Sure the show has no substance but VIP does have quite a bit of style. Vibrant colours for both the sets and the designer clothes

Parker Lewis Can't Lose is another show with a very unique style.

I absolutely hate almost every sitcom I've ever seen, but there was just something radically different about Seinfeld...it's one of my favorite shows ever!

And if it's visual style we're talkin' here, then you can always identify a Silk Stalkings episode after watching for 2 seconds. Same deal as with VIP in terms of the bold colors.

I liked Parker Lewis too.

Ally McBeal of course has all that surrealism

Roundhouse was just a very interesting idea.

South Park
Beavis and Butthead
The Simpsons
hell, most cartoons

I'll add this again since it was lost in the switchback.
Twin Peaks was probably the most unique series on
broadcast televison and will probably continue to be
for the foreseeable future.

Twin Peaks for sure -- so great.

In terms on a new spin on the coming-of-age teen drama:
The Wonder Years
Freaks and Geeks (oh why oh why did NBC cancel you!!!)
My So-Called Life (oh why oh why did ABC cancel you!!!)

Parker Lewis Can't Lose was the best -- I remember it being up against the "Ferris Bueller" sitcom that was just soooo bad (they changed the location, changed lots of stuff, basically made a mockery of my favorite comedy film) and all the critics saying that it would not last - HA! Fox proved them wrong and helped start the Sunday night tradition of good sitcoms. Parker Lewis at 8:00, In Living Color at 8:30, Married With Children at 9:00 and some crap show that I always watched at 9:30 (this was before the Simpsons was on the air, and it was off the air before the Simpsons moved from Thursdays to Sundays).

I can't believe I forgot Dream On

I've gotta add that one to the mix! What a cool idea of showing his emotions with TV shows he remembered from his childhood.

CSI:Crime Scene Investigation has a unique visual trick of following a bullet into the body. The technique was used in the film Three Kings.

Will & Grace. Nothing else sucks quite like it.

[Repost - due to new forum disappearing]

I think Angel qualifies. With funky glimpses of the future inbetween scene changed. Plus the title music is a fantastic violin/rock drumming combo.

Dramas: I can't believe no one has mentioned The X-Files so far! I would also add La Femme Nikita, which veered from soap opera in Section One, to cheesy action sequences in the field, and then back to section again. If you go further back, what about MTV cops, i.e. Miami Vice. (Nash Bridges also has some interesting stylistic traits, but I don't think I'd go so far as to call it unique.) NYPD Blue introduced the "shaky-cam" to the mass audience. The first season was definitely unique.

Sitcoms: Malcolm in the Middle busted the sitcom out of the multi-camera, filmed before a live studio audience + laugh track approach. I admit I never saw Sports Night, although I heard it too dispensed with the laugh track. I find sitcoms to have much more homogeneity than dramas, for the most part, so it's hard for me to think of unique ones. Oh, except for all the ones NBC tried to cram down viewers throats in the :30s on Thursday night between Friends, Seinfeld, and ER - they were unique in how sucky they were, for having such a great timeslot.

I though Larry Sanders show preceded it? I'm sure there were other too, e.g. The Simpsons.

I like CSI's technique as well. The episode where they poured rubber into stab wounds which hardened to the shape of the knife used, was very cool!

the man show is pretty unique. i can't say that i know of any other show that has lots of beautiful women jumping up and down on trampolines.

Most X-Files episodes have the same incredible feel, one of the reasons I love the series.

Not that it matters, but I think All In The Family was the first 3-camera direct-to-video sitcom -- until then, they were all much less studio-looking...

TWIN PEAKS - incredibe atmosphere, it felt more like a feature film than a TV show.

Northern Exposure - some of the most memorable characters since Twin Peaks and it came right on time after Twin Peaks went off the air.

Miami Vice - laugh but it WAS the most influential show in the 80's and the show still holds up well since things haven't really changed since then. Great production, cinematography, editing, and great choices for music.

The Simpsons - for its sheer lunacy and spot on social/political satire.

There may very well be others that preceded it...but Malcolm's success has spawned imitators and lead to format changes in ways that neither Larry Sanders or The Simpsons did. I can't really comment on older shows like All in the Family - I haven't seen many TV programs over 15 years old. However, my comments about Malcolm weren't meant to imply Malcolm was the first to use this style, only to suggest that Malcolm is a stylistic contribution because it has shown that there is an audience today for a show style that wasn't on the primetime network schedules for a significant while before it debuted. Maybe it's rediscovering the wheel - but I like it, and it's fresh to me.

Too bad the writing hasn't kept up the same standard :)

Actually, I have to confess that the show seems to overuse the heavy shadows the last few years. I remember it being more organic (and plausible) earlier in the show's run...now it seems like there has to be poor lighting everywhere, from office buildings to hospitals. It works better when the show doesn't overrely on the style, and sticks to using it in appropriate places and times like in dark warehouses and at night.

I love it too. Specially the Mom. A Sexy old lady! Who'd have thunk it, eh? and strangely, the talking to camera by Frankie Muniz hasn't gotten annoying like I expected it to!?

"Grounded for Life": every episode is told in flashback.