Lexx, a show about a giant dragonfly spaceship that destroys planets and the creepy cowardly idiot who somehow lucked into becoming the single person in the two universes that it obeys. And an undead assassin-warrior-poet. And a woman who survived a botched "love slave" transformation. And a weird robot head.
It's outrageously strange and strangely horny and hornily gross. Highly recommend if you like weird TV.
The woman was called Xev Bellringer. But don't google it because you'll find something else.
Lexx is brimming with campy nonsense!
But it has moments when an actor delivers a heartfelt performance that tells a meaningful story.
And then those moments are followed by a robot with a saw arm chasing some folks through a cardboard maze before a planet gets blown up.
Lexx resulted in my marriage (at a lan bash, we're all sharing the ol' yar har haar me maties, a certain young gentleman browses the wares, goes "holy shit Lexx, who has all of Lexx i must find this person" and 20 years later we have matching rings, a house and cats. )
Actually just finished snagging the 1080 rip, makes my dvd boxset look like poo
My cat was named after the undead-assassin-warrior-poet.
Great show in that it is so strange and offbeat that you don't really know why things are happening but they certainly are happening.
I always mention this one, but The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
It's got Bruce Campbell in it (Army of darkness) And he plays a cowboy as the lead character where he goes on wacky steampunk-filled hijinks and adventures through the Old West.
it came out in the early 90s and you can watch it for free on tubiTV.
Fun fact, a lot of the old timey western movies used a particular set and the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was the last show to use that set.
When they finished it was torn down.
Another fun fact, you've heard the theme song.
It's now used in the Olympics when America plays.
It's a fucking amazing show.
If you like Severence, you really need to see Dollhouse. Only 2 seasons, complete story. Slow start, but it doesn't go where you expect, it's a complete story, and Dichen Lachman (Gemma Scout) plays basically the same role.
Dark
I feel like a surprising number of people know about this show, but I suspect because it's German it doesn't get the same attention - there was a period where Dark seemed popular in my circles, though.
Mrs. Davis
Dirk Gently’s Detective Agency
Space: Above & Beyond
Earth 2
Lucy: Daughter of the Devil
Final Space
The Lone Gunmen
The Maxx
The Oblongs
Parker Lewis Can’t Lose
The Regime
The Secret Life of Machines
ETA: if you want a more recent one, Deli Boys is pretty great
Both Dirks. The BBC was a little closer to the books but both are great. And if we're going in an Elijah direction, the US version of Wilfred.
Spaced
Early Simon Pegg / Nick Frost / Edgar Wright collaboration, sitcom style.
Dead Like Me
It was pretty much all over the place but I liked the tone and premise. IMO, I really doubt anyone would've been able to make that kind of story work any more than the original folks did but yeah. I don't think the writing was that good but I liked the cast. That alone would've sold me. Also maybe throw in the fact that I found the show while I was kind of starting out on my own during college and so in ways, I related to the main person. Yada yada yada.
Utopia - The UK version though, fuck the American remake.
Monkey Dust - Obscure UK animation.
Raised by Wolves. It was killed by HBO around the time of the discovery merger thing, but was a fully written (creator originally wrote it as a book, and then made it into a screenplay) and unique show. Produced by and has some directing from Ridley Scott.
The show follows two androids, Mother and Father, raising a human child alone on a desolate planet after fleeing a dying earth controlled by hi-tech zealots. This new home might be far more related to them than they realize, and maybe not always so desolate. It blends mysticism and sci-fi in a really fun way, and I will never not be angry I don't get to see how it ends.
You're The Worst
-- A dark comedy / romantic comedy that centers on two toxic, self-destructive people who fall in love and attempt a relationship. --
Absolutely amazing TV show by Stephen Falk. Criminally underrated. It is my favorite show of all time. It should be available to stream on Hulu, otherwise pirating it may be the only way to watch it.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3228420/
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
-- A bright, wonderful and adorable show (animated by Dreamworks) that follows 13-year-old Kipo navigating a post-apocalyptic world full of evolved animals with human-level intelligence, and making friends along the way. --
This is a family-friendly show that took me about 7 episodes to get hooked. I am so glad I stuck with it! Made by Radford Sechrist and Bill Wolkoff. It's on Netflix. It also had a small DVD release that may be difficult to find.
Station Eleven
It's absolutely criminal how little attention HBO gave this show. It wasn't even brought to Europe, so you can't watch it legally over here. But IMHO it's one of the best TV shows of the past few years, and it's a complete story so no cliffhangers. It's also one of the rare cases of a show being better than the book it was based on, and the book was already a bestseller.
Danger 5. Greatest Australian comedy of all time. https://youtu.be/0Z09bNgSeMI
The Leftovers - 2% of the worlds population just vanishes. Enough to freak people out but not cause the complete collapse of civilization.
The Endgame - High class criminal commits crimes by way of getting herself arrested. There's only 1 season. Ignore the last ~10 minutes of the last episode and the story wraps up fine.
Counterpart - Mid-level bureaucrat finds out there's a doorway to a parallel dimension with whom the world's been in a secret cold war
Galavant
Mighty boosh
Red dwarf
Misfits
I guess in this case obscure differs a lot geographically, but I definitely know places where they are almost completely unknown.
Reaper was a really brilliant, easy-watching action/comedy show akin to Chuck. It's centered around a young man whose family has sold his soul to the devil, and now he must fulfill the contract by hunting down souls that have escaped from hell.
It features the typical "monster of the week" premise, along with a longer story arc across the seasons and has a rather fun mythology and world building. Ray Wise puts in a phenomenal performance as the devil, and I remember the show having a pretty genuine and surprisingly wholesome sense of humour.
Sadly its momentum got interrupted by the writers strike, and its second season was shortened and then cancelled. I still highly recommend it.
It depends so much on one's tastes... But
Wonderfalls
How about two with Rosa Salazar?
Undone on Amazon Prime, a trippy psychological show about a girl (Salazar) exploring the link to her present and her dead father (Bob Odenkirk). It's rotoscoped to add to the trippiness
Brand New Cherry Flavor on Netflix, where an aspiring writer gets her career ruined by a director when she turns down his sexual advances. She makes a deal with a witch to get revenge
Monkey Dust. BBC show from the late 00''s that went ~3 seasons. Animated sketch comedy that was ostensibly British but wasn't SO British that Americans wouldn't get it. Example sketch-
These don’t seem obscure to me but most folks I know have never heard of them:
What We Do in the Shadows
Sealab 2021
Parks and Rec
Party Down
Freaks and Geeks
Venture Bros
I became a big fan of the series "V", specifically the 2000's remake. I think they discontinued the series due to mixed ratings.
I don't see Dame Judy Dench's masterpiece "As Time Goes By" mentioned often.
It's about a love affair between the acclaimed author of "My Time in Kenya", and his publisher.
(This summary is intentionally reductive to the point of absurdity. But trust me, it's quite good.)
Haven't seen these mentioned yet:
Fringe
Killjoys
Probably only lesser known depending on age but I always like Due South.
I got this from the fediverse in another thread but kims convenience is hilarious. the brother I think did a marvel film recently to.
2 of 2
TURN -George Washington's Spies.
Black Sails
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