# Series you've recently watched, are now watching or have given up on **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 9, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108 "2021-07-09T17:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 439
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8768 "2026-04-16T13:38:12Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@XOldiesJock](#): > > > > It’s no Schitt’s Creek. > > So… it’s actually engaging? I gave up on **Schitt’s Creek** a few months ago. Could not get past season one. Couldn’t even get very deep into it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even make it to episode 5. Just did not give two shits about any of the characters or their situation. On the humor scale, it was at best a “heh” at a rate of once an episode. In my opinion, the Rose family (the formerly wealthy one now living in that town) weren’t very likeable the first season but they improved in the second and later seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8769 "2026-04-16T13:45:37Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Seconded. I’m reading the book now. I wonder if anyone can tell me how close the new adaptation is to the book. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8770 "2026-04-16T13:48:52Z")
I’ve been watching the adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo as it airs on PBS and I wondered one thing about the story. The protagonist, Edmond Dantès, spends fifteen years in prison before escaping, becoming fabulously wealthy and returning to society in Paris, interacting with those who knew him prior. But don’t those people recognize him? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8771 "2026-04-16T13:54:40Z")
I’m only about 5% in, just after Edmond’s arrest, so a full report will be a while off. However, in reading a summary, I did come across one major difference: at the end Edmond goes off with his “protégé” Haydee. I presume that was seen as too imperialist/racist/sexist for the producers, so they used the ambiguous ending with Edmond and Mercedes we see, instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8772 "2026-04-16T14:28:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In my opinion, the Rose family (the formerly wealthy one now living in that town) weren’t very likeable the first season but they improved in the second and later seasons. It’s their arc. They have to be over the top wealthy insufferable people in the beginning or there is no story and it becomes your average sitcom. It sucks that is as far as many get. It would be like recommending **Lost** to people and most say, “I hate plane crashes, that was all it was about” since they never got passed the 3rd episode. However, as I write this I remember watching the entire first season of **Buffy** waiting for the SDMB promise of it to, ‘get gud’. and it never did for me. So YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8773 "2026-04-16T14:33:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But don’t those people recognize him? In the book, he is materially physically changed by his long period of suffering in prison, as well as the change in his personality and personal circumstances. Plus they believe him to be dead. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8774 "2026-04-16T14:43:22Z")
Yeah, but in the show he is barely changed, except for the beard. And Mercedes doesn’t seem to have aged 20 years, either. They could have done something more to change him, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8775 "2026-04-16T15:07:12Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Isn’t “fixing” modern TVs throwing it away and buying a new one? Alas, so it is, I was able to buy a new TV for less than the minimum cost of repairs ($240 + parts at Geek Squad; might be a few dollars less if I could find an independent person to do it, might not). What a wasteful situation. Now the old TV will sit in my garage waiting until the next time I have a load big enough to take to the dump. I finished watching season 4 of Slow Horses on the new TV. Very intense, as I expected, on more than one front, and there seem to be some fairly large loose ends (spoilered for others like me who are watching late) – What ended up happening to Harkness (no relation to Captain Jack, I presume)? Did they ignore his threats and keep him in the tombs indefinitely? If so, was everything published online as threatened, and is there/will there be blowback against the Service or First Desk? Will Molly suffer any consequences for letting Harkness into the system, even though it was under such severe duress? At least 4 Dogs died at the hands of Patrice because of that. Maybe some of the answers, especially to the 2nd one, will be revealed in season 5. Starting that tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8776 "2026-04-16T15:15:02Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > However, as I write this I remember watching the entire first season of **Buffy** waiting for the SDMB promise of it to, ‘get gud’. and it never did for me. So YMMV. I think you will find that most people recommend that _Buffy_ starts getting good mid season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8777 "2026-04-16T15:24:32Z")
Yup, that bit was revealed to me here after _a season_ of viewing was not enough to stoke my interest. I did not know the buy in was so large. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8778 "2026-04-16T15:24:58Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > So… it’s actually engaging? I gave up on **Schitt’s Creek** a few months ago. Could not get past season one. Couldn’t even get very deep into it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even make it to episode 5. Just did not give two shits about any of the characters or their situation. On the humor scale, it was at best a “heh” at a rate of once an episode. Happy to see that others share my opinion of that mess. The most unfunny comedy I’ve run across in a long time. Our Jewish friends loved it, and the wife half was always quoting it, which generally got blank looks from us. Unlikeable and unsympathetic characters, and while that meme can be pulled off in a series like Seinfeld (some would argue that), this wasn’t that. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8779 "2026-04-16T15:36:17Z")
It seems that both _Buffy_ and _Schitt’s Creek_ only got good in their second seasons. I was not interested in the former and wasn’t willing to make the effort with the latter, even though our Jewish friends told us how great it was. (We’re Jewish, too.) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8780 "2026-04-16T15:37:32Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Happy to see that others share my opinion of that mess. The most unfunny comedy I’ve run across in a long time. Our Jewish friends loved it, and the wife half was always quoting it, which generally got blank looks from us. Unlikeable and unsympathetic characters, and while that meme can be pulled off in a series like Seinfeld (some would argue that), this wasn’t that. I think I made it partway into the second season, mainly because I kept hoping for it to actually live up the hype. Same problem; unsympathetic characters and unbelievable situations. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8781 "2026-04-16T16:05:18Z")
**Schitt’s Creek** was pitched to me as “Arrested Development meets Green Acres”. So I knew it was right up my alley. Plus, I was a big SCTV fan back in the day so Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara were a big plus. My first time through I made it nearly to the end of the second season. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it’s just that we were watching too many different shows at the same and never got back to it. Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, my wife absolutely _loathes_ Chris Elliot so it was hard to get her to watch. I started watching it again after Catherine O’Hara died and am up to halfway through S4. I’d say things really start changing near the end of S2. I know it’s difficult to ask someone to stick with a series they’re not enjoying for that long. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. But it does get better. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8782 "2026-04-16T16:24:46Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, my wife absolutely _loathes_ Chris Elliot so it was hard to get her to watch. I also avoided Schitt’s Creek for a few years, specifically because of Chris Elliot. Once I started watching it, I was fine. Between him having a supporting role (so less screen time) and this role really seeming to click for him, after an episode or two, I was fine with him. There’s a few actors I don’t like except for one specific character that seems like it was made for them, and IMO, it feels like Roland Schitt was made for Chris Elliot. I feel like anyone else in that role would’ve overplayed it, but Chris was perfect for it, IMO. After I got over my dislike for him and actually watched it, it very quickly became one of my favorite shows. I’ve probably watched the entire series 4 or 5 times by now. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8783 "2026-04-16T17:04:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Started “The Count of Monte Cristo” on PBS. Typically well-acted period piece. I was really looking forward to _The Forsytes_ because I’d seen the original series way back in the late 70s and really enjoyed it. Yes, it was a bit soapy, but the characters were complex, and it was interesting how the social mores of the times affected the characters. But we watched one episode of the remake and found it had been Bridgertonized into fluffy crap. So. We’re watching _The Count of Monte Cristo_ instead. It’s well done and beautifully produced. The first few episodes were so tense they were nearly unbearable. Really enjoying getting into the revenge part! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8784 "2026-04-16T17:10:51Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, my wife absolutely _loathes_ Chris Elliot so it was hard to get her to watch. This is why I resisted the show for so long. But his role does diminish somewhat as the series goes on. But in the beginning he was always there, and I _hated_ him, so I wouldn’t watch. She finally got to me to watch a bit later, and I was pulled in and eventually really liked it. It’s pretty exaggerated and often somewhat slapstick, but damn funny, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8785 "2026-04-16T17:20:18Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > It seems that both _Buffy_ and _Schitt’s Creek_ only got good in their second seasons. I was not interested in the former and wasn’t willing to make the effort with the latter, even though our Jewish friends told us how great it was. (We’re Jewish, too.) Other shows that took a season or so to get good are Seinfeld and Parks and Rec. Both had shaky first seasons but gelled after that. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8786 "2026-04-16T17:24:04Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I started watching it again after Catherine O’Hara died and am up to halfway through S4 Have you seen the episode where she films the commercial for the local fruit-based wine? Hysterical. (With the caveat that all humor is subjective, obviously) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108/8787 "2026-04-16T17:32:25Z")
I always liked the part in that episode where David and Moira get shitfaced trying wines. Also, I don’t know why it stuck with me, but, of all of David’s outfits throughout the show, I hated that one, so much. It looked like he safety pinned a cloth napkin to his shirt. [![](https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/david-and-moira-drinking-wine-at-the-winery-on-schitts-creek.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1.5) ](https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/david-and-moira-drinking-wine-at-the-winery-on-schitts-creek.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1.5) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=438) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/series-youve-recently-watched-are-now-watching-or-have-given-up-on/946108.md?page=440)