Television has emerged as one of the greatest, most essential tools of art and culture.
I'm not exaggerating, I believe that to be true.
Nobody really thought the picture box/boob tube would take off.
Now look.
Can you imagine life without some of the stories we've experienced?
RedditorOpulentOwlwanted to know about the tv shows our lives would brighter with, they asked:
"What's a great TV show that nobody talks about?"
I love The Closer & Major Crimes.
So well done.
Take a look.
Brilliance!
"Most of Bryan Fuller's stuff (other than Hannibal, which did get some traction). Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies were both top tier." ~ nostalgicBadger
GiphyJK Forever!
"Counterpart. Great cast and acting, cool story, two solid seasons." ~ elevenghosts
"I want to go back and rewatch it - the other side had a global pandemic that killed millions. As a result they don't gather in groups in public, they wear masks, they have UV hand sanitizers everywhere. And all this predates covid by a few years. Also JK Simmons is terrific as always." ~ canuck47
CBC History!
"The Terror. (season 1 is AMAZING)." ~ MagdaCadabra
"It was really interesting watching this series because it is part of Canadian history. I watched an old CBC documentary about it and some of the oral histories from the Inuit suggest there was a group of men still walking like 8 years on from when they first abandoned ship." ~ TheMightyWoofer
Actors Galore
"I really liked The Knick." ~ ricomt21
"The Knick had such an incredible cast. One of those shows for which I actively searched out the actors once it wrapped. I’ll watch André Holland and Jeremy Bobb in anything! Chris Sullivan was sooo good with Cara Seymour. (Unfortunately, I can’t watch him in This Is Us… not my cup of tea.)" ~ CCMacReddit
Precious Metal
"The Detectorists. Extremely dry and very British, but a really heartfelt and lovely comedy about some metal detectorists in Essex." ~ BwingoLord1
“Any of you chaps see a trampoline?“
"https://youtu.be/2-iyz1UB1ogThat’s the clip that I usually use when showing people the show. Either grabs them immediately or meh." ~ thermbug
GiphyI loved Dead Like Me.
That ended way too soon.
The Knick? Meh...
Huzzah!
"The Great. It's...great! Hilarious and charming and occasionally a true story." ~ Dusk9K
GiphyMiss you Ted...
"Better off Ted was unceremoniously killed before its time, with ABC citing a lack of viewers. It pops up from time to time on reddit, but being from 2009, it's largely out of the cultural sphere these days. Which is unfortunate, because Portia de Rossi in particular is incredible in it."
"I was looking for a good clip to show the best of this show for people who haven't watched it before, and the Jabberwocky presentation, linked below by a brilliant person, is probably the single greatest example of the show I can think of. As a few have been asking, if you're wanting to give it a shot, it's on Hulu right now." ~ lifelongfreshman
On a Hill
"Mission Hill. Just too ahead of it's time." ~ MotherLoveBone27
"It could totally come back in today's culture. Well, almost; it's literally a major plot point that Andy, after losing his waterbed selling job and mucking about, nets a job in marketing thanks to his friend Jim, being seen by Jim's boss as 'youth of today' and thus valuable for marketing input."
"That spin doesn't really work in current times, so in the event the series does come back, it'd be interesting what the writers do." ~ digitaldrummer1
Sci-Fi Best
"Farscape is one of my absolute favorite shows of all time and it pops up occasionally on threads like this but I never hear it talked about in the wild." ~ sharrrper
"Farscape is probably my favorite sci fi show for so many reasons. Great writing, interesting world, and they didn't phone in the aliens with facial prosthetics and some kind of bullcrap hand waving about 'ancient ones seeding the galaxy.'" ~ emu314159
90s Genius
"Sliders is a show that was supposedly popular in the mid 90s yet is sadly forgotten. The first 3 seasons were awesome." ~ offspringphreak
Giphy"Sliders was awesome! I'll never forget the episode where he finally gets back to his timeline and left because the gate didn't squeak. Then a repairman comes out and says, 'I fixed that squeaky gate for you' to his mom. Thanks for the flashback!!" ~ PhatBallllzAtHotmail
Why, you say?
"Mr Inbetween. The first season (of three total) will be the best three hours (six half-hour episodes) that you'll ever spend in your life, culminating with the best episode (how it got there, where it goes, and how it ends) that I've ever seen—and I've seen The Wire, Deadwood, Halt and Catch Fire, and GOT."
"Scott Ryan created the character, writes every episode, and is the show's protagonist. He's a f**king genius. Why, you say? Well, ask actress Helen Mirren and her director husband, Taylor Hackford. They saw the show, loved it (of course), and told their agent at CAA to sign him right away."
"Oh, and the first episode is called 'The Pee Pee Guy.' So if all that doesn't convince you, then fuck off. But first, have a look at the trailer, please."
magicsoakedinmyspine
AMY!
"Sharp objects. Haven't heard too many people talk about it or know of it."
Gladiators10
"Tried to watch this one. Couldn't do it. Just slow and painful."
Sinjun13
"I freaking loved it. Made my mom watch and she loved it too! Thankfully, I know a lot of people who's watched it."
MisanthropeInLove
Incredible
"Party Down incredible cast and humor."
farid00
"I met Ken Marino when I was an extra on Eastbound and Down and he was the nicest guy in the world. I told him I loved him in Wet Hot American Summer and Party Down. He got a huge smile and said thank you so much. He wasn’t even working that day he was just on set to say what’s up and mess around. Good stuff."
johnnyutah30
Love the Random
"MIRACLE WORKERS all seasons of it Every person I’ve put on to this show, loves it."
Princesscrowbar
"LOVE this show. Such a delightfully random cast (put Lolly Adefope in more stuff!) and high-concept but lighthearted humor executed perfectly."
ich_habe_keine_kase
GIF by Miracle WorkersGiphyrelax and laugh
"Catastrophe. If you liked Fleabag, then you'll like this."
Rossnowlagh
"Love love love catastrophe. Have seen it more than once. I did IVF last year and after you do an embryo transfer you’re 'supposed to' relax and laugh (it helps apparently) and the show I chose to (re) watch was catastrophe. Laughed my a** off. Am sitting next to my newborn now."
-itwaswritten-
Genius
"Person of Interest."
Mingulator
"I was legit about to comment this. The first person other than myself I’ve ever heard talk about it was my first college roommate."
Beverageboi-Averin
"It's much better than any show with the premise of 'mass surveillance is actually a good thing' has a right to be, but Jonathan Nolan made it work."
SciFiXhi
Bring it Back
"HBO’s Carnival - extremely other worldly and atmospheric."
"When they cancelled it was so depressing. Great show very original. They could not let us enjoy it."
ice1972
Season 1 Episode 6 GIF by Carnival RowGiphyWatch Now!!
"Halt and catch fire."
Mjh132
"I loved this show, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention it. Lee Pace and Mackenzie Davis are both great in it as well. Really interesting topics as they go on in seasons as well."
equipped_metalblade
"By the last season I was asking myself 'is this the best show in television?' I had to ask myself because no one else was watching."
Ray_Band
Oh Sliders, talk about memory lane. Let's go get out binge lists ready!
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"What funny thing happened at school that caused utter chaos for the faculty?
Holy Sh*t
"2000"
"Teachers trying to stop kids smoking in the bathroom so they locked the bathroom doors."
"Kid took a sh*t on the carpet in front of the bathroom door, like right in the main hallway."
"Chaos ensued."
"Today, that kid is a pastor."
"Lol."- Jimmycapped
Cheaters Almost Always Get Caught
"It wasn't funny, but when I was in high school, there were two teachers in the school that were married."
"I was sitting in the husbands classroom waiting for the class to start when another kid ran in and said 'Hey Mr B, your wife is making out with Mr H in his classroom'."
"Turns out they'd locked the door, but about a dozen kids were looking through the skinny door window watching them."
"The guy didn't even say anything."
"He just looked crushed."
"He just walked out of the class and never came back...I mean we never saw him again."
"Turned out his wife and the other teacher had been having an affair and he'd might have suspected, but having it confirmed by one of his students in front of the whole class was too much."
"The school didn't discipline the two cheaters, but the students sure as hell did."
"Both of them had to listen to 'cheating' puns and jokes every day."
"'Hey Ms S, I'm going to copy off Joe's test, cheating is cool with you right?'" kind of stuff."
"Neither came back the next school year."- McFeely_Smackup
Cartoons Button GIF by NickelodeonGiphyWhere He Went, Music Followed...
"Hired a mariachi band to follow around our principal for our senior class prank."
"It was hysterical."- JulieFromJerz
Complicated Role Model...
"In middle school, a staff (not a teacher, he watched lunch and was a basketball coach for a high school) got arrested for selling weed to the kids."
"He won an award for 'best staff of the year' that year which had an entire yearbook page dedicated to him, but he was arrested after the yearbooks were printed."
"They had to go into each yearbook and cover that page with purple duct tape (to match the color scheme)."
"Prior to him being arrested, I was getting bullied horribly."
"None of the teachers or other staff could get the kids to stop, but once the staff who was arrested said 'leave Spencer alone'," the kids would immediately stop."
"I later realized he was threatening to take their weed away if they bullied me, and that's why he was the only one who could get them to stop."- Spencer2091
Funny Might Not Be The Best Word...
"Someone had a baby in the bathroom stall."
"I wish I was making this up."- JacobCStowe
baby GIFGiphyLegs Are Legs!
"They banned shorts because they were not professional enough."
"So all the boys wore skirts as a protest."- Haboobalub·
Or Did They Just Have A Time-Turner In Their Pocket?
"One of the classrooms at my school was a prefab hut, and over time it developed a hole in the floor at the back of the room (developed, or was helped, unsure)."
"Every lesson I had in there for a good few months before they fixed it, someone would arrive, greet the teacher, and sit down."
"Then after a few minutes they'd arrive again, straight-faced 'sorry I'm late sir', and sit down."
"Then again a few minutes later they'd arrive again... etc."
"The fun part was watching the teacher playing the memory game of figuring out who'd arrived too many times."- telnorp
Depends On How Short We're Talking...
"Freshman year one of my friends wanted to me run for student body vice president as a part of his counterculture party."
"He insisted on having me be his VP, to the point where he got all the necessary signatures for me to run without my knowledge and just went ahead and signed me up."
"We had to write speeches to get other kids to vote for us, and those speeches had to be approved beforehand by some faculty member."
"So I wrote a very disparaging speech about the validity and purpose of student council, laden with curse words and personal attacks towards our administration, thinking it would get screened ahead of time and they would disqualify me."
"I guess no one actually read my speech and just rubber stamped it, so on that morning they pulled me aside and handed me a printed out copy of my speech."
homer simpson drinking GIFGiphy"I went ahead and gave my speech and I guess none of the faculty knew what to do because no one stopped me but they were clearly panicked and furious."
"I got a lot of laughs and applause."
"I assume it was too late to print all new ballots because when we went to vote my name was crossed out with a sharpie."
"I also got suspended for 5 days despite my explanation that I did not want to run and submitted my speech for approval, on time, fully intending to be disqualified."
"I was also told by some older student council members involved in the ballot counting process that I won by a landslide due to write ins and people just circling the black line of my name, but I have no idea if that's true."- pieonthedonkey
Ladders Must Have Been In Short Supply...
"A student got ahold of a LOT of explicit pictures and taped them to all of the school clocks, suspended from the ceiling. None of the teachers were tall enough to pull them down, so they were up there for a bit."- Unlikely_Use
A Hard One To Erase From Memory (...Pun Intended...)
"My wife is a school teacher, and a couple years ago the senior prank was them sticking a bunch of those suction cupsex toys to the windows."
"And let's just say that the school has a lot of windows."
"It was the brain child of some douche bag architect who thought building a high school with no walls just windows was good idea."
"Any way, they managed to get the largest of the them stuck to the 3rd floor outside window, of one of the classrooms."
"So the male assistant principal gets a ladder, but its not quite long enough so he's teetering on the top of this ladder trying knock a 2-foot long purple d*ck of the side of the school with a broom handle."
"She said he was beating that thing as it owed him money, and it was just bouncing around, flopping and banging against the window."
"While everyone watched through tears of laughter."- Nutesatchel
What The Hell Comedy GIF by Paramount+GiphyDid ANYONE Find This Funny?
"Someone in my high school sent letters to everyone they deemed 'virgins' parents saying their son or daughter was tested for and found to have an STD by the school nurse and that they needed to come to the school immediately."
"Used the school letterhead etc so they got charged with mail fraud lol."- B__Malz
When In Doubt, Follow Moses...
"In my HS, there was a solid week where somebody set a trash can on fire daily."
"Nobody knew if it was one person or a group of people, but I think after day five everyone got pretty tired of having to stand out in the football field while the fire department inspected the area.
"It stopped after that week with no explanation and no word from the culprit."
"Second best was definitely the senior prank performed by the class two years ahead of mine."
"They bought crickets from our local PetSmart and set them free on our school’s main staircase."
"It took forever to get rid of them and I can remember sitting in class and hearing faint chirping coming from seemingly every direction."- Livingroxets
"A boy in my class brought some locusts in to show and tell."
"They escaped and got into the air vents."
"This was just before summer break."
"School came back to a full-on plague."- Big_Explanation_8803
Bugs Insects GIF by The GuardianGiphyNeedless to say, one has little doubt that any of the planned occurrences in these stories were ever meant to be found funny by the faculty or staff.
Even so, one also has little doubt that they've all looked back and laughed about some of these with the passage of time...
A deleted Redditor wanted everyone to share about the times we've been left red in the face, so they asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever said to someone you were trying to impress?"
I once fell off of a treadmill trying to flirt with my high school crush.
I was running way too fast to show my "stamina."
I destroyed my Discman and my dignity.
Oh My
Licking Ice Cream GIF by MLB NetworkGiphy"Crush in High School worked at an ice cream store. When she asked for toppings I said 'I’ll have Reese’s penises please.' The store laughed."
WhaleyWino235
Tom Morello's Hometown
"I worked at the local guitar shop in town in high school. It happens to be Tom Morello's hometown (of rage against the machine fame). The owner used to babysit him when Tom was little and he'd always stop by to say hi when they were in town on tour. This was around the time of the evil empire and they were at peak popularity."
"He came in one day while I was there and asked if John was in. 16-year-old me just looked at him and asked 'Do you know who you are?!?!' He just laughed and said yes. Humiliated I went and got the owner and then tried to hide and die from shame."
matthewmichael
Echoes
"I was around 15, going through the receiving line at my cousin's wedding. This was my first 'grown-up' wedding and I wanted to act it. As I hugged my cousin I blurted out 'I'm so excited to be here! The last wedding I was at was your first one!'"
"That has echoed in my head for 30 years."
"E: This was my cousin's second wedding. The groom's first."
LGBecca
No Tip
"A server trying to get a tip: I went to clear a shared dessert dish from a table of 4 - mom, dad, and 2 sons. One son jokingly pointed at his mom and said 'She ate most of it.' I, the braindead server who was/is terrible at banter, but trying to get a tip said the first reply that came to mind: 'I can tell.' No idea why. Terrible reaction, as expected. No tip."
1nd1anaCroft
Snap
Buffering Back To School GIF by Rodney DangerfieldGiphy"I can do a Kickflip, then proceed to elegantly snap my ankle."
Mrlightyboy
Why do we risk our lives?
Have we really lost the ability for a simple flirt?
Where?
The Beautiful Game Thumbs Up GIF by World CupGiphy"I did once (truthfully) tell a girl from Austria that I didn't know what the capital of Austria was - which wouldn't be too embarrassing, except that I was wearing a t-shirt which said 'Vienna Rocks' on it at the time. She thought I was joking."
Ok-Fudge8848
The Red Lights
"I told everyone I knew about my plan to go on a trip to Europe. I had planned to tour different countries by train with a special visit to… Amsterdam. My intention was to visit a marijuana cafe, but in my ignorance, I thought that these were all located in the red lights district. I would tell people I was going to the red light district and they would understandably pause and ask me… why?"
"Trying to be sly I would say something like 'to do what the locals do of course,' believing that this meant smoking marijuana in a cafe… I was actually telling everyone I knew, friends, teachers, relatives, coworkers, that I was going to cross the Atlantic so I could hire a sex worker."
Virtual-Elderberry31
How Far You'll Go
"Was on an airplane years ago with my girlfriend and her parents. My girlfriend couldn't get a seat next to me and sat directly behind me. During the flight, I thought I would surprise her and reached my hand back onto her knee. Slowly I kept extending it up her thigh until I heard giggling."
"Looked behind through the seats and saw that my hand was on the leg of the guy next to her. He saw my face and said, 'I just wanted to see how far you'd go.' Of course, my girlfriend was in on it and started laughing along with the rest of the row. Was so embarrassed."
Ladon1949
Not Cool
"I was skating at a school and my girlfriend calls me and says she wants to hang out. Tell her I'm skating but she can meet me at the school and we can figure out what we're doing from there. She shows up looking cute AF, so clearly I need to impress her. There was a little two stair where she was waiting for me and I went to do a BS 180 down it. Instead of just landing normally, I thought I would look more bada** if I stomped the landing."
"As I landed my lead foot came off the board and I landed with all of my weight on that ankle... Immediate excruciating pain ensued and I'm on the ground rolling in pain. My sad attempt to look cool skating had turned into one of the worst injuries I received and an extremely embarrassing moment. The pain was so bad I could barely drive my car back home because I severely injured my right ankle."
"Didn't break my ankle but I did have a severe ankle sprain. I've had surgery on it and it's much better, but it just has never been quite the same. As far as the girlfriend goes, we're still together and have been married for 10 years."
DJAXL
Listen Again
Go Away Beyonce GIFGiphy"I told a musician I like that I liked a specific song. It was not his song."
Naca-7
We are so silly.
Why can't we just say 'Hey' and get on with it?
Such drama.
