# Why, oh why did I watch Taken?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 15, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832 "2002-12-15T02:42:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/1 "2002-12-15T02:42:11Z")
I know, I know, people are supposed to take responsibilities for their own actions. And after three parts of the dreck that was “Taken” I \*knew \* it really sucked but I kept on watching, with that horrible fascination one experiences at a terrible accident. I thought for sure that sometime the show would start making sense, that the so-called mysteries would be revealed.
Nope. I think we were “Taken” for a ride, by what seems to me to be a really long pilot for a regular series. All the elements are there, evil villainess, good guys just \*waiting \* to be sent on the road and chased, government conspiracies and coverups, and the eventual return(probably at end of first or second season), of the cute kid.
Sorry for no profanity in this rant, and I am more angry at myself for wasting my time with the show, it was my own fault. But I STILL want my time back! Did anyone else make the same mistake I did and watch it, or am I alone in my foolishness? Anyway, I feel better for venting.
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### Author:  [@Vixenation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vixenation)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/2 "2002-12-15T02:46:48Z")
I actually really enjoyed Taken. It was predictable sometimes and the script was a little forced at some points, but it was enjoyable and I don’t regret watching it. It gave my friends and I something to talk about during lunch, plus Allie was _so_ darn cute.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/3 "2002-12-15T03:01:32Z")
Since _Dark Skies_ was cancelled, I’ve been put off any network attempts at alien abduction shows. Having Speilberg involved doesn’t sway me either.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/4 "2002-12-15T05:39:42Z")
_Taken_ is baaaad television. I taped the first six hours last week so that I could watch it while I was doing experiments at school. It helped passed the time there, but when I watched the rest of it at home, I had to shut that shit off.
It’s too long first of all. I know the scifi channel is targeted to geeks with no lives, but come on now. How long was that whole thing? Ten, twelve hours?
Second of all, it was as confusing as hell. They would switch from storyline to storyline so seamlessly that I couldn’t keep the characters straight. And everyone looked the same! They could have at least thrown in some token Asians or blacks or Mexicans…something! You know how people always say all black people look the same? Well guess what? White people aren’t exactly easy to distinguish either, especially when they’re on my teeny-tiny television set and they’re wearing uniforms.
(It also seemed like all the women did was have sex and have half-alien babies, leaving the guys to have all the action. It’s just as well, though, because there was little action anyways.)
Lastly, the movie just tried too hard. The little girl narration sucked. “Some people come home to find the road to the future…” WTF? And also, I just didn’t get why they wasted so much airtime with that crap. They could have blocked off one weekend and it would have been fine. But NOOOO. Every time I turn on the scifi channel, I have to hear that little girl’s voice. I want my hour-block Twilight Zone back! I’m ready for _Taken_ to be _Took_!
For a scary moment there, I couldn’t remember if “took” was a real word. I think my brain has been taken by aliens.
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### Author:  [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/5 "2002-12-15T21:37:24Z")
It was 20 hrs…
You people keep talking about plot and Taken. I see no connection between the two.
They got too ambitious when it came to jumping eras like they did. And lets face it. After the first hour and a half you knew what was going to happen.
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### Author:  [@Aglet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aglet)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/6 "2002-12-15T22:51:50Z")
I painstakingly taped all episodes, figuring I’d have something good to watch during the next snowstorm or minor illness. I’m in the middle of taping the last two episodes.
I am dismayed by most of these comments, but will still watch it.
Originally posted by **Monstro** :
> [@](#):
>
> [snip]I know the scifi channel is targeted to geeks with no lives[snip]
This dismays me, also…
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### Author:  [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/7 "2002-12-15T22:57:38Z")
I watched it all. I liked it. I do think though that parts of it were slow and that they could have condensed it down by a day or three.
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/8 "2002-12-16T00:09:43Z")
Hah! It’s ‘taked’, of course!
Oh, wait.
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### Author:  [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/9 "2002-12-16T05:43:53Z")
I was there for the first week. I thought, “Damn! Now I’m hooked!” I wasn’t going to tape it (or even watch it) but episode 2 got me hooked. I taped the first week’s episodes when they were recapped at the end of the first week.
And I faithfully taped the second week. But during the last few days, I had this bad feeling. Even the incomparable Matt Frewer (“Max Headroom”, “Dr. Dr.”) wasn’t helping keep this thing going. And yet I watched, and taped.
A coworker was hooked on it too, and expressed her admiration of the show. Well, I guess I liked it enough to keep watching it, but as I kept on repeating to her, “20 fricking hours. 20 fricking hours.”
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### Author:  [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/10 "2002-12-16T19:25:25Z")
It would have done better as a 4 hr special.
Basically the first two episodes and the last two episodes would have done it for me.
It seemed to me like someone had watched wild palms too many times and tried to do this great multigenerational epic with two families with opposing idealogies. Unfortunatly it came across to me as two groups of people whining at each other.
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### Author:  [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/11 "2002-12-16T23:28:06Z")
Ha!
I watched it for 20 minutes, pronounced it crap and went and did something else!
I’m proud of myself 😛
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-oh-why-did-i-watch-taken/142832/12 "2002-12-17T11:34:35Z")
No opinion on _Taken_ not having seen so much as a second of it.
Just ducked in to say [New Max Headroom on the way!](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2002-12/16/10.30.tv)
Channel 23 is returning to the airwaves! (If everything goes according to plan…)