# TV hits that suck(ed) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566 "2003-03-15T08:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/21 "2003-03-15T22:58:20Z")
I dislike “Will & Grace.” I consider it a modern incarnation of a minstrel show. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. America, come and laugh at the queers! See, Jack wants to be an actor but he has no talent! Laugh at the stupid flouncing fag! And he always has sex on the brain, too! Oh, and here’s this week’s Big Guest Star embodying some obvious stereotype!” Grumble, grumble. It’s shallow cliches, sanitized for mainstream consumption. Except when they do a Very Special Episode where Grace has an Important Realization about her Pathetic Love Life. Bah. I’m quite perplexed at the ratings success of “American Idol,” too. I just don’t see the appeal. Oh, and “My Big Fat Greek Life” is doing pretty well ratings-wise, also. Interchangeable and thoroughly generic crap. Click! ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/22 "2003-03-15T23:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I hate Will & Grace. It’s shrill, annoying and unfunny and Jack is one of three television characters I would happily go to prison for the oppotunity to stab repeatedly in the face with a broken bottle. Ditto, ditto, ditto. Couldn’t have said it better myself. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/23 "2003-03-16T00:15:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fibber McGee \* > \*\*I hate Will & Grace. It’s shrill, annoying and unfunny and Jack is one of three television characters I would happily go to prison for the oppotunity to stab repeatedly in the face with a broken bottle. \*\* I don’t think Jack is THAT annoying, I think that one brunette is! What’s her name? The way **Moe** feels about **“Malcolm in the Middle”** is the way I feel about **“That 70’s Show”**. On that show, the setups for jokes are SO blatant! It’s a lot like **“Friends”** , only the jokes aren’t that funny. I think the comical remarks are poorly timed and poorly put. When I’m over at my brother’s house and he’s watching the show, I’m always saying; “It would have been funnier if he said… instead of…” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/24 "2003-03-16T00:33:32Z")
TV hits that suck(ed)? How about **every goddamned reality series ever made!!** Bleah! Bleah, I say! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/25 "2003-03-16T00:55:36Z")
My list of horrendously bad, but popular enough to survive WAY too long, TV shows: \*The Dukes of Hazard The A Team Will and Grace Three’s Company Maude The Jeffersons The FBI Dragnet Barney and Friends Jerry Springer Oprah Dallas \* ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/26 "2003-03-16T01:34:24Z")
## quote: ## Originally posted by Joel For me, pretty much all sitcoms from the 50’s and 60’s (I’m only 29, but I have seen the reruns.) Shows like My Three Sons, Father Knows Best, Family Affair, Leave it to Beaver, and the Brady Bunch…Yech… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fingolfin \* > \*\*What!!?? Yo, thems fightin’ words! [click] BAM! BAM! BAM! > > Seriously, those are some of the best, most beloved shows of all time! You are way out of line here bud! 😉 > > Now **Manimal** , that was one horrendous show! O wait, that wasn’t really a “hit” now was it. Hmm, let me see… **The A Team**! Yes, that was a “Hit” that completely sucked ass!! \*\* Well, if it’ll make you feel better, I did like I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, My Favorite Martian, The Partridge Family, and, I think…well, it’s been a long time, but I think I liked MR. Ed. Shows like I dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Gilligans Island and Dobie Gillis were, OK. But everybody knows that 50’s and 60’s sitcoms were basically kids shows. The 70’s had some pretty good comedies, The Bob Newheart Show, Mary Tyler Moore, which I really loved. One think I like about 70’s sitcoms is that, they became more adult, but yet, they didn’t get cheep laughs from things like using crass language. That being said, I did like, despite its crassness, Married With Children. Oh, I just thought a couple other shows which were hits, but which I hated, The Love Boat, and Familly Affair. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/27 "2003-03-16T01:36:17Z")
## quote: ## Originally posted by Fingolfin Now Manimal, that was one horrendous show! O wait, that wasn’t really a “hit” now was it. Hmm, let me see…The A Team! Yes, that was a “Hit” that completely sucked ass!! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\*Well, if you’re going to split hairs, you may as well remind everyone that **Nightrider** sucked mightily. (though I thought it was cool when I was 11) \*\* Yeah, I liked it when it was first on too. I wonder, if I were to watch it today, how I’d feel about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/28 "2003-03-16T01:45:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Moe \* > \*\*I hate _Malcolm in the Middle_. I hate it. Hate hate hate hate it. **Joel** thank you for starting this thread and giving me the long awaited opportunity to get this off my chest. There have been times that I’ve contemplated pitting this damn show, but realized I probably wouldn’t have had the wit to pull it off (i.e. without getting slammed by all the MITM fans). I remember the days just before the show aired initially. I didn’t think I’d like it from the clips they showed in the commercials, but the ad campaign was successful in creating a sorta buzz and so I still gave it the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to like it, and many people I know like it. After seeing the first episode I was convinced that this was the stupidest show ever created (though I can appreciate that it was a genuine attempt to take a risk and try some new things instead of relying on a collecti0on of _cliches_). I chalked it up as an experiment that failed and would surely be off the air in a few months. > > But it kept living. And it turned out that nearly everyone I knew liked it (this is an important point because I don’t think I’d be this hateful of the show otherwise). See, we’d all gather for the Simpsons and just stay for MITM, so I often would watch. I’d have to sit there while everyone (people I love and respect) would laugh at the stupidest jokes I’d ever seen. And I’d just want to lash out and tell them all how stupid the show is, to get them to see it my way, to understand that they’re all being had. > > It would of course be quite wrong to do that, and so I bit my lip and sat, and watched. > > And so, I thank you once again for this thread. > > ::deep sigh:: I feel so much better now. \*\* Any time, Glad to be of service 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/29 "2003-03-16T01:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fibber McGee \* > \*\*It’s just that it annoys me when people take a “me vs. them” attitude to something popular they don’t like. > > On an only somewhat related note (After all, you avoided using the word and for that if nothing else you get my respect), “Overrated” is when you don’t like something and most other people do. “Underrated” is when you like something and most other people don’t. I usually find myself tuning people out when they start using these words, as I find them to have no objective meaning, and have no worth except inasmuch as they tell me that someone else holds their own personal opinion in very high esteem. \*\* Seinfeld, while a good show, was overrated 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/30 "2003-03-16T01:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*I was also unaware that folks had this violent hatred for Malcolm. That’s one of the funniest shows on TV! Most weeks it’s better than the Simpsons. > > Now then, I hate most of the other shows already mentioned, including Will & Grace, Veronica’s Closet, Raymond, Friends, etc. I also hated the hell out of The Nanny. And, of course, every reality show ever. And every FOX show that tried to turn marriage into a gameshow (how many have there been now?). \*\* Yeah, the Nanny wasn’t that good. But why do you, and everybody else bring up Veronica’s Closet? That wasn’t a hit, was it? I thought it went away rather quickly. Of course I could be wrong because I never really paid attention to it after an episode or two. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/31 "2003-03-16T02:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*I’m quite perplexed at the ratings success of “American Idol,” too. I just don’t see the appeal. > > Oh, and “My Big Fat Greek Life” is doing pretty well ratings-wise, also. Interchangeable and thoroughly generic crap. Click! \*\* Yeah, I don’t watch any “Reality” TV shows, except for when my wife watched some of Survivor Thiland. As for any show that comes from a movie, with the exeption of M_A_S\*H, they usually are a bad idea, thus, I never even gave Honey I Shrunk the Kids (with Peter Scolari) a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/32 "2003-03-16T02:16:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boyo Jim \* > \*\*My list of horrendously bad, but popular enough to survive WAY too long, TV shows: > \*The Dukes of Hazard > The A Team > Will and Grace > Three’s Company > Maude > The Jeffersons > The FBI > Dragnet > Barney and Friends > Jerry Springer > Oprah > Dallas > > * * * I’ll second The Dukes of Hazard, never understood the appeal. Hmmm, I’ve never heard of The FBI, when was that on? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/33 "2003-03-16T03:51:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boyo Jim \* > \*\*My list of horrendously bad, but popular enough to survive WAY too long, TV shows: > \*The Dukes of Hazard > The A Team > Will and Grace > Three’s Company > Maude > The Jeffersons > The FBI > Dragnet > Barney and Friends > Jerry Springer > Oprah > Dallas > > * * * Which “Dragnet”? The 50’s one, or the one with Harry Morgan? The first never jumped, the second always did. I haven’t seen “Dallas”, but I agree with most of the rest of the list. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/34 "2003-03-16T03:53:07Z")
The one with Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/35 "2003-03-16T03:54:25Z")
The FBI was on in the '60s, starring Efrom Zimbalist, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/36 "2003-03-16T05:14:40Z")
Leave it to Beaver is one of the best sitcoms in history. Cmon! EDDIE HASKELL? Lumpy Rutherford? Whitey Whitney? How could you not find this funny? And Ward Cleaver was a great dad in that he made mistakes and then apologized for them. I repeat. EDDIE HASKELL Beaver getting trapped in the big bowl of soup on the billboard because Larry Mondello dared him to go up there. TVLAND -10:30 pm EDDIE HASKELL ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/37 "2003-03-16T05:29:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \* > \*\* > The way **Moe** feels about **“Malcolm in the Middle”** is the way I feel about **"That 70’s Show"** Funny you should say that, because I was actually going to mention _That 70’s Show_ as well. I just figured I used up my share of rant for this thread on my first post. ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/38 "2003-03-16T05:29:50Z")
FULL HOUSE!!! :mad: Bob Saget!!! :eek: Dave Coulier!!! :eek: The Olsen Twins!!! :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/39 "2003-03-16T05:46:24Z")
I’m just waiting till they hit 18, do Playboy spreads, start doing drugs, and try to get taken as serious actresses 🙂 (Just kidding) ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566/40 "2003-03-16T06:00:46Z")
Full House - by far. Bob Saget had this amazing run of success that I’ve never understood. Not only did he have this show, but was moonlighting on America’s Funniest Videos, killing every moment he spoke on an otherwise harmless, mindless half hour of programming that would have been amusing if not for his babbling. I hope he never appears again on tv. But, alas, with reruns, I’ll be stuck with him forever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-hits-that-suck-ed/161566.md?page=3)