Top 10 TV Shows That Switched Genres

#10: “Felicity” (1998-2002)

For most of its four-season run, “Felicity” was a college drama grounded in reality… or at least as realistic as a WB show is expected to be. While a Season 3 episode touched upon sci-fi with a “Twilight Zone” homage, Season 4 dived into pure fantasy as a spell sends the titular character back in time to the start of her senior year. This gives Felicity another chance to choose between Noel and Ben, but her actions naturally have unforeseen consequences. This storyline isn’t merely contained to a “what if” episode. The last several episodes revolve around time travel. Although it’s suggested this might’ve been a dream, several signs seemingly canonize an alternate reality. Not quite as jarring as Felicity’s haircut, but it came close.

#9: “BoJack Horseman” (2014-20)

This animated series begins as an absurd satire about a washed-up sitcom actor who just so happens to be a horse. While the show never entirely abandons its comedy roots, the penultimate episode of Season 1 takes a sharp turn into psychological drama as BoJack contemplates whether or not he’s a good person. Throughout the following five seasons, we find that he isn’t. Yes, BoJack has his sympathetic moments, but he’s also the kind of man/horse who’ll groom the underage daughter of a woman he claims to love… and that’s not even his absolute worst offense! Although BoJack’s life seems like a comedy, it’s truly a tragedy that slowly but surely catches up to him, along with the consequences of his actions.

#8: “Twin Peaks” (1990-91; 2017)

“Twin Peaks” was ahead of its time in more ways than one. David Lynch brought a cinematic eye when this was still uncommon for network TV, but it’s in the storytelling where “Twin Peaks” truly broke new ground. The series starts as a small-town mystery revolving around the murder of Laura Palmer. Although it has a quirky edge from the get-go, the third episode marks the first major shift into surrealism as Agent Dale Cooper enters the Red Room. From there, the show became increasingly supernatural and more complex than audiences initially anticipated. This might’ve been one of the reasons “Twin Peaks” was prematurely cancelled, but it also gained the show a cult following that would lead to a revival.

#7: “Community” (2009-14; 2015)

At first, this sitcom might seem like a throwback to '80s comedies. The pilot is even dedicated to John Hughes. As “Community” unfolds, it becomes clear that this isn’t exclusively a send-up of high school and college comedies. It’s a satire of virtually every subgenre, from spaghetti Westerns, to conspiracy thrillers, to zombie outbreaks. It also branched out to different formats, such as documentaries and animation. The show didn’t just change its premise with the community college backdrop becoming an afterthought. It pretty much changed genres on a weekly basis, yet maintained the show’s signature wit throughout. While always a comedy at its core, to call “Community” a genre-bending show would be an understatement. It twisted genres into balloon animals.

#6: “The Curse” (2023-)

Combining Nathan Fielder’s cringe comedy with Benny Safdie’s paranoid tension, “The Curse” carries an uneasy sentiment from the first episode when a young girl says she curses a TV host. This gets inside the character’s head, making him contemplate whether or not he is cursed as misfortune befalls him and his wife. The show keeps the audience guessing as well, although it never veers from reality… until the season’s last episode. Up until this point, you can chalk up everything that’s happened to the characters as bad luck, bad karma, or simply their own ignorance. The curse gets real, though, as the protagonist literally floats off the floor into the sky. It goes all in on the supernatural and never looks back (or down).

#5: “Baywatch Nights” (1995-97)

This spinoff initially centered on Garner Ellerbee starting his own detective agency, receiving help from Mitch Buchannon and company. The crime drama angle was already a deviation from the original “Baywatch,” but “Baywatch Nights” took an even sharper turn with its second season. With ratings floundering, the showrunners made a few tweaks. Ellerbee was no longer part of the main cast… and it was now a paranormal investigation series like “The X-Files.” It’s not a parody of a show desperately trying to stay afloat. It’s the definition of one. While this franchise was never meant to be taken that seriously, we’re still having a hard time wrapping our brains around the fact sea monsters, vampires, and demons are all officially part of the “Baywatch” lore.

#4: “Family Matters” (1989-98)

Harriette and Carl Winslow appeared on “Perfect Strangers” before taking center stage in the spinoff “Family Matters.” Ironically, by the end of the first season, the family didn’t matter much. The only one who truly mattered was Steve Urkel, who appeared several episodes in as an intended one-off guest star. Jaleel White was so scene-stealing that the series began to center on Urkel and his inventions. It went from a family-centric sitcom to a sci-fi comedy with Urkel building a transformation chamber, a teleportation device, and a time machine. The series was cancelled before the team could move forward with a planned tenth season. After sending Urkel to space in what wound up being the series finale, though, was there anywhere else to go?

#3: “M*A*S*H” (1972-83)

Richard Hooker’s novel provided the basis for Robert Altman’s 1970 movie centered on a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The Oscar-winning film was a black comedy. The TV series, which premiered two years later, maintained that comedic edge. With war being such a serious subject, though, perhaps it was inevitable that “M*A*S*H” evolved into a more dramatic, at times tragic show. The series wasn’t the same after the Season 3 finale, when Radar dropped the bombshell that Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. With the cost of war hitting the characters and audience like never before, “M*A*S*H” took its most significant step from sitcom to dramedy with emphasis on the drama.

#2: “Dark Shadows” (1966-71)

Although “Dark Shadows” always had a Gothic ambiance, it more or less blended in with other daytime soap operas at the time, struggling in the ratings. After roughly ten months, the writers injected a little more bite into the setup with the arrival of Barnabas Collins, a 175-year-old vampire. The show had introduced supernatural horror, opening the door for witches, werewolves, and other creatures. They even worked time travel into the equation. It sounds like a shark-jumping moment, but the switch worked, going from TV’s lowest-rated soap to ABC’s most-watched daytime show. It wouldn’t be the last soap opera to take this approach, as “Port Charles” somehow went from a medical drama spinoff to steamy vampire romance. Yes, vampires exist in the “General Hospital” universe.”

#1: “Doctor Who” (1963-89; 2005-)

“Doctor Who” has gone through many changes. When we say that, we’re referring to both the titular Doctor and the show’s tone. Certain elements have been present since the beginning, like the TARDIS. Yet, the series in its infancy is almost unrecognizable now for a variety of reasons. For starters, “Doctor Who” started as an educational program aimed at families. The TARDIS was used to travel through time, but the goal was to provide fun history lessons. There was also room for real science interspersed with science fiction. With the creation of beings like Daleks, “Doctor Who” drifted further away from its educational purposes. While sci-fi has been a constant, the franchise has experimented with an array of genres throughout its more than 60-year history.

Can you think of any other shows that changed genres? Let us know in the comments.