15 Most Underrated TV Shows Of The Decade (So Far)

8. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Show: A spin-off set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. follows the titular crime-fighting organisation, led by a revived Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), as they take on new threats to global security.

Why It's Underrated: No show in recent memory has improved itself as much as this, because S.H.I.E.L.D. started as a thoroughly mediocre freak-of-the-week-type adventure serial which invited divided reviews despite an insane 12 million viewers tuning in for the pilot episode. Viewership sharply fell over the course of the first season, with the season finale drawing only half the viewers of the pilot.

By season two, however, the show improved massively and managed to hold its viewing figures much more consistently as a result, featuring slight but entertaining tie-ins to the "proper" MCU (by way of some fun cameos), better villains, and simply a more pronounced feeling that what's happening actually has some import and isn't just disposable. It's understandable that a lot of viewers were turned off by the rather generic and forgettable first half of season one, but things have come a long way since then, so it might be worth giving it another go if you abandoned it early on.