10 Most Underrated TV Shows On Apple TV+

As prestige television continues to find new homes in the streaming era, one platform that has consistently produced quality original programming is Apple TV+. Though the streaming service is best known for popular shows like the uplifting and wam "Ted Lasso" and the mysterious and important "Severance," there is a growing library of similarly critically lauded series available. Often overlooked due to the increasingly crowded nature of the industry and its multiple streaming platforms, these shows are well worth checking out. Like their more prominent counterparts on the service, these Apple TV+ originals maintain the platform's reputation for high production quality and richly imagined narrative premises.

From alternate history science fiction to supernatural horror, there's something for virtually every genre on Apple TV+ available. These shows also range from domestically produced series to international productions from Europe and Asia. Simply put, Apple TV+ has quietly developed a well-earned reputation for its original series, many of which deserving more widespread recognition. 

Here are the 10 most underrated TV shows on Apple TV+.

The alternate history series "For All Mankind" operates under the question of what would happen if the Soviet Union landed someone on the Moon before the United States in 1969. What results in a prolonged Space Race that lasts for decades, as the world powers consistently top each other in moving deeper and deeper into the cosmos. Following a core ensemble, each season of the series jumps ahead a decade as humanity begins to set up shop on the Moon and Mars moving into the 21st century. The extended drive to push further into the stars also prolongs the Cold War, as well as other significant changes to geopolitics in this alternate timeline.

Just as the show focuses on explorers of the unknown, "For All Mankind" was among the first Apple TV+ original series, premiering with the platform's launch on November 1, 2019. In a lot of ways, the show embodies the qualities of Apple TV+ overall, with thought-provoking stories, well-written characters, high production, and one heck of narrative hook. Yes, the show takes place in an alternate history, but the show keeps its moments of sci-fi spectacle rooted in human emotion and believable stakes. A critical darling that helped Apple TV+ forward, it's never too late to get in on "For All Mankind" and one of the best shows currently on television.

Another series premiering alongside the 2019 launch of Apple TV+ was the period piece romantic comedy "Dickinson." Hailee Steinfeld stars as 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson, who endures her parents' disapproval over her vocation and reluctance to court male suitors. Instead, Emily is secretly in love with her best friend Sue Gilbert (Ella Hunt), complicated by the fact that she's also her brother's fiancée. As Emily's writing career and romantic life face unexpected ups and downs, the family is impacted by national changes, including the American Civil War.

Though set in the mid-19th century, "Dickinson" is unlike any period piece show you've seen before, leaning hard into deliberate anachronisms and surrealism. Dickinson's vivid imagination informs much of how she sees the world, something that Steinfeld captures beautifully throughout the series. Always mindful of the real historical figure behind the story, each episode is titled after and thematically based around one of Dickinson's poems. A postmodern way to approach a period piece series, "Dickinson" rethinks what's possible with historical dramas.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has left an enduring mark on horror cinema for 30 years, and he spread that legacy to television with 2019's "Servant." Working with creator Tony Basgallop, the series follows a Philadelphia-based couple mourning the loss of their infant son. Grieving mother Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose) uses a reborn doll as a coping mechanism, going as far as to welcome a strange woman named Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) to work as the doll's nanny. However, as Leanne makes herself at home, the doll transforms into a real living baby, with the paranormal occurrences only escalating from there.

Like Leanne, "Servant" keeps its secrets close to the chest, only gradually offering major clues as each season progresses. By its fourth and final season, the story explodes into chaotic calamity, regarding patient viewers as its supernatural mystery reaches a crescendo. Permeating throughout this deliberately paced scary story is an unrelenting creepy atmosphere, largely housed within the Turner family's unassuming townhouse. Darkly vicious and thoroughly unsettling, "Servant" rests firmly within Shyamalan's creative wheelhouse as Apple TV+'s most effective horror series yet.

There is a robust block of original British programming on Apple TV+, including everything from crime thrillers to darkly comic espionage shows. A more conventional Britcom on the platform is "Trying," which focuses on married couple Nikki Newman (Esther Smith) and Jason Ross (Rafe Spall) as they try to become parents. After facing difficulties in conceiving a baby, the couple turns to adoption, only to learn this process is far more arduous than they initially anticipated. Later seasons feature a time skip, as Nikki and Jason face the realities of having their parenthood dreams come true while raising their children.

A show revolving around fertility struggles might not seem ripe for comedy, but that thematic mismatch is where greatest strengths in "Trying" lie. The show takes the all-too-relatable heartbreaking and challenging parts of life and unearths the wry humor from those moments. Spall and Smith play well off each other in that regard, knowing when to get serious and deliver the hard-earned laughs on a dime. A comedy about just trying to do your best, primarily through the lens of building a family, "Trying" expertly balances the bittersweet elements of life in delicate measure.

Sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov is one of the most influential authors in the genre, especially with his long-running "Foundation" stories. The centuries-spanning saga was adapted into one of Apple TV+'s most ambitious shows in 2021 and the platform's most deliberate lean into hard sci-fi. The series revolves around a conflict between mathematician Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) and his followers and the Empire, headed by a series of clones of the regent Cleon. Seldon prepares for a coming cataclysm he and his protege Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobel) predicted, something the Empire attempts to violently suppress.

"Foundation" is densely plotted and sweeping world-building that demands an audience's full attention as it weaves its intricate narrative spanning space and time. After the foundational, pardon the pun, inaugural season, the series launches into a more propulsive, action-packed pace with its second season. Through all the high concept storytelling that the show hinges on, it never loses sight of its characters' humanity, particularly through Dornick's journey and all she loses along the way. Rewarding viewers' patience, especially moving into season 2, "Foundation" is sci-fi world-building at its most complex and unabashedly grandiose.

K-dramas, South Korean scripted television shows, have been steadily growing in popularity worldwide over the past several years. Many American-based streaming platforms have their own growing catalogs of K-dramas and Apple TV+ is no different in that regard. The service's first original K-drama was the 2021 sci-fi thriller "Dr. Brain," adapting the webtoon of the same name by Hongjacga. The series has Sewon Koh (Lee Sun-kyun) use a device to link his brain to those of the deceased, experiencing their memories as he investigates what happened to his family.

Unfolding across six episodes, "Dr. Brain" is a tightly paced conspiracy thriller that veers into the nightmarishly surreal. As Sewon interfaces more and more with the dead, his grip on reality steadily erodes, stylishly illustrated through the show's exploration of mental darkness. In true K-drama fashion, the series draws viewers in with shocking plot twists every step of the way, keeping them on the edge of their seat. A sci-fi neo-noir, "Dr. Brain" keeps its characters grounded even as it plunges deeper and deeper into the memories of the dead.

Author Min Jin Lee's best-selling 2017 historical novel "Pachinko" was adapted into a live-action series of the same name in 2022 by Soo Hugh (read our interview with her here). Like the novel, the narrative is split between two different time periods centered on Korean woman Kim Sunja at different stages of her life. During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the '30s and '40s, a younger Sunja (Kim Min-ha) struggles to raise her family under the brutal regime. In the '80s, an older Sunja faces fresh challenges as her grandson Baek Solomon (Jin Ha) returns to Japan as part of a major business deal.

Digging deeper into the story than the novel had, "Pachinko" doesn't pull its punches with its heartbreaking stakes and tragedies that Sunja endures. This is balanced with Baek's own journey to Japan decades later, framed by his morals and corporate interests colliding. But for as melodramatic as "Pachinko" can sometimes feel, its emotional highs and lows always feel grounded in character and true to history. Though American-produced, "Pachinko" appeals to any K-drama fans looking for similar subject matter and period piece trappings.

The world of wine-tasting and its associated expertise is surprisingly cutthroat in its competitiveness in the 2023 series "Drops of God." Adapting the manga series by Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto, the series involves a battle for the world's greatest private wine collection and estate, left by a late oenologist. On one end is Camille Léger (Fleur Geffrier), daughter of the deceased wine expert and lifelong wine prodigy, and on the other is Issei Tomine (Tomohisa Yamashita), his protege pupil. As the two embark on an epic wine-tasting contest for the fate of the estate, they reconcile with their painful pasts linked to the same demanding man.

What "Drops of God" does brilliantly is really delve into the backstories and traumas of its two lead characters, firmly building that emotional foundation before cutting loose. For a story fixated on wine, the show doesn't feel pretentious, and it's just as accessible and fascinating to someone who's never touched a drop of wine themselves. A lot of that comes down to the strong writing, as well as the cinematography's engaging and stylized approach to the series' many drinking sequences. A true overlooked gem, "Drops of God" was thankfully renewed for a second season, hinting at even bigger wine-based stakes to come.

British actor Idris Elba has built up a robust filmography of major movie and television roles, many involving him to jump directly into high-octane action. For the 2023 series "Hijack," which Elba also executive produced, Elba approached the taut, claustrophobic action in a very different manner than his usual blockbuster roles. Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate business negotiator who himself on an overseas flight hijacked by a lethally well-connected team. As Nelson tries to negotiate a safe landing without any additional casualties, it becomes clear that this hijacking is not what it initially appears to be.

With its real-time pacing and a mounting sense of danger, both for characters midair and on the ground, "Hijack" is a tightly plotted thriller from top to bottom. Elba is magnetic in his leading role as Nelson, forced to think quickly and recognize the pivotal moments when to stand down or step in. And just as Nelson and the audience think they get a handle on where the story is going next, a fresh twist throws the whole experience into a new direction. Renewed for a second season, "Hijack" gives viewers a thinking person's Jack Bauer, ready for action but leading with their sharp wit.

One shared cinematic universe that has endured for over a decade is the MonsterVerse, which began with 2014's "Godzilla." In 2023, the MonsterVerse spread to live-action television with the Apple TV+ original series "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." Set in the aftermath of Godzilla's battle against the MUTOs in San Francisco, protagonist Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) learns her family is connected to the Titans emerging around the globe. Teaming up with her grandfather's old associate Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) and the half-brother she never knew (Ren Watabe), Cate embarks on an adventure exploring the history of the Titans.

"Monarch" provides a person-on-the-ground perspective of the MonsterVerse, starting with the 2014 movie's climactic San Francisco battle. At the same time, the show is well-aware of what kaiju fans are looking for, incorporating Titan-based action in every episode. Balanced between the titanic battles and globe-trotting intrigue, the secret history of the MonsterVerse is steadily fleshed out in a narrative spanning 60 years. For any fan of Godzilla and the wider MonsterVerse, "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" is a must-watch.