10 TV Shows That Actually Benefited From Bad Acting

Throughout the mid-2000s, Prison Break was one of the most talked about TV shows on the planet, a deliciously ridiculous, fiendishly addictive prison drama about a man, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), attempting to break his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), out of prison before he's executed for a crime he didn't commit.

While there are a number of genuinely strong performances on the show - namely William Fichtner, Peter Stormare, Robert Knepper, and Wade Williams - the two leading roles are played by Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell with a stoic reserve bordering on self-parody.

Despite the immense turmoil the brothers experience throughout, Miller and Purcell both underplay their parts to the point that it's easy to call them cardboard.

By any measure their work renders the show's two most important characters weirdly boring at times, and much like fellow prison show Orange Is the New Black, the wider ensemble cast ended up surpassing them in popularity.

Yet there is something to be said for their blank slate acting technique: for starters, it provides an entertaining contrast to the bigger performances of their fellow prisoners, and also feels rather in step with the show's shamelessly trashy vibe.

A little more emoting wouldn't have hurt either actor, but hearing Miller unveil the next step of his wildly convoluted plan with a steely dramatic whisper was nothing if not highly amusing.