# Critically acclaimed & popular shows you dislike **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063 "2009-01-13T08:47:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/41 "2009-01-14T19:34:54Z")
I think most television shows are bland shit anyway but I was SHOCKED when **30 Rock** made it past the first episode. It was so jaw-droppingly bad that I thought the cast and crew resigned themselves to the awfulness of it and just went throught the motions for the one epsiode that would ever get aired. It’s one of those things that makes me want a word that means “the opposite of funny”, because that show is way beyond just “not funny.” I hated **Pushing Daisies** about equally. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/42 "2009-01-14T19:41:21Z")
Echoing Seinfeld. Boring mostly. Echoing CSI - liked it at first, until they started the “weekly never in a million years cases” (dominatrix, furrie, and never ending stream of serial killers) I hated Lucy. American Idol. Survivor The Sopranos My husband would agree w/ Sex and the City (I watched it 'cause of Chris Noth) ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/43 "2009-01-14T19:58:08Z")
**Desperate Housewives** --blechhh! ---
**Author:** ![Elyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5ac83/32.png) [@Elyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elyanna)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/44 "2009-01-14T20:01:49Z")
Lost - when writers go maaaad! Scrubs - my brother loves this. Big meh. Family Guy - bleh. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/45 "2009-01-14T20:28:44Z")
> [@Mariemarie](#): > > **Desperate Housewives** --blechhh! If I may just briefly defend this show - you’ve got to take it as a comedy. It fails on _almost_, but not quite, every level as a drama. It also helps if you started watching at the start, or else you’re not going to give a damn about the characters, almost all of whom are completely moronic. Also, I’m not completely sure about this, but I don’t _think_ it’s as critically acclaimed or popular as it was earlier on. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/46 "2009-01-14T20:48:47Z")
I’ll second **Family Guy** - in fact, it’s probably the only TV show where, when I hear somebody finds this shit funny, my estimation of them as a human being actually drops. Speaking of which, **South Park** is painfully sophomoric and obvious - it’s the television equivalent of a stand-up comic doing a Jack Nicholson impression. It was a nice change of pace when it started, but it wore thin pretty quick, and then it just got lazy. Never thought **M_A_S_H_** was funny in the least. Not critically acclaimed, but definitely popular: **Two and a Half Men**. Every retarded shitcom cliche from the past 30 years, and it somehow manages not only to not get cancelled, but to become a hit. Shouldn’t surprise me, I guess, since **Home Improvement** and **Coach** were on the air for like 40 years each. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/47 "2009-01-14T22:52:21Z")
Grey’s Anatomy. Everyone I know loves this show, but I just can’t stand it. It would be better if they got rid of Grey herself… she’s such a horrible character! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/48 "2009-01-14T23:25:34Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Speaking of which, **South Park** is painfully sophomoric and obvious - it’s the television equivalent of a stand-up comic doing a Jack Nicholson impression. It was a nice change of pace when it started, but it wore thin pretty quick, and then it just got lazy. What? I’m wondering if you’ve watched it since it started, because the first season was much like you describe, but it’s grown by leaps and bounds since then. I don’t think anyone who “gets” both shows would ever mention it in the same discussion as **Family Guy** , unless to say how many magnitudes better it is. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/49 "2009-01-15T03:04:56Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > What? I’m wondering if you’ve watched it since it started, because the first season was much like you describe, but it’s grown by leaps and bounds since then. I don’t think anyone who “gets” both shows would ever mention it in the same discussion as **Family Guy** , unless to say how many magnitudes better it is. Or the reverse. 😉 FG \> South Park ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/50 "2009-01-15T03:21:49Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > What? I’m wondering if you’ve watched it since it started, because the first season was much like you describe, but it’s grown by leaps and bounds since then. I don’t think anyone who “gets” both shows would ever mention it in the same discussion as **Family Guy** , unless to say how many magnitudes better it is. Sure, I’ve watched it plenty. I’d read threads here about how great a particular episode was (the Scientology one, for example), so I’d check it out and be immediately impressed by how lame the jokes were. They always seemed to go for the most obvious punchline, the kind of stuff you’d get from any number of random bloggers. It’s just some weak-ass shit, IMO. But you are right: it’s still miles ahead of **Family Guy**. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063/51 "2009-01-15T22:52:53Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > There seems to be a large anti-Seinfeld contingent on these boards, as this and many other threads have shown. Is this an SDMB-only characteristic? Otherwise, how to explain the huge popularity of it among the general population? > > (Maybe people either hate it or love it, and there are just a lot in the “love it” category, making it popular, and also a lot in the “hate it” category making them vocal in threads like these) I didn’t hate it or love it. I generally laugh a few times during an episode, but it was never on my “must see” list. I don’t really understand the level of hatred for it. Sure, the characters have annoying traits that if they just got over, there’d be no show. But it’s fiction, fercrisakes, and a **sitcom** to boot; who tunes into a sitcom expecting anything resembling reality? For me, the list for the OP is long, but off the top of my head, acclaimed shows I can’t stand include: Lost (the short-lived teen version, Flight 29 Down, was infinitely more interesting) Heroes (dumb, dumber, and dumber-er) The Sapranos (the regular lives of ruthless criminals, I just don’t get the attraction) The Simpsons (ok, I can actually stand this one, it’s just not all that funny) The Shield (just no comment here) Friends (boring people doing unfunny things) House (a lead character who is thoroughly unlikable? no thanks) Deadwood (how many swear words can you work into an hour? How about some plot?) Cattlecar over Attica, er sorry: Battlestar Galactica (take something originally meant to be rather silly and try to make it serious; why? And it didn’t work anyway). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critically-acclaimed-popular-shows-you-dislike/481063.md?page=2)