TV Scenes That Were More Real Than You Thought

It's no secret that the production of a television show is quite strict. With a massive cast and crew that needs to be managed, and a hard deadline to meet a season premiere, they must adhere to a tight schedule that leaves as little to chance as possible.

However, TV show creators sometimes manage to deviate from the plan and inject some impromptu creativity into the filming of a scene. This can be the result of a sudden strike of inspiration on the part of the cast, the director, the writer or even the showrunner. But sometimes, this random detour away from the script comes about completely by accident. Whatever the cause, these unplanned flourishes lead to scenes that are far more real for those involved than what might have thought. Because of the added realism, these scenes tend to pack more of an emotional punch or a gut-busting laugh, and they become series highlights. Let's take a look at a handful of those scenes below.

Acclaimed horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan struck gold with this adaptation of Shirley Jackson's beloved novel "The Haunting of Hill House." Taking place over 10 episodes, this Netflix series follows Hugh and Olivia Crain as they move into the massive Hill House in 1992 with plans of flipping it while taking care of their five children. Though their stay was supposed to be temporary, unforeseen circumstances extend the family's time at the mansion, where they experience numerous bizarre and unexplainable events, culminating in a horrible event that continues to haunt them decades later.

One of the best elements of "The Haunting of Hill House" is its reliance on terror tactics rather than jump scares that are so typical in horror films and TV shows. Well, except for one particularly memorable scene in the eighth episode, when Nell's ghost suddenly appears in the car during Shirley and Theo's fight. Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly that it was one of the rare exceptions to his "no jump scares" rule, as he felt that it would be especially effective here. However, he went a step further by telling the actress who played Nell, Victoria Pedretti, to burst into the argument earlier than the script indicated, so that the reaction would be "completely genuine." As Flanagan recalled, "It also scared the s*** out of all of us at the monitor. All of us who knew it was coming were completely blindsided by it and every time I've seen it, I'm never prepared."

"Euphoria" tells the story of teenager Rue Bennett (Zendaya) and the challenges she faces getting her drug addiction under control, navigating the chaotic life of a high schooler and more. The show also follows the tumultuous lives of Rue's friends and family in the fictional town of East Highland, California, all of whom deal with a range of problems involving relationships, addiction, identity, and anything that might come along. As expected, the series doesn't shy away from mature subject material, which has garnered it considerable controversy and criticism. Obviously, the acts depicted in "Euphoria" are completely simulated, so let's not get too up in arms about it. Well, mostly simulated. 

The first episode of the series saw Rue get into a fight with her mother Leslie Bennett, played by Nika King. According to Zendaya, when speaking with Refinery29, the script didn't give many details about how the fight would transpire. As Zendaya recalled:

"It just said one line [of stage direction]: 'Rue and her mom have a fight,'" the actress said. "So I'm thinking, okay, I'll slam the door, or whatever, but this isn't what Sam [Levinson, show creator] had in mind. He wanted us to improv the scene. He said, 'I want you guys to go at one another's necks. Just go, as hard as you want to go. If she goes hard, you go harder.'" 

Zendaya further explained that, because of her generally calm nature, the fight scene was especially challenging for her and that it left her feeling ill.

"Breaking Bad" became a pop culture phenomenon with a massive influence on the zeitgeist. It spanned five seasons and spawned a spinoff ("Better Call Saul") and a movie ("El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie"). The main series saw Walter White, a brilliant chemistry teacher who, after learning he has advanced lung cancer and doesn't have long to live, becomes a meth dealer to ensure his family is financially cared for after his passing. Over the course of the series, the mild-mannered everyman becomes a ruthless crime lord, bringing on his former student Jesse Pinkman to assist him as they become even more entrenched in a life that can't possibly end well for anyone involved.

"Breaking Bad" has its share of shocks and surprises, but few scenes packed the emotional punch as when Walter watches Jane (Jesse's girlfriend, played by Krysten Ritter) die of a drug overdose. It's difficult to watch, but it was even more difficult for Cranston who, according to Variety, experienced a deeply personal vision while shooting the scene, which really sold his character's inner conflict. Cranston explained:

"I was whirling in my head all of these things — let her die, or no she's just a child...And a split second later her face lost all characteristics and any noticeable feature of a face. It just blended into nothingness. And out of that came the face of my real daughter choking to death."

And Cranston's genuine emotional pain resulted in an incredible performance.

"NCIS" follows a group of Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents who specialize in crimes committed in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. For most of the series, the team was overseen by Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). A consistently popular series since its release in 2003, "NCIS" is now entering its 21st season and has churned out spinoffs set in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawaii, and Sydney, Australia.

Being a military police procedural television series, "NCIS" generally dealt with serious subject matter. However, what set it apart from similarly-styled shows was its comparatively lighter tone, featuring plenty of humor among the heavy drama. One of the more hilarious elements was Gibbs' habit of smacking his agents in the head, a signature part of his character. However, according to Mark Harmon, it began as an improvised moment between him and actor Michael Weatherly, who played Senior Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo. 

Harmon told the now-defunct French publication Premiere (via CheatSheet) that Weatherly "was on a Navy ship and he was talking to a female petty officer. I think this was in year one, early. And he was doing what he does, which is sometimes stay on script and sometimes not. I just reached over and smacked him... It was an instinct. It wasn't thought, I didn't think about it, I just did it." According to Harmon, no one was prepared for that fateful slap, but everyone stayed in character, and one of Gibbs' trademarks was born.

Few shows have cultivated such a dedicated following as "Lost," which ran from 2004 to 2010. Blending elements of science fiction, adventure, mystery, and drama, the series explored the lives of a group of people whose plane crash landed on an island in the South Pacific Ocean and their quest to unravel the question of how and why they got there. The group must contend not only with the tensions growing between them but also with the otherworldly entities that populate the island. "Lost" was lauded for its unique mix of character-driven storylines and fantastical elements, as well as the intricate narrative techniques that gradually revealed important information to the audience in bits and pieces.

The hotly debated series finale featured a brutal fight scene between John Locke and Jack Shephard (played by Terry O'Quinn and Matthew Fox, respectively) that was shot on a seaside cliff. Because of the precarious location, extra precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the actors. Though a knife that was used in the fight was dulled down, it was still made of metal, which resulted in an accident that O'Quinn recounted to Vulture: 

"I plunged it into Matthew's side. Well, Matthew had a pad [under his shirt] that was probably about the size of your extended palm, where I'm supposed to stab him...I don't think I held my hand out to wait for the exchange because we were caught up in the action. So I stabbed him with a real knife."

Of course, it's hard for us to feel bad for Matthew Fox. 

"Parks and Recreation" may have come off as a bit of a rip-off of "The Office" during its first season, but it quickly developed its own voice and became one of the best sitcoms on TV at the time. Shot in a mockumentary style, the series followed the quirky parks department staff of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, and the zany antics they got involved with the even quirkier locals. Besides being an amazingly hilarious show with spot-on government satire and amusing antics, it also helped catapult the careers of several actors, including Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, and Chris Pratt.

It didn't take long for the show's creators to realize the stunning improvisational skills of Chris Pratt and put them to great use. In the episode "Flu Season," there's a hilarious moment when Leslie is feeling sick, and Andy Dwyer (Pratt) says the memorable line, "Hey Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here, and it says you could have network connectivity problems." 

Clever bit of writing? Not according to "Parks And Rec" co-creator Michael Schur, who told the A.V. Club that "it was completely improvised. He's just so in the moment, and all of those actor-y terms. He's so present and in the moment and fully fluent in his character that he can make up perfectly formulated jokes like that on the spot, and it's incredible. He's improved every episode he's ever been in." 

Does "Game of Thrones" really need that much of an intro? Based on George R. R. Martin's dense series of novels, this HBO fantasy drama follows nine powerful families battling one another for power over the fictional Westeros. It's filled to the brim with political intrigue, brutal, medieval violence, and gratuitous sex. Since its release in 2011, the series has been a major source of water cooler talk for the better part of a decade, delivering surprise after bloody surprise. While the show's final season was largely considered underwhelming, it did little to diminish the demand for more "Game of Thrones," with the prequel series "House of the Dragon" now unfolding on HBO and Max.

One of the series' standout sequences is the Battle of the Bastards, which saw Jon Snow (played by Kit Harrington) embroiled in a massive melee in Winterfell. Despite the controlled conditions of a film set, shooting the sequence was no walk in the park for Harrington, as he was genuinely frightened during it. He told Belfast Telegraph, "I've got a few fears, spiders being one of them, but the worst is my claustrophobia — I'm mortally afraid of crowds. I panic. It was one of the most terrifying things and most uncomfortable — 15 bearded Irishmen crushing you." However, he powered through his fear and used the moment to fuel the portrayal of his character. Harrington's refusal to let his phobia bring him down was the perfect inspiration to convey Jon Snow's dogged determination in that battle.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on this planet who hasn't gotten hooked on Netflix's hit series, "Stranger Things." Mostly set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the series centers around a group of young friends as they contend with otherworldly events and entities that have been popping up since a nearby science research facility opened up a gateway to another dimension. Since its release in 2016, fans instantly took to its nostalgic 1980s setting, evoking the works of Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, and David Lynch from that era.

While all of the dangers of "Stranger Things" are strictly in the realm of the supernatural, there were times when the dangers of its filming got a little down-to-Earth. For example, the season 3 scene when Heather Holloway gets sucked into an inter-dimensional abyss at the bottom of a bathtub filled with ice. According to actress Francesca Reale, in an interview with CinemaBlend, she revealed that she performend the harrowing scene herself in-camera, where she indicated that "doing the drowning was actually in a pool with a black bottom, which was terrifying for me because I hate any body of water that has a black bottom." The actress added, "And they had this amazing mechanism that attached to my foot, and whenever I was ready, I would go down underwater and the mechanism would tug me down." Still, she managed to keep her cool and give audiences one of the most thrilling scenes in the entire series.

Few sitcoms have delighted audiences more than "The Office." Based on the British series of the same name and shot in a mockumentary style, the American version looks at the day-to-day lives of the quirky employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While the series was a bit slow to appeal to audiences at first, by season 2, viewers were instantly taken by the sly Jim Halpert, the adorable Pam Beesly, and the conniving Dwight Schrute, among many others. However, it was Steve Carell's Michael Scott who truly stole the show with his obliviousness, social awkwardness, but ultimately good-natured, lovably idiocy, all of which have made him one of the most beloved TV characters of all time.

Oscar Nuñez, who played accountant Oscar Martinez, was also a key member of the cast, and because of his background in improv comedy as a member of the Los Angeles comedy troupe the Groundlings, he fit in perfectly with his fellow actors' impromptu shenanigans. However, there was one moment that Nuñez wasn't prepared for, which was when Carell unexpectedly kissed him during the season 3 episode "Gay Witch Hunt." Nuñez told the A.V. Club that Carell "wasn't supposed to kiss me, we were just supposed to hug, and he kept hugging me. And that particular take he came in really close, and I'm like, 'Where is he going with this?'...And then I'm just thinking, 'Oh God, nobody laugh so we can use it.' And they didn't, and it worked perfectly. It was a lot of fun."

If you watch closely, you can see some of the genuine reactions from the cast during the memorable scene.

"Archie" has been delighting young comic book readers for decades with their wholesome stories revolving around the lovable eponymous character and his charming cadre of high school buddies. But as is so often the case these days, it was only a matter of time before the world of Archie got a gritty reimagining in the CW series, "Riverdale." However, it was far from a gimmick, as the show's creators did a solid job blending cheesy teen drama with elements of horror, fantasy, mystery, and more, resulting in a series that has something for everyone.

As campy as "Riverdale" often was, it wasn't afraid to go to some surprisingly dark and intense places. One of the more suspenseful scenes was in the first season's finale, when Cheryl attempts to take her own life by drowning herself in a frozen over lake. She's ultimately rescued by her friends and resuscitated by Archie. Unfortunately, shooting the scene was quite painful for Archie actor KJ Apa, who told TVLine that it was "a gnarly day of shooting." Apa explained, "I wasn't really punching the ice, but I got a little bit too excited. I was punching a foam mat ... [that was] sitting on the ice. ... It was cold, so I didn't really feel it. It wasn't until 20 minutes after that I realized I broke my hand. I didn't tell anyone."

"Parks and Rec" already had an amazing cast to work with, but its frequent celebrity guest stars made the series even more spectacular, such as a scene-stealing appearance by comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, who appeared in the episode "Article Two." Oswalt played Garth Blundon, a Pawnee local whose mission is to stop Leslie Knope from updating the town charter by filibustering her with a passionate telling of his fanfiction vision for the return of "Star Wars" character, Boba Fett, which ultimately turns into a crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe full of rich nerdy details. 

As elaborate and detailed as that rant was, Oswalt confirmed to the Observer that it was completely made up on the spot, as the script gave him almost no lines to work with. According to the star, he was unexpectedly given a longer amount of time to improvise. Oswalt said, "They didn't yell cut so I didn't want to be unprofessional and stop, so the panic kind of locked in and I guess my response was to dump every bit of 'Star Wars' and pop culture trivia I have in my brain. That's like my equivalent of a squid emitting ink, I guess." Funnily enough, his prediction for the future of Boba Fett somewhat came true years later with the arrival of "The Book of Boba Fett" on Disney+.

Kevin Costner takes the center stage in this contemporary Western drama as the head of the Dutton family, which has owned the sprawling Montana property for several generations. On its surface, the show doesn't sound terribly entertaining, but its creator Taylor Sheridan has crafted a series that skillfully raises the stakes with no shortage of mystery, murder, intrigue, and more. While the first season struggled in finding its footing, all of the kinks were worked out by the second season, becoming a massive epic that's closer to something like "The Godfather" films.

In the series, Kelly Reilly plays Beth Dutton, the oldest daughter of Costner's John Dutton. The actress really had to prove her commitment to the role when a first season episode required her character to run straight into a pack of wolves — without the use of a stuntwoman or visual effects. That's right, in this key scene, it's actually Reilly herself running towards real wolves in that episode. When she, rightfully, talked to the production about her worries doing the stunt, she said they told her not to worry. Reilly recalled that they told her, "'We've got these invisible pieces of cord so if they do run at you, that will trip them.'" Luckily, filming the scene went just fine, but watch it, and tell us you wouldn't be afraid to do something like that.