Brain Bleed: The Shows We Hate & The Reasons We Hate Them

[Ohwell]

Empire - I bailed after last season.  Couldn't take it anymore.

[Haleth]

Sleepy Hollow - about 2/3 into season 2 I realized they switched leads on me and I wasn't watching what I had originally signed up for so I quit it. 

 

HTGAWM - I've been trying to hang in there for Viola but it really is all just claptrap drivel and I just can't find a damn to give about anything that happens to any of these people.  Just seems like sensation just for sensations sake. Every episode teaser seems to end in you won't be believe the jaw dropping OMG thing that happens next (eye roll).

Those were the two I was going to mention for this season.  Loved Sleepy Hollow until they replaced one ridiculous corsetted heroine with another even more ridiculous corsetted heroine.  Loved last season of HTGAWM until the idea that these kids were law students became too absurd to watch, and the plots became more about who was sleeping with whom than the actual mystery.  So bye bye to both.

[festivus]

Empire - I watched last season, but by the season finale I realized I was over it already. Just too much going on with that show. Gave me whiplash.

 

Covert Affairs - Almost made it to the end but I quit halfway through the last season when I realized that I kinda hated the show and had only been watching because I really love some of the actors on it.

 

Criminal Minds - I swear I remember that this show used to be good. I quit watching about three seasons ago.

[Sandman87]

I started losing interest in ER right about at the point where they dropped a helicopter on Romano. He was such an unrepentant jerk that he managed to add a much needed humorous element to the show, and I had an odd kind of respect for the character for refusing to change his ways. Then he got killed off, and his asshole tendencies seemed to transfer themselves to all of the other characters, most of whom we were supposed to like. I only stuck with the show until the end of that season.

[ganesh]

The great thing thing about Covert Affairs was the commentary here.

[meep.meep]

The Whispers because there weren't any

Once Upon a Time because it turned into Disney fairytales, not book fairytales

The Strain because so stupid

[Quof]

I watched every episode of Hostages, and hated it, so I skipped the last one.  It was very liberating. 

Edited November 13, 2015 by Quof

[ShortyMac]

The Bastard Executioner - I lasted about four episodes before I gave up. I just didn't care about any of the characters and it wasn't holding my attention (the premiere was two hours and the rest of the episodes are over an hour long). 

[Hyacinth B]

Call me shallow, but anyone who uses a Lady Margery reference, let alone an Upstairs/Downstairs one, is my new best friend. :)

 

Lady Margery also had more empathy, more decency, and more CLASS in her little finger than that b1tch Lady Mary has in her entire body.

Edited November 14, 2015 by Hyacinth B

[Neurochick]

I cancelled Quantico, because it's trying to be How To Get Away With Murder without Viola Davis and it isn't working.

[DkNNy79]

OUAT - I lost interest after the 1st season.

BTVS - I hated the character of Dawn and that whole plot point was weird to me, so that was the least season that I watched.

The Librarians - I wanted to really like this show, because I love the movies, but I guess that's because it was focused on Noah Wylie's character. 

DWTS - I will catch an episode here or there if I like a certain celebrity, but I used to watch every week religiously.  When Mya lost to Donny Osmond that was the final straw - I loved that season.  I would watch every week and I voted my little fingers off for her.

[DisneyBoy]

While I definitely do not watch Grey's Anatomy - I think I've seen five episodes or six total - I rather liked the Geena Davis plot from last year. I assume she isn't coming back...?

I dropped Smallville so many times during the course of the show that I just lost count. After the way they destroyed things in the season 8 finale I obviously was in no shape to come back for season 9. I watched a couple of episodes of season 10 but had long since figured out how the producers operated and knew better than to get excited about anything. That show was the worst at payoffs.

The show I most recently dropped was The Good Wife and I'm guessing you can all figure out when I finally walked away. Yep - when Will was abruptly written out of the series. I mean honestly now, they had a year's warning to figure out how two best transition Josh Charles off the series...and they opted to just shoot him?! I couldn't believe it. It was lazy and really frustrating because it meant that all of the plots that had been set up the first few years of the show would never get paid off. We would never see Alicia Florrick step away from her terrible marriage for good and deal with the public shaming that would come from having an open relationship with her boss (or former boss). We would never see her kids deal the knowledge that their parents marriage was basically a sham and that Mommy had decided to move on. The Kings can write whatever fun political stuff they want into the series now, but I just can't bring myself to care the way I used to. Plus, Kalinda is no longer on the show either...so what's the point? I like Diane a lot but she's not enough.

Edited November 23, 2015 by DisneyBoy

[Wax Lion]

I'm basically dropping The Good Wife. I watch most of the TV I watch online on Hulu and sometimes forget to visit my cable company's website for it. Before CBS All Access debuted, there would have been most of the current season's episodes available but now they've only got a few weeks, and they next episode I need to see is no longer available. Gives me time for all the other shows I'm trying to get caught up watching. Don't make it hard to keep up with a show.

[festivus]

A few more I've cancelled:

 

Supergirl - I watched two episodes, had a third on the DVR and a new one was about to come on and I realized I just didn't care enough to keep watching. I feel kinda bad about because it's a superhero show about a woman but it just kinda bored me. The actress playing Supergirl is likable and I like the actors that play the sister and James Olson but it's not enough to keep me watching. . I watched 10 years of Smallville and I think I'm just Super-ed out. 

 

The Blacklist - No real reason, I just have too many shows that come on on Thursday and this one lost out.

 

Heroes Reborn - Same reason as The Blacklist. I may catch up that one someday if they put it on Netflix. Or maybe not. 

[Ronin Jackson]

Sons of Anarchy - I actually got through five full seasons of the show, which normally is beyond the point of no return, but I'd essentially given the show an ultimatum to get one with certain subplots and characters... and of course they didn't, Later a friend was hanging out and had been binging through the show and was to the final couple of episodes... and I agreed to watch it to satisfy some mild curiosity.  It more or less confirmed my decision to cancel was a good one... unbelievably one of those characters that needed to be gone was actually one of the only ones left ones standing... Sutter must have been trolling the audience with that choice.

 

Orphan Black - Couldn't get past a few episodes of the second season. Maslany is incredible but she's literally the only worthwhile thing about the show... and it just isn't enough when everything else (all the other characters, the writing, the style) is so generic. I have a hard time with drama with small screen aesthetic after so many have been moving beyond that. OB, 12 Monkeys, The Blacklist... I'm done with all of them because they are too small screen for me.

 

One show I almost cancelled but didn't.... Fargo - The first season I thought was overrated hipster nonsense. I was so turned off that I didn't trust the same showrunner on the second season even if it's a new story and new cast... but I turned out to be wrong on that one. Season 2 has been a huge improvement so far and the best example of how the anthology season concept can be effectively rebooted season to season.

[joelene]

One show I almost cancelled but didn't.... Fargo - The first season I thought was overrated hipster nonsense. I was so turned off that I didn't trust the same showrunner on the second season even if it's a new story and new cast... but I turned out to be wrong on that one. Season 2 has been a huge improvement so far and the best example of how the anthology season concept can be effectively rebooted season to season.

I'm the complete opposite. Binged the first season after it all aired and loved it but this season has been losing me from the beginning, and I can't put my finger on why. The only characters I'm really enjoying are Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. If not for them I would probably cancel the show, but they are both so compelling I have to stay with it.

I know critics still love it to death but I haven't followed the fandom so I've no idea how unpopular that is.

[Ronin Jackson]

I'm the complete opposite. Binged the first season after it all aired and loved it but this season has been losing me from the beginning, and I can't put my finger on why. The only characters I'm really enjoying are Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. If not for them I would probably cancel the show, but they are both so compelling I have to stay with it.

I know critics still love it to death but I haven't followed the fandom so I've no idea how unpopular that is.

 

It just goes to show you how differently people can respond to things... I had a very similar reaction to the first season. I couldn't understand all the praise it was getting. I can more or less put my finger on why I didn't like the first season... the story was a classic "idiot plot" where almost everything that happened was driven by unbelievable ineptness, not just of the characters in the story but even unseen characters... and the "smart" characters, especially the bad ones, weren't so much smart as they were able to serendipitous benefit from everyone around them being utterly inept (for example, Malvo benefiting from the a Bemiidji deputy being the one and onlt law enforcement official in the entire state interested in investigating a brutal assault and kidnapping (and later, murder) that was videotaped by office cameras in broad daylight... or Lester beneftting from the hospital staff wheeling his hospital roommate out into the hall "for tests", then apparently forgetting about him (and obviously not doing any tests) long enough for Lester to do various nefarious acts). I've found it quite refreshing that largely, the characters in the second season or quite competent.

 

Back on topic... I've also sort of cancelled DR. WHO - It's not so much about Capaldi, who I think has been good from what I've seen... it's really what Moffat has done with the show, turning it into a whimsical sickly cutsie fantasy show. Maybe it's always been that but I've hit a wall. I'd watched every episode of NuWho (and many old ones) up to the most recent Christmas special... I got about 5 minutes into it and realized I couldn't take another Moffat whimsy fantasy... one that involved friggin' Santa Clause no less... and I've had no motivation to seek out the newer episodes. I may be done with the show until Moffat is done with it... but the good thing about this show is every time the Doctor regenerates the show effectively reboots. Once the show is handed off to a new showrunner I'll check it out again... it's got a fantastic, timeless (no pun intended) premise.

[ganesh]

Ooh, I thought the Santa episode was actually quite good. (He wasn't *actually* Santa). I'm always in for a space station/ice station/submarine we're trapped and it's coming.

 

I can't say the show is that great, but there's been some enjoyable episodes. Check out the Orient Express one. 

[Ronin Jackson]

Ooh, I thought the Santa episode was actually quite good. (He wasn't *actually* Santa). I'm always in for a space station/ice station/submarine we're trapped and it's coming.

 

I can't say the show is that great, but there's been some enjoyable episodes. Check out the Orient Express one. 

 

Ah okay... that's probably a useful spoiler because I don't think I could handle Santa in a Doctor Who episode! :) The Orient Express episode was from the previous season right? The Orient Express as a spaceship? I saw that one.

 

I don't think the recent Moffat episodes have been a trainwreck, but I'm overall I'm pretty spent with him as the showrunner. It's strange because I really like Sherlock and I liked the episodes he was involved with during Davies reign.... Blink I thought was terrific. Though that episode actually illustrates one of my criticisms about Moffat... he falls way too in love with his own creations. The angels were great in that episode but he kept reusing them until they got thoroughly stale and lost the magic they had in that episode. I also didn't like how he had to gobble up the whole "13 regenerations" thing himself even though it wasn't time. I'd always figured that would be some kind of epic monumental thing for the Doctor to surmount and of course Moffat turned it into one of his patented whimsical hocus pocus wish upon a star plots. He seemed to me like a guy who licks his fingers and sticks them into all the dishes at a buffet with that one.

[spaceytraci1208]

Sons of Anarchy - I actually got through five full seasons of the show, which normally is beyond the point of no return, but I'd essentially given the show an ultimatum to get one with certain subplots and characters... and of course they didn't, Later a friend was hanging out and had been binging through the show and was to the final couple of episodes... and I agreed to watch it to satisfy some mild curiosity. It more or less confirmed my decision to cancel was a good one... unbelievably one of those characters that needed to be gone was actually one of the only ones left ones standing... Sutter must have been trolling the audience with that choice.

I was on the brink when he killed off Opie (still not quite over that), but figured I'd stuck around that long and may as well see it through. I wish I had just quit it and read the forums rather than waste my Tuesday nights.

[Chaos Theory]

I really really like television. All/Most kinds of television but I do ocassiknally give up on a show.

I keep telling myself I am going to quit Scandal but I always keep going back. I'm not quite sure why maybe it's the OMG moments. BI hold out hope that it will get better but it is grinding on my last nerve. Oh but I did give up on How to get away with murder I just can't with that show.

I probably more or less given up on the Big Bang theory. I'm not quite sure why I'm just not enjoying it like I used to it's nothing in particular it's just not quite as enjoyable as it once was. But you can't really judge by me because I'm not really a comedy person I think I am watching maybe two now

There is probably others that I can't think of right now. New shows of course I started to watch but stopped after a couple of episodes but I don't really count them.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Joe]

Camelot. It was a King Arthur story, and... not bad. I'd seen worse. However, it started about a month before Game of Thrones. Then it took a two week break. In that break, I watched two eps of GOT. I don't drink non-alcoholic beer or decaf coffee. GOT did everything Camelot did, except better. So I had no need to keep watching.

[ganesh]

Camelot was a rare miss for Starz. They cast the wrong guy for Arthur. Still, though,. Eva Green.

[Joe]

Oh yeah, she was good fun and also got naked, which is nice. But I have the internet, and all the porn I could possibly want.

[Blergh]

I cancelled "Lost" after they wasted the whole year on The Hatch and no amount  of network hype and pals' pleading could get me back. Was I relieved to find out I had NOT wasted  X more years  of my life enduring something I had grown to hate when the 'reveal' happened at the very end and everyone else who'd fallen for the hype felt like kicking themselves.

[ganesh]

Eva Green was born to play Vanessa in Penny Dreadful.

I had to laugh when people were all gushing over Lost. As a veteran of the X Files, I knew (as many others did) that you can't sustain a "mythology" in the long term without it all falling in on itself, over explaining everything, or just ignoring everything and making the last 2 or 3 hours of show something weird to wrap it up.

 

I watched it, but it wasn't appointment tv. It had an exotic locale and it was a fairly multi-cultural cast. There were actors in it that I liked from prior shows. There's some good episodes here and there, but I can't say that by quitting it, you really lost (heh) out on anything.

[ABay]

I loathed the ending of Lost, I still despise Lindeloff (Cuse is forgiven because of Brisco County), but I certainly don't feel like I wasted my time watching it to the end. There were episodes I didn't like and characters I didn't like (actually I disliked almost all of them at one time or another) but there was so much more that I liked and enjoyed and was entertained by. None of that is diminished by the stupid finale.

Edited November 27, 2015 by ABay

[ganesh]

I thought it was mostly a waste of my time once the series ended. I wasn't expecting anything to be wrapped up at all, which it wasn't, but taking in the show as a whole, I think they burned out on their creativity and narrative direction early on. That's why they had to bring on practically a whole new cast. 

 

This is a textbook example of why a show needs a fixed end date.

[joelene]

I thought it was mostly a waste of my time once the series ended. I wasn't expecting anything to be wrapped up at all, which it wasn't, but taking in the show as a whole, I think they burned out on their creativity and narrative direction early on. That's why they had to bring on practically a whole new cast.

This is a textbook example of why a show needs a fixed end date.

I thought Lost course-corrected in a fabulous way when it did get a fixed end date midpoint season 3. But then they still completely botched the last season, unfortunately. I can still rewatch from mid season 3 up until the end of season 5 because of the thrillingly fast paced, no nonsense plot advancement. But I'm afraid I can't go back to the first few seasons and the last one was horrendous. I don't regret watching it all, and I'll still have those two seasons plus to enjoy (and then dream up my own ending), but at the same time I can't blame people who do feel it was all a big waste of time. The only thing that bothers me is when people misunderstand the last season and think

they were in purgatory the whole time

and gives that reason for the series being a time waster.

Edited November 27, 2015 by joelene

[ganesh]

Fair enough, but, as you said, they still botched it. 

[bluvelvet]

Just took Black Sails off my DVR. I didn't really enjoy the first season but I watched it since it was starz. I dvr'd the entire season, watched three episodes and just had the rest hanging around. I just deleted all of them.

Feeling the same about Davinci's Demons but since season 3 is the last I will watch.

I was on the verge with Sleepy Hollow but now it's gotten good again. Arrow is kinda in the I may drop you soon territory. Watching it more out of habit now.

[Chaos Theory]

Criminal Minds Partly due to the character wars that go on that made me hate a certain character more then I should. When my enjoyment of a show is more petty then actual enjoyment then it is time to go.

[DoughGirl]

Outlander. Got Starz just to watch it and couldn't make it through the first season.

[blueray]

I love Lost! Watched it when it was on and it is still one of my favorite shows! The ending with the whole after life thing was a let down, but not nearly as bad as trying to explain it to people who are to dumb to understand the finale (which was a lot of people who did stick with it), it states very clearly in the episode that they did not die in the crash. The last season is actually good season if you skip all the "afterlife" stuff. And as for spending a lot of time on that hatch, I didn't find that, I liked the amount of time that they spend on it, especially since Desmond was a somewhat major character. However, the early seasons are somewhat slow and as Joelene said it picks up halfway through season 3 and stays pretty good through season 5. And season 6 has it's moments as well.

Edited December 1, 2015 by blueray

[Haleth]

I thought some of the "flash sideways" storylines would have made fun spinoffs.

[TaraS1]

I never made it to the end of S1 of How To Get Away With Murder because it was so poorly written and acted.  What a dumb mess.  

 

This season, I quickly canceled Quantico, Scream Queens and Code Black.  

[ganesh]

The flash sideways were a cool idea, but not something to base a whole season on.

Aside from the fact that they were going to ignore basically the whole show in the finale, what I didn't like is that Jack's father said, "the only meaningful time in your lives was on the island." Really? For those who finally got out, the rest of their lives were nothing? 

 

I was for the destruction of the island. 

[Chaos Theory]

I never made it to the end of S1 of How To Get Away With Murder because it was so poorly written and acted. What a dumb mess.

This season, I quickly canceled Quantico, Scream Queens and Code Black.

I understand about HTGAWM and Quantico but Scream Queens is fun.

[Ronin Jackson]

The flash sideways were a cool idea, but not something to base a whole season on.

Aside from the fact that they were going to ignore basically the whole show in the finale, what I didn't like is that Jack's father said, "the only meaningful time in your lives was on the island." Really? For those who finally got out, the rest of their lives were nothing? 

 

I was for the destruction of the island. 

 

How did they ignore the whole show in the finale?

 

I didn't like the final season either, but I don't wish I "cancelled" the show. The high points were worth it even if it ended with a big dud. Ultimately there was a lot that was promised in the mythology that ended up being hot air, and by the final season it became obvious how empty it all was. 

[Crim]

I understand about HTGAWM and Quantico but Scream Queens is fun.

I cancelled these 3 shows too. Of these, I watched Scream Queens the longest - HTGAWM was too much of a procedural to keep me interested, Quantico was too stupid - and could have kept watching, I suppose. I just don't find Ryan Murphy's recent comedy funny, and I say this as someone who was interested in his work since Popular, which I liked but was cancelled-cancelled.

 

I've been waiting for Flesh and Bone, but now I find myself unable to watch it. It's not a conscious decision; every day I just... don't watch it.

[ganesh]

The finale of Lost didn't have much to do with anything that went on in the first half of the series at the least. I mean, the flash sideways came out of nowhere. The X Files basically ignored the show in their finale too. These kind of shows tend to fall in on themselves because they can't maintain that level of continuity over the long term, so they basically paint over it at the end. I think Fringe managed it well enough, other than that B5, and that was 20 years ago. 

[ShellSeeker]

Sons of Anarchy - I actually got through five full seasons of the show, which normally is beyond the point of no return, but I'd essentially given the show an ultimatum to get one with certain subplots and characters... and of course they didn't, Later a friend was hanging out and had been binging through the show and was to the final couple of episodes... and I agreed to watch it to satisfy some mild curiosity.  It more or less confirmed my decision to cancel was a good one... unbelievably one of those characters that needed to be gone was actually one of the only ones left ones standing... Sutter must have been trolling the audience with that choice.

 

Season 6 was when I cancelled this too. I was completely turned off by the season premiere, 

the school shooting,

, and I thought it was completely gratuitous and a ploy for attention and ratings by Kurt Sutter. Then there was a storyline with

Jax having an affair with a madam, and being upset when he finds her with a client. Really? You're upset that the hooker is sleeping with another guy?

Come on. After that, I was out. My husband watched until the end, but didn't enjoy it as much as earlier seasons of the show. I read recaps to keep up with what was happening, but beyond that, I just couldn't get back into it. (Spoiler tags for anyone who happens to be binge watching.)

 

This season, I quickly canceled Quantico, Scream Queens and Code Black.  

I watched the first episode of Quantico, and thought it looked like a cool premise and I liked that the lead character was not a standard-issue blue-eyed blonde. Then it got really stupid by about halfway through the second episode, and I was done.

[Misslindsey]

 

I've been waiting for Flesh and Bone, but now I find myself unable to watch it. It's not a conscious decision; every day I just... don't watch it.

I was waiting for it too. I like the ballet and the actual dancing in the show, but for me, I find the rest not really enjoyable to watch.  

[Neurochick]

Just took Black Sails off my DVR. I didn't really enjoy the first season but I watched it since it was starz. I dvr'd the entire season, watched three episodes and just had the rest hanging around. I just deleted all of them.

 

 

I gasped when I read this.  To me, Black Sails is one of the best things on TV today, it's the reason I even get Starz.

 

However, I gave up on Quantico and Code Black, the former because it was stupid, the latter because it was boring.  Oh, and I gave up on Homeland because...well what's the point?  It's become too much like 24.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Neurochick

[Crim]

I think I'll cancel Agents of SHIELD (again) after the next episode when it goes on hiatus. With Ward central to the plot again, I can't fast forward his scenes anymore.

[ganesh]

I gasped when I read this.  To me, Black Sails is one of the best things on TV today, it's the reason I even get Starz.

 

So did I. I just finished Treasure Island, so I'm fired up. 

[Ronin Jackson]

I'm pretty close to cancelling the entire Walking Dead franchise (except perhaps the Telltale games).

[ganesh]

I don't want to cancel the Leftovers. I've only seen S1, and I found the worldbuilding and overall internal logic to be widely inconsistent. Not to mention that it's a ridiculous tv choice to have multiple characters that don't speak. I feel I need to play out the string, so it's in my queue, but continually gets bumped when more interesting content pops up. 

[FormerMod-a1]

There's a lot wrong with HTGAWM, but I wouldn't call it a procedural.  It's had the same overarching through-plot through 2 seasons now.  That's kind of the opposite of a procedural.  Right?

[Crim]

There's a lot wrong with HTGAWM, but I wouldn't call it a procedural.  It's had the same overarching through-plot through 2 seasons now.  That's kind of the opposite of a procedural.  Right?

That - well, and the hype ofc - was why I started watching it. Sadly, aren't the episodes each focused on an individual case that has nothing to do with the arc, but takes up at least 3/4 of the episode, with the overarching plot revealed bit by bit in disjointed flashforwards? If not, then I quit the show too soon.