12 Great Sci-Fi TV Shows The World Forgot

There's never been any shortage of of solid small screen sci fi offerings since, well, the inception of television as a medium. From Gene Roddenberry's beloved cult franchise Star Trek through to recent hits like HBO's convoluted Westworld, science fiction has long been a favourite of tv watchers both obsessive and casual.

Doctor Who fans obsess over minutiae whilst the majority of TV watchers tune in to see what will happen on next week's X-Files or Lost instalment, and so sci fi continues to successfully appeal to both huge crowds and more niche audiences.

But with so many sci fi shows clogging up the airwaves over the years, inevitably a few end up forgotten even amongst hardcore fans of the genre. That's why lists like this exist, to introduce viewers to a dozen great shows which time forgot for one reason or another.

Some debuted at the wrong time, some were simply outshined by bigger successes, but whatever the case here are twelve sci fi shows you've never heard of, but will be glad you gave a chance.

Long before the underrated sci fi action blockbuster/ not-really-much-of-an-Asimov adaptation I Robot hit our cinema screens in 2004, Mann and Machine has already envisioned a world wherein tough, no-nonsense cops would have to team up with by-the-book robots in order to enforce future law.

And that world looked a lot like another corny buddy cop show, but with a cute sci fi twist. Mann and Machine was an NBC series which followed Detective Mann (no, his first name wasn't Hugh), a robot-hating loose cannon cop who was paired off with Yancy Butler's android Sergeant Eve.

Most of the short-lived show's appeal comes from the dynamic between the pair, which harkens back to classic mismatched cop comedies, but it wasn't enough to see this underrated series through more than one season in the early nineties.