The early part of winter is usually defined by friends, family, and the warmth of the holiday season. As the months drag on, though, you’re more and more likely to find yourself looking for ways to spend the coldest part of the year.
If you feel like you’ve already seen all of the well-known and genuinely great shows on Peacock, then you might even be on the lookout for something that’s a little more under the radar. That’s why we’ve put together this list of more underrated shows that are a perfect way to while away the coldest months of the year.
Ted (2024-)
No one thought we needed a Ted prequel that was made exclusively for Peacock, but the folks at NBC decided to give us one anyway. As it turns out, though, we can be pretty grateful that they did.
The result is a surprisingly sharp and funny series that manages to turn the brand of humor that made Ted a huge hit in theaters into something that works on a TV show. At the same time, Ted manages to find enough heart to make the show feel worth watching. It’s a rock-solid adaptation, aided immensely by the great job it did in finding its young cast.
The Traitors (2023-)
Adapted from a variety of international shows of the same name, the U.S. version of The Traitors is basically a huge game of Mafia in which a large group called The Faithfuls tries to pick out the traitors among them, even as the traitors slowly pick them off one by one.
The U.S. version of the show splits the contestants evenly between reality stars and regular people, but what really makes it work is the way these contestants collude and collaborate in order to narrow down who might be a traitor. Whether they’re right or wrong, watching the game unfold week to week is one of the greatest thrills that reality TV has been able to produce in recent years.
Columbo (1968-1979)
One of the great classic detective shows ever made, Columbo tells the story of a disheveled dtective, who nonetheless proves himself to be invaluable in the solving a wide array oft crimes. The show wouldn’t work at all without Peter Falk’s lackadaisical, yet sharp central performance, but the writing on the show was also consistently excellent.
Famously, the show revealed exactly who did it at the beginning of each episode, which meant that the thrill became watching exactly the way Columbo would stumble upon the truth. Although it undoubtedly relied on a formula, Columbo is one of the great comfort shows ever made for a reason. Fans of the recent Peacock streaming hit Poker Face should check it out.
