Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[BlueSkies]

If you watch any season of You more than once... on second viewing well it becomes pretty hilarious.

 

I mean Joe puts on a hat and nobody recognizes him?

All the people he stalks somehow the door is always open in their homes?

He always knows exactly what to say to get out of situations? 

 

[Mabinogia]

19 minutes ago, BlueSkies said:

I mean Joe puts on a hat and nobody recognizes him?

Now, if he had a very average look I could see that working in a "we just don't pay attention to the things/people around us" kind of way, but he looks like Penn Badgley. There is not a hat in the world that is going to make me not notice that face. 

But yeah, You is 100% a show in which he gets away with what he does because the plot needs him to.

[BlueSkies]

24 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Now, if he had a very average look I could see that working in a "we just don't pay attention to the things/people around us" kind of way, but he looks like Penn Badgley. There is not a hat in the world that is going to make me not notice that face. 

But yeah, You is 100% a show in which he gets away with what he does because the plot needs him to.

 

Another one: 

24 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Spoiler

Yeah Benji's Dad could have easily picked up Joe killed him.  If he searched his phone records and where his posts were coming from.... all would lead to Joe's basement and him 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by BlueSkies

[Kel Varnsen]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:30 PM, Crs97 said:

annoys me almost as much as the thin beautiful woman who only eats crap, and a lot of it, without ever having a weight issue.  I’m looking at you, Lorelei Gilmore, on both counts!

The only one of those I bought was Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. Because with her crazy busy job and life I could totally believe she might eat a a bag of off brand cheese puffs for lunch one day and then not have time to eat anything until the next afternoon.

[Llywela]

On 1/2/2023 at 2:07 AM, Anduin said:

I have one about the British archeology show Time Team. You see, each episode would start off with John and his team doing a scan of the area to be investigated. He'd show the results to the actual digging team, and indeed the host. He'd say, "There's a dark patch over here, and a magnetic anomaly over there." And everyone would talk it up out of proportion!

The host would come back to him later and almost accuse him of promising a full Norman castle. No! He saw a dark patch and a magnetic anomaly, that's all. It's a wonder he never snapped at them. "Focus on what I say, not what you want to find!"

Furthermore, regular guest Francis Pryor often seemed to come up with some big theories, and then almost bend the evidence to fit. That's the wrong way of going about any kind of investigation. And yet, he's a full on professor of archeology with many publications to his name.

It was a good show, I should really check out the revival. But those two elements always annoyed me.

TV archaeology shows always annoy me, for just this reason - Time Team was always a big culprit. They always want to hype up what they've found, to make it more dramatic and significant for TV. They would find, for instance, the skeleton of a young girl curled up in a ditch and would immediately start talking about how special she must have been to be buried in this way, when surely it is just as likely that she was a runaway who curled up in a ditch to sleep and died of exposure. Not everything has deeper meaning! In fact, the vast majority of human life and death is fairly ordinary.

And now talking about this has reminded me of how I tried to watch Dan Jones's series on Netflix, The Secrets of Great British Castles, but found his presentation style so annoying I couldn't get through a single episode. I made the mistake of starting with an episode on a Welsh castle that I know well, and ended up wanting to throw things at the screen to make the idiot stop talking. I feel strongly that if a TV presenter is going to talk about Welsh history, he needs to make at least some effort to learn how to pronounce the Welsh names correctly. Jones made no attempt whatsoever, just mangled them every time. And his take on the Welsh history he was talking about was hideously Anglo-centric, Welsh history told from the perspective of the English conquerors. It was hideous.

[Zella]

The powers that be have somehow dragged 10 seasons out of The Curse of Oak Island finding nothing of significance here in the US. 

[BlueSkies]

Granted I love Andy but the whole feud with Jerry Lawlor on Letterman should be a staple of American/pop culture history.

 

Really Andy was much ahead of his time with a lot of his shenanigans.  

 

When Will Smith punched Chris Rock I thought it was fake and a joke and laughed thinking of Andy.  

[andromeda331]

On 12/31/2022 at 11:30 AM, Crs97 said:

Spending money they don’t have without any repercussion annoys me almost as much as the thin beautiful woman who only eats crap, and a lot of it, without ever having a weight issue.  I’m looking at you, Lorelei Gilmore, on both counts!

Growing up it was thirteen year old Claudia Kishi from the Babysitters Club book series. She was always eating junk food that she hid in her room because her parents' didn't approve. But of course she never gained any weight or got pimples from the huge amount of junk food that she bought from her money babysitting.  She also had a wardrobe and sneaker collection that she also managed afford from babysitting. 

[Blergh]

After it quickly devolved into a juvenile, crass and meanspirited farce, I loathed the original Night Court (1984-1992) and hope the revival dies a quick death while being soundly jeered by its intended audience.  Seriously, haven't we suffered enough the last few years without having to have this put back on?

Yeah, boo me but this is the UO Subforum so I'm putting this out for all who aren't fans of the show!

 

[Danny Franks]

On 1/2/2023 at 2:07 AM, Anduin said:

I have one about the British archeology show Time Team. You see, each episode would start off with John and his team doing a scan of the area to be investigated. He'd show the results to the actual digging team, and indeed the host. He'd say, "There's a dark patch over here, and a magnetic anomaly over there." And everyone would talk it up out of proportion!

The host would come back to him later and almost accuse him of promising a full Norman castle. No! He saw a dark patch and a magnetic anomaly, that's all. It's a wonder he never snapped at them. "Focus on what I say, not what you want to find!"

Furthermore, regular guest Francis Pryor often seemed to come up with some big theories, and then almost bend the evidence to fit. That's the wrong way of going about any kind of investigation. And yet, he's a full on professor of archeology with many publications to his name.

It was a good show, I should really check out the revival. But those two elements always annoyed me.

To be honest, I think part of the reason that Tony Robinson always challenged John was because John was such a grump about everything, and it took almost nothing to get him making passive aggressive remarks and taking their comments as a personal attack on him and on the science of geophysics.

But it's part of the concept of the show - three days to do a dig and try to find some old Roman villa or Neolithic settlement and they need to make it dramatic. They never found much more than a series of small walls, some ditches and post holes, and the odd bit of pottery or human remains, but they had to keep people excited about what they might find.

The most interesting part of the show was always with Stuart, the landscape archaeologist, who could look at what seemed to be just a wooded hillock or slope, and immediately point out bits that weren't natural, and were the remains of earthworks of some kind.

[Dancingjaneway]

I am NOT looking forward to Meryl Streep on Only Murders in the Building. I don't think she is the end all be all of acting & I think it's gonna be a big "omg Meryl Streep" fest. Ugh. 

[juno]

9 minutes ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I am NOT looking forward to Meryl Streep on Only Murders in the Building. I don't think she is the end all be all of acting & I think it's gonna be a big "omg Meryl Streep" fest. Ugh. 

I am with you. I know I am in the minority, but I think she wrecked the second season of Big Little Lies.

[DearEvette]

11 minutes ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I am NOT looking forward to Meryl Streep on Only Murders in the Building. I don't think she is the end all be all of acting & I think it's gonna be a big "omg Meryl Streep" fest. Ugh. 

Yeah. my heart kinda sank when I read that casting announcement.

[bluegirl147]

I don't mind Meryl Streep in roles that aren't stunt casting.  I recently watched Hope Springs.  It was Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a couple trying to get out of the rut their marriage turned into.  They were both terrific in it.

12 hours ago, juno said:

I am with you. I know I am in the minority, but I think she wrecked the second season of Big Little Lies.

Her role in Big Little Lies was IMO just a reason to say hey look we have Meryl Streep. And I fear it will be the same with Only Murders.

 

My unpopular opinion is I don't miss This is Us.  Not one little bit.  Not even for a second. I will never do a rewatch (and I rewatch everything). 

 

[Crs97]

19 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

My unpopular opinion is I don't miss This is Us.  Not one little bit.  Not even for a second. I will never do a rewatch (and I rewatch everything). 

My TiU UO is that I thought Miguel was a much better person than Jack and much better suited for Rebecca.  I thought Jack, for all his worshipping of Rebecca, made her feel small (“How dare you complain about even a second of raising our children and wanting a break from them?”  “Your singing saved me until you wanted to go back to it when the kids grew and now it’s a joke.”  “Randall, let me explain racism to you by insulting your mother”).

[bluegirl147]

32 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

My TiU UO is that I thought Miguel was a much better person than Jack and much better suited for Rebecca.

That opinion isn't unpopular with me. I hated how the show treated Miguel like a placeholder till Rebecca could be reunited with Jack.  And in the afterlife yep she barely acknowledged Miguel and went to spend eternity with Jack.

[proserpina65]

My unpopular HOTD opinion: I hate Rhaenyra.  I waxed and waned on thinking she was okay through the first 6 episodes, but her behavior in the scene after the kid fight in Driftmark made me loath her.  Nothing was going to happen to her annoying brats, Viserys was all "my son losing an eye is just boys being boys, no biggie, let's all forget it".  All she had to do was keep her mouth shut until she could take her family back to Dragon stone.  But no, she had to bring up that Aemond called her sons bastards and make a huge deal of it.  I hated her from that moment on.

[Wiendish Fitch]

4 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

That opinion isn't unpopular with me. I hated how the show treated Miguel like a placeholder till Rebecca could be reunited with Jack.  And in the afterlife yep she barely acknowledged Miguel and went to spend eternity with Jack.

The salivating over and deification of PERFECT ST. JACK was many aspects about This is Us that wore on me.

That, and Kevin. I fucking hated that guy. He was the #1 reason I stopped watching. 

p.s.

I was 100% Team Rebecca in the episode "Moonshadow". Why the hell should she give up what she loves and fade into the walls just because she's over 40? 

[meep.meep]

22 hours ago, juno said:

I am with you. I know I am in the minority, but I think she wrecked the second season of Big Little Lies.

Her character certainly did.

Each season of Murders in the Building has had a "big star" but they've only been in a single episode.  In season 1, it was Sting.  In season 2, it was Amy Schumer.  Let's hope Meryl will be that kind of big star.

[Haleth]

You all are on point.

12 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Let's hope Meryl will be that kind of big star.

Yes, hope she only pops in once or twice as a neighbor and nothing more.

18 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

But no, she had to bring up that Aemond called her sons bastards and make a huge deal of it.

Yes, since they actually all are bastards and everyone knows it.  The whole family is entitled and repulsive.

22 hours ago, Crs97 said:

My TiU UO is that I thought Miguel was a much better person than Jack and much better suited for Rebecca.

Jack was such a big personality and loose canon that Rebecca had to be the grown up of the family.  Miguel understood that Rebecca had dreams too.  His kindness and exquisite care while she faded out made me love him.

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Jack was such a big personality and loose canon that Rebecca had to be the grown up of the family. 

You are much kinder in your description of Jack than I would be.  Jack's father was a shitty abusive husband (and father).  Jack did not want to follow in his footsteps but he did think he needed to take care of everyone and sometimes that led to him sheltering Rebecca.  He also favored Randall and Kate and that led to them both being somewhat insufferable adults.

18 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

That, and Kevin. I fucking hated that guy. He was the #1 reason I stopped watching. 

Kevin was the only one I liked at the end.

[Egg McMuffin]

I was intrigued by This is Us when it first premiered. I liked the idea of a series that focused on the same family during different time periods. But I found it emotionally manipulative, constantly trying to pluck at the heartstrings like Little House on the Prairie, and with increasingly tortured plot twists designed to keep up the surprise factor. I was done pretty early on, once we found out about the killer crock pot.

[DrSpaceman73]

This is us lack subtlety. It did wack you over the head with its emotionally and had to be sure you didn't miss it. Explicitly stating things that often weren't necessary. 

It was like a very special episode from the 80s every week. 

[Quof]

I noped out of TIU before the last season. I have never regretted it.

[Ohiopirate02]

50 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

This is us lack subtlety. It did wack you over the head with its emotionally and had to be sure you didn't miss it. Explicitly stating things that often weren't necessary. 

It was like a very special episode from the 80s every week. 

To be fair, TIU was a drama on NBC, and NBC is notorious for only airing dramas that pander to the least common denominator--their Facebook fans.  The show may have been more subtle if it aired on a different network.  I watched every season, and you can see the shifts in writing when the network got involved.  Season one was great, the beginning of season 2 was good, but then the Emmys happened and everything changed.  

[peachmangosteen]

I couldn't even make it past the first episode of This Is Us. And I like bad TV lol.

[Bethany]

I can't even stand the commercials for The Good Doctor but almost everyone I know raves about how wonderful it is.  I don't deny it may be wonderful but I have to mute the commercials so I can't imagine I'll be able to make it through an entire episode.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I couldn't even make it past the first episode of This Is Us. And I like bad TV lol.

This is me too.  I thought it was contrived and emotionally manipulative from the start. 

I'm happy people enjoyed it but it was so hard in that first season especially to not tell coworkers what I really thought about that show they loved.  Strong TV internet opinions don't play all that great in real life compared to how normal they are on TV forums.

 

[DrSpaceman73]

4 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

To be fair, TIU was a drama on NBC, and NBC is notorious for only airing dramas that pander to the least common denominator--their Facebook fans.  The show may have been more subtle if it aired on a different network.  I watched every season, and you can see the shifts in writing when the network got involved.  Season one was great, the beginning of season 2 was good, but then the Emmys happened and everything changed.  

It definitely would have been different on another network.  If you put it on HBO or a cable network it would have been much better. 

[bluegirl147]

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I'm happy people enjoyed it but it was so hard in that first season especially to not tell coworkers what I really thought about that show they loved. 

I was  having a conversation about something with a woman I was friendly with and she randomly blurted out OMG do you watch TIU. You have to watch TIU.  This was during the first season when I in fact had not started watching it.  I had heard of it of course and I told her no I don't watch it and she looked at me like there was something wrong with me. In the middle of the second season I got caught up streaming it and then became a weekly viewer.  I think I would have been happier if I hadn't started watching it.  It became almost like a chore to watch it every week.  And yes I know I could have stopped at any time but I wanted to see it through till the end.  I wonder if in five, ten years will this be a show nobody will say oh yeah I loved that show.

[Mittengirl]

13 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

I can't even stand the commercials for The Good Doctor but almost everyone I know raves about how wonderful it is.  I don't deny it may be wonderful but I have to mute the commercials so I can't imagine I'll be able to make it through an entire episode.

I did watch one episode, because my cat was laying on the remote, and you are not making a mistake by avoiding it.  I thought the show was horrible, the lead character utterly unlikeable and am shocked that it is still on the air.

[juno]

11 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

I did watch one episode, because my cat was laying on the remote, and you are not making a mistake by avoiding it.  I thought the show was horrible, the lead character utterly unlikeable and am shocked that it is still on the air.

I made it a lot longer. Once they started killing off all the main characters I gave up. Of course his complete unlikeability didn't help.

[AstridM]

15 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I couldn't even make it past the first episode of This Is Us. And I like bad TV lol.

I couldn’t even bring myself to watch one episode. 

[Haleth]

I guess my unpopular opinion is that I loved TIU, despite the flaws. 😊

[Enigma X]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

I guess my unpopular opinion is that I loved TIU, despite the flaws. 😊

Same, and (heaven forbid!) I even liked Jack.

[jah1986]

I liked TIU and Jack for the first couple seasons. I think, for me, the show took a permanent downward turn when William died. Of course, my own father was dying at the time and that's the last episode we watched together. But then Randall became totally unbearable for me, I just started FF through his scenes. I knew then it was time to cut the cord. I thought I would tune in for the final episodes, but I didn't. Don't feel like I missed anything.

[Sarahsmile416]

3 hours ago, jah1986 said:

I liked TIU and Jack for the first couple seasons. I think, for me, the show took a permanent downward turn when William died. Of course, my own father was dying at the time and that's the last episode we watched together. But then Randall became totally unbearable for me, I just started FF through his scenes. I knew then it was time to cut the cord. I thought I would tune in for the final episodes, but I didn't. Don't feel like I missed anything.

This is me too.  Watched and loved it - but then William died and the Killer Crock Pot reared its ugly lid and I was out.  My husband watched the whole damned thing…I couldn’t do it.  

It emotionally put me through the wringer and I just couldn’t do it.   My step father died around the time it was on, followed by my uncle and that was enough real life sadness for me…I didn’t need TIU to help with that.

[Jaded]

On 1/26/2023 at 6:21 AM, Egg McMuffin said:

I was intrigued by This is Us when it first premiered. I liked the idea of a series that focused on the same family during different time periods. But I found it emotionally manipulative, constantly trying to pluck at the heartstrings like Little House on the Prairie, and with increasingly tortured plot twists designed to keep up the surprise factor. I was done pretty early on, once we found out about the killer crock pot.

I was thinking of watching it while seeing all the promotional stuff for it on NBC back then. I liked Milo from Gilmore Girls/Heroes and Mandy as a singer/actor. I usually wait a bit to watch shows just starting out to see if they are going to go to the trash heap quickly. Once I saw so many saying that episodes made them cry each week a decision was made to skip it. I was pretty depressed at the time from IRL stuff so didn't need it to be made worse weekly by a TV show that was being manipulative on purpose.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I left "This is Us" after they made en episode about a child who was killed in Vietnam to further their own character's storylines.  It felt so manipulative and exploitative.  I never looked back.

[Crs97]

I finally got to the point that I would read the recap to This is Us and decide whether to watch the episode or just fast-forward to one or more scenes that were noteworthy.  Actually, I watch several series this way.

[Blergh]

On 1/26/2023 at 8:20 AM, Quof said:

I noped out of TIU before the last season. I have never regretted it.

I did the same with Lost, feel the same (and have made it a point to avoid ALL Abrams productions ever since)!

[peachmangosteen]

Oooh, now we can do Lost unpopular opinions. I loved it. All the way through. I think the series finale is one of the best ever. Top that lol!

[Enigma X]

39 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Oooh, now we can do Lost unpopular opinions. I loved it. All the way through. I think the series finale is one of the best ever. Top that lol!

Now this is one where it was my favorite show until the final season. 

[bluegirl147]

Loved the Lost pilot.  It was like a movie.  Liked the first season.  But after that eh.  It was hit or miss.  Did a rewatch about 10 yrs ago.  Still didn't make a lot of sense to me

 

[DoctorAtomic]

The pilot is arguably one of the best in television history. 

"Guys? Where are we?"

It was clear though that there wasn't any plan, and I didn't really invest much in the show. And when it ended, TPTBs admitted they "threw everything at the wall to see what would stick". Back when Entertainment Weekly, when it was an actual magazine with entertainment journalists, there was a good spread

There were good moments though to be sure. 

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, bluegirl147 said:

Loved the Lost pilot.  It was like a movie.  Liked the first season.  But after that eh.  It was hit or miss.

The Lost pilot was extremely cinematic and very well done, certainly pulled me into the show immediately. But like most ensemble shows, it was hit or miss for me depending on which actors were being focused on. I loved Locke, love Sun and Jin, loved Hurley. While I liked Sawyer I loathed everything about the love triangle with him Kate and Jack (cause I couldn't stand Kate or Jack). 

I wish they hadn't had as many seasons as they did because I think with less time to tell the story it might have been a bit tighter and made slightly more sense. The middle seasons were a hot mess of "let's throw this at the wall and see what happens".

[DoctorAtomic]

Jack was supposed to die in the pilot too.

Once they decided on when the show would end, the plotting was much tighter. The problem was the show was a mess at that point. 

[Mabinogia]

28 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Jack was supposed to die in the pilot too.

In another thread there's a discussion about alternate histories. I'd like to go to the alternate history where Jack did die in the first ep to see what the show was meant to be. 

[Blergh]

I'm SO glad a bailed the last few seasons of Lost before all the twists/'alternate' realities,etc. culminated in that IMO AWFUL 'Ha!Ha! They've ALL been DEAD since the Pilot ep plane crash! You viewers were SUCKERS for letting us mess with your heads!'

Even worse than St. Elsewhere's '[Raspberry] Ha! Ha! It was ALL inside an autistic child via him playing with a snowglobe'ending!'

[Domestic Assassin]

9 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Even worse than St. Elsewhere's '[Raspberry] Ha! Ha! It was ALL inside an autistic child via him playing with a snowglobe'ending!'

My unpopular opinion is that I LOVED the St. Elsewhere ending. I wonder how large the Tommy Westphall Universe is at this point?

Edited January 29, 2023 by Domestic Assassin