5 hit HBO TV shows that almost no one remembers

When you think of HBO, you probably think of one of his legendary TV shows; after all, it was the premium network that operated with the slogan “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Series like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Deadwood,” “The Wire” and more modern entries like “Succession,” “Game of Thrones” and “The White Lotus” have catapulted the network to revered status, winning Emmys left and right. But what about the HBO shows that time has simply forgotten?

To be clear, everything on the following list is worth watching for one reason or another, and while HBO’s production volume isn’t as relentless as, say, Netflix, the network still makes a plot of shows. Some of them just aren’t very good (“The Idol” comes to mind, as does the “Sex and the City” reboot/sequel “And Just Like That…”), but some of them came and went without much fanfare, even if they deserved a little more hype than when they first aired. Here are five largely forgotten but solid HBO shows you should probably go watch on HBO Max.

Long before Mike White was on “Survivor” and felt inspired to create “The White Lotus” during isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.and long before Laura Dern won an Oscar and helmed another hit HBO show, “Big Little Lies,” White helmed the HBO series “Enlightened,” which has a cohort of extremely passionate fans happy to tell you it’s the greatest TV comedy of all time (even if you didn’t necessarily ask). I won’t entirely proselytize, but I will say that “Enlightened” is really good and was ultimately only canceled after two seasons due to low ratings, not because it was bad by any measure.

So, what is “Enlightened” about? Dern plays Amy Jellicoe, a woman ready to return to her job at a huge and seemingly evil corporation called Abaddonn after going through a mental health crisis. However, after experiencing this crisis, Amy spent a few months at a wellness center to try to refocus. Life isn’t exactly easy for Amy, even after her “enlightenment,” and people around her, including her mother Helen (the late Diane Ladd, Dern’s real mother, who was also a terrific actor) and her ex-husband Levi (Luke Wilson), doubt that she has really changed. (White also appears in the series as Tyler, one of Amy’s colleagues at Abaddonn who befriends her despite his introverted nature and sketchy past.) “Enlightened” features a savage, bravura performance from the dependably great Dern and is every bit as incisive and insightful as “The White Lotus,” but it focuses its ire on corporate America rather than the privileged vacationing at luxury resorts.

When you consider that Marta Kauffman and David Crane – the minds behind a little series called “Friends” – created “Dream On” for HBO, it’s all the more shocking that this series didn’t make more of a splash during its six seasons in the 1990s. To be fair to Kauffman and Crane, “Dream On” preceded “Friends” (although the two overlapped for a few years), so perhaps the first show was a great experiment learning. The gist of “Dream On” is that it focuses on Martin Tupper (Brian Benben), a book publisher living in New York who is going through a tricky divorce and shared custody of his son while trying to find love again. To make matters worse, Martin’s ex-wife Judith, played by Wendie Malick, is remarried to Dr. Richard Stone, an absurdly accomplished individual who has never been seen on screen (on several occasions, the audience learns that Richard is a neurosurgeon, the fifth member of the Beatles, and also an astronaut), and Martin is still carrying his ex-wife’s torch despite the fact that he doesn’t think he can ever compete with the guy.

The most memorable thing about “Dream On,” as far as the series is memorable, is that it relies on clips from old TV shows and movies to help explain what Martin is feeling at any given moment, giving the audience a glimpse into his mind through a cultural lens. “Dream On” is a fun little episode in HBO history, but it’s still worth checking out, especially because comedy legend and future “Better Call Saul” star Michael McKean also plays a great supporting role.

Across three seasons of the HBO original comedy “Hung,” Thomas Jane plays Ray Drecker, a man who struggles to provide for his children after a devastating fire destroys their family home and chooses a somewhat unorthodox path. After enlisting the help of his best friend and former girlfriend Tanya (Jane Adams, who went on to work with HBO on future projects like “The Idol” and “Hacks”), Ray decides to take on a side job – outside of his main career as a high school basketball coach – as a sex worker, largely because he’s a bit “bigger” than most of his male peers (hence the title).

Under the title “Happiness Consultants,” Tanya and Ray seek advice and guidance from a life coach named Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff) while the two women act as sex work facilitators; Along the way, Ray still has to deal with his ex-wife Jessica Haxon (the late Anne Heche) and her new husband Ronnie (Ocean’s Eleven player Eddie Jemison) and even faces stiff competition (literally!) when a younger, sexier sex worker named Jason, played by Stephen Amell, enters the proverbial catwalk in later episodes. “Hung” only lasted two seasons, but it’s definitely a fun adventure if you decide to check it out.

At least “Arli$$” is the show that brought us Sandra Oh – and for that, we should all be extremely grateful. A series that was absolutely difficult to watch until its return to HBO Max in 2022, “Arlis$$,” created by its star Robert Wuhl, focuses on his fictional sports agent Arliss Michaels and follows him as he juggles his powerful, wealthy and talented sports clients. Unlike a later HBO entry like “Entourage,” which aimed to showcase the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, “Arli$$” took a more grounded and sometimes even more brutal approach, juxtaposing Arliss’ complete inability to say “no” to his clients with over-the-top corrupt situations and personal problems that sometimes threaten to derail his entire career.

Wuhl is of course flanked by Oh, the future star of “Grey’s Anatomy” who plays Arliss’ assistant Rita Wu (a deeply passionate and knowledgeable woman without whom Arliss could never function), as well as Jim Turner and Michael Boatman as Kirby Carlisle and Stanley Babson (a retired football player turned sports agent and financial advisor to Arliss, respectively). “Ballers” may now be known as the great HBO series that focuses on the highs and lows of professional sports, but “Arli$$” did it first.

Can you believe HBO had a comedy starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis, and no one even remembers that?! Maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but I think more respect should be given, generally speaking, to “Bored to Death,” which only lasted three seasons on the premium network. Schwartzman leads this brilliant ensemble as Jonathan Ames, a Brooklyn novelist trying to sell books who moonlights as a private detective (albeit illegally, as he has absolutely no credentials for the job) and, as a nice little bonus, the showrunner, Jonathan Ames, based the show’s characters on himself and his real-life pals. These friends include Jonathan’s best friend Ray, played by Galifianakis and inspired by comic book artist Dean Haspiel, and Danson’s George Christopher, a magazine editor and Jonathan’s mentor. (Even though we don’t really know the exact The basis of this guy is probably someone who helped Ames during his own writing career.)

“Bored to Death” also features a ton of stellar guest stars — including Jenny Slate, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Kazan, Patton Oswalt, Bebe Neuwirth, Mary Kay Place, Danson’s real-life wife and Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen and Isla Fisher, among others — and overall, it’s just a good time. You absolutely won’t be bored if you binge “Bored to Death”.