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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
00:26their spaced-out character perfectly, or maybe their sloppy work only enhances the show's rather
00:31offbeat 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
01:29necessarily work, yet in something as heightened as Star Trek, it absolutely did, in large part
01:34because of Shatner's charming, unrelenting commitment. Even in the weakest Trek episode,
01:39it was worth tuning in just to see Shatner's idiosyncratic line reading and wild gesticulations.
01:449. Mad Men Though Mad Men boasted one of the most immaculate
01:48ensemble casts in the history of television, there was one sure outlier in the pack and that
01:53was in the form of January Jones, who portrayed Don Draper's distant wife Betty. Despite receiving
01:58Golden Globe and SAG nominations for her performance on the show, Jones is generally
02:02accepted amongst the fanbase to be the weakest link, trailing the rest of the main cast by a large
02:07margin. And yet, Jones' icy lack of effect throughout the series, defined by a wooden delivery that
02:12borders on robotic at times, is ultimately perfect for the role of a dissatisfied 1960s housewife.
02:19The creative minds behind the show clearly appreciated that Jones' stiff performance
02:23would be perfect for the part of the repressed and rather shallow Betty, though Jones' post-Mad
02:28Men work, including a shambolic performance in X-Men First Class, hasn't exactly shown much
02:33improvement. While a different actress might have gone to lengths to add more life and different
02:37dimensions to Betty, Jones' surface-level work was unintentionally quite brilliant in its own way.
02:428. 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
02:55culprits are 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,
03:58very off.
03:597. Master of None
04:01Aziz 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,
04:34which only makes their on-screen interactions with their real-life son that much more funny
04:38and poignant. That stilted quality makes them feel like real parents genuinely trying to have
04:43a heartfelt conversation with their son. But because they're not used to speaking in this form,
04:47they struggle to get the words out.
04:496. Orange is the New Black
04:51Taylor Schilling is a totally solid actress, and yet her performance as protagonist Piper in
04:56Netflix's hit prison drama Orange is the New Black has received wildly mixed responses ever
05:01since the show's premiere. There was much outcry after Schilling scored a lead actress Emmy nod for
05:06her work in the first season, many feeling that not only was Piper the most boring member of the
05:10series, but that by extension Schilling's performance was nothing to write home about.
05:14In Schilling's defence, Piper isn't a particularly interesting character, though the actress plays
05:19her as so obnoxious as to erode all sympathy for her altogether. With so many wonderful actors in the
05:25ensemble bringing life to the excellent characters, Schilling's work definitely seems positively
05:30bland by comparison. Evidently, the show's creator realised this, as subsequent seasons edged away
05:35from Piper's story to rove around the infinitely more compelling supporting cast, which was ultimately
05:40an incredibly smart move to ensure the show's longevity. Had they kept focus on Piper and Schilling,
05:46it's tough to imagine Orange sticking it out for seven seasons.
05:495. Once Upon a Time
05:51ABC's hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time was a frothy good time both despite of and because it was
05:58full of questionable acting. Beyond the genuinely brilliant show-stealing performances from Robert
06:04Carlyle as Mr. Gold slash Rumpelstiltskin, the majority of the cast were firmly in phoning it in
06:09territory, admittedly working with writing that could politely be called as, er, not great.
06:15One takes no pleasure in singling out a child actor, but Jared S. Gilmore's performance
06:20as the interminably annoying Henry Mills caught a lot of flack in earlier seasons, even if he's simply
06:25the worst of an ensemble that's totally all over the place. And yet, the lack of consistency between
06:30the performances with actors swinging for so many disparate tones only enhanced the show's already
06:35pronounced guilty pleasure quality. It's basically a community theatre production with a budget,
06:40a fairy tale that is underlined by the flailing skittishness of the ensemble cast. It's not good
06:46acting, but it's way more fun to watch than a more serious, self-regarding version of the show,
06:50which it definitely could have been.
06:524. Altered Carbon
06:54Netflix'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
07:05potential of its ambition. One of the chief complaints among critics and viewers alike, though,
07:09was the mediocre performances from the show's leads, Joel Kinnaman in the first season and Anthony
07:14Maki in the second. Both Kinnaman and Maki are talented actors, there's no question about that,
07:19and yet as the re-sleeved host bodies for protagonist Takeshi Kovacs, each absolutely
07:24fails to convince. Kinnaman's hard-boiled take on Kovacs aimed for brooding, but ended up feeling
07:29dull and wooden. And though Maki's subsequent portrayal felt more alive, it wasn't remotely
07:34consistent with the character that we were introduced to previously. And yet, this disconnect between the
07:39two performances ends up unintentionally playing into the show's central theme of identity,
07:44reality. The notion that a guy being constantly swapped into different sleeves might seem
07:48inconsistent and off-kilter totally works. It's just a shame that Netflix cancelled the show before
07:52Season 3, which would have most likely featured Will Young Lee as the prime Kovacs and basically
07:58reconciled the three performances into one.
08:003. Prison Break
08:02Throughout the mid-2000s, Prison Break was one of the most talked-about TV shows on the planet,
08:07a deliciously ridiculous, fiendishly addictive prison drama about a man named Michael attempting to break his
08:13brother Lincoln out of prison before he's executed for a crime he didn't commit.
08:17While there are a number of genuinely strong performers on the show, namely William Fichtner,
08:21Peter Stormer, and Wade Williams, the two leading roles are played by Wentworth Miller and Dominic
08:27Purcell, with a stoic reserve bordering on self-parody. Despite the immense turmoil the brothers experience
08:33throughout, Miller and Purcell both underplay their parts to the point that it's easy to call them
08:37cardboard. By any measure, their work renders the show's two most important characters weirdly
08:42boring at times, and much like fellow prison show Orange is the New Black, the wider ensemble cast
08:47ended up surpassing them in popularity. Yet there's something to be said for their blank slate acting
08:52technique. For starters, it provides an entertaining contrast to the bigger performances of their fellow
08:57prisoners, and it also feels rather in-step with the show's shamelessly trashy vibe. A little more
09:02emoting wouldn't have hurt either actor for sure, but hearing Miller unveil the next step of his wildly
09:06convoluted plan with a steely dramatic whisper was nothing if not highly amusing.
09:112. Squid Game
09:13Netflix's Squid Game was the undeniable surprise TV hit of last year, becoming the streamer's most
09:18watched series 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 lot
09:29of fans turn their noses up, and that was those damn VIPs. In the show's seventh episode, we're
09:34introduced to a group of American VIPs who are all wagering on the games, and many viewers noted the
09:39strangely stilted quality of their masked actors' performances, some even citing it as an example of
09:44distractingly bad acting. And while it was suggested that this was simply a result of the language barrier
09:49between the American cast members and Korean crew, it's also being claimed that the disjointed
09:54performances were entirely intentional, so as to create an intentional disconnect between them,
09:59and 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
10:16hammy acting 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
10:38severely, noting the chaotically inconsistent writing of the series' beloved main characters.
10:43But look, Riverdale was never going to be winning Emmy Awards for its acting, and though the older cast
10:47members largely get away with their dignity intact, the teens are all over the place. Especially Archie,
10:53Veronica, and Jughead. While they're absolutely at the mercy of the show's rough-shod scripts,
10:58of the main teens, the only actress to emerge relatively unscathed is Lily Reinhardt, whereas
11:02the quality of the other's work wildly varies from scene to scene. Yet, given Riverdale's unapologetic
11:08penchant for slushy melodrama, which is basically styled as a teen rip-off of Twin Peaks as it is,
11:13the wonky acting helps elevate that vibe into the stratosphere, where the audience is simply just
11:18having fun laughing at the heightened absurdity of what they're seeing. Seemingly well aware of this
11:23fact, Cole Sprouse himself hilariously compared the ensemble cast to a wax museum a few years ago.
11:29And there we go my friends, those were 10 TV shows that actually benefited from bad acting. I hope
11:33that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section
11:36below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero,
11:41or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
11:44and it'd be great to see you over there my friend. But before I go, I just want to say one thing,
11:48hope you're treating yourself well with love and respect, both mentally and physically my friend,
11:53because you deserve all of the best things in life, and do not let anything or anyone else tell
11:57you otherwise, alright? You're a massive ledge, and I'm going to go out there and smash your life
12:00goals today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome. Never forget that,
12:05and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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