TV shows are supposed to develop as their seasons progress, as the original format of a series might not always fit. In some cases, when aTV show’s premise stops working quickly, this opens the door for the writers to experiment with more fantastical and outlandish narratives, leaving behind the story that was once so rooted in reality. While this can sometimes be the perfect thing and keep a show on the air for longer, it can also come out of nowhere andgive the TV series a reputation for jumping the shark, making audiences take it less seriously.
Manylong-running TV shows never changed their original premise, but this is the exception, not the rule. It’s more likely that a series will grow and evolve throughout its run, finding new formulas and settings that the characters flourish in and that audiences respond to. There’s nothing wrong with magical elements and heightened reality, butwhen a show is marketed to have a grounded narrative, it can be jarring for viewers to adapt to plot lines that change the toneand themes of the story. If the show becomes too out there, it might even get canceled.
Riverdale
Cast
A darker take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends from the Archie Comics series, Riverdale is a CW supernatural mystery series that sees the group trying to illuminate the truth surrounding various strange occurrences and murders in the titular town. When a teenage girl is found dead in the once-quiet town, the event starts a series of ever-growing mysteries that ultimately lead to darker secrets in the town’s history. Led by Archie, the Riverdale gang will attempt to navigate their new normal while dealing with all of the drama that comes with being high school teenagers.
Riverdalequickly became the source of much discussion and speculation as the comic-book-inspired teen drama didn’t hold back when it came to outlandish plot points. When the audience first meets Archie (KJ Apa) and his friends, there’s a strong element of melodrama, but this doesn’t detract from the high school setting and the everyday pangs of adolescence thatRiverdalegrapples with. However, by the series' end,multiple realities, time travel, and magic became par for the course of a typical episode.
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It’s a common misconception that the writers and actors onRiverdaleweren’t aware of the outlandish storylines and how over-the-top the series became. At a certain point, it’s clear that the creative team behindRiverdaledecided to lean into the extreme tone and revel in the story’s own intensity. Though it can be difficult to keep track of the many intersecting narratives and relationships inRiverdale,the series earns a certain respect thanks to its commitment to campy magical realism.
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Glee
In order to escape the stressful reality of high school, a group of misfits decides to join William McKinley’s glee club. Fox’sGleewas created by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk,and Ryan Murphy, with Leah Michele, Jane Lynch, and Matthew Morrison leading the cast. The series ran for six seasons between 2009 and 2015 and won six Primetime Emmys.
Ryan Murphy is the mind behind some of the most campy and outlandish TV series of the 21st century,and his work onGleeis the precursor to the tone of shows likeHollywoodorThe Politician. ThoughGleeinitially attempted to tackle tough issues of discrimination and identity through a comedic lens, this quickly veered into troubling territory. At a certain point,Gleestarted making light of serious subjects, doing more harm than good by utilizing bizarre storytelling techniques like the puppet episode in season 5.
Gleewas always supposed to be a satirical and heightened take on the pitfalls of high school, but there’s little question thatafter season 3, the show started losing its way.To compensate for the loss of the core group of characters from the series' first era,Gleetook on even more controversial and extreme storylines. This was a trend that began in the beginning but only increased as the seasons progressed.Gleewas more than indelicate for the sake of drama, alienating viewers by the series' end.
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Community
Community is a comedic television series that chronicles the lives of diverse students at Greendale Community College, a fictional and notoriously underperforming educational institution in Colorado. Released in 2009, the show explores the quirky interactions and relationships among the eclectic group navigating their academic and personal challenges.
It was a little more than halfway throughCommunitythat the show’s creators and audience realized that it was going to be much more than a typical sitcom about a group of misfits in a community college. The continuous homages to iconic parts of film and television are whatCommunityis best known for, butas the show progressed, the story’s grip on reality began wavering.While this wasn’t a bad thing for many viewers who enjoyed the wacky tone, it madeCommunitystruggle to find the wide audience of its competitors.
The series came back and ended with a strong final two seasons, even if they were unconventional.
TheCommunitymovie is confirmed, with most of the original cast coming back to reprise their beloved roles and give the dedicated fanbase the long-awaited conclusion to the foretold six seasons and a movie.Communityseason 4 almost ended the franchise completelydue to the departure of the creator, Dan Harmon, since this season is widely considered the weakest and most off-base. Thankfully, the series came back and ended with a strong final two seasons, even if they were unconventional.
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Lost
Lost is a mystery drama series created for TV that follows a group of survivors of a plane crash and tells its story between the past, present, and future via flashbacks. When Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crashes and lands on a mysterious island in the pacific ocean, the castaways discover their new temporary home may have a mind of its own, as strange supernatural events keep them locked to the island. From an unknown black smoke creature to dangerous islanders, the passengers must work together to survive the island’s seemingly deadly intentions.
From time travel to smoke monsters, the final few seasons ofLostmade viewers equally enthralled and infuriated thanks to its off-the-rails storytelling. Known for its excellent foreshadowing and mysteries,Losthad an incredibly strong first two seasons that had just enough unanswered questions and intrigue to draw the viewer in. However, hints of supernatural occurrences and larger conspiracies are one thing, butLosteventually took this too far and exhausted its premise by trying to shock the audience.
There are manyLostmoments that made viewers quit the showthanks to the devastating character deaths and plot twists that came out of nowhere. From the premiere ofLostseason 1,the series utilized flashbacks as a way to give the viewer contextabout the survivors' lives before the island. However, this format became overdone quickly, resulting in the flash forward and sideways, which added confusion to the already convoluted storylines of the later seasons.
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Weeds
Weeds is a dark comedy-drama television series that follows the life of Nancy Botwin, a suburban mother who becomes a marijuana dealer after her husband’s sudden death. Starring Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy, the show explores the complexities of her new career and its effects on her family and community.
Mary-Louise Parker leadsWeedsas Nancy Botwin, a housewife who slowly becomes a drug kingpin throughout the series' run in the wake of her husband’s death. It’s a fun and engaging fish-out-of-water premise, andParker is endlessly charming as the naive but resourceful Nancy.However,Weedswas at its best in the first few seasons when Nancy’s empire was limited to her small town, and larger issues of conspiracy, FBI warrants, and murder weren’t the show’s source of conflict.
Instead of sticking to its small-town dramedy roots,Weedsattempted to increase the scale and drama of its story, which ultimately made it a completely different show by the end of season 8.
Instead of sticking to its small-town dramedy roots,Weedsattempted to increase the scale and drama of its story, which ultimately made it a completely different show by the end of season 8. There’s an argument to be made thatWeedswent on for a few too many seasons,which reflected poorly on its initial explosive popularity. Though the performances keepWeedsconnected to the series it once was, seeing Nancy as a criminal on the run and witnessing the increasing levels of violence made it difficult to take seriously.
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The Other Two
The Other Two is a comedy series that follows two siblings living in the shadow of their 13-year-old brother’s meteoric rise to fame. Cary and Brooke, two siblings who had hoped to make it big in their lives, never quite make it to the top. But when their younger brother becomes famous online, the other two siblings try to make sense of the modern world while finding their place.
The short-lived but eternally memorable sitcomThe Other Twois a hilarious critique of the entertainment industry through the eyes of the two adult siblings of a tween heartthrob who gets famous overnight. From the beginning,The Other Twotook on the most ridiculous aspects of fame and notoriety in the modern age,but with time, the series left reality behind. However, this disconnect accompanied the character’s increasingly selfish behavior, making it easy to see them in hilarious and cringe-worthy situations.
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ByThe Other Twoseason 3, the series had fully committed itself to magical realism, withplot points about characters turning invisible when they leave the industryand an episode even seeing Brooke (Heléne Yorke) go to space. However,The Other Twobalanced this tone shift well, as the characters became more entrenched in fame and fortune and their own perspective on reality changed. Despite its cancelation,The Other Twowill be remembered as a TV series that was as ahead of its time as it was outlandish.
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30 Rock
Tina Fey’s absurdist comedy series follows Liz Lemon, the head writer of a fictional live sketch comedy show operating out of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which is where the show derives its name. Loosely based on Fey’s experiences as a writer on Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock ran for seven seasons with a supporting cast that included Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer.
Though not all parts of30 Rockhave aged well by today’s standards, the series is still considered one of the funniest and most timely additions to the sitcom genre of the past several decades. It stars the series creator and writer Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, the head writer of an in-world TV show that’s a spoof ofSaturday Night Live. Throughout its run,30 Rockalways poked fun at itself and the way people consume comedy,unafraid to put its characters in hilariously terrible situations.
While Liz is the eternal stand-in for the audience and questions her wild reality, that doesn’t stop30 Rockfrom pushing boundaries.
While Liz is the eternal stand-in for the audience and questions her wild reality, that doesn’t stop30 Rockfrom pushing boundaries.The fictional shows the writers created, likeMILF IslandorCelebrity Homonym, are part of what made the series so famous,as they took the already hilarious realities of modern television and took them even further. With each season, the characters become caricatures of themselves, and the show lets go of reality, but this was a revolutionary part of the series.
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The 100
The 100 is a sci-fi post-apocalyptic TV series set ninety-seven years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization. When a spaceship housing humanity’s lone survivors send one hundred juvenile delinquents back to Earth in hopes of possibly re-populating the planet, they discover that Earth is still inhabited. Now constantly in a state of power flux with warring clans, cannibals, and mountain-dwellers, the juveniles must attempt to survive while re-establishing contact with the Ark.
As a post-apocalyptic sci-fi series,The 100was already primed to include plenty of plot twists and go a little bit off the rails. However,The 100was reasonably successful at making its reinventions and soft reboots fit naturally into the overarching storylines and keeping the character dynamics and development at the forefront.Clarke (Eliza Taylor) was the anchor that keptThe 100groundedthroughout the early installments, but even she couldn’t stopThe 100from straying into overly improbable territory.
Utilizing two time jumps in a row was a little much, even forThe 100, though the series worked hard to pull this off. A few later choices, like Bellamy’s (Bob Morley) betrayal in the final moments of the series and the earlier establishment of the wormholes, were hard to believe, even for a fantastical show.The Anamoly and time dilation ended up being confusing rather than intriguing,butThe 100is still worth watching until the end, if only to see what happens to Clarke.
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Dexter
Dexter is a television series following Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Police who secretly leads a dual life as a vigilante serial killer. Released in 2006, the show focuses on Dexter’s internal conflict as he hunts down criminals who elude justice within the legal system.
Dexter’s initial premise already was unlike most police dramas on TV, as it centered on a serial killer instead of the detectives trying to catch him. Based on the book series by Jeff Lindsay,Dexterstarred Michael C. Hall as the title character, a serial killer who curbs his urgesby going after other murders and criminals while working for the police department. It’s a fun and clever conceit, and it’s no wonder thatDexterhas remained so popular and widely discussed to this day.
It’s the poor performance and low ratings of the final season that cemented the end ofDexteras the weakest part of the series.
The strange relationship between Dexter and his adoptive sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), was a huge misstepfor the series.Dexteris aTV show that would have been better without this romance subplot, as well as some of the more outlandish developments in the progressive seasons. Unfortunately, it’s the poor performance and low ratings of the final season that cemented the end ofDexteras the weakest part of the series. Introducing Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) and using this new character as the crux of a plot twist made no sense.
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Family Matters
Family Matters is a classic sitcom that follows the Winslow family, a middle-class family living in Chicago that engages in several misadventures while sharing heartfelt experiences with one another. The show tackles several major real-world issues while keeping the core of the show light at heart, and also featured the breakout role of Jaleel White as the super nerd Steve Urkel.
One of the best-known and most successful sitcoms of the 1990s,Family Matters, started with the same tone and formula as the beloved sitcoms of the past. Following the Winslow family,Family Mattersspun off fromPerfect Strangersand had quite a life of its own. A large part ofFamily Matters' evolution and fantastical episodes in the later seasons was the development of the character Steve Urkel (Jaleel White). Becoming a fan-favorite character and being elevated to the main cast,Urkel was defined by his wild inventions.
AsFamily Matterscame to revolve around Urkel and his incredible sci-fi-esque experiments, it lost most of what defined the series when it first started. At first, the Winslows' everyday issues, family dynamics, and typical problems with work and school served as the primary conflicts.Since Urkel was so popular, it makes sense thatFamily Mattersshifted focus to explore him and his ideasthat broughtFamily Mattersinto speculative fiction territory. However, it did make the show almost unrecognizable.
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