The one that finally came to mind after I had run through most of my list of regularly watched shows (past and present) is Sons of Anarchy. Maybe I wasn’t as impressed with that feature in other shows, and perhaps there are some I don’t watch where the lying and deception exceed the level of SOA’s.
But can you name others where any promise is going to be broken and where characters regularly lie to everyone, their friends and family members especially?
In Boardwalk Empire most of the problems stem from dishonesty and characters betraying other characters who trusted them.
LOST was the king of this, characters lied and concealed when it made absolutely no fucking sense to! Nobody shared information, answers to intelligent questions where bizarre and cryptic to the point of absurdity.
“do you live there?”
“I have lived there”
The antagonist tells the protagonist “we’re the good guys” with no further explanation or context, after they have been kidnapping and murdering the protagonists group.
“Arrested Development”
“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret”
Good one. I must have not come to it yet when I was running through my list. Now that I’m thinking of it, several of HBO’s big hits had this feature. The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, at least.
The King of Queens.
Joe Millionaire
The first seasons of Mad Men were driven by Don Draper’s infidelity and stolen identity. Less so in the latest season…
…since he’s divorced…
…but some of it continues to crop up. That’s not counting the other characters as well and all the things they do and hide.
Three’s Company
Seinfeld. Just about every episode involves one of the protagonists misrepresenting themselves or at least not being honest with the other people in their lives-indeed, that was the entire point of the series.
Bilko
That 70’s Show
Not only did they lie to each other, it was hard to believe they were even friends, as one of them would sell the other out in the blink of an eye.
Revenge
I agree with Lost and will add Breaking Bad.
Oh, wow, yes! How could I have left off the main one? Breaking Bad is even more the exemplar (among the shows I watch regularly) than Sons of Anarchy, but they both have the feature that if the words “I promise” are ever uttered, you can bet your car that whatever they promised will either happen or not happen by the end of the next episode.
From the answers we’re getting to this question, I’m starting to wonder how near the top of the Writer’s Cheat Sheet, the concepts of dishonesty, disinformation, deception and lying are used to structure plots and scene dynamics. And what other concepts rank higher.
Lucy! You’ve got some 'splaining to do!
It’s non-fiction, but Undercover Boss is another.
White Collar
How I Met Your Mother
Law and Order
Lie To Me. That was kinda the premise of the show.