We love television for the exact opposite reason we love watching movies: TV shows tell long, hour-long stories by putting characters in new situations every week or season and watching them navigate twists and turns. Whenever we tune into our favorite show, whether it’s 10 episodes or 200, we pretty much know what we’re going to see.
Except sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes a show changes its setting, its cast, or its entire plot to play out in ways we never expected – either to stave off a decline in ratings, to avoid a major cast change, or because the creators and writers are trying their best when they know the show is about to end. Whenever this happens, it can feel a bit alienating – it’s disorienting when something you thought you knew suddenly enters entirely new territory. But it can also be fun to watch a story test its own limits, and the limits of the form itself.
Now, for this list, we’re not talking about anthology shows like: The Twilight Zone or American Horror Storythe premise is based on the fact that these shows tell a new story every time. We’re talking about shows that lasted for multiple seasons, but that were otherwise linear, but at some point decided that where they started wasn’t necessarily where they wanted to end. Maybe a character ended up in a coma and all the subsequent seasons were just a figment of his wild imagination. Perhaps the show was always intended to eventually have a paradigm shift, but the shift happened sooner than expected. Or maybe a new setting, a new storyline, or a new cast was a last-ditch effort to keep the show going long after it was supposed to end. Either way, it’s must-watch TV.
10 TV shows that completely change their premise every season
These shows tested the limits of television itself.
Gallery credit: Emma Stefanski
read more: 12 Horror Movies Based on True Stories
12 Actors Who Played Different Characters on the Same TV Show
Some television shows are notorious for reusing one or more of their cast members.
Gallery credit: Amy Stefanski
