How long do you give a TV series before deciding to keep watching? (Cashmere Mafia)

Cafe Society
1

We gave the TV series mentioned in the subject line less than two minutes.

It was just appalling, far below the normal standards of even regular-grade network television and about fifty floors below good cable stuff. I honestly could not believe the actors were saying the words they were, in the manner they were saying them.

I had heard that this is essentially an attempt to recreate “Sex and the City.” After just thirty seconds, though, I was starting to think to myself, “No, that can’t be. They must be trying to PARODY Sex and the City. It’s clearly some sort of satirical farce.” Then, about a minute later, I realized that, no, it wasn’t intentional. It was just awful. It was a farce all right, but not the intentional kind. I would not have believed that it was a professional production, created by an actual studio, were it not for the fact that it has expensive-to-hire actors in it.

I looked over at my wife after ninety seconds, 120 tops, to see if I was wrong in my observations. Her mouth was agape in horror. So that was that.

But maybe I was too quick to judge it. I have trouble imagining that somehow to two minutes I watched gave me the wrong impression, but maybe they did. Let me ask you this question (and it can be about any show)

How long will you watch a TV show you haven’t watched before before determining you will not watch it anymore?

For the sake of this question let us assume the TV show is of a sort of show that you enjoy - for instance, you like many sitcoms, and it is a new sitcom, or you like prime time soaps and the show is a prime time soap. This is to eliminate answers like “well, I won’t watch a show about sports for one microsecond 'cause I hate all sports.” I’m talking about shows that you COULD like, but you may or may not decide to like a particular show in that class of shows, depending on its quality.

2

First commercial break.

3

I gave up on Cane after three episodes.

I gave up on the Bill Engvall show on TBS after the first show, although I am a fan of his.

I’ll generally give a show at least one full airing before I judge it.

4

2-3 episodes, usually. Sometimes it takes a while for a show to pick up.

5

Ten or fifteen minutes for a TV show, ten or fifteen pages for a book. That’s not enough time to know if the show/book is “good”, but it’s enough time to know whether or not it’s for me.

6

Depends on the show. Flash Gordon took me 15 minutes. Mad Men, and episode and a half. Seinfeld after about seven episodes (not counting the four summer replacement episodes). Many others, the first time I see their promo.

7

“Keep watching?”

Ther’s only been one new series in the past couple of years that looked interesting enough to *start * watching.

8

Depends on if I started watching because I was very interested in the premise or if I started watching because I had nothing pressing to do. If the former, usually an episode. If the latter (as in the case of Cashmere Mafia) we made it to the 30 minute mark then bailed.

For example, I thought Bionic Woman could be good. I gave it two or maybe three episodes. I didn’t have anything better to do when Life came on, so I watched it and kept right on watching.

That’s your clue that this thread isn’t for you, isn’t it?

9

I gave The Dresden Files two episodes before confirming my initial opinion that it was shite. But normally I’d be more lenient and give a show (that I don’t already have an interest in watching) at least four or five episodes. Bionic Woman actually improved as time went on, in my opinion, so if that survives the strike I’ll keep watching it.

10

Was the kid sister killed off in an unnecessarily brutal fashion? If so, I’ll consider coming back to it.
Actually, the major flaw with that show was also reflected in a cheesy vampire flick called Thrall, in which a female vampire of superhuman strength and speed uses pseudo-martial arts (i.e. a lot of showy spin kicks) to overpower a group of attackers. If the character has vastly superior strength, why bother with the unnecessarily elaborate moves? Just break the guy’s arm, already.

In the case of Bionic Woman, it demonstrated a general willingness to come up with solutions that supposedly looked cool but were ridiculously elaborate and just dragged out the resolution. If I see a show doing that early on, it’s time to reach for the remote because endless eye-candy is for rubes.

11

I enjoyed the first series of Lost until I realised that the writers were making it up as they went along and seemed to be throwing in weirdness for weirdnesses sake rather then for any reasons of plot,so I stopped watching it.

Monk started off well but the standard of writing dropped off significantly after the first few episodes and the plots became very silly so I stopped watching then.

On the other hand the first series of RedDwarf and Black Adder were pretty dreadfull so I didn’t watch them but saw some of the later series by accident and became hooked.

12

I generally have a pretty good idea of what I’ll like from the premise, but for shows on the borderline…I Tivo everything, and watch everything in order of preference. If a show starts piling up episodes because I’m just never in the mood for it, and then I need to start making space, well then I delete them.

13

It depends. Some shows I will give a lot longer than others. I tried with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I watched probably about six episodes. I only gave it that long because of Aaron Sorkin, and the cast. Another show may only get 1 episode and I’m done if there is nothing premise or cast-wise holding me to try any longer.

14

I gave Cashmere Mafia exactly 0 seconds, since the commercials for it told me all I needed to know. Clearly, RickJay is much more open-minded than me.

I usually give a new show about two episodes. Journeyman is a good case in point. Before it came on, I thought I would love it. During the first episode, I started to worry, but I said, “Hey, pilots sometimes suck.” I bailed half-way during the second episode, when it became clear that the pilot was going to be the high point of the season.

15

I’ll give most series half an episode to win me over if I’m interested (obviously, there are many that never even get to that point, but that’s a different topic). The last one that failed that test was Journeyman - the pilot was painful to watch, but I kept hoping it would take a turn for the better. When it didn’t at the half-hour mark, I turned it off and went to do the dishes.

If the first episode was good enough to hold my attention, I’ll keep watching until there’s a run of 2-3 bad episodes in a row. That’s where Chuck lost me - I liked the first episode, but the followups weren’t nearly as slick (I guess they couldn’t afford McG’s salary after the pilot?).

16

It depends how complicated the premise is. If it’s a standard sitcom or cop drama, it had better hook me right away. A more complex show may need more time to set itself up. I see Journeyman mentioned a lot as a show people turned off half way through the first episode – which was the worst time possible to turn it off.

17

I liked the first episode of Chuck, got really bored with the next few but still watched because my husband liked it, and then started liking it again. No real idea if it improved or if my attitude changed.
With Journeyman, I watched four or five episodes and realized I hated the wife and the brother, which left me only liking the parts of the episodes that were in the past. So I stopped watching.

18

It’s 8:12 and I already hate The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I guess this is probably about average for me.

19

I tend to give it at least one full episode. (Sarah Conner Chronicles gets another 40 minutes … I’m waiting for the actual story to start … hey look, shooting!)

20

I gave Katie Couric 2 minutes of my life as her premiere on CBS news. 2 minutes I will never see again.