Shows that Pleasantly Surprised You

[The Legendary 23]

While flipping through the channels, I stumbled upon the intro to Malcolm in the Middle. I decided to give it a go, and was pleasantly surprised, which is funny because I'm not too big on sitcoms. Whenever I saw previews for the show before, I assumed it was a shallow show that "cutified" and revolved around Franky Muniz, but when I bothered to give it a chance, I found I couldn't be more wrong. The show is consistently funny and appeals to many ages while still managing to keep a PG rating. Not only that, but many episodes barely have Franky Muniz in it. The characters of the show are original and very entertaining, something that I did not expect at all from the show. Overall I am really happy I gave the show a chance, and enjoy it every weeknight.

Question is, what shows have pleasantly surprised you in your television-watching career?

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

Me? I love watching Malcolm in the Middle, but it was during the later years. I barely missed an episode when it was still aired, but I never really classified it as one of my favorite TV shows until around 2005-ish. The characters are very original and I look the show for that. Malcolm is the very smart middle child, Lois, the manipulative mother, Reese the destructive troublemaker, Hal, the relaxed and weird father, Dewey, the quiter little brother, Francis, the independent, original troublemaker. Brilliant!

Back to topic... one show that happened to really surprised me would have to be King of Queens. I absolutely DESPISED the show, until one day, I had nothing else to watch. So, I decided to watch 'King of Queens'. It wasn't the best episode, but I thought it was good enough for me to watch it again another day. Nwo... I LOVE THE SHOW! Arthur's wit is hilarious, Holly is so hot, Doug is so funny, Carrie is the no-nonsense type of chick! Great!!

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

Yeah I've always loved Malcom. King of Queens is cool but I don't rate it high, only watch it if I'm bored enough but it's not bad.

Antiques Roadshow surprised me. I never thought I'd like something like that but now I love it It has so many old things with shit loads of history which I am always interested in. Complete surprise for me to like this show but... I do!

It may be because I'm usually stoned as a sinner in biblical times but hey, it's still fun!

 

[jmt225]

Dawson's Creek.

I HATED this show when I was younger, even though I never watched it. On occasion, my sister would make me record an episode if she was out on a Wednesday night or whatever, and I just thought it was a stupid, worthless show.

Well, in my senior year, one day I skipped school for whatever reason. Now, every morning I would have my TV checked to come on at 6:00 AM at the start of Saved by the Bell. Just like they do today, four straight episodes would come on in a row starting at 6 (Central Time) and I use to like to watch it while I woke up, got my barrings and got ready for school. Back then once Saved by the Bell was over, two episodes of Dawson's Creek would come on right after (today I believe two episodes of Fresh Prince comes on after, and then a movie). So the day I missed school, I woke up and Dawson's Creek was starting. I didn't feel like looking for something else to watch, so I just laid there and watched it. I even remember the episode was the one where Joey (Katie Holmes) lost her virginity to Pacey (Joshua Jackson, who I was already a fan of because of The Mighty Ducks). And the episode was so good, I watched the one after that, and I was hooked from that point on. Every week day following I would record the two episodes that came on after Saved by the Bell and watch them when I got home. And today... I have every season on DVD and the show's in my top 5 favorite television shows of all time.

If you would've told me that I would love this show so much when I was in middle school or my early years in high school, I would have told you that you were nuts. But as it turned out, Dawson's Creek is indeed one of my favorite shows of all time.

 

[rony31]

Going way back here but I'm gonna say Spin City. I'd be flipping through the channels and see this show on, figure it's some political comedy sitcom that I would be too young to understand, but one day I decided to just sit through an entire episode and loved it. The characters and setting were great, and the storyline kept it interesting enough to follow on a daily basis. Then Michael J. Fox left and I was disappointed to see Charlie Sheen take over because I never really liked the guy, but the seasons with him were funny as well. Ace show.

 

[Dexter]

Lost. It had been on for years and I'd never given it a second thought, and then one day I was tooling around on a torrent site and saw the first season and figured what the hell, I've got nothing better to do.

Ended up loving it. Downloaded all 5 seasons and just devoured them. Over 100 hour-long episodes, and I went through them all in a matter of a couple of weeks. If you'd never seen the show and I sat here and tried to explain it to you, it'd probably sound as stupid as it sounded to me when someone would try to explain it to me, so I'm not going to try. But if you've been avoiding this show... give it a try. Download the first season. If you hate it, my bad. But try anyway.

 

[HEEL Blazy]

For me it has to be Chuck. This isn't really the type of show I'm in to really. I'm more in to the stupid comedy bullcrap. I watched Chuck one week cause of a guest star and loved the show and watched it since this. I think its when Nicole Richie guest started on it. Anyway that was like the 3rd episode of Season 2 so I've seen everything from the 3rd Episode of Season 2 and on. I've also seen the first Episode as I bought it on my X-Box.

 

[Loveless]

Skins
I was all ready to hate it. I tried to hate it. I did hate it... for the first few episodes when it seemed horribly cliched Then it changed and you realise the writers knew what they were doing all along. They're building up the main guy Tony (the ********) for a major fall and you're just waiting for it, as he get's more and more arrogant, right up until the moment he has to pay for his sins.
This programme is the most pleasant surprise I can think of and has some really exceptional dramatic moments, namely Sid and Tony in the dancehall (season 2, Sid) and Naomi and Emily (post forest encounter) and of course the wonderful letterbox scene at the end of that episode.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I'lll have to go with Mad Men. First of all, I don't really care for scripted TV period, let alone a show like Mad Men.

When the first season began I heard alot of buzz on the net about this show. I couldn't go to an Emmy Discussion Forum without hearing about this show. Critics and fans alike love it. But for me the premise of a advertising company set in the 1950's sounded boring, dull and uninteresting. I never planned to watch it, until I saw a picture of the lead actor, John Hamm.

He got me interested so I watched the first episode online. Something about the era/characters/dialouge and wonderful acting caught my attention. I then watched the entire season and was shocked about how much I liked it. So I was pleasantly shocked, that I liked it, let alone loved it.

 

[The Brain]

My choice would be Heroes. I'm not really into sci fi or supernatural stuff. One day we were so bored at work that my coworker grabbed season 1 out of his car. We watched the first episode and it got my attention. Now six months later I've seen every episode. Sometimes it's a little hard to follow, but I highly recommend it.