# I stopped watching Show X when... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398 "2009-05-23T15:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/41 "2009-05-24T04:51:27Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > … > I quit watching Bones every week after the third season finale. > > Making Zack Gormagon’s apprentice because it was “logical” was probably the stupidest crap ever. This was compounded by the fact that the writers had no idea which member of the cast was going to be the apprentice until they wrote that episode. Making the apprentice Zack was just done to make the audience mad. > > So fuck that, I’m done. > … Same here. > [@ivylass](#): > > … > **Desperate Housewives**. Gabby throwing the cell phone of the man in the wheelchair across the parking lot so he wouldn’t call the cops on her for parking in a handicapped space. Nope, I’m out. > … I was never a religious Desperate Housewives watcher but I think I stopped even trying was some stupid Lynette thing which involved manipulating Tom or her kids for her own selfish reasons. > [@TBG](#): > > … > > I stopped watching **Ellen** when it went from being just another sitcom to **The Ellen Is Gay Show**. It’s not that I won’t watch shows with gay characters, I won’t watch shows where the whole focal point of the show becomes “look at me, I’m gay.” The quality had also been dropping quite a bit, even before the “coming out”. > > I stopped watching **ER** for a while when they wouldn’t stop having all those damn Africa episodes (it’s called **ER** not **Africa Doctors** fer cryin out loud), but later got dragged back in. > > … I stopped watching Ellen for the same reasons, it was too in your face, “LOOK, I’M GAY!”. I stopped watching ER a couple seasons ago. I did catch a few episodes in the final season but mostly because Anthony Edwards was going to make an appearance. I stopped watching Grey’s Anatomy I think a season and a half ago. It was shortly after Christina got dumped at the altar. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/42 "2009-05-24T05:06:57Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Likewise, I quit watching Bones every week after the third season finale. > > Making Zack Gormagon’s apprentice because it was “logical” was probably the stupidest crap ever. This was compounded by the fact that the writers had no idea which member of the cast was going to be the apprentice until they wrote that episode. Making the apprentice Zack was just done to make the audience mad. That describes my POV on that show, exactly. Haven’t watched it since ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/43 "2009-05-24T05:27:06Z")
I watched _CSI: Miami_ for a stretch, always hoping that Wolfe would get shot and die. It gradually occurred to me that I wouldn’t mind if EVERY main character got shot and died. In fact, that sounded like a great idea for an episode. Clearly, it was time to move on. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/44 "2009-05-24T09:08:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > **Heroes**. I used to tape it and watch it with my daughter because she had judo. Sunday night rolled around, we realized we hadn’t made time to watch the previous Monday’s episode, and didn’t much care about it. Ditto. I don’t even remember the last one (or ones) that I saw. I think there was something going on with Hiro and a map or diagram or something and that speedy lady kept stealing it. At some point it was like “ugh, I have three episodes of Heroes to watch. I’d better watch them to clear up room on the TiFaux.” instead of “yay, Heroes!” and at that point, I deleted it from the list and haven’t regretted it since. I stopped watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 when I saw people on a forum talking about the kids like they were fictional characters. There were a few people who had avatars or signatures with pictures of the kids on them (or one or two of their favorites) and there were discussions of which ones were people’s favorites and games like “what will they be when they grow up?” and “which stuffed animal would be their favorites?” and such. I was a little horrified that people thought of those kids that way when they’re not only real people, but people who didn’t choose to be celebrities. And then I realized that I’m really no better and wasn’t going to participate anymore. I’m done with America’s Next Top Model now. I knew who was going to win from the first episode. This whole season was boring and it’s another one that I don’t agree with (judging women as valuable based purely on their appearance and on fairly useless skills such as “posing” and “walking”)… plus I think, for a show that started out fairly lowbrow and dumb, it’s gotten progressively even stupider and I’ve reached the limit for how much can numb my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/45 "2009-05-24T10:45:43Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I stopped watching **ER** for a while when they wouldn’t stop having all those damn Africa episodes (it’s called **ER** not **Africa Doctors** fer cryin out loud), but later got dragged back in. > > I gave up on **Boston Legal** about six episodes before the series finale. I just couldn’t take the preachiness anymore. The last few episodes I did watch, I had to fast forward through most of the court scenes. I like Shatner, and Spader plays off of him well, but I just couldn’t take one more Alan Shore indignant liberal ranting closing argument. And I got really sick of “Hands” getting so much attention and the revolving door cast didn’t help either. It seems like David Kelly gets bored and tries to alienate his audiences before the show self destructs. He lost me on Picket Fences when the Sheriff was put on a jury and found a drug dealer not guilty of killing two cops with an automatic weapon because he was justifiably paranoid about his safety because of his chosen profession. Or maybe it was when he magically transported the town from a small seemingly remote community to a big city suburb close enough to have students bused in from the inner city. I agree about Boston Legal. It was not exactly a realistic show but by the end it went way out there in order to justify the preaching. I gradually lost interest in ER mostly because nothing good ever happened to anyone on the show. It became too damn depressing. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/46 "2009-05-24T11:27:51Z")
I gave up on **Grey’s Anatomy** when George cheated on Callie with Izzie. Tacky, stupid, bad. End of show. I gave up on **Heroes** when I had a four way DVR/viewing conflict with House, HIMYM/BBT and Dancing with the Stars. Heroes lost. I gave up on **Supernatural** two shows into this season, not specifically because of what had happened in those shows but because over the whole arc of the show there’s been a skeevy history of killing women and minorities in vastly disproportionate numbers and I’m tired of it. I gave up on **My Name is Earl** when they sent Earl to prison and he had no more money. I gave up on **Law & Order** when Jesse L. Martin left. I know S. Epatha Merkerson and Sam Waterston are still around but the familiar characters were what kept me coming back and Epatha and Sam are minimalized now. I gave up on **Law & Order: Special Victims Unit** when, in the span of a few episodes, not-really-multiple-personalitied Cynthia Nixon held Stabler’s pregnant wife hostage with a knife, then in-labor Mrs. Stabler is in a car accident with Olivia for no purpose in storyline whatsoever _except_ to play the obnoxious and overused “baby-and-mother-in-peril” trope. Just dumb. I gave up on **Law & Order: Criminal Intent** after they decided that they needed to break Robert Goren’s brain. Gratuitous ruining of a main character. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/47 "2009-05-24T12:57:52Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#): > > Stopped watching The Simpsons when Maude Flanders died. I had been less and less satisfied with the show for years, but that was the episode that signaled the end of the show I had loved. I still catch the occasional episode, but I don’t have anywhere near the connection with the show that I used to. I stopped watching The Simpsons when I missed a new Halloween Treehouse of Horror, and realized that I didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/48 "2009-05-24T13:12:59Z")
Stopped watching The Shield when… Lem got it He was my favorite character. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/49 "2009-05-24T13:47:34Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I gradually lost interest in ER mostly because nothing good ever happened to anyone on the show. It became too damn depressing. Same here. I don’t recall the exact time, it was in the first few seasons. But gloom and failure and tragedy and so forth heaped onto each other is not my idea of entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/50 "2009-05-24T14:15:44Z")
> [@myskepticsight](#): > > I stopped watching CSI regularly in about season 5 because the storylines were to me getting more ridiculous. I started watching it again when there were interesting Sara/Grissom storylines. I stopped watching again when Sara left and only watched when I knew from spoilers there would be some Sara/Grissom drama. I stopped watching for real when Grissom left. Season Four almost made me abandon **CSI** but I liked Sara, Greg, and Warrick so I continued to watch, albeit with a lot of fast-forwarding. When Jorja Fox left, so did I, and except for a few ‘guest star’ episodes, the TV show that I use to obsess over every Thursday is dead to me. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/51 "2009-05-24T14:20:28Z")
I stopped watching Prison Break in season 3 when they revealed it was Sara’s head in the box. The series just didn’t seem to be going anywhere interesting, and that was the last straw. From what I’ve heard of the rest of season 3, I made the right decision. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/52 "2009-05-24T14:27:45Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > I stopped watching Prison Break in season 3 when they revealed it was Sara’s head in the box. The series just didn’t seem to be going anywhere interesting, and that was the last straw. From what I’ve heard of the rest of season 3, I made the right decision. She got better. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/53 "2009-05-25T02:28:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > She got better. \*\*PERFECT. \*\* Pure Win Sir. Pure Win. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/54 "2009-05-25T02:35:15Z")
I should explain, I started Prison Break back up at the start of Season 4, and followed it to its end. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/55 "2009-05-25T02:49:27Z")
After reading this thread, I feel stupid mentioning this, but it’s what I thought of when I read the title. As a child, I used to watch Scooby Doo. It obviously streached reality somewhat, while pretending the be somewhat educational. There was an episode where it was eventually revealed that the jewel thief was dipping the jewels in gravy and feeding them to venus flytraps. Because, you see, venus flytraps are meat-eaters, and anything covered in gravy must be meat, right? They tricked this carnivorous plant into eating jewels by dipping them into gravy. Even as a youngun, I found this to be too stupid to continue watching. On second thought, this beats all of y’all’s “it got unrealistic at this point…” stories. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/56 "2009-05-25T04:07:47Z")
**CSI** - When they buried Nick and blew him up. I rather liked the episode, and catch reruns on spike, but that’s when TWOP stopped posting the funny, and my scheduled stopped fitting it. Now that Grissom is gone, I don’t know why I’d go back. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/57 "2009-05-25T04:49:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I gradually lost interest in ER mostly because nothing good ever happened to anyone on the show. It became too damn depressing. I stopped watching **The Riches** , when it became apparent that their lives were just one non-ending pile of suck. Nothing good happened in the short term, nothing good happened in the long term, and there was this cloud of doom about to crash over their heads. It was just too damn depressing. I stopped watching The West Wing in season 5, after Toby solved medicare. Because that was the dumb that broke the camel’s back. I stopped **Rescue Me** after Janet got raped and it was clear that no one involved in the show (actors, characters, producers) had a moral center. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/58 "2009-05-25T04:51:34Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > ER: I suffered through them making Carter into a drug addict. I stayed through killing off Dr. Greene. But when they had the psycho whack Kelly Martin’s character in the hospital, it was too much to take. That was the end. I thought both the Dr.Carter being and addict and Dr.Greene dieing occurred after she died? Cause I remember she was killed off in '98 or '99, thereabouts, when i still watched, and I don’t remember those other two story lines until after I stopped watching for a few years and then started again (which is to say they happened in the years i didn’t watch and I had to catch up.) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/59 "2009-05-25T16:06:48Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I thought both the Dr.Carter being and addict and Dr.Greene dieing occurred after she died? Cause I remember she was killed off in '98 or '99, thereabouts, when i still watched, and I don’t remember those other two story lines until after I stopped watching for a few years and then started again (which is to say they happened in the years i didn’t watch and I had to catch up.) Yeah, this is correct. They were related, too - Carter was also attacked by the psycho that killed Lucy (Kellie Martin) and became addicted to painkillers during his recovery process from those injuries. Dr. Greene didn’t die for years after all that, long after I stopped watching the show. (My parents told me about it.) ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398/60 "2009-05-25T20:41:44Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#): > > Stopped watching The Simpsons when Maude Flanders died. I had been less and less satisfied with the show for years, but that was the episode that signaled the end of the show I had loved. I still catch the occasional episode, but I don’t have anywhere near the connection with the show that I used to. Huh. I was about to post exactly the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-stopped-watching-show-x-when/497398.md?page=4)