# Popular TV shows none of your friends appear to have seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400 "2012-05-19T05:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/1 "2012-05-19T05:36:21Z")
I seem to have an uncanny knack of watching TV shows that hardly anyone else I know likes. None of my friends, for example, watch _Mad Men_ or _Breaking Bad_. There’s no point talking to them about _Sons Of Anarchy_ because they’re not watching that, either. Occasionally I’ll get lucky and find that someone (or several someones) else I know has seen _Arrested Development_ or _The Sopranos_, but it’s not a guaranteed thing. And all this surprises me because these sort of shows are supposed to be really popular, yet they’re not being watched by many people I know. There’s usually one or two people watching them, but I can’t remember the last show I could talk about with a sizeable number of my colleagues. Anyway, this got me thinking that surely I’m not the only person on the SDMB with an out-of-synch taste in TV shows. So, what are the supposedly popular shows you like that none of your friends/colleagues are watching? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/2 "2012-05-19T05:50:36Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > So, what are the supposedly popular shows you like that none of your friends/colleagues are watching? Star Trek, in any of its incarnations, going back to when I was in high school (a long, long time ago). Its appeal is, it would seem, definitely limited to a particular fan base (to which I belong, BTW). I love shows like The Sopranos that are well-written and grounded in reality. So much of network TV nowadays is just plain crap, I tend to stick to History Channel, National Geographic, and other more documentary stuff. Since I live in North America only part of the year, I haven’t been able to follow shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire, which I’d love to watch. I’ll be happy when they’re available for free over the Internet. The other shows I have strong attachments to are all old and are probably appreciated only by people in my age cohort: Combat!; The Avengers; The Prisoner; Wild, Wild, West; Dick Van Dyke; and so on. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/3 "2012-05-19T13:05:59Z")
My experience has been much like the OP’s. The same could be said of me by them, though. Many people I know like network crime dramas like CSI and Hawaii 5-0 and I’ve barely seen either. What aggravates me is when they catch 15-20 minutes of one or two episodes, out of context, and decide they didn’t like the series. To really appreciate the great series like Sopranos or The Wire you need to watch them in order and pay attention. ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/4 "2012-05-20T02:36:31Z")
I tend to enjoy a lot of Brit TV, so living in Wisconsin, as you can imagine, makes it difficult to find others with a similar bent. And I don’t even mean the obscure stuff. I had a friend get angry with me for suggesting that Being Human (US) wasn’t an original. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/5 "2012-05-20T21:54:34Z")
> [@tadtooornamental](#): > > I tend to enjoy a lot of Brit TV, so living in Wisconsin, as you can imagine, makes it difficult to find others with a similar bent. And I don’t even mean the obscure stuff. I had a friend get angry with me for suggesting that Being Human (US) wasn’t an original. You don’t get PBS out of either Chicago or Minneapolis/St Paul? :eek: I remember living in Indiana for a time back in the '70s. I would have slit my wrists without Chicago TV channels! The same goes for when I lived in Milwaukee in the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/6 "2012-05-21T00:24:05Z")
Half the people I know watch ‘reality shows’. And maybe the news. The other half of the people I know NEVER watch ANYTHING on TV. I like to come to the SD and read and maybe comment about my favorite shows, otherwise, I’m all on my own. ☹ I tell someone, "great episode of ‘House’, the finale is tomorrow night’ and they’ll say, "isn’t that a medical show? I hate medical shows. Speaking of which, do you think that new real housewife of New Jersey has implants?’ :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/7 "2012-05-21T00:35:55Z")
I seem to have a lot of friends who are either the “oh, we don’t really watch TV” type or who prefer Real Housewives/The Bachelor type reality shows. Thankfully, **Suburban Plankton** and I watch all the same programs and we have you guys to discuss them with. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/8 "2012-05-21T01:03:19Z")
I’m always telling my two bosses about whatever series I’m into at the moment. I know as I’m speaking that they will never, ever, go to a video store and rent the series I am describing, let alone watch online. Thier loss. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-tv-shows-none-of-your-friends-appear-to-have-seen/622400/9 "2012-05-22T08:33:22Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one then. It really makes me wonder where TV ratings figures come from, when you hear that shows have X million viewers… comprising absolutely no-one you know.