monsters, and creepy island history, but it shares that same mix of light comedy, serialized mystery, and actual menace. If you loved how “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” could make you laugh without letting the tension disappear, this is a great way to take that feeling somewhere much stranger and scarier.
Widow’s Bay
The mayor of a New England town resolves to turn it into the next tourist hot spot, despite local warnings that it’s cursed.
More to watch after finishing ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’:
‘Big Mistakes’ | Netflix
Big Mistakes
Blackmailed into working for some very dangerous people, two deeply incapable siblings become the most disorganized duo in organized crime.
‘Search Party’ | Netflix
Search Party
A dark comedy about four self-absorbed twenty-somethings who become entangled in an ominous mystery when a former college acquaintance suddenly disappears.
‘Dead to Me’ | Netflix
Dead to Me
A hotheaded widow searching for the hit-and-run driver who mowed down her husband befriends an eccentric optimist who isn’t quite what she seems.
‘The ’Burbs’ | Peacock
The ‘Burbs
Set in present-day suburbia, a young couple returns to the husband’s childhood home. Their world is upended when new neighbors move in across the street, bringing old secrets of the cul-de-sac to light, and new deadly threats shatter the illusion of their quiet little neighborhood.