Created by Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely, Common Side Effects is one of the best animated shows of 2025. The conspiracy thriller is focused on two former high school friends who find themselves torn over what to do with a miraculous mushroom that’s capable of healing any injury. The ten-episode first season boasts great writing and surprisingly inventive visuals, quickly settling into its unique look and turning out exciting moments of action amid heartbreaking turns and comedic beats.
The wait for season 2 is already exhausting, but luckily for fans of Common Side Effects there are plenty of other great shows to watch in the meantime. Here are the 10 best shows to watch if you loved Common Side Effects, and where to find them on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and beyond!
Carol & The End Of The World
Fans of Common Side Effects’ animated approach to a runaway thriller will find plenty to love in Carol & The End Of The World. As humanity prepares for the apparent end of the world, a middle-aged woman named Carol instead finds fulfillment in her routine thanks to a company called “The Distraction.” Similar to Common Side Effects, Carol & The End of the World explores capitalist institutions from a grounded personal perspective. Both shows reflect on the nature of death from a slightly absurd and animated perspective that brings a little bit of natural levity to the story. Both shows are also unafraid to show the tragic side of life, confronting the reality of death and the failures of humans with an empathetic eye.
Strange Planet
A bizarre exploration of life from an alien perspective, Strange Planet is based on the webcomic of the same name. Co-created by the webcomic creative and Nathan W. Pyle, the Apple TV+ show centers on blue aliens that have comically bizarre riffs on human traits. Like Common Side Effects, the sci-fi touch doesn't distract from the show's intense focus on the humanity of the people in strange situations. As a cuter show than Common Side Effects that is rooted in poking fun at humanity rather than satirically exploring power and influence, Strange Planet is nevertheless a fun show that doesn’t shy away from darker elements of life. Strange Planet is a lightweight but sweet-natured show that has fun with the foibles of the human race.
The Shivering Truth
Fans who appreciated the darker and more experimental visuals of Common Side Effect will find plenty to love in The Shivering Truth. Created by Vernon Chatman, the stop-motion horror anthology embraced a surreal touch that will resonate with anyone who was creeped out by the little white humanoids who seem to haunt anyone who has one of the Blue Angel mushrooms. The scary imagery at the end of the season is very memorable, and reminiscent of the unsettling creations that appear in The Shivering Truth. Not for the feint of heart or those too easily prone to upset stomaches, The Shivering Truth is a stunning work of art that will impress, mesmerize, and freak out viewers in equal measure–just like the darker beats in Common Side Effects.
Smiling Friends
Sharing a common sensibility when it comes to comedy and the human experience, Smiling Friends is a perfect pairing with Common Side Effects. Created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, Smiling Friends focuses on Charlie Dompler and Pim Pimling, who work at a charity dedicated to making people happy. The bizarre and surreal nature of their adventures is communicated through a creative approach to animation that incorporates multiple forms of the medium. This experimentation in the form is similar to the way that Common Side Effects uses inventive techniques during the trippier sequences of the show to put emphasis on the surreal nature of the world and the resilient humanity at the center of it. While both shows may mine people’s flaws for dark comedy, both Common Side Effects and Smiling Friends also clearly believe in the potential of humanity.
Ten Year Old Tom
Sharing a similar perspective on people as Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely's conspiracy thriller, Ten Year Old Tom is a great companion piece to the more adventurous Common Side Effects. Created by and starring Steve Dildarian, Ten Year Old Tom is a spiritual successor to his former show The Life & Times of Tim. The deadpan approach to life will feel familiar to fans of Common Side Effects. Although the show has far lower stakes than the thriller, Ten Year Old Tom is still a great little character study about a young boy and the well-meaning but ill-equipped adults in his orbit. The grounded comedy and purposefully simplistic animation underscores this show’s approach to the world in a similar way to how Common Side Effects’ exaggerated people don’t detract from their real world qualities.
Fired On Mars
In a similar way to how Common Side Effects works as a satire about working in modern America, Fired On Mars uses sci-fi to comment on the plight of the average worker. While Common Side Effects has Reutical Pharmaceuticals, Inc as the central villainous organization, Fired On Mars focuses on Mars.ly, a colony on the red planet. When graphic designer Jeff is fired from his job, he struggles to escape the corporate structure of bureaucracy to make his way back home. Fired On Mars and Common Side Effects are both critical of the ultra-wealthy and the companies that prop them up, although Common Side Effects has a harsher perspective than the more sitcom-y Fired on Mars. Fans of Common Side Effects’ social satire will find lots to laugh at with Fired on Mars.
Inside Job
Despite the social satire and the sci-fi elements that come with a seemingly impossible mushroom capable of healing any wounds, Common Side Effects is ultimately a conspiracy thriller about a man trying to fix the world in a way that the people who run the world don’t approve of. While Inside Job plays that concept much more for laughs, their shared roots as darkly comedic riffs on conspiracy theories give them a shared creative DNA. Inside Job focuses on the staff of Cognito Inc, with most of the action focused on genius inventor (and awkward mess) Reagan Ridley. Both shows use the baked-in premise of a conspiracy to move the plot along in creative and clever ways, and Inside Job might be a perfectly hilarious cool-down after the more intense turns of Common Side Effects.
The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy
Another animated show that takes aim at the state of the medical industry in the United States, The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy brings a critical eye to the state of the nation in a very different way to Common Side Effects. The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy is set in a distant corner of the cosmos. Created by Cirocco Dunlap, the show focuses on two female alien surgeons (and best friends), Drs. Sleech and Klak. The show draws a lot of comedy from the way the hospital is always trying to cut corners and earn money, a similar sentiment shared by Reutical Pharmaceuticals and their attempts to use medicine to enrich themselves even at the expense of the people they’re supposedly helping.
Mike Judge’s Beavis & Butthead
One of the most recognizable voices in Common Side Effects is Mike Judge. Judge plays Rick Kruger, one of the execs at Reutical who is trying to use the Blue Angel for his own gain. A legend of animation in his own right, Judge’s modern reinvention of Beavis & Butthead shares a clear and satirical perspective on modern society. A revival of the show that placed Judge on the map, Beavis & Butthead is focused on the titular teenagers whose crude perspective on the world ends up offering plenty of good comedy. Judge’s delivery in Common Side Effects recalls the voice he gives Mr. Anderson in Beavis & Butthead (as well as Hank Hill in King of the Hill) which helps give the show some connective tissue. The fact that they’re all very good animated shows doesn’t hurt either.
Scavengers Reign
Created by Joseph Bennett (who is one of the creatives behind Common Side Effects) and Charles Huettner, Scavengers Reign is one of the most critically acclaimed animated shows to be released in recent years. Focusing on the survivors of the damaged interstellar cargo ship Demeter 227 as they struggle to survive on the alien world of Vesta, Scavengers Reign is a visually rich and deeply compelling sci-fi drama that uses the full potential of animation as a medium. It’s a terrific one-season show that was cancelled too early, but still serves as a great piece of sci-fi. Fans of animation should check out the show, especially audiences who enjoyed Common Side Effects because you'll find the same deep characters and introspective exploration of the human condition, just on a much different scale.
