TVLine put fantasy television back on the ledger with a list of 10 forgotten shows that deserve more fans. The selection lands in a genre that has exploded in the 21st century, even as some of its older series faded from view.
Among the titles it singled out are The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Tin Man, two very different swings at the genre. One is a one-season fantasy Western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse; the other is a three-part miniseries that reimagines The Wizard of Oz for Sci Fi Channel.
Bruce Campbell in Brisco County
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. stars Bruce Campbell as the eponymous bounty hunter, and that setup keeps the show rooted in genre structure even as it bends away from a straight Western. Brisco County tracks down the bandits who murdered his father, then gets pulled into a story involving a mystical orb that grants supernatural powers.
That orb gives the series its edge. Episodes bring in ghosts, time travel, and other supernatural turns, which is why the show sits closer to fantasy television than to a conventional frontier drama. A one-season run also makes it the kind of title most likely to disappear from the conversation unless a list like this puts it back in circulation.
Zooey Deschanel in Tin Man
Tin Man uses a different entry point. Zooey Deschanel plays DG, a waitress swept into the O.Z., or the Outer Zone, where an evil sorceress rules and DG teams up with unlikely heroes to stop an age of darkness from taking over the realm.
Richard Dreyfuss plays the Mystic Man in Tin Man, where the character performs while under the influence of Vapors and the Emerald City operates as a decadent party hub. The series also includes an interrogation involving electric torture, and its tone and visual style lean more toward steampunk than traditional fantasy.
Roar and the 10-list effect
Roar premiered around the same time as Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, yet it lasted only one season. That contrast helps explain the point of the list: some fantasy series arrive with the right ingredients but never hold the same place in public memory as the bigger hits.
TVLine’s list gives viewers a practical watchlist for anyone who wants older fantasy television that never got the same long-term visibility. The immediate takeaway is simple enough: start with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. if you want Bruce Campbell in a fantasy Western, or Tin Man if you want a darker reimagining built around DG, the O.Z., and a very different Emerald City.
