Though Netflix is known for its buzzy mainstream hits like Stranger Things and Bridgerton, there’s more than meets the eye on the popular platform.
Netflix has plenty of shows to get into if you’re looking for something a little less flashy.
This week, Watch With Us wants to highlight three particularly great, particularly underrated series on the platform that boast fantastic Rotten Tomatoes scores to boot.
Our list includes Kath and Kim, a hilarious Australian sitcom that is less well-known in America.
Read on to learn about all three great picks.
3. ‘Suburgatory’ (2011-2014)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91 percent
After single father George Altman (Jeremy Sisto) discovers a box of condoms in the room belonging to his teenage daughter Tessa (Jane Levy), he decides to uproot their small family from the fast-paced urban life of New York City to a quieter, more wholesome existence in the suburbs. However, shortly after arriving in the town of Chatswin, the Altmans discover just how much they do not fit in with the upper-middle-class lifestyle of their new neighbors. It takes time and patience, but the Altmans slowly acclimate to their alien surroundings.
Suburbatory takes its familiar, suburban sitcom premise and freshens it up with a lively and witty sense of humor and jokes that will consistently surprise you. The series does an excellent job of balancing satire with emotional engagement, and is led by great performances from Cheryl Hines and Carly Chaikin in addition to Levy and Sisto. Suburgatory was sadly cancelled by ABC following budget cuts after only three seasons and consistently great reviews. But its wealth of comedic delights can still be enjoyed on streaming.
2. ‘Kath and Kim’ (2002-2007)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94 percent
Kath Day-Knight (Jane Turner) is a vivacious, middle-aged mother living in the Australian suburbs with her exceedingly lazy and narcissistic adult daughter, Kim (Gina Riley). Kath and Kim follows the dysfunctional mother-daughter duo’s daily lives alongside Kath’s lover Kel Knight (Glenn Robbins), Kim’s on-again, off-again husband Brett Craig (Peter Rowsthorn) and their family friend Sharon Strzelecki (Magda Szubanski). The series pokes fun at the mundanity of suburban living and the superficiality of contemporary life.
The quirky, off-kilter humor of this show is buoyed by the great comedic chemistry between Turner and Riley, who together serve as the series creators and chief writers. The sharply written dialogue and hilariously weird scenarios are consistent sources of humor, and the satire of suburbia is always on point. Even if you have no context for the show and its depiction of Australian culture, the sheer absurdity that Kath and Kim revels in makes it accessible regardless of any cultural niche.
1. ‘Detroiters’ (2017-2018)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95 percent
Though Tim Cramblin (Tim Robinson) has inherited his father’s successful ad agency, it hasn’t necessarily meant that he’s as good an ad man as his old man. Joining forces with his lifelong best friend Sam (Sam Richardson), the two hapless Detroit natives form the creative nucleus of the Cramblin-Duvet advertising agency, servicing the needs of local community businesses and their many eccentric owners on a very low budget, while simultaneously navigating the various issues in their personal lives.
Detroiters is vastly underrated, especially when you compare it to the success of Robinson’s subsequent comedy series, I Think You Should Leave. But Detroiters takes ITYSL’s signature sense of absurdist humor and transposes it into a sitcom format beautifully, managing to balance totally stupid and ridiculous gags with a shockingly heartfelt emotional core — thanks to the timeless chemistry and real-life friendship between Robinson and Richardson. Though the show was unjustly cancelled by Comedy Central after two well-received seasons, it’s still a consistent source of laugh-out-loud humor.
