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From beginning to end - two totally different shows!
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00:00The TV game is a hard one to break. Myriad shows are chucked against the wall every season,
00:05and it's almost impossible to predict what will stick. Many a long-running program has started
00:10out providing one kind of content, and ended up doing something totally different. With that in
00:15mind, I'm Adam from WhatCulture, and here are 10 TV shows that change dramatically.
00:20Number 10. New Girl
00:21In 2011, Fox felt absolutely certain that the sheer force of Zooey Deschanel would be enough
00:27to sell a sitcom. Every advert and poster for New Girl featured Deschanel as Jess, the titular
00:32character, front and center, with her co-stars way out in the background if pictured at all.
00:38She was, we were promised, adorkable. And to be fair, Deschanel was a great fit for TV.
00:43Then at the peak of her powers, her public persona worked perfectly in 20-minute chunks.
00:48This simple premise saw her quirky school teacher character move into an apartment with a disparate
00:53bunch of boys, wearing hijinks couldn't help but ensue. Quickly though, the writers realized
00:57that there was life in this project beyond Zooey Deschanel, the show.
01:01As the rest of the cast, Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone, and the exceptional Max
01:06Greenfield found their feet in the supporting roles, the show was reshaped around the ensemble.
01:11It transformed from a star vehicle to the era's best hangout show.
01:15So distinct was this transformation that Jess could be written off the show for a spell
01:19while Deschanel gave birth. Smart writing and great cast chemistry turned what could have been
01:24a flash in the pan into one of the great modern network comedies.
01:28Number 9. The Leftovers
01:30This masterful drama created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Parada, on whose novel it's based,
01:35is by design in a constant state of flux. We're dropped into a terrifying reality in which
01:402% of the world's population has disappeared without trace or explanation. And from there,
01:46we follow an evolving cast of characters as they make sense of the new reality and hope to rebuild.
01:51Most obviously, each season takes place primarily or entirely in a different location.
01:56For the first run, we're in a small town in New York State, where our series-long protagonists,
02:01Kevin and Nora, find each other among a landscape of religious fundamentalism, nihilism, and grief.
02:07After this, we decamp first to Miracle Texas, a town unblighted by the rapture-like event,
02:12and later, Australia. Beyond this though, the tone and genre shift perceivably, sliding from
02:17psychological drama into something akin to sci-fi. The series remains rooted in realism
02:22commendably throughout. As time passes, we see the departure fade into the background.
02:27Life, as it must, goes on for those who remain.
02:30Number 8. Peep Show
02:32Jesse Armstrong and Sam Baines' sitcom will rightfully be remembered as one of the 21st century's best.
02:38But uncommonly for a British comedy, it didn't half-outstate its welcome.
02:42For long-term fans of the show, watching the dying days of Mark and Jeremy was like watching an entirely
02:46different program. At the outset, Peep Show was as well observed as British comedy had been in years.
02:52Everybody is a Mark or a Jez, two diametrically opposed characters who were nonetheless equally
02:58dysfunctional. From romantic failures to thwarted careers, delusions of grandeur, and unreliable mates,
03:04Peep Show was a painful laugh precisely because so much of the content was recognisable. Somewhere
03:08along the way though, it turned into a cartoon. While that's hardly uncommon for long-running comedies,
03:13it's rare to see a show once so grounded go so totally wild. Low-key disappointments were replaced
03:19by snakes, electric fences, and decisions no human would ever make. The show never forgot how to tell
03:25a joke, but the limping form of Peep Show's final days is something of a blight on a show that could
03:30have been perfect had it ended earlier. Number 7. Entourage
03:34For the first few seasons of HBO's Entourage, we were presented with a satire of the vacuity and
03:39banality of modern Hollywood. We followed burgeoning actor Vincent Chase and his co-tail-riding
03:44friends as they enjoyed life in the lap of luxury without much in the way of discernible
03:48talent. For the remainder of its run, Vince and the boys got everything they could imagine,
03:53be that wealth, material goods, beautiful women, or inexplicable career success, again
03:58without a discernible talent between them. Each season was more pointless than the last,
04:03setting up conflicts that would be overcome an episode later, or some of the most ludicrous
04:07deus ex machinas in TV history. While the show initially poked fun at these greedy, amoral
04:12characters, by the end it was clear the writers thought they were to be celebrated. The incessant
04:17product placement, meaningless celebrity cameos, and casual hate speech entirely replaced the
04:21compelling stories of the first three seasons. The movie, in which it transpires, Vince is also
04:26a great director as well as the world's greatest actor, is the cherry on top of the sundae.
04:31Number 6. Parks and Recreation
04:34This Amy Poehler led sitcom went through several iterations in its seven season tenure. When it
04:39started off, it was quickly dismissed as another office imitator, not least because of its mock
04:44doc style and the personnel involved on both sides of the camera. It quickly switched its tone into
04:49something akin to a live action Simpsons, much for the better. The town of Pawnee felt incredibly
04:55well realised, and while they maintained the talking head format, creator Michael Schur was less
05:00strict with the folks' reality format. As the show became more satirical of modern politics,
05:04it changed again, with seasons three to five carefully plotted, perhaps hitting its peak with
05:10Paula's Leslie Knope running for city council in a massively compelling run of episodes. In its endgame,
05:15though, it pioneered a bizarre trend of modern comedy, and became a show about how important it is to be
05:21nice to one another. Gone were the well-crafted relationships and dramatic tension. Gone were
05:25the jokes, for the most part. Unfortunately, Parks and Recreation limped over the line,
05:30and was indirectly responsible for the likes of Ted Lasso.
05:33Number 5. Moral Oral
05:35This criminally underrated Adult Swim Stop Motion series from Dean Ostamatopoulos,
05:40Community Starburns, was a bold proposition from the off. Spoofing American sitcoms and religious
05:45kids programming, it was an acidic take on small-town fundamentalism. The gist of the early show saw
05:51our titular character get into scrapes through far too literal interpretation of Christian messages.
05:56For the ensuing havoc, he'd then be punished severely by his father, Clay, one of the most
06:01hauntingly well-realised stop-motion characters ever depicted. The episonic nature of the first two
06:06seasons was turned on its head for the final full-length run. Season three is one long arc,
06:11delving into incredible darkness, as Stamatopoulos and his co-writers shift focus primarily to Clay,
06:17his past, and what made him the abusive, hate-filled figure we've followed and laughed at thus far.
06:23It's easily the show's finest season. The writing is immaculate, maintaining moral orals often
06:29shocking comedy while presenting a character study as well as a note of genuine earned hope
06:34that the majority of live-action shows could only hope to achieve.
06:37Number 4. Orange Is The New Black
06:40One of Netflix's earliest hits, Orange Is The New Black is a show whose lofty aims
06:45only grow as it goes on. Set in a women's prison, by design viewers are introduced quickly to a
06:50large cast of inmates and guards. The entry point though is Piper Chapman, who sticks out like a
06:55sore thumb in her capacity as an unworldly wasp convicted of a historic one-off offence.
07:00As the show goes on though, the writers smartly realise that Piper is by no means the most interesting
07:06character they have at their disposal. Indeed, Orange Is The New Black is commendable for the
07:10diversity of its cast, and through flashbacks we're introduced to women from all walks of life.
07:16With Piper's story pushed to a supporting role, it allows showrunner Jenji Cohen to examine topics
07:21like the education system, immigration, mental health, and the cycle of poverty. The show isn't
07:26always the most subtle, but its ability to reshape and refocus allows it to examine important issues on a
07:32major platform. While Piper remains the defacto lead, by its conclusion the show is a true ensemble
07:37piece, and arguably has its finest moments in the last couple of seasons.
07:413. Line Of Duty What a difference a budget makes!
07:46The first three seasons of Line Of Duty were made from the standard British drama purse,
07:50that is to say, savings were made possible. The cast was kept small, AC-12's internal affair coppers,
07:57their subject, and a few baddies. Plots were sharp, plenty of moving pieces,
08:01but action, location, and set pieces were at a premium.
08:04Once the broadcaster realized they had a genuine sensation on their hands though,
08:08things changed sharpish. From a small team of straight arrow police investigating a few bad apples,
08:13Line Of Duty's plots became labyrinthine, involving vast conspiracies, gunplay, code names,
08:18and a lot of scenes involving baddies piling into or out of Black Land Rovers.
08:23It's a matter of taste which you prefer, but as the show and the budget took off, it's noticeable that
08:28the stories became a whole lot wackier, the stuff of action movies rather than the stuff of real
08:33newspaper headlines. The final left a lot of fans disappointed, but the mundanity of the ending
08:38was almost the point, crime often isn't exciting or glossy. After three seasons of daftness though,
08:45that's not what the viewers were conditioned to expect.
08:472. Atlanta FX's Extraordinary Atlanta is an example of what can happen when a network puts total
08:54faith in a creator. When the show began in 2016, star and writer Donald Glover was already somewhat
09:00of a hot commodity. Around this time, he blew up to a significant degree thanks to his renaissance
09:05man, prolificacy. Luckily for fans, the network was smart enough to leave well enough alone.
09:10Atlanta's elevator pitch, and the focus of its first season, is simple enough. Glover plays Ern,
09:16a smart but often unlucky man attempting to break his cousin, a rapper on the rise by the name of
09:21paperboy. The show is a character piece, a slice of life in the titular city as well as a satire of the
09:27music game, one Glover knows well in his childish Gambino guise. There were surreal moments from the
09:33off, but once Glover is let off the leash, things go really wild. As in when he wishes, Atlanta goes
09:39off on location, set episodes in a haunted house, with Glover playing Teddy Perkins, one of TV's wildest
09:45one-off characters, or excuse the main cast altogether. TV is hardly an auteur's medium,
09:51but Atlanta, more than almost any show, has a defining vision throughout, even when it shifts
09:56its style, personnel and continent from episode to episode.
10:001. Breaking Bad Watching Walter White laugh manically wedged
10:04under his floorboards, or inadvertently cause the death of his brother-in-law, or barely flinch
10:09as a child is murdered, and it can be easy to forget that Breaking Bad was, at one time, a black comedy.
10:15One of TV's great premises, Breaking Bad sees a meek teacher decide to make a fortune from
10:20crystal meth after being diagnosed with cancer. The measured pacing of season 1 gave us plenty of
10:26time to watch Walter Blundell through the drugs game, enjoy a culture clash with former student
10:30Jesse Pinkman, and gradually assert himself in a world that has often made him the butt of the joke.
10:36It doesn't take too long for things to take an incredibly dark turn though. Creator Vince
10:40Gilligan's intention was to show us a good man turned evil, how, logically,
10:45that might play out, and as Walter embraces villainy, the laughs certainly dry up.
10:50The show embraces a lot of genres, western, gangster, thriller, but the most shocking
10:55transformation is its tone. In comparison to the weighty themes and plots examined in its last days,
11:00the first season is a downright knockabout.
11:03But what did you think of our list there? Please do let us know about our entries,
11:07and also let us know which TV show do you think changed the most, for better or for worse.
11:12If you want to follow me on socials, I am at strown87 on Instagram and on Twitter,
11:17come and chat to me on there if you like.
11:19Thank you for watching everybody, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and until next time, take care.
11:23Thank you
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