# TV shows the inexplicably remain on the air. (or, Who watches this? Anyone?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458 "2004-08-05T15:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/21 "2004-08-05T16:34:56Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > As for my contribution, the ultimate answer is, has been, and always will be: **Becker**. Did anyone watch Becker? Did anyone \*like \* Becker? I sure haven’t met them. God. :rolleyes: My mother came to visit us recently, and I walked into the room, and she was watching this television abortion disguised as comedy. I even asked, “Are you watching this, or does it happen to be on?” Sure enough. Apparently my mother single-handedly kept this thing on the air for many years. I’d like to formally apologize for her. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/22 "2004-08-05T16:35:24Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > **According to Jim** is entering its 4th season. I don’t watch any of the ABC family show line-up (Wayans, Lopez, etc.) but I can understand why people might watch those shows. But this one? Uh-uh. Courtney Thone Smith in HDTV is enough to get me to watch a couple times a season. -lv ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/23 "2004-08-05T16:40:05Z")
I watch **Third Watch**. I used to really like it but they have systematically killed off or otherwise written off all the firefighters and most of the EMT’s. It’s essentially just another cop show now. They brought in a new cop who was coming off as a dirty cop, she was arrogant and extremely unlikeable and she even shot and crippled one of the regulars. Then they made her a regular and tried to explain away everything she did and focused more storylines on her so we’d like her and I still don’t. If they must kill off a character every damn season, please kill her. And bring back the firemen! As for AFV. I have occasionally stopped on it and watched a little while channel surfing. Sometimes I will stick it out through the end but I just don’t understand how they always manage to choose the least funny videos as their finalists. Apparently, if it involves a child behaving badly and boogers, it’s a shoo-in to win. C’mon! Why doesn’t the cat that dive-bombs the pesky little child ever win? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/24 "2004-08-05T16:40:32Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > As for my contribution, the ultimate answer is, has been, and always will be: **Becker**. Did anyone watch Becker? Did anyone \*like \* Becker? I sure haven’t met them. I watched _Becker_ the first two or three seasons, but lost interest. I have been watching the late-night repeats, though. The first season was was funnier than subsequent seasons. ---
**Author:** ![yellowcakesolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@yellowcakesolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowcakesolid)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/25 "2004-08-05T16:56:04Z")
I have to put another vote in for Full House. Full House made me yell at my television set. Unfortunately I happened to tune in when the show was relying on its very funny “young kid says a word” comedy. Young kid: Dude! Canned Laughter: ha-ha-ha-ha Young kid: Tacos! Canned Laughter: ha-ha-ha-ha Young kid: 401K rollover account! Canned Laugher: ha-ha-ha-ha Me: That’s not f-ing funny. It’s just a kid saying stupid, f-ing words. As terrifying as normal Full House was, it got worse when it first went into syndication. Stations were showing it five nights a week, and they were running promotions for it around the clock. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/26 "2004-08-05T17:15:53Z")
> [@Merhouse](#): > > I guess it’s a good thing you don’t know me 😉 Or Ivylad. How did _Just Shoot Me_ last for so long? It was cute in the beginning, and then it just got lame. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/27 "2004-08-05T17:31:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Merhouse** > > _I guess it’s a good thing you don’t know me_😉 Or me and Mr2U. We LOVE watching Cops! We’re struggling during this point of the TV season because Cops comes on at 6:00 after the 5:00 Springer on channel 50 (which comes on after the 4:00 Bonanza on PAX which comes on after the 3:00 Bonanza on TV Land) but the 6:00 Bonanza comes on then too on Hallmark! What to miss, what to miss??? 😉 At least we have another episode of Bonanza on at 7:00. WHAT?? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/28 "2004-08-05T17:33:44Z")
According to [this Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269631), nobody likes _Everybody Loves Raymond_. I know I sure don’t. Hasn’t this show been on for something like 10 years? It sure seems that way. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/29 "2004-08-05T17:52:04Z")
My wife was a fairly avid watcher of _7th Heaven,_ I suspect because it made her a little happy that families with traditional, Christian values can be just as dysfunctional as anybody else’s… ---
**Author:** ![mbacko1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@mbacko1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbacko1)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/30 "2004-08-05T17:53:53Z")
> [@Tiramisu](#): > > **King of the Hill**. I’ve tried watching it when there was nothing else on to damage my brain with and I have never, ever found anything funny about it. The voices are all grating. The characters all seem like really bad stereotypes. It’s just painful to watch. > But I guarantee at least one person will post about how funny it is and how much they like it. There’s just no accounting for taste. I love it. My wife and I watch it religiously and think it is the best comedy on TV. We live in a rural area with rednecks all around and we know people like that. The characters are very well developed for a crappily drawn cartoon. That is the appeal. But I never said I had any taste. 😃 My favorite show is Deadwood which should give me a little street cred. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/31 "2004-08-05T17:54:07Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > It’s hilarious for me living in Texas because, like you, I always thought the characters were really bad stereotypes and the show itself was another stupid bad stereotype. > > Since moving here I have discovered that it is as good as nonfiction. > > It’s really funny to watch the show and realize you pretty much know six people exactly like this guy, or that you met that guy at work the other day, or that this happened to somebody. This is actually the reason I can’t watch it. It’s too eerily real life. Growing up in a small NE Texas town (not far from where you live now, **racinchikki** ) I knew these people. ---
**Author:** ![Adoptamom\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/32 "2004-08-05T17:58:50Z")
Our youngest children, 11 & 12, watch 7th Heaven reruns daily. Mr. Adoptamom watches King of the Hill through his eyelids for his before dinner cat nap. We’re peasants, what can I say? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/33 "2004-08-05T18:22:05Z")
_The Hughleys_! Aren’t sitcoms supposed to be funny? At least they aren’t making new ones anymore. > [@Tiramisu](#): > > I watch **Third Watch**. I used to really like it but they have systematically killed off or otherwise written off all the firefighters and most of the EMT’s. It’s essentially just another cop show now. They brought in a new cop who was coming off as a dirty cop, she was arrogant and extremely unlikeable and she even shot and crippled one of the regulars. Then they made her a regular and tried to explain away everything she did and focused more storylines on her so we’d like her and I still don’t. If they must kill off a character every damn season, please kill her. I lost track of _Third Watch_ after Sully’s detox in the cabin. That was a some good TV there. From what I’ve seen of Cruz, she doesn’t really come off as dirty but there is an air of incompetence about her. > [@ivylass](#): > > > [@Merhouse](#): > > > > I guess it’s a good thing you don’t know me > > Or Ivylad. I, too, watch Cops on occasion. Nothing like laughing at morons in a stolen Civic trying to run from the cops. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/34 "2004-08-05T18:29:29Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > How did _Just Shoot Me_ last for so long? It was cute in the beginning, and then it just got lame. That was always my “They canceled X, but Y is still on?” show. But it looks like I’ll have to find a new one, since it apparently went off the air last year. Now if they’d only stop showing the syndicated episodes… It still amazes me how long the Simpsons have been on. 15 years, isn’t it? The new eps are occasionally good, so I’ll let it slide. 😉 To tell the truth, I’ve been slowly watching less and less TV, so I’m not up to date on all the “new crap”. Although “Amish in the City” looks pretty bad… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/35 "2004-08-05T18:49:21Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > **American Dreams** is entering its 3rd season. I feel like I know everything that’s happened to Meg and her freakin’ family because NBC trumpets the show relentlessly in its promos, but I don’t know a single person who’s ever seen an episode. > > **America’s Funniest Home Videos**. Good God, I thought this was a dinosaur from the 1990s. They’re still making this?!?! Yeesh. I LOVE American Dreams. A little over the top, maybe. But I’d watch Brittany Snow in anything. I have to confess that I like AFV. Tom Bergeron is the best host they’ve had yet, but it isn’t like the competition is stiff. The scary thing for me is that AFV is getting a rap as an older person’s show. I even watch Diagnosis Murder on PAX, I must be getting ancient! ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/36 "2004-08-05T19:44:59Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Tom Bergeron is the best host they’ve had yet… Is there a doctor in the house? My eye twitches involuntarily every time I read this part of the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/37 "2004-08-05T20:02:23Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I LOVE American Dreams. A little over the top, maybe. But I’d watch Brittany Snow in anything. And I would watch her in nothing! Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/38 "2004-08-05T20:03:36Z")
Dharma and Greg. I guess it’s no longer on the air, but it’s recently been syndicated in my area. It’s on every night after The Simpsons. Did anyone ever actually like this show?? I’ve never been able to stomach it for more than five minutes. It’s the most horribly unfunny, stereotype-laden show I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/39 "2004-08-05T20:12:37Z")
IMHO King of the Hill is just behind the Simpsons on the laugh-o-meter. Me and the Mrs watch Cops religiously. I hate reality TV. This is reality on TV. Drew Carey was recently cancelled. I thought it was off the air for years. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458/40 "2004-08-05T20:26:05Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > What about _Cops_? I have NEVER met a person who watches that show. Of course if anyone I knew DID watch it, I’d drop them like a stinky hot potato. All criminal justice students watch it to some extent, if only for class assignments and the list. One of my GF’s lecturers used to show clips of it as “bad examples of police procedure.” It can also be briefly amusing to mute it and supply your own Rocky Horror-esque commentary. The one I could never figure out, quite honestly, was _Ellen_ post-outing. I watched about two minutes of it, stunned that a show led a relatively talented comedian could be so bad. When I lived in SoCal, I knew more than one person who was a huge fan of DeGeneres’ stand-up who boycotted the show because of its crapness…and if even fans of Ellen weren’t watching it, who was? And yet it lasted for years–on two networks, nonetheless! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-the-inexplicably-remain-on-the-air-or-who-watches-this-anyone/258458.md?page=3)