# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/41 "2014-10-15T16:39:45Z")
“Wagon Train to the Stars” ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/42 "2014-10-15T16:50:05Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Wasn’t part of the premise that Ned saved money for his pie business (The Pie Hole) by obtaining spoiled/rotten fruit and then making it fresh again by touching it? Yes. IIRC, there was an episode where a rival company sent health inspectors to the Pie Hole and they found the kitchen full of rotten fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/43 "2014-10-15T16:51:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > … > A desperately poor bus driver’s schemes to get rich backfire, while his wife always forgives him. Mind you, this was a **sitaution comedy**. … You forgot " and threatens to beat the crap out of his wife every week". ---
**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, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/44 "2014-10-15T17:01:05Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Not really accurate. I lost interest as soon as I realized everyone survives. I remember mentioning the premise of the first season to a buddy of mine who was a Ranger, and his response was “Oh, wow, if I was on that show, they wouldn’t have to vote anybody off… for a million dollars, there’d be people coming down with _all sorts_ of weird injuries & such.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/45 "2014-10-15T17:02:55Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You forgot " and threatens to beat the crap out of his wife every week". [It did not end well](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZdrbkZIfkHA/T-CUDwEVfEI/AAAAAAAAA6M/2JaLLXGjaC8/s1600/alice+kramden.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/46 "2014-10-15T17:31:49Z")
A show about a dysfunctional family that owns a mortuary and that starts nearly every episode with somebody dying in an often bizarre manner. Complete with draining bodily fluids and reconstructing horrific injuries. One of the best shows ever made. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/47 "2014-10-15T17:53:19Z")
A hillbilly hits the ground with a rifle shot and strikes oil and becomes a multimillionaire, then decides to move across the country to a glamorous big city. In order to be able to share an apartment with two single ladies, an aspiring cook has to convince his landlord that he’s gay. ---
**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, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/48 "2014-10-15T17:54:25Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I thought the thread was about good to great tv. There’s a ton of shows with wacky premises that resulted in mediocre or worse tv (e.g., “My Mother the Car”). But it’s more extraordinary when the show is better than its w.t.f. premise. > > “Hogan’s Heroes,” while it is an ok way to fill a half hour of airtime, is simply not among the great TV shows. It was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in no time flat, along with picking up Emmy nominations for both Bob Crane and Werner Klemperer – and did all three again the year after that – and, since it ran for years and years and years, it of course got nominated yet _again_ for Outstanding Comedy Series, right when Klemperer won the first of his back-to-back Emmys in the role – when Nita Talbot picked up an Emmy nomination on the show to boot. You can’t say anything like that about “My Mother The Car”; it ran for one season, and racked up neither Emmys nor nominations, exactly like you’d expect. ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/49 "2014-10-15T17:56:31Z")
There’s this bar, in Boston, and the owner is an ex-ballplayer whose alcoholism ruined his career. Along comes this uptight semi-intellectual would-be waitress. They kind of have a thing for one another. Perhaps the best example of a bygone era when a television network was willing to give a show a chance to develop and realize its potential. There are several examples in this thread of the not-bygone era when networks are in no way at all prepared to give a show a chance to develop and are wholly oblivious to a show’s potential. Lucky for _Cheers_ it came along when it did. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/50 "2014-10-15T18:01:49Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > My husband and I watched, and laughed at on purpose, “Marry Me,” a new sitcom with this premise: > > 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? I saw the previews for it, and they hosted the Fall Preview show. I despised her. I mean \*hate. \* **Loach** - it’s not Holmes, it’s the “unlikable asshole” part that is the issue. I am getting really tired of it. Yes, House was fun… for a while. It’s over. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/51 "2014-10-15T18:04:42Z")
A guy tells his kids the story of how he met their mother, over 9 seasons of television. For most of the time, it works. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/52 "2014-10-15T18:15:10Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > [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] I have a friend who was a cameraman on Lost. He figured he wouldn’t be in Hawaii very long. Boy was he wrong. A family of extraterrestrials come to earth to observe human behavior. Sort of Mork times four. And yet 3rd Rock was a pretty funny show. ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/53 "2014-10-15T18:20:51Z")
As a kid I really liked [Samurai Pizza Cats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Pizza_Cats): [QUOTE=Wikipedia] The series is set in the mechanical city of Little Tokyo, a mechanical city which fuses feudal Japanese culture with contemporary culture, and is populated by cybernetic anthropomorphic animals. The city is notionally led by Emperor Fred, a doddering eccentric. The city’s actual leadership lies in the hands of his daughter Princess Violet and a city council. The council is headed by the ambitious prime minister Seymour “The Big” Cheese, a rat, who constantly plots to overthrow the Emperor. He is aided by his inept minions: trusted adviser Jerry Atric and Bad Bird, the leader of an army of ninja crows. Unknown to the prime minister, council member “Big Al” Dente, the commander of the Palace Guard, learns of his designs on leadership, but is unable to prosecute him for treason because of the plausible deniability he maintains. Instead, Al Dente enlists the services of Speedy Ceviche, Polly Esther, and Guido Anchovy, three cyborg cat samurai who work in the city’s pizzeria, along with their operator Francine. Known collectively as the Samurai Pizza Cats, they are assigned to stop Big Cheese and his evil henchmen’s plans to take over Little Tokyo. [/QUOTE] Apparently the dubbers got the original episodes from Japan but didn’t actually have anyone to translate them, so they just wrote new and sarcastic dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/54 "2014-10-15T18:32:38Z")
Crazy alien genius who looks like a British guy flies through space and time in a police box that’s bigger on the inside. Oh, and when the lead actor gets tired of the role or can’t do it any longer, we recast him and say he “regenerated,” and keep on going. Repeat for 50 years. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/55 "2014-10-15T18:41:02Z")
A man emigrates to Chicago, moves in with a man who may or may not be his distant cousin. Hijinks ensue. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/56 "2014-10-15T18:44:26Z")
> [@BeeGee](#): > > I have a friend who was a cameraman on Lost… Did your friend ever get relief for his Palsy? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/57 "2014-10-15T18:45:25Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yes, if he touches a dead person they come back to life, and then he has a choice: touch them again within 60 seconds, they will re-die and no-one else will die; or don’t touch the person again within 60 seconds, and some other (person or animal or plant) will die. Then if he touches the person ever again, they will still re-die and the other thing that died will not come back to life. > > This had nothing to do with his ability to bake pies, that was just what he loved to do. It helped solve mysteries because he could touch the victim, they would come back to life, they could ask whodunnit and touch the victim again within 60 seconds and they would be dead again. Of course this almost never actually worked in a straightforward manner. I would say this does sound like a bad premise. Of course, it’s all in how you write it, but I would be driven crazy by a show where there could be no resolution other than “Spell’s lifted - end of series!” ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/58 "2014-10-15T18:46:46Z")
I loved “Six Feet Under,” but I almost didn’t start watching it. The premise (a dysfunctional family running a funeral home) did not sound very entertaining. ---
**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, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/59 "2014-10-15T19:40:34Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > A guy tells his kids the story of how he met their mother, over 9 seasons of television. > > For most of the time, it works. With the last season mostly taking place over one weekend. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378/60 "2014-10-15T19:42:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I saw the previews for it, and they hosted the Fall Preview show. I despised her. I mean \*hate. \* > **Loach** - it’s not Holmes, it’s the “unlikable asshole” part that is the issue. I am getting really tired of it. Yes, House was fun… for a while. It’s over. Two of my Wives watched _House_, so I’ve seen bits of it. I never could get past what an asshole the guy was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-tv-show-with-the-worst-premise/701378.md?page=4)