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Intergalactic @lemmy.world

Favorite underrated / unrecognized TV show? I'll go first.

From on MGM+ is absolutely fantastic. I love the mystery, the horror, and everything else about it. I am excited to see where it goes. I also absolutely love Foundation on Apple TV+, amazing CGI and fantastic world (or universe) building.

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  • Pantheon.

    Really thoughtful and smart sci-fi animation. Don't want to spoil it so I'll be vague, it has the most realistic depiction of modern tech and how people interact with it than any other show I've seen. Really great commentary on big tech corporations and even a bit of geopolitics. Super ambitious yet it somehow pulls it off.

    There is also a scene that still gives me nightmares (not even joking, I still dream about that shit) which is more than any horror movies or shows have done for me. Anyone who has watched it knows exactly what scene I'm talking about.

  • From is underrated? I didn't know that, been watching it religiously.

    An older favorite of mine was The 4400 (the reboot is absolute dogshit though). Unfortunately they cancelled it after 4 seasons, but the original authors published 2 books afterwards to finish the storyline.

    Other series I enjoy that aren't on most people's radar (primarily for being British, mostly crime):

    1. Vigil (crime series dealing with an investigation on board of a nuclear submarine, 2 seasons, closed storyline).
    2. Unforgotten (crime, every season starts with an old body being discovered and then showing all people affected by the loss of said person over time until they eventually get closure. Highly empathic actors and excellent character development, season 6 currently being filmed).
    3. Death in Paradise (iconic light entertainment crime series playing on a remote Caribbean island where changing inspectors from England with various degrees of clumsiness are being sent to solve murders. Every episode is usually a closed case. Season 14 to start end of year).

  • Lost, but not the one you're thinking of.

    Travel back in time with me to September 4, 2001. It was a golden age, and reality television had taken off in a big way. NBC and CBS were each set to premiere a new show, with basically the same format: Teams of two Americans would start somewhere in the world and have to race back to the United States to win a cash prize.

    NBC's show Lost was the first to air, with CBS's The Amazing Race airing the night after. The premise of Lost was great:

    Three two-member teams knew only the final destination (thousands of miles away) and were given only a backpack full of clothes and other essentials. In addition, team members were not acquainted with one another prior to the show, and were assigned to teams. Contestants were blindfolded and dropped off with a single camera person in a remote location of an unknown country to find their way back to their home country...Teams were given no money until they managed to figure out what country they were in. During the first set, the teams were abandoned in Mongolia. (Source: Wikipedia)

    The show did not do well. NBC blamed the low ratings on the fact that 9/11 happened shortly after, which actually preempted the second episode. Considering The Amazing Race debuted at basically the same time and went on to tremendous success (Lost had 1 season with 6 episodes, whereas The Amazing Race had 36 seasons and 418 episodes), I suspect something else was the cause.

    So if the show was so bad, why did I like it?

    First, I liked the idea that the teams started out in a location that was a mystery to them. Their first challenge was to figure out where in the world they were in a country where they (almost certainly) didn't speak the language.

    Second, although they were two-person teams, any passage they secured for themselves, they also had to secure for their camera person. You want to catch a flight? Well, I hope you have enough money to buy three tickets!

    And finally, I was hooked early on when this one moment happened. It's still one of my favorite moments of reality TV. Remember, all three teams started out in the Mongolian desert. They were spread out from one another, so no two teams would cross paths right away. This meant that as they made their way to the nearest village, they were headed to different villages.

    Two teams had a similar plan: To catch a bus that drove between the villages (and, IIRC, was headed to a larger city). So the first team gets on the bus in their village, and as the bus drives into the village where the second team is waiting, the first team spots them. They then quickly convince the bus driver not to stop and to just keep on driving instead. We're then shown two shots: One from inside the bus, where we see the second team and their camera guy as they watch the bus go by, and then one from outside the bus, as the second team watches the bus blow past them and they realize the first team is on board.

  • . Rilley, Ace Of Spies, a mini series about the life of spy, Sidney Rilley, directed by Martin Campbell who would go on to direct James Bond film 'Casino Royale'.

    . Tracey Takes On..., you may not of heard of Tracey Ullman but you've felt her impact. She is most known for being the woman who kinda created The Simpsons. Back in 87 Ullman commissioned Matt Groening to some shorts for the 'Tracey Ullman Show' which go on to become 'The Simpsons' we know and love today.

    . Drawn Together, if you like adult animated comedy on the lines of Family Guy or American Dad with the satire and social critique of South Park and The Boondocks you'll love Drawn Together.

  • I don't know if it was actually under rated or unrecognized where it aired, but as someone who was trawling for TV to watch that you don't see in North America, I fucking love Monkey Dust out of the UK.

    Dark comedy animated sketch show.

  • I'm not sure if it's my "favorite", necessarily, but I couldn't think of anything else, and it is a good show, and, imo, rather unknown, but I'll share Wakfu (the French version (with subtitles if you don't speak French). I'd highly recommend not watching the dub — it isn't very good).

  • I really liked Profit, a mid-90s drama about corporate intrigue. It was ahead of its time and I think would have been a much bigger hit if it came out 20 years later! It was canceled after only 1 season.

105 comments