# What's the weirdest reason you stopped watching a show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579 "2013-10-07T12:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/41 "2013-10-07T18:24:45Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Not to belabor the point or hijack the thread but I’m kind of intrigued. I’ve seen the opening credits dozens of times and I have a slight case of trypophobia myself (yes it is absolutely a real thing, though it no doubt varies in degrees of severity). Is it the holes in Nucky’s nifty shoes or the water bubbles? If the latter, are you unable to watch any shows that have shots of waves breaking and / or unable to go to the beach yourself? It’s the shot of all the bottles littering the water, right at the very end. Something about the angle, maybe? I’ve seen stuff floating in water before and it didn’t bother me, but that particular one just sets me off. (Sorry for the hijack, everyone else.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/42 "2013-10-07T18:25:49Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Helicopter number 1, or helicopter number 2? I like to think it was the same helicopter, back to finish the job. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/43 "2013-10-07T18:50:12Z")
I stopped watching “Friends” back in the day when Racheal was trying to impress her ex-boyfriend (Brad Pitt guest-starred, I believe, correct me if I’m wrong) and she cartwheeled across the room in her old cheerleading outfit. That scene was just so stupid it turned me off the whole show. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/44 "2013-10-07T18:53:59Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > For the past few years, I have refused to even start watching new shows on FOX because of their previously terrible record of cancelling shows early. If by the past few years, you mean “since Firefly started”, then I’d agree with you. I didn’t watch Firefly because it was fairly obvious that, as it was a good show on Fox, it would be messed with and cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/45 "2013-10-07T18:57:53Z")
I stopped watching The X-Files when I realised that there was no planned out overall story arc and purpose that the show was moving towards but they were making it up as they went along. And I remember the exact moment, Mulder and Scully are outside a warehouse, Scully bends down to tie her shoe-laces and a UFO the size of a house flies over, Mulder sees it but Scully doesn’t! Blegh… _(actually I strongly suspect I’m mis-remembering that scene, they couldn’t have actually filmed that could they?!?)_ ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/46 "2013-10-07T18:59:03Z")
I thought _Alcatraz_ was an interesting show after watching about 3 episodes. But then after hearing the ratings were pretty bad and that the show was almost for sure going to be canceled I checked out. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/47 "2013-10-07T19:28:41Z")
I stopped watching _Breaking Bad_ when the main character, upon learning he had cancer, decided it was a wiser move to cook meth than to take a plum six-figure job with a guarantee that the new company is to pay for all treatment costs. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/48 "2013-10-07T19:51:39Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I stopped watching “Friends” back in the day when Racheal was trying to impress her ex-boyfriend (Brad Pitt guest-starred, I believe, correct me if I’m wrong) and she cartwheeled across the room in her old cheerleading outfit. That scene was just so stupid it turned me off the whole show. That was Tate Donavan (correct me if _I’m_ wrong) as _JoshuAH_, a client for whom she was a personal shopper. This is actually one of my favorite episodes:) The Brad Pitt one (another of my favorites) was a Thanksgiving episode where it is revealed that he and Ross had an “I hate Rachel Green” club. Once again I’ve digressed so in the spirit of the thread, though I never stopped watching it while it was first run, I don’t watch reruns of sitcoms that involve the aforementioned baby theme or any others that involve characters making serious life decisions. _Friends_ was a great show when it was being light and entertaining but I had / have no desire to learn any life lessons from sitcom characters. If I want to see characters evolve and learn the meaning of life I’ll read or watch a film / series that is intended to do that. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/49 "2013-10-07T19:53:26Z")
I tend to avoid some of these problems by not watching series until they’re in re-runs. That way, if there’s anything seriously stupid coming up, I know about it. Anyway, a few that have applied to me: Lost: I stopped five episodes before the end, when it was getting weirder faster than it was drawing to a conclusion. I kind of feel like there’s a social contract between viewers and creators: I pay attention and stick with your tangents, and you make sure there’s a payoff. It was becoming obvious that there would be no payoff. Grey’s Anatomy: I was never that into this show, and the end for me was the non-wedding. That proved to me that there was no real story, just on-going drama (and that contracts and real-life issues trumped story, too). But my wife stayed into it until the writer’s strike interrupted the middle of a season. We never could figure out when it picked back up or what she’d missed and gave up. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/50 "2013-10-07T20:54:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So? 😃 > > Doesn’t matter if it’s the third episode or the 103rd. I hate babies/kids. But it does matter. Because the show hadn’t set a “no kids” tone yet and judging by The Anointed One, Dawn, and the fact its about teenagers, it was really always about kids. It’s like the people who bitch and moan about Lost and talk about how they bailed the second something “supernatural” happened ignoring the fact that the Smoke Monster appeared in the pilot. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/51 "2013-10-07T21:08:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It’s like the people who bitch and moan about Lost and talk about how they bailed the second something “supernatural” happened ignoring the fact that the Smoke Monster appeared in the pilot. Hi, person who bitches and moans about Lost checking in. The appearance of a monster made out of smoke could be something supernatural or it could have a perfectly rational but technologically advanced explanation. Show creators said it would be the latter; instead it turned out to be the former. Thank you for your time. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/52 "2013-10-07T21:09:24Z")
_Six Feet Under._ I wasn’t really wild about it anyway, but about 2/3 the way through the first season I had to stop watching it because the Peter Krause character used the same cell phone as me, with the same ring tone, and whenever his phone rang on the show, I would reach for MY phone. It was insane. The character got a lot of calls on the show, too. I think the episode that put me over the edge was one where he was fighting with his terrible girlfriend, and they kept calling each other, fighting, hanging up, and then calling back to continue the fight. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/53 "2013-10-07T21:17:12Z")
I dropped \*\*Dexter \*\*very early on - maybe even before the end of episode 1 - because of how annoying his sister is. I knew I could not be in the same room with her, even if she’s just on TV. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/54 "2013-10-07T21:17:28Z")
The original _Battlestar Galactica_. I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about it at the start, but I gave it a chance. Then they had an episode entitled “The Gun on Ice Planet Zero.” I decided that if that’s the most creative title they could come up with, the show itself must be as boring as oatmeal. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/55 "2013-10-07T21:24:25Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Hi, person who bitches and moans about Lost checking in. The appearance of a monster made out of smoke could be something supernatural or it could have a perfectly rational but technologically advanced explanation. Show creators said it would be the latter; instead it turned out to be the former. Thank you for your time. There is no RATIONAL explanation for an invisible monster that knocks over trees, roars like Godzilla, and eats pilots. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/56 "2013-10-07T21:26:09Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Not weird at all. I stopped watching when they gave Dr. Greene cancer. I didn’t wait for them to kill him off. Too much beating up on characters for my liking. Mine was when the young intern got stabbed in the chest and died of a pulmonary embolism. But the big one was _Psych_. I loved the show and characters but hated the romance between Shawn and Juliet so I just stopped watching. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/57 "2013-10-07T21:31:02Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > There is no RATIONAL explanation for an invisible monster that knocks over trees, roars like Godzilla, and eats pilots. Alien technology. Induced hallucinations. Reality warping field. Basically anything besides, “oh, God did it.” But this is a giant hijack so I’ll drop it now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/58 "2013-10-07T21:44:14Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Alien technology. Induced hallucinations. Reality warping field. Basically anything besides, “oh, God did it.” But this is a giant hijack so I’ll drop it now. 🙂 Please, indulge me with one more reply. All of those things are irrational and supernatural. Also, the solution was never “God did it,” we were never told what Jacob/The Man in Black were. Aliens were still on the table at the end of the series. All we know is that the solution was supernatural, just as the first episode promised. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/59 "2013-10-07T21:57:39Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Please, indulge me with one more reply. Nope. Back on the topic of ER, I also didn’t care for the storyline where Dr. Weaver had the baby with her lesbian partner, who then died in a fire, and the family tried to repossess the kid, etc. Get back to the damn hospital already! I’m not watching this show for an adoption sob story. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579/60 "2013-10-07T22:14:16Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > There is no RATIONAL explanation for an invisible monster that knocks over trees, roars like Godzilla, and eats pilots. There is on _[Altair IV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet)_. I stuck with the BSG reboot until the end of the 3rd season (or it could have been 3.5 - did they have a half-season hiatus?). It became pretty clear that the producers were making things up as they went along and the ending was going to be pretty bad so I gave up and eventuall read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia 🙂 Quit watching _Torchwood_ when it became more about who was banging who rather than defending the earth from space-bastards. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-weirdest-reason-you-stopped-watching-a-show/670579.md?page=4)