What are some underappreciated shows that aren't readily available due to location restrictions or limited distribution?
I recently finished the second season of a hilarious but little-known Canadian animated TV show called Gary and His Demons about a middle-aged, "Chosen One" demon slayer who just wants to retire. The amount of laughs, charm, and animation quality that this show packs into each episode's less than 10 minute run time truly blew my expectations away. I originally stumbled upon it while browsing Mondo Media's channel on the now-defunct VRV animation app and now, tragically, the show is not available to stream anywhere in the US currently. But, it got me thinking...
If I have a few favorite niche shows that are difficult to access or stream, then surely others do as well. I was also inspired by this thread about similarly obscure video games.
The other show that immediately comes to mind for me is GameCenter CX, a precursor to the traditional "Let's Play", in which Shinya Arino, a Japanese comedian, attempts to clear brutal retro games in one sitting. I randomly came across the show while searching for unique Nintendo DS titles and browsing the Wikipedia page for "Retro Game Challenge", a curious title that I assumed was shovelware. The game is actually very good and now the show is one of my favorite cozy and comfortable shows to just chill out to.
So, what are your favorite treasured and unique TV shows? I'm looking for mostly for shows that are not easily available on traditional streaming services or physical media, but feel free to suggest very underrated shows as well!
I really love all the works from Morecombe and Wise, one of the most pivotal comedy double acts in the UK. They had a tonne of Christmas special shows that involved famous and accomplished people. One of my favourite of these acts involves Andre Previn. Their shows are just old enough though that I've struggled to find much content for it online anywhere. Most people under a certain age haven't heard of them any more. Physical media does exist for it though!
Maybe not as obscure as you had in mind, but Patriot is an incredible show and it’s a crime that it’s only available on Amazon Prime. Can’t even buy it.
There was a second season?
I follow SFDebris, Star Trek and variety reviewer, who has outlived a half dozen streaming providers and whose episode catalog is always in some sort of flux or restoration or recut to get around YouTube robots. So the entire corpus of his work is difficult to engage with, not just because it's a lot, but because you have to hunt it down or wait for it to come back up.