Plenty of TV shows aren’t appreciated in their time, going painfully underseen despite just how great they really are. I have very particular tastes when it comes to TV shows, with many of my favorite series being utterly unknown to most people. I can certainly appreciate the more popular TV series that gain their notoriety for a good reason, such as Breaking Bad or Severance, but much of my taste is informed by shows that feel like I was the sole viewer of.
Part of the reason many of these shows have such small fanbases is just how soon many of them were taken off the air, joining the long graveyard line of shows that were canceled too soon. Other shows are more obscure simply due to the network they aired on, a lack of advertising, a or a lack of general appeal, apparently only able to capture my attention. Whatever the case, I’m still astounded that these series in particular aren’t talked about more.
10
Baggage
Jerry Springer’s ill-fated game show
Starting with a guilty pleasure, Baggage was an interesting game show that made for some great hotel-room low-brow-entertainment fodder. Hosted by Jerry Springer of Jerry Springer infamy, Baggage was a dating show that thrived on shock value. The format posited one contestant as the primary bachelor or bachelorette, with three possible romantic interests presented to them. Each suitor would bring with them three pieces of “baggage”, suitcases containing red flags for their dating life that would increase in severity as the rounds went on.
The series did okay with a modest four season run and a single-season spin-off series Baggage on the Road.
As the rounds progressed, the bachelor or bachelorette would vote out contestants until one remained, with the catch being that the winner could then choose to accept or reject a date based on the reveal of the primary contestant’s big piece of baggage. Far from cerebral entertainment, I’m still surprised Baggage‘s simple format and variety of players didn’t attract a wider audience. The series did okay with a modest four season run and a single-season spin-off series Baggage on the Road, but never became a household name like The Price is Right or Family Feud.
9
Wayne
A hilarious and scathingly short-lived series
Getting into the realm of truly obscure and bitterly underappreciated TV, Wayne is one of the best shows to only last one season. The series revolved around the titular Wayne, an unruly Boston teen with poor social skills, an odd ability to withstand pain, and a violent hatred for bullies. After his father dies of cancer, he absconds with his girlfriend on a cross-country trip to Florida to steal back his father’s 1979 Pontiac Trans Am from his mom’s criminal new boyfriend in Ocala, Florida.
Wayne was a brilliant series that had true heart, with Wayne himself being an amazing protagonist that’s hard not to sympathize with. The characters are some of the funniest I’ve ever seen on TV, from the kindly Boston sheriff who had secretly done time in a Thai prison to Wayne’s terrifying yet dimwitted step-brother. Full of great jokes, hard-hitting emotional beats, and hectic action scenes, it’s an absolute crime that Wayne‘s cross-country road trip was canceled after one season, left to languish on YouTube in obscurity.
8
Wilfred
Seems to have utterly slipped from pop culture memory
- Release Date
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2007 – 2009
- Network
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SBS
- Directors
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Randall Einhorn
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Cindy Waddingham
Sarah Mitchell
Wilfred is an odd case for a series that I’ll argue nobody talks about anymore. The quirky, offbeat comedy starred Elijah Wood as Ryan, a neurotic former lawyer who attempts suicide only to find his sister has replaced his medication with sugar pills. When he comes to, he finds that his new neighbor’s dog appears to him as a talking Australian man in a dog costume, becoming his best friend and getting dragged into all sorts of mind-bending adventures.
Wilfred had a kind of Rick & Morty-style charm that was ahead of its time, and it certainly had a degree of popularity as a series on FX starring a well-known actor.
Yet I never hear anyone talk about Wilfred anymore, no matter how well-rendered the jokes and intrigue of Wilfred’s mysteries were. With a respectable four-season run, Wilfred certainly had its time in the spotlight, but it can’t seem to escape the early 2010s in terms of relevancy.
7
Pushing Daisies
A great detective show canceled too soon
While Wilfred indulged in the realm of large overarching mysteries, a better detective-oriented series I was a massive fan of was Pushing Daisies. The ABC comedy-drama centered on a lonely pie shop owner, Ned, with the miraculous ability to revive the dead with his touch, though with several stipulations: when he touches something again, they die permanently, and they can only exist for 60 seconds before absorbing the life force of something else to stay alive. Ned is recruited by an eccentric private investigator to help him solve murders.
The genius, airtight premise was only the foundation for a wonderful show. Between the fairy-tale narration, gorgeous cinematography, shocking revelations, and quirky sense of humor, there was so much to appreciate about Pushing Daisies. The facts were these: despite accruing a litany of awards, Pushing Daisies was canceled all-too-soon, leaving me as one of the sole remaining fans still championing its quality over ten years later.
6
Xiaolin Showdown
A compelling cartoon that never quite took off
Pivoting further into my childhood, my favorite cartoon as a kid was easily Xiaolin Showdown. The martial arts movie-inspired show centered on four young martial artists from around the world recruited by a Xiaolin master tasked with gathering the awakened Shen Gong Wu. These magical artifacts could provide all sorts of fantastical abilities, and it was up to the elemental Xiaolin warriors to nab them as they appeared before the evil boy genius Jack Spicer and the phantom witch Wuya.
The magic system of the Shan Gong Wu had a great collect-em-all flair to it, with episodes usually culminating in a titular Xiaolin Showdown, in which both sides enter a magical contest for possession of the treasure.
The lore, worldbuilding, and art style of Xiaolin Showdown were an awesome blend of early-2000s modernity and ancient Chinese aesthetics, elaborating on its surprisingly rich universe. The magic system of the Shan Gong Wu had a great collect-em-all flair to it, with episodes usually culminating in a titular Xiaolin Showdown, in which both sides enter a magical contest for possession of the treasure. Sadly, being aired primarily on Kids’ WB rather than Cartoon Network hurt its chances of relevancy, and today Xiaolin Showdown is remembered by few.
5
Sealab 2021
A hilariously subversive Adult Swim classic
- Release Date
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2000 – 2004
- Network
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Adult Swim
- Directors
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Adam Reed
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Harry Goz
Captain Hazel Murphy
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Erik Estrada
Marco Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Ellis Henican
Derek Waters
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Brett Butler
Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn
Moving on to cartoons I enjoyed more in my teen years, Adult Swim was a regular source of entertainment for a late middle school to early high school sense of humor. In this space, my heart is still ruled by Sealab 2021, whose very name is a hilarious joke now, joining the many science fiction universes whose futures have passed already. Sealab 2021 used footage from a failed pilot of a Hanna Barbera Johnny Quest-era series called Sealab 2020, parodying the animation with new dubs and cheap changes.
This lean approach led to many hilarious quirks, like characters staring at the camera in a vaguely-optimistic default facial expression, or Sparks, who was never drawn standing up and thus always appears in a rolling chair no matter the situation. The real star of the show was the bombastic Harry Goz as the deranged Captain Murphy, who sadly died halfway into the series, taking with him much of the comedic appeal. Other than a small cameo in the more popular adult animated comedy Archer, Sealab 2021 is practically unheard of.
4
Raising Hope
A heartfelt family comedy that was rough-around-the-edges
Raising Hope can perhaps best be described by its relation to its more famous older sibling, My Name Is Earl. Both shows were created by Greg Garcia, and his fingerprints will be immediately obvious to anyone who manages to watch one after the other. I enjoyed My Name Is Earl just as well, but somehow, Raising Hope got consistently overshadowed by it. Raising Hope centers on a clueless 23-year-old who suddenly finds himself a father after a one-night-stand results in a baby girl, who is named Hope.
It turns out that Hope’s mother was a serial killer on the run who gets sentenced to death, leaving the hapless Jimmy to raise her as a single father. Moving to a rural Virginia town to get support from Hope’s grandparents, Jimmy is a great focal point around which all sorts of rugged comedy can unfold. I loved the sweetness of Raising Hope and its depiction of working-class Americans, but it could never measure up to Garcia’s more famous works.
3
The River
A criminally overlooked horror series
Today, horror series are all the rage, from Mike Flanagan’s retinue of book adaptations to the enduring popularity of the anthology science fiction horror series Black Mirror. This makes it all the more confounding to me that ABC’s The River never quite took off. The found-footage horror series centered on an expedition down the mysterious unexplored sectors of the Amazon River, begun when the mother and daughter of a late famous scientist suddenly find his distress beacon going off in the uncharted territory.
The River absolutely terrified me with the various horrors it unleashed on the hapless boat crew, from unsettling zombies to unseen demons that ominously whistled as they whirled along the Amazon River’s surface. The found-footage format was quite unique for a TV show, and the narrative did a good job balancing an overarching story with monster-of-the-week antics. Perhaps the single most obscure series I still champion, it’s bizarre to me that The River went so under the radar, canceled after only a single season.
2
I Am Not Okay With This
Had the chance to really take off
Yet another coming-of-age black comedy, I Am Not Okay With This was something truly special. Starring Sophia Lillis of IT and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fame, the series centered on a teenage girl with telekinetic powers that are triggered by turbulent emotions. Considering turbulent emotions are a huge part of being a teen girl, she has to learn fast to not only navigate the complex relationships of her life, but to control her dangerous abilities, as well.
I Am Not Okay With This truly had the potential to rival something like Umbrella Academy as a grounded realism approach to people with superpowers, being more about the relatable human drama than anything else. Sadly, the series was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tricky set conditions leading to an early cancellation after just one season. I’m not okay with the fact that I Am Not Okay With This never had the chance to snowball into more viewership, which I’m positive it could have.
1
The Mighty Boosh
A nonsensical journey through time and space
- Release Date
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2003 – 2006
- Network
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BBC Three
- Directors
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Paul King
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Julian Barratt
Howard Moon
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Michael Fielding
Dixon Bainbridge
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I’m usually not the biggest proponent of British comedy series, but The Mighty Boosh is a very formative influence on my sense of humor. It’s hard to even describe the offbeat show, but the best I can do is to call it a live-action version of Regular Show with an adult rating. The series centered on the beautiful, but vain and dimwitted Vince (played by Noel Fielding) and the socially awkward jazz-loving Howard as they get into all sorts of supernatural hi-jinks.
The banter of The Mighty Boosh is second-to-none, doing irreparable damage to my vocabulary with its unique slang and absurd witticisms. The humor can certainly be dated at times, but the low-budget charm and genuinely catchy musical elements always win me back over, taking the spot of a prime comfort show. Other than some scenes from a certain episode involving a funky merman going viral, The Mighty Boosh never achieved mainstream appeal, leaving it as one of my precious obscure TV show favorites.
