11 of the most out-there TV shows that we can't quite believe got commissioned

When it comes to reality TV shows, you often expect a weird one to crop up every now and then as you have to do something different to stand out.

But scripted shows can be just as weird when they want to be, taking well-established genres like a cop show or a sitcom and altering them with a quirky twist. Some work, some don't, but we wanted to celebrate 11 of the most out-there concepts that we can't believe got made.

1. Mr Smith

Funnily enough, this sitcom about a talking orangutan who becomes a political advisor only lasted for 13 episodes before being cancelled. Not quite in the league of fellow talking-animal sitcom Mister Ed, which ran for six seasons and almost 150 episodes.

2. The Flying Nun

This ABC sitcom does what it says on the tin, as it's set at a convent in Puerto Rico where one of the nuns (played by Sally Field) can fly, due to the fact that she weighs under 90 pounds and has a cornette that can catch the wind. It ran for three seasons and over 80 episodes.

3. My Mother the Car

In fairness, anyone involved in this show should have realised that it would have gone on to be generally considered one of the worst shows ever made. An attorney buys a second-hand car, only to realise it's his dead mother reincarnated and she can talk to him through the radio. One episode saw her get drunk on antifreeze. Yes, really.

4. The Mighty Boosh

We're definitely glad that the BBC took a chance with Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding's surreal musical comedy, but we'd have loved to see how they managed to pitch the show and all its quirkier elements, including a talking gorilla, songs about soup and Old Gregg the merman drinking Baileys from a shoe.

5. Cop Rock

With songs such as 'He's Guilty', 'I'

m Not Racist, But...' and 'Let's Be Careful Out There', we've no idea how this musical cop show wasn't a bigger hit. Alas, ABC cancelled it after 11 episodes in 1990, which was clearly the year for weird cop shows as it was when Poochinski – about a dead detective who's reincarnated as a bulldog – tried and failed to get a series.

6. Bosom Buddies

Oh Tom Hanks, what were you thinking? Airing for two seasons, this sitcom starred Hanks and Peter Scolari as two men who disguise themselves as women in order to live at the female-only Susan B Anthony Hotel. In the second season, their disguises were rumbled, but they carried on living at the hotel anyway, so really, what was the point? Trying to recapture the giddy Some Like It Hot spirit, we guess.

7. Oh My Ghost

This Korean romantic drama follows Na Bong-sun, who can see ghosts and one day gets possessed by a virgin ghost called Shin Soon-ae who, naturally, wants to use Bong-sun to seduce men and lose her virginity, thinking that is the only way she can move on.

8. Manimal

This effort fits as both another cop show with a twist and a weird animal one. In order to help the police solve crimes, Dr Jonathan Chase is able to turn himself into any animal he chooses, including a hawk, black panther, horse or dolphin. Sometimes he didn't even need to transform into the animal to gain their abilities, such as a snake's speedy attacks, because he was THAT good.

Every episode featured a cutaway to the same special effect where his hand went all bumpy immediately before transformation.

9. Rabbits

We'd expect nothing less from David Lynch. His web series is a nine-episode sitcom (in so much as Lynch does comedy) about three human-sized rabbits, played by Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring and Scott Coffey, who "live with a fearful mystery".

To add to the weirdness, a studio laugh track appears every now and then, with the 'audience' cheering whenever a rabbit enters the room.

10. Heil Honey, I'm Home

We've mentioned this loads of times, but it's because we still have no idea how this sitcom about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun living next to a Jewish couple EVER got made, let alone have its pilot air on television, albeit a short-lived satellite channel.

11. Wilfred

The only show on this list to actually get made twice, this Australian sitcom was just your typical story of a girl, her boyfriend and her pet dog Wilfred who appears as a 

human in a dog costume. Jason Gann reprised his role as the dog in the US remake alongside Elijah Wood, which ended up lasting longer than the original version with four seasons.