Over the years, HBO has produced an embarrassment of classic TV series, including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Game of Thrones, Succession, and more. Although it’s hard to tell which shows will go down in history while you’re watching them, it’s likely that several of the network’s current series will join those ranks sooner or later, with shows like The Pitt, The White Lotus, and The Last of Us well on their way to achieving modern classic status.
But HBO also runs a lot of shows that don’t get nearly as much buzz despite being more than worthy of it. These seven underrated HBO shows are firing on all cylinders, and may well get the attention they deserve before the end.
7 Classic Shows I’m Binging on Netflix Right Now (and You Should, Too)
Netflix has a vast collection of older shows looking to capture your attention.
Task
Task left undone
Task is a crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo as a tortured FBI agent investigating a series of armed robberies taking place in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It’s created by Brad Ingelsby, the guy behind Mare of Easttown, a different HBO series about a tortured law enforcement officer. Like that show, Task is absorbing, realistic, and superbly made.
Unlike Mare of Easttown, Task is getting a second season. We don’t know when it will arrive, but we know that Oscar winner Mahershala Ali will be in the cast, yet another reason to tune in.
- Release Date
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2025 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Jeremiah Zagar
The Chair Company
The weirdest sitcom in history
The Chair Company is either a very scary sitcom or the funniest drama in history. It’s about a more-or-less ordinary family man named Ron (played by Tim Robinson, the creator of the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave) who falls off a chair in front of people at work, gets embarrassed, and then becomes obsessed with the idea that the chair itself was defective. He starts investigating a wide-ranging corporate conspiracy that may or may not be in his head, meeting a variety of strange characters as his family life falls apart.
Or maybe it’s fine; it’s hard to tell what’s going on in The Chair Company, but its unpredictability is one of its best assets. The show is returning for a second season, although we don’t have a release date yet.
- Release Date
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October 12, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andrew DeYoung
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Tim Robinson
William Ronald Trosper
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Sophia Lillis
Natalie Trosper
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The Comeback
Coming back just a few more times before it ends forever
The Comeback stars Friends veteran Lisa Kudrow as an aging, image-conscious actress named Valerie Cherish who’s determined to get back in the game. The first season aired way back in 2005, and satirized the then-thriving network TV sphere. The Comeback returned for a second season in 2014, where it took aim at self-important HBO dramas. The third and final season is airing right now, and finds Valerie starring on the first-ever sitcom written by AI.
With three seasons made over the last 20 years, The Comeback covers a lot of ground. Lisa Kudrow holds it all together as Valerie, who has a decent heart and who is good at what she does, but who just can’t help getting pulled into showbiz madness. The show can lean hard into “cringe comedy,” where you watch through shuttered fingers because the situations are so awkward, but you’re never likely to forget it.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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HBO Max
- Showrunner
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Comedy, Satire
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Lisa Kudrow
Valerie Cherish
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-
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I Love LA
Part of a long HBO tradition
HBO has a history of making great sitcoms that revolve around a group of self-absorbed friends. Sex and the City started the trend with its portrayal of affluent, 30-something New Yorkers. HBO returned to that well in the 2010s with Girls, which was about 20-something New Yorkers. Finally, Entourage revolved around a group of guys trying to break into the movie industry in LA.
I Love LA mashes together some of those shows and updates them for the 2020s. We’re in LA again, and this time we’re hanging out with a group of Gen Z influencers, stylists, and talent agents. The comedy is biting, the satire is sharp, and the characters are hilarious and sometimes infuriating. It feels like old times. A second season is on the way.
- Release Date
-
November 2, 2025
- Network
-
HBO
Dune: Prophecy
Small screen, big IP
HBO has embraced the world of big IP lately, most notably with its upcoming Harry Potter show. But that’s not the the only big swing it’s taking. Dune: Prophecy is an epic sci-fi show set thousands of years before the events of Dune. It revolves around the early days of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, which is taking shape in the shadow of a war against thinking machines that nearly wiped out humanity. Emily Watson and Olivia Williams play the heads of the sisterhood while Vikings’ Travis Fimmel plays a mysterious solider who has the ear of the emperor.
Dune: Prophecy tries to tell a big story on the scale of a TV show, and while it’s not quite as thrilling as the current run of Dune movies in theaters, it’s still eerie, beautiful, and dense. The second season should be along later this year or early in 2027.
- Release Date
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November 17, 2024
- Showrunner
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Alison Schapker
- Directors
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Anna Foerster
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Emily Watson
Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen
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Olivia Williams
Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen
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Jodhi May
Empress Natalya Arat
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Travis Fimmel
Desmond Hart
The Gilded Age
Opulence!
The Gilded Age is the most popular show on this list, almost so much that it feels odd calling it underrated, but it still feels like it doesn’t have as much buzz as it should. Set in New York City in the 1880s, The Gilded Age follows members of the wealthy elite as they have romantic misadventures, attend lavish balls, and look fantastic in opulent period garb. The Gilded Age comes from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and it very much feels like an American version of that series.
The Gilded Age isn’t here to critique wealth inequality or draw comparisons between this time and our own; it’s an elaborate soap opera with a cast of mostly decent characters who model fancy costumes. It goes down very easy and it has a fourth season coming down the pike.
- Release Date
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January 24, 2022
- Network
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HBO Max
- Showrunner
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Julian Fellowes
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Carrie Coon
Bertha Russell
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Morgan Spector
George Russell
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Louisa Jacobson
Marian Brook
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Denée Benton
Peggy Scott
Neighbors
Revenge of the docu-series
The newest show on this list, Neighbors is a docu-series that documents real-life conflicts between neighbors, like a land dispute in rural Montana or a spat over who can use a beach in Florida. The show just lets the ordinary people involved in these disputes state their cases, and the results are often weirder and funnier than they would be if a roomful of writers were made them up. Like in the Montana case, both of the feuding neighbors love Dungeons & Dragons and would probably get along great if they weren’t fighting over whether the one neighbor could erect a fence on his property.
A second season of Neighbors is in the works.
- Release Date
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February 13, 2026
- Network
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HBO
Hidden treasures everywhere
HBO has produced many series that didn’t get the love they deserved when they aired. There’s still time for these shows to blow up, with your help.
