But does anyone actually love that show, though? I mean, if I feel the need to veg out and nothing else is on, I’ll watch it. On occasion, I’ll even laugh. But I doubt there are any rabid Everybody Loves Raymond fans out there. Then again, if I didn’t know better, I’d doubt there were rabid Seinfeld fans too.
I’ve seen DVD boxes of Everybody Loves Raymond for sale. Come on, who in the world buys those? Who loves that little million-in-a-million show so much that they feel the need to own all the episodes? That boggles my mind.
Since it’s pretty easy over here to avoid American shows that don’t appeal to me (although I agree with madmonk28 on 24), I’ll go with one of the local shows that pissed me off to no end.
Koko ga Hendayo Nihonjin (Hey Japanese, this is weird!). The premise of the show (which ran in the late 90’s) was interesting: 100 foreigners living in Japan, fluent in Japanese and representing a cross-section of the world’s nations, would debate different issues of Japanese society like a mini-UN. After the first couple of shows the producers tossed that idea and tried to make it a Jerry Springer clone that played up every ethnic stereotype there is, the foremost one being that non-Japanese are all violent-tempered lunatics who will never fit in. My current boss was a panelist for a few months, and tells stories of how the directors would yell at him for disagreeing with the other American (they wanted all the disagreements to be split along ‘us vs them’ country lines), and how people who didn’t throw telegenic tantrums weren’t invited back.
Even if I never watched it, the show’s very existence pissed me off. Here I was trying to get along with the community and make it the place I build my home, family and career, all my neighbors and their kids are watching the Dancing Monkey Minstrel Hour.
I can’t really think of any popular TV shows that I don’t hate.
Can’t stand cop shows, Dr. shows, reality shows, talent shows, shows where people are mean to each other, stressful, overly glib, work-related dramas, cartoons and sitcoms all fail to entertain me. I don’t really like acting, actors, screenplays, movies or anything. The whole shebang simply does not interest me in the least.
Okay, so maybe I bought into the premise the first season. Find a group of buisness savy people from different backgrounds (street smarts, book smarts, etc.) and have them compete in various business/leadership/planning projects to determine who is most qualified to run one of Trumps businesses.
Now the show is so utterly transparent as nothing more than a reality TV gameshow it’s really sad. They find players in much the same way MTV finds cast members for the Real World, who’s going to be the most dramtic-confrontational-controversial-rude-backstabbing person to stick in front of the camera.
Then they give them pointless tasks like who can sell the most pies, who can decorate the prettiest x-mas tree, etc.
And the winner gets to be a public relations “face” for one of Trumps projects for a year.
Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, and especially Malcolm in the Middle. Modern sitcoms are so garish and LOUD. The characters don’t speak, they shout and screech, constantly. It gives me a headache.
Wow. Do you mean Hugh Laurie, or House? Because I’ve never seen or heard anything to indicate that Laurie himself is an unkempt drunkard jerk, and I’ve been watching him since his sketch comedy days with Stephen Fry.
And to answer the OP, I think Lost is ludicrously badly written and interminably paced, plotted, and arced. I’ve also never, ever, ever seen the redeeming qualities of Desperate Housewives. Soap opera piffle. (Although I do love me some Felicity Huffman.)
I hate anything on TV that purports itself to be “reality programming”. I just can get past the feeling of being scammed. I believe that nothing gets put on prime time TV that is not precisely scripted and exactly produced.
Other shows I can’t sit still for are 24, Grey’s Anatomy, and Desparate Housewives. I’ve been a fan of Lost up until this fall but I’m fixin’ to bail on it.
Seinfeld. I can’t find anything remotely amusing about it, it hurts my eyes to watch it. And reality tv shows, they’re the stuff that nightmares are made of.
I have quite a few: Grey’s Anatomy, House, Survivor, Desperate Housewives, Deal or No Deal (does it really have to be on every night?), 24, Will & Grace. These days it’s difficult for me to get into anything on regular network TV. HBO and Showtime have spoiled me with excellent shows that I can watch on-demand with no commercials.
Almost everything. The shows that were somewhat watchable have either jumped the shark long ago (looking at YOU, ER), or have morphed into a nearly nightly variation on a theme (you too, Law & Order and CSI). The current crop of dumber than dumb “game” shows assault us nightly. About the only things I can stand to watch is The Office and The Dog Whisperer. Scrubs started out funny, went to amusing, and is now just repetitively annoying. Same with Earl.
Seinfeld, Friends, and Cheers. All three are unwatchable for me. I can’t even comprehend what people see in them. (Oddly, though I can’t stand Cheers, I love Frasier.)
I hate reality shows, medical shows, and comedies. Except for the shows on HBO, the only things I watch at the moment are HGTV, 24, Top Chef. Sometimes I watch the reruns of CSI on the A&E channel and golf.
I was going to say this exact same thing. It’s too bad they couldn’t go without a laugh track on Seinfeld, so we could have a clear record.
When Friends first came on when I was a kid, it seemed like okay sitcom stuff, but over the years I’ve grown to hate it. Overprivlidged yuppies that have life crises every week over stupid stuff. I guess there’s a vague similarity to Seinfeld there, but Seinfeld knew the characters were mostly unlikable and played well to that - the cast of Friends are supposed to be likable, from what I can tell.