10 Ridiculous TV Premises You Won't Believe Were Real

8. Mr Smith

Everyone is amused by orangutans, but based on their cinematic tastes, few are as enthusiastic about the ape as Hollywood. Fresh off the success of the Clint Eastwood co-starring Every Which Way But Loose, Manis the orangutan was back on our screens as Cha Cha.

The plot is nothing if not convoluted: a performing ape from a travelling circus is involved in a car accident. Fleeing the scene, it winds up at a laboratory, whereupon it consumes a vague mixture which gives it an IQ in the mid-200s. Not wishing to let its newfound intelligence go to waste, it takes a job as a political advisor (the ape has learned to talk, it should be noted).

Despite featuring one of the industry’s most notable primate performers, Mr Smith was not well liked. There were half hearted attempts at satire, but this didn’t go much beyond the very notion of an ape working in politics.

The show tanked in the ratings, and was savaged by critics, but Manis bounced back, with appearances in Cannonball Run II and Cheers. You can’t keep a good ape down, as the saying goes.