Too few people have seen these 10 amazingTV shows, and if you’re searching for something new to watch, you won’t go wrong with any of these. How many times have you been asked, “Have you seen ‘X’ show?”, only to be forced to answer in the negative, surely disappointing your friend, coworker, and/or family member who now has to scramble to find a new topic to keep the conversation going? With so much on television now, it’s hard to keep up with eventhe most popular TV showsthat seem to premiere every week.
Then add in all theunderrated TV shows of just the past yearthat you still haven’t had a chance to get around to, and suddenly, it feels like if watching television were a class, you’d be failing. If you want to step your TV game up and turn the question back around on those who think they’ve seen it all, you need to start watching some of the shows that no one has seen.These 10 series are all fantastic and worth watching from start to finish, but for whatever reason, it seems like no one has seen them.
Starring Ron Livingston, Will Sasso, and Anja Savcic,Loudermilkfollows Sam Loudermilk (Livingston), a former music critic and recovering alcoholic who has become a substance abuse support group leader in Seattle, Washington. There, he offers helpful, but acid-dipped advice to his clients and random people alike, making him few friends in the process.
Loudermilk does not have as strong a grip on his life as he might suggest, and his constant fight to stay sober and somewhat pleasant to be around is both funny and engaging. It’s a smartly written series that never feels too navel-gazing or too broad.Loudermilkreceived a 93% onRotten Tomatoesfor its first season and offers plenty of laughs as well as moving moments.
The satirical comedy,The Franchise, comes from Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci, and Sam Mendes, a team whose work includesSkyfallandVeep. These are creators with a deep understanding of franchise movie-making and extremely biting satire, makingThe Franchiseone of the rare parodies of the movie and television industry that legitimately feels biting.
The Franchisestars Himesh Patel as Daniel Kumar, an overworked first AD trying to deal with the variety of problems that crop up on theset of the MCU-parody movie, “Tecto: Eye of the Storm”. Clever, smart, and impressively staged and designed,The Franchiseis a quick and easy watch that fans of Marvel and those sick of the genre will both find enjoyable.
The action series Banshee stars a pre-The Boys, Antony Starr, as a mysterious ex-con who takes on the identity of Lucas Hood, the incoming sheriff of the town of Banshee, who dies in the premiere episode. Hood struggles to maintain his new identity while hiding from a crime lord named Rabbit (Ben Cross), and brings his own brand of justice to the small Pennsylvanian town.
The series has a 90% onRotten Tomatoes, and that’s including the 67% that the first season received, which does, admittedly, take its time to find its stride. Starr is brilliant as the cunning and charming Hood, and the story takes some dark and intriguing turns over its four seasons.
The many projects of theIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiacast have seen their ups and downs, but Kaitlin Olson’sThe Mickmight be the best of them.The Mickstars Olson as Mackenzie “Mickey” Molng, an obnoxious con woman from Rhode Island who finds herself as the only adult in the room when her fraudster sister and brother-in-law go on the run, leaving Mickey in charge of her needy niece and nephews.
Olson has always been the secret weapon ofIASIP, delivering an astounding comedic performance that has never received the major acclaim it deserves.The Mickshows off an even wider range of her talents and gives her a chance to do the dramatic as well as the comedic, proving she can excel in both zones.
You like all the actors, it’s the exact type of comedy that’s been the coin of the genre realm for the last six years, and you’ve probably seen a bunch of clips on Instagram or Tiktok, but I would still wager that most people have yet to actually watch a full episode ofDetroiters. This is your sign to turn on Netflix and sit down through the hilarious first 20 minutes of the series.
It is not just an early version of Tim Robinson-style comedy; it’s the fully formed kind ofhumor found inI Think You Should LeaveandFriendship, just with a bit more of a storyline. Robinson and Sam Richardson star as Tim Cramblin and Sam Duvet, respectively, best friends, next-door neighbors, and creative directors at Tim’s family’s advertising agency. They produce low-budget TV commercials. Their last names are Cramblin and Duvet. It’s incredible.
The Bridge
Cast
The Bridge is a 2011 crime drama series focused on a murder investigation that begins when a body is discovered on the Øresund Bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. Danish inspector Martin Rohde and Swedish investigator Saga Norén must collaborate across borders to uncover the killer’s identity and intentions.
Nordic noir is a genre all its own, with nearly as many entries asBritish crime TV shows. The best of these Nordic noir shows, though, isThe Bridge, calledBronin Sweden andBroenin Denmark. The joint Swedish-Danish production premiered in 2011, and its final season, season 4, premiered in 2018. The series begins with a dead body on the Øresund Bridge, which happens to connect Denmark and Sweden.
Atmospheric, wickedly smart, and with plenty to say,The Bridgehas been adapted into seven foreign series.
A joint, international task force is formed, with Sofia Helin as Detective Saga Norén leading the Swedish side for four seasons and a rotating cast of two Danish detectives leading the investigation from Copenhagen. Atmospheric, wickedly smart, and with plenty to say,The Bridgehas been adapted into seven foreign series.
Sadly,Scavengers Reignwas canceled after only one season, but that decision had the unintended effect of making the 12 short episodes of the adult animated series now feel as unique, alien, and ephemeral as the odd creatures and organisms that populate the show. The series, set far in the future, follows the few survivors of a damaged interstellar cargo ship,Demeter 227.
Never have alien designs looked so impossible, and the artistry and animation on display are some of the best in adult 2D television.
These survivors end up on the strange planet, Vespa, filled with dangerous and beautiful creatures, plants, and things that defy description. With a 100% onRotten Tomatoes,Scavengers Reignis a probing and philosophical series that doesn’t skimp on the action. Never have alien designs looked so impossible, and the artistry and animation on display are some of the best in adult 2D television.
What happens when you pair the current heavyweight titleholder of comedy actors with one of the biggest rising stars of the last five years? You get Vice Principals, the second Danny McBride and Jody Hill-created series after Eastbound & Down. Tucked between Eastbound and The Righteous Gemstones, Vice Principals has been all but forgotten, which is a shame because it is absolutely hilarious.
McBride and Walton Goggins have unbelievably good chemistry as Neal Gamby and Lee Russell, two high school vice principals willing to go to any lengths to secure the principal job after the former principal, played by Bill Murray, retires. It’s violent, crude, surprisingly bleak and heartwarming in equal measure, and uproariously funny. It’s only two seasons, and once you’re done, you’ll wish there were more.
The Bureauis a French-language, five-season series that premiered in 2015, and it is not just an underseen classic; it should be considered among thebest TV shows ever. The series revolves around the lives of the agents working at the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE), France’s external security service.
The French title of the series isLe Bureau des Légendes.
The series is based on real accounts by former spies, but uses contemporary events to drive the plot.The Bureauprimarily focuses on deep cover agents who spend years abroad, often in North Africa and the Middle East, living under false identities and trying to recruit good intelligence sources. Extremely relevant and with a fantastic ensemble cast,The Bureauis the type of show you’ll turn on and struggle to turn off.
Based on the Italian-language Neapolitan Novels series by Italian writer Elena Ferrante,My Brilliant Friendpremiered all the way back in 2018 on HBO, lasted for four wonderful seasons, and somehow, in all that time, it has not risen to the top of the pop culture conversation where it belongs. With a 98% onRotten Tomatoes,My Brilliant Friendis a wonderful example of how to tell a story across decades.
Elena Ferrante is a pen name, and the identity of the author of the Neapolitan Novels remains unknown.
The series begins in a poor neighborhood outside Naples, where a young girl, Elena, meets another young girl, Lila. Played by different actresses across the years and into older age, Elena and Lila become best of friends, growing together, apart, and back again as they experience the ups and downs of post-war Italy. There are few greater examples offemale friendship on television, andMy Beautiful Friendweaves a brilliant story using the pair as theTV show’s pillars.
