13 Shows Perfect For "Grey's Anatomy" Fans

If you love a balance of medicine, social commentary, and personal drama but are looking for something a little more feel-good, "Call the Midwife" is a great option. Set in 1950s and 1960s London, the series follows a group of dedicated midwives and nurses who work to provide care in a struggling neighborhood while dealing with their complicated personal lives. While it's definitely a less soapy kind of show than "Grey's Anatomy," it has a similar approach to using the characters to address significant social and medical issues, from infertility and miscarriage to abortion, sexuality, abuse, disparities in healthcare, bigotry, and much more.

Part of the "One Chicago" universe on NBC, "Chicago Med" is the modern version of your classic hospital drama. The show focuses on the diverse and often clashing group of medical professionals working in the emergency department at a large Chicago hospital. As they handle the difficult and sometimes unexpected traumas that come through their doors, they also struggle with their personal entanglements and professional ambitions, which often clash. While "Chicago Med" functions for the most part as a stand-alone series, it also occasionally crosses over with the other "One Chicago" shows, much like "Grey's Anatomy" links up with "Station 19" a few times every year.

Medicine plays more of a background role in "Doctor Foster," but this is definitely the show for you if you're looking for a medical show with a brilliant yet messy woman at the center. Gemma Foster seems to have it all: a successful medical career; a happy marriage to her husband, Simon; and a son she loves. Her life is thrown into upheaval when she uncovers evidence that Simon is having an affair and she begins an obsessive hunt for the truth. As she learns more about Simon's secrets, Gemma struggles to hold her life together and keep her son safe while figuring out what comes next.

Before there was "Grey's Anatomy," there was "ER," the original, long-running hospital drama full of breakout stars, memorable storylines, and a revolving door of cast members. The premise itself is pretty straightforward. It follows the ups and downs of the doctors and nurses working a busy emergency department. "ER" is probably the closest analog you'll find to "Grey's Anatomy," with many very similar elements: epic but sort-of forbidden romance, hospital power struggles, shocking medical cases, dramatic "event" episodes, and much more. It's also a super-long runner like "Grey's," spanning 15 seasons. In fact, it's the second-longest medical drama in TV history, second only to (you guessed it) "Grey's."

Want a show about doctors that has a lighter and breezier approach? "Hart of Dixie" has just the right blend of small-town dramedy hijinks and a hint of medical drama. The "medical" part is really just the background of the story, not the main focus. Instead, we get invested in the messy, sometimes hilarious life of Dr. Zoe Hart, a heart surgeon who fails to get a fellowship and, instead, takes a job as a small-town doctor. She inherits a practice from the father she never knew and has to adjust to life in a new town while trying to save her stake in the practice and deal with a messy love life that would make Meredith Grey proud.

"Grey's Anatomy" may be the show that put Shonda Rhimes on the map, but it's far from the only smash-hit Rhimes property. "How to Get Away With Murder" sees Rhimes's trademark dramatic storytelling transplanted to the world of a high-stakes law school. Annalise Keating is a tough but brilliant law professor, but things start to unravel after she brings on five promising students as interns at her firm. The "Keating Five" find themselves entangled in a series of life-or-death conspiracies, from a mysterious murder to shocking affairs and client cases that connect to their lives in ways they never could have imagined.

If you think Meredith Grey and her colleagues can be unlikable sometimes, just wait until you meet the title character of "Nurse Jackie." The dark comedy centers on Jackie, a stressed-out nurse working at a New York City hospital, dealing with said stress with a disastrous personal life and a substance-use problem. She's not the only one in her department with issues hidden beneath the surface; pretty much everyone, from the seemingly perfect doctor to the perky new nursing student, has something going on that they're not admitting. It's a spikier dark comedy, as opposed to a soapy drama, but it definitely shares a lot in common with "Grey's" when it comes to probing the complexities of the medical profession.

As the seasons have gone on, "Grey's Anatomy" has spent more and more time diving into the intrigues and bureaucracies that can either support or hinder medical care. "The Resident" takes a similar approach, pairing traditional hospital drama with questions about the medical field as a whole. Like the earlier seasons of "Grey's," the show starts out by focusing on doctors who are still in the training and residency phases of their careers. As the doctors on the team try to provide the best possible care for patients, they often come into conflict with administrators and executives whose goals and priorities are very different.

Take the quirky medical cases and messy personal lives of "Grey's Anatomy," then change up the setting to a private practice for the super wealthy, and you've got "Royal Pains." After being wrongfully blamed for the death of a "VIP" patient, ER doctor Hank is looking for a fresh start. He finds it in a surprise move to the Hamptons, where he reluctantly becomes an on-call private doctor for the wealthy elite who live there. Of course, his new job comes with plenty of ethical conflicts too, as he tries to balance the demands of his "clients" (and his discoveries of many of their secrets) with his obligations as a doctor.

The twisty, scandalous relationship between Meredith and Derek on "Grey's Anatomy" has nothing on the twisted romances and conspiracies of "Scandal." Olivia Pope is a classic Shonda Rhimes heroine: strong, capable, and great at her job, but with a tangled family tree and a knack for messy relationships. As one of the top fixers in DC, Olivia is called upon by the most powerful and influential people in the country to manage their messes and make their scandals go away. However, Olivia herself is keeping one of the biggest secrets herself: her affair with the president of the United States and the measures to which she and others went to get him into the White House.

While many medical shows take a more dramatic approach, "Scrubs" is the iconic hospital comedy. Set at a large teaching hospital, the sitcom follows the funny (and sometimes heartbreaking) day-to-day lives of a group of nurses and doctors as they go through their training and careers. As on "Grey's Anatomy," the multiple storylines throughout the show are usually tied together through thematic narration by the protagonist. It's definitely a much funnier approach to the medical show than "Grey's," but that doesn't mean it's all fun and games — there are still plenty of episodes that will have you tearing up.

While most of the medical dramas out there tend to be very straightforward, "A Young Doctor's Notebook" takes a much more out-there approach. The dark comedy is set at a hospital during the Russian Revolution, where the staff tries to treat local patients who don't always trust them or their expertise. Although they do their best to take care of their patients, they also struggle with their own addictions and issues. It's positioned as a dark comedy, complete with exaggerated storylines and heightened realities, rather than a "serious" drama, but it still has a lot to say about medicine and the way that the profession can take its toll.

Netflix's hit series "Virgin River" is basically "Hart of Dixie" 2.0 — seriously: Tim Matheson plays a small-town doctor in both series. In "Virgin River," Mel is a nurse practitioner who starts over in a scenic, small town — finding love, friendship and a little "Grey's Anatomy"-esque relationship drama along the way. With four seasons already streaming on Netflix, and more to come, you'll get a little bit of medicine and heartache with "Virgin River."