5 Underrated Drama Shows Nobody Talks About

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Getting noticed in television is tougher now than it used to be. Traditional network shows are competing with streaming services that regularly release high-profile projects, grabbing attention and keeping viewers engaged. A regular series’ best hope for continued success is often finding a new audience on a streaming platform. While a show like The Office may be more popular now thanks to streaming, that’s not the case for everyone.

Sitcoms are easily rewatched, which gives them an advantage. Drama series face a bigger challenge because viewers don’t always want something heavy or sad, and even if they do, they often stick to well-known hits like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos. Despite this, many excellent dramas don’t get the attention they deserve. Here are five underrated drama series that you should be talking about.

5) Southland

I’m a big fan of police shows, and while nothing quite reaches the level of Law & Order: SVU, Southland really impressed me. It’s set in Los Angeles and feels different because these cops are just as interested in sharing what’s going on in their lives as they are in making arrests. The show centers around officers like John Cooper, played by Michael Cudlitz, and Ben McKenzie’s Ben Sherman – both really compelling characters who definitely march to the beat of their own drum. It’s a shame it only lasted five seasons, because those characters deserved even more time to develop, but it often gets overshadowed by the more popular procedural dramas.

4) The Good Fight

You won’t find The Good Wife on lists of overlooked shows – it’s highly regarded as one of the best legal dramas of recent times. Julianna Margulies delivers a fantastic performance as a lawyer balancing her career with the complexities of her husband’s public life, and Christine Baranski is equally impressive, even earning her own spin-off, The Good Fight. That show takes her character, Diane Lockhart, and shakes things up, showing a more vulnerable side. With six seasons available, The Good Fight offers plenty of entertainment, yet it still seems to be unfairly overlooked.

3) Ray Donovan

While Ray Donovan ran for seven seasons and even had a movie, it doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. Many people dismiss it as just another “dad show,” but it’s actually a deeply complex and well-acted drama. Liev Schreiber delivers a particularly nuanced performance as the central character, supported by a strong cast including Ian McShane, Katie Holmes, and Jon Voight. Hopefully, over time, Ray Donovan will be recognized as one of the best TV dramas of recent years.

2) Big Love

Drama doesn’t always need to involve crime. The show Big Love centers around a Mormon family practicing polygamy, and that unusual situation is what fuels the story. While it takes a little while to find its footing, by the third season, Big Love becomes completely captivating and stays that way until the very end. Bill Paxton is consistently excellent, but surprisingly, Big Love isn’t as prominently featured on his list of notable roles as it deserves to be.

1) The Riches

So far, I’ve been focusing on shows that really stuck around – at least five seasons, which feels like a good sign of quality. But sometimes, a show starts strong and then just… doesn’t quite live up to its promise. That’s definitely the case with The Riches. It was canceled after a truly amazing second season, which is a real shame. The premise is fantastic: a family basically steps into a perfect life by pretending to be someone else, but naturally, their past catches up with them. It’s a genuinely great show, and the fact that it was cut short means it’ll probably never get the recognition it deserves, which is a bummer.

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2025-10-28 21:17