# Slaughtering Sacred Cows of Entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834 "2005-01-09T03:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/1 "2005-01-09T03:25:21Z")
What movie, book, author, or television series is usually held up as a model of excellence do you dislike or hate? Do you consider the collected works of J.R.R. Tolkien to be nothing more than a poor pastiche of plagarised Trutonic mythology? Is Star Wars a mildly entertaining space opera at best? Spielberg a hack? Jimmy Stewart the most overrated actor to ever work in Hollywood? Try not to be too harsh in your slaughter but I’m curious. What entertainers and/or pieces of entertainment have you never gotten the appeal of or not considered worth your time but is considered by the majority or plurality to be the best of its field? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/2 "2005-01-09T03:31:53Z")
I couldn’t possibly be more indifferent as to which hairy unwashed person did or said what on any episode of _Suvivor_ ever filmed. Does that count? Also all of what little I have heard from the vocalists on _American Idol_ makes me want to jam knitting needles forcibly into my eardrums. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/3 "2005-01-09T03:39:10Z")
I suppose those would count but I was looking more for “This Critically AND Popularly Acclaimed \_\_\_\_\_\_ Sucks” than “Current Pop Culture Sucks”. We have a ton of threads trashing \*Friends \*and reality TV but not so many where people deflate overrated works. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/4 "2005-01-09T03:41:56Z")
Made it through 15 minutes of \*\*Citizen Kane[/b[ before flipping the channel, wondering what people see in it now (as opposed to judging its impact on the medium, which I’ll take on faith was highly influential). Listening to film students talk about Friz Lang’s **Metropolis** is infinitely more entertaining than watching the actual movie. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/5 "2005-01-09T03:47:32Z")
_Garden State_ bored me to death. _The Dark Knight Returns_, one of the most acclaimed comic stories of all times, is just not that good. I think _Batman: Year One_ is far superior. Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNiro have been coasting on reputation, basically doing impressions of themselves for years. That felt good 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/6 "2005-01-09T03:55:16Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > _Garden State_ bored me to death… Four posts in and I already regret starting this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/7 "2005-01-09T03:58:39Z")
Lord of the Rings is an interesting story and mytholology, with interesting characters. But Tolkien couldn’t WRITE the story to save his life. Story: Good. Style: Ohmygodmangetonwithit! As a comic book fan, I appreciate Jack Kirby’s contributions to the medium. He was, I admit, a great. But good lord a-mighty, his art is ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Farmwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8dc957/32.png) [@Farmwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/8 "2005-01-09T04:05:04Z")
Having recently laughed, groaned and WTFed my way through _Vertigo_ I have to wonder why anyone could gush over it with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/9 "2005-01-09T04:08:20Z")
Much as I love Hitchcock, I do agree **Vertigo** is overrated. I much prefer **Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest** and **Psycho**. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/10 "2005-01-09T04:12:10Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Four posts in and I already regret starting this thread. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/11 "2005-01-09T04:18:32Z")
_Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewere and die._ Or, in other words, you slaughtered one of _ **my** _ sacred cows. No fair. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/12 "2005-01-09T04:27:19Z")
_West Side Story_. Does anybody actually buy this dreck? ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/13 "2005-01-09T04:49:58Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > _Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewere and die._ > > Or, in other words, you slaughtered one of _ **my** _ sacred cows. No fair. Sorry, I just watched it last night, so it was fresh in my mind :smack: 😛 Back to the thread, _Sex And The City_ was about as clever as _According To Jim_ (not a good thing), but it had racy language and occasional nudity. I realize I’m in the minority here, but I never thought _Seinfeld_ was especially funny, certainly not worth the fawning it recieved. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/14 "2005-01-09T04:50:48Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > I couldn’t possibly be more indifferent _Suvivor_ > _American Idol_ makes me want to jam knitting needles forcibly into my eardrums. Gotcha beat, never watched them. 🙂 Cop shows. Doctor shows. Hate the damn things. Shows about assholes. Battlestar Ponderosa. Andromeda began to fellate with great allacrity when Sorbo began running things. His ambition in life is to have a job on a soap oper so he won’t have to work. Getting rid of Tyr, the most interesting character killed it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/15 "2005-01-09T04:52:05Z")
**Aesiron** , now just where did you get the idea for this thread… hmm, enquiring Trekkies wanna know. Watch the board, I’m getting readyto start one based on a conversation over there as well. Anyway, slaughtering sacred cows. –Barbra Streisand’s C over High C or whatever the fuck it is is so Goddamn overrated, I can’t look at or listen to her. Drivelshit, I call her vocalizing! – **Seinfeld** is annoying in the most grating fucking way, especially the doofus with the 60s shirts and Lyle Lovett hair. –Most horror prose and films are not horrifying, just boring. –Gore Vidal can write better than most people alive or dead. Other times he can be pedantic (why does he even bicker with Chuck Heston over the gay subtext in “Ben Hur”–Vidal always comes off looking like a sniveling whiner, even when he is right, and he is right, the subtext is louder than a Hawaiian shirt). Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/16 "2005-01-09T04:57:15Z")
I second Seinfeld from the stills alone. What’s with _Now. Voyager_ aside from Betty Davis and two guys from _Casablanca_? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/17 "2005-01-09T05:27:35Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Is Star Wars a mildly entertaining space opera at best? This would be the one that rings the most true for me. Don’t get me wrong - the films are entertaining for what they are - but it took me a long time to stop holding their overwhelming popularity against them. As a kid growing up as a fan of speculative fiction, I longed to see a good “hard SF” film adaptation of . . . well, just about _anything_ I loved - Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon, etc. Seeing _Star Wars_ proclaimed as the best thing to ever happen to science fiction was grating. For a long time. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/18 "2005-01-09T05:52:41Z")
Well **Aesiron** , I suppose you wanted answers of a more culturally sophisticated nature. However, I guess I’ll air my pet peeve - **The Simpsons**. No, not Jessica and Ashlee - I mean the TV show. I’ve been an SDMB member for a year and a half and I’ve been astounded at all the pro-Simpsons postings. I really can’t think of even 1 anti-Simpsons posting. Personally, I can’t stand the show. Yes, I’ve withheld my opinions about this subject for all this time, but this is definitely _the_ thread to post it. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/19 "2005-01-09T05:56:01Z")
Another one who finds the two-three dozen episodes he has seen of **The Simpsons** over the years mildly amusing at best. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/20 "2005-01-09T05:58:47Z")
Nah. _The Simpsons_ counts. I’m not sure how critically acclaimed they are but I have a vague impression that they are and if nothing else, I mentioned _Star Wars_ in my OP, didn’t I? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834.md?page=2)