6 Underrated TV Franchises That Deserve More Recognition
Some TV franchises get forgotten about among the Game of Thrones, MCUs, and Law & Orders of the world, but these TV franchises deserve more recognition. TV franchises don’t hold as much cultural weight as movie franchises by any means, but they still have their place in the pop culture discourse.
TV franchises can consist of only two TV shows and still be considered a franchise, often with movies, video games, and other tie-ins adding to their heft like a Twisted Metal car adding an assortment of guns and attachments. The franchises on this list need to be better recognized for their dependability and longevity.
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars is a very well-known franchise, both because of the book series by Sara Shepard and because of the TV show that it spawned, which ran from 2010 to 2017. What you may not know is that there are actually four more TV shows in the series.
There’s Pretty Dirty Secrets (2012), a web series that takes place during the original show’s third season. There’s Ravenswood (2013-2014), a one-season thriller spinoff with a supernatural bent. Then there is Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019), a standalone sequel to the original show.
Finally, there is Pretty Little Liars from 2022-2024. Despite having the same title as the original, this show tells a different story set within the chronology of the first show. Each series has its high points, and if anyone tells you they like Pretty Little Liars, let them know they’re probably missing out on a lot more.
Highlander
Adrian Paul in Highlander: The Series.
The Highlander franchise is a well-known movie franchise, beginning with the famous 1986 Highlander film with Sean Connery. There have been three TV shows since then, beginning with Highlander: The Series (1992-1998), Highlander: The Animated Series (1994–1996), and Highlander: The Raven (1998–1999).
Even the maligned Highlander II: The Quickening is given more attention, though for its failures, than any of the TV shows. The first series was a spinoff of the movie, generally following the story of the film. The animated series is a loose sequel to the first film. The Raven stars Amanda Darieux (Elizabeth Gracen) from the first series.
Each one of the TV shows is worth watching, and notably do not overlap too much in their stories, meaning each feels distinctly separate rather than the same show over and over. The TV shows expand upon what made the movies great and should be considered along with the other popular sci-fi fantasy adventures.
Adventure Time
BMO, Simon, Fionna and Cake in Adventure Time spinoff
While Adventure Time has had the proper amount of attention paid to it, creator Pendleton Ward’s universe is not given enough credit as a successful TV franchise. Along with the original series, there is Adventure Time: Distant Lands (2020-2021) and Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (2023-present).
Distant Lands is more like an extended version of Adventure Time, but Fionna and Cake is a whole new story, now following the human girl Fionna and Cake the Cat, the alternate universe versions of Finn and Jake who originally appeared in the Adventure Time series. If you liked the original, you’ll like these shows.
The franchise isn’t done either, with spinoffs titled Side Quests and Hey BMO expected to premiere at an undetermined date. Though each show has a different showrunner, each series in the Adventure Time franchise contains the same boundless imagination and unexpected humor of the original.
The Librarians
Callum McGowan as Vikram Chamberlain, Bluey Robinson as Connor Green, and Olivia Morris as Lysa Pascal in The Librarians: The Next Chapter
The Librarians franchise began as a film trilogy in the early 2000s titled The Librarian, but was resurrected as a TV series in 2014 with the four-season series, The Librarians, on TNT. A direct spinoff of the films, the series follows most of the rules of the movies, except now allows for multiple Librarians, when once only one was allowed.
A spinoff to the spinoff, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, premiered in May 2025, also on TNT, and is still in the same universe as both the shows and the movies, making The Librarians a remarkably restrained and consistent story. Both shows follow the similar plot of Librarians protecting the world from supernatural threats.
It’s a series that deserves a lot more attention. The large ensemble cast, which includes Rebecca Romijn, Christian Kane, Olivia Morris, and Callum McGowan between the two shows. The Librarians fits in well with the other shows about magical protectors of the world, and fans of The Magicians will definitely enjoy it.
Jackass
The Jackass movie franchise may be one of the best movie franchises out there, and it’s not something you could say people need to talk more about. The latest film, Jackass Forever, earned $80 million (via BoxOfficeMojo), and that was a COVID-19 movie. People forget, however, that the franchise began on television.
Jackass the series premiered on MTV as three short seasons between 2000 and 2001, and if you thought the first Jackass movie looks homemade, just wait until you see the series. The franchise expanded into more TV shows, including Bam Margera’s Viva La Bam, and an animal-themed Jackass called Wild Boyz.
Jackass: Shark Week premiered in 2021 and 2022 with the latest class of jackasses, and you can never quite tell if the crew is actually done performing when they say they are. The Jackass movies brought the insane series to people, but it was built on top of the DIY aesthetic of the TV shows.
We have not come to terms with what a gift we have in the Planet Earth franchise, consisting of Planet Earth (2006), Planet Earth II (2016), and Planet Earth III (2023). I suspect that most people have not seen Planet Earth III, and possibly even II, but do yourself a favor and watch them all.
You may think that you’ve seen it all with just Planet Earth, but I promise that if you watch Planet Earth III, your jaw will drop in amazement at the incredible scenes the nature documentary crew managed to capture. There are moments in each of these documentaries that are more incredible than any CGI extravaganza in an MCU film.
All 25 episodes are worth watching, and you may find yourself drawn to one location or another. Each of these series has been celebrated critically, but we should never take for granted what an incredible TV franchise we have readily available. This is the sort of show cameras were made for.
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