# Looking for examples of unreliable narrators in television shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811 "2011-03-07T18:25:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/82 "2011-03-15T23:20:24Z")
I’ve never seen the TV series based on the _Adrian Mole_ books, but the title character is somewhat unreliable in the books so the television version may be the same. The [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Diary_of_Adrian_Mole_%28TV_series%29) for the series indicates that Adrian does provide narration for the show. As far as the books go Adrian isn’t crazy or anything and the truth is always pretty obvious to the reader, but he’s young and naive/clueless about a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/83 "2011-03-16T00:00:29Z")
Possibly the “Bernie Mac Show” where there were times his talks to “America” didn’t quite match up with what we were seeing on the screen? But I don’t remember the show well enough to be certain. Even when they have a main character, prime time TV shows rarely have an interested narrator, so while I can think of more than a few Rashomon style episodes in various shows, it’s harder to come up with a show that uses unreliable narrators (especially not to the extent that HIMYM does). There might be some kids’ shows? Don’t a lot of them use “stop and talk to the audience” as a framing device? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/84 "2011-03-16T00:05:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, but the reason I don’t know the definition is that I really don’t notice it. I’ve probably seen movies and TV and read books employing this technique, and only ever noticed it once in high school. I can’t recall any other case where I recognized, or had it play a part in whether I liked or didn’t like a work. I think I’m one of those people **Koxinga** mentioned when it comes to fiction. It’s just not registering with me. Have you seen The Usual Suspects? I know the OP wanted TV shows, but Kevin Spacey’s character is an excellent example of an unreliable narrator. Everything you see in the movie is based on his narration, and at the end of the movie you realize that pretty much everything you saw earlier didn’t really happen, since he made up most of it based on random items in the detective’s office. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/85 "2011-03-16T00:18:32Z")
So, was Robin Higgins in Magnum P.I. just a caretaker writing bad mystery novels in his copious free time and Thomas and company didn’t really exist? Of course, they didn’t really exist. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/86 "2011-03-16T00:41:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I gotta ask **Skald** , what difference does it make if the narrator is reliable or not in a work of fiction? It’s a well-known (at least well-studied) literary convention used in fiction, like “metaphor” or “local color.” However, unlike most other literary terms, the unreliable narrator is relatively rare. Skald was asking for examples in TV shows, which, if you understand how rare examples of unreliable narrators are, is a good question. On the other hand, maybe we’re doing Skald’s homework for him. Tricky tricky! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/87 "2011-03-16T01:04:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I only care a teeny tiny bit, but the thread title does specify _television_. Literature’s chock-full of it. Was it unclear that I was referring to an episode of **House M.D.** , and a recent episode at that, in response to you asking? I added the literary examples to clarify what an unreliable narrator was; there seemed to be some doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/88 "2011-03-16T01:05:05Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > On the other hand, maybe we’re doing Skald’s homework for him. Tricky tricky! I wouldn’t trust anything he says about his motivation or circumstances. He’s something of a, I don’t know what you’d call it, unbelievable storyteller? Untrustworthy raconteur? It’ll come to me . . . ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/89 "2011-03-16T01:41:01Z")
Notice how John Boy Walton never once mentioned his cocaine-fueled rampages or that he and Mary Ellen shared a case of untreated syphilis. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/90 "2011-03-16T03:14:51Z")
Andy Richter in Andy Richter Controls the Universe. I don’t think he ever deliberately lies in his narration, but he is biased, and he has flights of fancy that aren’t necessarily what really happened. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/91 "2011-03-16T04:22:34Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Notice how John Boy Walton never once mentioned his cocaine-fueled rampages or that he and Mary Ellen shared a case of untreated syphilis. Came in here to say John Boy. He wants to be a published novelist and therefore has an implied agenda to make embellish his family life for that purpose. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811/92 "2011-03-16T18:37:27Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Have you seen The Usual Suspects? I know the OP wanted TV shows, but > > Kevin Spacey’s character is an excellent example of an unreliable narrator. Everything you see in the movie is based on his narration, and at the end of the movie you realize that pretty much everything you saw earlier didn’t really happen, since he made up most of it based on random items in the detective’s office. Sure, loved it. Never thought about the unreliable narrator concept, it was just a plot device. I suspected the Spacey character as being more involved than he described, but the ending was still a surprise. But twists are very common in movies. And after all, you usually assume the narrator already knows the ending anyway. I’m just saying it’s something I never considered. I prefer to get lost in fiction, use it as an escape, and not analyze it. I can usually tell you in some detail why I don’t like something, but once I like it, I probably wouldn’t analyze it much unless asked about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-examples-of-unreliable-narrators-in-television-shows/573811.md?page=4)