10 Amazing TV Shows You've Probably Never Heard Of
Flying under the radar just means that you need a really big net to catch them in.
For the last decade, we’ve been living in a new golden age of television. Of course, that means is that (unless you literally have no life whatsoever outside of your living room) there’s practically no way to keep up with all the great television that’s out there.
Today, there’s an unprecedented proliferation of platforms on which you can view high quality scripted TV content - and that’s not even going into the number of TV shows from the past that existed before home media box sets and binge-watching at our convenience became a part of how television programming is consumed.
Back in the bad old days, we actually had to turn on our TVs at the right time on the right channel every week to make sure we saw our favourite shows… and if we missed one, we’d have to take pot luck that we’d catch that episode when the show resurfaced in repeats and reruns. What a mess! Who came up with that business model?
Then there’s all those foreign shows you guys in the States never even heard about (let alone watched whenever you wanted online). British sitcoms and sketch comedy! Scandinavian police drama! French sci-fi! Doctor Who!
Thankfully, the golden age of television is taking place in the digital era, and many of these old shows that you missed first time around have become available to stream or download. Here’s ten of the best TV shows you’ve probably never heard of to add to your playlists - oh, and here be spoilers...
10. Brimstone (1998-1999)
Created by the screenwriting/producing team of Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, Brimstone was a network television show a little ahead of its time, arriving on Fox’s programming in late 1998 and disappearing only a few months later when production was halted in the middle of the fourteenth episode.
Brimstone told the story of NYPD hero cop Ezekiel Stone, who murdered the man who raped his wife and went to Hell. Fifteen years later, 113 of the worst damned souls in perdition staged a breakout, escaping back to hide in the mortal world, and the Devil gave Stone - one of the only truly good men in Hell, and a gifted detective - the job of hunting them all down and sending them back where they belonged.
Each of the damned had peculiar powers all their own, depending on how many centuries they’d been a part of the inferno - but all were invulnerable to mortal weapons. Only by destroying their eyes - the windows to the soul, don’t forget - could their borrowed physical form be destroyed, sending them shrieking back to the abyss.
So far, so high-concept - but Brimstone was more than just a supernatural procedural. A never better Peter Horton exuded a film noir weary cynicism as Stone, while the writing was smart, sly and full of mordant wit and the production design was perfect, all wintry, bleached blues and greys.
Best of all was the peerless John Glover, who played the Devil as a deliciously arch, capricious snake: held responsible for failing his charge to keep Hell’s gates secure, he still couldn’t resist screwing with Stone every chance he got. The chemistry between Horton and Glover quickly became one of the show’s selling points… and then, almost as quickly, Fox pulled the plug.
In the years since then, Fox haven’t learned a damn thing about giving their product a nurturing environment in which to breathe and thrive. Well-written, hugely entertaining shows like Keen Eddie, Undeclared, The Tick, Drive, The Ben Stiller Show, John Doe, and Strange Luck were all cancelled despite only being on television a matter of weeks.
Meanwhile, Brimstone was never properly released to DVD - because it was Fox in 1999 - but you can find half decent uploads of the show online.