I used to think that way. Heard all this blather about M.A.S.H. and therefore ignored it. Finally, too late, I decided to bite and realized I’d been a twit. Not sure if I ever have seen all the episodes.
I’m delighted when I like something popular. That way, it gets renewed and there’s more of it.
I dunno. I pretty much don’t watch dramas, but if I try one and like it I’ll watch it. But I usually won’t commit to an hour each week, and that leaves out most dramas.
Other than that, pretty much it comes down to whether or not I enjoyed it.
Wait, I thought of one: There are certain actors that will keep me from watching a show. Most of the cast of Seinfeld. Although I did try the new adverntures of old Christine more than once.
I never bothered to get involved in 24 (which would mean renting each episode) since it just seemed like neocon porn. And now that it’s in it’s 5th or 6th season, there doesn’t seem like much point. I mean, I’m not going to be wondering if Jack survives to stop the terrorist plot the first five times if I see ads for him running around for a sixth.
Obviously you haven’t watched it. Hugh Laurie is very funny in House. That’s the main reason why it’s good. If there was no comedy it would just be another show. In the case he is more like Blackadder than the Prince in the show.
Me too, only I’m not a dancer, I’m a cook. So I like Top Chef and Next Food Network Star. Dance shows bore me.
Precisely. How odd it is that two recurring SDMB themes are “oh, when shows get too popular I can’t watch them” and “Why was Firefly cancelled, o cruel world?”.
Dang. Then FOX should have billed it as a comedy. Too late now.
Not sure if this qualifies as irrational, but I refused to watch The Sopranos for a long time because of the language. I don’t mind (and often use) the F-word, but I figured the writers were using it for shock value, to get attention, which meant that the writing wasn’t very good.
Lucky I got over that little foible before Deadwood started.
I feel the same way as others about glorifying the Mafia. The hell with that. I understand the American taste for bad boys, but the Mafia are the bottom of the barrel. Real scum. They’re to sort of people whom you’d be really sorry to know well, if you knew any of them well.
My family echoes much of what has been said.
My wife doesn’t watch House because she doesn’t like what Bertie Wooster has become. She knows he is an actor, playing a role, but Laurie will always be Bertie to her.
My mother will not watch anything with people who are even vaguely ghosts. We did not watch Topper or** The Ghost and Mrs. Muir**. She claims a lot of people feel this way and that was the reason for the failure of My Mother the Car.
My father would not watch any show that tried to make war fun (McHale’s Navy, Hogan’s Heros {especially Hogan’s Heros}) because he felt they demeaned what he went through. He also refused to watch any of the more accurate war portrayals like Band of Brothers. "I went through it in real life, why do I want to watch it in television life?
I used to put forward the theory that I would not watch a show where everyone on it was better looking than I. But as I age, that only leaves shows with hairless cats and bulldog-basset hound mixes or have Jamie Farr as a cast member. Thus I am hedging my theory. Still not completely sure but am pretty sure the late night Cinemax programing will be included.
TV
But Hugh Laurie speaking with an “American” accent is all kinds of wrong; which is why I don’t watch this show either.
I refuse to watch anything on the CW, and refused to watch anything on the late WB. This makes visits to the in-laws rather uncomfortable, as my SIL is a Smallville and Gilmore Girls addict, and their living room TV is usually tuned to our local CW station. I haven’t got the heart to tell her what I really think of her beloved Lorelei and Rory. I won’t even go into the myriad reasons why I hate Seventh Heaven.
I’m still mad at Mr. Lucky for getting me hooked on Grey’s Anatomy.
I’ve never watched Buffy–or any of the non-supernatural teen dramas–because I don’t care to revisit my high school years–or anyone else’s. I have very little interest in the problems of self-absorbed teenagers.
OTOH, I loved Joan of Arcadia.
I won’t watch a show until the series is complete, and I know how it ends. I’ve been burned too many times by following a show week-to-week only to see it ruined, thereby making me furious for wasting all those hours I could have been watching something good.
The show that tipped me over the edge was Surface. Sea monsters from the deep causing catastrophic environmental problems. This has a great premise, and week after week I tuned in waiting for it to get good. And every week, I was reminded that the writers must really hate their jobs and were trying to get fired. At the end of the last episode I found myself standing up and screaming at my TV. That was enough to convince me that my entertainment time needs to be better planned.
Heh, I used to avoid anything with a plane crash because I’m afraid of flying (I wouldn’t even watch things that were about planes without crashes, like Wings) … but over the years I turned around on this one and now seek out plane crashes on TV or movies because in some irrational way it makes me feel validated about my fear of flying. I guess I’m a little bit of an Eeyore type, I like sitting on the couch and morosely saying “See? I knew that would happen.”
I had to stop watching Six Feet Under 10 seconds after the character Brenda was introduced, I was profoundly and completely annoyed by the very fact of her existence. She makes my skin crawl. It’s so bad that I turned off any promos for the show, even if Brenda wasn’t on-screen, because they made me think about her.
I have a friend who is a DNA analyst. She refuses to watch any programme where the science is not precisely accurate. ‘CSI’ is never to be spoken of. Even something like ‘Waking the Dead’ is on the shit-list because one of the lab techs was having an emotional crisis and walked outdoors for a smoke whilst still wearing her lab coat.
I’ve tried several times to explain the concept of drama and suspension of disbelief but for her, if it’s science-related it must be dead-on accurate or she won’t watch.
I’m not sure this counts as irrational, but:
I love shows with a supernatural element. Tell me that your program has a monster, and I’m likely to give it a shot.
But I can’t stand shows that give credence to real-world psychics, who I consider hateful frauds. For this reason I won’t watch The Ghost Whisperer, and I quit watching Medium, which I quite enjoyed, once I learned that the show’s claim that “There is a real Allison DuBois” wasn’t just artistic license, a la Fargo.
I never do this, but: I hope you would consider suspending this long enough to check out “Everybody Hates Chris.” I don’t often recommend TV shows – hey, I have the weirdest taste in TV, so how do I know what anybody else would like? – but this show is really good and worth at least one look. Tyler James Williams, the kid who plays Chris, is quite good.
Are you watching “Supernatural”? Monsters! Ghosts! An old Impala! Classic rock! Cheesy hotel rooms! Woo!