10 TV Shows That Actually Benefited From Bad Acting
Twin Peaks' stilted, awkward acting only makes it that much weirder.
Transcript
00:00There's no denying that even a great script and sharp direction can be completely undermined
00:04by bad 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. Namely, a shameless over-actor ends up charming the hell
00:22out of an audience, perhaps the wooden actor's lack of emotion accidentally informs their spaced
00:26out character perfectly, or maybe their sloppy work only enhances the show's rather offbeat tones.
00:32So let's take a look at them as Iron Jewels, 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
00:52to his deliriously hammy work on the original series. Shatner's time on Trek was defined by
00:58his larger-than-life turn in front of the camera, or, if we're to be blunt, his blatant overacting.
01:03Shatner left no piece of scenery unchewed throughout the series, his energy shifting
01:08unpredictably within scenes while also taking odd, unnatural pauses during dialogue. Throw
01:13in his restless movements and hand gestures, and it's clear that Shatner was always playing for
01:17the cheap seats. Somewhat fitting, given that he trained as a classical Shakespearean actor.
01:22While most theatre actors rein in their projection for the small screen,
01:25Shatner continued to go big. In a different project, it wouldn't necessarily work,
01:29yet in something as heightened as Star Trek, it absolutely did, in large part because of
01:34Shatner's charming, unrelenting commitment. Even in the weakest Trek episode, it was worth
01:39tuning in just to see Shatner's idiosyncratic line reading and wild gesticulations.
01:449. Mad Men Though Mad Men boasted one of the most
01:48immaculate ensemble casts in the history of television, there was one sure outlier in the
01:52pack, and that was in the form of January Jones, who portrayed Don Draper's distant wife Betty.
01:57Despite receiving Golden Globe and SAG nominations for her performance on the show,
02:01Jones is generally accepted amongst the fanbase to be the weakest link, trailing the rest of the
02:06main cast by a large margin. And yet, Jones' icy lack of effect throughout the series,
02:11defined by a wooden delivery that borders on robotic at times, is ultimately perfect for
02:15the role of a dissatisfied 1960s housewife. The creative minds behind the show clearly appreciated
02:21that Jones' stiff performance would be perfect for the part of the repressed and rather shallow
02:26Betty. Though Jones' post-Mad Men work, including a shambolic performance in X-Men First Class,
02:31hasn't exactly shown much improvement. While a different actress might have gone to lengths to
02:35add more life and different dimensions to Betty, Jones' surface-level work was unintentionally
02:41quite brilliant in its own way. 8. 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
02:54culprits are James Marshall and Lara Flynn Boyle, who play young lovers James Hurley and Donna
02:59Haywood. In Marshall's case, it didn't help that James is held by many fans to be the show's worst
03:04character, a corny, boring mope whose irritation is only elevated by pairing him with the obnoxious
03:10Donna, a hellish match if there ever was one. This all culminates in James' infamously,
03:14hilariously wretched rendition of the soft ballad Just You for Donna and Maddie Ferguson,
03:20which over 30 years later remains perhaps the show's single most ridiculed moment.
03:24Yet David Lynch is as exacting as filmmakers come and knew precisely what he was doing here.
03:30Lynch has never been particularly interested in realism, and with Twin Peaks existing as
03:34both an homage to and an example of a soap opera, he clearly leaned into the off-key
03:39overall performances of his cast at every moment. Marshall and Boyle certainly aren't
03:44the only wonky actors amongst the huge ensemble, but their hyper-dramatic work feels more perfectly
03:49attuned to the campy vibe that Lynch was definitely shooting for. It only enhances
03:54the feeling that this sleepy town and the people within it are very, very off.
03:587. 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
04:10major triumphs was a bit of a happy accident. Protagonist Dev's Indian immigrant parents make
04:16a few memorable appearances throughout the show, and best of all they're played by Ansari's real
04:20life parents. Yet the pair are not professional actors in any way, and it absolutely shows
04:25throughout the series. There's an untrained awkwardness to their delivery that makes it
04:29clear that they're reading lines rather than speaking from the heart, and yet there's a
04:32charm to that clumsiness which only makes their on-screen interactions with their real-life son
04:37that much more funny and poignant. That stilted quality makes them feel like real parents genuinely
04:42trying to have a heartfelt conversation with their son, but because they're not used to speaking in
04:46this form, they struggle to get the words out. 6. Orange is the New Black
04:51Taylor Schilling is a totally solid actress, and yet her performance as protagonist Piper
04:56in Netflix's hit prison drama Orange is the New Black has received wildly mixed responses
05:01ever since the show's premiere. There was much outcry after Schilling scored a lead actress
05:05Emmy nod for her work in the first season, many feeling that not only was Piper the most boring
05:09member of the series, but that by extension Schilling's performance was nothing to write
05:13home about. In Schilling's defence, Piper isn't a particularly interesting character,
05:18though the actress plays her as so obnoxious as to erode all sympathy for her altogether.
05:23With so many wonderful actors in the ensemble bringing life to the excellent characters,
05:28Schilling's work definitely seems positively bland by comparison. Evidently, the show's creator
05:32realised this as subsequent seasons edged away from Piper's story to rove around the infinitely
05:37more compelling supporting cast, which was ultimately an incredibly smart move to ensure
05:42the show's longevity. Had they kept focus on Piper and Schilling, it's tough to imagine Orange
05:47sticking it out for seven seasons. 5. Once Upon a Time
05:51ABC's hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time was a frothy good time both despite of and because
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
06:09in territory, admittedly working with writing that could politely be called as not great.
06:15One takes no pleasure in singling out a child actor, but Jared S. Gilmore's performance as
06:20the interminably annoying Henry Mills caught a lot of flack in earlier seasons, even if he's
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
06:35already pronounced guilty pleasure quality. It's basically a community theatre production with a
06:40budget, a fairy tale that is underlined by the flailing skittishness of the ensemble cast. It's
06:45not good acting, but it's way more fun to watch than a more serious, self-regarding version of
06:50the show, which it definitely could have been. 4. Altered Carbon
06:54Netflix's prematurely cancelled Altered Carbon might be the textbook example of a style over
06:59substance TV show. Beautifully shot, thematically rich, and yet ultimately failing to realise the
07:04full potential 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,
07:13and Anthony Mackie in the second. Both Kinnaman and Mackie are talented actors,
07:17there's no question about that. And yet, as the resleeved host bodies for protagonist Takeshi
07:22Kovacs, each absolutely fails to convince. Kinnaman's hard-boiled take on Kovacs aimed
07:28for brooding, but ended up feeling dull and wooden. And though Mackie's subsequent portrayal
07:32felt more alive, it wasn't remotely consistent with the character that we were introduced to
07:36previously. And yet, this disconnect between the two performances ends up unintentionally playing
07:42into the show's central theme of identity. The notion that a guy being constantly swapped
07:46into different sleeves might seem inconsistent and off-kilter totally works. It's just a shame
07:51that Netflix cancelled the show before season three, which would have most likely featured
07:55Will Young Lee as the prime Kovacs, and basically reconciled 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
08:12to break his brother 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
08:26and Dominic Purcell, with a stoic reserve bordering on self-parody. Despite the immense
08:31turmoil the brothers experience throughout, Miller and Purcell both underplay their parts to the
08:36point that it's easy to call them cardboard. By any measure, their work renders the show's
08:40two most important characters weirdly boring at times. And much like fellow prison show
08:45Orange is the New Black, the wider ensemble cast ended up surpassing them in popularity.
08:49Yet there's something to be said for their blank slate acting technique. For starters,
08:53it provides an entertaining contrast to the bigger performances of their fellow prisoners,
08:58and it also feels rather in-step with the show's shamelessly trashy vibe. A little more emoting
09:02wouldn'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
09:23its cast. Yet as wonderful as the ensemble's performances are, there is one aspect of the
09:28show that made a lot of fans turn their noses up, and that was those damn VIPs.
09:32In the show's seventh episode, we're introduced to a group of American VIPs who are all wagering
09:36on the games. And many viewers noted the strangely stilted quality of their masked actors'
09:41performances, some even citing it as an example of distractingly bad acting. And while it was
09:46suggested that this was simply a result of the language barrier between the American cast members
09:51and Korean crew, it's also being claimed that the disjointed performances were entirely intentional,
09:56so as to create an intentional disconnect between them and the rest of the cast. Whether intended
10:01or not, the off-base performances are certainly effective in portraying the VIPs as stereotypically
10:06coarse, boneheaded American tourists, an amusing reversal of America's media tendency to portray
10:12Asian characters amid broad stereotypes. If the hammy acting made the gross VIPs even more
10:18off-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,
10:27a slick and self-consciously trashy reimagining of the classic Archie comic series. The show has
10:32gone down some increasingly silly rabbit holes in recent years, with many fans believing its
10:37quality has declined severely, noting the chaotically inconsistent writing of the
10:41series' beloved main characters. But look, Riverdale was never going to be winning Emmy
10:45awards for its acting, and though the older cast members largely get away with their dignity intact,
10:50the teens are all over the place, especially Archie, Veronica, and Jughead. While they're
10:54absolutely at the mercy of the show's roughshod scripts, of the main teens, the only actress to
10:59emerge relatively unscathed is Lily Reinhart, whereas the quality of the others' work wildly
11:04varies from scene to scene. Yet, given Riverdale's unapologetic penchant for slushy melodrama,
11:10which is basically styled as a teen rip-off of Twin Peaks as it is, the wonky acting helps elevate
11:15that vibe into the stratosphere, where the audience is simply just having fun laughing
11:19at the heightened absurdity of what they're seeing. Seemingly well aware of this fact,
11:23Cole Sprouse himself hilariously compared the ensemble cast to a wax museum a few years ago.
11:30Those are 10 TV shows that actually benefited from bad acting, I hope that you enjoyed that,
11:34and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below.
11:37As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJWithA0,
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,
11:52my friend, because you deserve all of the best things in life, and do not let anything or anyone
11:56else tell you otherwise, alright? You're a massive ledge, and I want you to go out there
11:59and smash your life goals today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome,
12:04never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.