The Most Overrated TV Series/Shows
by Saamz | created - 18 Jul 2019 | updated - 2 weeks ago | PublicThe most overrated TV shows/series - of course in my opinion, in no particular order - almost!
If you think any of these is among the best TV Series you have watched, then you most certainly have not watched enough. Try broadening your perspective beyond what the media and ads feed you and get out of your comfort-zone, and I promise you will be surprised.
There are a few basic rules that could easily give you clues on what to expect from a TV show/series:
1. If you see a series/show is being advertised or promoted too many times anywhere you go, then you could bet there is a high chance it is either overrated or poor, or both.
2. Look into non-English TV shows and series. Many of the best I have watched are non-English.
3. If you still would like to stick to English language series, British TV series have a far higher standard in all aspects of directing, plots, cinematography, and acting compared to the American ones. In my experience, one in two highly-rated British ones are worth watching, while for the American ones, that comes down to 1 in 20, at best. Another strong point of the British series compared to American shows are how dense and efficient they plot everything, avoiding any bloating moments and fillers. The target is never making a full 13-episode season. It is mostly the overall quality.
4. Avoid American re-makes of anything - 99.99% of the time they are shockingly bad!
Here's my recommended TV series to watch:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls092877159/
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1. Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt
Votes: 2,139,152
2. The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy, Romance
A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.
Stars: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg
Votes: 868,798
3. Friends (1994–2004)
TV-14 | 22 min | Comedy, Romance
Follows the personal and professional lives of six twenty to thirty year-old friends living in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc
Votes: 1,088,971
4. Stranger Things (2016–2025)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.
Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder, David Harbour
Votes: 1,337,927
5. The Walking Dead (2010–2022)
TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn the world is in ruins and must lead a group of survivors to stay alive.
Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan
Votes: 1,083,081
6. Westworld (2016–2022)
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
At the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.
Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris, Thandiwe Newton
Votes: 533,237
7. Lost (2004–2010)
TV-14 | 5,445 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.
Stars: Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly
Votes: 595,722
8. Suits (2011– )
TV-14 | 44 min | Comedy, Drama
On the run from a drug deal gone bad, brilliant college dropout Mike Ross finds himself working with Harvey Specter, one of New York City's best lawyers.
Stars: Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Meghan Markle, Sarah Rafferty
Votes: 479,441
9. House M.D. (2004–2012)
TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Mystery
Using a crack team of doctors and his wits, an antisocial maverick doctor specializing in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way.
Stars: Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer
Votes: 514,221
10. Grey's Anatomy (2005– )
TV-14 | 41 min | Drama, Romance
A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.
Stars: Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Justin Chambers
Votes: 342,129
11. How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014)
TV-14 | 4,576 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.
Stars: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris
Votes: 728,911
12. Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019)
TV-MA | 59 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting drug money, ordinarily law-abiding Piper Chapman is sentenced to 18 months behind bars and quickly discovers the realities of life-changing prison time.
Stars: Taylor Schilling, Danielle Brooks, Taryn Manning, Emma Myles
Votes: 320,322
13. The Simpsons (1989– )
TV-14 | 22 min | Animation, Comedy
The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield.
Stars: Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer, Julie Kavner
Votes: 436,220
14. Supernatural (2005–2020)
TV-14 | 44 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Two brothers follow their father's footsteps as hunters, fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds, including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth.
Stars: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jim Beaver, Misha Collins
Votes: 483,535
15. The Flash (2014–2023)
TV-PG | 43 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After being struck by lightning, Barry Allen wakes up from his coma to discover he's been given the power of super speed, becoming the Flash, and fighting crime in Central City.
Stars: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes
Votes: 368,360
16. Sex and the City (1998–2004)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Four female New Yorkers gossip about their sex lives (or lack thereof) and find new ways to deal with being a woman in the late 1990s.
Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon
Votes: 143,137
17. The Mentalist (2008–2015)
TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A famous "psychic" outs himself as a fake, and starts working as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation so he can find "Red John", the madman who killed his wife and daughter.
Stars: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman
Votes: 200,792
18. Homeland (2011–2020)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil.
Stars: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis, Rupert Friend
Votes: 361,076
19. American Horror Story (2011– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
An anthology series centering on different characters and locations, showcasing different aspects of horror.
Stars: Lady Gaga, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson
Votes: 344,233
20. Legion (2017–2019)
TV-MA | 1,316 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
David Haller is a troubled young man diagnosed as schizophrenic, but after a strange encounter he discovers special powers that will change his life forever.
Stars: Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin
Votes: 97,277
21. Seinfeld (1989–1998)
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
Stars: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander
Votes: 351,861
22. Killing Eve (2018–2022)
TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After a series of events, the lives of a security operative and an assassin become inextricably linked.
Stars: Jodie Comer, Sandra Oh, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia
Votes: 135,507
23. The Handmaid's Tale (2017– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.
Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle
Votes: 258,191
24. Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
Stars: Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headey
Votes: 2,286,958
25. Prison Break (2005–2017)
TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.
Stars: Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper
Votes: 579,849
26. How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020)
TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A group of ambitious law students and their brilliant criminal defense professor become involved in a twisted murder plot that promises to change the course of their lives.
Stars: Viola Davis, Billy Brown, Jack Falahee, Aja Naomi King
Votes: 166,801
27. Gossip Girl (2007–2012)
TV-14 | 42 min | Drama, Romance
Privileged teens living on the Upper East Side of New York can hide no secret from the ruthless blogger who is always watching.
Stars: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick
Votes: 193,540
28. Better Call Saul (2015–2022)
TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama
The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Patrick Fabian
Votes: 648,496
29. Queer Eye (2018– )
TV-14 | 45 min | Reality-TV
A new Fab Five set out to Atlanta to help some of the city's people refine their wardrobes, grooming, diet, cultural pursuits, and home décor.
Stars: Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness
Votes: 21,226
30. Vikings (2013–2020)
TV-MA | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore--and raid--the distant shores across the ocean.
Stars: Katheryn Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, Georgia Hirst
Votes: 583,532
31. The Witcher (2019– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
Stars: Freya Allan, Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Eamon Farren
Votes: 570,498
32. Big Little Lies (2017– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The apparently-perfect lives of upper-class mothers of students at a prestigious elementary school unravel to the point of murder when a single mother moves to their quaint California beach town.
Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz
Votes: 224,475
33. The Inbetweeners (2008–2010)
TV-14 | 25 min | Comedy
Follows four friends and their antics during their final years of school.
Stars: Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas
Votes: 94,419
34. Raised by Wolves (2020–2022)
TV-MA | 55 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Androids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet.
Stars: Travis Fimmel, Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath
Votes: 86,653
35. Squid Game (2021– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits with deadly high stakes: a survival game that has a whopping 45.6 billion-won prize at stake.
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Dylan Besseau, Yasushi Iwaki
Votes: 543,156
36. Only Murders in the Building (2021– )
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Three strangers - who live in the same New York City apartment building and share an obsession with true crime - suddenly find themselves embroiled in a murder.
Stars: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton
Votes: 156,486
37. The Bear (2022– )
TV-MA | 35 min | Comedy, Drama
A young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.
Stars: Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Liza Colón-Zayas, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Votes: 212,993
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