Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, tribeca said:

My UO Friends

As much as I adore Paul Rudd I wanted phoebe to be with David. 

They really were the perfect couple. Totally quirky.  I've always gotten the feeling that Mike is going to get annoyed with her more flighty traits and they'll end up divorced.  You know, if they were real.

30 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

At the very least, their wives not wanting them to wear superhero t-shirts/belt buckles/ratty hoodies when they were out in public.

I'll go with that for Leonard since Penny is very fashion conscious and superficial, and maybe Howard.  But, Amy seems more like me in that I don't care what my significant other is wearing as long as all his private parts are covered, and he's at least dressed appropriately for the occasion. So, in other words, no Star Trek t-shirts at a funeral.

[Blergh]

My UO re Friends:

 If only Phoebe had struck out on her own AWAY from the others before they had the chance to turn her into a solipsistic 'pod person' like themselves and spun off to her very own show! As I've said, IMO, she was the only vaguely likable regular who made the show tolerable for the first few years before they trashed HER character,too. 

[peachmangosteen]

I guess my Friends uo is that I liked all the regular characters and that I still like them lol.

Edited March 17, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[Wiendish Fitch]

48 minutes ago, Blergh said:

My UO re Friends:

 If only Phoebe had struck out on her own AWAY from the others before they had the chance to turn her into a solipsistic 'pod person' like themselves and spun off to her very own show! As I've said, IMO, she was the only vaguely likable regular who made the show tolerable for the first few years before they trashed HER character,too. 

I don't think any of the Friends were worthy of their own spinoff, least of all Joey, which is why I'm glad his spin-off failed.

My UO is that Rachel's first red flag about Ross should have been how easily he dumped Julie for her, considering how sickeningly lovey-dovey he was over Julie in the beginning, and the "pros and cons" list he made about the two of them. "Just a waitress"? Fuck you, Ross.

I'm going to leave that can of worms only half-opened and move on to my next UO: I wish writers had the guts to break up couples and keep them that way. Some relationships were never meant to be, even in fiction. I wish Elliot and JD had stayed broken up on Scrubs, but they did the whole "will they/won't they" garbage they'd criticized in the first season.

All right, now for another, unrelated UO (caffeine, woot!):

I loved Sharp Objects, but I don't want another season. It was a "limited series", and "limited" means exactly that. It's based on a stand-alone book. The story. Is. Over. It's DONE. The book had a damn near perfect ending, there is zero need to drag it out indefinitely. I mean, where the hell could they go from here? It's bad enough The Handmaid's Tale is getting a third (THIRD!) season. The book had an ending, and a good one, at that. There's no more story to be told, and it now feels like they're pulling outcomes and twists out of thin air. 

Has the phrase "The End" lost all meaning? Why is everyone so afraid of finality?

Edited March 13, 2019 by Wiendish Fitch

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I'll go with that for Leonard since Penny is very fashion conscious and superficial, and maybe Howard.  But, Amy seems more like me in that I don't care what my significant other is wearing as long as all his private parts are covered, and he's at least dressed appropriately for the occasion. So, in other words, no Star Trek t-shirts at a funeral.

There really isn't any way Howard or Sheldon would listen to their wives anyway -- Sheldon is too stubborn, and Howard thinks his clothes are sexy and you probably can't convince him otherwise.  And even if Bernadette cared, it probably isn't worth arguing about.  And I mean, they all dated these guys when they dressed like that, so they can't care too much, even though Penny tried to get Leonard to change his wardrobe a million years ago.

[proserpina65]

I don't know if this is actually an unpopular opinion, but here goes anyway.  I hate when a poster on the boards turns out to be a contestant on the show I'm watching because then I can't snark about them the way I want to.  Not their fault, of course, but still, I like to snark.

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, janie jones said:

There really isn't any way Howard or Sheldon would listen to their wives anyway -- Sheldon is too stubborn, and Howard thinks his clothes are sexy and you probably can't convince him otherwise.  And even if Bernadette cared, it probably isn't worth arguing about.  And I mean, they all dated these guys when they dressed like that, so they can't care too much, even though Penny tried to get Leonard to change his wardrobe a million years ago.

It was established in an earlier season that Bernadette mostly liked how Howard dressed and thought it was sexy.  Not saying she couldn't have changed her mind since they've been married, though.

[izabella]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Has the phrase "The End" lost all meaning? Why is everyone so afraid of finality?

Money, money, MON-ey!

They see a successful show, and want to squeeze every bit of profit from it.  That's easier that creating a whole new show.

[auntlada]

8 hours ago, kariyaki said:

My criticism with the Big Bang Theory is that I don't find it very likely that these married guys would still be wearing the same dorky wardrobe that they wore when they were single. At the very least, their wives not wanting them to wear superhero t-shirts/belt buckles/ratty hoodies when they were out in public.

I know a number of geeks (computer, gaming, etc. -- very like The Big Bang Theory guys in their hobbies and work), and they do wear all those things. They can dress up when required, but only for funerals or weddings, etc., or work if work really requires that, but most of them work at jobs that don't. On their own time, they are usually wearing the geeky T-shirts. If it's warm, so am I, though.

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I don't know if this is actually an unpopular opinion, but here goes anyway.  I hate when a poster on the boards turns out to be a contestant on the show I'm watching because then I can't snark about them the way I want to.  Not their fault, of course, but still, I like to snark.

I've had that happen, a poster said they were one of the contestants and while it was kind of awesome to get background on the experience of being on the show all I could think was "shit! What did I say about her in previous posts" then had to be careful about what I said going forwards, which I didn't care for at all. 

[Anela]

7 hours ago, Blergh said:

My UO re Friends:

 If only Phoebe had struck out on her own AWAY from the others before they had the chance to turn her into a solipsistic 'pod person' like themselves and spun off to her very own show! As I've said, IMO, she was the only vaguely likable regular who made the show tolerable for the first few years before they trashed HER character,too. 

Her twin sister was my favourite character on Mad About You. 

[Minneapple]

11 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I loved Sharp Objects, but I don't want another season. It was a "limited series", and "limited" means exactly that. It's based on a stand-alone book. The story. Is. Over. It's DONE. The book had a damn near perfect ending, there is zero need to drag it out indefinitely. I mean, where the hell could they go from here? It's bad enough The Handmaid's Tale is getting a third (THIRD!) season. The book had an ending, and a good one, at that. There's no more story to be told, and it now feels like they're pulling outcomes and twists out of thin air. 

Has the phrase "The End" lost all meaning? Why is everyone so afraid of finality?

Also Big Little Lies. There is no reason to extend it out. Oh wait, there is. Money. It actually surprises me that HBO isn't dragging out Game of Thrones for another season or three. 

[biakbiak]

14 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

HBO isn't dragging out Game of Thrones for another season or three. 

They kind of are with the various spinoffs.

[slf]

I don't think we're experiencing peak tv. Personally, there aren't that many shows on that I'm excited about and I've quit watching as many, or more, shows as I've finished in the past 4-8 years. I think the technical side of things has improved greatly and representation is better overall but...eh. In terms of writing and originality? Nah.

[Silver Raven]

On 3/12/2019 at 5:13 AM, Raja said:

And now the Grammy's chose Fantasia to close their tribute to Aretha Franklin special. I  guess the third American Idol still has some life past that three year window of hits that is all that most pop music stars get.

Fantasia, too, has been on Broadway. 

[Silver Raven]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:57 AM, DearEvette said:

America's Next Top model: has some successes but none have become huge names.  YaYa Dacosta has a pretty successful tv acting career and some well received indie films.  Eva Marcille has dome some movies and was on Young and The Restless for awhile

Analeigh Tipton has had a very successful acting career, both in movies and on tv. Nyle DiMarco won Dancing With the Stars.

[Anela]

12 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I loved Sharp Objects, but I don't want another season. It was a "limited series", and "limited" means exactly that. It's based on a stand-alone book. The story. Is. Over. It's DONE. The book had a damn near perfect ending, there is zero need to drag it out indefinitely. I mean, where the hell could they go from here? It's bad enough The Handmaid's Tale is getting a third (THIRD!) season. The book had an ending, and a good one, at that. There's no more story to be told, and it now feels like they're pulling outcomes and twists out of thin air. 

Has the phrase "The End" lost all meaning? Why is everyone so afraid of finality?

I agree. I don't want another season of Sharp Objects. I didn't like many of the characters, and I didn't enjoy it that much. I didn't watch all of the Handmaid's Tale (second season), because it felt like torture porn. 

[paulvdb]

4 hours ago, Anela said:

I agree. I don't want another season of Sharp Objects. I didn't like many of the characters, and I didn't enjoy it that much.

And you won't get one. HBO already announced before the finale aired that there wouldn't be a second season. Unless they changed their minds about that and I didn't hear about it.

5 hours ago, slf said:

I don't think we're experiencing peak tv. Personally, there aren't that many shows on that I'm excited about and I've quit watching as many, or more, shows as I've finished in the past 4-8 years. I think the technical side of things has improved greatly and representation is better overall but...eh. In terms of writing and originality? Nah.

I always thought the term peak tv referred to the number of shows and not necessarily the quality. More cable networks started doing original series and there are of course all the streaming services so there are more shows to watch than ever before. But that doesn't necessarily mean that there are more good/great shows.

[Haleth]

9 hours ago, Minneapple said:

It actually surprises me that HBO isn't dragging out Game of Thrones for another season or three. 

They are dragging it out for one more season than planned.  Here's an UO:  I am not looking forward to the final season of GoT at all.  Ever since the writers got out ahead of the source material the show has sucked.  I'm only going to force myself to watch because the final two books will likely never be published and I'm mildly curious about how it will end.  But I already know it will be a chore and will leave me unsatisfied.

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

They are dragging it out for one more season than planned.  Here's an UO:  I am not looking forward to the final season of GoT at all.  Ever since the writers got out ahead of the source material the show has sucked.  I'm only going to force myself to watch because the final two books will likely never be published and I'm mildly curious about how it will end.  But I already know it will be a chore and will leave me unsatisfied.

I agree with this so much.  I can appreciate the show on its own merits, but I could never get over some of the changes from the books.  But also the events of the show have crystallized my desire to not continue reading the books (if they ever get done) even if the events of the books don't exactly march with the show.

Also, not sure if this is a UO or not, but according to my twitter feed it might be.  But dammit I hate Cersei.  I don't even 'love to hate' her.  I just plain old hate her.  I hated her since I read the first book some 20+ years ago and nothing has ever changed my mind.  And wouldn't you know, I have an Entertainment Weekly subscription and out of 16 possible covers, I got the damned Cersei one?

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

  I can appreciate the show on its own merits, but I could never get over some of the changes from the books. 

I never read the books, but I thought the show was vastly improved when they got out from under them. 

[Enigma X]

3 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I never read the books, but I thought the show was vastly improved when they got out from under them. 

I read all but the last book and agree (except for one or two changes).

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

But dammit I hate Cersei.  I don't even 'love to hate' her.  I just plain old hate her.  I hated her since I read the first book some 20+ years ago and nothing has ever changed my mind.  And wouldn't you know, I have an Entertainment Weekly subscription and out of 16 possible covers, I got the damned Cersei one?

Sit next to me at the "Hating Cersei" table.  I think of all the possible things which could disappoint me about the final season, not having her die a horrible, richly deserved death would disappoint me the most.

I think the only season which comes even close to sucking, for me, was season 5, which still using source material from both the last two published books and from Martin's notes about the next one.  That season was the true nadir of the series, and seasons 6 and 7, while not perfect, were a vast improvement.

[juno]

Over the years the amount of music on tv shows has increased so that not only is it not in the background anymore but it is being used throughout shows. I quit watching Station 19 because they would not turn off the dramatic manipulative music to let me concentrate on the show. Also, New Amsterdam not only brings in the soapy sad music throughout the show but they have this insanely annoying jazz drumming that goes on loadly throughout the show.

With other shows I try to fast forward but I start to lose the plot so it becomes hate watching.

[Silver Raven]

15 hours ago, Minneapple said:

Also Big Little Lies. There is no reason to extend it out. Oh wait, there is. Money. It actually surprises me that HBO isn't dragging out Game of Thrones for another season or three. 

HBO is working on a GoT prequel.

[slf]

9 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I always thought the term peak tv referred to the number of shows and not necessarily the quality. More cable networks started doing original series and there are of course all the streaming services so there are more shows to watch than ever before. But that doesn't necessarily mean that there are more good/great shows.

I've only seen it used to describe quality, that tv shows now are the best they've ever been. 

Now that you mention it, I don't mind the number of shows on, the more the merrier, but I do think all these different streaming services are a bad idea. I have cable and Netflix and I don't think Netflix offers as much anymore. Now there's Prime, Hulu, the upcoming Disney service, etc. Do they really think people are going to pay for all of these?

[Katy M]

12 minutes ago, slf said:

I've only seen it used to describe quality, that tv shows now are the best they've ever been. 

Now that you mention it, I don't mind the number of shows on, the more the merrier, but I do think all these different streaming services are a bad idea. I have cable and Netflix and I don't think Netflix offers as much anymore. Now there's Prime, Hulu, the upcoming Disney service, etc. Do they really think people are going to pay for all of these?

They don't want you to pay for all of them, just their particular one:) 

[Chaos Theory]

Netflix doesn’t get points for putting on shows with LGBTQ characters if they cancel them after a couple of seasons

Gypsy - 1 Season

Everytgung Sucks - 1 Season

Sense8 - 2 Seasons and a movie 

ODAAT - 3 Seasons

OITNB - 7 seasons. (We have a winner). Despite what I might think about how crappy it has gotten it is one of the few shows with real and true diverse characters.

[Anela]

11 hours ago, paulvdb said:

And you won't get one. HBO already announced before the finale aired that there wouldn't be a second season. Unless they changed their minds about that and I didn't hear about it.

When I googled after reading this thread, I saw something about Gillian Flynn and HBO, "having ideas" and mulling things over. 

[SmithW6079]

On 3/14/2019 at 4:07 PM, Chaos Theory said:

Netflix doesn’t get points for putting on shows with LGBTQ characters if they cancel them after a couple of seasons

Gypsy - 1 Season

Everytgung Sucks - 1 Season

Sense8 - 2 Seasons and a movie 

ODAAT - 3 Seasons

OITNB - 7 seasons. (We have a winner). Despite what I might think about how crappy it has gotten it is one of the few shows with real and true diverse characters.

I didn't realize there were time requirements for shows that have gay characters. 

[Chaos Theory]

16 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

I didn't realize there were time requirements for shows that have gay characters. 

When there are only a few shows at all that have gay characters at all that are leads and not secondary best friends then yes it matters.   If there was three or four shows each season with major gay characters then maybe not so much but when you have to struggle to find one or two  a season and they aren’t even the leads then again yeah it matters.  

[truthaboutluv]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:23 PM, ShadowHunter said:

I liked Friends when it was on. Watched the whole 10 seasons. Now I never watch it anymore.  I think The King of Queens was a better show. 

This could have been my post, just switching King of Queens with Frasier. It's amazing how little interest I have in watching Friends again. 

[MadyGirl1987]

3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

When there are only a few shows at all that have gay characters at all that are leads and not secondary best friends then yes it matters.   If there was three or four shows each season with major gay characters then maybe not so much but when you have to struggle to find one or two  a season and they aren’t even the leads then again yeah it matters.  

So, just because a show has gay characters they should keep making a show few people are watching? It’s harder and harder to get an audience now with all the TV there is and many shows, with or without gay leads, don’t last long. It’s a numbers game, really. They are making more and more shows with diverse leads and as they do there will be more chances for those shows to win the TV lottery and become a hit that runs for several seasons. It’s just he nature of the TV industry that for every long-running hit, you have several that only lasted a season or two and even more then that never go pass the pilot/script stage.

Edited March 17, 2019 by MadyGirl1987

[Irlandesa]

6 minutes ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

It’s a numbers game, really.

Then they should call it a business decision and leave it at that.  They didn't.

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

When there are only a few shows at all that have gay characters at all that are leads and not secondary best friends then yes it matters.   If there was three or four shows each season with major gay characters then maybe not so much but when you have to struggle to find one or two  a season and they aren’t even the leads then again yeah it matters.  

I guess more people will have to watch them, then.

[Mabinogia]

11 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

It's amazing how little interest I have in watching Friends again. 

I never had any interest in watching Friends the first time around. 

[ShadowHunter]

11 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I never had any interest in watching Friends the first time around. 

Yes it did get bloated especially the Super Bowl episode. 

[selkie]

I loved Sense8 but it was costing Netflix $9 million per episode and I can understand it when the network says that they love the show too but the viewership didn't justify the expense of a third season. 

And I'm good with the wrap-up movie because it had a high happily ever after quotient while JMS has said some things about possibly killing off part of the cluster if the series had gone its original planned run so hey, at least Will lived because things got condensed. 

[DarkRaichu]

How about this for a size: I feel less inclined to watch serialized TV series as I get older.  I'd rather spend my time doing other more important things than sitting down to watch TV.

There are simply too many of them between the channels and the streaming services. 
Moreover, I think most of the new ones are not written for my taste, like ST Discovery or Jack Ryan.  And the old ones become stale over time, like Top Chef and Big Bang Theory.  I feel like the writings get worse over time even for my favorite shows like GoT, Billions, and Westworld.  Good thing some of these shows end this year. 

By the end of the year, I most likely only follow Young Sheldon, the Orville, Black Mirror, and Cobra Kai.

[proserpina65]

On ‎03‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 1:26 AM, Irlandesa said:

Then they should call it a business decision and leave it at that.  They didn't.

I thought they pretty much did frame it as a business decision.  As in "not enough people watched it to continue to justify the expense of making it".  At least they did with Sense8.

Edited March 18, 2019 by proserpina65

[Irlandesa]

1 minute ago, proserpina65 said:

I thought they pretty much did frame it as a business decision.  As in "not enough people watched it to continue to justify the expense of making it".  At least they did with Sense8.

They did at first but then they went on about how underrepresented stories matter which felt, to me, like they were trying to have it both ways.  It was a business decision but also trying to score points with people who appreciated the different voices these shows represented.

I think Netflix also opens itself up to criticism because of how secretive they are about viewership data.  We don't know how many people actually watched the shows.  All we know is that Netflix has gone on a spree canceling shows it doesn't outright own. 

[Bort]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

All we know is that Netflix has gone on a spree canceling shows it doesn't outright own. 

That's hardly a new trend with any network. All of them have cancelled shows they didn't own over lower rated shows that they did own.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

That's hardly a new trend with any network. All of them have cancelled shows they didn't own over lower rated shows that they did own.

I didn't say it's a new trend in general.  But it is relatively new to Netflix. 

[woodstock]

I am bored with the future forward story lines on Arrow and The Flash and how they are tying into present day story lines.

[Chaos Theory]

On 3/18/2019 at 12:26 AM, selkie said:

I loved Sense8 but it was costing Netflix $9 million per episode and I can understand it when the network says that they love the show too but the viewership didn't justify the expense of a third season. 

And I'm good with the wrap-up movie because it had a high happily ever after quotient while JMS has said some things about possibly killing off part of the cluster if the series had gone its original planned run so hey, at least Will lived because things got condensed. 

The problem with that is the fans had to fight tooth and nail to get a two hour movie. Netflix was fine just ending the show.   

One Day At A Time is a relatively inexpensive show to produce and again Netflix is saying how much they love it and even condescendingly how everyone who felt seen and heard for the first time should not feel bad but hey three seasons right?  

I do understand that it is ultimately a business decision the problem is that gay shows will mostly attract gay audiences. They will rarely get the attention that OITNB does and if Netflix and any other network expects every gay lead show to get those kinds of ratings then they will almost always fail.

Edited March 21, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

Netflix was fine just ending the show.

As they had every right to be.  It was a business decision, and they are a business.

[MissAlmond]

I recently posted an article from Deadline that discussed Netflix's renewing/cancelling/how many episode to order strategy for their shows.  You can find it in the (probably buried) Paid Streaming Services forum.  

[Blergh]

OK, before I get started, I admire  the performer Mariska Hargitay's doing so much for authentic victims of horrific crimes AND the show itself does tell stories that need to be told. However; I myself have found myself unable to watch it for sometime due to the rather depressing, overwhelming and ultimately defeatist attitude it seems to encourage (and it's gotten to the point that it seems to exploit the victims' stories for shock and ratings rather than attempt to provide a public service). Also, before I get to my main point, I have nothing but the deepest sympathy towards those who have discovered that they were irrefutably conceived by rape.

I'm virtually 100 percent sure this WON'T  happen but

Spoiler

I REALLY wish Olivia Benson's mother on Law and Order: SVU would tell her in the Series Finale that: Olivia had NOT been conceived via rape but by a mutually eagerly consentual one-night stand with someone her mother thought was sexy at the time but didn't want to have a second date with (much less have any further involvement in her life) and she resented being pregnant so she had told Olivia that the conception was by rape to make her daughter feel guilty she had been borne and was alive, and would become so totally warped and bigoted against men that there'd be no way she'd ever compete against her! With that revelation, Olivia decides that humans of both genders are not to be relied upon and that  she needs to  try to make the world  of nonhumans a better place by opting to join a nature conservancy to help preserve endangered wildlife and plants.

[kassygreene]

I thought her mother died in the first or second season?

[Blergh]

Just now, kassygreene said:

I thought her mother died in the first or second season?

Maybe but, as I said, I haven't seen the show in a while so I'm no expert.

However; in true drama style

Spoiler

even that wouldn't rule out her mother having left a video to be played LONG after her death to taunt Olivia about the actual circumstances of her conception.

And sometimes truth is not only stranger but also more infuriating than fiction e.g.  the   world mourned David Cassidy as an Alzheimer's victim until the video documentary emerged of him bragging about having LIED about the diagnosis to excuse away his actions!