I used to adore Castle. Great chemistry, witty writing. The conventional wisdom in TV is that resolving an unresolved sexual tension between the two leads is the kiss of death for the show. On Castle, at least IMO, bringing Kate and Rick together didn’t initially kill the show; I thought they handled the relationship quite well at first.
For me, it started to go downhill in the season when they were engaged. The conspiracy around the murder of Beckett’s mother became more and more overblown, but, for me, the episode that really ticked me off was when they discovered that Beckett was (still) married to some doofus from college. The writer conveniently forgot the entire plotline from the previous season, where Beckett was working as an investigator for the Justice Department – the background check which Justice would have run on her would have immediately uncovered that, and they would have questioned her about it.
But, really, what’s killing this show is that the creator (and original showrunner) Andrew Marlowe left the show two seasons ago (his final episode was the season finale where the original wedding was to have taken place). Since he’s left, the writing has suffered, the stories have become more contrived, and the characters are acting in increasingly out-of-character ways. I finally gave up a few weeks ago, and I’m still very sad about it.
I often only catch up with shows late in their run. Or after cancellation. So I’ll have to omit all those I never started watching.
I grew up on Masterpiece Theater. Downton Abbey was an amusing posh soap during its first series. In the second, they dealt with The Great War & the writing was abysmal. (So many lost opportunities. So many idiotic developments.) I watched the next series or so but it never got better. Didn’t watch the last one & will probably not watch the one impending on PBS. Might I go back to binge with the sound off? Lovely settings, lovely outfits. A few good performances. But Lord Fellowes is a crummy writer & I find him personally repellent…
Sleepy Hollow’s first season was excellent. The second was dreadful. Things have improved but I still find myself missing episodes…
Survivor changes up. It’s still the best reality show.
That’s exactly why NCIS is so popular.
I stopped watching NCIS-NO regularly. Castle, I am off & on.
House of Cards- gave up when the protagonist went from unscrupulous to evil. There’s a line, and the show crossed it. Not to mention- too much smoking.
Like -drad dog did- Bastard Executioner: I gave up after 5 minutes.
Last Kingdom- may start again, but too much whatshisname, not enuf Alfred.
Criminal Minds: as long as they had Mandy Patinkin, I stuck with it. But it’s gotten way too dark. Not to mention Profiling is pretty much bogus.
I stopped watching CSI: Las Vegas when Grissom left, but came back to it when Sara Sidle came back. IMO that show was never as good without him. I don’t know about you guys but I literally cheered-out-loud in my living room when Grissom came back for the show’s finale.
Bones - stopped watching it this season when I learned they were going to mess up Angela & Hodgins’ relationship, and that there was going to be a crossover with Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollow - Madame P. enjoyed the first of the first season, but was through with it by the end, to my relief.
Same here. Also Law & Order once Lenny was gone and before it spun off a million variations, and CSI before all its permutations. Sad to say that we watched The Apprentice for a couple of seasons before jumping ship.
Actually, I’m trying to think of any commercial network TV shows that I currently watch (other than the news), and can’t come up with any.
I gave up on SVU after Elliot left and Law & Order when Jack became DA. It just seemed to me the stories weren’t interesting any more.
We watched Burn Notice until the last season. It’s funny, it’s not a conscious decision. It’s more like we forgot it was on and don’t really feel the need to catch up On Demand.
Blindspot - I mentioned in the thread dedicated to the show that I gave up after 3 episodes. It just wasn’t interesting.
Once Upon a Time - Somehow plowed through season 1. Wife liked it. Then when season 2 started up she realized the show sucked and we dropped it.
The Walking Dead - Putting on the list because, although I’ve seen every episode to date, I think I’m done with it after it comes back from this midseason break. The DVR is going to record it, so there’s a chance I’ll get around to it if nothing else is on. But this season so far has been mostly awful.
I’m not a very loyal tv watcher at all, and rarely get in a rhythm of watching a particular show. The last two I made it a point to watch were Lost and the West Wing. TWW I made it through to the end. Lost, I bailed after the 3rd season.
Recently, I got a bit hooked on Person of Interest, but bailed when they killed off Taraji P Henson’s character and tacked on a last second romance between her and Jim Caviezel that was miles off the wall and unnecessary. Really soured me on the show and I haven’t watched it since.
Salem This whole past season is on my DVR. I just have other things I’d rather be watching.
I watched most of the first season of Manhattan but just haven’t stayed caught up. It’s just so soap opera-y. Here’s the thing though. I’m actually in episodes 6 and 7 as a background actor. I’m in the Mikado chorus–see. So I’ve fast forwarded to the scenes in which I appear, but haven’t watched the episodes themselves.
I am a seriously loyal T.V. viewer, who watched all 20 seasons of Law & Order and is still watching NCIS.
But I did give up on The Good Wife after the second season, when I realized that I couldn’t stand any of the characters.
I also very sadly recently gave up on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I watched every single episode of The Colbert Report, but The Late Show just doesn’t hold my attention, and I prefer The Daily Show/Nightly Show combination.
I had the opposite happen recently - a show I had previously given up on but decided to give it another shot, and had a conversion experience.
The show is Arrested Development. I know, I know, you’re thinking “how could you not love AD?” Well, when I first started watching it when it came to Netflix streaming (wasn’t watching much TV around the time period of its initial run), it seemed too… I don’t know, “busy”. Too many different things going on, and more importantly, it felt like it was trying just a bit too hard to be cute/clever through all of it. I watched about 4 or 5 episodes and stopped, deciding I didn’t like it.
But recently decided to give it another shot, and am glad I did because I ultimately fell in love with it and binge-watched all 4 seasons (was also interesting seeing the sudden 8-year jump from season 3 to season 4). Gotta love Gob and his magic shows, always playing The Final Countdown on a boombox.
Like many others it seems, Castle and House of Cards.
Suits - I really enjoyed the first couple of seasons, but gave up around season 3.
I’m not sure if this counts - I couldn’t get into the current 2nd season of Fargo. Watched all of the 1st and thought it was terrific, but this season is slow and boring.
From a little farther back, The Sopranos. I’ve never had HBO, but was curious about this show, so I Netflixed the 1st season. By the time the last disc arrived, I had realized that I really didn’t care about any of the major characters, because they were all despicable thugs. So I never bothered to get the 2nd season.
