I’m willing to make certain concessions for pilot episodes, but generally speaking my threshold is about 10 minutes. I’m not saying a show has to prove itself to be great in 10 minutes, but it’s enough for me to decide if there’s anything worth sticking around for. Whitney is a good example of a show I gave that bare minimum of time.
My wife, OTOH, watched the entire run of Kath and Kim, still hoping at the end that it would get better. She made me sit through something like 4 full episodes of Mr. Sunshine before I finally had to put my foot down.
It definitely depends on the type of show. There are some types I just don’t care for at all. Others I tend to accept for at least an episode or two before deciding.
My worst case was The Wire which I gave up on before the end of the first episode. After hearing all the raves for the show after it had been cancelled I rented the DVD’s from Netflix and have since decided that it’s one of my Top 5 of all time.
At the other extreme I watched all of the first season of The Killing before deciding I was a fool for watching more than one or two episodes.
What’s worst is to get truly hooked on a new show only to have it get cancelled. My latest such disappointment was Terriers. It pretty much convinced me not to get too attached to new ones, so this year I have bailed all all the new shows I even gave a chance to.
I’m a sucker for HBO shows, some of them anyway, but I keep wondering why it is that I keep watching Boardwalk Empire. Best guess is that there’s not much competition on Sundays.
I have no patience for sitcoms, so I won’t even watch the pilots.
Sci-fi and fantasy I’m usually willing to give at least 4-6 episodes. Sometimes it takes a while for a show to get into its gear.
All other shows, I’m at the ten minute mark.
Two episodes, then if there’s buzz I’ll give it another chance. Parks & Recreation comes to mind.
More curious for me is when I give up on a show that I’ve watched for a few seasons. I usually only realize it after the new episode has been sitting on my DVR but I haven’t been in a hurry to watch it. Examples: Heroes, Burn Notice, Rescue Me, House.
Anywhere from 3 minutes to several episodes. But for some reason I forced myself to watch the entire first season of *Hot in Cleveland *(does **anyone **watch that?). It 's basically a dumbed-down version of Golden Girls . . . but this time everyone’s Blanche. Yech.
Every time I watch *The Middle, *I swear it’s the last time. I would have quit after one episode, except that I like Atticus Shaffer. But his part seems to be smaller this season, so it’s getting kinda iffy.
First, I will look at all the new shows that are coming out for a new season, and then I pick the shows that might sound interesting to me. I like what I like. Mostly comedies, police shows, some animated series, some reality shows from A&E, and other shows with actors that I like, and avoid those shows with actors I usually dislike. and sample them. If the show doesn’t seem to hold any interest to me, I wont watch it.
I am mostly right on my judgements, but not always. I did not watch Seinfeld or The Office for several years after they were on. The Office because it did not seem interesting (worker drones?) and Seinfeld to me was a bunch of big city New Yawkers, which seemed to be too similar to Friends and shows like that.
This season to me is dreadful, and there is not anything that I really, really wanted to see and my sampling was next to zero. I have sampled "Two Broke Girls" and turned it off after about 10 minutes from bad jokes and stereotyping Asian people (although it pleases me that Garrett Morris is on there and I hope that this show will be a comeback for him). I tried “Last Man Standing”, the Tim Allen vehicle. Gave it about an episode and a half.
So mostly, I prejudge what I might like, then watch an episode, if I like it, I will watch more. I also give shows which has potential, but after two or three episodes, I watch or dont watch.
Two episodes, thereabouts. Assuming I catch the pilot, which tend to be a bit clunky anyway.
I might give up on a show after one viewing, if I think it’s awful enough, but I can usually give a show benefit of the doubt enough to try another, under certain circumstances (i.e. a fan’s saying “yeah, that was the lousy episode they produced during the writer’s strike—but this other one’s a classic!”).
Case in point, Firefly—I only really watched the premiere because it came after the premiere of “John Doe.” And indeed, Firefly’s premiere “The Train Job” wasn’t that great of an episode—it actually wasn’t even the pilot; Fox just aired it first for some unknown reason. I was pretty unimpressed until the “Darn” scene near the end, which is what got me hooked for another week. Then I was sold.
DVR has made this really easy for me.
I start the season by taping all the shows I think I will like.
Then, as the season progresses, I start to see the shows that build up on my DVR and it becomes clear which shows I am not all that excited or interested in seeing again.
Often I will delete 5 or more episodes of a show that I haven’t bothered to watch.
I just noticed yesterday I have the last 5 or 6 episodes of Terra Nova…I think that will probably be deleted soon, but am waiting to see if I get really bored over Thanksgiving weekend and will try it again. If not, they will be dumped.