10 Emmy-Winning TV Shows Everyone Kind Of Forgot About – TVLine

As the highest honor a television series can receive, the Emmys bestow both prestige and visibility on winning shows. Even if you’ve never watched them, you can probably name some of the biggest winners. “Game of Thrones” picked up an impressive 59 statues, “The West Wing” received 26 awards, and “The Sopranos” racked up 21. It’s unlikely we’ll forget about these TV powerhouses anytime soon.

But awards wins don’t guarantee popularity or longevity. Indeed, some Emmy-winning shows haven’t stood the test of time, for various reasons. Maybe it was because they got outshone in their own genre by another more popular series, maybe they landed more with critics than casual viewers, or maybe it was an unfortunate early cancellation.

To be sure, some may have heard of the shows on this list –- it’s not as if no one has watched them. Rather, the shows here were well-regarded (Emmy-winning, in fact) when they aired, but haven’t maintained popularity since then. Comment below if anything on this list jogs your memory, or if there are any shows you remember that no one else seems to.

When it aired in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the critics loved “China Beach.” Series star Dana Delany was nominated for four Emmys and won two, usurping TV legends like Angela Lansbury. Marg Helgenberger, who would go on to star in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” also won an Emmy for Supporting Actress. However, it was never as popular with viewers as it was with critics. ABC pulled the show from the air in its third season due to low ratings, and the fourth was truncated.

If you’re one of the people who never got around to watching the show, here’s the gist. “China Beach” takes place at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. Delany plays the protagonist, Nurse Colleen McMurphy, and the rest of the cast includes other nurses, doctors, soldiers, and civilians at the hospital. The series is initially set in 1967, though the fourth season jumps ahead to 1985.

Lifetime ran reruns of the show in the 1990s, but it’s been unavailable to stream anywhere until very recently. As of August of this year, you can finally watch all 61 episodes of “China Beach” on Howdy, a new ad-free streaming service on Roku. Though the series still has its fans (we know this because TVLine readers have long hoped for this show to get picked up by a streaming service), its lack of availability has likely contributed to its absence from popular culture these days.

One of the great actresses of the Golden Age, Barbara Stanwyck did not go gentle into that good night as Hollywood changed before her eyes. In the last three decades of her career, Stanwyck turned to television. From 1960 to 1961, she hosted “The Barbara Stanwyck Show,” an anthology series; Stanwyck starred in all but two of the show’s 36 episodes, which told dramatic stories within a wide variety of genres, including Westerns, noirs, and “women’s films.” The project was motivated by the lack of roles she was being offered as a 53-year-old woman.

Stanwyck was commended for her extraordinary range with an Emmy award in 1961. But, despite this acclaim, and the many notable guest stars featured on the show, it was canceled after only one season. Responding to the disappointing news, which coincided with the cancellation of several other women-led shows, Stanwyck proclaimed, “I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but they’ve decreed no more women on television.”

Each episode of “The Barbara Stanwyck Show” only aired once, so it’s no surprise that few people have seen it. In 2009, a DVD with most episodes of the series was released, though it hardly propelled the show to international renown. Stanwyck went on to star in the Western “The Big Valley” in 1965, winning her another Emmy, and her eponymous series faded away into obscurity.

Medical shows have been a staple of television programming for the last 70 years, but not all of them have achieved the cultural impact of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Take, for example, “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” which ran for a very respectable seven seasons from 1969 to 1976 but is rarely mentioned today. The show stars Robert Young as the titular character, a kindhearted family doctor. Welby works with a partner, Dr. Steven Kiley (James Brolin), and the show often highlights their different approaches. Though Welby is much older than Kiley, his methods are more unconventional, while Kiley is a by-the-books kind of doctor. The show also features Elena Verdugo as Consuelo Lopez, their secretary, and legendary screen actress Anne Baxter as Welby’s girlfriend, Myra Sherwood.

Welby was the kind of doctor we rarely see on TV these days. He was basically just a nice guy, going out of his way to help his patients even if it meant bucking convention. The archetype of a gentle, older man doctor has fallen out of vogue today, though medical dramas are just as popular as ever. “Marcus Welby, M.D.” was a success for ABC, as it won four Emmys (out of 17 nominations) and spawned two TV movies in the ’80s. The first two seasons of the series were released on DVD in 2010, while the rest of the show remains lost to time.

Jon Cryer was a sitcom mainstay in the 2000s, starring in “Two and a Half Men” for 12 years and taking over as the lead after Charlie Sheen’s notorious exit. Decades earlier, in 1989, Cryer was cutting his teeth with his very fist sitcom: “The Famous Teddy Z.” If anyone out there remembers watching “The Famous Teddy Z,” please let us know, because we sure don’t!

Cryer plays Teddy Zakalokis, a mailroom clerk at a talent agency. Dispatched to pick up the famously difficult actor Harland Keyvo (Dennis Lipscomb) from the airport, Teddy stands up to Keyvo and punches him in the stomach. Appreciating his straightforward attitude, Keyvo hires him as his new agent on the spot, despite the fact that he has no experience. While his colleagues have no qualms about crossing ethical lines to seal their deals, Teddy takes a more honest approach to the job.

The show was well-regarded by critics, and Alex Rocco, who plays agent Al Floss, won an Emmy for his performance. However, because of low ratings, CBS pulled the series from broadcast in its first season, with five episodes left unaired.

The ’70s saw the first appearance of women with superpowers on television. Isis (JoAnna Cameron), from the children’s series of the same name, became the first superpowered woman on the small screen in 1975. Her more famous contemporary, Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter), premiered just two months later. Wonder Woman was followed by “The Bionic Woman” in 1976, a once-popular series that’s rarely discussed today.

“The Bionic Woman” was a spin-off of “The Six Million Dollar Man,” based on Martin Caidin’s “Cyborg” novel. Lee Majors plays Steve Austin, an astronaut who was injured during a test flight. Austin is rebuilt, so to speak, with bionic limbs, enhanced hearing, and eyesight, and he goes to work for a clandestine government agency as a secret agent. After nearly losing her life in a skydiving accident, tennis player Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner, who won an Emmy for the role) is brought back to life using the same technology, becoming the Bionic Woman.

“The Bionic Woman” ran for two seasons on ABC and one on NBC before being canceled for good after its third season. Despite its relatively short tenure on television, “The Bionic Woman” was popular enough to produce three TV movies in the ’80s and ’90s. NBC tried and failed to bring the Bionic Woman back to life in the 21st century with a 2007 reboot, but it only ran for eight episodes. However, it’s still possible for the series to be discovered by a new generation, as it’s available to stream on Peacock.

Sela Ward was the queen of family dramas in the ’90s. She rose to fame as one of the leads of the NBC drama “Sisters,” for which she won an Emmy. She won her second Emmy for “Once and Again,” in which she plays Lily Manning, a divorced mother living in Illinois. Lily is raising two daughters (Julia Whelan and Meredith Deane) on her own when she meets Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell), a single dad with two kids, played by future stars Shane West and Evan Rachel Wood. Lily and Rick begin dating, and everyone in their lives has lots of opinions about the new relationship.

The show was a welcome relief from all the teen dramas airing at that time, and aimed to depict everyday people with struggles viewers could relate to, emphasizing the characters’ mental states using direct-to-camera confessionals. Despite its humble presence, “Once and Again” was quietly groundbreaking, depicting network TV’s first teenage lesbian couple, played by Wood and Mischa Barton.

Though it was canceled after three seasons, the show was popular enough with critics that Ward overtook actresses from beloved shows, Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco from “The Sopranos,” and Julianna Margulies from “ER,” when she won an Emmy in 2000. Sadly, the show isn’t available to stream anywhere, and while the first two seasons were released on DVD, mysteriously, the third season never was.

If you’re an avid TV watcher, you might recognize Hank Azaria’s voice before you recognize his face. Perhaps best known for voicing countless characters on “The Simpsons,” Azaria was given the chance to lead his own show with “Huff,” a Showtime drama which ran from 2004 to 2006. He plays Craig Huffstodt, known as Huff by his friends and family, a psychiatrist living in Los Angeles. Huff faces a professional and personal crisis in the first episode, when a teenage client commits suicide in his office.

Huff’s family life is often as chaotic as his job. Paget Brewster stars as his wife, Beth, an unpredictable party planner. Oliver Platt plays Russell, Huff’s best friend and a lawyer willing to bend (or break) the rules. Anton Yelchin portrays Huff’s son, Byrd, a sensitive and curious teenager. Blythe Danner brings the laughs as Izzy, Huff’s mother, who lives in an apartment above the garage and often meddles in the family’s affairs.

Though it only ran for two seasons and was never as renowned as its cable TV contemporaries, “Huff” had some luck on the awards circuit. Blythe Danner won an Emmy for her performance, while Azaria and Platt were both nominated for theirs. Showtime’s most popular series, “Dexter,” premiered the year “Huff” went off air, and Azaria’s show has mostly faded into obscurity.

If you were watching TV in the 2000s, you may have heard of “Samantha Who?” However, we’d wager a guess that most viewers haven’t thought about the show in years. The series premiered in 2007, the same year as “The Big Bang Theory” and that decade’s Writers’ Strike. The show stars Christina Applegate as Samantha Newly, a real estate executive who suffers retrograde amnesia after a car crash. She learns that she wasn’t that nice to be around before the crash, and decides to try and be a better person.

The series features an impressive guest cast, which includes Jean Smart as Samantha’s mother, Jennifer Esposito as Samantha’s best friend, and Melissa McCarthy as Samantha’s former childhood friend, who convinces Samantha they have been friends all along. Jean Smart won an Emmy for her role in the series, while Applegate received two nominations.

With a unique premise and a great cast, it’s somewhat surprising the series wasn’t more of a hit. ABC should probably take some of the blame for this. While it had a great time slot and impressive ratings in its first season, the schedule changed in Season 2, and the ratings dropped. During negotiations for another season, ABC pushed for a significant budget cut, but these changes never came to pass, and the series was canceled. It’s unlikely the show will experience a revival any time soon, as it’s available to rent or buy on several platforms, but isn’t streaming anywhere for free.

You may not know the name Susan Harris, but she is a television legend. Best remembered for creating the endlessly rewatchable “Golden Girls,” Harris also created thirteen comedy series from the ’70s to the ’90s. A mentee of sitcom great Norman Lear, Harris’ first hit show premiered in 1977 on ABC. “Soap” is a primetime soap opera parody following two sisters and their respective families. Katherine Helmond plays Jessica Tate, the matriarch of a wealthy family whose marriage is filled with infidelity. Cathryn Damon stars as Mary Campbell, whose working-class family has ties to the mob.

The show took the absurdity of the soap opera genre to the extreme, featuring many ludicrous plotlines involving both human woes, like murder, affairs, and courtroom drama, as well as supernatural ones like demons and extraterrestrials. At the same time, like many of Lear’s shows, “Soap” included groundbreaking stories about topics like mental illness, religion, interracial relationships, and sexuality; Billy Crystal plays Mary’s gay son, Jodie, a character that bucked television norms during the ’70s.

The executives at ABC were fans of the show, but it often courted expensive controversy due to its depiction of hot-button issues, costing the network sponsors and creating legal headaches. Still, it was well-rated and won four Emmys out of 17 total nominations. In the end, costs became too high, and it was canceled after four seasons. Though “Soap” hasn’t maintained its popularity over the decades, it’s still available to watch today, both on DVD format and streaming on Tubi.

Did you know that devout fans of the actress Amy Brenneman call themselves Brennemaniacs? We’d wager a guess that these fans haven’t forgotten about her legal series “Judging Amy,” but most of the general public has. The show was executive-produced by Brenneman herself, based on her mother’s job as a judge. Brenneman plays Amy Gray, a family court judge who moves from New York to Connecticut after a divorce. Amy and her daughter, Lauren (Karle Warren), live in Amy’s childhood home with her mother, Maxine (Tyne Daly), a social worker in child welfare.

“Judging Amy” spends as much time on Amy’s personal life as it does on her professional life. She has a difficult time with relationships, and her dating life is the source of frequent drama. Her relationship with her mother can also be challenging at times, as both women are stubborn and have a lot in common. While a successful and respected judge, Amy sometimes finds herself in hot water due to her unconventional methods.

The series ran for six seasons on CBS, from 1999 to 2005, before it was canceled. During that time, “Judging Amy” was nominated for 11 Emmys, and Tyne Daly won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama series. After its cancellation, reruns of “Judging Amy” aired on TNT, but the series is no longer available to stream. Now, Brenneman is better-known for her roles in “The Leftovers” (one of the best shows currently streaming on HBO Max).