15 Most Underrated TV Shows On Hulu

Despite being around almost since the beginning of the streaming era of television, Hulu often gets lost in the shadow of its baby sibling Disney+. While the latter streamer has buzzy shows from Marvel Studios, the "Star Wars" universe, and the expanded Disney canon, Hulu is deprived of such buzz.

Viewers may be aware of some of Hulu's most popular originals — "Only Murders in the Building" and "The Handmaid's Tale," to name a few. They may have come across "Paradise" (a new political thriller that might help revive the genre) or even the Academy Award-winning "Anora" on the platform as well. But buried underneath these familiar titles is a full library of underrated TV shows, begging to be rediscovered and enjoyed during your next binge-fest. So before you start another rewatch of "American Horror Story" or "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," take a look below to find the hidden gems in Hulu's back catalog.

Appropriately, we're kicking off our list of the most underrated shows on Hulu with one of the streamer's own original projects: "11.22.63." Adapted from the Stephen King science fiction thriller novel of the same name, the 2015-16 miniseries tells a time-traveling story that has elements of conspiracy, historical fiction, suspense, and mystery, all surrounding the infamous assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

In the present day, lonely and aimless school teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) is shocked out of his apathy when he is enlisted by a man he trusts (Chris Cooper) to travel back in time and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald (Daniel Webber) from killing JFK on November 22, 1963. In addition to confronting the morality of potentially having to take a life to prevent them from taking another, Jake must also contend with the clandestine prowess of the CIA, the untold truth of the JFK assassination plot, his own contested loyalties to the past and present, and the actual, natural forces of time and space that seek to prevent him from perverting reality.

Despite being one of the greatest Stephen King adaptations ever produced and earning some positive buzz upon release, "11.22.63" was merely a blip on the timestream for most. But in an age of unusual politics and paranoia, we argue that this surprisingly relevant period sci-fi piece is no mere time capsule.

If you are or have ever been a fan of the zany, scattered, and occasionally surreal comedy of Adult Swim shows like "Smiling Friends," "Children's Hospital," or "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," then "Cake" probably has a slice of entertainment perfect for you. The Hulu original anthology series rallies some of the funniest creatives working and brings their weirdest comedic ideas to life in the form of a short film or sketch.

As a result, the episodes do range wildly in terms of style and — depending on the viewer — effectiveness. You may not be immediately ready to devour the entire thing, or might need to give a few different episodes a chance to find one that strikes a chord with you. That said, all of them are at the very least interesting to behold, and never linger so long that any of them feels like a true waste of time if it turn out to be a dud.

Kiefer Sutherland is widely known for playing various complex heroes in some of the best political thrillers television has ever seen — which is what makes his unusual turn in Hulu's "The Confession" all the more exciting. Created by Sutherland himself as a miniseries of 10 episodes that are each under 10 minutes in runtime, it stars the "24" actor as a ruthless and sociopathic hitman who confronts a Catholic priest (the legendary late English actor John Hurt) in a confessional. When the man confesses to having killed numerous people throughout his career, he tells the priest that his next kill will be prevented, so long as the priest remains in the confessional with him and participates in his twisted confession.

The entire series is essentially a movie broken up into shorter segments of plot, which is strangely to the benefit of a story with such a constrained premise and setting. The fun to be had comes from the slow-burning mystery of the hitman's true intentions as to why he's chosen to confess to this priest on the night of this murder, which Sutherland and Hurt develop with delicious and increasingly dangerous tension.

If you enjoyed the unsettling tone, weird science, and cult-like corporate intrigue of Apple TV's hit series "Severance," then you're already pre-destined to fall in love with "Devs." The science fiction miniseries from FX and Hulu was created by Alex Garland, the prolific contemporary writer and director behind some of the most lauded genre films of the 21st century, including "Ex Machina," "Annihilation," the "28 Days Later" series (including the upcoming "28 Years Later") and the realistic war thriller "Warfare."

Nick Offerman plays hard against type here as Forest, a reclusive but brilliant tech executive obsessed with creating a functioning quantum computer that can definitively prove whether or not humans have free will. In theory, such a computer (a feat of engineering and science that real-world engineers are attempting to accomplish) could master probability to the degree that it can predict the future. As such, the technology is incredibly secretive, sought after, and potentially dangerous — especially when you account for the troubled minds obsessed with mastering such god-like power. "Devs" is quietly one of the most ambitious and pleasingly perplexing shows out there right now, which offers a complete story in its single season.

Think to yourself for a second: How well would you do in a survival scenario? Then ask yourself how one of your family members would fare in the same situation if they only had you to rely on for help.

This exciting and/or nightmarish thought serves as the premise for the Fox reality series "Extracted," which is currently available to stream on Hulu. A group of 12 people with drastically varied skill sets and experiences with the wild are sent into the wilderness to survive the elements, build their own shelters, and hunt and forage for their food and water. Each of the 12 is aided by two family members, who are constantly watching via hidden and carried cameras. They can't speak to or otherwise communicate with the person in the wilderness, but they can send supplies to ensure their survival.

And when we say survival, we (mostly) mean it. Though we can't imagine the producers of "Extracted" would ever let any of the contestants die, they do endanger themselves quite a bit through their own lack of survival skills — one contestant might make themselves dangerously ill from drinking lake water without boiling it; another may nearly drown trying to swim for supplies. The tension of the series comes from the family members back at base, who must constantly agonize over whether they should keep the faith in their relative's (limited) survival skills or extract them and end their bid for the $250,000 cash prize.

Originally only available to subscribers on MGM+ (formerly known as Epix), "Godfather of Harlem" now has the chance to find the audience it deserves on Hulu. This epic period crime thriller blends history and legend together to tell the story of 20th-century Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who is portrayed in the series by Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker. The story picks up after Bumpy is released from a 10-year stint in prison. In his absence, the streets of Harlem have been overrun by heroin, and his territory has been effectively overtaken by the Italian mob — an effort spearheaded by Vincent Gigante, the head of the Genovese crime family (played by Vincent D'Onofrio).

The broad strokes of the true story are as thrilling as they sound, and appearances from real historical figures like the dubious congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Giancarlo Esposito) and revolutionary leader Malcolm X (Nigél Thatch) further flesh out this rarely dramatized moment in history. And even when it doesn't line up exactly with fact, the fiction is so compellingly captured that only hardcore historians will mind.

If "Godfather of Harlem" doesn't play fast and loose with history enough for your taste, travel further back in time for the 18th-century period satire "The Great." Created by screenwriter Tony McNamara (the scribe behind Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favourite" and "Poor Things"), it is a mostly fake retelling of Russian Empress Catherine the Great's marriage to Emperor Peter the Third — which, spoiler alert, ended with her managing to steal her husband's throne right from underneath him.

Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult play Catherine and Peter, respectively, with McNamara rendering both the individual characters and their relationship with an irreverently modern style. The sense of humor is not dissimilar from Armando Ianuuci's 2017 Soviet satire "The Death of Stalin," in that the gags and verbal jabs could be heard on a contemporary black comedy like "Succession" or "Veep," but somehow never pull one out of the ornate escapism of its beautifully recreated period setting.

Like "The Great," "Harlots" is a Hulu original series that explores the politics of gender and sexuality in an 18th-century European society, though it does so with a more serious dramatic slant, and in London, England, rather than Russia. Its most notable difference, of course, is that instead of following a woman who sits one seat away from one of the most powerful positions a person of any gender can achieve, "Harlots" follows London sex workers as they attempt to navigate a dangerous but potentially liberating profession.

Samantha Morton ("Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," "The Whale") and Lesley Manville ("Phantom Thread," Netflix's "The Crown") play opposite one another as rival madams who run brothels that cater to the divided classes of the city. As one gains favor with powerful figures in London's political and legal sphere, they also attract the ire of those who wish to take their place. Though it doesn't soften its style for mass appeal, the historically fidelitous world created by "Harlots" is undeniably arresting visually, dramatically, and thematically, posing questions about power dynamics that remain compelling in a contemporary context.

Fifteen years after it premiered on Fox, "Lie to Me" is still a fresh spin on the crime procedural genre. Anchored by a sharp performance from regular Quentin Tarantino collaborator Tim Roth, it follows a fictional group of psychological consultants and interrogators who are, in effect, human lie detectors. The concept is based on the real study of analyzing human microexpressions, which Roth's Cal Lightman is so expert at that he is able to determine a person's hidden emotions by referencing their smallest facial tics against an encyclopedic mental catalog.

Even when he and his acolytes are able to immediately see if someone is lying, however, the more pertinent question is usually why. Working closely with federal law enforcement, the episodes track their casework as it takes them from on-the-ground investigations to climactic interrogations. Lightman's pathological obsession with the truth makes him a particularly fascinating procedural protagonist, as the nature of his work is often at odds with his own humanity.

Though our readers in the United Kingdom have surely at least heard of the BBC's "Line of Duty," it remains seriously underrated around the world, given that it's one of the best police shows to come out of any country. Created by Jed Mercurio — the writer-producer behind Netflix's action-packed political thriller "Bodyguard" — "Line of Duty" is a slightly less explosive but no less riveting series that delves into a similar world of institutional corruption and betrayal.

It focuses on the members of a fictional police task force that essentially operates as an enhanced version of internal affairs. They are asked to investigate the most serious crimes committed by their fellow officers, leading them to question what it means to wear a badge when so many abuse their power. "Line of Duty" is still the gold standard for British crime dramas to many, injecting complexity into its seasonal narratives and the moral frameworks of its many vivid characters.

Even if you've never heard of it, "Mr. Inbetween" is a hilarious and grim thriller that deserves to stand among the many great television series that explore violent criminals trying to balance a double life. Like "The Sopranos," "Breaking Bad," and "Barry," it explores themes of morality and relationships by examining how a murderer with sociopathic tendencies could possibly hope to make a normal family life work.

The anti-hero at the center of "Mr. Inbetween" is Ray Shoesmith, a grunt for an Australian organized crime operation who performs debt collections, enforces mob rule, and executes hits. He is played by Scott Ryan, who also created and wrote the series as a follow-up to his 2005 film "The Magician" (which also follows Ray's misadventures as part-time killer for the mob). Though fans of "Barry" especially will find comfort in its familiar trappings, the distinct comedic tone and episodic narrative style defines "Mr. Inbetween" as a beast unlike any other.

Speaking of "Breaking Bad," Jesse Pinkman actor Aaron Paul stars in our next pick, the critically polarizing but unquestionably fascinating cult thriller "The Path." Paul plays a somewhat familiar character in the Hulu series — his Eddie Lane had a life similar to that of Jesse's, before he joined and eventually became a leader in an altruistic new age religion that urges its followers to heal themselves and others of the pain brought on by life.

Of course, everything at first seems totally normal, until a sudden crisis of faith on Eddie's part leads him down a dark path toward discovering the secrets at the heart of his religion. Doing so threatens not only his safety, but the family, society, and life he's built around his beliefs. Hugh Dancy plays opposite Paul as an intensely devout member of the movement, whose arc toward conquering the spiritual hierarchy plays perfectly with Eddie's seemingly inevitable fall from grace. It may be a bit to handle at first, but if you're up for the ride, "The Path" just might make a believer out of you as well.

If you're missing female-led thrillers like "Killing Eve," ABC's "Revenge" should be at the top of your watch list. A reinvention of the classic adventure thriller "The Count of Monte Cristo," it follows a woman (future Marvel Cinematic Universe alum Emily VanCamp) who infiltrates a wealthy community of influential business people in the Hamptons, using deceit, seduction, and social manipulation with the ultimate goal of destroying their lives from within. Her primary target is the wealthy Grayson family, whom she deems responsible for the wrongful imprisonment of her father.

Soapy but with a unique edge to it, "Revenge" cuts as sharply as it aims to and does so with a narrative efficiency not usually seen in the genre. VanCamp and co-lead Madeleine Stowe (who plays the powerful matriarch of the Grayson family) create a compellingly tense atmosphere in every scene that leaves you desperate to find out how their feud will end. All four seasons move at a breathless pace, especially now that it's available to binge on Hulu.

FX's "Snowfall" may be one of the most underrated TV shows of the last decade, period. Set in Los Angeles in the 1980s, it follows the rise of the crack cocaine trade through the eyes of Franklin Saint (played by the equally underrated Damson Idris). Franklin is essentially a kid at the beginning of the series, yet is responsible for not only his own survival but the prosperity of those around him. He thus graduates from selling weed to selling coke, setting himself on a dark path toward becoming L.A.'s most powerful drug lord.

What makes the series so magnificent (aside from its gorgeous cinematography and stylish directing) is that it weaves Franklin's story with equally fascinating storylines from some surprising perspectives, including everyone involved in the trade from aging drug lords to the communist-fighting CIA agents that helped crack spread into the most desperate communities. It's far from an easy watch, but one that gets more rewarding as you get deeper into the series.

We'll finish this list with another Hulu Original we feel hasn't gotten enough love — the 2020 series "Woke." Lamorne Morris stars as Keef Knight, a Black cartoonist achieving mainstream success as the creator of a popular character he insists is both apolitical and unrelated to his racial identity. This perspective is challenged, however, when a traumatic encounter with law enforcement causes him to begin hallucinating sentient cartoons that increase his awareness of the discrimination he experiences every day.

Funny, insightful, and fresh in its presentation, the show's approach to social commentary is unlike anything you're able to stream right now. Fans of Morris' work on "New Girl" and "Fargo" will especially appreciate the space he's given by Hulu on "Woke" to showcase his range comedically and dramatically.