Which show do you think is criminally underrated? From unfairly cancelled shows to those who got a bad rap online, even though they’re actually great, we bet you know a series more people should love.
To help you find something new to watch, here’s our list – and please do add to it!
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You can find the show transcript below:
For some reason, TV and streaming execs like canceling comedies, and let me tell you – they axed a couple of seriously good shows.
Among them is my favorite sunday watch, Reaper.
What would happen if the devil suddenly took an interest in a regular, kinda lazy college dropout type of dude who works at Home Depot?
The answer is plenty.
Most Underrated Shows: Reaper
Reaper is basically a modern retelling of the Faustian pact and it’s hilarious. That Home Depot worker wakes up on his 21 birthday to find that, when he was born, his parents sold his soul to the devil…and now has to become a bounty hunter for the devil. This series is always at the top of my TiVo Stream 4K list, because it’s hilarious each and every episode – and Ray Wise with his fake suntan probably plays the best Devil I’ve ever seen in a movie. Yep, even better than that dude from Constantine!
Most Underrated Shows: Better Off Ted
If you’re more into sitcoms, I give you a tragically, criminally underrated series that got cancelled when it was becoming truly relevant.
Better Off Ted came out in 2009 and was about a decade too early with its topic – the faceless evil of big tech …and the faces of sociopathic execs running this company.
Better Off Ted follows around a manager in such a company, Veridian Dynamics, who makes everything from food to cryogenic tech. He’s unfortunately a good guy, so he has to stand between his scientists, clueless to how a corporation works, and the big shot exec played to perfection by Portia De Rossi.
This show was so ahead of its time, it actually guessed some things that actually happened in tech. I’ll give you just one example. When Veridian Dynamics replaces regular doors with facial recognition unlocking, they forget to actually train that algorithm on black people….so doors literally can’t open for them. That kinda happened in real life too, with many companies forgetting to test for a diversity of individuals, and having their tech unfairly discriminate against some. Anyway, how Veridian Dynamics deals with the HR and PR nightmare will have you howling with laughter,
Most Underrated Shows: Man Seeking Woman
I only saw Jay Baruchel in This Is The End and I was kinda meh on his style, but Man Seeking Woman is truly hilarious. Baruchel is a pretty cute dork who gets broken up with and goes through all the stages of grief. Fortunately, he has his best friend, Eric Andre, by his side, and together they get through increasingly absurd situations.
This series is equal parts laugh out loud and reaching for the napkins to wipe away a tear.
Just don’t watch it after a breakup, it’s going to hit pretty bad. Or on a date, it might make things uncomfortable.
Most Underrated Shows: Galavant
Another truly experimental comedy that no one, and I mean no one talks about is Galavant. Not sure why that is, but I could venture a guess.
On IMDB, Galavant is described as “A musical comedy adventure featuring a knight on a quest for love who helps a childish king to see the error of his ways.”
Yep, that’s probably it. Can’t see many people nowadays watching a musical…unless it’s that creepy Cats movie that came out a while ago.
Maybe if Galavant was described more like “It’s Monthy Python meets South Park and steals some plot from Robin Hood” it would have a better chance. Oh yeah, and everyone’s singing, which you’d think is annoying, but it isn’t really.
Never thought I’d be watching a series where Vinnie Jokes wears tights and rhymes, but here I am.
And here you should be too, cause Galavant is really good.
Most Underrated Shows: Barry
Looking for a show to binge in a day, until you forget which planet you’re on? Look no further than Barry, one of HBO’s newest dark comedy series.
There’s two seasons out now and, in theory, a third should be on the way. I’m saying “should” because the last one came out in 2019…and with 2020 being what it was, there’s no telling what happened to this series.
Anyway, Barry is the story of a hitman who goes to LA to kill an actor…then ends up falling in love and creating a lot of chaos. Usually dark comedies can get boring or too edgy pretty fast, but Barry has plenty of heart – and a lot of twists and turns. You’ll spend the first season wondering how the main character can get out of a serious situation, and you’ll never guess what he’ll do.
Most Underrated Shows: Pushing Daisies
If you love smart, philosophical comedies like The Good Place, give Pushing Daisies a shot
This little known series from the early 2000s seriously pushed the envelope when it comes to comedy. Pushing Daisies looks like a Wes Anderson movie but it was made by Bryan Fuller… who has some unbelievably bad luck.
I don’t know what it is with Bryan Fuller, but his shows are always awesome, always underrated… and always cancelled early. It’s not just Pushing Daisies but also Hannibal, American Gods and Wonderfalls, that show where a souvenir shop clerk woke up to see all the items on sale came to life and started talking to her.
But back to Pushing Daisies. This show has Brian Fuller’s usually unusual plots. It’s about a dude who can revive people with a simple touch – but there’s a catch. He can only revive them free of charge for like a minute – anything more than that and someone else drops dead on the spot. Even more, he can never touch again those he revives, because anorher touch will kill them again… permanently.
So basically, one touch and person comes back from the dead for a bit. If they stay alive too long, someone else drops dead instead,so the dude has to touch them again to put them to forever sleep.
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility and all that… so the dude decides to bring back for good his former high-school sweetheart… even though he can never touch her again.
Fortunately, he has plenty other corpses to touch – maaan, that sounded wrong – because he gets involved in solving murder cases and collecting the reward.
Itrs fun, im telling you!
Most Underrated Shows: Don’t Trust the Bitch In Apartment 23
Remember Jessica Jones? Most people got their first taste of Kristen Ritter there… and I heard plenty of people saying she’s a great and underrated actress.
I totally agree, since I know her from an older series… which is also tragically, criminally underrated.
Don’t Trust the Bitch In Apartment 23 was a comedy series that ran for just 2 seasons, back in 2012,but I wish it had the same running time as Friends.
The plot is pretty simple: a genuinely nice, small town girl moves to New York… and her neighbor is really really mean con artist. Krysten Ritter plays that neighbour to perfection, setting up the nice girl to fail and fail… and miserably fail time and time again.
The best part is that the glamorous con artist is also friends with James Van Der Beek.
You see, the actor from Dawson’s Creek is actually playing himself here, as a kinda washed out, super arrogant actor. His role is so meta and hilarious, you won’t be able to look at him the same ever again.
Most Underrated Shows: On How To Become A God In Central Florida
I had the same experience watching Kirsten Dunst in two shows back to back.
I wanted to re-watch the second season of Fargo but I had just discovered this underrated gem with a mouthful of a name.
Check Out On How To Become A God In Central Florida… and never look at Kirsten Dunst the same.
This hilarious, absurd comedy follows Kirsten Dunst as she loses her life and husband to a pyramid scheme, then tries to stop the insanity by joining and sabotaging the organization. She starts off as a poor waitress in a Florida amusement park and, after her husband gets killed selling pyramid scheme toilet paper and things like that, she takes over his “business”.
This show was incredible, a dark comedy with a seriously dramatic streak,but unfortunately got axed during the pandemic. It ran for one season, got renewed for the second, then things happened and it was eventually killed by execs. It’s a tragedy, I tell you!
Most Underrated Shows: Beforeigners
It’s just as tragic as what happened to this HBO show. It’s called Beforeigners and it’s one of the coolest premises I’ve ever seen.
What would happen if a time portal opened, and people from the past would pour in to present day?
That’s what Beforeigners answered. This show had both vikings and Neanderthals pouring in to modern day Sweden…and hilarity ensues.
Beforeigners is a buddy cop series with a unique twist – the main cop has to team up with a viking chick to solve a murder case. Through her eyes, we get to experience both the insanity of having Neanderthals, vikings and romantics all roaming on modern day streets, and how insane these old timers perceive modern society.
If you like time travel, give Beforeigners a chance!
But if you want to actually travel to an insane past, give this one a chance!
Thanks to my Tivo Stream 4k, who gives me show recommendations based on everything I watch, from any streaming app, I discovered this awesome hidden gem.
Most Underrated Shows: The Knick
The Knick is a show that had around 3 milion dollars per episode, had some major names in it, was loved by critics… and still, I don’t see anyone talking about it!
Directed by Steven Sodebergh and with Clive Owen as the main character, The Knick follows a top surgeon in the 1900s…as he goes around doing cocaine and opium… then operating on people using the rudimentary tools of that time.
The Knick is a fantastic drama with a great eye for detail and historic accuracy. If you want to see how medicine was practiced a century ago and the incredible progress made, give it a chance, you won’t regret it.
Most Underrated Shows: Generation Kill
And speaking of historical accuracy, I give you one of the best and most underrated series ever made – and by HBO no less!
Generation Kill came out in 2008 and has Alexander Skarsgard in one of his earliest big roles. The show follows around a Rolling Stone reporter who gets sent out to Baghdad, to witness the first US assault led by Marines in Baghdad.
I don’t know how to describe this show other than it being on steroids. The characters are on steroids, the fights are on steroids, everything about the story will have you on the edge of your seat…and sometimes being terrified of the US War Machine.
Most Underrated Shows: Carnivale
But if you want to sink your teeth into something more…intellectual, so to say, I have one last show for you, courtesy of HBO again.
Carnivale came out in 2003 and is a show so moody, so creative and so slow burn, it unsurprisingly got canned after 2 seasons.
If you love the supernatural, Lovecraftian vibes and themes like free will versus destiny, this is the show for you. It follows a traveling carnival through the Dust Bowl, in the middle of the great depression, and it has that surreal vibe through and through. It’s almost like Twin Peaks but set in the 1930s and a lot more scary and unsettling.
Can you see now why it ran for just two seasons?
Anyway, enough about me! Tell me which show you think is horribly underrated and deserves more attention. Drop your suggestion in the comments and let’s make a bigger list of all the series who bit the dust too early.
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Thanks and catch you next time!
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