When looking at the weirdest TV shows to ever grace our television screen, some are good, while the majority are just strange overall. Even the greatest shows ever can be seen as weird in a way. After all, when you try to create a new series, you don’t know how the public will react to it. Plenty of weird TV shows are strange due to their mind-twisting plots, uncanny characters, and visuals present in them. So, if we were to determine what makes weird shows strange, the factors get divided into their story and visuals, and sometimes a combination of the two.
For a show to be weird, sometimes the story is enough to make it strange, with characters, plot, and the structure it follows being part of it. When you place mysterious characters in a weirdness-filled plot, you can be sure that you will have quite a bizarre TV show on your hands. For example, Twin Peaks, one of the best horror series and the creation of David Lynch, is so weird that it is brilliant. With its characters and strange story structure, this series solidified itself in television history as a weird show that is quite addictive when you watch it. On the other hand, there’s Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared, a TV show so weird that it crosses into the uncanny valley and drags us into it too. This show can give the heebie jeebies while retaining our attention span.
When labeling TV shows with the word weird, it’s only natural for some controversies to appear. Luckily, many internet groups have decided to share their opinions. For example, users like BillMeeks and S1mon_B3ufont asked questions about weird television shows on AskReddit. We have compiled some of the best answers in the list below. Upvote the series that you think is weird. On the other hand, share your views on the series' weirdness in the comments below.
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Pushing Daisies
"Pushing Daisies was magical. Ned and Chuck were simply perfection for an on-screen couple. I loved Kristin Chenoweth and the rest of the cast. The sets and costumes were wonderful. I don't know if you can tell but I loved this show."
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
"My only exposure to Monty Python over the years (I'm 30 years old), has been watching and loving the "Holy Grail", and "Life of Brian" films, as well as seeing the Dead Parrot and Spanish Inquisition sketches. I was a little hesitant but I said ok and we started it up. Let me tell you, I laughed so hard at certain segments that I had tears in my eyes. I don't know if I was just in the right frame of mind or just tired enough or what, but I caught myself laughing like a fool a few times. We watched 4 full episodes and I adored what I saw. Some sketches were obviously better than others, but I really enjoyed most of it. The funny thing is, being a guy from the US born in 1989, so many of the British references and slang from the era go over my head but it still struck me as funny due to the delivery."
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"Every time I start to feel like it's going to get boring, they drag me back in with entertaining scenes. The way season 1 all came together in the end was pretty fun to watch as it unfolded. I started season 2 thinking they didn't have anywhere further to go, but no matter how silly or whimsical season 2 gets as it goes along, I continue to enjoy it."
Happy!
"A live action show about An injured hitman befriends his kidnapped daughter's imaginary friend - a perky blue flying unicorn.
Starring Christopher Meloni as the hitman and Patton Oswalt as the unicorn."
Sorry, but I tried this one for three episodes and was so weirded out I had to quit.
Eerie, Indiana
"It's a show following the children's horror genre of the early 90's, about a couple kids who live in the strangest place in the world, and yet everyone else seems to think it's normal. Shockingly similar to the show "Gravity Falls" except that Eerie Indiana came first
The show only got one season, only 19 episodes. One of my favorite shows growing up. But it seems horribly underrated, few people I've brought it up with (aside from my family) have so much as even heard of it. Which is a shame, I think a reboot would be highly successful with other similar shows like Gravity Falls, Stranger Things, etc."
Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared
"Starts off light and funny, but goes dark like a bad acid trip."
Twin Peaks
"Season 1 is paced well and it's weird and campy and I loved it. Season 2 is good at the start and the end, but the middle becomes a mess with pointless storylines to pad out the season to the full season order of episodes it received (among other executive meddling issues). Season 3 is crazy. Lynch is fully let loose upon his audience. It's strange, bizarre, and captivating. It's creepy, endearing, funny, and a complete mind bender. Still, some of the show is too weird even for me, but I really do want a 4th season just to see where Lynch can take things. So here's to hoping we get more from Lynch and Frost."
I remember exactly when I gave up on this show. In the first series there's a character known as the Log Lady who carries around a log that she treats like an infant child, so I guessed that she had some kind of ungestalted trauma around the loss of a child that she had somehow projected onto this log. But then she goes up to the bar to talk to Kyle Maclachlan, and she specifically refers to "my log". So if she doesn't think it's a baby and knows it's just a log, then she isn't delusional; she's sane. And if she's sane, then all the business with the log is just fucki*g about for the sake of fucki*g about. No longer interesting.
Man V. Food
"This show is so fun but I can’t help but feel sadness for the host (while he downs a 5lb bucket of ice cream). Hope they’re monitoring his health... otherwise that’s one hell of a Worker’s Comp."
The Day Of The Triffids
"It's aged a bit and the Triffids do look a bit like Daffodils ... nevertheless it's one of my all time favourites. The part at the start when everyone goes blind is still harrowing. Even the title music is genuinely unsettling.
Possibly because it came out when I was a kid I still prefer this version to the newer one the BBC did a few years back - even if that did have Eddie Izzard."
Midnight Mass
"Midnight Mass is one of the best shows I have seen in a long long time. Mike Flanagan is a genius. I really hope that they will continue to work together. What a show. What an original idea. Extremely well acted. Especially Samantha Sloyan was suuuperb."
Legion
DodGamnBunofaSitch replied:
"Legion's amazingly non-conformist for entertainment. was blown away when they brought in Superorganism for a musical cameo."
Raised By Wolves
peridotdragon33 replied:
"Bingo, probably one of the weirder shows I’ve seen but I’m definitely surprised how much I liked it."
Alice In Wonderland
"Was like a scary drug trip in some parts - especially the Carol Channing parts."
Dark Shadows
"For a while now I've been looking at how movie monsters and horror tropes cross over to dramatic / serialized television. The one thing I've noticed is that so much of this goes back to the 1960s, most specifically to a soap opera called Dark Shadows. This show featured a little bit of everything including vampires, ghosts, witches, and even werewolves (and these are just the tip of the iceberg). Sure, the show could be campy at times, but even modern shows with supernatural drama indulge in camp every once and a while. My interest in the show has grown to the point I'm now collecting the DVD sets featuring the show's 1,225 episodes (I'm now on Collection 11 and in the process of getting the next three)."
I remember watching this after school back in the 1970s. It was both campy and absolutely marvelous.
Tales From The Crypt
"Classic TV horror at its best, arguably better than a lot of horror at the time. A lot of before they were stars and some big name a listers involved on episodes either in front of or behind the camera. It's one of those things that I want them to bring it back just because I feel we can get more stories told but at the same time it without the Crypt Keeper and John Kassir and his cackle, I don't know if it would be the same show."
My Strange Addiction
"Here's a list of the addictions they've had so far:
Diaper Wearing/Acting like a Baby Eating Dryer Sheets Sniffing Gasoline Teddy Bear Obsession (had a dozen Teddy Bears and treated them as her children) Eating Rocks (rocks. ROCKS!) Eating Plastic Pillow Obsession Bathes in Bleach (COME ON!!) Carrying her Husbands Urn and..wait for it....wait..EATING HIS ASHES!!!!!!! Pet Rat Obsession Obsessed with her Fingernails (really long, won't cut them. Meh.) Eating Drywall Obsessed with Pulling Hair out of Shower Drains and Playing with it. Cycling Searching and Stuffing Animals."
You certainly don't have any sort of obsession with punctuation, do you?
Most Haunted
"It is the funniest thing I’ve ever watched. The premise that ghosts have nothing better to do than cryptically communicate with doughy goateed Americans who take themselves outrageously seriously is brilliant."
It's amazing how popular ghost hunting shows are, considering none of them has ever produced the slightest verifiable proof of anything. How many thousands of hours can you watch people wandering around in the dark claiming to feel something supernatural?
Lexx
chogram replied:
"I own the DVDs of Lexx, but I've not watched them yet for a more fresh memory.
I just remember watching it anytime it was on, as a kid, and that it had some wild episodes. A planet where a bunch of heads are watching television, and killing people who don't perform well enough? An episode where they just all have s** constantly? A ton of "solve this problem" stuff like a normal Star Trek, but in their own weird way. It was always so bizarre.
As a kid, it felt like you were getting away with something. The whole show felt like it was always on the verge of breaking out into a late-night Skinemax show, but it never did. It was just weird sci-fi."
Can confirm, it really was a weird show. Actually my online name, Jihana, was a side character in the show. I just had gotten internet and a friend was calling me and INSISTED that I downloaded ICQ. So I had to come up with a nickname on the spot. I've been Jihana ever since.
The Mighty Boosh
"I had never heard of this show in my life until about a month ago. Its a British comedy that ran from 2003 - 2007. I found the humor to be universal, not necessarily "British" which I sometime have a hard time understanding as an American.
It is an awesome mix of music, comedy, and genuine absurdity. I also think this show was a huge inspiration for later shows like "Flight of the Conchords".
Having just watched all 3 seasons, I can genuinely say it is one of the funniest, most original, and most creative shows I have ever seen.
It definitely has a very specific type of absurd humor that some people may not get, but I certainly did!!! There has to be other people like me out there so give this show a shot!"
Love "The Mighty Boosh"! I also recommend watching creators of "Boosh" (and a few other familiar faces) in the music video for "Blue Song" by Mint Royale, which inspired the movie "Baby Driver"...
Off The Air
"The show normally airs at around 3-4am which is known to be “the witching hour”. It is only fitting because some of the “disturbing” s**t they put in there could really give a dude nightmares. Dave firmly believes that TV shows really DO effect how people dream, and mentioned something about it giving people nightmares, especially the kids who fall asleep watching Cartoon Network. It sounds cruel when typing it here on reddit, but it’s all just to be funny, really. Not that kids remember most of their dreams, anyways. It’s also no secret Adult Swim will show bumpers that scare kids from watching late at night... and yes. The show is totally inspired by acid trips. Though I would not recommend watching while tripping...."
Monkey
"Monkey was my favourite show when I was a kid!
It’s funny that everyone always mistakenly remembers it being called “Monkey Magic”, but that’s just the theme song!"
Future Man
"This is one of the best Terminator/Back to the Future stories outside of those respective franchises. The characters are likeable, the budget is pretty damn good (besides some explosions), the story is solid, Wolfe is great and I won't ever forget about Jorge Santiago."
Man Seeking Woman
"I think the show is absolutely hilarious. I've laughed during these first few episodes like I haven't laughed in a long time. It's witty, surprising, but most of all it's just funny. Anyway, I got to thinking about all the times I've loved a show only to have it canceled on me so I decided to see what you guys/gals thought about it."
Too Many Cooks
"Just 11 minutes of pure surrealistic fever dream insanity. It first showed at like 2 am one night on adult swim."
Rabbits
"My friends and I are quite taken by Rabbits. A lot of the time, I feel that the goal of the fragmented narrative and the static viewpoint is to portray life the way a caged rabbit would see the scene. Completely still and unattached. As the viewer, we are unable to connect with any of the events of the series on a deeper level. Yes, we may chuckle when the laugh track comes on, but do we really know why? I suppose we probably cull some cathartic release from an apparently shared emotion, but the context of the laughing is lost on us, just as it would be to a rabbit hearing it in it's cage. Thematically, I think the film is meaning to say "You will never know all the answers". Of course, David Lynch prides himself on the mystique of his movies, but I feel that Rabbits, in particular, spits at the faces of anyone who tries to find a solid meaning in it."
The Prisoner
"It is one of the best shows of all times. Well, at least the first 10 or so episodes. Then it goes off the rails (there are behind the scene reasons for that). FYI: the pacing, acting and technical parts are all great. In a lot of ways, it was way ahead of its time.
Also, the reasons I love it so much - best intro of all times, the music is great, it's bright, happy and funny yet actual dark, and some episodes have wonderful plot twists."
Doom Patrol
RiggyTang said:
"There's an episode about a beard hunter who can find anyone in the world if he consumes their facial hair. And consuming facial hair usually gives him s**ual pleasure. It's fun!"
hidood5th replied:
"Doom Patrol is all the weird parts of superhero comics that no sane man would ever want to adapt and I'm eternally grateful that someone did."
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
InsubordinateMarvin said:
"Great actors intentionally playing bad actors."
SeriousInvite347 replied:
"One of the strangest comedies I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot of oddball comedies."
Richard Ayoade shows some great technical chops as an actor who is, operating on pure instinct, the worst actor in the world. You can tell he's put a lot of thought into exactly how to mistime every gesture. Like Dudley Moore or Les Dawson at the piano, you need a lot of skill before you can get it *that* wrong.
Goliath
"In season 2 the one bad guy has a fetish for people with one leg and they way they go about it is just so weird and creepy."
Season 1 was amazing. Season 2 was so awful, like wtf did I just watch.
Blood Drive
"Blood Drive was so much better than it had any right to be. Really wished it got a second season."
My main disappointment was they hardly showed the car being fed blood, yet it was called blood drive. Still enjoyed most of it.
Green Wing
"A British medical drama from the 2000s I think? Lots of familiar faces from earlier in their careers.
Why: It’s peak surrealism british humor, and though I enjoyed it, it was so weird at parts that it was almost hard to get through it because of the sheer WTFery. Total trip.
Warning: early 2000s humor hasn’t aged particularly well."
Xavier Renegade Angel
univoxs replied:
"I couldn't find the name of this show. This hands down is the strangest thing to ever air on tv. It's not even in that 'so strange it's good' category. it's just unwatchably disjointed and horrible looking."
Braindead
"It was pretty good. It has moments of brilliance, even.
The tone takes some getting used to. Because it's not like anything else. It's a satire with no jokes, and the actors are playing it straight, and the writers are trying to wink at the audience, but the production is like, very serious. And none of those disparate elements go together at all.
So it creates this weird sort of anti-tonal experience that is really pretty jarring for the first few episodes, until you get used to it."
The Midnight Gospel
"It sets actual podcast interviews between Trussell and various guests into fantastic adventures which is just the weirdest juxtaposition."
In The Night Garden
"UK kid's show was definitely created on some serious drugs. The Ninky-Nonk, Pinky-Ponk, Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka etc. It was a rough year when it was our daughter's fav show before bed. I still can't believe that the awesome Derek Jacobi actually narrated it."
Heat Vision And Jack
"Jack Black is a Astronaut on the run from NASA due to him getting superpowers that allow him to be the smartest man alive when the sun is out. Owen Wilson is his best friend who was turned into a motorcycle. Ron Silver plays Ron Silver NASA’s most deadly bounty hunter who is chasing them down. It was created and written by Dan Harmon with Ben Stiller directing however it wasn’t picked so we only have the pilot."
Danger 5
Redditor said:
"It's an Australian spy comedy set during World War II. Very surreal humor. It's one of my absolute favorites, but I've never seen anything quite like it."
bnralt replied:
"Also, the second season is completely different. The 1st season has a 60's aesthetic in a world loosely based on 1940's geopolitics, while the 2nd season has 80's aesthetics in a world loosely based on 1960's politics. Though I didn't enjoy the second season as much it still had some great moments."
The Shivering Truth
"Is a rather jarring claymation dark humour show running about the length of robot chicken for each episode. Just wonderful."
A Dark Quiet Death Episode In Mythic Quest
"Mythic Quest is a pretty mediocre sitcom about a video game company. It doesn't take itself too seriously.
This episode is wildly different, and the quality is so much higher than the show it feels like half the season budget was spend on it. It's basically a standalone romantic drama movie about a couple starting a company together, falling in love, and falling out of love.
Its set 20 years in the past and has none of the cast from the series. The only relation is that office building theyre both set in is the same, and it introducing a plot device that the building is cursed. Its pretty fantastic, I recommend anyone to see it regardless of your interest in the show."
Cop Rock
"I loved that show. It was absolutely bizarre. Sort of a musical version of Hill Street Blues (both Steven Bochco creations/productions.)
I remember after it got cancelled Bochco said, "Well, you never know what's going to succeed on television." Which is true, but maybe he could have guessed that this concept wouldn't..."
Peppermint Park
"Like that horrible sesame street rip-off that Chadtronic reacted to. And there was that one section of the show where Martin or whatever the f**k his name was sang about the letter 'M' the levitated off the set.
That was one of the moments that defined my sense of humor as an unsuspecting 8 year old."
Frisky Dingo
"Between the jokes, the creative plot that no one would be able to predict, the dialogue, the verbal ticks that each character has, it truly is a masterpiece of the old Adult Swim style comedy. I think my favorite part upon rewatch is how Killface has no problem maiming or murdering people at the drop of the hat but he's somehow still held to mundane boundaries like having his stuff repo'd or getting sued for giving his employee cancer."
Wonder Showzen
Redditor replied:
"It’s on archive.org, whole series!
I rewatched it last year it really is weirder than we all remember lol."
Be Somebody... Or Be Somebody's Fool!
"It's an afterschool special-type motivational video he released in the 80's. Cheesy as hell with a real "guidance counsellors rapping" vibe to it, but it's pretty fun. I get the impression Mr T wasn't really trying to make money, he just really wanted to pass on a few important life lessons to the kids."
Serial Experiments Lain
"Weird 90s anime about virtual reality stuff and humans creating God using the internet."
Jigsaw
"Jigsaw - Series aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 7 that combined elements of puzzle solving and entertainment. Presented by Adrian Hedley, Janet Ellis, Tommy Boyd, Wilf Lunn and... Noseybonk!"
Now Apocalypse
CyberBlueZ said:
"I wouldn't be able to describe it even if I wanted."
S1mon_B3ufont replied:
"Yeah I looked it up it looks bizarre and something I want to watch."
FLCL
"People praise it because it's quirky, surreal and funny, and it is, but the real greatness of the anime is the coming of age story. So relatable. Granted, all the quirky elements are, probably purposely, relatively easy to interpret as metaphors for growing up and stuff."
Tim And Eric Awesome Show
"They are funny but bizarre."
Almost Family
"It’s a heartwarming network prime time comedy about a fertility doctor who secretly and non consensually impregnated random women with his sperm for decades. The show focuses on the doctor and three of his children as the deal with the fall out after the doctor is arrested for the previously mentioned crimes. Tonally speaking, the show is a mishmash of various genres that don’t really mesh well together. Sometimes, it is a raunchy s** comedy."
Food Party
"Low budget, but the sets and puppets they made were insane. and the content was weird. (edit: but charming)."
Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil
"This show was just out there. Jason Mewes is a highlight of the show, but he plays a minor character. This show just went all in on the weirdness and out there plots. Basically the entire plot centers around the Book of Pure Evil and the hijinks a group of kids get into involving the book."
Jam
"It's a surreal, psychological horror series from 2000 that plays out like a sketch comedy, but with really unsettling subject matter and sound work."
Adapted from the original radio show Blue Jam by Chris Morris, satirical genius behind The Day Today, Brass Eye and Four Lions.
Cavemen
spinereader81 replied:
"Bad timing and the wrong tone (way too serious) killed that show. If it had come out at a time when weird TV was acceptable, like the mid to late 80's or early 60's, it could have been popular."
Terrible. A one-liner joke that should have died out, like cavemen. Didn't even finish watching one episode it was so bad.
Pretty Little Liars
"I'm enjoying it. It's certainly got the scares of the OG but darker still. Still got the strong female friendship bonds, and right now I feel like it's not suuuuuper shippy (though that could change as it goes on.) When it was first announced I was dubious thinking it was going to be just a follow-on from Ali, Spencer and the other girls, like our new core five would be their daughters with the copycat. It isn't. It's very much sins of the mother are coming back to haunt these girls, but we've not dug super deep yet."
how could you forget "Dead Like Me" really weird, but also really awesome and funny in the weirdest way
This might have been a useful article if a basic plot summary for each had been written instead of copy/pasting meaningless and useless opinions. Do better, BP, because you're just clogging your server with regurgitated garbage that serves no purpose.
Was gonna say something similar. Surprised it didn't get in the list.
Load More Replies...how could you forget "Dead Like Me" really weird, but also really awesome and funny in the weirdest way
This might have been a useful article if a basic plot summary for each had been written instead of copy/pasting meaningless and useless opinions. Do better, BP, because you're just clogging your server with regurgitated garbage that serves no purpose.
Was gonna say something similar. Surprised it didn't get in the list.
Load More Replies...