# Things you expected nothing of, but turned out to be great **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2020, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498 "2020-09-01T05:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [September 2, 2020, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/41 "2020-09-02T02:08:46Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > For years I avoided _SpongeBob SquarePants_ . Being able to watch Spongebob as a grown up is a big perk of having a kid. It’s a pretty entertaining show. While I never watched Ren and Stimpy as a kid, I work on the assumption that SBSP is this generations Ren and Stimpy. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/42 "2020-09-02T02:11:01Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > **The Emperor’s New Groove** - Between the stupid title and my general loathing of David Spade, I stayed away from it when it was in theatres. Years later my kids got into the spin-off show on Disney Channel, which I found pretty funny - Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton made the show - the main characters were sorta bland. > We borrowed the original movie from the library and I ended up laughing my butt off. Easily the best thing Disney released under their own name (as opposed to Pixar) in the 00s. That’s the one I came in here to mention. I’d heard about it before it came out, and the way it was described made it sound like the stupidest thing ever. I mostly watched it to make fun of it, but ended up loving it. I love “The Emperor’s New School” (the TV series, too). ---
**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:** [September 2, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/43 "2020-09-02T02:13:43Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I was not expecting **What we do in the shadows** to be so good. Memorable! Fuck yes! I have no love for vampire hooey. But this movie and the subsequent TV show absolutely stun me! > [@MandaJo](#): > > I knew nothing about Into the Spiderverse, and it turned out to be the best thing I’d seen in years. FUCK YES to this too! Another Marvel joint _yawn_…WOW that a good movie!! My addition: I got tickets to see Beck in 2002, cuz I kinda liked his album _Sea Change_ and I think my brother wanted to go to see the opener, The Flaming Lips. I’ve been to a lot of concerts and I’ve never really liked any opener. I can’t think of any that even moved the meter for me, and many of them I actively hated. The Flaming Lips were that idiot band that did that song “She Don’t Use Jelly” when I was in high school. I’m sure their other stuff was modern Prog, and that’s why my brother liked them. Holy shit…they did their crazy stage show with bright colors and blow-up props and people dancing around in bunny costumes and confetti AND they played most of their new album _Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots_ which I had never heard before. **And now it’s one of my favorite albums of all time.** Still don’t like opening bands and I’ve since not seen one that I like. I don’t even really like anything the Lips did since that album. But I was completely blown away by that one unexpected night! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/44 "2020-09-02T04:14:24Z")
That reminds me of when I went to see Bonnie Raitt and the opening act was Bruce Hornsby. I knew his one hit “The Way It Is” and nothing else, and just thought, meh. But he blew me away. He is an amazing musician, and his band totally rocked. He joined Bonnie later for her encore and it was incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/45 "2020-09-02T05:26:23Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I knew nothing about Into the Spiderverse, and it turned out to be the best thing I’d seen in years. Good one. I had a couple friends who were gushing about it but I just rolled my eyes at the Marvel cartoon idea (“oh yay, it has a pig and an anime girl with a robot…”). Then I saw it, loved it, my wife came home and I watched it a second time that evening. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/46 "2020-09-02T07:34:33Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > **The Emperor’s New Groove** - Between the stupid title and my general loathing of David Spade, I stayed away from it when it was in theatres. Years later my kids got into the spin-off show on Disney Channel, which I found pretty funny - Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton made the show - the main characters were sorta bland. > We borrowed the original movie from the library and I ended up laughing my butt off. Easily the best thing Disney released under their own name (as opposed to Pixar) in the 00s. I love this movie. I side-eyed someone the other day when they announced on a message board that it was too stupid and turned it off. Which brings me to **Wayne’s World**. I was over at a friend’s place and we had Enamel and Ebert on in the background and we all stopped playing dominoes and stared at the TV in disbelief when they said it was good. Turns out, it is good. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/47 "2020-09-02T08:29:19Z")
Another fan of _The Emperor’s New Groove_ - in fact, I consider it one of the top ten funniest movies ever. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/48 "2020-09-02T11:38:26Z")
Scott Pilgrim vs the World I was bored one day and rented it on a whim not expecting much. Turns out the music wasn’t half bad and after the first video game fight I couldn’t stop laughing my ass off. _We are Sex Bob-omb and we are here to sell out and make money and stuff…_ ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/49 "2020-09-02T12:57:05Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I knew nothing about Into the Spiderverse, and it turned out to be the best thing I’d seen in years. I bought a ticket and went in hoping that it was going to be a good movie. Within 60 seconds of the credits starting the [CCA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/Approved_by_the_Comics_Code_Authority.gif) logo came on and I went from hoping it was going to be good to wondering just how good it was going to be. And like you it is my favourite movie from the last several years. Back in the 1990s I bought the _Fun Lovin’ Criminals_ debut CD. I figured that I was just buying it for _Scooby Snacks_ and the rest of the album wasn’t going to be worth anything. Turns out the whole album was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/50 "2020-09-02T13:01:37Z")
Ah yes, openers. I saw a couple of great ones back in the late ‘70s who fall into the general category of well respected rather than famous. On The Slits’ Simply What’s Happening tour [The Delta 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a38HYryTiUA) were remarkable - with a lineup of drums, guitar, bass, bass, bass they shook the zip code. On the Be Stiff tour, some American non-entity that nobody had heard of called [Lene Lovich](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIJOO__jVo) stole the show. There was also a show at the Roundhouse in London, when the band 4th on the bill (out of 4) were OK, but if you never heard from them again you wouldn’t have been surprised. That was The Police. But amongst gigs, the occasion that most clearly fits the bill was another US act that I knew nothing about, but went along to see them anyway: The Tubes. God, I bought two of their albums because of that gig - that was a mistake; but live, they were in a league of their own in those days. j ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/51 "2020-09-02T14:10:43Z")
There are some works of 19th century literature that turned out to be much funnier than I expected, such as **Moby-Dick** , **Vanity Fair** and **Cranford**. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/52 "2020-09-02T14:50:07Z")
**Tucker and Dale vs Evil** Was expecting a teen/sex/slasher film, but had heard good things about it. When it hit its groove, I couldn’t get enough of it. A must-see. Also, **Big Ass Spider** ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/53 "2020-09-02T18:09:22Z")
Based on the animation I expected _Thundercats Roar_ to be about the same level of humor as _Teen Titans Go_ but it’s actually quite funny. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/54 "2020-09-02T20:26:07Z")
My sister struggled for quite some time to get me to watch The Emperor’s New Groove and Avatar: The Last Airbender. My mother, likewise, with The West Wing. I’m glad they’re persistent. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/55 "2020-09-02T20:43:30Z")
“The Booth At the End” on Netflix. It wasn’t heavily advertised and I watched the first episode on a whim. Probably my favorite series of all time. Also, Daft Punk. Went from hating it to being daft-curious to nursing a minor addiction. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/56 "2020-09-02T20:58:06Z")
Yes, surprisingly good. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/57 "2020-09-02T21:21:08Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Boy, was I surprised when it turned out to be a smart, rich, beautifully-written story with a complex and nuanced protagonist, deeply flawed yet somehow relatable enough to want to root for him and care what happens. Plus strong supporting characters and lots of imaginative silliness thrown in for good measure. We watched the last episode tonight and I already miss it. This is exactly the same reaction I had to _Baskets_, the Zach Galafianakis series about an aspiring clown. I thought it was going to be wacky slapstick, sort of like ZG’s _Between Two Ferns_ movie. There is some physical comedy, but it also has surprising dramatic depth and characters I really cared about. It’s an FX series, but I watched it on Hulu. Oh, and I like Bojack too! ---
**Author:** ![LilXMo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lilxmo/32/4225_2.png) [@LilXMo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilXMo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/58 "2020-09-02T22:10:56Z")
Netflix has a movie called Circle (not the series The Circle). Low star rating, bored and then saw this. Character analysis is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/59 "2020-09-03T03:23:05Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Way back in the 80’s a friend who worked at a radio station scored free preview tickets to a new action movie starring that guy from _Moonlighting_. Bruce Willis in a thriller? We were sure it was going to suck. Did it? ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498/60 "2020-09-03T12:54:18Z")
I agree with fellow posters about _Into the Spider-verse_. Went in expecting a cutesy cartoon version and was more than pleasantly surprised. I offer _Rat Race_ to the list. Thought it would be fluff, and it is, but it’s good fluff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-expected-nothing-of-but-turned-out-to-be-great/919498.md?page=4)