15 Reasons For TV Fans To Watch Tubi TV

There are a number of advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, but Tubi TV is one of my favorites. In part because it has an unpredictably odd mix of movies and television shows. Scanning through Tubi's listings is like looking through the shelves of some old video rental store that couldn't afford all the latest releases. There are scores of great titles and nearly-forgotten gems mixed in with things so horrific not even the participants would tune in.

If you're a television fan - particularly if you love reality TV - Tubi has enough weird little shows to keep you busy for weeks. Some of them are ones that deserve to be remembered and some are just so bad that you need to watch at least one episode. I've picked 17 shows that are worth sampling, in no particular order. And if you're a real hardcore reality TV fan, Tubi also has a collection of every bad VH1 reality series from the 90s and early 2000's, ranging from "I Love New York" to "Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It."

1) Ramsay's Boiling Point (1998)
Before he was a fixture on television, Gordon Ramsay was just an ambitious chef trying to make a name for himself. This is his first reality series and it focuses on his frantic efforts to successfully launch his first restaurant and get a Michelin star. It's a fascinating look at his early years and it's a reminder of how much his personality has been changed by his many years in front of the cameras.

2) The Geraldo Rivera Show (1986)
There is a collection of 25 episodes from the run of Geraldo's daytime talk show and while a number of the topics don't hold up very well, one must-watch episode is called "Trump Vs. Trump." It's a fascinating look at the press surrounding Trump's divorce and watching it gives you an idea of how easily he was able to manipulate New York's exclusive-hungry gossip columnists.

3) Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking (2015)
While most Americans know Mary Berry from "The Great British Baking Show," she's been a fixture on British television for decades. And this show highlights what she does best: quietly showing people how to cook. There's nothing flashy about the presentation or the recipes. But the show is soothing and informative in a way that feels more like a mental cleansing of the palate than a cooking lesson.  Tubi also has another one of her shows, "Mary's Absolute Favorites."

4) Next Action Star (2004)
This NBC reality show featured seven women and seven men competing for the chance to star in their own action film, which turned out to be the made-for-TV film "Bet Your Life."

5) Cannonball Run (2001)
The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was an infamous coast-to-coast race that inspired the "Cannonball Run" movies. It also inspired this USA reality series. Although since the network couldn't promote a series that included breaking every speeding law in the U.S., the show featured teams "racing" in carefully timed legs. And yes, that's just as dull as it sounds.

6) Wipeout Canada/Australia/U.K.
While ABC has quit airing the American version of "Wipeout," you can get your big balls fix by watching the versions that aired in other countries. "Total Wipeout U.K." was hosted by former "Top Gear" co-host Richard Hammond and its fair to say the humor is best described as "very British." There are also seasons of "Wipeout" that aired in Australia and Canada.

7) Queer As Folk (1999)
This groundbreaking UK series followed of three, young gay men in London. Written by Russell T. Davies, this British version only ran for ten episodes. But it had a monumental influence on British television and it spun off an American version of the show, which aired for five seasons on Showtime.

8) Hidden Palms (2007)
Created by Kevin Williamson, this series ran on the CW and portrayed the fictional lives of a group of teenagers and their families residing in Palm Springs, California. It starred Amber Heard, Sharon Lawrence, D.W. Moffett and Gail O'Grady. Originally ordered with 13 episodes and a fall premiere, the network quickly cut the episode order to eight and aired it in May and June.

9) Red Shoe Diaries (1992)
Airing on Showtime from 1992-1997, this sexy anthology series is hosted by Jake Winters (David Duchovny), who has placed a newspaper personals section ad under "Red Shoes" seeking women to mail in their personal diaries with stories of love, passion and/or betrayal. The episodes begin with Winters reading their letter and then the episode retells her story, with a remarkable number of episodes highlighting "sexual awakening."

10) The Dresden Files (2007)
Based on a fantasy book series of the same name by Jim Butcher, this Syfy network series starred
Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden. The son of a powerful witch and a professional magician, Dresden often helped the police with cases involving "unusual" circumstances and others who sought his help. You'll also find some other shows on Tubi that originally aired on Syfy, including "Painkiller Jane," "The Lost Room" and "Earthsea."

11) The Dead Zone (2002)
Loosely based on the characters from the Stephen King novel of the same name (as well as the movie), this long-running series was originally developed for UPN. But when that network passed on the show it was picked up by the USA Network, where it aired for six seasons. It starred Michael Anthony Hall as a small-town school teacher

12) Love & War (1992)
Tubi doesn't have tons of obscure classic scripted TV shows, but it inexplicably has this Diane English comedy, which aired on CBS for three seasons. Season one starred Jay Thomas and Susan Dey, but Dey was replaced by Annie Potts for the final two seasons. It's an amusing if not hilarious series, with guest stars that included Tracy Ullman, Sid Caesar and Jerry Seinfeld & Larry David playing themselves.

13) Running Wilde (2010)
Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, this Fox series stars Will Arnett as Steve Wilde, a self-centered bachelor and heir to an oil fortune who tries mostly unsuccessfully to win back his childhood sweetheart, Emmy Kadubic (Keri Russell). The comedy only lasted nine episodes before being pulled from the schedule. On the upside, Russell's next TV series was "The Americans."

14) Reboot (1994)
It's easy to forget how revolutionary this series was when it premiered in 1994. It was the world's first completely computer-animated TV series and it was set in the interior world of a computer. Which was pretty extraordinary considering it came out at a time when the world was using Windows 3.1 and Apple had just released a Macintosh computer with a 160 MB hard drive. The series aired for two seasons on ABC before moving to syndication and finally to the Cartoon Network for its final (and fourth) season. The concept was reworked for the mostly-live action series "Reboot:  The Guardian Code," which runs on Netflix

15) Mazes And Monsters (1982)
Based on the Rona Jaffe novel of the same name this made-for-CBS movie is mostly notable for being the only made-for-TV film Tom Hanks ever starred in. In the film, Hanks plays Robbie Wheeling, a troubled college student who has a psychotic break after getting caught up in a Dungeons & Dragons-type game.