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19 Incredible TV Shows That Never Reached The Level Of Popularity They Truly Deserved

Gone but not forgotten!

Do you ever sit back and think about how so many TV shows have come and gone over the decades, and how many incredible ones you may have missed just because they never got popular?

Well, this week redditor u/BluePinky asked, "What is a great TV show that never became popular?" and the post highlighted some truly amazing TV shows that most of us have probably never even heard of!

So with that in mind, here are just some of the TV shows that are genuinely astounding but never quite found their audience:

1. Awake

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NBC

"It was a show starring Jason Isaacs where he simultaneously lived in two separate timelines. He was in a car accident with his wife and son, so — in one timeline — his son dies but he still has his wife. Then — in the other timeline — it’s his wife who dies, while his son is still alive.

"He swaps between the two timelines when he goes to sleep. He's also a detective, and that comes into play as the worlds sort of run parallel, and he uses information from one world to solve crimes in the other.

"The show only lasted 13 episodes but had some serious potential!"

u/APartyInMyPants

2. Party Down

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Starz

"It had such a stellar cast and great premise, but it got kneecapped when the eventual stars all got bigger gigs. Jane Lynch left to do Glee, Adam Scott landed his gig on Parks and Recreation, etc. So the show ended after only two seasons. To this day, it's still one of my favorite comedy shows!"

u/comeupoutdawatah

3. Salvage 1

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ABC

"First, I want to point out that I am NOT making this up:

"It was a show where Andy Griffith played the owner of a salvage yard who, in the first episode, managed to purchase a surplus of rocket engines from NASA. He used them to build his own rocket ship. Why? Because there was valuable salvage in space. He successfully launched the rocket from his salvage yard, collected a dead satellite, returned it to Earth, and melted it down just as the government agents arrived too late to catch him in the act!

"After that, it was like The Incredible Hulk, with Salvage Guy flying while government agents tried to catch him. Trust me, when I was a kid, this was the BOMB!"

u/LockjawTheOgre

4. Almost Human

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FOX

"A future cop (Karl Urban) doesn't like that all detectives are assigned a robot partner. He gets stuck with a previous-generation model (Michael Ealy), and together they solve crimes and eventually become friends.

"It was actually a really good show; they should have just waited four or five more years to make it because genre shows weren't as mainstream or popular in 2013 as they are now!"

u/Ron_Fuckin_Swanson

5. Generation Kill

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HBO

"It was this fantastic show on HBO. I don't know too many people who've ever heard of it, never mind seen it, but it was truly great!"

u/Beaver21Beaver

6. Happy Endings

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youtube.com

"A great little comedy that deserved better!"

u/ErraticVole

7. Clone High

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Cartoon Network

"It only lasted 13 episodes and had a hilarious (but brief) run on MTV in the early 2000s. I'm still crossing my fingers that the rumors of a possible reboot come true!"

u/misslemacintosh

8. Bored to Death

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HBO

"It starred Zach Galifianakis, Ted Danson, and Jason Schwartzman. They had great chemistry and some hilarious dialogue."

u/ISmellTerrific

9. Counterpart

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Starz

"It was an amazing sci-fi/espionage series that lasted two seasons on Starz a few years ago. J.K. Simmons played a meek, gentle paper pusher at a mysterious company in Berlin who found out that his organization was actually in charge of communicating with a twin organization in an alternate universe. He then met his OWN TWIN, who was an amoral, cynical, calculating assassin. Truly amazing stuff."

u/PhillipLlerenas

10. Pushing Daisies

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CW

"It got canceled during the writers' strike. It's kind of old at this point, but it remains one of my favorite shows of all time, even in all its unfinished glory."

u/electricdeathrats

11. Eureka

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SciFi Network

"It was a travesty that this one got stuck on the Syfy channel. If someone had put it on the right network and in the right time slot so people knew it even existed, I sincerely think it would have been HUGE."

u/SeattleTrashPanda

12. Dead Like Me

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Showtime

"It was a VERY underrated show. If you've never heard of it, this is all you really need to know:

"The main character — a young slacker — gets killed in the first 10 minutes by a toilet seat that fell from an abandoned space station. She gets recruited as a 'reaper,' so her job is to basically separate people's souls from their bodies prior to their death so that they can transition into the afterlife without the trauma of experiencing their deaths weighing on their eternal souls.

"It's a dark comedy that is profoundly deep at times. It also stars Mandy Patinkin in a supporting role! It was a great show."

u/Krishnath_Dragon

13. Grounded for Life

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Fox

"I used to watch this show in middle school, and it was very funny. I haven't seen it in well over a decade, but I still refer to the actors as 'Uncle Eddie' and 'Sean Finnerty' whenever I see them in anything else!"

u/kwazykwoissants

14. Halt & Catch Fire

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AMC

"It's been referred to as 'the best show no one ever watched.'

"It's a period prestige drama set in the early 1980s–'90s about the birth of the personal computing, gaming, and internet ages. The first season is not great, but the second is a little better, and the third and fourth seasons are about as good as TV gets.

"It's on Netflix now if anyone in the US wants to give it a go!"

u/zazzlekdazzle

15. Galavant

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ABC

"It's a great show that's basically just Monty Python meets a Broadway musical, and it's so funny. It never got the love it deserved while it was on — it barely got a second season, and it ended on kind of a cliffhanger."

u/AlkalineSoul

16. Home Movies

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Cartoon Network

"It was popular enough on Adult Swim back in the early 2000s, but it really was good enough for a prime-time TV slot!

"Loren Bouchard (the creator of Bob's Burgers) made the show with Brendon Small (the creator Metalocalypse). It was pure gold, but I guess it just didn't have the same draw as Family Guy and whatever else was huge at the time."

u/nuages44

17. Legion

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Marvel Studios

"It was one of the most creative shows I've ever seen, but barely anyone knows about it. It lasted three good seasons, all of which were very diverse. It might be the best superhero TV show ever made."

u/ptam

18. Carnivàle

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HBO

"It was a wonderful and strange Depression-era story on HBO about the forces of good and evil as a bunch of carnies make their way through the Dust Bowl. It was (tragically) canceled after only two seasons but is an absolute must-watch!"

u/OneHundredChickens

19. And finally — The IT Crowd

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BBC One

"I wish more people in the US watched this show. I hate laugh tracks, but I still loved it!"

u/CivilCJ

Now it's your turn! What's a TV show that you wish more people knew about? Which TV shows do you believe deserve another shot, whether that be a new season or a reboot? Share yours in the comments below!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity. H/T: Reddit!