Where Are Television’s Lost Gems?

Sunday, July 31st, 2011 at 7:30am
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Where Are Television’s Lost Gems?  

I’ll admit it; it’s taken me years – and, to be honest, the plaudits surrounding the show’s final season – to really get into Friday Night Lights (Don’t worry, I am now a firm believer that clear minds and full hearts mean that you can’t lose), and that got me wondering: What other shows have I been missing out on all this time?

There’s a difference between a show I’ve never seen an episode of (Game of Thrones, because I don’t have HBO and – horror of horrors – am not really that into fantasy as a genre) and a show I’ve seen but didn’t much care for (The Sopranos, and I know that admitting that will immediately invalidate my opinions for at least half the internet), and what I’m really looking for are more of the former, obviously. In this world of so many content streams – so many channels on US TV, before you even get to online shows, or anything from around the world – it’s unsurprisingly easy to completely miss out on some great stuff, but the good thing about the internet is that it balances out: The same thing that can lead to so much choice that it almost becomes paralyzing also provides people to champion the best stuff. And so, I ask you, dear readers: What are your favorite shows that no-one knows about? And why should anyone watch them? Use the comments section to make your case, and who knows? You might create more than a few converts.

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  • Faust

    I’m draging out the so – for god it would just be CAPS!

  • Faust

    Did anyone ever watch Joan of Acadia? Any good? I’ve never watched an entire episode – but it seemed really good.

    Roswell was a great series – And definately a must for fans of Twilight. Just swap hot teen Vampires and Werewolves for hot teen aliens! haha….

  • Mitch_the_itch83

    Corner Gas! One of the most popular show in Canada, barely a blip anywhere else.  My wife and I are the only people I know of in Australia that even know of it.

  • Mitch_the_itch83

    Also, there was this show I loved in the 90′s, that starred the Coach from Friday Night Lights.  The basic premise was that each morning he would get tomorrow’s newspaper, instead of todays, and then would run around trying to prevent the death’s and tragedies that he read about in the paper.  Anyone know what that show was called?

  • Faust

    Early Edition.

    From what I remember it was not bad at all.

  • Michael Howey

    Jem? WOW. Blast from the past. I remember the computer was called Synergy and the bad guys werecalled the Misfits. Thats about all.  

  • Faust

    I didn’t mind most of that. But mentioning the not used characters make me think of a personal favorite – Weevil! I missed him not appearing in majority of S3 – and he looked like he’d put on quite a few pounds too (something about a skin condition was it?). But the inclusion of Laura San Giacomo was great! Seeing her and Enrico together again was to good! And the last ep was one of my favs.

  • Niconico002000

    Yeah, I forgot about Threshold! That one was very good too

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6DH5ZKGA3WJA5A6BHQOK7IIYP4 James

    From the UK — Sea of Souls and Afterlife, both amazing and Afterlife features the guy who plays the lead in The Walking Dead. Sea of Souls has a great concept (graduate students in parapsychology being pulled in investigate potential paranormal goings-on) and is the closest thing to true “horror movie” feel to ever hit television.

    Farscape — long before Battlestar and Stargate Atlantis, this series was taking chances and was not afraid of letting its characters experience permanent change, rather than reset to defaults at the end of each episode.

    The Wire — unbelievably realistic and intricate. Genius writing and impeccable acting all within a tightly woven tapestry, The Wire is a must-see.

  • Matt Steele

    Firefly and Dollhouse are definitely two of my favorites that were cancelled before their time.

  • Ninjagodzilla

     Breaking Bad is SOOOOO much better than weeds. Weeds tries to be all edgy and dark but BB blows it away.

  • Squashua

    AD worked for us now because we can watch all of it in one stretch.  You can’t just watch a random episode, you really need the prior episodes to “get” the jokes from the current one you are watching.  Everything hinges on history, and with TV when it was broadcast, if you missed it, it was gone.

    Granted, a lot of the AD episodes are great standalone, but they work best all in a row.

  • Squashua

    Graeme McMillan – you need to cull the comments, tally up the distinct recommendations per unique commenter and write a follow-up to this blog post.

  • Atomisk

    Parks and Rec is another awesome show that few people seem to watch. Thankfully, NBC renewed it for another season.

  • Faust

    Another one I thought of is Blue Mountain State. Which is a nice opposite to Friday Night Lights. Its a comedy about high school footballers. It is hilarious! With alot of LOL moments.

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