With the sheer plethora of TV available to watch in today’s streaming era, it’s pretty easy to miss out on some real gems. There’s only 24 hours in a day. Unless you dedicate your life to watching TV 24/7, but your boss might take issue with that, you know?
So, after you’re done binging the shows everyone’s talking about (aka The Pitt), what’s left to watch? A whole ton of underrated dramas, that’s what. From network sci-fi dramas like Fringe to streaming shows taken before their time like A League of Their Own, there’s something out there for everyone. And then some.
8
‘Fringe’ (2008–2013)
Created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci
Another entry into the fan-dubbed “JJ-verse” (aka J. J. Abrams TV universe), Fringe is something of a spiritual successor to The X-Files. The show follows FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) as she investigates supernatural crimes at the bureau’s Fringe Division. She’s aided by slightly mad scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son, Peter (Joshua Jackson). What starts as an X-Files-type show quickly skews sideways when Olivia discovers something is not right about her past — and that a parallel universe might be closer than she thinks.
Like Person of Interest (another member of the aforementioned JJVerse), Fringe cleverly sells viewers on a procedural-type setup and slowly transforms itself into a serialized sci-fi drama. Fringe has everything you’d want in a TV show: twists and turns you never see coming, a cow named Gene, and Leonard Nimoy. Because every great television show should feature Leonard Nimoy, honestly.
7
‘Devious Maids’ (2013–2016)
Created by Marc Cherry
When Adrian and Evelyn Powell’s (Tom Irwin and Rebecca Wisocky) maid is murdered, Marisol (Ana Ortiz) is hired by the wealthy Beverly Hills couple to replace her. But Marisol is no ordinary maid, and together with fellow maids Zoila (Judy Reyes), Carmen (Roselyn Sánchez), and Rosie (Dania Ramirez), she sets out to solve the mystery of who murdered Flora — and find out what other (sometimes literal) skeletons the ultra-snobby residents of Beverly Hills might have in their immaculately clean closets.
Devious Maids is creator Marc Cherry‘s sophomore follow-up to his smash-hit dramedy Desperate Housewives. He teamed up with Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria to executive produce the show, with Longoria even making an appearance as an actress portraying Marisol in a film about Flora’s murder investigation. Yes, it’s really that campy. Devious Maids likely never got its flowers due to the show airing on Lifetime, but it deserves them — especially if you like your dramadies with an unhealthy dose of questionable 2010s fashion. Wisocky’s over-the-top (and perfectly ridiculous/ridiculously perfect) portrayal of socialite Evelyn Powell is reason enough to give Devious Maids a try.
6
‘Poker Face’ (2023–Present)
Created by Rian Johnson
Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) is a human lie detector. No, really. After her casino job goes sideways, Charlie hits the road to escape the overreaching grasp of her mustache-twirling boss (Ron Perlman) and his son (Adrien Brody). She quickly falls into an accidental career as a roadside homicide investigator, utilizing her skills in lie detection to solve multiple murders — all while trying to avoid her own.
If the presence of Natasha Lyonne isn’t enough to persuade you (which it absolutely should be), Poker Face is also chock-full of delightful celebrity cameos, from Cynthia Erivo, to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to Katie Holmes. There’s no shortage of familiar faces Lyonne’s Charlie encounters on her crime-solving road trips, and part of the fun of the show definitely lies in getting to recreate the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme whenever a new one pops up. The other part? Trying to predict what insane thing Charlie is going to encounter — or blurt out — next. The woman’s got jokes.
5
‘Lie to Me’ (2009–2011)
Created by Samuel Baum
Before Charlie Cale owned the title as human lie defector, wise-cracking Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) introduced audiences to the concept of lie detection via facial expressions. Lightman runs The Lightman Group with partner Gillian (Kelli Williams) and recruits Eli (Brendan Hines) and Ria (Monica Raymund) to solve cases brought to them by third parties — including law enforcement.
Lie to Me is a diamond in the rough. The show unfortunately aired during the shift to streaming, and though the show was a continued critical success, Fox was unhappy with the 4+ million viewers it was pulling and canceled it. These days, networks salivate for numbers like that. Not only is Lie to Me good — because it really is — it features an electric will-they/won’t-they dynamic between Cal and Gillian. The show was just teetering on the “will-they” side of the scale when it was abruptly canceled, leaving their story forever unfinished…but still more than worth it for the journey.
4
‘A League of Their Own’ (2022)
Created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson
Much like the film it’s based on, A League of Their Own is set around the 1943 formation of the Rockford Peaches, an all-female baseball team. This iteration of the story follows Carson Shaw (series creator Abbi Jacobson) as she pursues both a professional baseball career and a forbidden love with fellow ball player, Greta (D’Arcy Carden). Parallel to Carson’s story is that of Maxine “Max” Chapman (Chanté Adams), an African-American baseball prodigy who can’t get her foot in the door to even make the tryouts. She, too, struggles with her sexuality, keeping the truth of her identity from her friends and family.
To say A League of Their Own is one of the best shows ever canceled is an understatement. It’s a celebration of queer joy, plain and simple. The show is a wonderful, aching exploration of what it meant to be LGBTQIA+ during an era that condemned it both morally and legally. It explores the stories of queer people from all walks of life, and actually tells the story of black baseball players that the movie only briefly touched on. It’s a perfect expansion of the film’s original story, and its cancellation (after being renewed) will forever be a crime.
3
‘GLOW’ (2017–2019)
Created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch
GLOW (aka the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling) tells the origin story of a women’s professional wrestling promotion of the same name. Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), tired of losing out on audition after audition, tries out for the experimental series and nabs the part — only to discover the show’s unpleasant director, Sam (Marc Maron), has also cast her ex-best friend, Debbie (Betty Gilpin), as one of her fellow wrestlers.
The interpersonal drama of GLOW is absolutely delicious. Each wrestler is rich in both character and skill, and the chemistry between Brie and Gilpin is borderline addictive to watch. GLOW is also chock-full of delightful ’80s aesthetics — from the dingy training gym to the bright, neon body suits the wrestlers don. The show was a success, if a little underrated, and ran for three seasons before Netflix abruptly canceled it during the pandemic. Netflix, if you’re reading this: it’s still not too late to bring GLOW back for one final season.
2
‘Person of Interest’ (2011–2016)
Created by Jonathan Nolan
The thematic hook of Person of Interest is a simple one: You are being watched. Genius and accidental pseudo-Oppenheimer Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) recruits former CIA agent John Reese (Jim Caviezel) to aid him in using a sentient AI Finch created — dubbed The Machine — to rescue victims of violent crimes before they happen. How? The AI predicts the likelihood of the crimes and informs its creator, Finch. Good thing there’s not another AI out there being weaponized to help commit crimes, right? Well, about that…
What begins as a procedural crime drama with a small sci-fi twist slowly transforms into a full-blown serialized battle of the AIs. Person of Interest was making bold, innovative moves when it aired on CBS, and perhaps due to it airing on a network during the great shift to streaming, the show seemingly flew under the radar. It has something for everyone — including a pair of spy girlfriends (Sarah Shahi and Amy Acker) who fall in love while trying (not) to kill each other.
1
‘Bates Motel’ (2013–2017)
Created by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, and Anthony Cipriano
Based on the 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch (on which the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name is also based), Bates Motel follows the early years of Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and his mother, Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga), as they try to make a life running the titular hotel in White Pine Bay, Oregon. The show is set during Norman’s late, tumultuous teen years, depicting him as a disturbed, traumatized child with an over-bearing, controlling, but equally traumatized mother just trying to make the best of the cards they’ve been dealt. But the bodies begin to pile up, and as Norma makes repeated attempts to get Norman help and find a bit of happiness for herself, tragedy looms just around the corner.
Bates Motel is an unflinching look at the toxic co-dependency of a mother and son. Their relationship is made all the more heartbreaking by the audience’s knowledge that their story does not have a happy ending — no matter how hard Norma and Norman try. The show also features Farmiga at her absolute career best. Her ability to turn Norma from calm to hysterical on a dime is award-worthy, as are the small moments of comedy she injects into Norma’s bizarre, tragic life. In a just world, Emmys would line Farmiga’s shelves for her performance as Norma Bates in Bates Motel.
