Updated May 1, 2023 1.3K votes 435 voters 26.6K views
Over 400 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of TV Shows That Aren't About What You Think They Are
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Vote up the TV shows that are way different than their reputation.
A good TV show or movie gives the audience exactly what they want. A great TV show or movie, on the other hand, gives the audience something they don’t know they want. Sometimes it’s a surprisingly heart-felt turn at the end of a goofy comedy. Other times it’s a simple, trope-filled story that turns into a deconstruction of its own premise.
Great art revels in the unexpected – turning the tables on viewers when it’s least anticipated – only to have that surprise deepen and enrich the experience over all. Plenty of movies manage this neat trick, but television is no slouch in that department either. In that spirit, here’s a list of TV shows that aren’t about what you assume they are.
Those viewers who only managed to catch trailers, advertisements, or the first early episodes of Fox’s Fringe would be forgiven for assuming that the sci-fi drama was merely an X-Files knock-off. And while the mystery-of-the-week structure serves to build a foundation for the show's world, it soon falls by the wayside in favor of a more complex ongoing arc detailing a looming conflict between parallel Earths.
The X-Files dabbled in an overarching conspiracy over the course of its several seasons and movies, but Fringe quickly sets itself apart by embracing a more overtly serialized story. Fans have plenty to dig into across five seasons.
Person of Interest tracks the vigilante team of a former C.I.A agent and a genius tech-billionaire in their fight against crime. The pair use a highly sophisticated A.I. surveillance system to identify civilians placed in harm’s way by various criminal activities. Cue a vaguely futuristic crime procedural, right? Not exactly.
What starts as a relatively by-the-numbers procedural takes a sharp turn into science fiction action programming when the central pair must fight against their own sentient A.I. creation that – in a classically dystopian fashion – wants to find a method of controlling free will. It’s an unexpected plot diversion, but it pays off in spades considering Person of Interest remains a critically acclaimed show.
Amazon Prime’s adaptation of The Expanse has an initial pitched that's straight out of the sci-fi action playbook. And there’s plenty of futuristic, space-centric action, to be sure, but in reality, The Expanse is far more akin to something like The West Wing than a straight-up sci-fi shoot ‘em up.
Revolving around the discovery of a massive conspiracy on the heels of the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy activist and set over the backdrop of a solar-system wide political conflict between Earth, Mars, and The Belt (habitations outside of Earth and Mars), The Expanse goes full Tom Clancy meets Aaron Sorkin. Despite the difference in content actuality and content expectation, the TV show has proved a massive cult favorite across a total of six seasons.
Derry Girls pulls off a multi-layered trick that’s truly impressive. On the one hand, it’s a zany, slapstick-y coming-of-age teen comedy. On the other, it’s a nuanced exploration of a culture fracturing in the face of political upheaval. The fact that it manages to work on both levels admirably is a testament to its charismatic (and hilarious) performers, and emotionally well-attuned team behind the camera.
Sure, the core group of girls (and boy) face the trials and tribulations endured by every adolescent since the dawn of time like dating, partying, school, parents, etc. But they also must navigate a fraught social and political situation during The Troubles, a decades-long conflict centered in Northern Ireland that revolved around religious, political, and nationalist affiliation. It’s the kind of low-key dramatic bait-and-switch that lends all the more power to Derry Girls’ comedy by rooting it in a melancholic realism.
Gravity Falls follows a pair of intrepid twins and their adventures while spending time in their Great Uncle (or Grunkle) Stan’s eponymous hometown. What begins as a typical fantasy-tinged kids animated comedy instead proves to be a large-scale apocalyptic mystery where the fate of Gravity Falls (and possibly the Earth) hangs in the balance. Striking a tonal balance between slap-happy hijinks and complex, lore-heavy supernatural mystery, Gravity Falls earns an exceptionally impassioned fanbase despite its unusual storyline and sometimes grim developments (AKA anything involving Bill Cipher).
Crime procedurals (and serial-killer shows in general) are long-time fan favorites. Every pilot season (or every few weeks on some streaming services), a new drama premiers promising a chilling view into the minds and lives of serial killers and the people that catch them. Even with a prodigious creative pedigree thanks to creator David Fincher, Mindhunter seems to promise more of the same. Imagine audience surprise when Mindhunter proved to be so much more.
Sure, each of the two seasons feature the hunt for a notorious real-world killer, but those investigations serve more as a Trojan horse to sneak in a history of the development of forensic investigation techniques and psychological profiling. Even more surprisingly, the deep-dive into the minutiae of investigating serial killers turned Mindhunter into a critical darling and cult favorite.
