25 of the Most Underrated TV Shows That Are Worthy of Your Attention

Based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby as well as its movie remake, this iteration of High Fidelity switches things up, with Zoë Kravitz taking on the role of Rob Brooks, who owns a record shop in Brooklyn. The story follows Brooks and her two friends who work at the shop with her—all to the tune of some incredible music curated by Questlove—as they navigate their lives, relationships, and new people who come along. It's very music-based, with the three friends having an extremely wide knowledge of music.

Starring Cillian Murphy, Helen McCroy, and Paul Anderson, Peaky Blinders begins in 1919, following groups of crime gangs that form after all of the soldiers head home following WWI. Focusing on the gang entitled the Peaky Blinders led by Thomas Shelby (Murphy), the series leads off with an enticing business proposition for him and his gang.

An outstanding, hilarious show that somehow slipped under the radar, Derry Girls follows a group of Irish high school students in the '90s—it's a coming-of-age comedy in a time when the area they're living in was dominated by military checkpoints and the threat of terrorism.

The Other Two's premise involves Brooke and Cary Dubek's younger brother, Chase, who goes viral after posting a music video and becomes an instant pop sensation. The series focuses on his two older siblings as they go through their current, much worse-off lives while he rockets into fame.

Starring Donald Glover as Earn Marks, Atlanta is about Earn and his cousin, Alfred Miles, who's an up-and-coming rapper on the scene in Atlanta, Georgia. Earn decides to manage his cousin's career, which builds up the basis of the show.

Having just finished airing on HBO Max, Station Eleven follows various survivors of a major flu pandemic, with characters played by Lori Petty, Himesh Patel, Mackenzie Davis, and a ton more. Given that it's a post-apocalyptic series, it deals with how the characters try to put their lives back together following the pandemic (sound familiar?).

Another series that was cut way too short, American Vandal was an incredibly funny mockumentary-type show that dealt with two different school incidents for each of its seasons. Though both incidents are childish, the directors of the documentary, Sam and Peter, take each one extremely seriously, set on figuring out who committed each crime.

This two-season comedy focuses on two friends, Ben Epstein (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam Calderon (Victor Rasuk), as they try to make it big by starting a company from scratch. Though Epstein had failed in making a skateboarding business, he decides to team up with Calderon to create retro fashion and break onto the scene.

Abby McEnany plays a fictionalized version of herself, Abby, in this series on SHOWTIME, which focuses on her day-to-day life following her therapist's death, which occurred while in session with her. Abby deals with depression, anxiety, and OCD while forming a relationship with someone new, as well as revisiting a few people from her past.

Canceled after two seasons, Friends from College is exactly what the title sounds like: a bunch of people who used to be friends at Harvard and some who still are. A genuinely hilarious show, a few of its main stars are Keegan Michael-Key, Cobie Smulders, Fred Savage, and Annie Parisse, who begin hanging out with each other again in their 40s.

Based on the real story of Spencer Paysinger, an NFL player who went on to win a Super Bowl, the main premise of All American involves Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) going to high school in Beverly Hills—even though he's living in South Crenshaw—just to play football. He's coached under Billy Baker (Taye Diggs), and because of his location issue, he comes to live with Baker and his family while attending school.

Starring Sandra Oh as the chair of the English Department at a well-regarded college, she faces new challenges as she's given this job, balancing life with her daughter, colleagues, and what it means to be the first woman of color in the role. The dramedy also features Holland Taylor, Jay Duplass, and Bob Balaban in supporting professor roles at the college.

Underrated most likely because it premiered on Crackle, a lesser-known streaming service, StartUp is about the emergence of a specific digital currency called GenCoin, which was created by Izzy Morales (Otmara Marrero). The series tracks Morales and her investors, as well as FBI Agent, Phil Rask (Martin Freeman), who is determined to take them down.

This show most likely became so underrated because people went into the series expecting it to give them back Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. The two roles couldn't be more different: in this series, Parker plays Frances, who decides to divorce her husband, Robert (Thomas Haden Church), after attending a party where her friend, Diane (Molly Shannon), "accidentally" shoots her husband, Nick (Tracy Letts). It makes her really think about her life and what she wants out of it, which prompts her to file for divorce.

A historical comedy set in the 18th century, The Great centers around Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) as she rises into power in Russia, though the series purposely doesn't follow what really happened during the time. While the series hasn't received as large of a following as it deserves, it was just renewed for a third season, which could possibly mean that people are finally jumping onto the bandwagon.

It's hard to sum up Broad City, but if I had to assign it one word, it would be "wacky." The shows centers around best friends Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana (Ilana Glazer) as they get themselves into hilariously bizarre situations, like cleaning an apartment for a man-baby played by Fred Armisen, solving a fake murder, and setting up a co-working space on the streets of New York.

The Righteous Gemstones focuses on the iconic televangelist family of the same name, helmed by Dr. Eli Gemstone, played by John Goodman. Eli has been taking the passing of his wife extremely hard, which prompts his children to figure out who will continue on the televangelist tradition of the family.

Following a group of high schoolers from California, Generation is an honest look into navigating who you are during such a confusing and chaotic time in life. It focuses on specific characters and is filmed in an extremely interesting way, with larger events being re-told from multiple characters' perspectives.

Though many people think of The Good Wife first when it comes to legal dramas, Damages is another outstanding series that sometimes gets left out. Starring Glenn Close and Rose Byrne, each season follows a different case and usually brings on quite a few new supporting characters. Blending the genres of legal drama and thriller, Damages almost always leaves viewers on a massive cliffhanger.

A fair amount of people (including myself) initially wrote off this show because it wasn't getting the greatest ratings, but having now taken the plunge and watched both seasons, The Morning Show is so much more than it looks. The series has an incredibly intricate plot and is always throwing the plotline in a different direction, as it follows the cast and crew of a morning news show after one of its hosts is fired for sexual misconduct.

Dead to Me is the epitome of the dark comedy genre. Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate lead the cast, playing two women, Judy Hale and Jen Harding, who connect in a grief group after losing their husbands. However, things become a bit more complicated as Harding tries to figure out who killed her husband in the hit-and-run incident that ended his life.

Jeff Daniels is Will McAvoy, a titan in the broadcast news world and the main subject of this hard-hitting series about an evening news show. Aside from McAvoy, the show also focuses on those who work behind the scenes, including characters played by Sam Waterston, Emily Mortimer, Dev Patel, Allison Pill, and Jane Fonda.

In a bit of a break from the more drama-based series, Over the Garden Wall is a mini-series that originally aired on Cartoon Network and is definitely worth the watch. Each episode is only about 10 minutes long and centers around brothers Wirt and Greg after they get lost in a forest, encountering odd people and creatures on their journey back home. It's an extremely clever Autumn-themed series, with surprisingly intricate plot twists packed into extremely short episodes.

Underrated most likely due to its niche topic of the underground ball scene in 1980s New York City, Pose defied expectations and developed a dedicated audience throughout its three seasons on the air. The cast is led by Mj Rodriguez, who plays the house mother of Evangelista, Blanca Rodriguez, and Billy Porter, who portrays Pray Tell, emcee of the underground. The series follows the various houses as they compete for different titles within the ball scene.

The story of Sabrina is a familiar one to most people given the success of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the original comic series. However, the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a fresh and sometimes dark take on the series, focusing more so on the comic portion of the story. Created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa who's also responsible for Riverdale, the series is catering to an audience who cares deeply about the character of Sabrina and the real storyline as opposed to centering around humor.