Entertainment and pop culture have only become more immersive when it comes to their ability to capture the audience’s attention, yet the medium of television continues to reinvent the norm in groundbreaking ways. Television is often viewed as a populist medium that caters to the mainstream, and it’s led to some incredibly successful TV series, albeit ones that can often lack bite.
At the same time, strides have also been made regarding television’s ability to take chances on unconventional ideas and the auteurs behind them. These series don’t always connect in the way that’s expected, but they almost always result in unique talking points as audiences try to understand what it is they’ve just watched.
10 Twin Peaks Normalizes David Lynch’s Weirdness And Captivated The World Through Mystery
It’s very possible that David Lynch’s Twin Peaks is the weirdest television series that will ever air on network TV and anything that follows almost seems like it’s intentionally trying to ape the quaint small town weirdness of Lynch’s television magnum opus. The difference is that Lynch’s eccentric sensibilities are incredibly genuine and don’t come across as unusual to the avant-garde auteur. The investigation over a small town murder manages to make its central crime one of the most normal aspects of the series, and Lynch’s 2017 return manages to be even stranger.
9 Hannibal Pushes The Boundaries Of How Far Horror Can Go On Television
The cancelation of Hannibal after three seasons on NBC is a decision that haunts many hardcore fans of both the horror genre and high art. The hungry adventures of Hannibal Lecter had fully hit diminishing returns through their cinematic installments, which makes it so impressive that Bryan Fuller’s televised adaptation could find such fresh life and reinvigorate the character’s narrative. Hannibal is bloody and incredibly violent, yet it manages to mask its brutal nature through an artistic aesthetic. Hannibal plays by its own rules, and it’s truly incredible that it was able to tell this story, let alone on NBC.
8 Jam Is Sketch Comedy At Its Most Fearless And Frightening
Admittedly, mainstream British television can often be more willing to take risks than American network productions, but there are still standards that must be followed. Airing on UK’s Channel 4, Jam is a sketch comedy from the twisted mind of Chris Morris, but it genuinely feels like a descent into a nightmare.
Conventional jokes and punchlines are often discarded in favor of disorienting visuals and editing. Jam frequently slows itself down or messes with its audio and video levels to make its alienating humor even more aggressive.
7 Review With Forrest MacNeil Pushes Its Premise To The Extreme And Never Holds Back
Comedy Central most commonly gets singled out for its pop-culture institutions like South Park and The Daily Show, but Andy Daly’s Review with Forrest MacNeil quietly delivered three seasons of what’s easily the craziest thing that’s ever aired on the network. Review with Forrest MacNeil looks at a “life reviewer” who sets out to critique experiences rather than conventional review subjects. Forrest’s life systematically gets ruined through his reviews, and it becomes a staggering character study. Review’s final season is only three episodes long, committing to the bit that Forrest doesn’t believe that his show is in fact canceled.
6 Cop Rock Was A Police Procedural Musical That Left Audiences Confounded
Reputation is everything in the television industry, and some of the strangest series are able to get greenlit because of the pedigree that their creators carry from their previous work. Steven Bochco was a prolific name in the police procedural drama, responsible for the hit Hill Street Blues. Bochco took a major risk with ABC’s Cop Rock, a hybrid of police shows and lavish musicals. Audiences couldn’t reconcile the disconnect between these extremes, and Cop Rock only lasted 11 episodes before it was canceled. Oddly, it’s the type of series that would perform much better today.
5 Community Deconstructs The Sitcom And Is One Of Television’s Most Meta Creations
Community might be the smartest and most ambitious television comedy of all time, network television or otherwise. Dan Harmon of Rick and Morty fame created a revolutionary comedy that’s centered around a group of misfits, yet uses the medium of television and cinema as a filter for their internal struggles.
Community had to roll with consistent changes, but it’s remarkable that such a genre-skewing series could air on NBC for five seasons before ultimately getting the plug pulled and turning to Yahoo! Screen for their final year. It’s unlikely that anything so ambitious will ever air on NBC again.
4 Wayward Pines Allows M. Night Shyamalan To Craft A Twin Peaks-Esque Mystery
M. Night Shyamalan is a revered filmmaker who has had his shares of ups and downs. When Shyamalan connects with his audience, it’s incredible, and he helped create something special with FOX’s sci-fi mystery, Wayward Pines. Wayward Pines does feel a lot like the other genre-defying and horror-centric programming that’s gone on to dominate television, but Wayward Pines stands out from the herd because of just how hard it goes. The series’ first season contains what’s still one of the most audacious twists to ever happen on network television, which is certainly fitting considering Shyamalan’s reputation with extreme twists.
3 The Eccentric, Heightened Humor Of Police Squad! Left Audiences Overwhelmed
Television has no shortage of police procedurals, whether they’re serious dramas or more light-hearted comedies. Leslie Nielsen’s Police Squad! is an absurdist take on the genre that’s full of nonsensical sight gags and ridiculous wordplay. Not only did the gonzo Police Squad! air on ABC, but it did so during the early 1980s when its exaggerated sense of humor was even more unusual on network television. Police Squad! was such an awkward fit that it only lasted six episodes, but its ability to successfully spin-off into the critically adored Naked Gun movies speaks to the network comedy’s inherent brilliance.
2 Courage The Cowardly Dog Brings Extreme Weirdness To Its Younger Audience
Many of these avant-garde network television shows aren't able to produce many episodes because their level of weirdness eventually becomes too much of a liability for the network. Courage the Cowardly Dog often found ways to be more subtle with its stranger impulses. Courage produced over 50 episodes over the course of four seasons, but the most impressive detail about all of this is that it's a children's show that aired on Cartoon Network. Courage the Cowardly Dog is geared towards younger audiences, but it has certain Lynchian vibes that come forward and hit even harder as a result.
1 On The Air Is Lynch’s Disorienting Attempt At A Network Sitcom
David Lynch made waves with Twin Peaks, and even though ABC canceled the series, they still wanted to maintain an amicable relationship with Lynch and see what else he could develop. The result of this is On the Air, a network sitcom masterminded by Lynch that is somehow even stranger and more alienating than Twin Peaks. The ABC comedy centers around the inner workings of a dysfunctional 1950s variety show. The series is full of odd characters and atypical impulses, which is why only three of On the Air's seven episodes aired on ABC before it was pulled.