Shows that were better than you expected

[stargazer01]

What are those shows you thought would suck but ended up liking them or even loving them?

For me THE ORVILLE. I thought it was going to be boring but I loved it! I found Season 1 genuinely funny and some of the stories were really good. I wasn't expecting quality Sci-Fi in this, but it was. It's like watching Star Trek: TNG but with humor. I even started to get invested in the characters. I really can't wait for Season 2.

Another new show was SyFy 's KRYPTON. Well I actually had faith in this since the start, but when the season started, the first 3 or 4 episodes, I began to feel like this show was not going to work as series. It was slow and even repetitive, but then the plot started to pick up and new characters appeared and twists and I started to get more excited. The finale blew me away.

I'll think of more.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The originals/Vampire diaries.

[XPac]

Cobra Kai ended up being really good. I thought it might be on the cheesy side, but I got really invested in the characters almost immediately.

[Osiris-Rex]

The Orville
Young Sheldon
Powerless
Bad Teacher
Game of Thrones
Lethal Weapon
Bob's Burgers

[AndrewCrossett]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was late to the game because I thought the show would be a cheesefest like the movie, but it became my all-time favorite show. (Now I even kind of like the movie.)

The aforementioned Orville. It's a flawed show, and a little too derivative of Star Trek, but I was expecting Family Guy In Space and got a fun and well executed science fiction comedy with some genuinely clever ideas. (The "apology tour" episode in particular.)

Game of Thrones. I didn't expect it to suck, exactly, but I'd tried to read the first book and only made it 100 pages or so in before losing interest. But a friend gave me a disk with episode 1 that came as a free promo with some other DVD he bought, and the very next day I went out and bought the season 1 boxed set, and subscribed to HBO in time for the next season.

[AJBopp]

Star Trek: Voyager

I was expecting Gilligan's Island in space, with every other episode being "We can almost get home!"

While there was a bit much of that, it was overall a much better series than Deep Space 9 that evolved into a war story without very much fighting, against enemies who consistently failed to live up to their capabilities.

Voyager was actually creative and interesting.

[DrNewGod]

Buffy for me too. The whole premise seemed dumb (mainly due to the aweful film). But they grabbed you pretty fast

BSG also surprised me. I didn't like the too-like-our-navy nature of it on the pilot, but it's intensity and complexity got me.

[Zero Hunter]

One that really surprised me is Jane the Virgin. Just by the title I thought this show looks and sounds stupid. After a year or so I heard some good word of mouth about the show so I gave the first season a look on Netflix. I love this show. It is just so over the top sometimes, but still has such heart.

[SpiderClops]

Legion season 1. From the trailers I thought it'd be good, it turned out to be mind-blowing.

Sad that season 2 was a solid letdown.

[SpiderClops]

Key & Peele. Technically, I never watched their tv show. I thought their type of humour wouldn't be my thing. But then I randomly watched one of their skits on YouTube a some days ago, and goddamm, these guys are hilarious. I've watched so many of their skits in just a few days.

[SpiderClops]

Deception. I thought it'd be poor man's The Mentalist. And it was. But I was more entertained by it than I had imagined. Not a great show by any means, but still disappointed that it got cancelled.

[Hellion]

Teen Wolf (please don't laugh). It seemed too ridiculous for me to even consider watching, but I kept hearing good things and I gave it a try and became hooked. It was a sexier, more entertaining version of Smallville, with better writing and a better budget and at on the whole better acting.

I was also skeptical of Hannibal largely because I never recalled seeing Hugh Dancy in anything so I didn't have a measure of his acting capabilities, but hot damn, the show started strong and only got better as it got older.

[DrNewGod]

From the other side of the pond:
Downton Abbey. I had no idea a pack of stuffy rich Britocratcs could be so engaging.
Endeavour. A period-piece prequel of a long canceled British detective procedural sounded like a money bonfire, but I've found it more interesting and exciting than it's predecessor by a mile.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I thought that the lead guy on Endeavour could have made a good Doctor on Doctor Who...

[hulahulk]

The Orville
It actually led me to watch Family Guy reruns on a regular basis.

The Gifted
Huge surprise. Season 2 previews have me really psyched.

Legends of Tomorrow
The second season, anyway. First season sucked, haven't bothered with 3rd season yet. I don't like the other CW shows.

Better Call Saul
It's filling the void that Breaking Bad left.

Lost in Space
Visually stunning, decent character development, great season ending cliffhanger.

GOT
Definitely my all time favorite show.

Dexter
Despite uneven later seasons it still surpassed my expectations.

Daredevil
The other Netflix Marvel shows are at or below my expectations.

Spartacus
Lesser known than these others but it was one of my first binge shows.

Agents of SHIELD, Runaways and Cloak and Dagger
Not perfect shows, but better than the CW offerings.

Wrecked
Because I like silly humor and LOST