12 Crime Shows Like The Waterfront You Must See

‘The Waterfront’ by Kevin Williamson tells the story of the Buckleys and their collapsing fishing empire based in Havenport, North Carolina. The family comprises of the patriarch recovering from two heart attacks Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany), his charming wife Belle (Maria Bello), daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist) who is a recovering addict and has lost custody of her son, Diller (Brady Hepner), and enthusiastic son Cane (Jake Weary). With their businesses fast sinking, the family gets strapped for cash, and Harlan is forced to consider smuggling drugs using his fishing boats to keep their heads above water. The crime drama series highlights the rough situations that family-owned businesses face and the lengths they are willing to go to ensure their survival. If the series has captured your attention, here is a list of shows similar to ‘The Waterfront’ you can consider following up on.

12. Animal Kingdom (2016-2022)

Inspired by the Pettingill crime family in Australia and the 2010 movie of the same name, ‘Animal Kingdom’ by Jonathan Lisco follows Joshua Cody (Finn Cole), who goes to live with his estranged grandmother Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin) following the demise of his mother. He soon realizes that the matriarch and her three sons are associated with armed robberies and other criminal activities, and to stay alive, he needs to stay loyal to the cause. Unlike the Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront,’ the Codys have long been in the crime business. However, it is still a new development for Joshua to get involved with it all.

11. Bad Banks (2018-2020)

Created by Oliver Kienle, ‘Bad Banks’ revolves around Jana Liekam (Paula Beer), a young investment banker who loses one job in Luxembourg but gets an even better one in Frankfurt. However, the dream job takes her away from her boyfriend and his 5-year-old daughter. While she manages to impress her new boss with her skills, she soon realizes that her previous boss, Christelle Leblanc (Désirée Nosbusch), has been manipulating her life all the while from the shadows. Christelle proceeds to blackmail Jana, further complicating her personal and professional lives. The impact of the latter on her family has been as disastrous as what the Buckleys have gone through in ‘The Waterfront.’

10. McMafia (2018)

‘McMafia’ by Hossein Amini and James Watkins is about Alex Godman (James Norton), son of a London-based Russian mafia boss, Dimitri (Aleksey Serebryakov). Alex has no interest in joining the family business, and his father is considering hanging up the cape. However, when an attempt is made on the life of a family member, Alex is forced to step into the underworld and take charge to ensure his family’s safety. The show is inspired by Misha Glenny’s book ‘McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld.’ Like Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront,’ Alex gets dragged into a life of crime for the sole purpose of protecting his family.

9. Queen of the South (2016-2021)

Based on the eponymous novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and adapted from the telenovela ‘La Reina del Sur,’ ‘Queen of the South’ chronicles the life of Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a young Mexican woman who escapes to the US after her cartel member boyfriend gets murdered. Even in the new country, she becomes part of the underworld, and soon sets up her own drug trafficking organization. Developed by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, the narrative gives Teresa no choice but to use her skills to traffic drugs, similar to Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront,’ and drawing the attention of government forces.

8. Godfather of Harlem (2019-)

‘Godfather of Harlem’ is a fictionalized account of the life of crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker), who ran the streets of Harlem in New York in the 1960s. The show, created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, opens with Bumpy getting freed from prison after being incarcerated for a decade. To his dismay, he discovers that the Italian mob has taken over his old neighborhood. Bumpy gets to work to reclaim the streets, making many alliances on the path to prominence. His lifestyle directly impacts that of his family, who stand by him every step of the way, similar to how the Buckleys stay together in the face of adversity in ‘The Waterfront.’

7. Spotless (2015)

‘Spotless,’ created by Ed McCardie and Corinne Marrinan, centers around Jean Bastière (Marc-André Grondin), a family man living with his wife and two children in London and running a business of cleaning crime scenes. His blissful life gets disrupted by the sudden arrival of his long-estranged brother, Martin (Denis Ménochet). The latter seeks to cover up a murder, leading Jean down a spiral of bad decisions. Soon, the brothers are forced to work for a mob boss in order to protect their family. Their compulsion mirrors what the Buckleys face in ‘The Waterfront’ as they begin to traffic drugs.

6. The Family Business (2018-)

Created by Carl Weber based on his own eponymous book series, ‘The Family Business’ revolves around the Duncans, an upstanding family from Jamaica, Queens. Led by the patriarch, Lavernius “L.C.” Duncan (Ernie Hudson), they operate an exotic car dealership in New York City during the day. However, they lead a dangerous secret life, dealing with the dark criminal underworld at night. The show resembles ‘The Waterfront’ in a number of ways, from having a prominent legitimate business to skirting the law and dealing in criminal activities.

5. ZeroZeroZero (2019)

‘ZeroZeroZero’ is set around the transfer of a large shipment of cocaine from Monterrey in Mexico to Gioia Tauro in Italy. The buyer, Don Minu La Piana (Adriano Chiaramida), is an aged mob boss whose reign is under threat from rival families as well as his own grandson. The infighting among his family, ‘Ndrangheta, leads to the shipment being rerouted to Morocco. The incident causes trouble for all parties involved, including the Lynwood family from New Orleans. Just like the Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront,’ the Lynwoods are responsible for shipping the drugs, acting as an intermediate between the Mexican gangsters and the ‘Ndrangheta. The series is created by Stefano Sollima, Leonardo Fasoli, and Mauricio Katz.

4. Bloodline (2015-2017)

Helmed by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman, ‘Bloodline’ revolves around the Rayburn family, who are considered a pillar of the community in the Florida Keys. However, beneath the pristine facade, the family hides a dark secret. When Danny Rayburn (Ben Mendelsohn), the oldest son and the black sheep of the family, returns home to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his parents’ hotel, he threatens to blow the cover on the family secret. As with the Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront,’ the loyalty of all members of the family is put to the test in the show.

3. Ray Donovan (2013-2020)

Ann Biderman’s ‘Ray Donovan’ stars Liev Schreiber in the titular role. A fixer for Hollywood’s elite, he is the person whom the rich call to make their problems disappear. Living with his wife and children, Ray’s seemingly happy life comes under threat as his father, Mickey (Jon Voight), gets released from prison and attempts to reconnect with his estranged family. The buried family secrets are in danger of seeing the light of day, making Ray scramble to contain the situation, as Harlan Buckley does in ‘The Waterfront.’

2. Unauthorized Living (2018-2020)

Originally titled ‘Vivir sin permiso,’ ‘Unauthorized Living’ by Aitor Gabilondo and David Bermejo chronicles the dusk of the life of Nemo Bandeira (José Coronado), a drug lord moonlighting as a businessman. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Nemo tries to hide the news from his family and instead sets to work finding his successor to the business. As in ‘The Waterfront,’ ‘Unauthorized Living’ has the central family united in times of need, even in the face of threats to their personal and professional lives.

1. Ozark (2017-2022)

Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, ‘Ozark’ is set around Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a financial planner who relocates his family from Chicago to Osage Beach, a summer resort community in the Ozarks in central Missouri. He is on the run with his wife and kids after a money laundering scheme goes horribly wrong. Backed into a corner, Marty pays off a substantial debt to a Mexican drug lord in exchange for the safety of his children at the moment. In the tough times, the family is forced to reconnect, as did the Buckleys in ‘The Waterfront.’ Many parallels can be drawn between the two shows, from the unwilling entrance of the patriarch into the underworld to collaborating with the drug cartels because of the innocent appearance of the family.