TV/Film you didn't expect to like but did

[Benji]

For me the big one is probably Harry Potter. When it started getting really popular I was in the middle of my teens, and put it down to "stupid kids stuff", then I was dragged along to one of the films by two mates (Goblet of Fire, I think) and realised how great it actually was. Spoilers for a 10 year old film, ahoy!

Spoiler

Cedric Diggory's death really got to me, especially when his poor dad is crying over his body I was so disappointed to learn he wasn't in more of the franchise than he was.

 

[Jimmy]

There's probably so many for this. I thought Pitch Perfect was going to be pretty shit, avoided it for about three years, and then thought it was incredibly entertaining when I did get round to watching it. After being disappointed by the first Hunger Games, I thought I was likely to feel the same about the second film, instead of finding it one of the best blockbusters to have come out in the last couple of years. 

[Owen]

Comedy Bang Bang. I was bored and just picked a random show on Netflix. I had absolutely zero expectations and I'd never heard of the show, but I was pleasantly surprised and the show is pretty great.

[RPS]

The new Mad Max movie. I had heard chatter that it was actually really really good, but I just ignored it. People praised the story and all of that, but I wasn't sold on the word of mouth. Watched it last week and holy shit I loved it. The visuals of that movie were outstanding - there were just so many really great shots and sets in that movie. The story was good, but probably a bit over hyped. 

[Daniel Bryan]

I had written Hannibal (the TV show) off as another hacky cash-in on an existing property. Turned out to be something wholly unique and awesome.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Daniel Bryan

[LL!]

I echo Harry Potter. Ignored the movies until the first last one was being released in theaters. My friends pushed me to watch them all before before going to see the last one. I did and do not regret it. I loved them all.

Hunger Games was another one, except, it was a situation where I saw the first one and wasn't into it, but the second one I really got into. Then these last 2 were super lame. So I guess I'm changing my answer to The Hunger Games Catching Fire.

[TheWho87]

The only one that comes to mind to me has been Evil Dead, I am not a fan of horror films but recently started watching a few on the Horror Channel which really depends on what they are showing, anyway I saw either Evil Dead 2 or 3 in the listings and I recalled the name from a documentary about the rise of video nasties in the 80's and gave it a look thinking it was one of those typical gory horror films and got really into the comedy side of it.

[stokeriño]

As mentioned somewhere fairly recently, I thought that Fantastic Mr. Fox was going to be some diabolical bastardisation of Roald Dahl's book that I would therefore hate-hate-hate...but it's wonderful. Entirely different in tone and, of course, content for significant parts, but I could not resist its charm.

Also, to go faaaaaar back in time... the Star Wars franchise. Let's be clear: my prior exposure to Star Wars had been a brief glimpse (on someone's VHS copy) of some Ewok-heavy scene from Return of the Jedi, and my reaction was quite firmly "what the shit is this shit?" This was when I was maybe 9 or 10 and apparently thought I was too cool for this teddy bear forest fantasy nonsense, whilst being utterly obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog which is obviously fine and totally normal. Go figure.

Anyway, I didn't see a Star Wars film properly until their 1997 re-release (when I was 12), and for whatever reason I ended up being taken to see Empire Strikes Back at the cinema (why not New Hope? I dunno, ask my dad). Naturally, it was awesome, and gave me something new to be utterly obsessed about for the next few years.

[Lint]

While I haven't watched the rest, I found the first Hunger Games movie to be much more enjoyable then I expected.  I had put it on in the background once, just to serve as background stuff while I played Civ 5.  Wound up stopping the game and just watching the movie because I found it really good

[Hellraiser]

12 Monkeys. I remember watching a review by confusedmatthew in which he thrashed the movie and because I used to hold his opinions about movies in high regard I refused to watch it for a while. After listening to podcast in which the participants raved about the movie and because I've become a fan of Terry Gilliam movies in general I decided to give it a try and I ended up loving it.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Role Models and The Hangover are the two that come to mind immediately. I thought they'd be stupid as fuck, dismissed them for a long time, and then when I finally saw them I was like "hey, wait, these are actually pretty funny". 

[Your Mom]

Breaking Bad. This one was a really slow burn. I watched the first season as it aired and thought why am I even watching this? I don't like anyone. Then I pretty famously started watching it and talking about it here on the board. I came it from a different angle and now it's one of my favorite shows of all time

[Hellraiser]

Avatar: The Last Airbender. From the looks of the few minutes of the show I've seen I thought it was just an attempt by a western studio to profit off of the popularity of Anime by ripping off some of their more popular tropes. A stupid show for kids created not to tell a compelling story but simply to sell merch. I decided that I was too old for it and skipped it during it's entire run. It was a combination of a friend of mine being really into Korra (the sequel show) and trying to get me interested into the show as well as the Nostalgia Critic bringing it up very often in his reviews that made me finally watch it. And I loved it. Each episode. As well as the sequel show (although I admit that it had a lot of problems).

[LittleDaniel]

Jane the Virgin.  It's such a cute, clever show!  But it looked absolutely awful.

[Your Mom]

Just now, El-D said:

Jane the Virgin.  It's such a cute, clever show!  But it looked absolutely awful.

Oh it is good? Yeah I mean it looks really bad

[LittleDaniel]

2 minutes ago, Funny name or something... said:

Oh it is good? Yeah I mean it looks really bad

Oh yeah!  Its so good!  I mean, it took a few episodes for me to fall in love with everyone but its this great mix of wackiness, drama, down-to-earthitude, and in the end it just has so much fucking heart.  It's also self-aware, which justifies the utter campiness.  And it has the greatest narrator since Arrested Development.

LadyDaniel and I are totally binging on it right this second.  We only paused so she could go pee, and I saw this thread and had to share the love.

[Benjamin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Parks and Rec. After that god awful first season, I put off watching it any more for like 2 years, then because it was getting rave reviews I dived back in with 3 whole seasons to binge watch and fell in love. I'm sure no one else has this same experience but surely something similar? 

As for film, I didn't enjoy Frances Ha as much as I thought I did, so went into When We're Young and Mistress America with relatively low expectations,  but Noah Baumbach really killed it this year, both were amazing to me.

Also, Pacific Rim. I had no idea I was going to enjoy that as much as I did, it became one of my best movies of 2013.

[livid]

The Vampire Diaries. I gave it a chance because it was being well-received at The AV Club but didn't quite expect it to crack my Top 10/15 of the year on more than one occasion.

[Benjamin]

Oh, I'd include the Flash. I thought it might be good, I didn't expect it to be this good.

[Damian WayLNKe]

Started watching A Young Doctor's Notebook this week. I didn't know what to expect and remembered reading some underwhelming reviews, but I love it and I'm surprised by how much humor there is in it.