Top Ten Strangest Television Shows

Television has never been shy about risk-taking, sometimes providing big weirdo hits that strike gold, and other times presenting viewers with shows so strange and shock factor-centric that your finger doesn’t know whether to change the channel or stay put to watch the fire burn.  Though most of these shows lose sight of their original goal and result as fodder for a quick laugh, they nonetheless deserve credit for aiming for new heights, even if going about it in a way that makes “The Twilight Zone” look tame.

1. Carnivale

Blend together carnie fantasy with the style and vibe of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and you have the oddball product of “Carnivale.” The show, which managed to receive a respectable amount of critical acclaim, did not go over quite as well with viewing audiences: By its second season, it had lost enough of its initially record-breaking viewership to result in a cancelation from the HBO gods. The premium network has a reputation for producing out-of-left-field TV shows, and mostly scoring big with them, but many are still left scratching their heads when looking at this strange show about a preacher and a clairvoyant who join a traveling carnival troupe.

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2. Armed and Famous

What do you get when you bring together the son of a music legend, an irrelevant Jackson sibling, and a member of the “Jackass” crew with the intention of training them as law enforcement officers? One awful, bizarre television show. Jack Osbourne and Latoya Jackson interacting with police officers and the “common criminal” momentarily made for some entertaining television, but the gimmicky premise of the show proved to be a tad ridiculous for the show to have any lasting impact on audiences.

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3. Bridalplasty

Imagine “Survivor” with obsessive brides vying for a full-blown makeover, and you have the basic premise of “Bridalplasty.” It sounds innocent enough, but putting together stressed-out, materialistic brides in a competitive setting for a plastic surgery makeover all but begs for a television disaster.

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4. American Horror Story

A television sleeper-hit for FX, the show’s weirdness stems from a combination of creepy characters and imagery capable of making your head spin. Most strikingly, the show somehow managed to make full-body rubber suits that much more cringe-worthy of a concept.

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5. Lost

The wildly successful ABC television series may have left viewers with a sour taste in their mouths following its series finale, but that doesn’t change the fact that “Lost” managed to take a relatively simple and run-of-the-mill show concept and turn it into a demonstration of everything that could possibly be filed under the word “aloof” in the dictionary. Smoke monsters, healing powers, ghosts – this show had no qualms delving into the farfetched realm of fantasy.

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6. The X-Files

A cult classic, audiences ate-up the ambitious science fiction take on FBI agent drama, which tackled bigger concepts and debates like the existence of extraterrestrial life, common conspiracy theories, and the existence of supernatural forces.

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7. Boy Meets Boy

This “The Bachelor”-inspired reality show brought together a slew of gay men vying for the love of their life. Perhaps the show would have been more charming than strange if its contestants had, you know, actually been gay.

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8. Twin Peaks

One part surrealist comedy, one part horror, and one part melodramatic soap opera, “Twin Peaks” dissected the innards of small town life by placing FBI agents into a town loaded with odd characters following the mysterious murder of a teenage girl.

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9. Man vs. Beast

The game show is just what it sounds like: A completely absurd show pitting humans against animals, boasting a runner racing against a giraffe and 44 dwarfs competing with an elephant to pull an airplane.

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10. Virgin Territory

Making Hester Prynne look like a saint, this reality show had intended to place virgin women on an island to compete against each other to win the alluring prize of sex with a porn star. Oh so sadly, this show never made it to the airwaves.

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Author Bio:

This article was written on behalf of Connectyourhome.com, an online retailer of a variety of home services including satellite TV, cable TV, phone service, ID protection, and much more! Find the best cable providers and home phone service providers by visiting connectyourhome.com. Don’t forget to check out the new Dish Hopper!