A great premise is not always enough to make a TV show into an all-time classic, or even a success. Many TV shows with great premises have awful executions, which undermine both the plot and the show. That said, this does not mean that it is a bad thing to be ambitious, as plenty of unlikely TV show premises have succeeded against the odds.
The best TV shows of all time do not always need a complicated setup. In fact, some of the best TV show concepts can be explained in a single sentence, even if the show gets more complex by the season. While some shows make drastic changes from their original plans, ones that perfectly execute their premises from start to finish often become beloved favorites.
Santa Clarita Diet
“A Suburban Realtor Becomes A Zombie”
The quirky zombie comedy Santa Clarita Diet had a very simple premise that blended a suburban sitcom with horror. When realtor Sheila gets a craving for human flesh, she and her family have to work around the uncomfortable truth that she has become a zombie. The premise blends typical suburban problems like career rivals and surly teenagers with gore, and it works.
Santa Clarita Diet does not make the mistake of being too complex. It is extremely well-paced, and Sheila’s plan to only eat Nazis while the family investigates the cause of her condition is easy to get behind. However, despite the show’s 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, Netflix’s cancellation left the show on a cliffhanger, and Santa Clarita Diet deserved so much better after three great seasons.
You
“A Creepy But Charming Stalker”
One of the best decisions from the makers of You was casting Penn Badgley as the terrifying stalker, Joe. Badgley is known for his charming romantic characters, like Easy A’s “Lobster” Todd. However, Gossip Girl showed us a glimpse of his potential to play a creepy character when he kept a groundbreaking secret while intently watching everyone around him.
You is about Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager, who stalks a patron before escalating to murder. The show centers on him as he moves about the world, choosing victims and stalking them, repeating the same pattern. Joe obsesses over many people in the show, yet each time involves different strategies, and the premise stays strong throughout all five seasons of You.
The Expanse
“A Realistic Space Mystery”
The Expanse is one of the most ambitious and exciting sci-fi TV shows of all time, centering on a mystery against the backdrop of an impending war between Earth and Mars. The core premise for the show was that no matter where humanity was in time and space, many of our current struggles would remain the same, and The Expanse illustrated that for six seasons.
Each season of The Expanse escalated the stakes, beginning with a comparatively small missing person case and ending with a battle for the future of humanity. As the original plan for the show set out, it remained extraordinarily scientifically accurate and was praised by professionals, including an astrophysicist who named The Expanse as his favorite TV show.
Sex And The City
“The Love Stories Of Four New York Women”
While a harsh reality of rewatching Sex and the City is that it has not aged well for a modern audience, it was groundbreaking for its 1990s setting. At the time, very few shows spoke candidly about sex from a woman’s perspective, and Sex and the City tackled topics that were considered taboo at the time, including casual sex and bisexuality.
That said, the premise for Sex and the City did not just refer to romance, with Carrie’s love for New York City and the women’s love for each other often eclipsing their romantic relationships. This was the thread running through the show from start to finish, and Sex and the City stayed true to this even when the characters were not true to each other.
The Sopranos
“A Mafia Boss Needs Therapy”
The Sopranos was a character-driven TV show, following the life of the mafia boss Tony Soprano and his family. While the plot was a slow burn, many Sopranos episodes are considered masterpieces even when very little happened. This is because the premise was centered on Tony Soprano and his mental state, with the show beginning as he entered therapy.
One thread tying the plot elements together was Tony’s therapy sessions with Dr. Melfi, while another was the question of nature and nurture. The Sopranos explored whether Tony was able to change, and while the infamously controversial ending was ambiguous, the show’s final episodes answered the question: therapy could not change Tony because he didn’t want to.
The Good Place
“What If Heaven Was Hell?”
On the surface, it may seem that The Good Place was a TV show that became successful after dropping its original premise, but this is not the case. The Good Place is centered on the idea that while the main characters believe they are in heaven, it turns out to be hell. Over the show’s four seasons, The Good Place keeps returning to the concept.
Most characters in The Good Place belong in a certain area of the afterlife, like heaven, hell, or another dimension. However, virtually all of them discover that their place is not what they believe it to be, with many pursuing a different path over the course of the show. Even as The Good Place got more bizarre, its original premise was the one constant.
Sense8
“Eight Strangers Discover They Are Psychically Connected”
The sci-fi genre can have an unfair reputation for being cold at times and more focused on the science than the characters. Sense8 is the antithesis of this, as human connection is at the heart of the show. Sense8 was made by The Matrix’s creators, and the premise is that eight strangers discover that they are psychically connected.
Throughout the show, even as the plot turns toward the threat facing the main characters, the theme of connection is at the center of it all. The characters can use their shared psyche to lend each other skills, which leads to some spectacular fight scenes, but this can also be as simple as each of them having the same song in their head.
Fleabag
“A Woman Confronts The Worst Thing She Ever Did”
Fleabag is about a self-destructive woman who spirals as she is forced to confront the worst thing that she has ever done in her life. The show’s twist is nothing short of genius, but perfectly fits the premise, drawing two plot threads together. We know that Fleabag is a sex addict, and her best friend ended her life after being cheated on.
The dark truth about Fleabag’s actions is the undercurrent for the entire show, and her running commentary to the audience is a signature part of the story. When the iconic “Hot Priest” arrives in season 2, this adds a new dimension to the story, and rather than changing the premise, it reinforces it until Fleabag doesn’t need us to watch anymore.
Breaking Bad
“Mr Chips Becomes Scarface”
Vince Gilligan famously described the premise for Breaking Bad by saying he wanted to “turn Mr. Chips into Scarface.” Over the course of the five seasons of Breaking Bad, the show does exactly that. Walter White’s journey from mild-mannered chemistry teacher to the terrifying meth lord known as Heisenberg is one of the best TV show transformations of all time.
While Walt’s journey is the main focus of Breaking Bad, his character development is a masterclass in writing. Many reviewers still debate at which point Heisenberg first appeared, and if there was anything left of the original Walt by the end. This ongoing fascination shows that Breaking Bad kept its premise strong, doing it justice from start to finish.
Money Heist
“A Perfectly Planned Bank Robbery”
Even some of the best TV heists have a habit of going wrong, which then informs the plot. However, this is rarely the case in Money Heist. The show is about a meticulously planned crime, in which the main characters seal the Spanish Royal Mint and start printing their own money, while the operation’s mastermind controls the situation from the outside.
Money Heist was created by Álex Pina, creator of Billionaire’s Bunker.