Summary
- Sometimes, confusing TV shows gain popularity due to their complexity, achieving cult status among select audiences.
- A series can spiral out of control due to implausible plotlines or intersecting narratives that fail to tie together.
- Viewers may lose interest in a show with confusing storytelling, leading to cancellation and missed redemption.
Often, it's the most complicated TV show that people act like they understand when, in reality, few audience members grasp what the show is about. For some television genres, like sci-fi and fantasy, this is expected as magic systems and the creation of new universes can quickly grow layered. However, in other cases, the series becomes impossible to follow for no reason. This could be due to the creators running out of plotlines and inventing implausible ones to keep the show running. Or, because there are so many intersecting narratives there's no clean way to tie them all together.
There are rare occasions when a series gains popularity merely because it's confusing, achieving cult status for the very reason that certain audiences avoid the show at all costs.
A plot isn't necessarily bad just because it's confusing, but if a show challenges the viewer in all the wrong ways, they might get bored with the series and stop watching. Sometimes, TV shows never recover from awful storylines, and they're canceled before they can redeem themselves or prove that the payoff of the complexity was going to be worth it. There are rare occasions when a series gains popularity merely because it's confusing, achieving cult status for the very reason that certain audiences avoid the show at all costs.
10 TV Shows With The Most Complex & Confusing Storylines
These 10 TV shows started off with interesting premises but ended up being criticized by audiences over their confusing and complicated storylines.
10 Lost (2004 - 2010)
A show that incorporates too many timelines & open-ended mysteries
Lost
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Lost is a mystery drama series created for TV that follows a group of survivors of a plane crash and tells its story between the past, present, and future via flashbacks. When Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crashes and lands on a mysterious island in the pacific ocean, the castaways discover their new temporary home may have a mind of its own, as strange supernatural events keep them locked to the island. From an unknown black smoke creature to dangerous islanders, the passengers must work together to survive the island's seemingly deadly intentions.
- Cast
- Evangeline Lilly , Naveen Andrews , Henry Ian Cusick , Daniel Dae Kim , Harold Perrineau , Dominic Monaghan , Emilie de Ravin , Jorge Garcia , Josh Holloway , Michael Emerson , Terry O'Quinn , Matthew Fox , Ken Leung , Elizabeth Mitchell , Yunjin Kim
- Release Date
- September 22, 2004
- Seasons
- 6
- Directors
- Jack Bender , Stephen Williams
Throughout the six-season run, there were several Lost moments that made viewers quit the show. Most of these scenes and storylines didn't serve the greater purpose and themes of the series but were an attempt to create an air of confusion and unreality. The show's first season set up a narrative with interconnecting threads that would slowly be revealed over time. However, it soon turned out that many of these hinted plots went nowhere and were included as misdirects from the biggest mystery, which was the island itself.
There were certain parts of Lost with good payoffs, like Desmond's arc and his knowledge of the future.
One of the biggest moments when Lost went off the rails was when time travel was introduced. This is remembered as the instance when Lost stopped being rooted in reality and made viewers question where the show was going to end up. There were certain parts of Lost with good payoffs, like Desmond's arc and his knowledge of the future. However, the Lost series finale incurs much debate among fans to this day about whether the characters were dead for the entire show, and how much of the story happened versus what occurred in limbo.
9 Twin Peaks (1990 - 2017)
David Lynch's masterpiece of supernatural surrealism
Twin Peaks
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Conceived by Mark Frost and David Lynch in 1990, Twin Peaks is a supernatural mystery-drama series that brings FBI Agent Dale Cooper to the quiet town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of a young woman named Laura Palmer. As Dale continues his investigation of her death, he learns that Laura's life wasn't as she advertised it, and the town itself is hiding far more secrets than they let on. The show received a revival for a third and final season two decades later to resolve the cliffhanger left at the end of the second season.
- Cast
- Russ Tamblyn , Sheryl Lee , Kimmy Robertson , Dana Ashbrook , Grace Zabriskie , Everett McGill , Ernie Hudson , Mädchen Amick , Ray Wise , Kyle MacLachlan
- Release Date
- May 23, 1990
- Seasons
- 3
- Writers
- David Lynch
- Directors
- Mark Frost
Few David Lynch projects can be taken at face value, and though Twin Peaks is full of twists and turns from beginning to end, it's one of Lynch's works that's the easiest to follow. Unlike any murder mystery ever seen on television, Twin Peaks intersperses the investigation with forays into other worlds and seemingly random locations that only make sense in the show’s final moments. Lynch makes the audience wait before any of the plots intersect and the answers start to come together.
Season 3 is set 25 years after the events of season 2, meaning there's an enormous gap in the story that's slowly filled in throughout the episodes. Additionally, watching the companion film, Fire Walk With Me, answers some questions, but ultimately leaves the audience even more confused than the season 2 finale did. Despite the search for Laura Palmer's killer being the thrust of the show, once the killer is found, it's only the beginning.