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20 Hidden Gems to Watch on Peacock

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Now that NBCUniversal's new streaming platform Peacock has taken flight -- featuring a deep catalogue of shows from Cheers to Parks to Rec, and mega-movie franchises like The Matrix and Jurassic Park -- it's the perfect time to pluck out a few hidden gems that you might not have known were headed your way. Sure, you can binge BSG, but what about all the forgotten '80s and '90s sci-fi? And while you wait for Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot/revival, you can watch all of the original series (plus The College Years). And who can resist an entire section devoted to... Nicolas Cage?! Sexy spies, disheveled sleuths, wolves in the air, Roy Scheiders in the sea - here's a rundown of some of coolest under-the-radar things you can watch on Peacock! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=hidden-gems-to-watch-on-peacock&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"]
Original Unsolved Mysteries

unsolved-mysteries-1 Fans are buzzing about Unsolved Mysteries again thanks to Netflix's current reboot, but if you're looking to dive back into the original show, hosted by Robert Stack, and fall down a rabbit hole of cold cases and conspiracy theories (complete with awesome reenactments), Peacock's got all 12 seasons.
Cult Movies: Serial Mom, American Psycho, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and More

serial_mom_1280 Among Peacock's movie offerings, you can find John Waters' gloriously giddy Serial Mom, starring Kathleen Turner -- a dark satire about a suburban housewife who goes on a killing spree -- along with Howard the Duck, American Psycho, Crush, Fear of a Black Hat, and more in the "Cult Corner."
Saved by the Bell

Saved by the Bell The original Saved by the Bell (the first season being Good Morning, Miss Bliss) -- including spinoff series The College Years and TV movies Hawaiian Style and Wedding in Las Vegas -- is on Peacock, with its scheming Zacks, dorky Screeches, giant cellphones, and Time Outs!
Nicolas Cage Channel: Red Rock West, Rumble Fish, Joe, and More

rock1 Peacock doesn't have the most complete Nic Cage catalogue in the world but the powers that be have decided the man is important enough to get his own sliding category. The best of his films in this batch is John Dahl's great neo-noir Red Rock West from 1993, but you can also watch Joe, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish.
Columbo

62270-universal_pictures_home_ent One of the most iconic TV sleuth series of all time, Columbo is available in full trench-coated glory on Peacock. This is the rare mystery series that made you feel bad for the killer, as fans watched the crook commit the heinous act -- a seemingly perfect crime -- and then get slowly picked apart by Peter Falk's frumpy Lt. Columbo as he keenly solved the crime we just watched happen.
21 Jump Street

Film and Television After a couple decades, 21 Jump Street was reimagined as a hilarious movie franchise starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, but you can catch the supremely '80s original on Peacock as Johnny Depp and a squad of too-young-and-hot-to-be-taken-seriously-as-cops cops worked out of a church and infiltrated high schools as undercover narcs.
seaQuest DSV

seaquest_1993_photo_hero-1920x1080 This '90s sci-fi adventure series took the basic bones of Star Trek, which was in the midst of a franchise revival thanks to TNG, and went underwater. Jaws' Roy Scheider played retired naval captain Nathan Bridger, the head of a high-tech submarine that executed missions - and communicated with a dolphin named Darwin (voiced by Frank Welker) - in the name of the United Earth Oceans Organization.
Sliders

1464968815-sliders Speaking of '90s sci-fi, Sliders, which started on Fox and concluded on Syfy, ran for five seasons and featured Jerry O'Connell as a teen who fronted a crew of wormhole drifters that traveled between different parallel universes. As recently as 2019, O'Connell and co-star John Rhys-Davies have been speaking to NBCUniversal about a possible revival.
Alfred Hitchcock Movies: Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, and More

1*um2HrwEwIC45XcwXkzSmaA Along with Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, you can watch Hitch classics like Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, and more.
Airwolf

INTRO-2 Hi-tech vehicles were all the rage in the '80s and after the success of the movie Blue Thunder, Airwolf managed to stick around for four seasons (far outlasting the actual Blue Thunder TV show adaptation). Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, and Alex Cord starred as a team who undertook exotic missions during the Cold War era using a super-chopper called Airwolf.
Covert Affairs

fanart-104281-2 Peacock is serving up programming from USA's Characters Welcome "blue sky" era - like Psych, Royal Pains, and Monk. But it's also got the underrated Covert Affairs, which was a spy series featuring a CIA trainee, Annie (played by Piper Perabo), being thrust into the deep end of espionage. Christopher Gorham played her blind handler, and eventual love interest, Auggie.
Care Bears

a02fb302-4318-41fb-a73e-b130acbe365e-1920-1080 Though the Care Bears have headlined many animated shows over the past 30 years, Peacock's got the original '80s series (Care Bears + The Care Bear Family) that ran from '85 to '88. So get warm and cuddly with Tenderheart Bear, Birthday Bear, Friend Bear, and Wish Bear, as they spread love and cheer all through the cloud realm of Care-a-Lot.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch ('70s Animated Series)

81XMheOs5IL._RI_-2 As a cool and groovy Peacock offering, the original Filmation Sabrina series, which was an animated adaptation of Archie Comics' Sabrina the Teenage Witch, followed the supernatural exploits of Sabrina, who liked to hang out and fight enemies using her magical powers, without letting her friends at Riverdale High find out.
The Commish

the-commish Before Michael Chiklis played the most iconic dirty cop of all time on FX's The Shield, he was the lead in a police dramedy, The Commish, that focused on the work life and family life of a police commissioner in a small upstate New York town. It was a fuzzy and funny series that was the total antithesis of Chiklis' Vic Mackey.
Classic Universal Monster Movies

frankenstein-movie Universal's attempt at a modern-era "Dark Universe" may have been an instant bust, but on Peacock you can catch the original DU(er)U with classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and more!
Abbott and Costello Films Where They Meet the Monsters

abbot-costello-horror Peacock doesn't have the Abbott and Costello movies of the '40s, but you can find the duo's monster-mash crossover films: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy, Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man, and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
Spike Lee Movies: Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Crooklyn, Clockers

ff As Spike Lee receives some of his best reviews to date from his Netflix film Da 5 Bloods, you can watch Spike Lee's breakthrough film Do the Right Thing (and follow up Mo' Better Blues) on Peacock. Lee's Crooklyn and Clockers are also on the site - but no Inside Man. Which was very good. And should be on Peacock.
The Rockford Files

James-Garner-The-Rockford-Files-TV-show James Garner's second hit TV show, after the long-running Maverick, was a complete reinvention of the P.I. series. A departure at the time for TV heroes, Garner's Jim Rockford was an ex-con who worked infrequent jobs as an investigator and lived (and worked) out of a mobile home in a Malibu parking lot. Though a smart and capable detective, Rockford never quite came out on top. Viewers fell in love with his charm, wit, and constant struggles.
The Carol Burnett Show

tim-conway-carol-burnett-show-02-gty-jc-190514_hpMain_16x9_1600 If it's landmark TV you're after, The Carol Burnett Show, which ran for nearly a decade, crossing from the '60s to the '70s, is a pioneering comedy from some of the medium's most legendary performers. Winner of 25 Emmy awards, this sketch/variety series featured Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.
Classic Films: Cape Fear, Charade, Spartacus, The Sting, and More

cape_fear_1962_13 Under Peacock's "Classics" section you'll find a nice spread of legendary movies: from the original Cape Fear to the original Day of the Jackal to Stanley Kubrick's epic Spartacus to the sublime lunacy of the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers. Finding true classic movies from prior to the '70s or '80s on most streaming services is pretty tough these days, so yay Peacock! [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-coolest-features-in-tv-streaming-services-you-might-not-be-using&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

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