# TV Shows You Don't Particularly Like, But Watch Anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053 "2010-11-09T16:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/21 "2010-11-09T19:01:01Z")
_Family Guy_. I’ve found it funny exactly twice and I’m still waiting for the third time. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/22 "2010-11-09T19:07:34Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Actually the lead character of _Weeds_ has become more and more unlikeable as well, but the show has remained worth watching for the supporting characters. Still, I am close to giving up on that show, too. Yeah, _Weeds_ is pretty much like _Entourage_ anymore…you watch it because…?? But it was TOTALLY awesome when it first started and you gotta see how it ends. Well maybe, if you still care by then. But you will. _Weeds_ was supposed to end this season but it recently announced ONE MORE. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/23 "2010-11-09T19:28:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I watch _Wheel of Fortune_ about once a week, as my dad never misses it and it’s usually on when I visit to cook him dinner. Oh, do I have a story about this one. Learn from me and avoid my fate! Back when my wife and I were still dating, I’d go over to her house for dinner a lot. The evening news would be on, and then **Wheel of Fortune** would come on afterward, and we’d watch that. Kept up the same routine after we moved in together, and then after we were married. And then, literally years after this began, one night she made a remark about, “Well, I’d better turn on **Wheel of Fortune** , since it’s your favorite show.” “Say what?” “That’s why we have to watch it every day.” “No, I don’t like it, I just watch it because _you_ watch it.” “I never watched **Wheel of Fortune** before I met you! I only watch it because you do!” “It comes on after the news and you never changed the channel, so I thought _you_ liked it!” So apparently we’d both been watching **Wheel of Fortune** for about three years, each of us thinking it was because the other one liked it. ---
**Author:** ![EristicKallistic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@EristicKallistic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EristicKallistic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/24 "2010-11-09T19:35:26Z")
I’m starting to feel this way about **Glee** , though I’m not quite ready to declare defeat. Sometimes I leave on syndicated reruns of **Everybody Loves Raymond** because I’m too lazy to switch channels or get up to turn off the TV between the Simpsons and whatever’s on in primetime that I want to see… ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/25 "2010-11-09T19:49:09Z")
I don’t see them much anymore but any of the various **Stargate** shows would fall into this category. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/26 "2010-11-09T19:51:35Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Oh, do I have a story about this one. Learn from me and avoid my fate! > > Back when my wife and I were still dating, I’d go over to her house for dinner a lot. The evening news would be on, and then **Wheel of Fortune** would come on afterward, and we’d watch that. Kept up the same routine after we moved in together, and then after we were married. > > And then, literally years after this began, one night she made a remark about, “Well, I’d better turn on **Wheel of Fortune** , since it’s your favorite show.” > > “Say what?” > > “That’s why we have to watch it every day.” > > “No, I don’t like it, I just watch it because _you_ watch it.” > > “I never watched **Wheel of Fortune** before I met you! I only watch it because you do!” > > “It comes on after the news and you never changed the channel, so I thought _you_ liked it!” > > So apparently we’d both been watching **Wheel of Fortune** for about three years, each of us thinking it was because the other one liked it. I went through that with a girlfriend in high school. We had a mutual acquaintance we both tolerated because we thought the other liked him. I don’t actually dislike _Wheel_; I just would never bother watching it unless someone else were. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/27 "2010-11-09T19:58:03Z")
_The Biggest Loser_. We started watching a few years ago, pleased that it was one of the few- if not the only- reality/contest show with some redeeming value. The contestants were really trying to improve themselves for themselves and for their loved ones. Soon we got really tired of the two hour episodes, which could have been an hour if you cut the crying and drama queens and all the filler. And now it seems that it’s a 2-hour episode every freakin’ week. So we watch it in FFWD, stopping just for the challenges and the weigh-ins. We can get through the 2 hours in about 40 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/28 "2010-11-09T20:30:12Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Oh, do I have a story about this one. Learn from me and avoid my fate! > > Back when my wife and I were still dating, I’d go over to her house for dinner a lot. The evening news would be on, and then **Wheel of Fortune** would come on afterward, and we’d watch that. Kept up the same routine after we moved in together, and then after we were married. > > And then, literally years after this began, one night she made a remark about, “Well, I’d better turn on **Wheel of Fortune** , since it’s your favorite show.” > > “Say what?” > > “That’s why we have to watch it every day.” > > “No, I don’t like it, I just watch it because _you_ watch it.” > > “I never watched **Wheel of Fortune** before I met you! I only watch it because you do!” > > “It comes on after the news and you never changed the channel, so I thought _you_ liked it!” > > So apparently we’d both been watching **Wheel of Fortune** for about three years, each of us thinking it was because the other one liked it. Wow…think of all the Seinfeld reruns you were missing! 🙂 There are shows like NCIS and CSI that I still record every week but then delete without watching them. I should just take them off the Season Pass on the DVR, but I am apparently too lazy to do that. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/29 "2010-11-09T20:49:33Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I know it is odd, but I watch a few shows that I don’t particularly like. > > For instance, why am I still watching **Cougar Town**? > The show started off with Courtney Cox dating younger guys (“cougar”) but they dropped that premise after about the fourth episode. Since then, just a bunch of adults drinking lots of wine and making stupid comments and playing stupid drinking games and basically doing nothing… Cougar Town does have Brian Van Holt, Josh Hopkins, and Dan Byrd. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/30 "2010-11-09T21:11:36Z")
“Cougar Town” makes me laugh out loud. I know it’s full of stereotypes who don’t do much except drink wine and do stupid/awful things, but I’m still laughing. I guess “Smallville” would fit for me - my husband watches it because he’s a huge Superman fan, so I end up watching it, too, and getting sucked in. Then there’s the reality shows - I’ve developed a taste for “Say Yes to the Dress” for reasons unknown. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/31 "2010-11-09T22:02:43Z")
I keep trying to figure out why _Two and a Half Men_ is still on television. I can’t remember laughing at any of the situations or jokes. It’s an annoying show, but I keep thinking that I must not be “getting it” so I watch another episode to see if I do. I don’t. I think I hate this show, and I’m not going to watch it any more. Free. Thank you SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/32 "2010-11-09T22:03:47Z")
I’m pretty sure I have seen every episode of every flavor of Law & Order. Some I genuinely like, others (SVU, I’m talking to you) are a showcase of ripped from the headlines combined with public service announcements so blatant the characters might ad well turn and face the camera as they read off statistics. However, whenever I come across the show on tv I do believe I am legally obligated to stop what I am doing and watch the show. Hell, I’ve been with the franchise longer than any other relationship! ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/33 "2010-11-09T22:25:33Z")
Mythbusters. My husband likes watching it. It’s my least favorite Discovery show, but I get sucked in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![LegsAkimbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@LegsAkimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegsAkimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/34 "2010-11-09T22:27:20Z")
We record all the shows we watch and then pick from our backlog each evening. My husband would not watch anything that I liked, but I would sit through shows he liked since, well, he liked them. Then I realized that wasn’t fair to me, it was wasting my time, so those shows were no longer watched in our common viewing time. We have about 5 Mentalists backed up because I didn’t specifically say I didn’t want to see it, but when it comes time to watch, I never feel like seeing it. I just told him last night he could have them if he needed something to watch when I’m not home. I like it ok when I am watching it, but never feel like starting one when we have multiple episodes of so many better shows. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/35 "2010-11-09T22:49:21Z")
I used to watch _The Brady Bunch_ on TBS religiously after I got home from school every day, even though it was one of the stupidest things ever created. I also used to watch a few of the terrible early Fox sitcoms like _Herman’s Head_ on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/36 "2010-11-09T22:51:48Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > For instance, why am I still watching **Cougar Town**? > The show started off with Courtney Cox dating younger guys (“cougar”) but they dropped that premise after about the fourth episode. Since then, just a bunch of adults drinking lots of wine and making stupid comments and playing stupid drinking games and basically doing nothing. It has decent ratings. Still, other than the fact my SO seems to like it, I have no idea why I continue to watch this (at best) mildly humorous show. I just wanted to say that I did not realize there was any one out there that preferred the original Cougar Town. Once it became an ensemble show and found its voice, it improved like 100 fold. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/37 "2010-11-09T23:13:45Z")
I haven’t watched a regular TV show on TV for, oh, over 10 years. Except for sports. But I do Netflix a few series from time to time. I got started on \*\*Lost \*\*and got hooked. The last several seasons were in the “you’ve got to be kidding me!” territory but I kept on renting the discs and watching episode after episode. Not because the show was so good (it most certainly was not) but b/c at some point I had so much time invested I just HAD to see it through to find out how the damn thing ended. ---
**Author:** ![NoLAFIN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9bcb4/32.png) [@NoLAFIN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoLAFIN)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/38 "2010-11-09T23:23:59Z")
Ditto for this. > [@control-z](#): > > NCIS. Pretty much crap but amusing nonetheless. I usually put it on when I’m trying to take a nap. It’s the perfect background noise. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/39 "2010-11-09T23:32:54Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > NCIS. Pretty much crap but amusing nonetheless. _Amusing_ implies you like it, doesn’t it? Seems at odds with the thread. 😕 😃 Anyway, I don’t think NCIS is crap exactly. It’s unambitious, in that it’s not trying to break new ground in dramaturgy, like _Mad Men_; it’s not trying to uncover the dark things on society’s underbelly and in so doing make the world a tiny bit btter, like _The Wire_. It’s just trying to tell a divertiing series of stories which it doesn’t pretend are realistic (unlike the odious CSI). Which is not to say I think the show is flawless. It vexes me that they don’t allow DiNozzo any character growth – or, rather, that they let him have it and then took it away. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053/40 "2010-11-09T23:47:07Z")
ABC’s shows surrounding Modern Family which I really like. The two shows before and Cougar Town after, pretty much suck but it’s a weak night for broadcast TV and I am more on the internet with the TV on in the background anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-you-dont-particularly-like-but-watch-anyway/560053.md?page=3)