Your Next Obsession Is Already Out There: The Hidden Gem Shows You Missed This Year

Every year, I go through the same cycle. I spend weeks watching whatever everyone is talking about — the prestige dramas, the buzzy limited series, the reality shows that break the internet — and then, somewhere around October, I fall down a rabbit hole of completely random recommendations and discover that some of the best television of the year has been sitting there quietly, completely ignored by the algorithm gods.

This year was no different. I watched a LOT of TV (no shame, zero regrets), and while the mainstream hits were great, the shows that actually stuck with me were the ones nobody seemed to be talking about. So consider this your official TurtleGirl76 dispatch from the overlooked corner of your streaming library. These are the shows I was genuinely obsessed with — and that I think deserve way more love than they got.

Grab a snack. This is going to be a good one.

For the Drama Lovers: The Decameron (Netflix)

Okay, so this one got some buzz when it dropped, but nowhere near enough for how genuinely unhinged and brilliant it is. Set during the Black Death in 14th-century Italy, The Decameron follows a group of wealthy nobles and their servants who hole up in a luxurious villa to wait out the plague. It sounds heavy, but it's actually a darkly comedic, wildly chaotic, and surprisingly modern-feeling ensemble piece.

Think Downton Abbey if everyone was morally questionable and the whole thing had the energy of a very expensive house party going off the rails. The performances are incredible — Zosia Mamet is an absolute standout — and the show does this fascinating thing where it uses the class dynamics of medieval Europe to say something genuinely sharp about power, survival, and what people are willing to do when the rules break down.

I watched the whole season in two days and immediately wanted to talk about it with everyone I know. Nobody I knew had seen it. Don't be like my friends. Watch this show.

For the Comedy Crowd: Rutherford Falls (Peacock) — Seriously, Go Back and Find It

I know, I know — technically this one ended a couple years ago, but it got cancelled before its time and I am still not over it. If you never watched Rutherford Falls, this is your sign. Created in part by Sierra Teller Ornelas, a Navajo writer, the show follows a small-town guy (Ed Helms) who gets into a dispute over a statue and inadvertently steamrolls his lifelong best friend (Jana Schmieding), a member of the neighboring Native American tribe.

What makes this show special — genuinely, truly special — is that it treats its Indigenous characters as fully realized, funny, complicated human beings rather than props in someone else's story. The Native storylines are often more interesting than the main plot, and the comedy has this warm, slightly absurdist quality that I find completely irresistible. It's the kind of show where you laugh out loud and then immediately think, "huh, that was actually kind of profound."

Peacock cancelled it after two seasons and I'm still bitter. But both seasons are there, they're short, and they are absolutely worth your time.

For the True-Crime-Adjacent Crowd: The Vow — Wait, No — Try LuLaRich (Amazon Prime)

If you've already burned through every true crime docuseries on your watchlist and you're looking for something that scratches that same itch without being about murder, LuLaRich is your answer. This Amazon docuseries digs into the rise and spectacular collapse of LuLaRoe, the multi-level marketing company that convinced thousands of American women to invest their savings into leggings with truly unhinged patterns.

I know that sounds like it could be dry, but it is not dry. It is messy and jaw-dropping and at times genuinely upsetting in the way that the best docuseries are. The filmmakers get remarkable access to both true believers and people who lost everything, and the portrait that emerges of the company's founders — and of the MLM industry writ large — is fascinating and infuriating in equal measure.

It's also, weirdly, a story about the American Dream and what happens when the hustle-culture mythology collides with reality. I thought about it for weeks after I finished it.

For the "I Just Want Something Fun" Crowd: The Other Two (Max)

This one has a small but devoted fanbase, but it deserves a much bigger audience and I will die on this hill. The Other Two is a comedy series about two twentysomething siblings — a struggling actor and a former dancer — whose teenage brother becomes a viral pop star overnight. The show is set in New York's entertainment industry and it is vicious in the best possible way.

The writing is so sharp it almost hurts. The show skewers celebrity culture, social media, the music industry, and the specific millennial experience of watching someone younger than you become more successful than you'll ever be — all while being genuinely warm and funny underneath all the satire. Molly Shannon shows up as the mom and absolutely steals every scene she's in.

If you liked Schitt's Creek but want something with more edge and a little more bite, this is your show. All three seasons are on Max and I cannot stress enough how much you will enjoy them.

For the "Something Completely Different" Crowd: Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Okay, this one has gotten some recognition — Gary Oldman got some awards attention for it — but I still feel like not enough regular people are watching it, and that needs to change. Slow Horses is a British spy thriller about a team of MI5 agents who've been exiled to a dead-end desk job after various career screw-ups. When a real crisis lands in their laps, they have to figure out whether they're still capable of being the spies they used to be.

It's tense, it's smart, it's morally complicated in ways that feel true to how the world actually works, and Gary Oldman is doing some of the best work of his career as the magnificently grumpy, slovenly, and unexpectedly heroic Jackson Lamb. The pacing is perfect — it never rushes, but it never drags — and each season is based on a different book in Mick Herron's series, so there's plenty more where that came from.

If you've been sleeping on this one, wake up. It's genuinely one of the best shows on television, full stop.

The Bottom Line

The best TV isn't always the loudest TV. Sometimes the most rewarding thing you can do as a viewer is wander off the beaten path, ignore the algorithm for a hot minute, and trust a recommendation from someone whose taste you actually like.

I hope at least one of these becomes your new obsession. And if you've already watched all of them? First of all, I respect you deeply. Second of all, drop your own hidden gems in the comments — I am always, always looking for my next binge. 📺🐢