From beginning to end - two totally different shows!
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00:00 The TV game is a hard one to break. Myriad shows are chucked against the wall every season,
00:05 and it's almost impossible to predict what will stick. Many a long-running program has
00:09 started out providing one kind of content and ended up doing something totally different.
00:14 With that in mind, I'm Adam from WhatCulture and here are 10 TV shows that changed dramatically.
00:20 Number 10, New Girl. In 2011, Fox felt absolutely certain that the sheer force of Zooey Deschanel
00:26 would be enough to sell a sitcom. Every advert and poster for New Girl featured Deschanel as Jess,
00:32 the titular character, front and centre, with her co-stars way out in the background,
00:36 if pictured at all. She was, we were promised, adorkable. And to be fair, Deschanel was a great
00:42 fit for TV. Then at the peak of her powers, her public persona worked perfectly in 20-minute
00:47 chunks. This simple premise saw her quirky school teacher character move into an apartment with a
00:52 disparate bunch of boys, wherein hijinks couldn't help but ensue. Quickly though, the writers
00:57 realised that there was life in this project beyond Zooey Deschanel, the show. As the rest
01:01 of the cast, Jake Johnson, Lamone Morris, Hannah Simone and the exceptional Max Greenfield found
01:07 their feet in the supporting roles, the show was reshaped around the ensemble. It transformed from
01:12 a star vehicle to the era's best hangout show. So distinct was this transformation that Jess
01:18 could be written off the show for a spell while Deschanel gave birth. Smart writing and great
01:22 cast chemistry turned what could have been a flash in the pan into one of the great modern
01:27 network comedies. Number 9. The Leftovers. This masterful drama, created by Damon Lindelof and
01:33 Tom Perotta, on whose novel it's based, is by design in a constant state of flux. We're dropped
01:38 into a terrifying reality in which 2% of the world's population has disappeared without trace
01:43 or explanation, and from there, we follow an evolving cast of characters as they make sense
01:48 of the new reality and hope to rebuild. Most obviously, each season takes place primarily
01:54 or entirely in a different location. For the first run, we're in a small town in New York State,
01:59 where our series-long protagonists Kevin and Nora find each other among a landscape of religious
02:04 fundamentalism, nihilism and grief. After this, we de-camp first to Miracle, Texas, a town unblighted
02:11 by the rapture-like event, and later, Australia. Beyond this though, the tone and genre shift
02:16 perceivably, sliding from psychological drama into something akin to sci-fi. The series remains
02:21 rooted in realism commendably throughout. As time passes, we see the departure fade into the
02:26 background. Life, as it must, goes on for those who remain. Number 8. Peep Show. Jesse Armstrong
02:33 and Sam Bain's sitcom will rightfully be remembered as one of the 21st century's best, but
02:38 uncommonly for a British comedy, it didn't half outstay its welcome. For long-term fans of the
02:43 show, watching the dying days of Mark and Jeremy was like watching an entirely different programme.
02:47 At the outset, Peep Show was as well-observed as British comedy had been in years. Everybody is a
02:53 Mark or a Jez, two diametrically opposed characters who are nonetheless equally dysfunctional. From
02:59 romantic failures to thwarted careers, delusions of grandeur and unreliable mates, Peep Show was a
03:04 painful laugh precisely because so much of the content was recognisable. Somewhere along the way
03:09 though, it turned into a cartoon. While that's hardly uncommon for long-running comedies,
03:14 it's rare to see a show once so grounded go so totally wild. Low-key disappointments were
03:19 replaced by snakes, electric fences and decisions no human would ever make. The show never forgot
03:25 how to tell a joke, but the limping form of Peep Show's final days is something of a blight on a
03:29 show that could have been perfect had it ended earlier. For the first few seasons of HBO's
03:36 Entourage, we were presented with a satire of the vacuity and banality of modern Hollywood.
03:41 We followed burgeoning actor Vincent Chase and his coattail-riding friends as they enjoyed life
03:46 in the lap of luxury without much in the way of discernible talent. For the remainder of its run,
03:50 Vincent the boy's got everything they could imagine, be that wealth, material goods,
03:54 beautiful women or inexplicable career success, again without a discernible talent between them.
04:00 Each season was more pointless than the last, setting up conflicts that would be overcome an
04:04 episode later or some of the most ludicrous deus ex machinas in TV history. While the show initially
04:10 poked fun at these greedy, amoral characters, by the end it was clear the writers thought they
04:15 were to be celebrated. The incessant product placement, meaningless celebrity cameos and
04:19 casual hate speech entirely replaced the compelling stories of the first three seasons.
04:24 The movie, in which it transpires Vince is also a great director as well as the world's greatest
04:29 actor, is the cherry on top of the sundae. Number 6, Parks and Recreation. This Amy
04:35 Poehler-led sitcom went through several iterations in its seventh season tenure.
04:39 When it started off, it was quickly dismissed as another office imitator,
04:43 not least because of its mock-doc style and the personnel involved on both sides of the camera.
04:48 It quickly switched its tone into something akin to a live-action Simpsons, much for the better.
04:53 The town of Pawnee felt incredibly well realised and while they maintained the talking head format,
04:58 creator Michael Schur was less strict with the folks' reality format. As the show became more
05:03 satirical of modern politics, it changed again, with seasons 3-5 carefully plotted perhaps hitting
05:09 its peak with Poehler's Leslie Knope running for city council in a massively compelling run of
05:14 episodes. In its endgame though, it pioneered a bizarre trend of modern comedy and became a show
05:19 about how important it is to be nice to one another. Gone were the well-crafted relationships
05:23 and dramatic tension, gone were the jokes, for the most part. Unfortunately, Parks and Recreation
05:29 limped over the line and was indirectly responsible for the likes of Ted Lasso.
05:33 Number 5, Moral Oral. This criminally underrated adult swim stop-motion series from Dino
05:39 Stamatopoulos, Community Starburns, was a bold proposition from the off. Spoofing American
05:44 sitcoms and religious kids programming, it was an acidic take on small-town fundamentalism. The
05:49 gist of the early show saw our titular character get into scrapes through far too literal interpretation
05:55 of Christian messages. For the ensuing havoc, he'd then be punished severely by his father,
06:00 Clay, one of the most hauntingly well-realised stop-motion characters ever depicted. The
06:05 episodic nature of the first two seasons was turned on its head for the final full-length run.
06:09 Season 3 is one long arc, delving into incredible darkness as Stamatopoulos and his co-writers shift
06:15 focus primarily to Clay, his past, and what made him the abusive, hate-filled figure we've followed
06:21 and laughed at thus far. It's easily the show's finest season. The writing is immaculate,
06:27 maintaining Moral Oral's often shocking comedy while presenting a character study, as well as a
06:32 note of genuine earned hope, that the majority of live-action shows could only hope to achieve.
06:37 Number 4 - Orange is the New Black One of Netflix's earliest hits,
06:42 Orange is the New Black is a show whose lofty aims only grow as it goes on. Set in a women's prison,
06:48 by design, viewers are introduced quickly to a large cast of inmates and guards. The entry point,
06:53 though, is Piper Chapman, who sticks out like a sore thumb in her capacity as an unworldly wasp
06:58 convicted of a historic one-off offence. As the show goes on, though, the writers smartly realise
07:03 that Piper is by no means the most interesting character they have at their disposal. Indeed,
07:08 Orange is the New Black is commendable for the diversity of its cast, and through flashbacks,
07:13 we're introduced to women from all walks of life. With Piper's story pushed to a supporting role,
07:18 it allows showrunner Jenji Kohen to examine topics like the education system, immigration,
07:23 mental health, and the cycle of poverty. The show isn't always the most subtle, but its ability to
07:28 reshape and refocus allows it to examine important issues on a major platform. While Piper remains the
07:34 de facto lead, by its conclusion, the show is a true ensemble piece, and arguably has its finest
07:39 moments in the last couple of seasons. Number 3 - Line of Duty
07:44 What a difference a budget makes. The first three seasons of Line of Duty were made from
07:48 the standard British drama purse, that is to say, savings were made possible. The cast was kept
07:54 small - AC-12's internal affair coppers, their subject, and a few baddies. Plots were sharp,
07:59 plenty of moving pieces, but action, location, and set pieces were at a premium. Once the
08:05 broadcaster realised they had a genuine sensation on their hands, though, things changed sharpish.
08:09 From a small team of straight arrow police investigating a few bad apples,
08:13 Line of Duty's plots became labyrinthine, involving vast conspiracies, gunplay,
08:18 code names, and a lot of scenes involving baddies piling into or out of black Land Rovers.
08:23 It's a matter of taste which you prefer, but as the show and the budget took off,
08:27 it's noticeable that the stories became a whole lot wackier - the stuff of action movies,
08:32 rather than the stuff of real newspaper headlines. The final left a lot of fans disappointed,
08:37 but the mundanity of the ending was almost the point - crime often isn't exciting or glossy.
08:43 After three seasons of daftness, though, that's not what the viewers were conditioned to expect.
08:48 Number 2 - Atlanta FX's Extraordinary Atlanta is an example
08:52 of what can happen when a network puts total faith in a creator.
08:56 When the show began in 2016, star and writer Donald Glover was already somewhat of a hot
09:01 commodity. Around this time, he blew up to a significant degree thanks to his renaissance man,
09:05 Prolificacy. Luckily for fans, the network was smart enough to leave well enough alone.
09:10 Atlanta's elevator pitch, and the focus of its first season, is simple enough.
09:15 Glover plays Earn, a smart but often unlucky man attempting to break his cousin,
09:19 a rapper on the rise by the name of Paperboy. The show is a character piece, a slice of life
09:25 in the titular city, as well as a satire of the music game, one Glover knows well in his childish
09:30 Gambino guise. There were surreal moments from the off, but once Glover is let off the leash,
09:36 things go really wild. As in when he wishes, Atlanta goes off on location, set episodes in
09:41 a haunted house, with Glover playing Teddy Perkins, one of TV's wildest one-off characters,
09:46 or excuse the main cast altogether. TV is hardly an auteur's medium, but Atlanta,
09:52 more than almost any show, has a defining vision throughout, even when it shifts its style,
09:57 personnel and continent from episode to episode.
10:00 Number 1. Breaking Bad. Watching Walter White laugh manically wedged under his floorboards,
10:05 or inadvertently cause the death of his brother-in-law, or barely flinch as a child
10:09 is murdered, and it can be easy to forget that Breaking Bad was, at one time, a black comedy.
10:15 One of TV's great premises, Breaking Bad sees a meek teacher decide to make a fortune from
10:20 crystal meth after being diagnosed with cancer. The measured pacing of season one gave us plenty
10:25 of time to watch Walter blundle through the drugs game, enjoy a culture clash with former student
10:30 Jesse Pinkman, and gradually assert himself in a world that has often made him the butt of the joke.
10:36 It doesn't take too long for things to take an incredibly dark turn though.
10:39 Creator Vince Gilligan's intention was to show us a good man turned evil. How, logically,
10:45 that might play out, and as Walter embraces villainy, the laughs certainly dry up.
10:50 The show embraces a lot of genres, western, gangster, thriller, but the most shocking
10:55 transformation is its tone. In comparison to the weighty themes and plots examined in its last days,
11:00 the first season is a downright knockabout.
11:03 But what did you think of our list there? Please do let us know about our entries,
11:07 and also let us know which TV show do you think changed the most, for better or for worse?
11:12 If you want to follow me on socials, I am @Strawn87 on Instagram and on Twitter,
11:17 come and chat to me on there if you like. Thank you for watching everybody,
11:20 I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and until next time, take care.