15 Most Underrated TV Shows On Prime Video

In addition to its immense library of licensed shows and movies, Prime Video has a growing catalog of original television programming. From postmodern superhero shows like “The Boys” to hard-hitting thrillers like “Reacher,” Prime Video has been enormously successful with its exclusive content. However, with so much to choose from on the streaming service, there are always TV shows that fall through the cracks compared to their more prominent counterparts. Fortunately, we’re here to help you find those shows that you might’ve missed looking for the next great series to binge.

Advertisement

Whether it’s shows that were canceled far too soon or series overshadowed by similar, more buzzed-about programming, there are plenty of overlooked Prime Video originals. These shows range from series backed by all-star talent that flew just under the radar to international productions that didn’t quite get noticed in the United States, from comedies to high fantasy, even revisionist Westerns, there’s something for everybody on Amazon’s streaming platform. 

Here are the 15 most underrated TV shows available to stream on Prime Video.

Standup comedian Tig Notaro and prolific screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno”) teamed up for the 2016 dramedy series “One Mississippi.” Notaro stars as the cheekily named Los Angeles radio host Tig Bavaro, who returns to her hometown in rural Mississippi after learning her mother is being taken off life support. Bavaro moves back in with her brother Remy (Noah Harpster) and stepfather Bill (John Rothman) as she recovers from her own recent medical procedures. As Bavaro reacclimatizes to life in Mississippi, she learns new details about her late mother’s life.

Advertisement

Running for two seasons, “One Mississippi” is powered by Notaro’s usual dry wit and Cody’s penchant for sharply written dialog. In returning to her country home after living in the big city, Tig Bavaro learns what’s truly important in life, making amends with her family and past and finding love. The show also doesn’t shortchange its life-or-death stakes and manages to find the humor in those tragic situations. Another Prime Video comedy gone too soon, “One Mississippi” is a full showcase for Notaro’s creative talents.

Kathryn Hahn has been delivering beloved and acclaimed performances for years, long before stealing the show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along.” A prime example, pardon the pun, was in the 2017 comedy series “I Love Dick,” adapting Chris Kraus’ 1997 novel of the same name. Hahn stars as Chris, who relocates to Texas with her husband (Griffin Dunne), only to be smitten by her husband’s research sponsor Dick (Kevin Bacon). To deal with her forbidden feelings, Chris writes a series of unsent sexually explicit letters to Dick confessing her carnal affections for him.

Advertisement

Frank in its depiction of mature lust and unrequited passion, “I Love Dick” is one of the more smartly written projects that Hahn has been a part of. The show deliberately plays with its own format, from hilariously jarring music choices to cutaway segments that provide a wink to the audience as much as building the narrative. Through it all, Hahn anchors the entire eight-episode series, at once both confident and intimately vulnerable in her performance as Chris.

After previously working together on “Saturday Night Live,” Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph teamed up for the 2018 comedy series “Forever.” Armisen and Rudolph play married couple Oscar and June Hoffman, respectively, who have gone about the same routine together for years. This is derailed when June suggests that she and Oscar go on a ski trip rather than their usual lake house vacation. The change of pace sets off a chain of events that lead Oscar and June to reevaluate their lives and marriage as they’re reunited in the afterlife.

Advertisement

“Forever” plays out like a more cynical version of “The Good Place,” using the afterlife to skewer conceptions of marital and suburban bliss. Armisen and Rudolph play off each other well, with Rudolph particularly standing out as June begins to question her life (and death) choices. And yet, for as much as the show deconstructs the idyllic image of domesticity, there is a wry sweetness to the story elevated by its lead actors. An existential look at life, love, and missed opportunities, “Forever” offers Armisen and Rudolph the chance to deliver a more thoughtful comedy.

Prime Video has a number of well-received original animated series intended for mature audiences, including “Invincible” and “The Legend of Vox Machina.” 2019’s “Undone” not only led the charge for this adult demographic, but also features a distinctly unique rotoscoped animation style. The series follows Alma Winograd-Diaz (Rosa Salazar), a woman who gains the ability to manipulate time itself after enduring a harrowing car crash. Using her new powers, Alma investigates the mysterious circumstances behind the death of her father Jacob (Bob Odenkirk).

Advertisement

Created by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg, who previously collaborated on the acclaimed “BoJack Horseman” for Netflix, “Undone” retains their past work’s penchant for dark humor and heartbreaking twists. Given its time-bending premise and striking visual style, the show is effectively trippy in all the right ways as Alma goes deeper and deeper into the mystery. Yet, for all the surrealism and space-time continuum scope, the story keeps its emphasis rooted firmly on family and the messiness that comes with it. With just two seasons, “Undone” feels like it ended way too soon, with plenty of unfinished business for Alma to potentially explore.

There are tons of Italian crime stories, from “The Godfather” to the K-drama “Vincenzo,” providing their own unique takes on organized crime in the European peninsula. The 2020 series “ZeroZeroZero” has the added authentic benefit of actually being produced in Italy with a story that spans the globe. A massive shipment of cocaine from Mexico intended for delivery to a crime syndicate in Italy is unexpectedly waylaid in Morocco. As the dangerous interested parties converge, this places the American family in charge of the shipping in an extremely perilous position.

Advertisement

With its various international parties involved, “ZeroZeroZero” plays out like a mix of “Narcos,” “Ozark,” and any number of classic mafia movies, all blended together. Somehow, these disparate elements all work beautifully together, rather than feeling like a jumbled mishmash of crime thriller tropes. Ushering along its ambitiously global scope is a solid ensemble cast and stunning cinematography that’s a cut above most crime shows. An engrossing look at the globalization of organized crime, “ZeroZeroZero” is definitely greater than the sum of its distinct parts.

While Prime Video’s most prominent fantasy series may be “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the platform is also home to the overlooked “The Wheel of Time.” Based on the novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the series is set in a medieval fantasy realm full of myth and magic. Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) searches for the Dragon Reborn, a figure prophesied to either save the world from the Dark One or destroy it. Moiraine’s quest takes her to the sleepy small town of Emond’s Field, as powerful forces seek to destroy the Dragon or control him for themselves.

Advertisement

“The Wheel of Time” has been good out of the gate, but even three seasons in, it feels like not enough people are talking about how great it is. Each subsequent season, the show has only gotten better and more ambitious with its scope, and it was already epic enough at its start. By the third season, the battle is truly joined, with the action reaching new heights of intensity and the themes running darker than ever. “The Rings of Power” might have the bigger built-in fanbase but “The Wheel of Time” is the under-appreciated fantasy gem in Prime Video’s catalog.

“Harlem” ran on Prime Video for three seasons, from 2021 to 2025, but it felt like one of those shows that always flew just under the radar. The series follows four women who befriended each other in college and have remained close as they progressed into their 30s as working professionals. Now living in the eponymous Manhattan neighborhood, these women still are coming to terms with what they each want out of life and love. This includes plenty of romantic mishaps that each of the friends endure as they mature together.

Advertisement

“Harlem” is another one of those comedy series that doesn’t try to revolutionize the genre, just provide a fresh voice and funny gags to a well-worn narrative. One of the major things that elevates the show is that these friends are largely supportive of one another, not descending into the petty squabbling the genre often falls into. By the second season, the show confidently alternates between each of its lead character’s perspectives, before they inevitably converge. A celebration of womanly friendship into one’s single 30s, “Harlem” never quite got the wider recognition it deserved.

The popular 1992 sports comedy “A League of Their Own” was adapted into an eight-episode series of the same name by Prime Video in 2022. Set in 1943 during the height of World War II, small town housewife Carson Shaw (Abbi Jacobson) joins the Rockford Peaches, a professional women’s baseball team. Carson’s journey is juxtaposed with that of Maxine Chapman (Chanté Adams), unable to join the league or gain a factory job because of her race, despite her obvious talent. As these two women’s paths eventually intertwine, Carson has to deal with her burgeoning feelings for her teammate Greta Gill (D’Arcy Carden).

Advertisement

The Prime Video series is actually the second attempt to bring “A League of Their Own” to television, following a short-lived 1993 series on CBS. The 2022 series focuses not just on gender equality discrimination affecting the main characters, but also prejudices surrounding race and sexuality. Despite its critical acclaim and early plans for a second season, the series was canceled in 2023, a decision met with vocal backlash. A sumptuous period piece that expands the world of the beloved movie, “A League of Their Own” is worth checking out in spite of its abrupt ending.

The Canadian indie pop-rock duo Tegan and Sara wrote a 2019 memoir about their shared experiences as queer twin siblings growing up in ’90s titled “High School.” Well-received, the memoir was adapted into a show of the same name in 2022, with twin sisters Railey & Seazynn Gilliland playing Tegan & Sara Quin, respectively. As their local high school is defined by the popular grunge rock and ’90s electronica, the Quin twins find themselves, including their budding sexual identities. This coming-of-age tale is fueled by the young characters coming to terms with the richness and intensity of their impending adulthood and changes to their familial dynamics.

Advertisement

While all the usual teenage angst and rollercoaster of emotions that are associated with coming-of-age stories are present, “High School” avoids overt melodrama. Instead, the adaptation is sweet, fun, and funny as it explores the ups and downs of growing up in suburban Alberta. Like its source material, the show wears its heartfelt stakes on its sleeve, with every triumph and setback feeling earnestly earned. Initially developed for Amazon Freevee, “High School” is one of the best coming-of-age series available to stream on Prime Video.

Whether it’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, so many memorable Westerns revolve around a core pairing. The postmodern Western series “The English” offers its own unique pair of leads with Englishwoman Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) and Pawnee cavalry veteran Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer). Traveling to the 19th century frontier to avenge her son, Locke teams up with Whipp, with the latter seeking land promised to him for his military service. With their paths intertwined, the unlikely duo teams up to seek vengeance on those who wronged both of them.

Advertisement

Of all the work in her distinguished career, “The English” is the most brutal on-screen production Blunt has been a part of to date. Given the nature of Locke’s presence in the Wild West, this is a grim tale, a tonal sensibility that permeates throughout the series. This makes her a strong match for Spencer’s Whipp, with the two characters doing whatever it takes to survive and get their revenge. Unflinching in its violence and taking advantage of its sweeping landscapes, “The English” is a vicious Western tale that breathes new bloody life into the genre.

Not to be confused with the 2024 Disney Channel animated series “Primos,” the 2023 Prime Video live-action series “Primo” is a semi-autobiographical sitcom for creator Shea Serrano. Teenager Rafa (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) prepares to finish high school and go to college while being raised by his mother Drea (Christina Vidal) and his five uncles. Each uncle brings their own distinct insight into Rafa’s family and the life lessons that shape him. Meanwhile, Rafa tries to impress his classmate and crush Mya (Stakiah Lynn Washington) with the help of his friends.

Advertisement

Among the executive producers for “Primo” is Michael Schur, who previously created or co-created classic sitcoms like “Parks and Recreation,” “The Good Place,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” A lot of those similar comedic sensibilities are present in the Amazon Freevee series, while presenting its own unique sitcom voice. This is a show that doesn’t try to reinvent the family comedy wheel, instead just content to refine it and give it a hearty spin. The television equivalent of comfort food, Freevee canceled “Primo” after a single season, but the sitcom is still worth giving a try.

Coastal Tasmania is the primary setting of the Australian crime series “Deadloch,” which premiered in 2023. As the fictional town of Deadloch celebrates its annual winter festival, the body of a local man is discovered on a beach. This prompts a full police investigation into the matter, led by Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami). As Collins and Redcliffe learn to work together, they uncover a whole host of town secrets that are poised to rock the community to its foundations.

Advertisement

“Deadloch” is a crime procedural comedy with a distinctly Australian flavor that helps distinguish it from its contemporaries. That sense of humor doesn’t distract from the dark stakes at the core of the show’s premise, especially as the titular town is upended by the investigation. The story is a small town murder mystery first and foremost, with its dark humor enhancing the overall experience without dominating it. Well-received critically, “Deadloch” has been renewed for a second season, poised to go even deeper and darker than before.

Prolific filmmaker and musical artist Boots Riley created and directed the absolutely absurdist comedy limited series “I’m a Virgo” in 2023. The show stars Jharrel Jerome as Cootie, a 13-foot-tall teenager sheltered from the outside world by his uncle and aunt in Oakland. As Cootie ventures from the safety of his home, he meets other gifted individuals, Flora (Olivia Washington), who has super-speed. This places him on a collision course with The Hero (Walton Goggins), a local billionaire who publicly cavorts around as a superhero.

Advertisement

At once a coming-of-age comedy and surreal satire of the superhero genre, “I’m a Virgo” is one of the more imaginative, outside-of-the-box original shows on Prime Video. Like Riley’s previous film, “Sorry to Bother You,” his Prime Video directly skewers capitalism while providing audiences with lovingly bizarre visuals and set pieces. Grounding it all is Jerome’s lead performance, playing Cootie as sweetly innocent as he ventures further into the outside world to learn about life and love before confronting injustice. Offbeat and unabashedly strange, “I’m a Virgo” is a wild trip that has to be seen to be believed.

Janice Y.K. Lee’s 2016 novel “The Expatriates” was adapted into the 2024 series “Expats,” starring Nicole Kidman as Margaret Woo. Living with her husband Clarke (Brian Tee), Margaret is part of a tightly knit community of expatriates living in Hong Kong. This intimate grouping confides in each other with their darkest secrets, carries on affairs, and forms their own heated rivalries. These dynamics are strained in the wake of Margaret and Clarke losing their young son Gus while he is in the care of Margaret’s friend Mercy Cho (Ji-young Yoo).

Advertisement

“Expats” is largely fueled by the melodramatic feud between its main characters as they backstab and bicker in the face of immense family tragedy. Kidman’s veteran acting chops are equaled, if not exceeded, by her co-stars Yoo and Sarayu Blue, with the latter playing Margaret and Mercy’s mutual friend Hilary Starr. What both unites and divides these three women is an overarching sense of misery that informs the entire series. An exploration of melancholia abroad, “Expats” is deliberately bleak in its soap opera staging and bitter interpersonal feuds.

The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2011 is one of those true stories that seems stranger than fiction, with a group of criminals stealing millions worth of maple syrup. This incident is the loose basis for the 2024 crime comedy “The Sticky,” starring Margo Martindale as a syrup farmer who masterminds the heist. Martindale is joined by Chris Diamantopoulos and Guillaume Cyr as her character’s accomplices, with Diamantopoulos playing the murderous mobster Mike Byrne roped into the scheme. However, while the prospect of stealing maple syrup seems relatively innocuous at first, the group is faced with unexpectedly lethal complications.

Advertisement

“The Sticky” feels like a Canadian sister series to “Fargo,” involving frozen North American crime packed with memorably quirky characters. That said, the Prime Video show more readily embraces the dark humor potential with its absurd but true central crime than the FX series. The deadly stakes and grounded emotions are still present but, at the end of the day, inept crooks trying to steal vast stores of syrup is just inherently funny. Canceled after a single season, “The Sticky” deserved far more attention than it got at the time of its premiere.