Who hasn’t started a TV show thinking they knew exactly what they were getting into, only to be surprised? It sells you on one premise, and at first, that’s exactly what it is. But then you watch episode after episode and realize you’re actually having a very different experience from what you expected. Sometimes that change is a bad thing, because nobody likes feeling deceived, especially when it’s a show with multiple seasons. But other times, the change is actually a good thing — and not because the premise really changes, but because the premise remains true, but it’s just much smaller than the story that comes after it since the trailer never told you about that part.
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And that feeling of discovering you were watching one thing while the show was building something else is what makes some productions more interesting and helps them gain far more fans than anyone expected. We’ve picked 5 examples that got many people to start watching for one reason and keep watching for another.
5) The Walking Dead
image courtesy of amc
As soon as The Walking Dead premiered, everyone already knew it was going to be a zombie show, right? The story begins waking up from a coma, discovering that the world has been overrun by these creatures, and setting out to find his wife and son. So finding his family and surviving the undead seemed to be the main goal we would be following over time. And sure, it was easy to see that other characters would bring other challenges into the story, but the focus would always be on the post-apocalyptic world and . However, , the very thing that seemed to be the show’s main intention started to take a back seat.
Over time, the series’ biggest symbol basically became more of a setting than a real threat, as the conflicts began to come from the surviving humans. The Walking Deadcompletely shifted the direction of its story to show what happens when there is no longer any police, government, law, or authority to stop people from doing whatever they want. In practice, it was a pretty major change, and it definitely didn’t please everyone. Still, it wasn’t exactly a universally criticized decision, because at least the storylines were interesting enough to explore. But yes, the initial idea was a zombie apocalypse, and in the end, the show .
4) The Bear
image courtesy of fx
With so many people praising The Bear, especially when it comes to its writing, it seemed like the show was going to explore the behind-the-scenes world of a chef trying to turn his restaurant into a major success. And, in the first season, that’s exactly what it does, which even led to plenty of discussions comparing the fiction to the reality of working in that environment. We meet Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who returns to Chicago after his brother’s death and takes over The Beef, a chaotic, debt-ridden sandwich shop filled with employees who aren’t exactly waiting around for a new boss. But that description makes the show sound much simpler than it really is.
As you keep watching, the series starts going much deeper into its characters’ arcs. It’s not that the restaurant gets ignored, but it becomes more of an excuse to put a group of emotionally damaged people in the same space and see what happens. Carmy’s past, his brother’s suicide, Sydney’s (Ayo Edebiri) ambition, Richie’s (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) identity crisis, and the relationships between all of them end up being much more important than anything else related to life in the kitchen. And yes, that’s what makes The Bearso interesting, because it shows that all the chaos happening inside that restaurant is really the result of trauma, grief, and characters who don’t know how to live outside their own destruction.
3)Twin Peaks
image courtesy of abc
Who hasn’t heard of Twin Peaks, right? And that’s because the series appears to be one thing before revealing itself to be something nobody was really prepared for. Initially, it was sold as a crime drama about the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), and that’s where we meet FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), who arrives in the town to investigate what happened. However, that’s only the entry point to a production that is still incredibly difficult to describe to this day (especially when you remember that it was created by David Lynch). Eventually, every normal detail and rule of a crime drama stops mattering, and the story turns into something totally wild and peculiar.
The town is full of secrets, the characters are much stranger than they appear, and, at a certain point, the story starts involving dreams, visions, and supernatural forces. But perhaps, out of all the shows on this list, this is the one that hid its real plot the least, because it always hinted that it wasn’t going to be anything conventional (even if nobody could quite understand what it was actually about). The question “Who killed Laura Palmer?” is what gets you to start watching Twin Peaks, but what really keeps you hooked is the fact that the answer isn’t the most interesting part; the mystery was just the hook.
2)BoJack Horseman
Image courtesy of Netflix
An adult animated series, BoJack Horseman‘s first impression is almost impossible to take too seriously: a horse who used to be the star of a sitcom lives in Hollywood and is trying to become relevant again. The show begins by following him as he tries to write his autobiography and revive his career, surrounded by celebrities, anthropomorphic animals, and absurd situations. And at first, you can tell it’s a dark comedy about the entertainment industry with a depressed protagonist. But as the episodes go on, you start to realize that BoJack’s depression isn’t just a funny character trait, and it isn’t going to keep serving as the punchline.
The series starts by asking whether a washed-up actor can become famous again, but eventually, it starts asking much more reflective and uncomfortable questions about addiction, responsibility, and whether someone can really change after spending years hurting the people around them. It’s a shift in tone, but it happens naturally, and there’s a reason so many people love the effect that combination creates. BoJack Horseman is incredibly smart in both its concept and its writing, especially since the entire show is built around a character who knows exactly why he’s a terrible person but keeps doing the same things anyway. So at first, it seems like a show made to make you laugh, but in reality, it’s pretty much a therapy session.
1) The Good Place
image courtesy of nbc
The Good Place might be the best example of a show that hid its own plot since its story was specifically designed to deceive the audience. It begins with Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dying and discovering that she has ended up in a kind of paradise reserved for people who were good during their lives. The only problem is that Eleanor knows she doesn’t deserve to be there, so she decides to pretend to be a better person than she really was. And based on both the show’s trailer and its early episodes, you’re watching a comedy about a selfish woman trying to learn how to be good, so she won’t be kicked out of paradise — but that’s only the version of the story you’re supposed to believe at the beginning.
When The Good Place reveals what’s really happening, it changes genre and scale. However, the most impressive part is that it doesn’t stop there, because the big plot twist opens the door to a story about ethics, free will, friendship, and whether human beings can truly change. It’s an incredibly enjoyable sitcom to watch just for the fun of it, but it’s also the kind of show that makes you grateful you watched it, as you become emotional watching these complex characters evolve. And because it’s a story that encourages you to think about the afterlife, for many people, just likeBoJack Horseman, it’s also a series that makes you reflect on yourself.
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