Hidden-Gem TV Shows On Hulu

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02-07-2025

How To Die Alone (2024)
How strange it must have felt to deliver an acceptance speech on behalf of a series that had just been canceled a few weeks prior. This was the case for Natasha Rothwell who, accepting the award for Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series at the Indie Spirits, spoke of her time at the helm of the short-lived How To Die Alone with positivity and grace. (And a call to action for beta blockers to have "more beta blocking.") Best known for her supporting roles on Insecure and The White Lotus, Rothwell took a much more active creative role in this 30-minute Hulu comedy series, serving as both its creator and lead, Melissa, a JFK Airport employee whose brush with death causes her to finally prioritize love and happiness. Despite failing to reach wider audiences during its single-season run, it was an undeniable critical success. Watch it on Hulu.
Reservation Dogs (2021–23)
I recently mentioned Reservation Dogs in the context of shows that failed to get Emmy recognition until their very last season. And, while we'll never know what it was that finally tipped the scales during S3 (and secured not only an Outstanding Comedy Series nod, but a Lead Comedy Actor nod, too), what is clear is that this FX show has had an extremely passionate fanbase pushing for its success from the very beginning. Count the BuzzFeed Streaming Team among this fanbase. The series which follows four Indigenous teens from rural Oklahoma, who do odd jobs and commit petty crimes in hopes of one day being able to leave the reservation, was shouted out by Danica Creahan in 2021 as a show not enough people are watching and, again, as one of the best shows of 2021. Watch on Hulu.
Casual (2015–18)
You might know her best as the pesky HR rep following Deborah and Ava around on Hacks (or from her many perfectly calibrated supporting roles, which are too many to name) — but from 2015 to 2018, Michaela Watkins had center stage in the family comedy Casual. In it, she played Valerie, a recently divorced therapist and single mother who moves in with her younger (and crucially, single) brother (Tommy Dewey), the creator of a successful dating app. Her daughter (Tara Lynne Barr — who I will forever mix up with Emilia Jones) is wise beyond her years and has a dynamic with her mother that asks: What if Lorelai and Rory Gilmore but messier? Sneakily wise and acutely observed in its depiction of listlessness in your 30s, this is a show that you might want to...seriously commit to. Watch it on Hulu.
Bunheads (2012)
Speaking of Rory and Lorelai, Amy Sherman-Pallidino (creator of Gilmore Girls) is unfortunately no stranger to a one-season cancellation. Long before Étoile on Amazon Prime Video, there was ABC Family's Bunheads — the network's answer to Glee, which proved to be a critical darling but a big swing and a miss where ratings were concerned. The series concluded after just 18, shaggy episodes — more than enough airtime to elicit some strong feelings about Sherman-Palidino's trademark fast-talking women at the show's center. Namely, Broadway legend Sutton Foster's Michelle Simms (my thoughts are largely positive, for the record), the series' lead, who is plucked from her life as an unhappy Las Vegas showgirl to work alongside her new mother-in-law at a ballet studio. No matter how you feel, this ranks among the ASP oeuvre; you'll agree with me when I say that, when it comes to comfort viewing, you can't do much better than Bunheads.Watch it on Hulu.
Devs (2020)
Calling all Alex Garland heads. Maybe you're hot off a 28 Years Later watch, or saw Civil War and wondered what else Garland and Nick Offerman might be able to cook up together. Look no further than this eight-part limited series which stars Offerman as a tech-mogul CEO involved in a massive cover-up involving an engineer's missing boyfriend, and, of course, much bigger existential issues facing humanity. Allison Pill, playing the tech company's deputy, goes toe to toe with Offerman's Forest for the Creepiest Acting Award while Cailee Spaeny (also featured in Garland's Civil War) transforms into the young, male coding prodigy, Lyndon. A choice! This series is packed with big ideas and a Garland-y atmosphere that will suck you in — but I must confess that one of the main reasons to watch this is so you can fight about it with your friends. You're going to have strong feelings about it one way or another. Watch it on Hulu.
Difficult People (2015–17)
A whole decade before they took home the Best Leading Actor in a Musical Tony for Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola had a supporting but memorable role in Julie Klausner's comedy series, Difficult People. Some will remember it as that show about two deeply misanthropic, Jewish best friends (Klausner and Billy Eichner) living in New York. Others will remember it as the only show in history to feature Seth Meyers jerking off Eichner, and a cameo by Kathie Lee Gifford, in a single episode. Both are correct. Depending on your tolerance for unlikable protagonists, you might find this particular humor and worldview grating. But, regardless, I think you have to respect a show that delivers on its title — and for those raised on Seinfeld and Curb reruns, this should go down easy.Watch it on Hulu.
Everything's Gonna Be Okay (2020–21)
Featured in our roundup of shows that actually reflect what it's like to be queer today, this one-season, follow-up series from Josh Thomas (Please Like Me) is a breath of fresh air. Thomas is Nicholas, a neurotic, gay twentysomething who has just learned that his terminally ill father would like him to be the guardian to his two teenage half-sisters, one of which is on the autism spectrum. The rest of the series follows Nicholas as he builds the plane while flying it, so to speak. As Matthew Huff notes in our original guide, it's unusual to see a queer character — particularly of this age — represented as a "leader" or "provider." But that is exactly what we see here, with Nicholas doing his very best to keep some order in the family. Like Please Like Me, Thomas pulls off the impressive alchemy of mining life's darkest moments for "comfort watch" fodder. Watch it on Hulu.
High Fidelity (2020)
We almost had a Da'Vine Joy Randolph-centered Season 2 of High Fidelity and Holdovers fans know better than anyone that that's a big "L" for the culture. One of the most contested TV cancellations in recent memory was this gender-flipped TV adaptation of the classic film and book, which found its audience just a little too late. Zoë Kravitz reminded us all how underutilized she was in Big Little Lies while playing the dynamic, Brooklyn record store owner, "Rob" (Robyn), at its center. Here's to hoping we right these wrongs by nominating Kravitz for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in The Studio.Watch it on Hulu.
Top of the Lake (2013–17)
So, you're having a hard time letting go of Handmaid's Tale? Tap into this eery cinematic universe from the mind of Jane Campion, also starring Elisabeth Moss. It's hard to believe that Top of the Lake, a two-season limited series starring Nicole Kidman and conceived of by one of our greatest filmmakers, needs any signal boosting at all — but here were are in the age of Peak TV. Your mileage may vary on China Girl, the follow-up season that critics largely regarded as disappointing and hollowed out, but its first season is a stone-cold masterpiece. In this atmospheric, New Zealand-set story, Moss plays Robin Griffin, a detective whose own story begins to come into focus as she investigates the pregnancy of a 12 year-old girl. Watch it on Hulu.
Say Nothing (2024)
"Urgent" is a word that can get overused in reviews of political thrillers of this nature — but with so many eery parallels to what we're seeing play out in Gaza today, it feels apt to describe Say Nothing this way. The FX limited series adapted from the Patrick Radden Keefe book of the same name is actually about The Troubles, specifically the abduction of a mother of 10 from her Belfast apartment in the '70s. But its examination of violence and radicalism ring true today. It will be interesting to see how Say Nothing fares on Emmy nomination morning. Despite receiving rave reviews, and what seemed to be promising interest and viewership at the time of its release, chatter around has seemingly died down in the months since. Could this be the result of its binge-drop rollout? Or the result of so many shows being dumped in the last month of Emmys eligibility? Who knows! But whatever happens, this is a series absolutely worth your time.Watch it on Hulu.
Vida (2018–20)
If you've made it this far, you've probably recognized a pattern. A lot of the shows that have flown under the radar have centered characters that typically exist on the margins of society. That is certainly true for Vida, the GLAAD-winning Starz comedy that was canceled after three seasons. In it, two estranged Mexican-American sisters Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera) return to their old East LA neighborhood to bury their mother and in the process uncover a handful of paradigm-shifting secrets. Including, of course, the revelation that their mother quietly married a woman. Interesting, especially considering she rejected Emma's own queer identity. The authentic storytelling and lived-in characters, which critics rallied behind during its run, can be largely attributed to its all-Latinx writer's room and almost entirely female crew. Watch it on Hulu.
Stream all of these movies on Hulu.