Missing ‘The Chi’ Already? 8 Other TV Shows to Check Out

Dan Clarendon
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'Atlanta,' 'Queen Sugar,' 'David Makes Man,' and 'The Chi'
Quantrell Colbert/FX Networks/Courtesy: Everett Collection, Skip Bolen/OWN/Courtesy: Everett Collection, Rod Millington/OWN/Courtesy: Everett Collection, Elizabeth Sisson/Showtime/Courtesy: Everett Collection

After eight climactic seasons, the Showtime drama The Chi is exiting our screens with “The Last Dance,” the series finale streaming this Friday. And creator Lena Waithe is promising an appropriately epic ending.

“A lot of our shows don’t get the opportunity to have a beautiful bow,” Waithe told Chicago’s WBEZ in May. “I didn’t want us to go out with a whimper. It feels like a big deal. It feels like a hard goodbye. If the goodbye doesn’t hurt, then you’re not doing it right.”

But you can nurse that hurt with similar TV stories. South Side and Shameless are both set in the same Chicago area, but we’re sticking with dramas here — ones showcasing Black talent in ensemble stories with a weighty sense of place. Here are some contenders…

The Chi, Series Finale, Friday, July 24, Paramount+ & Sunday, July 26, 9/8c, Paramount+ with Showtime

Courtney B. Vance as Franklin Roberts in ‘61st Street’
George Burns/CW/AMC/Courtesy: Everett Collection

61st Street

Another South Side saga is this thriller about a drug bust gone wrong and a police code of silence that endangers a neighborhood. If you liked Courtney B. Vance playing a lawyer in American Crime Story, you’ll love him doing so in the spotlight here. Currently streaming on the CW app and Tubi.

Sonja Sohn as as Detective Kima Greggs in ‘The Wire’
HBO/Courtesy: Everett Collection

The Wire

Grittier than The Chi but just as compelling is this David Simon creation. Drawing on Simon’s experience as a police reporter in Baltimore, the drama delves into one institution of the city per season: the drug trade, the port system, the city government, the education system, and the media. Currently streaming on HBO Max and YouTube TV.

Donald Glover as Earn Marks in ‘Atlanta’
Quantrell Colbert/FX Networks/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Atlanta

Emmy, Golden Globe, Peabody Award voters fell over themselves heaping accolades on Donald Glover and his collaborators for this comedy-drama — and rightly so. Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and LaKeith Stanfield lead the cast of a surrealist take on ATL’s hip-hop scene. Currently streaming on Hulu.

Omari Hardwick as James “Ghost” St. Patrick in ‘Power’
Myles Aronowitz /Starz/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Power

With an assist from executive producer 50 Cent, Courtney A. Kemp created a TV universe with this crime drama about a drug dealer trying to go legitimate. Three spinoff series ensued — including the Chicago-set Power Book IV: Force — and two more are yet to come. Currently streaming on Hulu, Philo, Spectrum, Starz, and YouTube TV.

Damson Idris as Franklin Saint in ‘Snowfall’
Ray Mickshaw/FX/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Snowfall

Like Power, Snowfall is a crime drama about the drug trade, this one set on the opposite coast and decades in the past. In this story, the crack cocaine epidemic impacts dealers, organized crime members, and feds alike in 1980s Los Angeles. (And spinoff The Drop: A Snowfall Saga is coming this September.) Currently streaming on Hulu.

Nicco Annan as Uncle Clifford in ‘P-Valley’
Erika Doss/Starz/Courtesy: Everett Collection

P-Valley

If you want to get out of the city and into the (moral and literal) swamp, consider this Mississippi Delta-set drama about the employees trying to keep the doors open at a down-at-the-heels strip club. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall created this sultry, neon-hued slice of Southern life. Currently streaming on Philo, Prime Video, Spectrum, and Starz.

Akili McDowell as David in ‘David Makes Man’
Rod Millington/OWN/Courtesy: Everett Collection

David Makes Man

Back when OWN was still developing scripted programming, Oprah Winfrey produced this coming-of-age drama from Moonlight co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney. And like he did in Moonlight, McCraney tells a semi-autobiographical story about a young South Florida man mulling possible routes of upward mobility. Currently available for purchase on Apple TV, Fandango, and Prime Video.

Rutina Wesley as Nova Bordelon in ‘Queen Sugar’
Skip Bolen/OWN/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Queen Sugar

Winfrey also EP’d this drama from another big name: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay. Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Kofi Siriboe play adult siblings who are already navigating pivotal times in their lives when their father dies and bequeaths to them a Louisiana sugarcane farm. And for this trio, that’s a gift both bitter and sweet. Currently streaming on Hulu.

61st StreetAtlantaDavid Makes ManP-ValleyPower (2014)Queen SugarSnowfallThe ChiThe Wire



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