The 2000s gave us some pretty over-the-top science fiction. But in a fun and entertaining way. There were teenagers who turned out to be aliens. Scientists created monsters. Genetically engineered super soldiers walked around looking better than anybody had a right to look after escaping a secret laboratory. And we watched it all on regular television. No subscriptions. No scrolling through 900 titles trying to find something to watch. You just turned on the TV and hoped something good was on.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Some of these shows were genuinely entertaining. Others were a bit silly, but that didn’t stop us from watching. Funny how we still talk about Buffy and The X-Files while other shows have practically disappeared. Maybe they weren’t as good. Maybe everybody’s too busy rewatching the same five series. Either way, these forgotten sci-fi shows deserve another look. Even if a few of them are going to be harder to defend than we remember.
5) Mutant X (2001–2004)
Everybody wanted an X-Men live-action show of their own in the early 2000s. And some even wished they turned out to be actual mutants. regardless, Mutant X became a live-action mutant show that no one saw coming. The series follows a group of genetically modified humans with special abilities. John Shea plays Adam Kane, the scientist who leads them. Their enemies are the people who created them in the first place. Because apparently nobody involved in genetic engineering ever thinks about what happens afterward.
There are secret bases and leather jackets everywhere. The special effects aren’t exactly spectacular today. The show also became involved in a legal dispute with 20th Century Fox over its alleged similarities to X-Men. It lasted three seasons before disappearing in 2004. Was it a superhero classic? Not even close. But it had mutants throwing people around before superhero television became an industry of its own. You could certainly do worse on a Saturday afternoon.
4) Kyle XY (2006–2009)
Let’s start with the belly button. Kyle doesn’t have one. That’s how you know something strange is going on. Matt Dallas plays a teenage boy found in the woods with no memories and some very unusual abilities. He ends up living with the Trager family and tries to figure out how ordinary people work. You’d think being a teenage boy was complicated enough already.
The mystery was the fun part. Who was Kyle? Where did he come from? And why did everybody seem so interested in him? The series mixed family drama with secret experiments and conspiracy theories. It also made Matt Dallas a familiar face to viewers who were watching ABC Family at the time. Unfortunately, the show was canceled in 2009 after three seasons. It ended on a cliffhanger. So we spent years wondering about a fictional boy’s missing belly button and never got all the answers. Television can be cruel.
3) Roswell (1999–2002)
Roswell actually started in 1999, but it belongs in this conversation. Max Evans is an alien. Liz Parker is human. He saves her life and suddenly their relationship becomes everybody’s problem. Jason Behr and Shiri Appleby played the central couple, while Katherine Heigl and Majandra Delfino helped complete the group of alien teenagers hiding in New Mexico. Their biggest challenge was keeping their identities secret. Dating was complicated enough without the government getting involved.
I always liked the basic idea behind this show. It took an alien conspiracy and made it a teenage drama. There were secrets and government agents, but there were also crushes and arguments. The soundtrack helped, too. Dido’s “Here with Me” became closely associated with the opening credits. The show moved from The WB to UPN before ending in 2002. It wasn’t always consistent, but it had a charm that plenty of slicker sci-fi shows never managed. And let’s be honest. A teenage alien was probably more interesting than most of the boys at your school.
2) Dark Angel (2000–2002)
Jessica Alba. James Cameron. A dystopian future. Fox had every reason to think Dark Angel would be a hit. Alba plays Max Guevara, a genetically engineered soldier who escapes from a secret facility. She ends up living in a broken-down Seattle and working as a bicycle courier. That’s quite a career change. She also spends her time looking for other escaped soldiers while trying not to get caught.
The series had plenty going for it. Alba was a strong lead, and the action was often impressive. Cameron had co-created the show after the enormous success of Titanic. Expectations were high. But the series lasted just two seasons before Fox canceled it in 2002. The ending left major questions unanswered. Fans never got the proper conclusion they wanted. It’s a shame because the premise had plenty of room to grow. Instead, the whole thing was cut short. At least Alba went on to have a successful career. Max wasn’t quite so lucky.
1) Eureka (2006–2012)
A town full of geniuses sounds like a wonderful place to live. Until one of them accidentally blows something up. Eureka follows Sheriff Jack Carter, played by Colin Ferguson, after he ends up in a secret Oregon town where the government keeps some of its brightest scientists. These people can invent machines that bend the laws of physics. Keeping their experiments under control is apparently a different matter. Jack isn’t a genius himself, which makes him the perfect person to deal with a town full of people who probably think common sense is beneath them.
The show ran for five seasons and featured Joe Morton, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Erica Cerra. It had a lot of fun with its ridiculous scientific disasters. One minute, Jack was dealing with an ordinary police matter. The next, the entire town was in trouble because somebody had invented something they didn’t fully understand. The series ended in 2012, and I still think it deserves more attention than it gets. It had good characters and plenty of genuinely funny moments. Besides, who wouldn’t want to live in a town where the biggest problem is a scientific experiment gone wrong? Actually, on second thought, I’ll stay where I am.
33 Years Later, This Forgotten ’90s Cartoon Looks More Like a Prestige Sci-Fi Series
More TV Shows
Warner Bros.
TV Shows
11 hours ago
HBO’s Harry Potter Series Corrects a Major Casting Problem From the Movies
TV Shows
13 hours ago
VisionQuest Teases a Major Ultron Change From the Comics, And Fans Are Here For It
TV Shows
18 hours ago
HBO’s Harry Potter Casts The Weasley Brother Cut From the Films, Along With James & Lily
Movies
20 hours ago
Batman: The Animated Series Foreshadowed the End of Clayface and One Actually Did It Better
TV Shows
22 hours ago
Captain Planet’s Darkest Episode Turned a Real Public-Health Crisis Into a Supervillain Plot & It Starred Neil Patrick Harris
Peacock
TV Shows
1 day ago
Crystal Lake’s Changes to Jason’s Origin Explained: Does Sci-Fi Belong in This Horror Series?
<img src="https://comicbook.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/04/Peacock-Logo-2026.jpg?w=300" alt="Everything Coming to Peacock in November 2026″>
Movies
1 day ago
Everything Coming to Peacock in November 2026
TV Shows
1 day ago
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ Best Halloween Episode Brought Back Six Iconic Monsters for the Ultimate Battle
