8 TV Shows That Aren't About What You Think
These TV show are not all that they seem to be on the surface.
TV has gotten increasingly more diverse over the last decade or so. It's not just sitcoms anymore, our TV screens and laptops are filled with some of the greatest stories ever committed to the medium.
Who can forget the thrilling character arc of Walter White or the striking visuals of True Detective? TV has never been better. We can, in part, thank streaming for this, as it has allowed TV to be diversified to the point where great sums of money have been put into even the most obscure shows.
Because all of this positive change, TV is now able to mislead the audience in ways that were just pipe dreams of creators in the past. There are so many ways creators are able to do this in the modern age of TV.
Perhaps the central plot line of a show is actually pushing the audience in the wrong direction, or hiding the thematic complexities of the plot. Maybe the marketing made audiences believe the show they were about to binge was about one thing, when, in reality, it was about another.
In the golden age of television, all of this is possible, and more.
8. Orange Is The New Black Is Not About Its Lead Character
Orange Is the New Black is one of Netflix's most popular original shows, and it's not hard to see why. The show combines strong acting with spot on writing and direction. It also has an excellent sense of humor, which helps to elevate some of the tension from the show's more dramatic moments - and there are many.
One of the show's greatest accomplishments has to be the expert marketing along with the pitching moves that series creator Jenji Kohan took to get the show made.
In order to get the show made, Kohan focused on lead Piper Chapman in the early seasons and the initial pitch. She would describe Chapman as a 'trojan horse', one that was used mask the series true narrative focus. The marketing worked in a similar way, lulling people in to believe that the show was primarily focused on Chapman.
And for the first few seasons, that wasn't entirely untrue. But this all changed as the show progressed. Later seasons shifted focus on characters from different backgrounds and boomed to cover a diverse array of identities. The true central focus of the show was revealed: to explore demographics that are not normally represented in TV.