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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,
04:11amoral characters, by the end it was clear the writers thought they were to be celebrated.
04:16The incessant product placement, meaningless celebrity cameos, and casual hate speech entirely
04:21replaced the compelling stories of the first three seasons. The movie, in which it transpires
04:25Vince is also a 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.
04:39When it started off, it was quickly dismissed as another office imitator, not least because of
04:44its mock-doc style and the personnel involved on both sides of the camera. It quickly switched
04:49its tone into something akin to a live-action Simpsons, much for the better. The town of Pawnee
04:54felt incredibly well-realized, and while they maintained the talking head format, creator Michael
04:59Show was less strict with the folks' reality format. As the show became more satirical of modern
05:04politics, it changed again, with seasons three to five carefully plotted, perhaps hitting its peak
05:09with Paula's Leslie Knope running for city council in a massively compelling run of episodes.
05:15In its endgame though, it pioneered a bizarre trend of modern comedy, and became a show about how
05:20important it is to be nice to one another. Gone were the well-crafted relationships and dramatic
05:24tension. Gone were the jokes, for the most part. Unfortunately, Parks and Recreation limped
05:29over the line, and 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
05:50show saw our titular character get into scrapes through far too literal interpretation of Christian
05:55messages. For the ensuing havoc, he'd then be punished severely by his father, Clay,
06:00one of the most hauntingly well-realized stop-motion characters ever depicted.
06:05The episonic nature of the first two seasons was turned on its head for the final full-length run.
06:09Season 3 is one long arc, delving into incredible darkness, as Stamatopoulos and his co-writers shift
06:15focus primarily to Clay, his past, and what made him the abusive, hate-filled figure we've followed
06:21and laughed at thus far. It's easily the show's finest season. The writing is immaculate, maintaining
06:27moral orals often shocking comedy while presenting a character study as well as a note of genuine
06:33earned hope that the majority of live-action shows could only hope to achieve.
06:38Number 4. Orange is the New Black
06:40One of Netflix's earliest hits, Orange is the New Black is a show whose lofty aims only grow
06:45as it goes on. Set in a women's prison, by design viewers are introduced quickly to a large cast
06:51of inmates and guards. The entry point though is Piper Chapman, who sticks out like a sore thumb
06:56in her capacity as an unworldly wasp convicted of a historic one-off offence. As the show goes on
07:02though, the writers smartly realize that Piper is by no means the most interesting character they have
07:07at their disposal. Indeed, Orange is the New Black is commendable for the diversity of its cast,
07:12and through flashbacks we're introduced to women from all walks of life. With Piper's story pushed
07:17to a supporting role, it allows showrunner Jenji Cohen to examine topics like the education system,
07:22immigration, mental health, and the cycle of poverty. The show isn't always the most subtle,
07:27but its ability to reshape and refocus allows it to examine important issues on a major platform.
07:33While Piper remains the de facto lead, by its conclusion the show is a true ensemble piece,
07:38and arguably has its finest moments in the last couple of seasons.
07:42Number 3, Line of Duty
07:43What a difference a budget makes! The first three seasons of Line of Duty were made from
07:48the standard British drama purse, that is to say, savings were made possible. The cast was kept
07:54small, AC-12's internal affair coppers, their subject, and a few baddies. Plots were sharp,
08:00plenty of moving pieces, but action, location, and set pieces were at a premium. Once the broadcaster
08:05realized they had a genuine sensation on their hands though, things changed sharpish.
08:09From a small team of straight arrow police investigating a few bad apples, Line of Duty's
08:14plots became labyrinthine, involving vast conspiracies, gunplay, codenames, and a lot of scenes involving
08:20baddies piling into or out of black land rovers. It's a matter of taste which you prefer, but as the
08:25show and the budget took off, it's noticeable that the stories became a whole lot wackier,
08:30the stuff of action movies rather than the stuff of real newspaper headlines. The final left a lot
08:36of fans disappointed, but the mundanity of the ending was almost the point. Crime often isn't
08:41exciting or glossy. After three seasons of daftness though, that's not what the viewers were conditioned
08:47to expect.
08:48Number 2, Atlanta
08:49FX's Extraordinary Atlanta is an example of what can happen when a network puts total faith
08:55in 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.
09:06Luckily for fans, the network was smart enough to leave well enough alone. Atlanta's elevator
09:11pitch and the focus of its first season is simple enough. Glover plays Earn, a smart but
09:17often unlucky man attempting to break his cousin, a rapper on the rise by the name of Paperboy.
09:22The show is a character piece, a slice of life in the titular city as well as a satire of
09:27the music game, one Glover knows well in his childish Gambino guise. There were surreal
09:32moments from the off, but once Glover is let off the leash, things go really wild. As in
09:38when he wishes, Atlanta goes off on location, set episodes in a haunted house, with Glover
09:43playing Teddy Perkins, one of TV's wildest one-off characters, or excuse the main cast altogether.
09:49TV is hardly an auteur's medium, but Atlanta more than almost any show has a defining vision
09:54throughout, even when it shifts its style, personnel and continent from episode to episode.
10:00Number 1. Breaking Bad
10:02Watching Walter White laugh manically wedged under his floorboards, or inadvertently cause
10:06the death of his brother-in-law, or barely flinch as a child is murdered, and it can be easy
10:11to forget that Breaking Bad was, at one time, a black comedy. One of TV's great premises,
10:17Breaking Bad sees a meek teacher decide to make a fortune from crystal meth after being diagnosed
10:22with cancer. The measured pacing of season 1 gave us plenty of time to watch Walter Blundell
10:27through the drugs game, enjoy a culture clash with former student Jesse Pinkman, and gradually
10:32assert himself in a world that has often made him the butt of the joke. It doesn't take too long for
10:37things to take an incredibly dark turn though. Creator Vince Gilligan's intention was to show
10:42us a good man turned evil, how, logically, that might play out, and as Walter embraces villainy,
10:48the laughs certainly dry up. The show embraces a lot of genres, western, gangster, thriller,
10:54but the most shocking transformation is its tone. In comparison to the weighty themes and plots examined
10:59in its last days, the 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 strong87 on instagram and on twitter,
11:17come and chat to me on there if you like. Thank you for watching everybody,
11:20I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and until next time, take care.
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