This board has recently introduced me to Brainiac, a show I’m quite enjoying, and now I’m looking for more quirky show that might be currently running. Most shows, even relatively low rated ones, on the big 6 networks (soon to be 5) are not that obscure, but there are a few hidden gems in basic cable land. Here are a few of my favorites:
O’Grady - crudely drawn cartoon designed for teens (I guess), but it has some pretty sophisticated humor and some of the best dialogue outside of Gilmore Girls.
Number One Single - Lisa Loeb dating - made me love her even more. It may have ended its run, but I’m still catching up to it on Tivo.
I also see the newest “lets send modern people to a remote place and let them live like the old timers” ala Frontier House or Colonial House is going to come the first of May - Texas Ranch House.
It’s hard to say how obscure it is – it may be big in the UK, but not the US – but I love **Hustle **. It’s one of the best plotted shows on TV, and excels at bringing up amazing plot twists that you never see coming. The show’s about a group of con men; I remember one where you didn’t realize until the last few minutes that they weren’t scamming A; they were scamming B.
In the US, it’s on AMC (not a powerhouse) and on Saturday nights (not much viewership, and they sometimes skip an episode). They’ve just finished the second BBC season (with a plot to steal the crown jewels) and I can’t wait to both see more and to catch up on the ones I’ve missed.
Lemme think about what I have set up on the ol’ DVR…well, there’s Wonder Showzen, which may or may not be obscure, depending on your mode of thinking. It’s a kids’ show that is so totally not for kids. Unless your kids want to see a puppet show about Mother Nature getting a sex change operation.
It Takes a Thief on I think Discovery. Not sure if it’s still in production or not. Two reformed burglars drive around and convince apparently random homeowners to let them break into their houses and steal their stuff in exchange for a home security makeover. Why anyone agrees to this is beyond me. The homeowners sit in a van with one of the ex-thieves, watching while the other ex-thief breaks in, trashes their house and steals their stuff (which does get returned). The ex-thief tries to make the homeowners feel as bad as possible as they watch their homes being ransacked (“wow, he just tore that window right out…man, it must be hard to watch him going through all of your personal and private possessions…tell us about it.”). Then the homeowners get to confront the other ex-thief and tell him how pissed off they are at him for pretending to steal their stuff. It gets kind of boring when it comes to the security upgrade, but the first half hour to 40 minutes is hilarious.
I’m a very big fan of the History Channel’s “Conquest.” Peter Woodward trains a group of students in the skills necessary to use the weaponry or equipment from a certain time period. They recently have explored trench warfare, movie and actually Renaissance fencing, and primitive weaponry. Fascinating to watch.
“Slings and Arrows” on the Sundance Channel. It’s a Canadian series about a Stratford-type theatre festival. It’s co-produced and co-written by Mark McKinney from Kids in the Hall, who also plays the General Manager. Paul Gross from “Due South” is the semi-crazy Artistic Director, and there are a lot of very good Canadian actors whom I never heard of in it, too. Rachel McAdams was the ingenue in season one.
It’s mostly a comedy, with a nicely quirky sense of humor, and I just love any kind of behind-the-scenes theatre stuff. The second season, which just ended, wasn’t as good as the first, and both seasons were way too short (6 episodes each, I think). Sundance reruns the episodes several times. I think it’s worth checking out.
“Look” is a very funny satire of 1970s-early 1980s “educational” series. “Shirley Ghostman” is a fake reality show about (kinda) a fake psychic. Both are on during BBC’s new “Underground” block on Friday nights.
Details can be found here, but in short, it’s a game show where upon haling a cab, the passenger finds out they are in a game show and answer questions until they reach their destination. They can stop a random passer-by once to ask for help, or telephone a friend once, but if they miss three questions they’re out (literally, they’re kicked out of the cab). I stumbled upon it one weekend, and found it quite entertaining.
Obscure to me, but maybe not to anyone else --I recently stumbled upon Creature Comforts on BBCA. The show has animals created by the Wallace & Grommit guys, and the audio is man-on-the-street interviews with real people (most of whom sound like Ricky Gervais), talking about mundane things. It’s weird and funny.
I like Adult Swim’s Minoriteam despite the racist humor. The Kirby-esque artwork reminds me of my favorite comics from the '70s, and it’s funny because the cliches are so totally over the top.
I love this, too - it’s just odd. We watch it every Friday.
“Bromwell High” - not sure it’s obscure in the UK, but over here, no one seems to have heard of it. It’s a British cartoon about a school - one of the main characters, Keisha, is hysterical - she’s got an attitude problem, but she’s funny as hell. This week’s episode had her as a pyromanic, setting everything in school on fire. We keep calling her the female English version of Cartman.
We also like “Film School” on IFC, which follows four NYU film school students through the making of their thesis films - if only for the absolute narcissism and self-centeredness of the subjects. It reminds me why I always found film students unendingly tiresome when living in NYC.
“Rescue Me” on FX, which will start its third season at the end of May. “Rescue Me”, “Monk” on USA, and “Doctor Who” on SciFi are pretty much the only episodic shows I watch these days.
Is Survivorman obscure enough? They send a guy out into the wilderness alone, carrying his own (50 lbs worth!) of camera equipment, and not many supplies. (In the episode in the Canadian Arctic, he had his multitool, three matches, and several pounds of raw seal meat. And whatever he could tear off the broken snowmobile they left him with. Usually, he doesn’t get that much.)
It’s everything I hoped the original Survivor would be. Screw all the petty interpersonal stuff…let’s see how find fresh water and some vermin to eat.
I guess Adult Swim programming isn’t really obscure since it basically brought back Family Guy and could get some credit for Futurama’s possible return, but mention one of the current shows and nobody knows what you’re talking about.
I also like MXC aka Most Extreme Elimination Challenge on Spike. It’s basically a Japanese obstacle course/physical challenge show that’s overdubbed with wildly inappropriate dialog. They call one of the characters Guy Le Douche, and there’s more racy innuendo than you can shake a stick at. Plus you get to see Jappanese people willingly leaping into muddy water, running into plywood boards and falling off spinning logs. Low brow, definitely. Hilarious, damn right.
I watch Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” on Travel Channel, it is not that great but it is entertaining. It is a lot like “Cook’s Tour”, his old show on Food Network.
Last week he ate a raw seal eyeball with an Inuit family in Northern Quebec.
