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Twin Peaks' stilted, awkward acting only makes it that much weirder.
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00:00There's no denying that even a great script and sharp direction can be completely undermined by
00:05bad acting, be it from fundamentally miscast actors or genuinely terrible performers doing
00:11all the wrong things. Yet sometimes bad acting can inexplicably be to a TV show's net benefit
00:17for one of several unexpected reasons. Mainly a shameless over-actor ends up charming the
00:22hell out of an audience. Perhaps the wooden actor's lack of emotion accidentally informs
00:25their spaced-out character perfectly, or maybe their sloppy work only enhances the show's
00:31rather offbeat tones. So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:35and these are 10 TV shows that actually benefited from bad acting.
00:3910. Star Trek The Original Series
00:42William Shatner's indelible performance as Star Trek's original Captain Kirk is iconic for many,
00:48many reasons, one being a certain Family Guy parody which introduced a whole new generation to his
00:53deliriously hammy work on the original series. Shatner's time on Trek was defined by his larger
00:58than life turn in front of the camera, or if we're to be blunt, his blatant overacting. Shatner left
01:04no piece of scenery unchewed throughout the series, his energy shifting unpredictably within scenes
01:09while also taking odd, unnatural pauses during dialogue. Throw in his restless movements and hand
01:15gestures and it's clear that Shatner was always playing for the cheap seats, somewhat fitting given
01:19that he trained as a classical Shakespearean actor. While most theatre actors rein in their
01:24projection for the small screen, Shatner continued to go big. In a different project, it wouldn't
01:28necessarily work, yet in something as heightened as Star Trek, it absolutely did, in large part
01:33because of Shatner's charming, unrelenting commitment. Even in the weakest Trek episode,
01:38it was worth tuning in just to see Shatner's idiosyncratic line reading and wild gesticulations.
01:449. Mad Men
01:46Though Mad Men boasted one of the most immaculate ensemble casts in the history of television,
01:50there was one sure outlier in the pack, and that was in the form of January Jones,
01:55who portrayed Don Draper's distant wife Betty. Despite receiving Golden Globe and SAG nominations
02:00for her performance on the show, Jones is generally accepted amongst the fanbase to be the weakest link,
02:05trailing the rest of the main cast by a large margin. And yet, Jones' icy lack of effect throughout
02:10the series, defined by a wooden delivery that borders on robotic at times, is ultimately perfect for the
02:15role of a dissatisfied 1960s housewife. The creative minds behind the show clearly appreciated
02:21that Jones' stiff performance would be perfect for the part of the repressed and rather shallow
02:26Betty. Though Jones' post-Mad Men work, including a shambolic performance in X-Men First Class,
02:32hasn't exactly shown much improvement. While a different actress might have gone to lengths to
02:35add more life and different dimensions to Betty, Jones' surface-level work was unintentionally
02:40quite brilliant in its own way. 8. Twin Peaks
02:44David Lynch's Twin Peaks certainly boasted its fair share of excellent acting, but also some
02:50performances that, to be blunt, were ultimately just quite laughable. By far the two biggest culprits
02:55are James Marshall and Lara Flynn Boyle, who play young lovers James Hurley and Donna Hayward.
03:00In Marshall's case, it didn't help that James is held by many fans to be the show's worst character,
03:05a corny, boring mope whose irritation is only elevated by pairing him with the obnoxious Donna,
03:10a hellish match if there ever was one. This all culminates in James' infamously hilariously
03:15wretched rendition of the soft ballad Just You for Donna and Maddie Ferguson, which over 30 years
03:21later remains perhaps the show's single most ridiculed moment. Yet David Lynch is as exacting
03:27as filmmakers come and knew precisely what he was doing here. Lynch has never been particularly
03:31interested in realism, and with Twin Peaks existing as both an homage to and an example of a soap opera,
03:37he clearly leaned into the off-key overall performances of his cast at every moment.
03:42Marshall and Boyle certainly aren't the only wonky actors amongst the huge ensemble,
03:47but their hyper-dramatic work feels more perfectly attuned to the campy vibe that Lynch was definitely
03:52shooting for. It only enhances the feeling that this sleepy town and the people within it are very,
03:57very off. 7. Master of None
04:00Aziz Ansari's dramedy series Master of None has been widely celebrated for its phenomenally
04:06perceptive writing, superbly sharp direction, and marvellous performances, though one of its major
04:11triumphs was a bit of a happy accident. Protagonist Dev's Indian immigrant parents make a few memorable
04:17appearances throughout the show, and best of all, they're played by Ansari's real-life parents.
04:21Yet the pair are not professional actors in any way, and it absolutely shows throughout the series.
04:26There's an untrained awkwardness to their delivery that makes it clear that they're reading lines
04:30rather than speaking from the heart, and yet there's a charm to that clumsiness, which only
04:34makes their on-screen interactions with their real-life son that much more funny and poignant.
04:39That stilted quality makes them feel like real parents genuinely trying to have a heartfelt
04:43conversation with their son, but because they're not used to speaking in this form, they struggle
04:47to get the words out.
04:486. Orange Is The New Black
04:51Taylor Schilling is a totally solid actress, and yet her performance as protagonist Piper
04:56in Netflix's hit prison drama Orange Is The New Black has received wildly mixed responses
05:01ever since the show's premiere. There was much outcry after Schilling scored a lead actress
05:05Emmy nod for her work in the first season, many feeling that not only was Piper the most
05:09boring member of the series, but that by extension Schilling's performance was nothing to write
05:13home about. In Schilling's defence, Piper isn't a particularly interesting character,
05:18though the actress plays her as so obnoxious as to erode all sympathy for her altogether.
05:22With so many wonderful actors in the ensemble bringing life to the excellent characters,
05:28Schilling's work definitely seems positively bland by comparison. Evidently, the show's
05:32creator realised this as subsequent seasons edged away from Piper's story to rove around
05:37the infinitely more compelling supporting cast, which was ultimately an incredibly smart move
05:41to ensure the show's longevity. Had they kept focus on Piper and Schilling,
05:45it's tough to imagine Orange sticking it out for seven seasons.
05:485. Once Upon a Time ABC's hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time was a frothy good time both
05:56despite of and because it was full of questionable acting. Beyond the genuinely brilliant show-stealing
06:03performances from Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold slash Rumpelstiltskin, the majority of the cast were
06:08firmly in phoning it in territory, admittedly working with writing that could politely be called
06:13as er, not great. One takes no pleasure in singling out a child actor, but Jared S. Gilmore's performance
06:19as the interminably annoying Henry Mills caught a lot of flack in earlier seasons, even if he's
06:25simply the worst of an ensemble that's totally all over the place. And yet, the lack of consistency
06:30between the performances with actors swinging for so many disparate tones only enhanced the show's
06:35already pronounced guilty pleasure quality. It's basically a community theatre production with a
06:40budget, a fairy tale that is underlined by the flailing skittishness of the ensemble cast.
06:45It's not good acting, but it's way more fun to watch than a more serious, self-regarding version
06:49of the show, which it definitely could have been.
06:524. Altered Carbon
06:53Netflix's prematurely cancelled Altered Carbon might be the textbook example of a style-over-substance
07:00TV show, beautifully shot, thematically rich, and yet ultimately failing to realise the full
07:04potential of its ambition. One of the chief complaints among critics and viewers alike,
07:09though, was the mediocre performances from the show's leads, Joel Kinnaman in the first season
07:13and Anthony Mackie in the second. Both Kinnaman and Mackie are talented actors, there's no question
07:18about that, and yet as the re-sleeved host bodies for protagonist Takeshi Kovacs, each absolutely fails
07:25to convince. Kinnaman's hard-boiled take on Kovacs aimed for brooding, but ended up feeling dull and
07:30wooden. And though Mackie's subsequent portrayal felt more alive, it wasn't remotely consistent with the
07:35character that we were introduced to previously, and yet this disconnect between the two performances
07:40ends up unintentionally playing into the show's central theme of identity. The notion that a guy
07:45being constantly swapped into different sleeves might seem inconsistent and off-kilter totally works.
07:50It's just a shame that Netflix cancelled the show before season 3, which would have most likely
07:54featured Will Young Lee as the prime Kovacs and basically reconciled the three performances into one.
08:003. Prison Break Throughout the mid-2000s, Prison Break was one of the most talked-about TV shows
08:06on the planet, a deliciously ridiculous, fiendishly addictive prison drama about a man,
08:11named Michael, attempting to break his brother Lincoln out of prison before he's executed for
08:16a crime he didn't commit. While there are a number of genuinely strong performers on the show,
08:20namely William Fichtner, Peter Stormer, and Wade Williams, the two leading roles are played by Wentworth
08:25Miller and Dominic Purcell, with a stoic reserve bordering on self-parody. Despite the immense
08:31turmoil the brothers experience throughout, Miller and Purcell both underplay their parts to the point
08:36that it's easy to call them cardboard. By any measure, their work renders the show's two most
08:40important characters weirdly boring at times, and much like fellow prison show Orange is the New Black,
08:46the wider ensemble cast ended up surpassing them in popularity. Yet there's something to be said for
08:51their blank slate acting technique. For starters, it provides an entertaining contrast to the bigger
08:56performances of their fellow prisoners, and it also feels rather in step with the show's shamelessly
09:00trashy vibe. A little more emoting wouldn't have hurt either actor for sure, but hearing Miller unveil
09:05the next step of his wildly convoluted plan with a steely dramatic whisper was nothing if not highly
09:10amusing. 2. Squid Game
09:13Netflix's Squid Game was the undeniable surprise TV hit of last year, becoming the streamer's most-watched
09:19series ever and going on to win Golden Globe and SAG awards for the performances of its cast.
09:24Yet, as wonderful as the ensemble's performances are, there is one aspect of the show that made a
09:28lot of fans turn their noses up, and that was those damn VIPs. In the show's seventh episode,
09:33we're introduced to a group of American VIPs who are all wagering on the games, and many viewers
09:38noted the strangely stilted quality of their masked actor's performances, some even citing it as an
09:43example of distractingly bad acting. And while it was suggested that this was simply a result of the
09:48language barrier between the American cast members and Korean crew, it's also been claimed that the
09:53disjointed performances were entirely intentional, so as to create an intentional disconnect between
09:58them and the rest of the cast. Whether intended or not, the off-base performances are certainly
10:03effective in portraying the VIPs as stereotypically coarse, boneheaded American tourists, an amusing
10:10reversal of America's media tendency to portray Asian characters amid broad stereotypes. If the hammy
10:16acting made the gross VIPs even more off-putting, then good, you're not meant to like them.
10:211. Riverdale
10:22There's perhaps no greater guilty pleasure show still airing today than Riverdale, a slick and
10:27self-consciously trashy reimagining of the classic Archie comic series. The show has gone down some
10:33increasingly silly rabbit holes in recent years, with many fans believing its quality has declined
10:37severely, noting the chaotically inconsistent writing of the series' beloved main characters.
10:42But look, Riverdale was never going to be winning Emmy Awards for its acting, and though the older
10:47cast members largely get away with their dignity and tact, the teens are all over the place,
10:52especially Archie, Veronica, and Jughead. While they're absolutely at the mercy of the show's
10:56rough-shod scripts, of the main teens the only actress to emerge relatively unscathed is Lily
11:01Reinhardt, whereas the quality of the other's work wildly varies from scene to scene. Yet,
11:06given Riverdale's unapologetic penchant for slushy melodrama, which is basically styled as a teen
11:11rip-off of Twin Peaks as it is, the wonky acting helps elevate that vibe into the stratosphere,
11:17where the audience is simply just having fun laughing at the heightened absurdity of what
11:21they're seeing. Seemingly well aware of this fact, Cole Sprouse himself hilariously compared the
11:25ensemble cast to a wax museum a few years ago. And there we go my friends, those were 10 TV shows
11:31that actually benefited from bad acting. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you
11:35thought about it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me
11:38over on Twitter at RetroJayWithAZero, or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice, where I do all of
11:43my streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there, my friend. But before I go,
11:47I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself well with love and respect, both mentally
11:51and physically, my friend, because you deserve all of the best things in life, and do not let anything
11:55or anyone else tell you otherwise, alright? You're a massive ledge, and I'm going to go out there and
11:59smash your life goals today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome.
12:04Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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