A couple months ago, we wrote about under-the-radar movies, and you guys DELIVERED. (Plus One! Goodbye Lenin! The Place Beyond the Pines!) So, today, I’d love to ask: What are your favorite under-the-radar TV shows?
Somebody Somewhere, if you haven’t yet seen it, is a love story between two platonic friends (played by Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller) in Manhattan, Kansas. I love how the Midwestern characters are smart, hilarious, and nuanced — not just folksy and wholesome.
This Way Up, written by Irish comedian Aisling Bea and co-starring our bff Sharon Horgan, portrays depression in a way that felt so true to me, personally. Highly recommend watching if you loved Catastrophe and Fleabag.
Have you seen PEN15? Anna Konkle (whose memoir just came out) and Maya Erskine play 13-year-old versions of themselves, and they are beyond hilarious. “We had a conversation about what’s the most reject-y, awkward, funny, sad, messed-up time, and it kept coming back to middle school,” Konkle said. Don’t miss the animated episode about going to Florida with Anna’s dad and developing crushes on two guys at the hotel. It felt JUST like the Florida road trips my family took when I was in middle school. So exciting! So humid! A 21-hour-drive from Michigan!
Finally, in The Afterparty, a man dies mysteriously during the afterparty of a high school reunion, and a detective comes to investigate. She asks each party guest to describe their “mind movie” of the evening, and each episode follows a single character’s answer. Depending on their perspective, each episode becomes a different genre — one is a rom-com, another is an action movie, a third is a musical. I laughed so much; what a clever conceit.
What TV shows do you think are under-appreciated? Last night I started the second season of SisterS, which has been great; and I also really enjoyed Mo, starring Mo Amer as a Palestinian refugee in Houston who’s trying to figure out work and love, while seeking asylum with his mom and siblings. xoxo
P.S. Cup of Jo’s ultimate TV guide, and nine couples with the best on-screen chemistry.
