Television is undergoing its so-called Golden Age. Virtually every streaming service and the few surviving networks have a wide range of quality shows and limited series, from acclaimed dramas to fan-favorite comedies and everything in between.
With so much content available, it’s only logical that more than a few shows will fly under the radar, especially in the years since the pandemic. Even major players like HBO and Netflix have several underappreciated projects that deserve far more love from audiences. All these miniseries received glowing reviews but not enough attention from viewers, who should give them a chance, especially if they’re looking for quality projects to spend an afternoon with.
10 ‘Smiley’ (2022)
LGBTQ+ content is becoming more available across streaming services, meaning some of these efforts will go unnoticed by audiences. Such is the case for the Christmas-themed Spanish miniseries Smiley, about the unlikely relationship between a handsome bartender and a shy architect who meet because of a misdirected voicemail.
Smiley tells a classic love story that benefits from the strong chemistry between Carlos Cuevas and Miki Esparbé. It doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it doesn’t need to, either. Smiley is charming, romantic, insightful, and quite funny, a modern queer Christmas classic that deserves more love from audiences.
9 ‘Soulmates’ (2020)
Set in the near future in a world where a company has developed a test that determines a person’s soul mate with 100% accuracy, Soulmates tells several stories of love, romance, and loss. The show features a new story every episode and a large cast of well-known actors.
Soulmates makes the most of its intriguing premise, exploring a different genre in each episode and arriving at exciting and thought-provoking conclusions about the true nature of love. The show might fall short of truly exploring all the questions it poses, but an excellent cast of talented actors elevates each story. It’s a shame Soulmates got canceled because the premise was intriguing enough to support at least one more season.
8 ‘Angelyne’ (2022)
The ever-underrated Emmy Rossum stars in Peacock’s 2022 miniseries Angelyne. The five episodes chronicle the life of the enigmatic blonde bombshell Angelyne, who rose to fame in the 1980s with a series of billboards featuring her image. Thirty years later, a journalist for The Hollywood Reporter attempts to uncover the truth behind Angelyne, but her story is more complicated than it seems.
Angelyne succeeds as a showcase of Rossum’s acting abilities, which have gone unfairly unnoticed for years. The show is also a remarkable exploration of fame and infamy, benefitting from its subject’s elusive nature to tell an incomplete but fascinating story.
7 ‘Years and Years’ (2019)
Two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson leads a talented ensemble in the 2019 miniseries Years and Years. A dystopian black comedy, the show follows the Lyons family’s struggles amid an increasingly divided political climate following the accent of a controversial businesswoman into politics.
A thinly-veiled critique of modern politics, especially Donald Trump’s administration, Years and Years is a biting comedy with a bleak and somewhat nihilistic prospect of the future. Thompson is a spitfire as the fascistic Viv Rook, delivering one of the most hateable yet wholly entertaining performances in her prolific career. Years and Years is a witty and badass political show and a hilarious showcase of British humor at its best.
6 ‘A Friend of the Family’ (2022)
True crime shows are now as common as superhero movies, and it’s hard to separate the truly great from the mediocre; Peacock’s A Friend in the Family is the former. Based on the real-life case of Jan Broberg, the show follows her kidnapping by Robert Berchtold, a close friend of her family who becomes obsessed with her.
A Friend in the Family is among the best shows on Peacock, a thrilling and harrowing mystery powered by Jake Lacy‘s profoundly unsettling performance. The show walks a fine and subtle line between sensationalism and entertainment, an admirable feat not many other true-crime shows can pull off.
5 ‘A Very British Scandal’ (2021)
A spiritual follow-up to the acclaimed 2018 limited series A Very English Scandal, 2021’s A Very British Scandal is based on the infamous Argyll affair. Emmy winner Claire Foy stars as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, with Emmy nominee Paul Bettany as her husband, Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll.
A stellar miniseries with only three episodes, A Very British Scandal is an absurd take on one of the most notorious cases in UK history. Foy and Bettany are stellar in the leading roles, spewing vitriol at each other with such gusto that they make pettiness look like an art form.
4 ‘Landscapers’ (2021)
Oscar-winner Olivia Colman is no stranger to acclaimed television shows, starring in revered projects like Broadchurch, Fleabag, and The Crown. In 2021, the actress joined the underrated David Thewlis in the HBO limited series Landscapers, a fictionalized take on the 1998 murders of William and Patricia Wycherley.
A dark, morbid, and slightly ridiculous comedy elevated by Colman and Thewlis’ considerable talents, Landscapers is a wicked and absurd look into an already unbelievable story. The show, directed by The White Lotusbreakout Will Sharpe, is only four episodes long, but it successfully constructs an addictive and tense-filled narrative that doubles as a bizarre and twisted love story.
3 ‘Clark’ (2022)
Bill Skarsgård delivers the best performance of his career in the 2022 Netflix miniseries Clark. The show chronicles the life of infamous Swedish criminal Clark Olofsson, including his long criminal career and involvement in the now-legendary Norrmalmstorg robbery.
Clark is absurd, hectic, and fascinating, assuming a disruptive tone to match its subject’s mercurial nature. Skarsgård gives a tour-de-force portrayal of Olofsson, embracing the character’s flaws and covering them with a coat of shiny, appealing paint that doesn’t eradicate them but does an impressive job concealing them. Clark belongs entirely to Skarsgård, who’s in almost every scene in the six-episode show. It’s a daring performance that will undoubtedly make audiences understand why Olofsson is at the center of the term «Stockholm Syndrome.»
2 ‘The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
A second Skarsgård brother starred in another stellar miniseries in the past five years. Alexander Skarsgård joins Oscar nominees Florence Pugh and Michael Shannon in the 2018 British miniseries The Little Drummer Girl. The plot follows an aspiring actress recruited into Mossad to infiltrate a Palestinian terrorist group in 1979’s West Germany.
The Little Drummer Girl is among the best spy thrillers based on books. Skarsgård, Shannon, and especially Pugh excel in the show, doing John le Carré’s celebrated novel justice by delivering mesmerizing and assured performances that perfectly complement the stylish and thrilling plot.
1 ‘Irma Vep’ (2022)
Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas‘ television adaptation of his iconic 1996 eponymous film, is arguably the best HBO miniseries from 2022. Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander stars as Mira Harberg, a disillusioned American actress set to star in a tv adaptation of the French classic Les Vampires. As the lines between her character and herself blur, Mira further descends into doubt and instability.
Vikander and Assayas are an explosive combo in Irma Vep. The duo successfully breathes new life into Assayas’ revered 1996 film, offering a sobering and meta take on celebrity and filmmaking. Irma Vep is a masterpiece of meta-storytelling, embracing chaos to deliver a riveting, stylish, and cinematic behind-the-scenes look at art and the creative process.