Creative Artist That You Originally Really Liked, That You Then Burned Out On The Fastest?

Cafe Society
1

Who did you initially really like, only to grow sick and tired of, for one reason or another, in a relatively short period of time?

Remember, it has to be someone you liked very much (or at least quite a bit) when first exposed to their work.

I am not too hardcore about TV in general (never had cable or satellite) but I first got turned on to “The Office” by reading about it right here on SDMB. I started watching, and enjoyed it quite a bit, for the first year or so. My favorite actor on it was Steve Carell, whom I had never hear of before. Right after that, I saw both “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and “Dan In Real Life” which were both very enjoyable, at least for what they were.

Now, a couple of years later, I can’t STAND seeing Steve Carell on screen for more than just a second or two, and when I see him on a talk show or in a movie preview, it makes me want to walk out of the room instantly.

The weird part is, I have NO IDEA what happened: I can’t remember anything specific he might have done to turn me off, or what I subconsciously now have against the old bastard. I don’t know if I just decided he was a one-note performer and it grated on me after a while, or if I decided that he became incredibly overexposed overnight, seemingly appearing in every 3rd movie released, or what…

The other big one is good ol’ Craig Ferguson, who when first starting out on his “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” I honestly felt was the most inventive, personable, intelligent, worthwhile performer in ALL entertainment, bar none.

He was clearly well read, quick on his feet and typically funny as a motherfucker. His monologues were totally unscripted and often incredibly insightful, while capable of biting, brilliant satire.

After a couple of years, he is now too Goddamn pathetic for words, constantly relying on a few shopworn, tired, cliched catchphrases and recurring bits, all of which would be sad to watch if performed by a 4th grade class-clown in a Special Ed program, nevermind a highly paid major network talk-show host.

He was initially as promising as anyone I can ever remember, and now is fucking cringeworthy, made much worse by knowing how truly excellent he once started out as…

What about you?

I am not really looking to debate anyone’s specific choices, and there is no need to list the reasons behind your feelings, but are there any performers/authors/artists that you used to love and then suddenly couldn’t stand?

2

If I can nominate a TV series it would be My Name Is Earl. When it first came on I loved it, thought it was so funny. Then, one day I couldn’t stand it anymore.

3

KISS - I was 12. By 13 I had realized that KISS sucked and I knew who the real rocker was.

Ted Nugent :smack:

4

Piers Anthony. Well, at least his more humorous stuff; I still rather like the Incarnations books. I adored him at first, but suspect I just got into him a wee bit too ‘old’ or something. Either that, or my limit on puns is a lot lower than I expected. :stuck_out_tongue: Anyway, loved him for a year or so, then quickly burnt out on most of his stuff.

5

Nickelback. Back in 2000 I rushed to buy The State because I really loved the song “Leader of Men.” I wasn’t disappointed by the other songs on the cd, either. So, I looked forward to Silver Side Up the following year. Fortunately, the library got it in before I could consider buying it…I listened to it, and was utterly disappointed. The songs sounded just like most of the ones I already knew, except none sounded like “Leader of Men.” The Long Road a couple of years later is more of the same.

Once in a while since then I’ve listened to their singles, mostly to see if they ever redo “Leader of Men” as another song, but so far they don’t seem to have.

~~*

The Anita Blake series. I came to the party late, and discovered the series in 2002. I read the first six books in six months, twice. I liked the seventh and eighth books well enough too. And then, less than a year after I started reading the series, I got to books nine and ten. And 1/4th of the way through eleven. I own more of the books because I bought all I could get my hands on at the time, but I’ve never read any more of them. Because by book ten the books have completely devolved into bad erotic fanfiction of her own works.

6

Simon Bisley.

Amazing work in ABC Warriors, but after big guns and enormous boobs came to be his standard answer to everything, I rapidly lost interest.

7

I hate to say it but I kinda sorta agree about Craig Ferguson. Not to the degree that the OP does but man, something changed and not for the better. What the hell is up with the stupid talking skull and the puppets? It is to weep(I’d still marry him, though).

Lots of TV shows - " Desperate Housewives" and " Grey’s Anatomy" come immediately to mind.

Rihanna was quite appealing when she first came out and now I kind of want to smack her. Double ditto for Lady Gaga, though in her case I chalk it up to overexposure.

8

Sue Grafton and the “Alphabet Mysteries”. A friend gave me A-L, and I just blew through them. I remember hanging out at the bookstores looking for the newest installment. Somewhere around P is for Peril I started thinking they were pretty much all the same. I think the last one I read was T is for Trespass and I didn’t even finish that one.

possible spoiler alert

Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta series. When the author brought Kay’s boyfriend back from the dead it just ruined it for me.

Dumb noob question… how the heck do you spoiler box something? Gotta be something easy I’m missing… :smack:

9

His interviews are still great, most of the time. But it’s really hard to come up with original stuff 180 episodes a year. You have to fall back on repetition with a format like that.

10

I totally feel in love with Ani DiFranco when I first encountered her. And then after going on an Ani DiFranco album-buying rampage I quickly discovered that I really only need one Ani DiFranco album in my life. And after a while even that seemed like too many.

11

Not exactly high art, but…Evanescence. When “Bring Me To Life” came out, I felt like it was the most cathartic, fun to sing song ever written. Checked out some of their other stuff and quite liked it for about six months, when suddenly their stuff just started to piss me off. By the time “My Immortal” was in heavy rotation, I was done.

I still roll up the windows and turn up the volume so I can screech along at full throated volume when “Bring Me To Life” comes on in the car, though…:wink:

There’s not an automatic button. Put [/spoiler] after what you want spoilered and [spoiler] before.

12

I obviously used a little hyperbole to make my general point, and to be fair to Craig, even now, with all the “Remind you of anyone?” and robot skeleton bullshit, he is still much, MUCH more naturally funny and entertaining than his competitors Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, etc.

Still, he was SO good his first year or two—I actually got tickets to watch a taping while visiting L.A. a few years back when he was just starting, (his big guest that night was Patton Oswalt) and had a really enjoyable time.

I got tickets for another taping last year on another trip to L.A., and ended up deciding to blow off the show, assuming that staying in the random, seedy dive bar I was at and drinking a few more cheap Budweiser’s would be more entertaining than Craig is currently…

(Don’t worry, it said on the tickets that if you aren’t at the studio by a certain time, they will let others on the stand-by list in to take your place, so someone was able to enjoy themeslves)

13

put the word spoiler in at the beginning of your spoiler and spoiler in[/] on the other (spoiler goes after the backslash here)

14

Rod Stewart. At first he seemed to have one of the greatest rock and roll voices. I first started feeling differently when I worked at a Spencer Gifts around Christmas and we were required to play a tape with advertising and also “Every Picture Tells a Story.” I go crazy with repetition, and hearing that song every five minutes all day completely ruined my good impression.

At the same time, he was going through his Disco phase with crap like “Do You Think That I’m Sexy.” And I realized that, great voice or not, he couldn’t tell a good song if his life depended on it from the day he left Jeff Beck. I’ve gotten to the point that I just can’t listen to him.

15

Anything Laurell K Hamilton has written since the first couple of Anita Blake and Meridith Gentry books.

16

Dennis Miller, without question.

That old HBO show he had on in the mid-90’s, you couldn’t have found a bigger fan of it than me. I own all his “Rants” books, and those still to this day make for great reading.

I was one of the few people who loved the way that he and Al Michaels (and yeah, Dan Fouts) clicked on Monday Night Football.

But ever since he went all ‘political’ over the last few years, I don’t even bother. I went and saw one of his “concerts” here locally a couple of years ago (kind of the “I’ll give him one more chance” attitude), and it was the lamest, most boring $90 I’ve ever spent.

17

Katy Perry.

18

Franz Ferdinand (the band) - I thought they were great, a solid line of hits, by the time I saw them live at the end of their first major tour I had gone sour on them, their lacklustre performance at the show only reinforced my waning enthusiasm.

19

I had heard high praise for Monty Python from British friends, and when it first came to the United States, I thought it lived up to the hype. Within a few months, however, it became impossible to attend a party without hearing literally a dozen or more bad renditions of the same skits you’d just heard last week. The more material that became available, the worse the problem got, until I was so thoroughly soured on Python that even 30+ years later, if it’s playing (or worse, somebody starts yet another bad rendition), I leave the room.

20

God, that blew. My roommate had all the albums so I was burnt out before PBS started showing them.

Yes, I am admitting to have been burnt out on Monty Python before anybody else in the US, and probably your parents. Suck it and admit I’m cooler than you have any hope of being. :wink: