Shows you thought you'd love, but ended up hating

Cafe Society
1

An offshoot of this thread, which poses the opposite question.

What shows (or movies, or books, etc) did you come into expecting to fall head over heels for, only to find yourself running away, screaming?

For me, the number one example is “Alias.” I had quite a few friends recommend it to me after I mentioned that I was a big “Buffy” fan, presumably because both are action-driven dramas featuring strong female leads. I gave “Alias” a try, and forced my way through the first three seasons before giving up.

It turns out that, despite their superficial similarities, “Alias” was essentially all the things that originally turned me off from “Buffy,” minus all of the things that ultimately won me over. “Buffy” is character-driven; “Alias” is plot-driven. “Buffy” leavens its drama with well-timed comedy; “Alias” veers erratically between ludicrous self-importance and unfocused silliness. “Buffy” had coherent season-long story arcs characterized by the slow burn; “Alias” devolved into “MUST HAVE PLOT TWIST AT THE END OF EVERY EPISODE” mode by halfway through season 2.

Most importantly, “Buffy” featured intelligent, likeable, and well-developed protagonists with whom the audience could grow to empathize; the characters of “Alias,” in contrast, seemed to have been written by a schizophrenic, with personalities and life histories constantly flipping around or being retconned, resulting in a confusing mishmash with no consistency whatsoever. By the end of season 3, I was thoroughly sick of J.J. Abrams and his apparent lack of interest in developing his own characters and could go no further.

Other things I thought I’d love, but ended up hating, include:

Star Wars: Episode I
Star Trek (the reboot film from last year)
Heroes (such a promising concept, but executed terribly - in fact, suffers from the same issues as I described for “Alias” above)

2

Dead Like Me

I loved Wonderfalls and Pushing Up Daisies, so I figured I’d like that one. It was cute for a little bit, but it got really, really boring.

3

Curb Your Enthusiasm. I loved Seinfeld, and everybody talked about how great CYE was. I couldn’t stand it. Larry David has all the asshole qualities of George Costanza with none of the quirky everyman charm (or the wit of the rest of the Seinfeld cast).
And I didn’t hate it, but Life on Mars, the ABC version that is. It got some really good reviews and I tuned in for a few episodes but I just couldn’t get into it. If you took away the time travel gimmick, it seemed like what you were left with was a pretty standard cop show with a lot of '70s cliches. Maybe I felt that way because I was watching The Wire on DVD at the time, which took the police drama to a whole other level.

4

Way back when Survivor was coming out, I heard the producer on Bob & Tom and I thought it sounded FANTASTIC. Stranded on a desert isle? Who hasn’t contemplated that cliche? Now here’s a show where they actually try to see how people would actually cope!

Uh, no. God, no. Utter bullshit contrived situations. I hate reality programs and blame Survivor for the proliferation of them.

My little own opinion, of course. If you like reality TV — here, you can have my share. :slight_smile:

5

Another for Heroes. I love comic book movies and scifi stuff and TV shows about supernatural shit. How could they go wrong? Oh, by having nonsensical storylines that don’t go anywhere, that’s how.

Based on the fact that other people whose taste I usually agree with liked them, I expected to like Arrested Development, Family Guy, and How I Met Your Mother. Hated all of them.

6

Good one - I felt the same way. “Wonderfalls” is a gem; “Dead Like Me” was shockingly dull considering that its main character was the Grim effin’ Reaper.

7

Everyone was telling me how great *30 Rock *was, so I gave it a try. I gave it another try. And another.

Nothing.

8

I felt the same way about Curb Your Enthusiasm. In high school I watched “Seinfeld” in syndication (didn’t get into it until after it was older). Loved all the pettiness of the gang, especially George. Watched an episode or two of Curb and hated it.

I thought I’d like Big Bang Theory but I watched a few eps with a friend and thought it was cliched and dull.

I didn’t hate the Wire, but I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped. I loved the Sopranos and Rome and wanted a new HBO series.

Oh, speaking of Sopranos…I know Matthew Weiner worked on it and then went on to do Mad Men. I thought I’d like Mad Men for the same reason–plus, it seemed like it was a lot deeper than most of the other dramas out there. But I loathed it.

To be honest there hasn’t been a TV show I’ve really loved since the Sopranos. It’s making me sads.

9

The Big Bang Theory. I work in a university research lab, and I like geeky humour, so when I heard about this show it sounded great. But watching it, there is just nothing I enjoy about it - I find it boring, unfunny, and not even particularly smart. I don’t find any of the characters remotely likeable and the whole thing is completely unbelievable.

I know lots of other people like it, and that’s cool. But … I just felt like this should be my show, you know? I’m still a little bitter about it.

10

Dollhouse. I just kept waiting for something to happen. And because I never canceled it from my DVR, it kept recording, and sooner or later I would watch (because I lusted after Dichen Lachman), but nothing ever happened.

11

Yes, that was my problem with it. I’m not a researcher like you, that is, but it felt like it was someone who maybe had a geeky friend or nerdy brother and knew something about the kind of dorky subculture, but only a surface view. So you see a lot of stuff like, “Haha, let’s have them go to a Halloween party…but he’ll go as a HOBBIT!” Or “Look, they like Star Trek. A LOT!”

That, and most of the things that are so geeky are kind of mainstream now. Okay, having a Star Trek discussion isn’t as mainstream as talking about…I dunno, the superbowl, but it’s not so out there.

12

Spartacus: Blood and Sand…

… my mom told me it was like Rome.

How very wrong she was.

13

Yeah, agreed. I really wanted to like it but found that I just can’t stand Larry David. At all. In character or out of character. He’s a self-absorbed, irritating, misogynistic old bastard and listening to him for two minutes makes my ears burn.

14

What was that POS Aaron Sorkin made after THE WEST WING? SUNSET STRIP 60, or somfin like that? Unwatchable.

15

Oh God. Yes. “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Can’t believe I forgot that one.

16

I feel annoyed that Rome had to be compressed into two seasons every time I see an ad for that show.

17

I’d say it’s more that the show is targeted towards those who only have a surface view. If the jokes were too geeky they wouldn’t have enough of an audience.

18

Similarily, I tried Tudor’s looking for a Rome substitute, and it just made me appreciate all the things Rome did right that the Tudor’s screwed up. The most prominent one is that Rome had a good mix of historical and (more or less) fictional characters, so you could still have some plot tension since you didn’t know how everyone ended up. Rome was also smart enough to have people from a cross-section of society. The Tudor’s was basically stuck in Henry’s court the whole time (or at least for the first two seasons, which is as far as I got).

Ah well, hopefully someone else will come out with another gritty historical-drama that does it right.

19

Dollhouse - I didn’t think I’d love it, but I thought I’d like it. Nope.

Torchwood - I like aliens. I liked Jack in those “empty child” episodes of Doctor Who I saw. I did not like Torchwood.

Hex - It’s like Charmed brits told me. Not hardly.

Lost - Scifi on an island, what’s not to love? Lots.

20

I thought I’d love The Wire, and didn’t hate it, but stopped watching after about five episodes. There was a lot going on that you had to keep up with, yet it was slow at the same time.