10 TV Shows To Watch If You Like Cobra Kai

When it comes to legacy sequels, "Cobra Kai" delivers a massive roundhouse kick to the vast majority of them. For six seasons, this show brought you back to the glory days of "The Karate Kid," and even though the show's over, there are plenty of similar series to give you the same adrenaline rush.

In 2018, an unassuming "Karate Kid" sequel series debuted on YouTube Red. It picks up with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) decades after his embarrassing loss to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) at the All-Valley Karate Tournament. He's down on his luck, but he sees an opportunity to help a young kid, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), stand up for himself by resurrecting his old dojo — Cobra Kai.

But that's just the set-up. Through six seasons, "Cobra Kai" would introduce new allies, rivals, and people who take this whole karate thing way too seriously. It was funny but also knew how to show off epic fight scenes with beautiful choreography so that there was no mistaking that these actors were really pulling off these moves, leading to a fight in the finale that will leave your jaw on the floor. If you need something with similar comedy and fights, then these are the TV shows like "Cobra Kai" most worth checking out.

Once YouTube decided to focus less on scripted content, "Cobra Kai" got bought up by Netflix where it remained for the rest of its run. And assuming you binge-watched "Cobra Kai" on that platform, you'd do well to keep your subscription a little while longer to watch "GLOW." Just don't expect much of a satisfying ending...

"GLOW" offers a fictionalized account of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling from the 1980s. Many women sign up to wrestle for their own personal reasons, but much of the early conflict stems from former best friends Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin) being forced to work together. Being set in the 1980s, "GLOW" offers plenty of nostalgia for people who came of age in that era, from the clothing to the music cues. It's similar to "Cobra Kai" in that way, which derives a lot of humor from Johnny Lawrence being perpetually stuck in that decade.

But whereas "Cobra Kai" got a proper conclusion, "GLOW" didn't receive the same treatment. Netflix initially renewed "GLOW" for a fourth and final season but went back on the decision due to productions halting during COVID-19 lockdowns. But maybe like "Cobra Kai," this show can get its own legacy sequel down the line to tie up loose ends. 

Given Johnny Lawrence's aggressively American sensibilities, something tells us he wouldn't be a huge fan of our friendly neighbors up north. But even he'd have to respect the work ethic of Shoresy (Jared Keeso), the eponymous character of the "Letterkenny" spinoff. "Shoresy" raanks among our best sports shows of all time right alongside "Cobra Kai" with a truly astonishing ratio of jokes per minute. 

Shoresy was a fan-favorite character on "Letterkenny" who wound up with his own show, where he's tasked with saving a struggling hockey team, the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs. He fleshes out the roster to include a bevy of misfits and punks but instills in them a new message that it's better to hate to lose than love to win. As such, there's a much stronger sense of plot in "Shoresy" compared to "Letterkenny," the latter of which mostly just sees characters hanging out and saying funny things.

Shoresy and Johnny Lawrence are cut from the same cloth. They both get put in charge of a gang of young outcasts and not only teach them about their respective sports but how to be better in their personal lives. But even if you're not about character growth, hearing Shoresy go off on random tangential insults is more than enough of a reason to watch this show. 

In their own unique ways, both "Ted Lasso" and "Cobra Kai" set out to deconstruct traditional ideals of masculinity. The titular Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) starts out as an American football coach who then goes on to coach an English soccer team, bringing his folksy optimism with him to show the players how to be better men. From the start, Ted is very open about his emotions. He goes to therapy and talks things through with the players rather than scream at them, and eventually, his warmth rubs off on them. 

Johnny Lawrence is definitely a little rougher around the edges when "Cobra Kai" begins. He's trapped with the same viewpoints he had in the '80s, but over the course of the show, he learns how to be a better father figure toward his pupils. Johnny has to learn to undo the harmful influences he received from the father figures in his own life so that he can set the next generation on a better path. 

There's a lot of pessimism and nihilism in the modern world. A lot of TV shows reflect that with dark senses of humor, making "Ted Lasso" a breath of fresh air. And even though the series was supposed to end after Season 3, Season 4 proved to be a worthwhile revival that took the show back to much of what made fans fall in love with it in the first place. 

"All American" has less of an emphasis on comedy compared to other TV shows like "Cobra Kai," but this is one sports drama you don't want to sleep on. After running for eight seasons on The CW, "All American" saw Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) rise through the ranks of high school and college football to attain his dream of playing in the NFL. Early on, he's recruited from South Los Angeles to play for a Beverly Hills team, and the difference in socioeconomic statuses factors heavily into many storylines. 

"All American" wasn't afraid to tackle a range of topics, from police brutality to mental health struggles. But for much of its run, the show's core focused on the dynamic between Spencer and coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs). Billy sees a lot of himself in Spencer and tries to guide him on the right path, similar to how Johnny tried to mold Miguel into a better version of himself when he was his age. 

Both "All American" and "Cobra Kai" use their respective sports as backdrops for the interpersonal battles each character faces. A game might be over, but that doesn't mean the rivalries stay on the field. They have a way of following characters in their normal lives. 

One of the most impressive aspects of "Cobra Kai" is the fight choreography. It contains a mix of martial arts styles, and throughout its six seasons, you see a wonderful blend of traditional karate, taekwondo, and other disciplines. The large-scale brawls give the show an epic sense of scale, but some of the most jaw-dropping moments come when it's just two fighters engaged in combat. And if fight scenes are what you want, "Into the Badlands" has some of the best television has offered in recent memory. 

The post-apocalyptic series takes place in a world where guns are largely gone and powerful barons rule through armies of highly trained fighters. In a desolate territory, Sunny (Daniel Wu) leads a teenage boy, M.K. (Aramis Knight), with incredible powers to safety while protecting him from various threats. 

Reading the behind-the-scenes details of how all of those fight scenes come to life gives you a far greater appreciation of this show's existence. While television usually succumbs to lower budgets compared to movies, the fights here feel like they belong in a "John Wick" film. Every battle brings something new to the table. If "Cobra Kai" is the appetizer, then "Into the Badlands" offers the main course. 

Maybe you're a big fan of "Cobra Kai" but want something you can watch with your kids. "Cobra Kai" may seem fine for youngsters on the surface, but it's rated TV-14 for a reason and contains strong language and intense fights (although nothing that ever extends into too much bloodshed). For the younger crowd, "Kickin' It" is effectively the kid-friendly version of "Cobra Kai." 

It premiered on Disney XD in 2011 and follows the struggling Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy. To improve their skills and overall image, the students recruit the genuinely talented Jack (Leo Howard) to help them get on a better path. The students are an assortment of misfits and outcasts who have trouble defending themselves, but throughout the show, they learn self-respect in addition to some cool karate moves. 

"Cobra Kai" had plenty of silly moments, but it had a very serious story at its core. It also had intense moments of peril, like when Miguel suffers a spinal cord injury. "Kickin' It" never gets nearly that serious and is mostly focused on slapstick humor. But if you want a karate show the whole family can enjoy without worrying about someone randomly dropping profanity, "Kickin' It" offers peace of mind. 

People watch "Cobra Kai" for different reasons. There's the awesome fight sequences. For fans of the original "Karate Kid," the show offers a healthy dose of nostalgia and film references. But at the end of the day, you tune into this karate series because you become wrapped up in the human drama. You root for these characters to succeed and to see how they can rise from the ashes after failure. And one sports show that never loses sight of the underlying interpersonal drama is "Friday Night Lights."

The show features an ensemble cast led by Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), the coach of a small-town football team in West Texas. And show creator Peter Berg had one condition on filming the show, namely actually filming in Texas to give the series a more authentic feeling. While the football games are filmed wonderfully, the crux of the show relies on the various students going through trials and tribulations off the field and how that impacts their performance once it's game day.

Rewatching "Friday Night Lights" all these years later is great for seeing where many up-and-coming actors, like Michael B. Jordan, Jesse Plemons, and Jurnee Smollett, got their start. With the nature of the show focused on a high school football team, there's a rotating cast of characters to always give the series a fresh premise. 

"Cobra Kai" actually shares a lot of DNA with anime. There are characters summoning some kind of inner strength and entire arcs built around tournaments. As such, you might do well to watch "Haikyu!!" even if you're not super into anime as a whole. 

Shoyo Hinata dreams of being a great volleyball player one day, but in the meantime, he'll need to work with a ragtag high school team that's seen better days. Not only does it center on a sport, but like "Cobra Kai," "Haikyu!!" dedicates time to humanizing everyone. Tobio Kageyama is Shoyo's rival, but he's not made out to be a total jerk. The show gives him a surprising amount of pathos, something you also see throughout "Cobra Kai," where both Johnny and Daniel's pupils are given enough time to help viewers understand where they're coming from.

There are also some distinct parallels between the Cobra Kai dojo and Shoyo's volleyball team at Karasuno High School. Karasuno was once a powerhouse but has lost its edge, just like how Cobra Kai used to be feared but is nothing in the 21st century. Johnny and Shoyo both want to restore their respective teams to their former glory, even if they have trouble finding the right players at first.

In 1972, David Carradine was cast in a new TV series titled "Kung Fu" despite Bruce Lee also being up for the role. Producers thought that American audiences weren't ready for an Asian lead, so they settled on Carradine. The 2021 reimagining of "Kung Fu" places Asian actors front and center with a new story about Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), who drops out of Harvard and winds up studying martial arts. She uses her newfound abilities to protect her community from dangerous enemies, particularly from the villainous Triad organization.

The show combines high-octane fight scenes with Young Adult sensibilities. There's ample melodrama, especially when it comes to Nicky returning to her family. She desperately wants to reconnect with them after being estranged for so long, and it's tough going at first. It's similar to how in "Cobra Kai" Johnny wants an actual relationship with his biological son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan), but Robby butts heads with Miguel after Johnny becomes more of a father toward him. 

Between family drama and highly stylized fights set to pop music, "Kung Fu" has a little something for everyone. While it ended in a perfectly satisfactory manner, we still wish "Kung Fu" went beyond three seasons before getting cancelled. 

Many sports movies and TV shows adopt the premise of an athlete who has seen better days attempting to recapture some former glory. That's the basic idea behind "Cobra Kai," at least at first, with Johnny still reeling from his karate tournament loss in the 1980s and wanting to reclaim the name "Cobra Kai." 

And it's applicable to "Chad Powers," where Russ Holliday (Glen Powell) has a meltdown at a big football game that ruins his career. To stage a comeback, he dons a wig and prosthetics, assumes the identity of Chad Powers, and joins the struggling South Georgia Catfish in hopes of resurrecting his football career. Both shows have inherently silly premises that just wouldn't work in the real world. But what makes both series successful is that they each fully lean into the absurdism. 

Someone like Holliday couldn't just start playing college football. Most people don't take neighborhood karate rivalries quite as seriously in reality, and we're pretty sure many of those characters would've been arrested multiple times over. But the silliness gets grounded in real emotion. The story of a guy wearing a dumb-looking wig to play football wouldn't work if he wasn't completely earnest in his dream to play football again. "Chad Powers" explores ideas surrounding mental health, failure, and second chances, so while the premise is wild, everything else gets you invested in these characters' journeys.