# Good TV show with the worst premise **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378 "2014-10-15T05:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/1 "2014-10-15T05:10:06Z")
My husband and I watched, and laughed at on purpose, “Marry Me,” a new sitcom with this premise: > [@](#): > > This series follows what happens to longtime couple – high-strung Annie (Casey Wilson) and easy-going Jake (Ken Marino) – when their deeply committed relationship turns into a long and bumpy ride on the way to altar after the question of “Will You Marry Me?” is popped. After six years together, the couple struggles with trying to decide whether a whirlwind of big fights and botched marriage proposals spells doom for their relationship, when instead they discover a series of “signs” that they think means they are meant for each other. I actually recorded it because I thought it sounded like the worst show in history. We laughed. So, what’s the absolute best show with the absolute worst premise? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/2 "2014-10-15T05:22:30Z")
Well, answering the original question (“Good TV show with the worst premise”), I’ll vote **Man vs Food**. Watch a guy eat at various diners before doing an eating contest against himself / the food. It was only ever entertaining because of the presenter. And accordingly, later series were pretty sad, as he’d put on weight and looked fed up with the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/3 "2014-10-15T06:05:07Z")
_Firefly_ was a space-western, and is generally highly regarded. I remember being a little befuddled after watching the first episode they aired (_The Train Job_). “What the hell? That was actually good.” ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/4 "2014-10-15T06:35:09Z")
Well, it’s a ragtag bunch of unsuccessful cops, only they get permission to use surveillance on a couple of drug lords. And at the end of the season they sort of accomplish very little. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/5 "2014-10-15T07:15:32Z")
Mr. Ed ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/6 "2014-10-15T07:27:25Z")
[ul] [li]A sitcom, with wacky characters and hijinks ensuing, in an army hospital on the front line of a war[/li][li]High school football[/li][li]“It’s like Gilligan’s Island - but it’s a drama. And there’s magic.”[/li][li]The fake autobiography of a Roman Emperor[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/7 "2014-10-15T07:34:08Z")
A show about nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/8 "2014-10-15T09:40:30Z")
Person of Interest doesn’t have the _worst_ premise, but it does continue to impress me by how they continue to keep it relatively smart despite the large number of cliched elements and an episodic format. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/9 "2014-10-15T10:06:48Z")
A blond teenaged girl cheerleader Chosen by the Powers That Be to fight the forces of darkness. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/10 "2014-10-15T10:24:11Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > A sitcom, with wacky characters and hijinks ensuing, in an army hospital on the front line of a war You mis-spelled _“in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp”_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/11 "2014-10-15T11:07:09Z")
**Bosom Buddies**.A show about two men who dressed in drag to get cheap housing. It was derided as an excuse to shiw T&A, but it actually was funny and had a great cast. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/12 "2014-10-15T11:09:05Z")
A high school chemistry teacher turns to a life of crime when diagnosed with cancer. Whacky hijinks ensue. OK, maybe it’s not the worst premise ever, but it doesn’t exactly scream out “the best thing that’s ever been on TV” either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/13 "2014-10-15T11:49:49Z")
Maybe too soon, but recall Jimmy Kimmel’s description of GOTHAM: _“This is a show for people who love everything about Batman except Batman … You know the part of every Batman movie that’s so boring, they skip over it? Now that’s a series.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/14 "2014-10-15T12:05:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Bosom Buddies**.A show about two men who dressed in drag to get cheap housing. It was derided as an excuse to shiw T&A, but it actually was funny and had a great cast. You will find that it really doesn’t hold up. It worked on the strength of the two leads. And it only worked for 1 season. Even they knew that the premise could not hold up. They abandoned the cross dressing in the 2nd season then it was cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/15 "2014-10-15T12:45:54Z")
A mash-up of Washington Irving stories, in which Ichabod Crane pulls a Rip Van Winkle & wakes up near modern Sleepy Hollow. Let’s add flashbacks to the American Revolution. And the Book of Revelation! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/16 "2014-10-15T13:20:07Z")
Let’s take a bunch of city folks, all strangers to each other, most of whom have never been out of the city, let alone gone camping, and strand them on a desert island with nothing but a machete and a pot to boil water in. We’ll come back in three days and make them do a bunch of obstacle courses and swimming competitions and see who survives. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/17 "2014-10-15T13:29:18Z")
Singing cops. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/18 "2014-10-15T13:50:14Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > A blond teenaged girl cheerleader Chosen by the Powers That Be to fight the forces of darkness. Not sure this one counts, because the premise was deliberately chosen to be absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/19 "2014-10-15T14:06:56Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > _Firefly_ was a space-western, and is generally highly regarded. > > I remember being a little befuddled after watching the first episode they aired (_The Train Job_). “What the hell? That was actually good.” I has the same thought. I’d heard about it so many times (all here of course) and then noticed that it was only a handful of episodes\* so I gave it a shot. After the first few I was like ‘it’s like a Western movie…in space, weird’. Of course, like, say, Star Wars a lot of the scenes take place in oddly Earth like settings, but still, it’s really good. \*It seems like whenever a show gets this much take (Star Trek, Dr Who etc) it’s like eight million episodes and I just don’t care to put that much effort into catching up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/20 "2014-10-15T14:16:23Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Singing cops. _Good_ TV show with the worst premise. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378.md?page=2)