8 Near-Perfect Prime Video Shows Nobody Seems To Remember

8 Near-Perfect Prime Video Shows Nobody Seems To Remember Olivia Cooke's Cherry in The Girlfriend

By Cathal Gunning Published 9 minutes ago Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Although Prime Video has produced plenty of iconic shows, truly great titles like I’m A Virgo and The Girlfriend are sometimes unfairly forgotten shortly after their arrival. A look back on Netflix’s best forgotten thrillers proves that the streaming service might release too much content for its own good.

Since there’s always something new to watch on Netflix, viewers often forget instant classic shows like Ripley shortly after they are released. Regardless of their quality, these shows are lost amid a stream of constantly updated content, and they fade from the cultural memory even though they deserved more than a week on the streaming service’s most-watched list.

However, the issue may run deeper than just the sheer volume of content that Netflix releases. After all, Prime Video doesn’t put out quite as many new titles every week, but the streaming service still runs into the same issue from time to time. This is proven by a look back on the best Prime Video shows time inexplicably forgot.

The Devil’s Hour

Released in 2022, The Devil’s Hour was a creepy, dark thriller that starred former Doctor Who Peter Capaldi. Capaldi played Gideon Shepherd, a criminal who claims he has memories from the future, as he tried to help a seemingly psychic social worker solve a series of grisly local murders.

Centered on the criminal’s conversations with this troubled social worker, The Devil’s Hour was a race against time that got darker than many supernatural thrillers that came before it, and a thriller show viewers need to watch twice to fully understand. This twisty, dark mystery was ingenious, but inexplicably forgotten soon after its release.

Number 1 Happy Family USA

Starring Ramy Youssef, Number 1 Happy Family USA follows a Muslim-American family’s attempts to navigate life in America during the early 2000s. Although the show doesn’t shy away from depicting the Islamophobia of the period, Number 1 Happy Family USA also doesn’t let this get in the way of plentiful laughs.

Like most of Youssef’s work, this animated sitcom blends moments of poignant social commentary with a lot of riotous comedy and tasteless gags. With the help of South Park veteran Pam Brady, Youssef makes this one of the strongest cartoon comedies in years, but the show failed to get its flowers upon its April 2025 debut.

The Rig

Like The Devil’s Hour, The Rig blends supernatural scares with a straightforward thriller storyline. Set on a remote Scottish oil rig, the series stars Iain Glen and Emily Hampshire as an offshore installation manager and an oil company rep who discover something terrible lurks in the mist that surrounds the titular setting.

Isolated from the world and unable to leave the rig thanks to this dense mist, the show’s heroes are forced to reckon with the consequences of their oil drilling when they learn they may have unearthed an ancient evil beneath the sea’s surface. One of Prime Video’s most underrated thriller shows, The Rig doesn’t shy away from trippy twists.

Martin Compson and Mark Addy round out the supporting cast of The Rig, and the show’s story is as unpredictable as it is star-studded. By the time viewers see spores from the strange fog infect the rig’s workers and change their personalities, the biggest unanswered mystery of the series becomes why The Rig isn’t more widely remembered.

Dead Ringers

Rachel Weisz smiles with her reflection in Dead Ringers

When 2023’s Dead Ringers was first announced, it was hard to see how the miniseries would work. Based on the David Cronenberg movie of the same name from 1988, Dead Ringers sees star Rachel Weisz pull double duty by playing a pair of identical twin gynecologists, Beverly and Eliot Mantle.

It was tough to see how the show would turn the taut thriller into an entire miniseries without losing the movie's sparse intensity, but Lady Macbeth scribe Alice Birch managed exactly that in this grim, inventive, and blackly comedic thriller. By the end of Dead Ringers, it is easy to see why Birch knew a gender-flipped revision of the story would sing.

What is harder to work out is just why the series seemed to have so little cultural staying power. Birch’s writing is cutting, the cast is superb, and Weisz does some of her best work as the twin protagonists. Despite this, Dead Ringers struggled to stay in the cultural conversation even after its massive critical acclaim.

The Girlfriend

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Adapted from Michelle Frances’ novel of the same name, The Girlfriend is a shamelessly campy, deliriously fun psychological thriller that is as twisty as it is twisted. The show follows Olivia Cooke’s Cherry, a heroine with a dark past who appears to have hit the jackpot when she starts dating a sweet, doting, very wealthy new man.

However, Cherry soon learns her boyfriend is uncomfortably close with his mother, Robin Wright’s Laura, and the stage is soon set for a Freudian love triangle that is as unsettling as it is unpredictable. Viewers are likely to shift their allegiances numerous times during this thriller, which explains why many critics were thoroughly amused by the series.

That said, this wasn’t enough to leave a lasting impression, and The Girlfriend faded from memory surprisingly soon after its release. Since the show only arrived in September 2025, time will tell whether The Girlfriend has a second life during awards season.

I’m A Virgo

Jharrel Jerome as Cootie in I'm A Virgo

By I’m A Virgo’s ending, it was clear that the show’s creator, Boots Riley, had outdone even his demented 2018 satire, Sorry to Bother You. An ambitious, genre-blending satirical masterpiece, I’m A Virgo follows Jharrel Jerome’s Cootie, a 13-foot-tall teenager from Oakland who has never been allowed to leave home for fear of persecution.

When Cootie finally makes it out into the world, he becomes a social media sensation overnight, and soon befriends a group of political activists. What follows is an absurd parody of superhero media that also doubles as a thoughtful, poignant, and blackly hilarious satirical takedown of contemporary American culture, the police state, and the state of the media.

While I’m A Virgo’s Parking Tickets subplot is an ingenious addition to the show, Riley’s series was either too cerebral for mainstream audiences, too brash in its delivery, or simply suppressed by the rest of the releases that arrived around the same time. Despite being one of Prime’s best shows ever, I’m A Virgo still hasn’t gotten its flowers.

War and Peace

Originally released in 2016, War and Peace is a starry adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s iconic Russian novel of the same name. A six-part miniseries, the show’s cast includes Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton, Jessie Buckley, Callum Turner, Tom Burke, Jack Lowden, Brian Cox, Gillian Anderson, and a whole host of other stars.

Since writer Andrew Davies and director Tom Harper managed the astounding feat of making Tolstoy’s doorstopper accessible, approachable, exciting, and operatic, one would expect that this historical drama would often appear on lists of Prime’s best shows ever. However, the miniseries instead appears to have been forgotten by history.

Daisy Jones and the Six

Riley Keough and Sam Claflin putting in their headpieces for a recording session in Daisy Jones and the Six

An adaptation of the Taylor Jenkins Reid novel of the same name, Daisy Jones and the Six is a love letter to classic ‘70s rock that doubles as a multi-decade, cross-generational love story. Told with an ingenious framing device, the series centers on the explosive rise and tragic breakup of the titular band.

Anchored by standout performances from its lead, the show is a great adaptation that peaks with Daisy Jones and the Six’s perfect ending. Despite this, like I’m A Virgo and The Girlfriend, the series was seemingly forgotten after its initial success.

8.8/10

4/10

The Girlfriend

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Robin Wright Laura
Olivia Cooke Cherry

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I'm a Virgo

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Do you think the constant stream of new content on platforms like Netflix and Prime Video causes great shows to be unfairly forgotten?

Cathal

Cathal

Cathal #JD414179 Member since 2023-10-24 0 Reviews 0 Ratings Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View 9 minutes ago Some may argue that the high volume of content released on streaming platforms leads to great shows being overlooked, as viewers quickly move on to the next new release. Others might counter that it's simply a matter of personal preference and that quality shows will always rise to the top regardless of how much content is released. Another perspective is that having a wide variety of content helps cater to diverse tastes, but discovery and promotion of lesser-known gems could be improved. Reply / Post Images Attachment(s) Please respect our community guidelines. No links, inappropriate language, or spam.

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