Little known TV shows which are really good
 

With the huge mass of program output, a lot of really good programs fall through the cracks be it through bad scheduling, lack of promotion or a mix of the two.

This is a thread for programs which you (and hopefully others) think are truly great, but never reached the popularity they deserved.

To start off, my latest discovery is Clone High. Put simply its perhaps the best animated comedy ever. I stand by that statement.

The program is a high school made up of clones of historical figures - with the main characters being Abe Lincoln, Joan of Ark, Ghandi, JFK and Cleopatra.

It got only one series of 13 episodes in 2003 and from what ive seen there is no chance of a second season (which is really frustrating given the way the ended the season).

Secondly is a favourite of mine called God the Devil and Bob. This origionally managed to get 3 shows on American TV until the religious right got it pulled off (though it got a full showing here in the UK).

The basic concept is that god and the devil make a bet on the fate of humanity and earth based around one person chosen by the devil - the devil chooses Bob and its through his actions that God will decide whether to destroy earth or not.

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The basic concept is that god and the devil make a bet on the fate of humanity and earth based around one person chosen by the devil - the devil chooses Bob and its through his actions that God will decide whether to destroy earth or not.

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uh oh, we're screwed.

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Oh crap, I was hoping this would be about really cool computer programs that aren't that well known. That would be a cool thread.

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My favourite show is Red vs Blue. I'm not sure if it qualifies as "little known", but I wanted to mention it anyway.

From wikipedia:
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The series chronicles the story of two opposing teams of soldiers fighting a civil war in the middle of a desolate box canyon (Blood Gulch), in a parody of first-person shooter (FPS) games, military life, and science fiction films.

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This is just plain hilarious stuff. If you've ever played any fps semi-seriously, you'll have a blast watching this.

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Freaks and Geeks

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Freaks and Geeks

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Clone High is excellent.

My pick: Wonderfalls

It's about a girl who is overeducated but lazy and useless and works in a crappy gift shop at Niagara. One day inanimate objects start talking to her, and wackiness ensues. It's great, and very funny. Like the more well-known Firefly, it was stuck on Friday night and cancelled quickly by Fox, but - also like Firefly - there's a nice DVD set of 14 episodes.

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definitely agreed on clone high

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I would have mentioned Firefly first, but with Serenity i think it got the acknowledgment it deserved.

But if anyone here hasnt seen it, do so. Unless you REALLY hate westerns or sci fi.

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Freaks and Geeks

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obv. Only more so because I've been watching it again recently. Is it still little-known, though? I feel like it's known by people now, but it may just be the people I know.

Police Squad! is one of my favorites, though I don't think people don't know it; they may just not know how funny it is. If it's unknown at all, it's because it only ran for six episodes. (And because it ran twenty-five years ago, and lots of people I know are under twenty-five.)

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Police Squad was awesome.

Will hunt down Freaks and Geeks - as far as im aware it hasnt made it over here, or if it did it got litterally no promotion.

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I opened this thread to mention Clone High, but obv I was beat to the punch. I'm still bitter at Punk'd for taking its spot after being canceled on MTV.

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Freaks and Geeks was an awesome show. Died way way too soon. Nath, I have a feeling your indie hipster crowd doesn't represent the norm. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


I don't know if Get a Life counts as little known, but it is really good.

Also Jason Bateman's first show - It's Your Move was hilarious.

Did anyone else ever get hooked on The Paper Chase?


Oh yeah, I have a strong feeling this is probably something that would only appeal to me - but PBS is showing a series called Shaping America - US history to 1877 that I think is incredible. For me it's kind of fun to learn the actual stories behind the few bits of trivia I remember from 8th grade history class, and take in the actual facts of early America from an adult perspective. There are so many parables to [censored] that's going on the world today. I'm becoming more and more of a history nerd the older I get.

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Dead Like Me was pretty good. (A group of people are grim reapers in the department of deaths that can only be labeled Rube Goldbergian accidents. One gets hit with a toliet seat from the space station.)

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Freaks and Geeks was an awesome show. Died way way too soon. Nath, I have a feeling your indie hipster crowd doesn't represent the norm. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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ROFL

You're so right. Although come to think of it, a lot of my friends don't know about Police Squad! unless I've told them. They're better at movies and music.

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I don't know if Get a Life counts as little known, but it is really good.

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OMG [censored] YES

This is the show I should have mentioned.

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Did anyone else ever get hooked on The Paper Chase?

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I vaguely remember it as a kid. I mean, I was probably 3.

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The worst jobs in history - BBC show on Discovery Channel

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Police Squad! rocked.

Yeah The Paper Chase on Showtime from 83-86 is what I remember - I was in Jr. High/HS. It made Law School look kind of glamorous and fun. I think for me it was an escape where I fantasized about what it might actually be like to do stuff like homework, studying, or giving a crap about any of your classes.

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i agree completely about clone high. also, check out sports night - so, so good.

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Police Squad! rocked.

Yeah The Paper Chase on Showtime from 83-86 is what I remember - I was in Jr. High/HS. It made Law School look kind of glamorous and fun. I think for me it was an escape where I fantasized about what it might actually be like to do stuff like homework, studying, or giving a crap about any of your classes.

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Yeah, in 1983 I was 2.

Come to think of it, maybe this show had a subconscious effect, because many of my peers have recently decided to go to law school, for reasons I don't understand.

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James at 15

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Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, and Sports Night were all prematurely canceled shows that imo lived up to their hype.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._bros_logo.jpg

And in honor of mother's day:

Dean Venture: Good thinking, bro'a'mine. And I thought I was supposed to be the smart one
Hank Venture: Ma Venture didn't raise no fools
Dean Venture: W-We don't have a mom, Hank...
[awkward silence]

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'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' may be the funniest show on TV right now.

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I love The Critic. And The Tick has had some great moments.

Also, I think on just about any other forum, ATHF would qualify as "little known", at least before the movie. But not even close here.

Oh yeah, I don't think I've ever consistently laughed as hard at anything as MST3K - although I haven't watched that show in years.

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cosign Clone High...

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suzzer,

The Tick was incredible. Venture Bros was actually started by some old writers of The Tick.

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Coupling (and all british comedy; the might bush, the original office)

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coupling sucks.

it's the mighty boosh.

i think a couple of people might have heard of the office.

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My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss

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To start off, my latest discovery is Clone High. Put simply its perhaps the best animated comedy ever.

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Clone High was decent and it had it's moments, but I could easily name 10 funnier cartoons. There is no way you actually think it's funnier than The Simpsons or South Park.

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Oh, and I forgot to mention:
The I.T. crowd

Probably only funny if you're geeky, though.

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To start off, my latest discovery is Clone High. Put simply its perhaps the best animated comedy ever.

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Clone High was decent and it had it's moments, but I could easily name 10 funnier cartoons. There is no way you actually think it's funnier than The Simpsons or South Park.

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I would agree.
King of the Hill
South Park
Simpsons
Family Guy (and this is coming from someone who doesn't really like family guy)
Futurama
And that is just off the top of my head.
People really overrate tv shows which have one or two good seasons. Take the best 13 episodes of the shows I listed and watch them in succession and you would think those shows were incredible.

Also Sports Night isn't a little know show.

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Isn't Wonder Showzen supposed to be incredible? I've still never watched more than about 15 seconds of it.

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Hex on BBC and Strange Days on DiscoveryScience channel.

Jimbo

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Police Squad was awesome.
The shoe-shine guy who knew everything never made it into the Naked Gun movies and his bits were pretty hilarious.
But practically everything about that show was hilarious.

Also agree on The Critic with Jon Lovitz. Really funy stuff.
Dr. Katz was a good show too.

The old Ben Stiller Show with Ben Stiller, Janeane Garafolo, Andy Dick and Bob Odenkirk had some really really hilarious sketches. A Few Good Scouts which was a parody of a Few Good Men was really terrific.
Information 411 which was a parody of Emergency 911 was really funny too.

Comedy Central did a 6 episode trial with some British comedians called the Hollow Men which I thought had some of the funniest sketches I had ever seen.
No idea why they didn't pick that up for more. Too expensive perhaps.
But it was ridiculously hilarious and way better than some of their other shows (like that stupid Reno 911 show which I can't even watch).


Northern Exposure was reasonably well-known but I know a lot of people who have never heard of it and I don't think the re-runs are shown on any station anymore.
I have the first 3 seasons on DVD. Some of the episodes are amazing, thought-provoking and hilarious all at the same time.

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Seriously, some of these are very well known.

I like "To Catch a Thief", I think on the Discovery Channel. Two ex-cons show some family or roommates or whoever in a house how bad their security system sucks by mock-breaking in their house. Jon, who is the one who does the breaking in, goes in, breaking windows, taking out drawers and throwing stuff around, uplifting mattresses for no reason, just for dramatics. The other guy sits in a van with the family watching everything on closed circuit tvs. Afterwards, they clean the mess up for them and install a kickass security system.

Eh, I like it. Sounds boring when you type it out.

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Coupling (and all british comedy; the might bush, the original office)

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All British comedy? You're kidding, right? Some is brilliant, but the brits have a special capacity for producing terrible sitcoms.

That said, a British comedy I've recently watched and enjoyed is Spaced. Ran for two seasons and starred Simon Pegg, who's the guy behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Maybe it's bigger in other parts of the world, but I hadn't heard of it until I started reading some of the publicity for Hot Fuzz.

Simon Pegg is also in a british sketch comedy show called Big Train which was brilliant for at least the first season (I never saw any more, and some of the youtube clips look so so). Some clips: Wanking in the office, Cat and mouse bar fight

On a different front, Wilfred, a new low budget Australian comedy starring a guy in a dog suit is brilliant. Wilfred's hopes and aspirations, a highlights reel.

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Coupling (and all british comedy; the might bush, the original office)

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What is this 'Office' you speak of?

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I really like coupling - but its definately best if you totally ignore the final season.

A lot of people compare it to Friends (though it is better than Friends) and the final season had Geoff leaving, which is the equivilent of not having Joey or Chandler in the last season of Friends - it threw off the chemistry and shows make up and the writers just couldnt make up for loosing the strongest character.

I guess its pretty well known here, but Spaced is probably my favourite all time TV show - there is nothing wrong with the show in any sense, though its nature means there are a lot of people it simply doesnt connect with.

League of Gentlemen is probably the best 'dark' comedy ive seen - with the highlight being its Christmas Special which no one watched because it was shown Xmas Eve. Again, its another love it or hate it show, but i loved it.

I really liked the IT Crowd - but a lot of my friends, even the geekiest of geeky ones simply didnt like it. I think a lot of that came down to them prejudging it so harshly that they couldnt bring themselves to connect with the show when they saw it.

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I think Clone High is better than all those listed animated comedies (and im a fan of all to one degree or another, though my liking of the Simpsons died long ago) - i agree that you could probably take 13 of the best episodes of South Park and it would stack up, but the rest simply dont have a chance - especially Simpsons which is a pretty weak show overall.

But yeah, my opinion, not expecting to convert or argue someone to my cause, just the way i see it.