I miss when shows could just grow in the first season or two, and then you'd only get raising stakes two or three times a year (season finale/premier and sweeps). Otherwise they're just stories.
These days shows have to justify themselves right out of the gate.
These days shows have to justify themselves right out of the gate.
I miss mid-budget live action scifi shows with strong enough episodic elements that I can actually remember individual episodes. These days seemingly every show feels like an 8-12 movie that blurs together.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds is the closest current thing to an exception. Before that The Orville.
Most other scifi that comes out has to be an "event".
The Orville had that in the first season or so, after that it went heavy into serialization. I dont think I even finished whatever the last season was because of it.
The most infamous example of this is Supernatural where the first few seasons were very episodic and exactly what you described. Then, after season 5 it keep escalating until dudes are fighting off the end of the world for the 6th time lmao
Just finished season 3 of Yellowjackets and White Lotus and I just felt, meh. I'm hopeful for season 4 of both shows but I'll be living off the honeymoon phase from seasons 1 and 2.
I didn't even watch GoT long enough to see Emilia Clark in the buff. But, then, I'd read the first two books and absolutely loathed them, and didn't find the TV series improved the story much.
I liked the first season of Lost, but the second felt like the writers were like, "oh shit... we got a second season? Shitshitshit..." Like they were just making it up as they went, and the writing and plot was just... bad.
I didn't watch BCS because I didn't like
Breaking Bad. I mean, I like scenes from BB, but the show itself suffered (for me) from this tendency in the past decade to base entire shows on tense anxiety. Boardwalk Empires was another that used this mechanism, as did
Peaky Blinders. Great writing. Great acting. But it's just constant tension, and it's simply not fun.
It's like directors got ahold of this one technique and just beat it into every fucking show in the past decade. It's tired, overused, and you'll notice it's a common trait of many of the shows you and agree on. You have to have tension, but I didn't need every god damned minute to be wondering if someone's going to get their throat graphically slashed with a straight-edge.
Oh man! You just put to words why I couldn't stand Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire.
I watched the first simply because a lot of people love it, and I try to watch everything that seems worth seeing. The second I saw some clips from that I really liked, but then I just didn't stick with the actual show.
In both cases, the series left me on constant edge, in a really bad way.
Now I realize that I kept waiting for the shows to grant me some kind of catharsis, but it just never happened. Or it happened rarely and in ways that quickly gets brushed away as inconsequential.
this tendency in the past decade to base entire shows on tense anxiety.
Yup. I call it the "drama of paranoia," and it's exhausting after a while. It also gives you a veneer of "prestige" without having to make characters I give a shit about or plots that fit together at all. As a good example of a show that realized this, Mad Men always struggled with a certain early-season plotline until they finally just ripped off the band-aid and said,
::: spoiler spoiler
the "real" Don Draper's widow handwaves something out with our boy Dick, and literally nobody else gives a shit.
:::
What worked about that show had nothing to do with "ONE BIG SECRET."
Lost was the tv version of clickbait. 3 concurrent story lines rotated from week to week. Every episode a cliffhanger that you had to wait 2 more weeks to resolve into a nothing burger. Even watching that shit on disc or streaming is annoying as fuck. I might have liked what was going on story wise, but I got too annoyed with the format to get past mid season 2.
Yeah. Lost was when I was intrugued by J J abrams style, and then completely turned off by his inability to tell a story or have a plan beyond the halfway point.
And then they involved him in seemingly every major movie franchise ever for the next two decades.. and he kept doing the same crap. Lots of flash and dazzle and dramatic moments that ultimately mean nothing because the characters have no story to tell, no real arc, no consistent rules creating a believable universe for the watcher to be sucked in to - any rules can be thrown out the window anytime a dramatic cliche opportunity arises. Yet he still seems very popular.
Lost went on far too long and they backed themselves into a corner by saying that the big secret was what nobody had guessed, but this was right around the Internet getting popular to talk about tv shows, so everything good had already been suggested. If it had been me, I would have just picked the best one and gone with that...
There is a recut of it, still available via torrent, called Chronologically LOST. It is every scene, but in chronological order, and only once each. Really cool way to see the show and make sense of it.
I love Scrubs and IT Crowd, but Friends also. I don't, however, like Frasier. People seem to fall into either the Friends or Frasier camp, and never the twain shall meet.
Fair enough. I find Friends to be incredibly unfunny and can't stand sitting through a single episode. Frasier, on the other hand, I find to be pretty entertaining (until Niles and Daphne get together, then the wheels start falling off).
There are quite a few edited 'Friends without the laugh track' videos on YouTube showing how creepy and unfunny some of the characters are. Its a bit of a meme theres so many of them.
Walking dead is the king of spreading 4 episodes of content across 12 episodes. You could watch the season opener, the 2 episodes that close the first half and start the second if each season, and the finale, and not miss anything of substance.
You've seen the best. I stopped somewhere in the middle of S3 because it was so bad. S1 was tolerable but honestly only the pilot was good. Kids watched all of it so I've got an idea how it went on; like a bad and cheap soap opera
Yellowstone. With shows like The Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy you know the characters are evil, but you can connect just enough for it to be compelling.
In Yellowstone it feels like they want you to see the characters as the heros, when they are mass-murdering, slave-owning oligarchs. They buy cops and politicians to gain power, but get bent on revenge if other powers don't "play by the rules". I didn't last too long, but everyone else seems to love it.
I watched it for a while, but it just got stupider and stupider with every season. It's a very American show, and it feels like conservative pandering much of the time (even though the show runner isn't a conservative from what I hear).
It's a soap opera and if you treat it for what it is It's quite fun! People who never watched soap set expectations too high and expected real plot and depth of a real TV show which it never set out to do.
Rick & Morty. Then the whole szechuan sauce thing happened and I can't look at any content from that show without cringing. LOOK GUYS IM PICKLE RI-stop please it's not funny.
The "community" is insufferable, but the show is solid. You might like Solar Opposites. The wall substory is amazing. Really good voice actors, can feel the tension and emotions in the voices
Is there even still any Rick and morty fans left in the wild? After the whole case against one of the voice actors I never see them around too much anymore.
Yeah, it's funny because of how terrible everyone is. I'm laughing because it's outrageous, not because the characters are going through relatable hijinks.
Justin Roiland wasn't just the voice actor for Rick, Morty, and various other roles, he was the co-creator, writer, and executive producer of the show alongside Dan Harmon. The whole thing is very much Roiland's baby, and even after it came out that he's an abuser and predator and the show fired him it continues to be his celebrated legacy.
There’s a few shows where the fan base have made it so insufferable that I don’t want to even watch the show . But Rick and Morty are King in this category, the worst fans
I initially found that show a bit interesting, but I found myself feeling more and more cringey about what the show was churning out. I outgrew the whole thing just as the sauce thing was happening
It later became well known what an actual piece of shit Justin Roiland is, and I felt pretty glad not to have been stuck in that fandom still feeling like his work was of any importance to me.
I liked up to the end of the season with the time travel where they all jumped to different times a few years apart. Think it was season 2. After that, i just didn't feel the show was coherent or interesting.
Umbrella Academy was a hate watch for me. I loved the experience of watching it with my sister, even though I absolutely detested the show itself. Every single one of the characters is just the worst fucking person with zero redeeming qualities, and they somehow just get worse as the show goes on.
I made it one episode. Extremely well done show about a tragically terrible flaw of American society that frustrates me daily. Didn't need a reminder of how terrible things are.
I gave up on it once, and then continued at a later date. I felt that the mid seasons were a bit of a grind, but the last season goes up to 11 with an extremely satisfying ending.
Game of Thrones. To me it just came across as torture porn. Just a series of awful things happening to people from one scene to the next. The schtick about different kingdoms and families vying for the throne or whatever was just the backdrop and context to rape, abuse and murder, which was the star of the show.
I love fantasy but that show didn't do it for me in the slightest. Not interested in checking out any of that guy's books either.
Noped out after season 1. They revealed his face during a filler episode, during a boring scene, instead of waiting an episode or two longer for the real gut punch reveal at the end of the last episode.
It was stupid. It killed what would have been one of the best face reveals in cinema history. I had no patience for the show after that. Almost didn't bother finishing the rest of the season. I don't really care what their reasons were. Contractual. Whatever. Don't care.
Most of the popular ones. Especially Game of Thrones. As soon as the incestuous couple threw the little boy off the tower, I was outta there. I'm so tired of shows about horrible people doing horrible things.
Game of Thrones - I'm not good with seeing sexual violence and it felt like it was happening every five minutes.
My Dress up Darling - I understand why people would like it, but I don't understand why it was so huge. But I'm getting old.
Beastars - my friend and I watched it in one day and it just didn't do anything for us. I found most of the characters kind of a annoying.
My Hero Academia - I mean this in the best way possible, but I could see myself loving this if I was a kid.
Mushoku Tensi - I know people love this one. I watched the entire first season and I found the protagonist so revolting. I didn't care that he was a cute kid now and gets better and what have you, I thought he was gross.
Friends - I could never get it. I found it boring and unfunny.
Stranger Things - I actually really enjoyed the first season, but I got tired of the kids as they got older. It felt like it was shifting into a teen drama and I found myself skipping through it before I let it go.
YOU - Weird guy stalks a girl. Glad someone enjoys it, but I got tired of it real quick.
I dont k ow if you watched it when it was new, but today it's not very funny. In the 90s, it was funny, but comedy has changed a lot since then, and some of the show is not very "woke" if you will excuse the term.
I think there are still funny and quotable moments but i dont think any of it would resonate with a younger audience. Comedy today is so much better and different to then. And a lot of shows that have come along since friends have used plots and jokes from the show and done them to death so it seems unoriginal and derivative.
I think this is all true of a lot of old shows. Tv is just a different beast now.
Definitely agree on Stranger Things. Season 1 was actually really good, but they kept ramping everything up in later seasons and it lost all of what made S1 good.
I tried watching My Hero Academia with a friend and it was rough. Basically every trope that made me burn out on anime was dialed up to 11. My friend tried to explain that it was satirizing those tropes, but I couldn't handle it.
When it first aired, my mom was a fan and it would regularly be on in the living room, which was the crossroads of my childhood house - you had to go through it to get anywhere else. Which meant that Friends was impossible to ignore. Walking by, the highest praise I could conjure was, "Wow, that laugh track is doing a lot of heavy lifting."
At the time of its popularity, I never heard anyone else dislike it. When the show ended, I felt alone in not being sad about it. Since then, I can't tell if people look back on it with nostalgia or if they are truly still amused by the bland, low-fruit, celebration of stupidity that makes up most of that show's humor.
Friends was created in a different time for media.
Part of it fulfilled the parasocial relationships we see in modern social media. People developed real relationships with these fake characters.
Second is that most television had to have broader comedy because they had larger audience. Over 10% of America watched Friends regularly. I can't think of any show nowadays that even approaches that.
I really enjoyed this, but one day I kind of just stopped watching. I think I get bored with anime shows that are set up to go on and on with endless hundred episode arcs.
Stranger Things
The first season really felt like something the creators had been developing for years as a creative idea. The ending with a sandwich left for Eleven was just the right amount of ambiguous to end off the story. The second season felt like a rushed idea pumped out when offered more money where the creators just leaned into full 80s nostalgia by copying ALIENS rather than forging something 80s inspired but unique like the first season.
Friends
I don't get it either. It's just vapid interpersonal dynamics comedy. I've watched a little and it has the wide and low appeal, it never did anything interesting.
Mushoku Tensi - yeah agree on having a lot of trouble seeing past the perviness of the main character, and the narration is really annoying. I did like the depiction of combat though, rather unique for anime.
Most anything in recently years, TBH. I always check out what's popular with the reasoning that something about it has to be good if so many people like it, and it used to work out pretty well. Not so much in the last 5 or 6 years.
premise sounds nice, but I just tried watching the first episode and couldn't get past the first minute. The artstyle is so... annoying? Hard to describe, but I absolutely can't stand it
When that show was popular, I had a boyfriend that didn't seem able to handle the idea of us liking different things. I never cared for zombies, but I'd heard good things about The Walking Dead and gave it a try. I pushed myself to watch the entire first season before deciding, "Nope, I can't."
But when I told that boyfriend? Apparently I "didn't watch it enough." When I told him I didn't care for zombie stories, he insisted, "But it's not about zombies! It's about the people." Uhh yeah, it's about people in a world with zombies. I could watch a million shows about "people" that don't involve zombies, so why would I keep watching this one that I already don't like?
It's basically a soap opera. Over the top and with no real direction. The writers were pretty much making it as they go using all the old tricks to keep you hooked.
I watched it until season 2. Before I started watching the season finale I realized I didn't care how it ended and just dump it.
I remember watching that show because people told me it's good. I was kinda hooked in the first season, then i started to realise that everyone who told me the show was good, was coincidentally a woman. For some reason on youtube a video popped up that said: the ending of sons of anarchy is hilarious. So i watched it and i had to laugh so hard i could never go back to watch it.
Kept with SoA until I tired of the "3 concurrent life-or-death crises" formula, with a new life-or-death crisis introduced each time an older one reached its end.
All principal characters even went to prison for a year, with no such crises for the rest of the MC, and then as soon as they got out, straight back to "3 concurrent life-or-death crises" as usual.
The rest of the MC should have realized "Hey, things were so chill when those guys were away, let's get 'em sent back".
The new version of Lost in Space just has people in danger constantly and then making the dumbest decision in that situation possible.
Same with 'suits', I really liked it in the beginning, until it was just too painful to watch. Each storyline was set up in a way that there was one path for the protagonists to take that would lead to certain disaster, and lo.and behold, at the end of every episode that path is exactly the path they took.
This happens until you start wondering if you're just looking at the dumbest lawyers or astronauts in existence.
It's such lazy writing, but it seems like almost everything is written this way these days. Characters make the dumbest possible decisions, and refuse to talk to each other or share important information.
Panelists after every song: OMG that was unbelievable! That singing blew me away! Greatest singing in the history of music! I'm a changed person! Thank God I lived to witness this incredibly amazing performance!
Audience members: [gasping, staring in disbelief, open-mouthed amazement, verging on tears]
Westworld. I started watching it twice, and both times I thought it was really good until I ran out of patience about not knowing what the hell was going on.
Better Call Saul. I liked Saul in Breaking Bad and learning more about him and his past was great, but I hated knowing how low he has to be by the end for Breaking Bad to make sense. The higher he climbed in the show, the more of a tragedy it became. Just had to put it down some time near the end of Part 2 when he started doing stuff to his brother.
On the one hand I do still want to know what happens to his brother, but on the other hand I hate watching a car crash I know is about to happen before its shown the first signs of drifting into the wrong lane and (mentally) shouting at the screen to stop making stupid decisions.
Worth mentioning that although I acknowledge Breaking Bad would not really happen at all if not for Walter and his pride, but I still despise how much he lets his pride destroy him over and over again. As such I also don't particularly care for the later seasons of Breaking Bad, but at least with those I didn't really know the end so I didn't know how much it was going to keep going downhill beforehand. Oddly enough for this reason I feel like I may have enjoyed Better Call Saul more before having watched Breaking Bad.
First season was decent, but after a certain point the cognitive load required to keep track of the timeline(s) and character relationships just made it feel exhausting and not fun to watch.
Battlestar Galactica. Like a lot of the shows people have been mentioning, all it did was raise the stakes every episode. It didn't feel like it was building anything meaningful, just building up to something.
The most meaningful example of this (spoilers for like a twenty year old show) for me was when they're in the ship looking for water or whatever and the human cylon just ignores the indicator saying "Water here! Check here!" and the scene just. keeps. going. I swear it felt like half the episode.
Yeah that show is a slow burner vibe thing and i think you were right to stop watching it because you gotta meet it where it's at - messy, creative, emblematic of the paperback sci-fi classics, not quite so neat as something like Expanse or Star Trek in terms of structure and plot and character taking a backseat to the themes, it's less Stellaris, more Solaris, less Mass Effect and more No Man's Sky.
This show to the original BSG is like Primer to Back to the Future.
What helped me through is I just enjoy military dramas so the standalone episodes like the one about the industrial workers and such just kept me engaged in the moment as episodic adventures and so I was in no hurry for a thread to follow, though the arc in S2 and onto the climax in Season 4.
It's not everyone's cup of tea but I do find this show beautiful in a way,
That scene in particular - spoilers - is her realizing that she might be a cylon and literally not being able to control herself to reveal there's water cause she's a sleeper agent.
I agree with a lot of the shows listed. I loved TWD but after the Negan stuff, I was so incredibly bored that I gave up, couldn't get into Parks and Rec. Tried 3 episodes before deciding it wasn't for me, etc.
But the one show I haven't seen listed yet is Supernatural. I was obsessed with that show for the first 5 seasons (which was how many the show creator wanted it to go on for) and then it just became so unbearable and ridiculous that I completely gave up by season 7. This one died, but not really. This one died and got brought back - 3 times. This one swapped bodies. This character is actually this character, but SIKE! it was THIS character all along!
Give me a break.
Then it went on for like 8 more seasons and I just cannot fathom that.
If you ever want to retry Parks and Rec, I highly suggest starting at second last episode of the second season (S02E23) - which is the episode where Rob Lowe and Adam Scott join and round out the cast.
If the show still doesn’t click for you then, then it’s definitely not going to - and you can ignore it forever more without any niggling doubts!
I remember the exact episode that I noped out of forever with Supernatural: when they brought in Snookie as a cross road demon cameo. Literally stood up and left my mom to watch the rest without me lol. I had already thought it sucked for a while though, yeah. I can tolerate season six okay, but it was definitely a very noticeable quality drop.
I can appreciate Twin Peaks for being groundbreaking at the time in many ways. And David Lynch was a genius...
But yeah, as someone who tried getting into it for the first time relatively recently, I just couldn't. Got one or two episodes into season 2 before calling it quits.
Bro season 2 is suuuuuuch a slog. I got into it for the mystery and esoteric horror imagery, and I understand that they were trying to emulate a soap opera for season 2, but it's just so long and uninteresting to me.
It's been such a road block to getting to Firewalk With Me and The Return :/
I really wanted to like twin peaks. I wish I could see what other people see it. But damn if I can't tell the difference between it and an actual soap opera.
Personally, I actually enjoyed it. It had that 90s nostalgic vibe, and I liked it.
However, the renewed 25 years later season felt like Lynch was mocking the audience (or was high on something). The season was boring as fck, story was bad and made no sense. None of the loose ends from the original show were resolved. The acting was so bad, I actually wanted to give it up after the first episode. And he didn't even give us what we wanted to see more of... Detective Cooper. Instead we got braindead cooper and evil doppleganger cooper for all but the last few minutes of the season. And for some weird reason, every episode ended on some bad recording of a live song that had nothing to do with the show.
Dark. Sad thing is that I'm very intrigued by the overall narrative and atmosphere, but it's just so damn boring. I also thought Midnight Mass was bad but I did manage to force myself to finish that one.
Severance - So. Goddamn. Slow. Every scene was slow. The lines were delivered slowly. From all the characters. Always. And somehow even the action scenes are slow?? Like when dude is in the hallway loop, that whole scene dragged on for way too long. I couldn't get past the second episode. Ain't nobody got time for that.
You can say that, and maybe it is true for the better season 1, but season 2 has the unshakable feeling of real life considerations affecting the art by having to stretch out the story.
That was exactly what I liked about it. My primary complaint about season 2 is that it's faster paced. But if the pacing's not your style then season 2 would not be worth the grind.
I was completely hooked until a major moment in season 2 that felt like it was going to turbo charge the story, but then the follow up episodes were just lots of doing nothing with it.
I don't see juvenile irresponsibility and adversarialism as "wholesome". If you wanna say funny, to each his own, but in no way is that show "wholesome".
Agree. Season 3 jumped the shark in my opinion.
It's bad enough that they just kept
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler
introducing more of the same old "and such-and-such is actually the offspring of this guy!
:::
But the s3 finale just felt completely random and confirmed all of mt suspicions about them not being able to provide meaningful explanations for most of the interesting stuff that happens
I enjoyed Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, but I just couldn't get over how hamfisted the series was with the whole "It's gory, but isn't it bEaUtIfUl?!" thing. I don't normally like using the word "pretentious" as criticism, but I can't think of any other word to describe it.
Breaking Bad. I liked it at the beginning, but it had too much violence for me. Or more specifically, violence being done as a crutch. Yeah, I get it, the character is ruthless and brutal yadayada. Lots of fake blood. Can we get back to the story?
A lot of the most popular Anime. I found One Piece pretty boring after the first few episodes. Same goes for Naruto. I do like Anime, but I mostly stick with shorter series that conclude the story in 20-30 episodes.
Black Mirror. The first couple of episodes were great, the rest was mostly the same with slight variations.
I enjoyed the first season of Yellowjackets, but have given up halfway through S2 as I realised the writers didn't seem to have a plan, and were Lost-ing it, making up extra mysteries as they go along, just to pad the story out.
I recently watched a video by Jason Pargin, about how pretty much all TV shows are Lost-ing it, due to how modern TV production is done. If you don't think they're Lost-ing it, it's simply because the writers are doing a good job making it up as they go.
If I reduce it to the shows where I watched more than a few episodes:
La case de papel:
The start of the second season quickly turned me off, because it seemed like everything just got bigger for the sake of it.
Vikings:
I tried many times and I did always like it, but for some reason I never felt the urge to finish the first season.
Altered Carbon:
It's already an exception that I watched the first season despite not loving it that much from the very beginning. Therefore I didn't even bother watching the second one. It's also one of these Netflix shows that suffers from sex sells overload.
Narcos:
I think I stopped midway through the third season, simply because I wasn't interested in that kind of big action, although obviously I shouldn't have been surprised.
Most recently, Yellowjackets and White Lotus. I watched the first 2 seasons of Yellowjackets because the premise was interesting, and I wanted to see what happened (how the rescue happened) but it turned into a hate watch for me by the end of the second season. It all felt pointless and super depressing with no moments of hope or levity at all. The introduction of random supernatural elements and magic felt like they were drifting into Lost territory, and I couldn't force myself to watch the third season after that.
White Lotus I tried rewatching because everyone seems to love it but I could never get past the first episode in the first season, everyone was so unlikeable and awful or totally ridiculous that I couldn't stomach spending more time with them.
Vikings. It started off okay. I just wanted to see vikings do cool viking stuff. But it became a drama about Christianity taking over, which might be historically accurate, but didn't interest me at all. I straight up didn't like any of the characters at a certain point.
Nutrek, most of the live series are were terrible, Kurtzman ruined the franchise. lower decks just got silly. ISAIP past season 12 were just plain awful, they shouldve gave up on the series long time ago.
Last of Us. Fallout I didn't even bother with. I probably would've bailed on Breaking Bad as well if it wasn't for everyone around me telling that it'll get good eventually (it didn't)
Lost. I got about halfway through the first season back then until I couldn't shake the impression that it was a bunch of convoluted horse shit produced by hacks who thought they were bleeding edge. History proved my impression correct.
Surprised to see so few mentions of For All Mankind, I really wanted to like it I did, but I only got about 2 episodes in. I realized the setting was the only thing that remotely interested me, the characters were bland at best, and absolutely incompetent at worst.
It was a series with the ripe call to the "competency porn" as I've seen described as, but the characters couldn't contrast the setting any further. I did spoil myself before I tried getting into it, a few moments stuck out to me. Firing on two unarmed cosmonauts, getting crushed between two interplanetary vessels while trying to covertly siphon fuel, and having a child on mars. Just did not feel very NASA by the end of it, tell me if you think I'm wrong and should give another chance however.
Oddly enough I think I found that aesthetic I was looking for in Stargate SG-1, I never really gave that franchise a chance until now, I'm almost surprised how well it seemed to age, especially how little I see it mentioned in comparison to Trek, or even Doc Who (which i know next to nothing of)
Of course it was dramatized, that's kind of the entire point. As you said there are already countless documentaries about it, why would you want another one?
It's rough to judge black mirror for the first episode. I had. Ahard time getting into it as well, and even when i was fully hooked, i could only watch like an episode or two a week, because it IS pretty depressing. But it's also thought provoking and there are episodes that just live in my head, in a good way.
Oh, that one was... yeah, I would not have been hooked off that one, personally. I would definitely reconsider if you're at all willing. Maybe try Black Museum. Hmm... not sure of which you might like the most, but USS Callister is widely renowned, as far as I know.
The entire premise seems too preachy for me. They really kinda beat you over the head with it. And are usually kinda victim blamey, from the bit I've learned beyond the one episode I watched.
Rather, the overarching idea in Nosedive is that the flawed system pushes people to misbehave in terrible ways; it encourages you to step back, zoom out, and be more in horror at the whole thing from the start to end, rather than just at the protagonist's actions. Same with the episode White Bear, etc.
Dodged a bullet with the Witcher—the show went so off the rails with the source that it’s not even worth pretending it’s an adaptation. By all accounts the same is the case with the wheel of time but I have no first-hand knowledge with that ip.
Firefly's biggest weakness/strength is the dialog. It was wholly done in the Joss Whedon style and cadence. Every member of the main cast was "the snarky one", every conversation was a series of verbal setups- and if it was against antagonists they'd be completely witless and walk into verbal traps, and every classic verbal trope would be lampshaded.
If you've watched enough of his previous shows it is very easy to predict how a conversation in Firefly will sound.
Back in the day that style of dialog was still somewhat novel, especially to people who weren't big Buffy/Angel fans. Nowadays this is the baseline MCU style of dialog, which means it is absolutely played out.
I did like that style of dialogue, at the time, so idk if that was the problem for me.
It's been a long long time since I saw it, so I don't remember details only general impressions:
I remember thinking that every characters weren't really differentiated. They were all just kinda amorphous, until an opportunity for their single defining trait had a change to come out for a bit.
You didn't find any of the art interesting at all? But anyway, if the plots suck, we wouldn't watch, either! I recommend that you try My Hero Academia, which is about 80% of the planet's population attaining superpowers; the story follows one boy in the 20% with no special abilities at all as he tries to navigate life in this new world.
The News. Repulsive, unbelievable main characters; insane plots; waay too many subplots; you can't understand a story without reading the fucking Wiki or going two knuckles deep on a forum to get the backstory or just picking up on the mode esoteric hints; this whole annoying multi-platform thing where you only fully understand a story if you watch it on six different platforms (I had enough of that shit with the Matrix twenty-five years ago, thanks).
severance. just so boring... uneventful. i just cant bring myself to care about the characters in any capacity. ive said it in other threads, its just 'depression porn'
Same. It’s not that it’s “uneventful”, it’s just that each “event” just adds more nonsensical mystery. It feels like Lost, which some people thought was twisty in a clever way. But instead the writers literally just kept throwing twists with no actual end in mind.
I’m sure Severance has some kind of plan, but it feels way longer than it needs to be. It’d make a good movie or limited series, but I’m not into this vibe for multiple seasons.
the show practically beats you over the head with the symbolism but failed to write the characters with any depth whatsoever. kinda like lost. no reason to care about what happens to anyone
It's definitely not for everyone. It's a very complex show with a lot of symbolism, and you kind of have to think for yourself what's really the implications of what's going on.
I was hooked from beginning to end, but it's definitely pretty boring if you don't get the subtext, or simply want an easy sit back and relax kind of show.
Really all of them didn't grow on me very well. For each of them I watched the first season and decided there was just better stuff I could be watching.
Each had their funny parts but were just a bit too absurd...and I like absurd! Just not my cup of tea.
Came here for Buffy. I remember the film which was entertaining fluff, but then the series came out and almost immediately I hated it. But all of my friends loved it. Every so often one of them would try and persuade me to give it another go but everytime they did it was always by showing me the same fucking episode ('Hush', I think it's called) where no-one speaks.
I guess I just don't enjoy looooong series which are more soap opera than they are story.
Yeah, that's why I stopped watching: It became apparent that there was no interesting story other than the soap opera playing out in rich people circles.
The first season at least had the hint of something interesting; that estranged stoner being promoted from theme park furry to inner circle. But they barely did anything with it.
The Expanse but I'll try to give it another shot one day.
The first season shows 2 perspectives - detective in asteroid belt and some of the most bland, basic and incredibly uninteresting dude going somewhere. Just kept falling asleep during those scenes.
I heard the layer seasons are quite interesting so I hope to at least skim through it or read the books but tbh the first season feels like it ruined the world for me already.
Wheel of time just finished the latest season in the background and its fun just bad. I've tried reading the book before and it's pretty terrible nonsense too so my expectations were already quite low. I do find the main plot point of basically temu Buddhism and the Witcher cocktail very atractive but it's just so poorly executed. All characters are meaningless. The world has so many plot holes that the wheel might as well just stop rolling right there.
Carnival row - not sure if this counts but it really sucked past season 1. It felt like something was there but it was really ruined by poor writing and Cara Delevingne and her character are so incredibly bad it really ruined any chances the show might have had.
Honestly, you may be able to for the expanse. I would argue at least the last few episodes of S1, but there is definitely a bit of a tonal shift as the screenwriters worked themselves closer to the books. Imo S2 & 3 have the strongest arcs whose themes bleed into the rest, with the world changing around those later.
I could not at all sink into for all mankind, knowing some of the major plot beats didn't help at all, i honestly don't know if i watched enough to make a judgement, but also trying to have a kid on Mars was probably the dumbest thing I heard that definitely pushed me away
The Boys. First season had raw charm with some cool punk tracks, then season two sterilised it and it seemed to become another day time TV show. Had a similar experience with Black Mirror once that got the American/Hollywood treatment. Always Sunny lost its charm when the gang went to Ireland. Aweful end to what was otherwise a good series. But I mostly dislike American TV.
I watch quite a lot of series and enjoy some of them. TV has never been too good, and nowadays its the most obvious that write-as-you-go model has blatant flaws. Storytelling is difficult enough already, but it's worse when you don't know how many episodes you actually have to tell the story, and you have to argue with other writers to include your scenes and plot lines.
I constantly find myself enjoying miniseries the most. The ending makes the story. So, the second best shows are those where every season or series has a self-contained opening and ending arcs. Cliffhangers bore me, most hooks are lost on me. Usually when characters seem to meander and roam aimlessly is because the writers are lost as well. And plots of convenience (where magically something just happened by chance to create or resolve a new plotline, or deus ex machina) just completely bore me.
So, anyways, to answer the question. True Blood lost me completely midway second season. Awesome world, but the writers didn't know how to write for shit.
Stranger Things. Gave up after the first season. It just felt like the show was trying too hard to feel like something nostalgic from the 80s without any of the substance or writing the things from the 80s it was trying to mimic had.
One Piece - with One Pace i got through the alabasta arc. The characters all have good back stories and motivations. I mean it is well written, but with how the stakes and emotional depth are managed it just feels like a sit-com. I want to like it more, but i just don't foresee myself throwing it on again.
Better Call Saul for me. It felt like Breaking Bad but playing out at like 25% speed. Also Saul is a whiny bitch, I really lost patience with him when he gets to his "boo hoo being rich isn't fun I don't wanna work at a law firm anymore" phase.
I was set on watching until this quote occurs to get the full suspense and context and comedic relief.... but I failed my goal during episode 2. Cannot suspend disbelief for this one, it's too dumb, makes no sense, most jokes fall flat. It's like they gave Gandalf a clown costume and Frodo acts as though that's normal and we're supposed to be falling off of our seats from that
I was in on Mr. Robot until it Fight Clubbed. Tried it a little bit after that, but completely lost interest.
Also not at all a fan of Walking Dead or most shows that are just depressing. Ive also always had this weird logical problem with Zombie apocalypses that never end. Like, I get it's a monster movie/show, but eventually I'm like "alright, how are there still so many walkers when there's been no food for years".
I lost interest in Battlestar Galactica for a similar reason (depressing). Also how the fuck could they not somehow detect who was a Cylon. They apparently have shit built in that let them transmit their conclsciousness across the galaxy when they die, etc etc. Also all the other shit that never got exolained.
Game of Thrones lost me at Reek.
Haven't gotten into Westworld.
My friends were all 100% convinced I'd be into Stranger Things but it just hasn't clicked with me. I'm going to give it another try.
I gave up on Silo early on in Season 2, don't know how popular it is in truth but the Reddit hive mind (or bots) downvote you almost immediately if you even say you don't love it.
Damn few shows are worth my time these days. Re-tread it's galore, with simplistic emotional appeal to get you to react and continue to watch. Essentially producers saw what worked for "reality" TV in the 90's and applied that same juvenile, transparent, boring approach to new shows.
Nearly all of them, most seem to be racist comedy's or stereotypes and just bullshit I can't handle, or the plot is over used so much it's predictable, honestly most popular TV shows are just straight up boring and to much otherism and other racism, sexism, transphobia, ECT in them. Or just about fighting each other and it's all about drama because they don't have the apparent ability to just simply talk to each other.
Or just about fighting each other and it’s all about drama because they don’t have the apparent ability to just simply talk to each other.
Classic sitcom formula. I never got into a lot of the "family" shows in the 90s, because almost every plot revolved around someone being a poor communicator - and that's it. Person A can't talk about event/topic Y, and now Person B assumes reason Z and the entire episode and all its hijinks only exist because of it. Everything could've been avoided if Person A and Person B actually talked things through, like healthy, sane people who actually want to avoid conflict. But writers couldn't think of a way to both model proper communication and create a compelling storyline, so here we are.
My biggest problem with most of the shows listed is they have to outdo themselves and go on for too long.
Season one: Great premise!
Season Two: Same premise, but TWICE the danger!
Season three: I don't know, robot ninjas or something?
I miss when shows could just grow in the first season or two, and then you'd only get raising stakes two or three times a year (season finale/premier and sweeps). Otherwise they're just stories.
These days shows have to justify themselves right out of the gate.
I miss mid-budget live action scifi shows with strong enough episodic elements that I can actually remember individual episodes. These days seemingly every show feels like an 8-12 movie that blurs together.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds is the closest current thing to an exception. Before that The Orville.
Most other scifi that comes out has to be an "event".
Kamen Rider.
The Orville had that in the first season or so, after that it went heavy into serialization. I dont think I even finished whatever the last season was because of it.
The most infamous example of this is Supernatural where the first few seasons were very episodic and exactly what you described. Then, after season 5 it keep escalating until dudes are fighting off the end of the world for the 6th time lmao
Hah, yes!
Just finished season 3 of Yellowjackets and White Lotus and I just felt, meh. I'm hopeful for season 4 of both shows but I'll be living off the honeymoon phase from seasons 1 and 2.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
Oh, this is about Riverdale, isn't it?
Riverdale actually did what I've always wished for a boring failure of a show to do, and just completely go nuts.
Oh our boring high school drama show is slumping? How about an organ stealing cult, a superhero, and a guy escaping from the cops in a rocketship!
Its more that they have to keep the money train going, than they have to outdo themselves.
Never got the appeal of these ones. They aren't bad shows, but they did not do it for me.
Game of Thrones
Lost
Better Call Saul
Peaky Blinders
Breaking Bad
Shit. That's exactly my list.
It's like directors got ahold of this one technique and just beat it into every fucking show in the past decade. It's tired, overused, and you'll notice it's a common trait of many of the shows you and agree on. You have to have tension, but I didn't need every god damned minute to be wondering if someone's going to get their throat graphically slashed with a straight-edge.
Oh man! You just put to words why I couldn't stand Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire.
I watched the first simply because a lot of people love it, and I try to watch everything that seems worth seeing. The second I saw some clips from that I really liked, but then I just didn't stick with the actual show.
In both cases, the series left me on constant edge, in a really bad way.
Now I realize that I kept waiting for the shows to grant me some kind of catharsis, but it just never happened. Or it happened rarely and in ways that quickly gets brushed away as inconsequential.
Y'all are trippin, the gus storyline in Better Call Saul/BB is likely my favorite villain of all time.
Fair enough though, I was scared I was gonna see these shows listed in here and here we are!
You're still allowed to enjoy them.
How could I after this
Fair point. You probably shouldn't like or enjoy things that other people subjectively don't like.
My condolences.
I'm not fond of the perpetual tension. Just awful.
Yup. I call it the "drama of paranoia," and it's exhausting after a while. It also gives you a veneer of "prestige" without having to make characters I give a shit about or plots that fit together at all. As a good example of a show that realized this, Mad Men always struggled with a certain early-season plotline until they finally just ripped off the band-aid and said,
::: spoiler spoiler the "real" Don Draper's widow handwaves something out with our boy Dick, and literally nobody else gives a shit. :::
What worked about that show had nothing to do with "ONE BIG SECRET."
This, plus The Sopranos, The Office, Parks & Rec, IASIP, 30 Rock, etc.
I get that they're well liked, and they are the source of lots of meme material, but I could never manage to get through a whole episode.
I've never been able to make it through an entire episode of Community, for the same reason. It's memeable, but I just don't find it funny at all.
I have watched any of those except the first couple of Breaking Bad. It was too real for me so I just couldnt.
I lasted 5 minutes with Peaky Blinders. The loud music drowning out the dialogue did my head in.
Big Bang Theory
Lost was the tv version of clickbait. 3 concurrent story lines rotated from week to week. Every episode a cliffhanger that you had to wait 2 more weeks to resolve into a nothing burger. Even watching that shit on disc or streaming is annoying as fuck. I might have liked what was going on story wise, but I got too annoyed with the format to get past mid season 2.
Yeah. Lost was when I was intrugued by J J abrams style, and then completely turned off by his inability to tell a story or have a plan beyond the halfway point.
And then they involved him in seemingly every major movie franchise ever for the next two decades.. and he kept doing the same crap. Lots of flash and dazzle and dramatic moments that ultimately mean nothing because the characters have no story to tell, no real arc, no consistent rules creating a believable universe for the watcher to be sucked in to - any rules can be thrown out the window anytime a dramatic cliche opportunity arises. Yet he still seems very popular.
Lost went on far too long and they backed themselves into a corner by saying that the big secret was what nobody had guessed, but this was right around the Internet getting popular to talk about tv shows, so everything good had already been suggested. If it had been me, I would have just picked the best one and gone with that...
There is a recut of it, still available via torrent, called Chronologically LOST. It is every scene, but in chronological order, and only once each. Really cool way to see the show and make sense of it.
Unfortunately, mid season 2 is where it finally stops having enormous fluff and starts picking up pace. Fair criticisms though
Friends.
Seems like everyone likes this show but I dont think I ever watched a full episode.
My humor is more like Scrubs, Seinfeld, IT Crowd.
Friends had Chandler and Joey bromance, which is a precursor to the Scrubs bromance.
The rest of the show isn't similar, but that part was spot on.
I love Scrubs and IT Crowd, but Friends also. I don't, however, like Frasier. People seem to fall into either the Friends or Frasier camp, and never the twain shall meet.
I didn't cate for either.
I weirdly like both.
But I like a lot of random shit.
Fair enough. I find Friends to be incredibly unfunny and can't stand sitting through a single episode. Frasier, on the other hand, I find to be pretty entertaining (until Niles and Daphne get together, then the wheels start falling off).
There are quite a few edited 'Friends without the laugh track' videos on YouTube showing how creepy and unfunny some of the characters are. Its a bit of a meme theres so many of them.
Oh I want to check those out... Thanks!
Walking dead. I think I finished the second episode. But I'm not even sure about that one. It was utterly boring
Walking dead is the king of spreading 4 episodes of content across 12 episodes. You could watch the season opener, the 2 episodes that close the first half and start the second if each season, and the finale, and not miss anything of substance.
Wait, is TWD available on the anime filler website?
You've seen the best. I stopped somewhere in the middle of S3 because it was so bad. S1 was tolerable but honestly only the pilot was good. Kids watched all of it so I've got an idea how it went on; like a bad and cheap soap opera
I watched up to the point where they pretended the Asian lad was dead, but actually he was hiding under a bin.
Not because it was cheap, but because I realised I no longer cared one way or the other.
The first few episodes were a slog, but it got much better.
I recomment to give it a try. Maybe start straight from season 2.
I watched the first 2 seasons or so. It felt like all the clichés from all the zombie movies put together in a single show, but worse.
Yellowstone. With shows like The Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy you know the characters are evil, but you can connect just enough for it to be compelling.
In Yellowstone it feels like they want you to see the characters as the heros, when they are mass-murdering, slave-owning oligarchs. They buy cops and politicians to gain power, but get bent on revenge if other powers don't "play by the rules". I didn't last too long, but everyone else seems to love it.
I watched it for a while, but it just got stupider and stupider with every season. It's a very American show, and it feels like conservative pandering much of the time (even though the show runner isn't a conservative from what I hear).
it most catering to conservative circle jerking.
He is conservative, he's even been on Joe Rogan's podcast
It's a soap opera and if you treat it for what it is It's quite fun! People who never watched soap set expectations too high and expected real plot and depth of a real TV show which it never set out to do.
The Walking Dead. Felt more like the Talking Dead, the pacing was far too slow for me and it didn't seem like much was happening.
Rick & Morty. Then the whole szechuan sauce thing happened and I can't look at any content from that show without cringing. LOOK GUYS IM PICKLE RI-stop please it's not funny.
The "community" is insufferable, but the show is solid. You might like Solar Opposites. The wall substory is amazing. Really good voice actors, can feel the tension and emotions in the voices
Is there even still any Rick and morty fans left in the wild? After the whole case against one of the voice actors I never see them around too much anymore.
I like Rick and Morty, but I have enough self awareness to know that Rick is not a role model.
Yeah, it's funny because of how terrible everyone is. I'm laughing because it's outrageous, not because the characters are going through relatable hijinks.
Justin Roiland wasn't just the voice actor for Rick, Morty, and various other roles, he was the co-creator, writer, and executive producer of the show alongside Dan Harmon. The whole thing is very much Roiland's baby, and even after it came out that he's an abuser and predator and the show fired him it continues to be his celebrated legacy.
Fuck that guy and his stupid show.
Roiland is a co-creator, but it is very obvious that Dan Harmon took over the show for the better.
Hell, the takeover happened while Roiland was still voicing Rick, so it isn't like something important was lost after Roiland was fired.
There’s a few shows where the fan base have made it so insufferable that I don’t want to even watch the show . But Rick and Morty are King in this category, the worst fans
I initially found that show a bit interesting, but I found myself feeling more and more cringey about what the show was churning out. I outgrew the whole thing just as the sauce thing was happening
It later became well known what an actual piece of shit Justin Roiland is, and I felt pretty glad not to have been stuck in that fandom still feeling like his work was of any importance to me.
Friends
How I met your mother
Big Bang Theory
The Umbrella Academy: in the first couple of episodes like nothing happens and everyone is very sad.
You dodged a bullet. It just keeps getting worse until the final season which is the absolute worst
Yeah, last season was so boring and unsatisfying.
There were so many ways that show could have gone which would have been good.
You forgot...."stupid"
Like what the fuck was up with that Lila and five arc. Like seriously ...what the fuck.
I liked up to the end of the season with the time travel where they all jumped to different times a few years apart. Think it was season 2. After that, i just didn't feel the show was coherent or interesting.
Such a shame too. The premise looked really interesting at first.
Umbrella Academy was a hate watch for me. I loved the experience of watching it with my sister, even though I absolutely detested the show itself. Every single one of the characters is just the worst fucking person with zero redeeming qualities, and they somehow just get worse as the show goes on.
Breaking Bad. Just lost interest half way through.
I made it one episode. Extremely well done show about a tragically terrible flaw of American society that frustrates me daily. Didn't need a reminder of how terrible things are.
Same. Walt is an unlikeable person making bad decisions. I grave up after season 1.
You know what might help you power through?
Will it make my teeth fall out?
I was gonna suggest a little coffee, but yes if your caffeine is contained in a sugary soda it definitely has the potential to rot your teeth.
I gave up on it once, and then continued at a later date. I felt that the mid seasons were a bit of a grind, but the last season goes up to 11 with an extremely satisfying ending.
Game of Thrones. To me it just came across as torture porn. Just a series of awful things happening to people from one scene to the next. The schtick about different kingdoms and families vying for the throne or whatever was just the backdrop and context to rape, abuse and murder, which was the star of the show.
I love fantasy but that show didn't do it for me in the slightest. Not interested in checking out any of that guy's books either.
The Mandalorian
Noped out after season 1. They revealed his face during a filler episode, during a boring scene, instead of waiting an episode or two longer for the real gut punch reveal at the end of the last episode.
It was stupid. It killed what would have been one of the best face reveals in cinema history. I had no patience for the show after that. Almost didn't bother finishing the rest of the season. I don't really care what their reasons were. Contractual. Whatever. Don't care.
Most of the popular ones. Especially Game of Thrones. As soon as the incestuous couple threw the little boy off the tower, I was outta there. I'm so tired of shows about horrible people doing horrible things.
Game of Thrones - I'm not good with seeing sexual violence and it felt like it was happening every five minutes.
My Dress up Darling - I understand why people would like it, but I don't understand why it was so huge. But I'm getting old.
Beastars - my friend and I watched it in one day and it just didn't do anything for us. I found most of the characters kind of a annoying.
My Hero Academia - I mean this in the best way possible, but I could see myself loving this if I was a kid.
Mushoku Tensi - I know people love this one. I watched the entire first season and I found the protagonist so revolting. I didn't care that he was a cute kid now and gets better and what have you, I thought he was gross.
Friends - I could never get it. I found it boring and unfunny.
Stranger Things - I actually really enjoyed the first season, but I got tired of the kids as they got older. It felt like it was shifting into a teen drama and I found myself skipping through it before I let it go.
YOU - Weird guy stalks a girl. Glad someone enjoys it, but I got tired of it real quick.
Friends has to be the most overrated TV show of all time. I feel like an insane person whenever I hear people saying that it's a funny show.
I dont k ow if you watched it when it was new, but today it's not very funny. In the 90s, it was funny, but comedy has changed a lot since then, and some of the show is not very "woke" if you will excuse the term.
I think there are still funny and quotable moments but i dont think any of it would resonate with a younger audience. Comedy today is so much better and different to then. And a lot of shows that have come along since friends have used plots and jokes from the show and done them to death so it seems unoriginal and derivative.
I think this is all true of a lot of old shows. Tv is just a different beast now.
I watched it when it was new. It has never been funny.
Seinfeld existed at the same time just to give some perspective.
Frasier as well.
Yeah, i didn't really like Seinfeld. I liked Fraiser, but preferred friends. At the time. I think Fraiser aged better though.
Definitely agree on Stranger Things. Season 1 was actually really good, but they kept ramping everything up in later seasons and it lost all of what made S1 good.
I tried watching My Hero Academia with a friend and it was rough. Basically every trope that made me burn out on anime was dialed up to 11. My friend tried to explain that it was satirizing those tropes, but I couldn't handle it.
It makes me happy to see others shit on Friends.
When it first aired, my mom was a fan and it would regularly be on in the living room, which was the crossroads of my childhood house - you had to go through it to get anywhere else. Which meant that Friends was impossible to ignore. Walking by, the highest praise I could conjure was, "Wow, that laugh track is doing a lot of heavy lifting."
At the time of its popularity, I never heard anyone else dislike it. When the show ended, I felt alone in not being sad about it. Since then, I can't tell if people look back on it with nostalgia or if they are truly still amused by the bland, low-fruit, celebration of stupidity that makes up most of that show's humor.
The theme song was good though.
Friends was created in a different time for media.
Part of it fulfilled the parasocial relationships we see in modern social media. People developed real relationships with these fake characters.
Second is that most television had to have broader comedy because they had larger audience. Over 10% of America watched Friends regularly. I can't think of any show nowadays that even approaches that.
We were out there... What a terrible show.
I really enjoyed this, but one day I kind of just stopped watching. I think I get bored with anime shows that are set up to go on and on with endless hundred episode arcs.
The first season really felt like something the creators had been developing for years as a creative idea. The ending with a sandwich left for Eleven was just the right amount of ambiguous to end off the story. The second season felt like a rushed idea pumped out when offered more money where the creators just leaned into full 80s nostalgia by copying ALIENS rather than forging something 80s inspired but unique like the first season.
I don't get it either. It's just vapid interpersonal dynamics comedy. I've watched a little and it has the wide and low appeal, it never did anything interesting.
Mushoku Tensi - yeah agree on having a lot of trouble seeing past the perviness of the main character, and the narration is really annoying. I did like the depiction of combat though, rather unique for anime.
Most anything in recently years, TBH. I always check out what's popular with the reasoning that something about it has to be good if so many people like it, and it used to work out pretty well. Not so much in the last 5 or 6 years.
Have you tried Severance or Common Side Effects?
I liked common side effects, but I would rather have had s2 of scavenger's reign.
Also kind of wish that common side effects was live action with animated elements, I think that would have been cool visually.
premise sounds nice, but I just tried watching the first episode and couldn't get past the first minute. The artstyle is so... annoying? Hard to describe, but I absolutely can't stand it
Can't get past the trailers or previews. Awful.
Walking dead. Only season one was good
When that show was popular, I had a boyfriend that didn't seem able to handle the idea of us liking different things. I never cared for zombies, but I'd heard good things about The Walking Dead and gave it a try. I pushed myself to watch the entire first season before deciding, "Nope, I can't."
But when I told that boyfriend? Apparently I "didn't watch it enough." When I told him I didn't care for zombie stories, he insisted, "But it's not about zombies! It's about the people." Uhh yeah, it's about people in a world with zombies. I could watch a million shows about "people" that don't involve zombies, so why would I keep watching this one that I already don't like?
Same, only watched the first two episodes and was just bored and weirded out by the writing. Heard much better about the last of us series.
It was also just so goddamn boring. Far too much talking and milling about, not enough walking dead.
Yeah, for me The Walking Dead were the non-zombie characters, on the run with no expectation of anyone surviving to their next birthday.
Sons of Anarchy
It's basically a soap opera. Over the top and with no real direction. The writers were pretty much making it as they go using all the old tricks to keep you hooked.
I watched it until season 2. Before I started watching the season finale I realized I didn't care how it ended and just dump it.
I remember watching that show because people told me it's good. I was kinda hooked in the first season, then i started to realise that everyone who told me the show was good, was coincidentally a woman. For some reason on youtube a video popped up that said: the ending of sons of anarchy is hilarious. So i watched it and i had to laugh so hard i could never go back to watch it.
I hated everybody in this show except for one person and then they killed them off in I believe the ending of season 1.
Kept with SoA until I tired of the "3 concurrent life-or-death crises" formula, with a new life-or-death crisis introduced each time an older one reached its end.
All principal characters even went to prison for a year, with no such crises for the rest of the MC, and then as soon as they got out, straight back to "3 concurrent life-or-death crises" as usual.
The rest of the MC should have realized "Hey, things were so chill when those guys were away, let's get 'em sent back".
The new version of Lost in Space just has people in danger constantly and then making the dumbest decision in that situation possible.
Same with 'suits', I really liked it in the beginning, until it was just too painful to watch. Each storyline was set up in a way that there was one path for the protagonists to take that would lead to certain disaster, and lo.and behold, at the end of every episode that path is exactly the path they took.
This happens until you start wondering if you're just looking at the dumbest lawyers or astronauts in existence.
It's such lazy writing, but it seems like almost everything is written this way these days. Characters make the dumbest possible decisions, and refuse to talk to each other or share important information.
It's so annoying. Miscomunication and coincidence is just such poor writing. Surely there are other more meaningful ways to move the plot right?
Masked Singer.
Panelists after every song: OMG that was unbelievable! That singing blew me away! Greatest singing in the history of music! I'm a changed person! Thank God I lived to witness this incredibly amazing performance!
Audience members: [gasping, staring in disbelief, open-mouthed amazement, verging on tears]
Westworld. I started watching it twice, and both times I thought it was really good until I ran out of patience about not knowing what the hell was going on.
Better Call Saul. I liked Saul in Breaking Bad and learning more about him and his past was great, but I hated knowing how low he has to be by the end for Breaking Bad to make sense. The higher he climbed in the show, the more of a tragedy it became. Just had to put it down some time near the end of Part 2 when he started doing stuff to his brother.
On the one hand I do still want to know what happens to his brother, but on the other hand I hate watching a car crash I know is about to happen before its shown the first signs of drifting into the wrong lane and (mentally) shouting at the screen to stop making stupid decisions.
Worth mentioning that although I acknowledge Breaking Bad would not really happen at all if not for Walter and his pride, but I still despise how much he lets his pride destroy him over and over again. As such I also don't particularly care for the later seasons of Breaking Bad, but at least with those I didn't really know the end so I didn't know how much it was going to keep going downhill beforehand. Oddly enough for this reason I feel like I may have enjoyed Better Call Saul more before having watched Breaking Bad.
It's very satisfying. You get a proper ending that's bittersweet.
Also, Kim is an awesome character. And Rhea Seehorn
can get itis a very attractive young lady.I'm almost afraid to ask... What are these time stamps of?
While Europeans measure in meters, Americans measure in feet.
Its a real shame. The part with his brother is, in my opinion, the worst part of the show. It gets better and better.
Not to say its a bad part, i liked it. Its just that it gets better and better as the show goes on, and the ending is great.
Dark.
First season was decent, but after a certain point the cognitive load required to keep track of the timeline(s) and character relationships just made it feel exhausting and not fun to watch.
Battlestar Galactica. Like a lot of the shows people have been mentioning, all it did was raise the stakes every episode. It didn't feel like it was building anything meaningful, just building up to something.
The most meaningful example of this (spoilers for like a twenty year old show) for me was when they're in the ship looking for water or whatever and the human cylon just ignores the indicator saying "Water here! Check here!" and the scene just. keeps. going. I swear it felt like half the episode.
Yeah that show is a slow burner vibe thing and i think you were right to stop watching it because you gotta meet it where it's at - messy, creative, emblematic of the paperback sci-fi classics, not quite so neat as something like Expanse or Star Trek in terms of structure and plot and character taking a backseat to the themes, it's less Stellaris, more Solaris, less Mass Effect and more No Man's Sky.
This show to the original BSG is like Primer to Back to the Future.
What helped me through is I just enjoy military dramas so the standalone episodes like the one about the industrial workers and such just kept me engaged in the moment as episodic adventures and so I was in no hurry for a thread to follow, though the arc in S2 and onto the climax in Season 4.
It's not everyone's cup of tea but I do find this show beautiful in a way,
Speaking of highly overrated things...
I enjoyed episodes that had their own story, like the one with Richard Hatch in prison ship.
That scene in particular - spoilers - is her realizing that she might be a cylon and literally not being able to control herself to reveal there's water cause she's a sleeper agent.
I agree with a lot of the shows listed. I loved TWD but after the Negan stuff, I was so incredibly bored that I gave up, couldn't get into Parks and Rec. Tried 3 episodes before deciding it wasn't for me, etc.
But the one show I haven't seen listed yet is Supernatural. I was obsessed with that show for the first 5 seasons (which was how many the show creator wanted it to go on for) and then it just became so unbearable and ridiculous that I completely gave up by season 7. This one died, but not really. This one died and got brought back - 3 times. This one swapped bodies. This character is actually this character, but SIKE! it was THIS character all along!
Give me a break.
Then it went on for like 8 more seasons and I just cannot fathom that.
First season (or two even) of Parks & Rec is not at all representative of the rest of the show.
Yeah, I tried P&R twice without it clicking for me. Only once I got past season 1 did I begin to enjoy it.
If you ever want to retry Parks and Rec, I highly suggest starting at second last episode of the second season (S02E23) - which is the episode where Rob Lowe and Adam Scott join and round out the cast.
If the show still doesn’t click for you then, then it’s definitely not going to - and you can ignore it forever more without any niggling doubts!
I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thank you.
I remember the exact episode that I noped out of forever with Supernatural: when they brought in Snookie as a cross road demon cameo. Literally stood up and left my mom to watch the rest without me lol. I had already thought it sucked for a while though, yeah. I can tolerate season six okay, but it was definitely a very noticeable quality drop.
I watched Supernatural one or two seasons too long. The first five were great all around and then it got weird.
I watched 8ish seasons of Supernatural but none of them were good
Twin Peaks. Couldn't stand it.
Oh yeah. I heard all the hype online, and got two episodes in.
Second best TV show ever!
Different people like different things and that's awesome.
The #1 best show is Twin Peaks: The Return of course :)
Yes!
I can appreciate Twin Peaks for being groundbreaking at the time in many ways. And David Lynch was a genius...
But yeah, as someone who tried getting into it for the first time relatively recently, I just couldn't. Got one or two episodes into season 2 before calling it quits.
Bro season 2 is suuuuuuch a slog. I got into it for the mystery and esoteric horror imagery, and I understand that they were trying to emulate a soap opera for season 2, but it's just so long and uninteresting to me.
It's been such a road block to getting to Firewalk With Me and The Return :/
I really wanted to like twin peaks. I wish I could see what other people see it. But damn if I can't tell the difference between it and an actual soap opera.
Personally, I actually enjoyed it. It had that 90s nostalgic vibe, and I liked it.
However, the renewed 25 years later season felt like Lynch was mocking the audience (or was high on something). The season was boring as fck, story was bad and made no sense. None of the loose ends from the original show were resolved. The acting was so bad, I actually wanted to give it up after the first episode. And he didn't even give us what we wanted to see more of... Detective Cooper. Instead we got braindead cooper and evil doppleganger cooper for all but the last few minutes of the season. And for some weird reason, every episode ended on some bad recording of a live song that had nothing to do with the show.
Oh, God, such nonsense
Game of Thrones. Just couldn't get into it.
Dark. Sad thing is that I'm very intrigued by the overall narrative and atmosphere, but it's just so damn boring. I also thought Midnight Mass was bad but I did manage to force myself to finish that one.
I love Dark! It's pretty slow at start but it get's pretty exciting. Also it is 3 seasons and then finished, which is rare for a show.
1899 was the best!!! NF cancelled tho :(
It stops being "boring" after a while.
Same (re: Dark). I'd rather just rewatch Steins;Gate.
....really? I liked steins gate okay for what it was, but to me that's like comparing a fine dining experience to a chain restaurant.
Squid Game.
Bring on the down votes, I don't care, that show was garbage and I was baffled at the HYPE around it.
Severance - So. Goddamn. Slow. Every scene was slow. The lines were delivered slowly. From all the characters. Always. And somehow even the action scenes are slow?? Like when dude is in the hallway loop, that whole scene dragged on for way too long. I couldn't get past the second episode. Ain't nobody got time for that.
The creeping inertia is part of it. All good if not your thing, but that pacing is very much on purpose
You can say that, and maybe it is true for the better season 1, but season 2 has the unshakable feeling of real life considerations affecting the art by having to stretch out the story.
That was exactly what I liked about it. My primary complaint about season 2 is that it's faster paced. But if the pacing's not your style then season 2 would not be worth the grind.
I was completely hooked until a major moment in season 2 that felt like it was going to turbo charge the story, but then the follow up episodes were just lots of doing nothing with it.
Man, I want my time back from watching season one.
I lasted about half an episode when I realized they were directly making fun of me and my friends in a pretty horrific way.
The UK version of The Office isn't wholesome. The boss is awful and has no redeeming qualities. The rest is just cringeworthy and not funny.
Wholesome?
I don't see juvenile irresponsibility and adversarialism as "wholesome". If you wanna say funny, to each his own, but in no way is that show "wholesome".
I have to say severance season 1 was way better imo
Sweet baby Jesus. I love all of these. Fantastic sci fi and fantasy
Dark turned into nonsense unfortunately. It felt like Lost all over again. I never finished it.
I disagree, I think Dark was much more coherent. It was admittedly a bit convoluted, but I think it did a good job tying everything together.
Whereas Lost was them constantly creating new mysteries that they didn't have the answers too, and tying it up in the end with some random bullshit.
Agree. Season 3 jumped the shark in my opinion. It's bad enough that they just kept
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler introducing more of the same old "and such-and-such is actually the offspring of this guy! :::
But the s3 finale just felt completely random and confirmed all of mt suspicions about them not being able to provide meaningful explanations for most of the interesting stuff that happens
What I liked about it is that it DOES have a meaningful, clear explanation in the end, unlike shows like Lost.
Hannibal
I enjoyed Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, but I just couldn't get over how hamfisted the series was with the whole "It's gory, but isn't it bEaUtIfUl?!" thing. I don't normally like using the word "pretentious" as criticism, but I can't think of any other word to describe it.
Breaking Bad. I liked it at the beginning, but it had too much violence for me. Or more specifically, violence being done as a crutch. Yeah, I get it, the character is ruthless and brutal yadayada. Lots of fake blood. Can we get back to the story?
A lot of the most popular Anime. I found One Piece pretty boring after the first few episodes. Same goes for Naruto. I do like Anime, but I mostly stick with shorter series that conclude the story in 20-30 episodes.
Black Mirror. The first couple of episodes were great, the rest was mostly the same with slight variations.
GoT... Too much rape as a plot device, and general subjugation of female characters.
Love... She was supposed to be the cool girl but she was just rude. I lost respect for the characters in episode 2.
Game of Thrones, the Expanse, Breaking Bad
I enjoyed the first season of Yellowjackets, but have given up halfway through S2 as I realised the writers didn't seem to have a plan, and were Lost-ing it, making up extra mysteries as they go along, just to pad the story out.
I recently watched a video by Jason Pargin, about how pretty much all TV shows are Lost-ing it, due to how modern TV production is done. If you don't think they're Lost-ing it, it's simply because the writers are doing a good job making it up as they go.
If I reduce it to the shows where I watched more than a few episodes:
Breaking Bad. I made it part way through the first season before giving up. Everyone loves that show but I just couldn't enjoy it.
Most recently, Yellowjackets and White Lotus. I watched the first 2 seasons of Yellowjackets because the premise was interesting, and I wanted to see what happened (how the rescue happened) but it turned into a hate watch for me by the end of the second season. It all felt pointless and super depressing with no moments of hope or levity at all. The introduction of random supernatural elements and magic felt like they were drifting into Lost territory, and I couldn't force myself to watch the third season after that.
White Lotus I tried rewatching because everyone seems to love it but I could never get past the first episode in the first season, everyone was so unlikeable and awful or totally ridiculous that I couldn't stomach spending more time with them.
Sons of anarchy.
Vikings. It started off okay. I just wanted to see vikings do cool viking stuff. But it became a drama about Christianity taking over, which might be historically accurate, but didn't interest me at all. I straight up didn't like any of the characters at a certain point.
As much as I tried to get into it, I couldn't get myself into Game of Thrones.
Always Sunny and Arrested Development. Both shows are just people being really fucking stupid and it's somehow hilarious.
Nutrek, most of the live series are were terrible, Kurtzman ruined the franchise. lower decks just got silly. ISAIP past season 12 were just plain awful, they shouldve gave up on the series long time ago.
Even Strange New Worlds?
I couldn't stand Discovery, SNW is wonderful.
I fucking love lower decks, but that last season clearly was outta ideas
Yeah god, I forgot about Nutreks. I could go on for a while.
And people keep trying to convince me that I like Lower Decks (and I like The Orville), but I don't.
anything is better than Enterprise, the dawnson's creek of trek
Star Trek Discovery
Last of Us. Fallout I didn't even bother with. I probably would've bailed on Breaking Bad as well if it wasn't for everyone around me telling that it'll get good eventually (it didn't)
Fallout is actually great tho!
Handmaid's Tale.
Never got through even a single episode.
Would it be worth it? Is there vindication or is it just endless boring patriarchy?
Walking Dead. There's like several shows and a dozen seasons each, although I actively avoided it since it started about, not into zombies shows.
Squid Game, never really like dubs and just didn't get into listening Korean yet.
Lost. I got about halfway through the first season back then until I couldn't shake the impression that it was a bunch of convoluted horse shit produced by hacks who thought they were bleeding edge. History proved my impression correct.
Surprised to see so few mentions of For All Mankind, I really wanted to like it I did, but I only got about 2 episodes in. I realized the setting was the only thing that remotely interested me, the characters were bland at best, and absolutely incompetent at worst.
It was a series with the ripe call to the "competency porn" as I've seen described as, but the characters couldn't contrast the setting any further. I did spoil myself before I tried getting into it, a few moments stuck out to me. Firing on two unarmed cosmonauts, getting crushed between two interplanetary vessels while trying to covertly siphon fuel, and having a child on mars. Just did not feel very NASA by the end of it, tell me if you think I'm wrong and should give another chance however.
Oddly enough I think I found that aesthetic I was looking for in Stargate SG-1, I never really gave that franchise a chance until now, I'm almost surprised how well it seemed to age, especially how little I see it mentioned in comparison to Trek, or even Doc Who (which i know next to nothing of)
I had allready seen a lot of documentaries about chernobyl, so the recent series did not cut it fir me. It was too dramatised
Of course it was dramatized, that's kind of the entire point. As you said there are already countless documentaries about it, why would you want another one?
Glee.
I lasted a while until the teacher groomed a student. Nope!
The pilot was good.
I didn't last the first season and was certain it would be cancelled. I couldn't have been more off the pulse.
You need to understand how much money the cover versions of pop songs were making on iTunes.
Breaking Bad
Black mirror, too depressing
Wheel of time... Just didnt care enough after the first episode
The witcher... Again just didnt care enough and not a fan of the lead
Black mirror's an anthology series, so you can't judge it on a single ep
It's rough to judge black mirror for the first episode. I had. Ahard time getting into it as well, and even when i was fully hooked, i could only watch like an episode or two a week, because it IS pretty depressing. But it's also thought provoking and there are episodes that just live in my head, in a good way.
I actually watched like 3 seasons but it just became a bit much after a while so I decided to drop it.
Oh god, do not marathon that show.
Also the s4 opener is brutal.
Yeah no thanks
Yeah miss it if you're not in the mood, especially in the current environs. Callister sequel was hilarious though.
I only watched one episode and it was just too pretentious
But which one was it? They're all separate situations with unique characters per episode.
Looks like it was S3E1 Nosedive
Oh, that one was... yeah, I would not have been hooked off that one, personally. I would definitely reconsider if you're at all willing. Maybe try Black Museum. Hmm... not sure of which you might like the most, but USS Callister is widely renowned, as far as I know.
The entire premise seems too preachy for me. They really kinda beat you over the head with it. And are usually kinda victim blamey, from the bit I've learned beyond the one episode I watched.
Rather, the overarching idea in Nosedive is that the flawed system pushes people to misbehave in terrible ways; it encourages you to step back, zoom out, and be more in horror at the whole thing from the start to end, rather than just at the protagonist's actions. Same with the episode White Bear, etc.
Dodged a bullet with the Witcher—the show went so off the rails with the source that it’s not even worth pretending it’s an adaptation. By all accounts the same is the case with the wheel of time but I have no first-hand knowledge with that ip.
Breaking Bad because of the color tone. I don't like desert environments and they leaned into that hard.
American Horror Story
Rick and Morty. My taste in humor just changed and it and other similar shows don't do it for me anymore
I really wanted to like Firefly, but the characters felt too silly and two dimensional.
Firefly's biggest weakness/strength is the dialog. It was wholly done in the Joss Whedon style and cadence. Every member of the main cast was "the snarky one", every conversation was a series of verbal setups- and if it was against antagonists they'd be completely witless and walk into verbal traps, and every classic verbal trope would be lampshaded.
If you've watched enough of his previous shows it is very easy to predict how a conversation in Firefly will sound.
Back in the day that style of dialog was still somewhat novel, especially to people who weren't big Buffy/Angel fans. Nowadays this is the baseline MCU style of dialog, which means it is absolutely played out.
I did like that style of dialogue, at the time, so idk if that was the problem for me.
It's been a long long time since I saw it, so I don't remember details only general impressions:
I remember thinking that every characters weren't really differentiated. They were all just kinda amorphous, until an opportunity for their single defining trait had a change to come out for a bit.
Did you watch the one where the people die?
I only watched an episode or two. I don't remember what order.
Most of the adult animated shows (Rick and Morty, inside job, ect.) they're like a 15 year olds idea of what adults are.
Attack on Titan got me into Gundam. It is basically a ripoff, but the aesthetics carry it so hard I don't even care
I couldn't keep with Demon Slayer. It was just ultimately unpredictable in plot to me, but not really in a good way. I don't know how to describe it.
But.. is he not?
You didn't find any of the art interesting at all? But anyway, if the plots suck, we wouldn't watch, either! I recommend that you try My Hero Academia, which is about 80% of the planet's population attaining superpowers; the story follows one boy in the 20% with no special abilities at all as he tries to navigate life in this new world.
My heros story is so bland though.
No, it's not! Did you merely read a synopsis? Those things leave so much out.
Anything with more than 3 seasons usually fails to maintain my attention. Eventually it's just more of the same.
The News. Repulsive, unbelievable main characters; insane plots; waay too many subplots; you can't understand a story without reading the fucking Wiki or going two knuckles deep on a forum to get the backstory or just picking up on the mode esoteric hints; this whole annoying multi-platform thing where you only fully understand a story if you watch it on six different platforms (I had enough of that shit with the Matrix twenty-five years ago, thanks).
severance. just so boring... uneventful. i just cant bring myself to care about the characters in any capacity. ive said it in other threads, its just 'depression porn'
Same. It’s not that it’s “uneventful”, it’s just that each “event” just adds more nonsensical mystery. It feels like Lost, which some people thought was twisty in a clever way. But instead the writers literally just kept throwing twists with no actual end in mind.
I’m sure Severance has some kind of plan, but it feels way longer than it needs to be. It’d make a good movie or limited series, but I’m not into this vibe for multiple seasons.
the show practically beats you over the head with the symbolism but failed to write the characters with any depth whatsoever. kinda like lost. no reason to care about what happens to anyone
Dang, the characters are my favorite part of lost :/
I liked season 1 and season 2 is the most pretentious slop and my friends call it a masterpiece and I feel like an alien
s2e4 has to be one of the worst episodes of television I've ever consumed in my life. stopped watching e right there.
s1 is alright though, endings a bit stupid but whatever
It’s nice to know there’s like 5 of us 🤣
It's definitely not for everyone. It's a very complex show with a lot of symbolism, and you kind of have to think for yourself what's really the implications of what's going on.
I was hooked from beginning to end, but it's definitely pretty boring if you don't get the subtext, or simply want an easy sit back and relax kind of show.
Nah, it's that it's not as "deep" as it thinks it is.
Where's that copypasta about Rick & Morty...
The last three are some of my favorites of all time, curious what you dislike about them.
Really all of them didn't grow on me very well. For each of them I watched the first season and decided there was just better stuff I could be watching.
Each had their funny parts but were just a bit too absurd...and I like absurd! Just not my cup of tea.
Came here for Buffy. I remember the film which was entertaining fluff, but then the series came out and almost immediately I hated it. But all of my friends loved it. Every so often one of them would try and persuade me to give it another go but everytime they did it was always by showing me the same fucking episode ('Hush', I think it's called) where no-one speaks.
I guess I just don't enjoy looooong series which are more soap opera than they are story.
You just described the entirety of The CW as a channel.
Breaking Bad. I tried twice, got a little farther each time but, just lost interest.
Dr. Who
All of them
Succession. I stopped watching somewhere in the 2nd season.
it's such a boring premise. rich people being shitty, but in modern times
Yeah, that's why I stopped watching: It became apparent that there was no interesting story other than the soap opera playing out in rich people circles.
The first season at least had the hint of something interesting; that estranged stoner being promoted from theme park furry to inner circle. But they barely did anything with it.
300+ posts and I only see about 13 or so, time for a new instance I think. Does lemm.ee really censor so much or is it my client.
The Expanse but I'll try to give it another shot one day.
The first season shows 2 perspectives - detective in asteroid belt and some of the most bland, basic and incredibly uninteresting dude going somewhere. Just kept falling asleep during those scenes.
I heard the layer seasons are quite interesting so I hope to at least skim through it or read the books but tbh the first season feels like it ruined the world for me already.
Wheel of time just finished the latest season in the background and its fun just bad. I've tried reading the book before and it's pretty terrible nonsense too so my expectations were already quite low. I do find the main plot point of basically temu Buddhism and the Witcher cocktail very atractive but it's just so poorly executed. All characters are meaningless. The world has so many plot holes that the wheel might as well just stop rolling right there.
Carnival row - not sure if this counts but it really sucked past season 1. It felt like something was there but it was really ruined by poor writing and Cara Delevingne and her character are so incredibly bad it really ruined any chances the show might have had.
The Orwell
Orville?
Yeah, that. Thanks.
It gets better as you go along.
If you can wade through the sludge (like ST:TNG S1), it really becomes incredibly thought-provoking in especially season 3.
Ironically, I couldn't stand Expanse's pilot and I don't think I got past the first few episodes. It was just so slow and nap-inducing...
Man, I wish I could just skip S1, then. If I can't then I may never see it as there is so much else out there!
Honestly, you may be able to for the expanse. I would argue at least the last few episodes of S1, but there is definitely a bit of a tonal shift as the screenwriters worked themselves closer to the books. Imo S2 & 3 have the strongest arcs whose themes bleed into the rest, with the world changing around those later.
I could not at all sink into for all mankind, knowing some of the major plot beats didn't help at all, i honestly don't know if i watched enough to make a judgement, but also trying to have a kid on Mars was probably the dumbest thing I heard that definitely pushed me away
The Expanse
Stranger Things
Deep Space Nine
Breaking bad, narcos, the office, friends.
The Boys. First season had raw charm with some cool punk tracks, then season two sterilised it and it seemed to become another day time TV show. Had a similar experience with Black Mirror once that got the American/Hollywood treatment. Always Sunny lost its charm when the gang went to Ireland. Aweful end to what was otherwise a good series. But I mostly dislike American TV.
I watch quite a lot of series and enjoy some of them. TV has never been too good, and nowadays its the most obvious that write-as-you-go model has blatant flaws. Storytelling is difficult enough already, but it's worse when you don't know how many episodes you actually have to tell the story, and you have to argue with other writers to include your scenes and plot lines.
I constantly find myself enjoying miniseries the most. The ending makes the story. So, the second best shows are those where every season or series has a self-contained opening and ending arcs. Cliffhangers bore me, most hooks are lost on me. Usually when characters seem to meander and roam aimlessly is because the writers are lost as well. And plots of convenience (where magically something just happened by chance to create or resolve a new plotline, or deus ex machina) just completely bore me.
So, anyways, to answer the question. True Blood lost me completely midway second season. Awesome world, but the writers didn't know how to write for shit.
Jujutsu Kaisen, I just thought everyone lacked charisma, I don't feel bad for it since the manga ended at least and opinions shifted.
The walking dead. A good show with high production value I will admit.
But I found it to be souless morbid and honestly disgusting.
Stranger Things. Gave up after the first season. It just felt like the show was trying too hard to feel like something nostalgic from the 80s without any of the substance or writing the things from the 80s it was trying to mimic had.
One Piece - with One Pace i got through the alabasta arc. The characters all have good back stories and motivations. I mean it is well written, but with how the stakes and emotional depth are managed it just feels like a sit-com. I want to like it more, but i just don't foresee myself throwing it on again.
Banshee. There's only so many times you can watch a guy get the absolute piss bashed out of him
Walking Dead, House of the Dragon
Ozark. It's super well done but I just got to the point that the violence was just too much.
Manifest. Holy shit, I tried. But wow, just mind numbing.
Almost every one?
yes
The sopranos. I got halfway through season 2 and decided I just didn't give a shit about finishing it.
I feel like it was a show that was greatly helped by the once a week group viewing era.
Better Call Saul for me. It felt like Breaking Bad but playing out at like 25% speed. Also Saul is a whiny bitch, I really lost patience with him when he gets to his "boo hoo being rich isn't fun I don't wanna work at a law firm anymore" phase.
The show that this fuck Microsoft clip is from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zpCOYkdvTQ
I was set on watching until this quote occurs to get the full suspense and context and comedic relief.... but I failed my goal during episode 2. Cannot suspend disbelief for this one, it's too dumb, makes no sense, most jokes fall flat. It's like they gave Gandalf a clown costume and Frodo acts as though that's normal and we're supposed to be falling off of our seats from that
Prison Break
Match Of The Day
Amerikans.
Like really y'all that addicted to the honey‽ Everybody is fucking everybody and only the two main characters know and can talk about it?
Yeah, good list.
I was in on Mr. Robot until it Fight Clubbed. Tried it a little bit after that, but completely lost interest.
Also not at all a fan of Walking Dead or most shows that are just depressing. Ive also always had this weird logical problem with Zombie apocalypses that never end. Like, I get it's a monster movie/show, but eventually I'm like "alright, how are there still so many walkers when there's been no food for years".
I lost interest in Battlestar Galactica for a similar reason (depressing). Also how the fuck could they not somehow detect who was a Cylon. They apparently have shit built in that let them transmit their conclsciousness across the galaxy when they die, etc etc. Also all the other shit that never got exolained.
Game of Thrones lost me at Reek.
Haven't gotten into Westworld.
My friends were all 100% convinced I'd be into Stranger Things but it just hasn't clicked with me. I'm going to give it another try.
Also zero, zero "reality" shit.
I gave up on Silo early on in Season 2, don't know how popular it is in truth but the Reddit hive mind (or bots) downvote you almost immediately if you even say you don't love it.
Like 97% of them
Damn few shows are worth my time these days. Re-tread it's galore, with simplistic emotional appeal to get you to react and continue to watch. Essentially producers saw what worked for "reality" TV in the 90's and applied that same juvenile, transparent, boring approach to new shows.
In that case, we should ask: what have you finished and do you recommend?
Too many. I can count by the fingers of my left hand how many shows I watched to the end and I still have unused fingers.
Which are those (at least, which you suggest)?
Person of Interest and MacGuyver
Yup, old and ancient stuff.
Nearly all of them, most seem to be racist comedy's or stereotypes and just bullshit I can't handle, or the plot is over used so much it's predictable, honestly most popular TV shows are just straight up boring and to much otherism and other racism, sexism, transphobia, ECT in them. Or just about fighting each other and it's all about drama because they don't have the apparent ability to just simply talk to each other.
Classic sitcom formula. I never got into a lot of the "family" shows in the 90s, because almost every plot revolved around someone being a poor communicator - and that's it. Person A can't talk about event/topic Y, and now Person B assumes reason Z and the entire episode and all its hijinks only exist because of it. Everything could've been avoided if Person A and Person B actually talked things through, like healthy, sane people who actually want to avoid conflict. But writers couldn't think of a way to both model proper communication and create a compelling storyline, so here we are.