Don’t get me going on the endless iterations of L & O…
My biggest beef with them is that character development (whether it is of the
regulars or the guest stars) is completely and totally absent, to the point the
scriptwriters seem to go out of their way to ensure that nobody-regular,
victim, culprit-undergoes any sort of personal growth, to the point that any
personal growth is never even hinted at and is in fact actively avoided.
I remember they had some lying scheming 12 y/o kid on there once, and most
of the plot revolved around the cops trying to catch him one of his lies. I forget
his crime, but not a single line of dialogue revolved around how to save this
young person from his personal demons and being doomed to a pitable life
(be it in prison or on the street)-it was just lock him up and forget about him,
screw redemption. Isn’t anybody here geniunely concerned about his fate?
Instead they almost rejoiced when they finally caught him and locked him away-
“Yes! We got the little bastard!”
Now, someone will undoubtedly come on and tell me that, “Yes, L & O isn’t
concerned with that, they are concerned with Justice.” And I’ll reply that justice
without compassion is an empty and meaningless concept.
I’m not really fond of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars or other entertainment based reality shows (I did like the first season of Survivor, and Real World, and some other Reality shows).
Really? I admit I’m a Lost fan, but of all the problems people complain about, and of all the ones I could think of for Lost, stock characters isn’t one of them. If anything, several of the characters seem to be written to specifically to defy convention. Please elaborate on this!
That 70’s show, Everybody loves raymond, Desperate Housewives, Southpark (used to think it was ok. then it got boring quick) hmm…
I had a similar experience as someone else that thought Grey’s anatomy was crap. But out of sheer boredom I watched an episode, and a month later I’ve seen all three seasons :eek
… I always thought the “X files” was the most over-rated show ever. David Duchovny’s monotone is like a lullaby. The few times I tried to watch the show, his voice put me directly to sleep.
I avoid every reality show except Little People, Big World, Miami Ink, and The Girls Next Door. I hate all the game show ones especially. Bo-ring.
The only network shows I watch anymore are House, Ugly Betty and CSI. And ONLY the Las Vegas one. CSI kinda sucked the last two seaons and I watched sporadically, but this season is much much better so far. And I am aware House is pretty much the same thing each week, but at least there is character development. And Hugh Laurie is sexy.
If I had Tivo I’d probably record The Office because my parents will not shut up about how funny it is. I saw the first Christmas episode (gift exchange) and it was funny, and I love Steve Carell, but my Thursdays are already spoken for.
Scrubs is a show I watch on Comedy Central when I’m bored. I loved the first couple of seasons then I lost interest.
I love HBO shows - Entourage, Sex and the City, Sopranos and Showtime’s Queer as Folk is my crack - love TV on DVD. Am going to start Weeds soon too.
But I don’t watch much TV anymore because the roomie usually is already in the living room watching some junk shows so I don’t bother.
But since I don’t watch stuff I don’t already watch, I haven’t seen many shows to hate. American Idol can suck it - friends make me watch it sometimes and god damn there are 9489438 commercials in each episode. Hate it!
Sex in the city. I keep running into it as I rewind tapes and just can’t stand any scene I’ve seen. Have to change channels to an infomercial.
Dispirited Housewives.
Wheel of Fortune
Any of those new “suspense” dumb guy game shows, the ones with suitcases and guess somebody’s job. I have never waited to see what they guess because the question is simple minded and the suspense so phony.
Electronic Gaming Monthly once did a review of a Friends video game as part of their let’s-review-games-we-know-are-gonna-be-horrible series. The reviewer noted that although he had never actually sat down in front of a TV with the intention of seeing an episode of Friends, he had somehow watched the entire series.
I hate American Idol simply for FOX’s promos. Is it really the most important show EVAR, or is it just some trashy network further saturating the music industry with bland, corporate, pop acts?
Grey’s Anatomy definitely sucks.
Emeril is really annoying. Does he really need a live band? I wouldn’t complain if the Food Network just aired repeats of Good Eats all day, every day.
All of these shows are trumped by Mind of Mencia. The show would essentially be the same if that douchebag walked onto the set, yelled out “BEANERS, NIGGERS, AND CRACKERS,” and then patted himself on the back for 29 minutes.
Dancing With The Stars. Gag. Who gives a shit? Watching a bunch of washed up has-beens flounder around on national television with the now-trite 3 judge panel (An indecisive idiot, a gushing praiser, and a blunt/stuffy/stoic “expert”) berating or praising them. Self-important dreck. American Idol has reached this level, except for the first couple weeks where we get to see and mock the deluded, no-talent (and sometimes not-even-from-this-universe) hacks try out.
It’s ok. I watched it last season because there were a couple local boys on there (Elliot and Chris.) Chris kicked ass, although he was too influenced by Live.
Overall it’s not much better or worse than the old Star Search show, although Idol is just singing, nothing else. I Tivo it and skip through the parts I don’t want to see (about 60% of the show.) Everybody hates Simon but his reviews are mostly right.
Sit coms have evolved into half hour insult comedy. There must be a lot of people who love being told how fat, stupid or dorky they are. Then a laugh track tells you how funny it is. Ghastly.
Idol is good first couple weeks. When it gets serious it gets sucky.
I want to put a hole in the writers’ heads for making dumb-assed white guys run around saying “badda bing.” And naming the club in the show that…AAARGH.
I can’t stand the glorification of Italian mob violence. I love violent movies (Reservoir Dogs is my all-time favorite). I dunno…it’s hard to say why I can’t stand these types of shows. I don’t mind characters I love to hate, but I just think every character in this show is such shit bottom scum.
Ugh. I like the F word as much as anyone, but if they cut that word out, each episode would be 11 minutes long.
I thought Seinfeld was awesome back in the day. Definitely innovation, entertaining, and clever. I tried watching it now on DVD…was the entire nation on drugs or something?
I’ve a friend who loves Mind of Mencia and convinced me to watch a show. Never again. I watch three shows - Veronica Mars, Heroes and Ugly Betty (no cable). Sometimes Grey’s Anatomy and Studio 60. I agree about the first couple weeks of Idol.
Seinfeld is like an overcooked prime rib. It could be really good, but they often took the jokes too far and killed them. Examples: Newman tries to eat Kramer, who had been sunbathing in butter. George gets a job as a hand model, but by the end of the episode the company has disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving no traces, and no one believes him. Maybe “hate” is too strong a word; I just didn’t like it that much.
I totally hate reality shows though. The eye candy factor is irrevocably tainted by the rampant shallow bitchiness. Calling them train wrecks is an insult to actual locomotive accidents.
I hate all reality shows. Seriously. No matter how clever the premise, I still can’t watch one without feeling like I’ve just spent an hour in suspended animation. They’re the empty calories of television. I’ve had coworkers who got obsessed with these programs, and would have animated conversations the morning after about what happened last night. I just couldn’t bring myself to care.
At my current job, I put twenty bucks into a Survivor pool. My character was Jonathan, so I lasted a while, but not long enough to win any money from it. Out of curiosity, I even watched the show twice, but that didn’t quite justify my investment.
Reality TV sucks. I appreciated Drawn Together as a refreshing parody of them, but I realize now that they shouldn’t have made more than a few episodes of it, because the joke wore thin awfully quickly.
Lost, Sex in the City, Friends. I guess those are the big three that I never quite “got”. Still have never watched a single full episode of any of them.
On the other hand…
Seinfeld, Malcolm, and House were all shows I didn’t like until I caught the re-runs and syndications. Now they are among my favorites. Maybe someone could start a thread on shows that you originally hated but grew to like.
Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to buy the DVD’s, but I do really like the show. Mostly because of Marie and Robert. I hate Ray, though.
I don’t watch enough different TV shows to have a list of hateds. I guess I really don’t like Mad TV, but I don’t know that it qualifies as very popular.
I think hate is too strong a word, but I just haven’t been able to get into Lost or Heroes. I think it has something to do with the commitment that seems to be required to really get into and keep up with those shows. I have to really, really, really love a show to make that much of an effort. My attention span tends to run out pretty quickly with all the riddle wrapped in a mystery within an enigma sort of stuff, but I can see how they could be addictive for someone willing to make the effort.
I absolutely loved Seinfeld when it was originally airing, but I’ve found I can’t really stand it now when I see it in reruns. I don’t understand why, but it just strikes me as very annoying and unfunny now.