I randomly came across Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency on Hulu and it quickly became one of my all time favorites. Super interesting characters.
This.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency had both a UK (cool) and an US (downright OUTSTANDING) version.
If you can only watch one of them, pick the US one.
The workplace comedy about Veridian Dynamics, the company that can make anything, whether it's a good idea or not.
It was on a major network, but the timeslot kept abruptly changing and the final two episodes were preempted by a live sports event, and never even aired in the US.
Veronica: Ted, we need a mouse that can withstand temperatures of up to 300(?) degrees.
Seriously, watch Pantheon if you haven’t already. Its screwed up release/licensing (died on the vine on some AMC streaming service) is a crime against humanity.
I literally can't say anything else about it without spoiling it, other than it's some of the best sci-fi ever, and its pacing is fast.
I still need to finish this. The release really killed the momentum on it for me, and I feel I need to do a full rewatch now to do it justice. I was shocked that I heard almost nothing about it anywhere. I hope it has a solid ending.
Cliffhanger after season three. However, after several years the creater secured rights to self publish a graphic novel to complete the story. This might finally ship at the end of this year.
I don't know what app/web version you're using, but it can definitely be a bit confusing at times. When commenting my app doesn't show the whole thread so you can miss things when commentinf/replying.
There is a song that pops in my head regularly because it seems relevant to what I’m doing at the time, and I’m pretty sure it is from Galavant. Can’t remember it right now though. sigh
It felt like it may have ended on a high note. The plot and songs had started waning a bit at the end. Kinda like how they should've left schmigadoom at one season, the followup season was definitely a bit rougher.
I loved the single season of "Surface" that we got in 2005/6. It didn't do well, it wasn't particularly well made, but boy did it have me glued to the TV for the next episode when I was younger.
You just beat me to it. They had to rush the last episode since it was canceled, but overall a solid show that had an interesting take on a common premise.
Lodge 49, Lodge 49, Lodge 49! Probably one of my top 5 shows in the last decade. Every single review I have ever seen both professional and rando cannot stop raving about it, but still nobody watched it. I think mostly because it's kind of hard to describe and doesn't fit cleanly into any particular box.
Only downside is that it suffered a pretty sudden cancellation after season 2 was shot, so there is no satisfying resolution. Although Wyatt Russell has said repeatedly that he'd drop absolutely any project for a chance to revive it
The Patriot on prime is the best show nobody's watched. It doesn't have a single bad episode, the plot, dialogue, acting and production values are outstanding. It was cancelled after 2 seasons but is still really satisfying. Absolutely love it!
Detectorists was very well done. It’s a brief 20 episodes over three seasons and a couple specials, and it’s buttoned up so well at the end. Highly recommend!
Yeah it was disappointing that it ended, especially since they teased a next season that never came, if I’m remembering correctly. Still worth watching though.
The Thick of It, for my unstimulated, laugh-track hating siblings out there. It's 'better' than The Office (both versions), better than Seinfeld (is this even a relevant mention nowadays?), and just under Sunny because Sunny ran for at least 12 extremely solid seasons while The Thick of It is a 3 season show. Strong recommendation for anyone who can process information efficiently!
I’m not sure if it went under the radar or if I just got into it late, but Fringe is a great show that has a lot of interesting twists. I haven’t watched it in a while and I’m planning a rewatch soon.
Younger people should watch Taxi. It didn't fly under the radar but it's old enough to be fresh even if you've seen it. My favorite new discovery for sure
Banshee was very good. Some other series that didn't seem to be "big" but I enjoyed are: Hell On Wheels, Mr. Inbetween, Preacher, SAS Rogue Heroes, Tacoma FD and Warrior
Best show I’ve seen in the past couple years is a single season mini series called “The Investigation” a Danish series about a true murder that occcurre and the investigation into it following. Really well done.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. Western animation series on Netflix. Coming of Age story, post-apocalyptic sapient mutant animals, representation that's neither perfunctory nor performative, inclusiveness triumphing over intolerance, and it occasionally involves a little bit of Kaiju combat. All that and they got a proper ending.
Don't remember why, but I at one point stopped watching it a few episodes in. Definitely, from what I remember, recommend it. Definitely gonna need to start over from the beginning and watch it. Especially knowing there's a proper ending.
BBC’s “Survivors”. The 1970s original, not the later remake. About the people left over after a pandemic.
1971 “The Guardians” also from BBC. About fascism in a near future UK.
“Thriller” another British show from 1974. It’s an anthology series centered around a mystery/suspense/horror story each week. The Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins episodes are particularly good.
I don't know quite how obscure it is because of how it ended up, but Summer Camp Island.
It's a 6 season Cartoon Network cartoon about a group of kids who attend a summer camp on a magical island with 3 teenage witch camp counselors. First maybe season or 3 the show is mostly episodic and can be watched in any order after the first establishes some things.
Later seasons they really start having more lore and push more story driven narratives ( and even dividing the season into little character focused mini-arcs for one season ) into the picture. Season 6 definitely felt a little rushed ( probably because cartoon network/hbo just wanted the series finished so they could quickly shove it out and then kill it for tax purposes ), but it has some pretty amazing moments and themes later on. For pretty much as much of the series as I can remember, the show doesn't have a bunch of "lol random!" style comedy, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.
One of my biggest gripes is that there's a later season episode I absolutely cannot watch as someone with arachnophobia because it involves one of the main characters and a talking spider. Other than that, it's how the pacing can feel a little rushed towards the end of season 6 ( which I, again, attribute the most likely cause being corporate telling the people behind it that they don't get a season 7 so they better wrap things up as fast as possible ).
Brockmire had some success, but I've never mentioned it to anyone who's actually watched it. The comedy is outrageous, and the characters are awful, but you fall in love with them. It's so good.
The Whitest Kids You Know - Great shortlived sketch comedy show.
As a few other have mentioned Mr Inbetween is the greatest show that America didn't watch.
p3x.de
American Vandal has two seasons on Netflix. It’s a straight faced investigative series of some high school pranks writ large. It’s fucking hilarious.
Just Shoot Me.
I randomly came across Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency on Hulu and it quickly became one of my all time favorites. Super interesting characters.
This.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency had both a UK (cool) and an US (downright OUTSTANDING) version.
If you can only watch one of them, pick the US one.
I find it hard to believe that a US version of anything was better than the UK version.
Ghosts.
Whose line is it anyway
It has two versions? Oh fuck yeah. Thanks.
Edit uh are you sure? I can only find the one with Elijah Wood. Are you thinking that the book is the British version?
It is also based on an equally, though differently, enjoyable book series of the same name.
Dirk gently us:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently%27s_Holistic_Detective_Agency_(TV_series)
Dirk gently uk:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently_(TV_series)
Cheers m8
Damn shame it was cancelled after the second season
Better Off Ted
The workplace comedy about Veridian Dynamics, the company that can make anything, whether it's a good idea or not.
It was on a major network, but the timeslot kept abruptly changing and the final two episodes were preempted by a live sports event, and never even aired in the US.
Veronica: Ted, we need a mouse that can withstand temperatures of up to 300(?) degrees.
Ted: Live mouse or computer mouse?
Veronica: ....I'll get back to you.
An attempt at creating an artificial meat:
Jerome: It tastes familiar...
Ted: Beef?
Jerome: No...
Linda: Chicken? We’ll take chicken.
Jerome: [Shakes head.]
Ted: What does it taste like?
Jerome: Despair.
Ted: Is it possible it just needs salt?
Great TV series.
Pantheon.
Pantheon.
Seriously, watch Pantheon if you haven’t already. Its screwed up release/licensing (died on the vine on some AMC streaming service) is a crime against humanity.
I literally can't say anything else about it without spoiling it, other than it's some of the best sci-fi ever, and its pacing is fast.
+1. It was really good
I still need to finish this. The release really killed the momentum on it for me, and I feel I need to do a full rewatch now to do it justice. I was shocked that I heard almost nothing about it anywhere. I hope it has a solid ending.
Pantheon is such a good show and Ken Liu is an amazing author
AMC has funded and then killed so many good and inventive shows.
Like what!? Pantheon is the only one I looked into (and miraculously got 2 seasons out of it).
“Lodge 49” was mentioned in this thread. I’ll add “Rubicon” to the list.
Thanks!
Travelers is quite good and I don't see it being mentioned as much online. Has a lot of ex Stargate extras.
Is that serialised, or episodic?
It's on my list - but I've heard it has a 'monster of the week' type style by a few, and I tend to dislike that more.
A good mix. Most episodes are a mission but there are a lot of serial storylines that work through the seasons.
For a time travel show it holds up very well on rewatch.
It's problem of the week with an overarching story for the season.
I wish they’d restart/reboot this one.
Person of Interest was a show that started episodic and evolved into an incredibly thrilling epic. Fuck the main actor though.
Yes to everything including a big fuck you to Caviezel!
Oh dear, what did he do?
https://youtu.be/Icu6Gw8YJkA
Better Off Ted is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen and it pisses me off to no end that it flopped
The racism episode or the one where Ted is accidentally erased from employee records (might even be the same one), just genius.
We need a mouse that can stand temperatures up to 195 degrees.
We can do that. Uh, computer mouse or live mouse?
[thinks about it] I'll get back to you.
It's, to this day, one of my favourite shows ever.
Not sure how "lesser known" it is, but I can't recommend Final Space enough
Did it get a true ending or did cancelation leave it on a cliff hanger?
Cliffhanger after season three. However, after several years the creater secured rights to self publish a graphic novel to complete the story. This might finally ship at the end of this year.
That's a shame, it really was a great TV show, but I found out about it right around cancellation.
Deleted by author
Haha looks like you forgot you already responded to this, but I do appreciate the information. Graphic novel is better than nothing!
Yeah, new to this platform and thought somebody else asked the same question, so I replied again. Or I'm developing a case of old.
#facepalm
I don't know what app/web version you're using, but it can definitely be a bit confusing at times. When commenting my app doesn't show the whole thread so you can miss things when commentinf/replying.
Galavant! The medieval, comedy musical!
There is a song that pops in my head regularly because it seems relevant to what I’m doing at the time, and I’m pretty sure it is from Galavant. Can’t remember it right now though. sigh
Forgot one:
Secret! Secret! Hush, hush, hush!
Maybee you won't die aloooone
off with his shirt ! Strip him down!
You're the same damed height
Canceling Galavant is one of the greatest crimes ABC has ever committed.
Endlessly rewatchable delightful nonsense with Timothy Omundson at his PRIME. Great supporting cast and Weird Al as a singing monk.
The perfect show.
It felt like it may have ended on a high note. The plot and songs had started waning a bit at the end. Kinda like how they should've left schmigadoom at one season, the followup season was definitely a bit rougher.
AND VINNIE JONES
"I like my women either really fat or really skinny! Like, unhealthily skinny!"
Nothing in between.
I loved the single season of "Surface" that we got in 2005/6. It didn't do well, it wasn't particularly well made, but boy did it have me glued to the TV for the next episode when I was younger.
You just beat me to it. They had to rush the last episode since it was canceled, but overall a solid show that had an interesting take on a common premise.
Lodge 49, Lodge 49, Lodge 49! Probably one of my top 5 shows in the last decade. Every single review I have ever seen both professional and rando cannot stop raving about it, but still nobody watched it. I think mostly because it's kind of hard to describe and doesn't fit cleanly into any particular box.
Only downside is that it suffered a pretty sudden cancellation after season 2 was shot, so there is no satisfying resolution. Although Wyatt Russell has said repeatedly that he'd drop absolutely any project for a chance to revive it
A shame it was cancelled. A rare show where I was more interested in hanging with the characters then the main plot.
The Patriot on prime is the best show nobody's watched. It doesn't have a single bad episode, the plot, dialogue, acting and production values are outstanding. It was cancelled after 2 seasons but is still really satisfying. Absolutely love it!
An annual rewatch for me. Absolutely love that show. It’s so funny, poignant. Just A+ work from the team.
Me too! It's pretty much perfect
Detectorists was very well done. It’s a brief 20 episodes over three seasons and a couple specials, and it’s buttoned up so well at the end. Highly recommend!
One of my favs. Everyone looks like I have gone mad when I recommend it.
Flashforward from 2009. It’s based on a book which is also awesome, but the show really nailed it.
The cast is totally stacked with amazing talent, and the plot/concept is really unique and well-executed. Highly recommend.
But there was only one season of it so...
Yeah it was disappointing that it ended, especially since they teased a next season that never came, if I’m remembering correctly. Still worth watching though.
I loved this too.
The Thick of It, for my unstimulated, laugh-track hating siblings out there. It's 'better' than The Office (both versions), better than Seinfeld (is this even a relevant mention nowadays?), and just under Sunny because Sunny ran for at least 12 extremely solid seasons while The Thick of It is a 3 season show. Strong recommendation for anyone who can process information efficiently!
But is it better than Veep?
Same writer. Armando Iannucci. I've never seen Veep but I imagine they are on par.
Turn was a good series. It’s about spies during the American Revolution
I’m not sure if it went under the radar or if I just got into it late, but Fringe is a great show that has a lot of interesting twists. I haven’t watched it in a while and I’m planning a rewatch soon.
Better off Ted. Funny stuff.
Carnivale. Too bad it didn't get a proper ending.
One of the best shows ever made.
The episode in the creepy mining town still wigs me out. The last scene especially.
Future Man
Season 1 is IMO one of the best single seasons of televion. Such a wild ride. Wolf's character arc alone makes it worth watching.
I quite liked Continuum, but it never seemed to enter the zeitgeist. It is still one of my favorite time travel series'.
A Touch of Cloth.
A parody of British police procedurals in the vein of Police Squad/Naked Gun. One of the creators is Charlie Brooker, who also created Black Mirror.
(The title is a pun on the title of a British police procedural called "A Touch of Frost" and the euphemism "touching cloth".)
Terriers.
Younger people should watch Taxi. It didn't fly under the radar but it's old enough to be fresh even if you've seen it. My favorite new discovery for sure
Banshee was very good. Some other series that didn't seem to be "big" but I enjoyed are: Hell On Wheels, Mr. Inbetween, Preacher, SAS Rogue Heroes, Tacoma FD and Warrior
I'll second Mr. Inbetween.
Banshee, Hell on Wheels, and Preacher all started strong, but lost me over time.
Remember WENN. A performance driven comedy that takes place almost completely at a radio station in the 40s. Has a very theater play feel.
Clever dialog and great acting.
Best show I’ve seen in the past couple years is a single season mini series called “The Investigation” a Danish series about a true murder that occcurre and the investigation into it following. Really well done.
Shatter Belt. It's like Black Mirror used to be. I absolutely loved it.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. Western animation series on Netflix. Coming of Age story, post-apocalyptic sapient mutant animals, representation that's neither perfunctory nor performative, inclusiveness triumphing over intolerance, and it occasionally involves a little bit of Kaiju combat. All that and they got a proper ending.
Don't remember why, but I at one point stopped watching it a few episodes in. Definitely, from what I remember, recommend it. Definitely gonna need to start over from the beginning and watch it. Especially knowing there's a proper ending.
If you are a British millennial then you've probably heard of BrassEye, but everyone else should seek it out. Absolutely hilarious.
The Purge
You, Me & the Apocalypse
BBC’s “Survivors”. The 1970s original, not the later remake. About the people left over after a pandemic.
1971 “The Guardians” also from BBC. About fascism in a near future UK.
“Thriller” another British show from 1974. It’s an anthology series centered around a mystery/suspense/horror story each week. The Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins episodes are particularly good.
Ooh check out The Colony
I don't know quite how obscure it is because of how it ended up, but Summer Camp Island.
It's a 6 season Cartoon Network cartoon about a group of kids who attend a summer camp on a magical island with 3 teenage witch camp counselors. First maybe season or 3 the show is mostly episodic and can be watched in any order after the first establishes some things.
Later seasons they really start having more lore and push more story driven narratives ( and even dividing the season into little character focused mini-arcs for one season ) into the picture. Season 6 definitely felt a little rushed ( probably because cartoon network/hbo just wanted the series finished so they could quickly shove it out and then kill it for tax purposes ), but it has some pretty amazing moments and themes later on. For pretty much as much of the series as I can remember, the show doesn't have a bunch of "lol random!" style comedy, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.
One of my biggest gripes is that there's a later season episode I absolutely cannot watch as someone with arachnophobia because it involves one of the main characters and a talking spider. Other than that, it's how the pacing can feel a little rushed towards the end of season 6 ( which I, again, attribute the most likely cause being corporate telling the people behind it that they don't get a season 7 so they better wrap things up as fast as possible ).
Off the top of my head, Oz and The Americans are under-appreciated.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A6turvaktin and its sequel series are really good, if we want to go proper-obscure.
Grimm is a really good show that I'd never heard of before until somone mentioned it on a thread like this one and I gave it a chance.
Brockmire had some success, but I've never mentioned it to anyone who's actually watched it. The comedy is outrageous, and the characters are awful, but you fall in love with them. It's so good.
The Whitest Kids You Know - Great shortlived sketch comedy show.
As a few other have mentioned Mr Inbetween is the greatest show that America didn't watch.
Wise Guy and Crime Story.
The Magicians
Star Trek Prodigy!
For fantasy buffs, check out Sam Raimi's 'Legend of the Seeker' 2008-2010 series, one of my favorites.
Slings and Arrows