10 Most Underappreciated TV Shows Of The Decade (So Far)

BrainDead is a show whose lack of success makes no sense.

Premiering last year across CBS and Amazon Prime, BrainDead was a short-lived, cutting edge sci-fi-comedy/political-drama about alien bugs infecting Capitol Hill. Starring the ever-brilliant Mary Elizabeth-Winstead alongside Aaron Tveit and Danny Pino, the show reimagined the never-ending war between Republicans and Democrats, if the political machine’s most powerful figures were having their minds controlled by space insects.

Hint: it doesn’t go too well. Both sides swing towards extremism, with neither the left nor the right coming off particularly well. It’s jet-black, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly gory at times, but although it might sound like a shlocky sci-fi B-movie on the surface, it actually explores some interesting ideas to do with political extremism and the breakdowns in communication that can literally bring government to a standstill. A game Tony Shalhoub is the real standout here though, as the obnoxious drunken Republican senator ‘Red‘ Wheatus, one of the first politicians to be implanted with ‘the bugs’.

BrainDead was part West Wing, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and one-hundred percent overlooked. Airing around the same time that the US election was causing havoc across the globe, BrainDead couldn’t have been better-poised to capture a willing audience. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be; the show never seemed to grasp much media attention, and was never renewed for a second series.