10 Cult TV Shows Your Friends Bang On About (But You've Not Seen Yet)

7. Chuck

Chuck is a show about your stereotypical underachiever, with one key difference: that underachiever happens to have the Government's top supercomputer downloaded into his brain.

The titular Chuck quickly becomes embroiled in a world of espionage, having to overcome his lack of confidence to try and become the world's best super-spy while maintaining the facade of his ordinary life and job at the Buy More.

The show had to fight off cancellation throughout almost its entire run on NBC. Flagging ratings put the show in danger from the end of the second season, though a fan campaign to help find the show a corporate sponsor - which ended up being Subway - helped propel the show through to three more seasons, way longer than anyone could have expected.

Despite the premise sounding one-note, a mixture of insightful parody of the spy genre, a strong blend of drama and comedy, and a cast of varied and likeable characters ensures the show is more than the sum of its parts. Plus, Chuck does a much better job of paying homage to geek culture than The Big Bang Theory ever has.