TV Tuesday: Not My Usual, But Nice

[yourlibrarian]

What do you think about mind-bending, experimental shows? What about eccentric, genius-type characters? Do they get too confusing or condescending, or do they ramp up your curiosity?

Which are examples for "weird done well"?

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

If I think about mind-bending shows I love, the first thing that comes to mind is Revolutionary Girl Utena. It's heavily symbolic and often feels strangely dreamlike; there's a lot I'd struggle to explain about it. But it has a powerful emotional impact on me. There are aspects of the ending that I may not fully understand, but that in no way reduces that ending's ability to slam straight into my heart; in a way, I think that sense of mystery might actually enhance the experience.

[yourlibrarian]

Oh that's a good point to bring up, the way the stories end (assume they have a planned ending or aren't still running). There are definitely shows known for having ambiguous final shots.

[yourlibrarian]

When I first read this question, my mind immediately went to Legion. It had a fascinating first season and I was so taken with it I binged the back half of it in a single day. However I found S2 something of a mess and was glad when in S3 they focused more on the main story and bringing it to a conclusion.

That's hardly unusual for any show, regardless of format, that their seasons can be irregular. But I felt the same about S2 of Severance vs S1. I think it's easier for shows of this type to become weird for weirdness sake instead of weird as a byproduct of the type of story being told.

I haven't watched many shows with eccentric type characters but certainly post S2 of Sherlock leant into the increasingly improbable as well. I also thought there was a tendency to makes Sherlock as a character less objectionable and more "normal" in his relationships with others. On the one hand, I can see that as an understandable personal evolution, but I'm not keen on stories that try to make aliens human, as has often seemed the case.

[caramarie]

My mind also went to Legion! That first season was so good and I really appreciated the stylistic weirdness. (I never got to the 3rd season but have been thinking recently I should do a rewatch and try to finish it ...)

[yourlibrarian]

I know there are people who loved every episode of it, but for me, I need a story to be going somewhere (even episodic focused shows, I want to see some development in the characters, situation etc.) I think it's particularly easy to for a show to start wandering in the weeds when it has an offbeat style or format.

Perhaps part of it, too, is that viewers used to trust that serialized shows had some sort of plan and were heading somewhere, yet there have been examples of shows where this was never the case and it left dangling plotlines everywhere.

[china_shop]

There are some kinds of experimental/weird that I love, and other kinds that just make me go nope. An example of the latter that comes to mind is Pushing Daisies, where I found it too overtly constructed and mannered to be watchable. Iirc, it had a lot of voice-over, too? Another more recent one is Gross Pointe Garden Society, which felt overly designed to me in a similar way. (I know some other people liked it.) Whereas examples of something super weird that I enjoyed would be Mrs. Davis, which is a fever-dream of a show about an (unembodied) AI stalking a nun, or the first seasons of Russian Doll and Severance. (I enjoyed the later seasons of Severance, but not in the same way.)

I love it when a show takes a weird premise and really commits to it (crack taken seriously), but I'm finding it hard to pin down the factors that make something work for me or not.

[yourlibrarian]

I don't recall hearing about the Garden Society before but I watched Pushing Daisies and think that's a fair assessment. I did enjoy it, though I think a little went a long way. I also enjoyed Mrs. Davis which, I agree, had a pretty original premise and format. Russian Doll is also a good call on that. I know a lot of people liked it but I noped out after the first season.

I'm not sure I could put my finger on it either. I don't want to say that they should all have short runs, because it's possible a show could manage to innovate each season to stay fresh but on course. But I think it might be more difficult, and a planned outcome might keep it from wearing out its welcome. That definitely helped me stick with Mrs. Davis.

Would you say Umbrella Academy falls into this vein?

[china_shop]

I bounced off Umbrella Academy pretty quickly, so I couldn't say. Would you put it into the same basket?

[yourlibrarian]

I think it had a lot of Dirk Gently elements without the humor. But it can be difficulty when one is talking about fantasy type stories because those can vary so widely and always have an element of supernaturalness and the unexpected.

[china_shop]

I didn't watch Dirk Gently, either. I heard it was hyper-violent, and that put me off.

[rogueslayer452]

Oh, I love weird experimental shows, anything that is even slightly bizarre and unconventional I tend to gravitate towards in fiction more than anything else. Of course, whether or not I stick with a show depends on whether I'm into the story being told (same goes for all things), but I like it when something feels creatively refreshing.

My immediate thought was also Legion, it was very mind-bending in a psychedelic way that drew my attention instantly. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is another one, wacky and inventive with its wide range of unique characters and situations where nobody knows quite what's going on but it's highly enjoyable. Both shows are criminally underrated, imho.

As for eccentric genius-type characters, those can be rather hit-or-miss with its execution in the writing and performance of the actor.

[yourlibrarian]

Oh yes, Dirk Gently's a good one too. I enjoyed it and was sorry we didn't get more.

[tinny]

Oi, the first one that comes to mind is Twin Peaks. But I think they overdid it with the weirdness and at the end it was just a mishmash of things that didn't quite add up. I did enjoy watching it at the time, though - just not the ending. ;)

I love fantasy in general, so I think i've seen a lot of these 'weird' shows, and overall I tend to like them. I loved Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies. I got a bit into Severance, too.

As for non-fantasy examples, the 'weird person at the police' genre usually appeals to me, too. All the Sherlock variants, Psych, The Mentalist, The X-Files?

I'll be tempted to check out anything with a weird premise.

[yourlibrarian]

I wondered if someone would bring up Twin Peaks 😄 There were certainly weird shows before it, but it was the first one I had watched. I remember a friend and I were hooked on it. But by the time S2 came along, it was like weirdness for the sake of weirdness (and wow, the movie was a mess). S1 had a lot of stylishness to its weirdness which was also different for TV at the time.

Oh Wonderfalls was a delight! Although I never thought of it as being in the set -- mostly because it just had a fantasy premise that could also have been all in her head. It's a shame we got so little of it.

I have never seen The Mentalist -- I didn't realize that fell into it. I did put it in a watchlist (maybe Hulu?)