When a television series breaks from its standard format, it can usually be pretty polarizing. After weeks upon weeks of watching the same familiar themes, recognizable characters, and comfortable tone, viewers either respond with love or hate when those recognizable elements go out the window for an episode or two. But, to be honest, it can be good and oftentimes refreshing to see your favorite shows break form and try something new.
Breaking Bad
In an episode that many were quick to call the worst of the series, Breaking Bad’s third season featured a controversial episode titled “Fly.” Directed by Rian Johnson, who is surely no stranger to polarizing massive fandoms for presenting something different, the episode follows Walter White as he struggles to kill a fly that got into his lab. He refuses to do anything until the “contaminant,” as he calls it, is gone. It’s a tense episode from a tense season, and the episode is a nice study of Walter’s beginning descent into madness. In hindsight, it’s one of the best of the series.
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Stranger Things
Late during the highly-anticipated second season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, an episode titled “The Lost Sister” divided (and angered!) fans and resulted in the show’s lowest-rated episode so far. Led by visions, Eleven searches for an old friend and stumbles upon a gang of outcasts. Eleven’s friend helps strengthen her powers, which is important to the story, but beyond this, the episode is largely standalone. Because of this, it was criticized for interrupting the steadily growing tension building toward the season finale and not having anything to do with what was going on back in Hawkins, Indiana (the episode takes place in Chicago).
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Atlanta
In addition to being a writer, actor, director, musician, and stand-up comedian, it seems that Donald Glover also has the ability to pull off a few truly great format-breaking television episodes. As a writer and actor on Atlanta and 30 Rock and an actor on Community, Glover has been a part of multiple one-offs, almost all of which turned out really well. Atlanta’s “Teddy Perkins” and “B.A.N.” both received massive praise for breaking format.
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30 Rock
30 Rock’s live episodes and frequent reality show-spoofing one-offs received positive reviews upon airing. The show was largely a single-cam sitcom that maintained an incredibly dry sense of dark humor, but these goofy one-off episodes were always incredibly refreshing. It’s a satire of a sketch comedy show, so it only makes sense for the show to dip into the surreal every once in a while.
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Community
Community’s frequent format breaks were practically a part of the show’s DNA. Whether it was spoofing a popular movie, doing an homage to a cult television show, or honoring a filmmaker’s filmography, Community seemed to break form almost constantly. (Maybe Stranger Things should talk to him if they ever consider breaking form again?)
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Glow
For a show about a show about female wrestlers, it was inevitable they’d actually show the show-within-the-show sooner or later. This moment came during season two in an episode titled “The Good Twin.” Viewers and critics seemed generally pleased with the episode, which had some fun with a music video sequence, a dream sequence, and (of course) wrestling throughout its 30-minute runtime.
Watch now on Netflix.
Supernatural
Despite being on the air since 2005, CW’s Supernatural still finds a way to surprise viewers every now and then. In its 13th season, in an episode titled “ScoobyNatural,” Sam, Dean, and Castiel are transported into the animated world of Scooby Doo and the gang. It’s a fun idea, so it makes sense for it to be one of the highest-rated of the entire series (which currently sits somewhere around 300 episodes!).
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BoJack Horseman
It seems like it’s a lot easier for a cartoon to break the mold than a live action show. There are limitless possibilities when it comes to animation, whereas a live action show has to be limited by budget and, frankly, by reality. That’s why it’s so fun when a cartoon ends up doing something that live-action television has never done. BoJack Horseman’s season five episode “Free Churro” is a great example — apart from a single flashback at the beginning, the entire 30-minute episode consists of BoJack giving a eulogy at a funeral.
Watch now on Netflix.
The Simpsons
The same goes for a show like The Simpsons — after over 600 episodes, sometimes they need to break the mold to keep viewers interested. Season 25’s episode “Brick Like Me” is one strange instance of the mold being completely destroyed: instead of sticking to the show’s usual 2D animation, the entire episode is animated using LEGOs. It arrived at the same time as The LEGO Movie (with a great nod to this fact late in the episode), and both are a lot of fun because of their unique animation.
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Grey’s Anatomy
You wouldn’t really expect for a dramatic show about the ins and outs of a hospital to do one-offs — that didn’t stop Grey’s Anatomy from swinging for the fences, though. Season seven’s episode “Song Beneath the Song” is a musical, complete with singing surgeons and crooning comatose patients. It’s really surreal and (thankfully) never talked about again in the show’s history, but you have to give them credit for actually trying to do something never-before-seen from a hospital drama.
Purchase now on Amazon for $229.98.
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