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I haven’t seen it in awhile but I remember the british show Detectorists being surprisingly sweet/moving (I don’t usually enjoy dramas)
12 Monkeys, the show. Really deep dives into the nuances of time travel. Clearly had an excellent science advisor. Not the biggest budget or greatest script/acting but the writers really puts in the work for sci fi fans (The 100 style).
The Newsroom on HBO, 2012-2015. Jeff Daniels. It's about a TV cable news show trying to stick to integrity and real news while losing market share to FOX and CNN. Many, many story lines about the Republican news anchor warning Republicans about the Tea Party and the Koch brothers. If watched in 2012-15, it would all seem dramatic hyperbole but the show warned about far , far worse things to come. This is pre Alex Jones and Donald Trump.
I can't recommend "Better Off Ted" enough to people looking for something smart and witty.
Amazing show. I loved it very much.
The Veridian Dynamics commercials alone would justify this show's existence. Not that it needs it. It stands on its own merits.
A friend of mine recommended the show to me and I loved it. It was literally cancelled the next day.
So it was YOUR fault!
Mr Inbetween
Is this still lesser known? I really like that it's Australian dialogue.
Rubicon (2010), it's a proper spy thriller based on intelligence analysts as opposed to field agents.
Unfortunately it got canned early, but I loved the story and writing, I have a feeling the show was a little too close to home, but that's a whole other conspiracy theory...
I've been really loving the British show Taskmaster.
Basically you take a bunch of comedians and have them perform various inane tasks. Some of my favourites are:drive this barge down a canal and spear 5 rubber dinghies with a lance attached to the barge. Fastest wins. Or draw the rainbow with the correct colours. In the dark. There's often some tricks in these tasks and watching the contestants figure out their own way to solve the task is the best part of the show.
It's very good. The international versions are good too, as is Junior Taskmaster, surprisingly.
BRACE! BRACE!
Taskmaster has been my go-to happy show for the last several months. It's so good.
🌳🧙♂️!
After watching every Taskmaster season so far, I’ve moved onto Would I Lie To You, plenty of compilations on YouTube but full episodes are paced better, can’t recommend it enough. Although it’s a panel show so not as varied as Taskmaster, but some similar comedians & panelist’s & some funny stories to enjoy…
I discovered cats does countdown during the pandemic and holy shit, a show with anagrams, math problems, and comedians? It’s perfect
Danger 5. It's an Australian tv show that had two seasons. It's a surreal, screwball comedy about a ragtag team whose mission every episode is to kill Hitler.
If you want to see a TV show that has Nazis, dinosaurs, cigarette commercials, and a talking bald Eagle, then this is your show.
It's good for a Sensible Chuckle.
The bit with the Italian submarine crew being stereotypically obsessed with coffee is gold.
I have a bad radar for what is "Well known" so we'll see how this goes...
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was weird, wonderful, and deeply touching. Great performance from Elijah Wood.
Maniac is by the director of True Detective, and its a fucking surreal (literal) drug trip of a show that earns a high spot on the "Holy shit, Jonah Hill is a great actor?!" list.
SAS: Rogue Heroes is a bonkers fun historical drama that feels like a Guy Ritchie movie, and yet is somehow often understating the insanity of the real events. By the creators of Peaky Blinders.
Too Old To Die Young is a collaboration between legendary director Nicholas Winding Refn (Driver, Only God Forgives, Neon Demon, Valhalla Rising) and legendary comics writer Ed Brubaker (Daredevil, Captain America, Sleeper, Criminal). You either have no idea why you should give a fuck about that, or you desperately need to go change your pants right now and are seriously worried that the erection is going to last more than four hours. If you're the latter person, yes, it's everything you're hoping; unbelievably slow paced, weird, dark, contemplative, surreal, and brutally violent. This is NWR in full bore "They gave me too much budget and too much runtime and by God I intend to abuse the fuck out of both" mode. Watch it while high.
Better off Ted.
That scene where they are trying to have a meeting about developing a bomb with Ted's daughter in the room may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my lifetime.
I still think about the episode where one of the scientists can't use the water fountain or automatic doors because they can't "see" black people.
There is just so much gold in every episode.
Definitely this
Idk if it's "lesser known" exactly but it's a comfort show that I can have on in the background at all times: Psych.
It's got a specific pacing and humor that tickles my brain just right. They will let some of the funniest jokes you have ever heard just fly right by if you aren't paying attention.
Not super complicated or deep thinking. Just cheesy fun.
It’s a show that gets funnier each time you watch as you get more and more of their references.
I can always rely on someone recommending this show in these threads. Still my favorite show of all time
"I don't lose things. I place things in locations which later elude me." Has become part of my normal vocabulary.
My dad thought it was so funny that it got him to watch the show and now it's one of his favorite shows too.
If you ever take the opportunity to watch these 13 episodes, be sure to read the "planned episodes" section afterwards to see how cursed the world is for Fox not having learned their lesson with having cancelled Firefly too soon.
A 20-something Niagara Falls souvenir-shop worker finds her life is changed forever when inanimate animal figures - toys, cartoon images etc. - begin talking to her. Their cryptic messages set into motion a chain of events that invariably lead her into the lives of others.
The Night Shift (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A6turvaktin), an Icelandic sitcom about the staff of a service station - at least at first. It’s pretty deadpan like the Office or I’m Alan Partridge, and their situation just gets more dire and funnier as the series progress. It got a UK DVD release thanks to the BBC, and I just learned there is a movie too.
Pushing Daisies: Brian Fuller ran show from the mid aughts. Lee Pace plays a man who can bring the dead back to life if he touches them provided he never touches them again. He is a pie maker that helps a friend out with his detective agency. His bff from childhood and eventual love interest was the little girl who lived next door he touched her once to bring her back...
Moonlighting- This isn't that obscure. It's a show about a former supermodel played by Cybill Sheppard who is facing economic disaster as her managers stole all her money. The only thing she has left is a detective agency ran by David Addison a rabble rouser and ner do well played by Bruce Willis. It's a procedural detective show with some incredible talent on screen. It finally hot streaming a few years back.
Moonlighting is the greatest!
Pushing daises is fantastic
Not sure if Black Sails is not well known. The fact that Patriot ended after 2 seasons makes me think it's not well known since it was a truly great show.
EDIT: Patriot ends fine. You can see where it could have continued but where stops isn't an issue
The two exact shows I was going to mention.
Patriot's depressing humour and quirkiness seems to turn a lot of people off, unfortunately.
For Black Sails, I don't get it. Comparable to HBO quality yet overlooked.
I don't get Black Sails either. Maybe people didn't actually want a realistic depiction of pirates for some reason? What you say makes sense about Patriot. I sometimes forget my type of sense humor is a niche thing.
The good place
The day of the jackal
The good place is such a great show! I want to rewatched it but I'm waiting for a while yet so that it can have some of the original impact again.
Lexx is just ... great. yeah that's the word.
Came here to say Lexx. Doesn't get much weirder than that show!
The word I'd use is "quaint"
The Knick
Been enjoying Resident Alien recently.
That was really fun.
Scavenger's Reign
Common Side Effects (still airing)
Dark Matter (SciFi show with similar storytelling to Firefly IMO)
Poker Face
Twisted Metal (especially if you played the games)
Shut Eye
Scavenger's Reign was unbelievably good. If I had unlimited money, I would get that show more seasons.
Black Spot (original title: Zone Blanche)
It's about a village in a rural wooded area in France that has a tight-knit isolated community, no cell phone coverage, and 6x the national average murder rate.
Jericho (2006) is a post-apocalyptic drama about a town sheltered from a nuclear catastrophe in the US. Shows it's age in a few spots but still a great watch.
Mr. Inbetween
Tremé
eta:
The Corner (predecessor to The Wire (not prequel))