After starting out as a radio broadcasting station in the 1930s, NBC has evolved to the point where it is today one of the major television networks in the American film industry. Ranging from iconic sitcoms likeFriends,Seinfeld, andThe Officeto scintillating crime thrillers likeChicago FireandThe Blacklist, NBC’s catalog of TV shows is as vast as it is exceptional. However,for every major hit the series has had, there has been another equally brilliant show that was overlooked.
Some of these series have steadily endured and are gradually becoming cult classics as time goes by, while others have simply never received the due they so thoroughly deserve. While they don’t make up the biggest titles that have come from NBC, they are fine examples of the station’s dedication to genre storytelling and engrossing television entertainment.
10’Timeless' (2016-2018)
Created by Eric Kripke & Shawn Ryan
Following a history professor, an army veteran, and an engineer on a time-traveling adventure to save the world as we know it,Timelessis blockbuster television at its grandest. It focuses on the unlikely trio as they set out to prevent a terrorist group that has come into the possession of time-traveling technology, with the faction’s leader striving to rewrite history.
Its narrative sense and characters have a bit of old-fashioned simplicity to them, butTimelessstill contains all the action awe and high-concept intrigue of modern sci-fi film and televisionto be a captivating sleeper hit on the small screen.While the sweeping historical serieswas canceled after two seasons, NBC still ordered a two-part finale to close out the series and give its small yet dedicated fan base the closure they craved.
Watch on Hulu
9’Trial & Error' (2017-2018)
Created by Jeff Astrof & Matt Miller
Energetically playful with a penchant for spoofing legal shows and reality TV,Trial & Errorran for two criminally underrated seasons as a courtroom mockumentary with a blatant disregard for true crime content and a wonderful embracing of stupid comedy. It follows Josh Segal (Nicholas D’Agosto), a young and ambitious attorney from New York who moves to small-town South Carolina where he begins taking up high-profile murder cases that draw the public’s attention.
Trial & Errorquickly won over fans with its array of eccentric characters, namelyJohn Lithgow’s Larry Henderson who, in Season 1, stands trial for the charge of murdering his wife.Its irreverence, satirical elements, and its brisk pace also won it plenty of admirers. Sadly, however, it didn’t manage to grow beyond its second season, with NBC not renewing the contract on it, while Warner Bros. were unable to sell it to a new broadcaster.
Watch on Amazon
8’Good Girls' (2018-2021)
Created by Jenna Bans
A rousing and triumphant crime comedy that thrives off the back of its endearing and effortlessly hilarious cast,Good Girlsmanages to offer plenty of laughs while also functioning as an empowering drama. It follows two sisters and their best friend, all women who have fallen on hard times, as they begin committing robberies to get by. Completely unfamiliar with crime, the girls struggle to transition to becoming hardened crooks, but their growing enthusiasm for the thrilling lifestyle stands them in good stead.
WithChristina Hendricks,Rhetta, andMae Whitman, occupying the lead roles, the series’ utilization of its leading ladies was its strongest asset. It ran for four seasons from 2018 to 2021,with Seasons 2 and 3 in particularhighlighting the exceptional genre and tonal balance the series was capable of striking.
Good Girls
Watch on Netflix
7’Quantum Leap' (1989-1993)
Created by Donald P. Bellisario
Running for five seasons through the late 80s and early 90s,Quantum Leapis one of many sci-fi series from that era that struggled to become bona fide sensations yet still amassed a cult following. FeaturingStar Trek’sScott Bakulain the leading role, it focuses on a scientist who tries to invent a time machine in the near future. However, when he uses it, he finds himself occupying other people’s bodies at different times.
Mixing elements of sci-fi, action, drama, comedy, and romance, the series is a richly entertaining spectacle, even if it critics at the time were dismissive of it. Having become an enduring cult hit for genre lovers,Quantum Leapwas revived in 2022in the form of an equally underrated reboot that only ran for two seasons before being axed by NBC early in 2024.
Quantum Leap
Watch on Peacock
6’Awake' (2012)
Created by Kyle Killen
Running with an intriguing premise,Awakecombined elements of fantasy and sci-fi with police procedural drama to be an ambitious series that wascut prematurely after just one season. It starsJason Isaacsas Michael Britton, an LAPD police officer who survives a car crash to find himself torn between two realities, one where his wife was killed in the accident and one where his son died instead. He struggles to discern which existence is real and which one is just a dream world.
Intelligently written and exceptionally realized,Awakeearned widespread critical acclaimbut struggled to make inroads with the American public, quickly succumbing to its poor television ratings. However, it still boasts a fascinating central idea and explores it in interesting ways, makingAwakean underrated series that could have been anything had it been granted a second season.
Buy on Apple
5’Crime Story' (1986-1988)
Created by Chuck Adamson & Gustave Reininger
While NBC has thrived during the golden age of television,Crime Storyoffers ample proof that the network had been pumping out exceptional, albeit underappreciated, series for a very long time. The 80s crime drama follows a detective in 1960s Chicago as he and his fellow officers work tirelessly to oppose a growing organized crime figure, Ray Luca (Anthony Denison). A fierce rivalry begins to grow between the crook and the cop who hunts him.
The series was a landmark achievement, garnering both praise and controversy for its pioneering effort to tell such a crime story throughout entire seasons rather than just running with episodic narratives like most other shows of the time. WithMichael Mannattached as the executive producer,Crime Storystill holds a unique and impressively bold place amid NBC’s television efforts, but it ultimately failed as it was put up against hit series likeMoonlightingandFalcon Crestwhich performed better.
4’Superstore' (2015-2021)
Created by Justin Spitzer
Workplace sitcoms have been a mainstay of light television entertainment throughout the 21st century, with NBC producing many of the genre’s greatest hits in that time. One of the network’s best offerings in this realm comes in the form ofSuperstore, which follows the employees of an all-purpose megastore in Missouri as they confront everyday issues while embarking on lovable misadventures along the way.
While the show’s first season had some rough spots, Season 2 saw it quickly make amends, and it only grew stronger throughout the rest of its six-season run. It hinges much of its success on its talented cast, led byAmerica FerreraandBen Feldman, who excel at embracing the series’ comedic setting as well as its quieter, character-driven intrigue. The end result seesSuperstorestand as one ofthe best sitcoms in recent yearsand one of the most underrated series of the 2010s.
Superstore
3’Blindspot' (2015-2020)
Creator: Martin Gero
A thrilling action series,Blindspotfollows the mystery surrounding a tattooed woman with no memory of her past who is found in a travel bag in Times Square. She befriends an FBI special agent, and together they discover that each of her tattoos contains clues as to her past life, but also to crimes that must be solved. As they explore the case, however, they find that more people are involved than they could have ever anticipated.
The series’ premise provides more than enough narrative flesh for the show’s five-season run,excelling as an intriguing mystery rife with exceptional action that steadily developed and improvedas the series went on. Intelligently written and unfolding at a rapid pace,Blindspotis underrated as one of the best action crime series of its decade.
2’Freaks and Geeks' (1999-2000)
Creator: Paul Feig
A star-making series in the context of American comedy,Freaks and Geeksonly ran for one season, but its lasting impact on the genre cannot be overstated. A high school comedy, it focuses on several unpopular students as they navigate the highs and lows of teenage life, ranging from battling a lack of ambition to romantic struggles and existential angst.
Its incredible cast – which includesJames Franco,Seth Rogen,Linda Cardellini, andJason Segal– has seen the series win many new admirers retrospectively. While many viewers only went to see what the cast was like before they broke out,fans have been won over en masse due toFreaks and Geeks’ sharp comedy and its sometimes awkward and painful earnestness. While it has developed a cult following, it remains one of the most underappreciated comedy series in television history.
Freaks and Geeks
1’Hannibal' (2013-2015)
Created by Bryan Fuller
Not only an underrated thriller from NBC,Hannibalis one of the most undervalued series by any broadcast station of the 21st century thus far. A wonderful realization of the iconic character Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), the series explores his relationship with FBI criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), whose own issues make him susceptible to Lecter’s terrible influence.
A magnificent showpiece of the actors’ talents,Mikkelsen and Dancy are sublime in their roles, while the series’ stunning sense of style has a knack for catching viewers in a powerful and alluring trance. Far exceeding the average crime series,Hannibalis rife with enriching character drama andmurder scenes that are as shockingly violentas they are elaborate and intricate. A compromised third and final season has done very little to tarnish the legacy and the staying power of the hit series, which ranks highly among NBC’s greatest shows of all time.
