Straightforward title. I was talking with a coworker yesterday about TV shows we both were once can’t-miss fans of…and why neither of us watches them anymore. To wit:
The Amazing Race (me): I stopped watching it when it moved to Fridays. It killed me at first because I’ve been a TAR fan since god knows when. I ALWAYS participated in the threads here on the Dope! Nowadays it barely registers with me.
Survivor (coworker): Coworker got tired of the same-old-same-old, no matter how many “new” twists.
Top Chef (both of us): It was a can’t-miss show for the longest time. I haven’t watched since the disaster which was Texas. Coworker hasn’t watched since Boston. We both would start watching it then change channels.
NCIS (coworker): No matter how you retool the cast and no matter how solid a show it still is, it’s the same show.
For contrast we both watch Chopped for different reasons: I actually enjoy the competitive part of it because the contestants change with every episode. Coworker uses it as background noise while doing something else.
I stopped watching “The Walking Dead” a few weeks ago, when they used the whole dumpster ex machina situation to save Glenn. That was the straw that broke the cable on my suspension of disbelief.
I lost interest in the Walking Dead too. It’s a fantastic show, but I got burnt out on zombies, like I did vampires after the Anne Rice deluge.
I stopped watching the Blacklist too. “Lizzie, while we’re fleeing for our lives, let’s stop here where I know of another misfit plotting mass destruction and spoil his operation.”
It’s rare that I watch a show for its entire run. Some I watched regularly (and are still on) but gave up on:
Gotham. It always ways a bit goofy, by last year’s finale was especially dumb, and the introduction of the Joker (or the character who acted like him) was just plain sadism for sadism’s sake. The fact that there are two better options available in the same timeslot (Supergirl and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) made it an easy choice.
Once Upon a Time. I stuck it out until the end of the second season and got tired of them saying “magic has a price” five times an episode. When I became a medium to promote Disney merchandise, there was even less reason to go back.
Castle. It just grew tiresome. Also, it put me over my limit (I don’t watch more than an hour of TV on weeknights).
I stopped watching it about halfway through season 3, because the show had gone from one being driven by external conflict and menace (the walkers and surviving in a post-apocalyptic land) to being one driven by human conflicts- between the groups of survivors, etc… Basically it just became another drama, but in a post-apocalyptic setting with the occasional group of no-longer-threatening walkers around.
FWIW, I nearly quit Battlestar Galactica for the same reason. Once the Cylons quit being such an existential threat to the fleet, a few episodes were basically “The West Wing” in space, and if there’s a type of show I can’t stand, it’s political drama.
House of Cards - I can’t believe my wife and I sat through two seasons of that show. It is painfully obvious that they should have only had 6 episode seasons instead of 13 episodes. It is dull 80% of the time and the 20% that is interesting is only kind of interesting. I think the people behind it think it is a smart show for smart people, but I found it badly, badly written. I can’t believe how many times my wife and I said, “The writing! It’s so bad! I can not take it anymore!”
Yeah, we actually made it to the end of season 2 for some reason. Waste of time.
Amazing Race - quit many years ago because they kept catching everyone up by scheduling activities with limited hours. We’d have teams outside a location waiting to get in and also waiting while other teams catch them. Stupid.
The Last Man On Earth - One of the best comedy pilots in years. Unfortunately, the Will Forte character became terrible and frustrating to watch instead of sympathetic.
Unless it’s really a 180 degree turn and something horribly offensive happens, I don’t think I COULD stop watching until the bitter end. It’s the way I am, I just have to see it through. Looking back now, I realize I could have, maybe should have, skipped the last season of ‘True Blood’. The finale was amazingly awful. But I was determined to watch it all the way through.
We bailed on Hell’s Kitchen when it got more about the soap-opera contestants and less about the cooking.
We also started watching Bates Motel but bailed after the episode where the bad guy discovers the asian girl at the motel. All the mother had to say was that her son’s friend stopped there during a road trip and it was him in the room. Instead she went “full retard” and tipped off the bad guy. We just couldn’t deal with that level of stupidity anymore.
I started watching Game of Thrones with my husband but had to bail because the special effects are just too good. It was freakin me out. (especially when the guy cuts the head off his horse after he loses the joust. What the everloving hell was that.)
Law & Order - I don’t think I lasted 3 full seasons, and now I won’t even watch episodes I missed
L&O SVU - got way too depressing after a few episodes
Criminal Minds - partway into the second season, I got tired of the schtick.
Major Crimes - I enjoyed it till Sharon and Andy became an item. No thanks.
Scandal - I think I gave up in the 3rd season.
I should note that the only reason I watched most of the above is because my husband would watch them. One cop show is pretty much like the next one - yawn…
For the most part, I just watch series on Netflix or I hang on the science-y channels so’s I can learn stuff.
Depending on where you stopped, it got worse, but then it got better.
Weeds - Really loved this show for awhile until it became a parody of itself. I think it went 3-4 seasons after I bailed.
Dexter - Started really interesting seeing how a sociopath would blend in, until he became a husband and father and it was clear he wasn’t a sociopath. Then it eventually just got silly.
Dexter was a sociopath? More like a psychopath no? Anyway I gave up after 4 seasons. I couldn’t stand the predicatibility of the torture/murder scenes.
The Americans: I can’t stand that family and those actors. Boring when they can’t lose a fight and they are supermen. There is no threat of discovery, because the show would end.
House of Cards: Boring, not up to the english model
Yes, I wanted to like this but after 2 episodes I was not invested at all.
Others: Arrow- it just got too… angsty and not enough fighting bad guys. I still enjoy Flash though and will watch the crossover episodes.
American Horror Story - my interest had been dwindling but this season, the hotel thing with Lady Gaga, I can’t even have it on as background anymore. The plot makes no sense and the shock scenes are not interesting.
NCIS & NCIS: Los Angeles: Like the OP said, it’s the same old same old. There’s only so many ways you can serve meatloaf. I never gave NCIS: New Orleans a chance for this reason.
In fact, I’m pretty much burned out on the entire genre of cop shows and their ilk.
Dancing with the Stars: I stuck with this way too long. By now, they’ve burned thru even the D-list celebrities, and are resorting to essentially inventing celebrities for the show (like the kids of Bruce Willis, Cher, and Steve Irwin. sorry, but none of the above are legitimate celebrities in the own rite.)