Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[BigBingerBro]

I don't know, but the "winners" of the Daytime Emmys this year has me seriously SMH for the most part.  I generally dislike any award shows, but since I have been watching more daytime TV due to a change in work schedule, I thought I'd give it a check.  Here are a few WTF winners for me:

Best Culinary Host and Best Culinary Show - both went to Valerie Bertanelli!?!  - I like her as an actress, but I didn't think she was really much of a cook.  It seems like a vanity project to me.  So many other more deserving names on the list of nominations (not Giada though)

"Family Feud" wins Best Game Show - really?  That show is basically trash these days and none of the questions or answers seem to really be from a survey of random people.  Alex Trebek winning best game show host seems like it would have looked bad had any other candidate won.

Ellen winning Best Entertainment Talk Show - no comment.  meanwhile, I didn't even know that Carol Burnett had a show!

Paternity Court winning best Courtroom Show is laughable.  I know most of these supposed "real" court shows are totally fake (looking at you Judge Mablean) but PC has to be one of the worst offenders.  I'm so over JJ, so glad her show didn't win, but People's Court is my fave.

[DrSpaceman]

The current version of Family Feud is awful.  Mostly because I just detest Steve Harvey.  His appeal, for anything, I just don't understand

Do they show a daytime version of Jeopardy?  I didn't know that

[Katy M]

43 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

"Family Feud" wins Best Game Show - really?  That show is basically trash these days and none of the questions or answers seem to really be from a survey of random people.  Alex Trebek winning best game show host seems like it would have looked bad had any other candidate won.

I have always wondered where they survery the 100 people.  I agree it's not the best game show. It may be the worst. Alex may have gotten a pity win. there's no way to know, But he isn't undeserving. He's a good host and he's won before.

45 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

but People's Court is my fave.

Ditto

[hoosier80]

People's Court isn't bad, as the judge can't believe some of these idiots.  Judge Judy gets on my nerves, but I caught a show where someone from my hometown was on - a younger woman - early 20's/late teens.  The guy she was suing was a con artist.  JJ caught on really quickly and was nice to the younger woman, while opening a can of whoop ass on the con man.  I liked her in that moment.

I do like Hot Bench when the judges deliberate.  They actually go through the law and how the statutes would or wouldn't apply to the case.  Sometimes, they do not all agree, but they remain civil about it.  JJ just mainly yells at everyone (rare occasions, such as above noted).

Family Feud.  I loathe that show.  When I'm at Mom's she has it on all the time.  She thinks Steve Harvey is so funny.  I think he's gross, does the same schtick all the time.  A washed up comedian found a way to extend his 15 minutes of fame.  His talk show was up for an Emmy but lost.  Oh, too bad (snerk).  He's even more insufferable on his talk show.

Don't care for Ellen.

As for Valerie Bertinelli, she's said she is a home cook, having learned from her mom and grandma.  She's taken those recipes, plus others she's found, and updated to her style/taste.  I actually like her show as it's not so over the top as some cooking shows (looking at you Guy Fieri).  I also like the Barefoot Contessa.  Tiffani Amber Thiessen had a show for a while.  Enjoyed her cooking but her over the top expressions kind of got on my nerves.  She did have some interesting food.

I think they had to give the award to Alex Tribek.  He's certainly good at being a host, and well this could (hopefully not) be his last rodeo.  A lot of game show hosts just try too hard, are too much, and get in the way of the actual game.

I used to watch the Soaps, but haven't in ages.  I recognized some of the names, but the lead actress from B&B never impressed me much.  Maybe she's improved?  

[jennblevins]

I assume this is an unpopular opinion, or at least uncommon, since the show got canceled, but my favorite court show of all time has to be The High Court with Doug Benson. The cases, from what I could tell, definitely rated the amount of seriousness given to them (none).

And I like Ree Drummond, too. 

[junemeatcleaver]

16 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

Paternity Court won a Daytime Emmy.  Paternity Court.

When I still watched, I would look at the first five minutes then fast forward to the reveal.  That show got repetitive fast.

As bad as Paternity Court is, I'd take it over those awful, scripted Entertainment Studios court shows.  The judge sits there and take notes like it's a real case while the so-called actors struggle to remember their lines.  I don't understand how they even made it to air.

[BigBingerBro]

10 minutes ago, junemeatcleaver said:

I'd take it over those awful, scripted Entertainment Studios court shows.  The judge sits there and take notes like it's a real case while the so-called actors struggle to remember their lines.  I don't understand how they even made it to air.

I will say, to my untrained acting eye, many of them are very convincing.  I often wonder if they throw a few "real" (ish) cases in with the actual litigants but script out everything they say.  Occasionally there will be a case with such poor actors or those that give such outrageous statements that you can't help but realize the whole thing is fake.

[Neurochick]

7 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

I do like Hot Bench when the judges deliberate.  They actually go through the law and how the statutes would or wouldn't apply to the case.  Sometimes, they do not all agree, but they remain civil about it.  JJ just mainly yells at everyone (rare occasions, such as above noted).

I detest Hot Bench because of that horrible blonde witch "judge" on the show.  She's an evil person who wouldn't release Kalief Browder, I mean even someone with an IQ of 40 could have figured out that case was pure bullshit.  If she couldn't figure it out, she can't be all that bright.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Neurochick

[kiddo82]

I work in a nursing home and the amount of time folks over a certain age spend watching courtroom shows is pretty astounding so I've seen my fair share.  Hot Bench isn't so bad (mostly because I like calling it HOT! Bench with the same dramatic emphasis the guy in the voice over does) but my favorite is Divorce Court.  Judge Toler is kind of awesome.

Two of my friends got a letter from Judge Joe Brown once.  They sued their wedding photographer in small claims court for their deposit back because they never got their wedding album.  Next thing you know the Judge Joe Brown show wanted them on.  I was like "You gotta do it!" but they were all "yeah. no."

[janie jones]

11 hours ago, Katy M said:

Judge Judy, The People's Court, The Hot Seat, I don't know if it's still on, but there was a show where they had 3 celebrity's as a jury.  I only saw that one once, Todd Bridges was on.  I don't remember the other 2. Judge Joe Brown. 

If there are more than are on this list, there can't be much more.  I don't think that something should be a category if there are so few shows under that umbrella that they all (or all but like two) get nominated.

[Katy M]

22 minutes ago, janie jones said:

If there are more than are on this list, there can't be much more.  I don't think that something should be a category if there are so few shows under that umbrella that they all (or all but like two) get nominated.

There are only 4 soap operas.

[janie jones]

Well then that's dumb, too.

[Bastet]

30 minutes ago, Katy M said:

There are only 4 soap operas.

Wow, is that what it's down to?  I haven't watched since the mid-90s, when there were four each on CBS, ABC, and NBC.

[Katy M]

8 hours ago, Bastet said:

Wow, is that what it's down to?  I haven't watched since the mid-90s, when there were four each on CBS, ABC, and NBC.

In case you're interested, General Hospital on ABC.  Days of OUr Lives on NBC.  Young & the Restless and Bold & the Beautiful on CBS.  

[Chas411]

Not sure if this Is a UO or Not but I HATE Busy Tonight and am not at all surprised it was cancelled by E!. Whatever the producers thought they saw in her on Instagram did not translate the onto the screen. The writing was clunky and I found her so awkward and uncomfortable.

id love to see her get a good pilot going or something but talk shows are not her strength. 

[Blergh]

I hope the day comes before too  long when 'reality' shows go the way of western shows re popularity. If nothing else, that would give me a good longevity spur! 

[hoosier80]

One of the court shows that held a soft spot in my cold, evil heart was Judge Alex.  Just one show cemented it.

Super moron tried to make one of those cemented right turn only exits into a two vehicle lane, going to the far right.  Both guys had trucks I think or at least one did, so no way were both vehicles fitting in that small space - crash.  SM scraped the shit out of moron #2's vehicle.  Moron #2 sued him.  Moron #2 did nothing wrong, but did NOT call the police, so no evidence at all that SM did hit him.  

Super Moron didn't deny squeezing through that exit but he said Moron was there last or edged over.  So it was SM said versus what M#2 said.  

Then Super Moron presented his evidence.  Photos of the Walgreens nearby that had surveillance cameras.  Judge Alex said ok, they had cameras, did you get the film?  Nope.  He just thought Judge Alex could or would get them - from months or a year prior.  He'd just brought the pictures of the cameras.  JA laughed so hard, and I did along with him.  SM didn't get what was wrong with it.  

Having dealt with the public, yes, people are this stupid, so I don't think this one was scripted.

Cases were dismissed.

[Annber03]

LMAO, @hoosier80, that's great :D. I do remember seeing Judge Alex from time to time. I mainly remember that the big takeaway most had about that show was how hot Alex himself was :p.

On that note, I read a while back about a funny moment that happened on an episode of "Judge Judy" once. This woman was suing these guys because she claimed they'd stolen her wallet, and Judy had asked her to list some of the things that were in there. The woman mentioned some cards, an earpiece, and a few other things.

At this point, one of the defendants decides to pipe up and says, "The earpiece wasn't in the wallet." 

The case didn't last very long after that :p. 

[Katy M]

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

I hope the day comes before too  long when 'reality' shows go the way of western shows re popularity. If nothing else, that would give me a good longevity spur! 

Probably not going to happen. Reality shows (maybe not the competition type) are extremely low budget.  So, even if they don't have as many viewers and the advertising amount is less, they still come out as more profitable in the end.

[Bastet]

9 hours ago, Katy M said:

Young & the Restless and Bold & the Beautiful on CBS.

I'm not surprised - my preferences never lined up with the ratings.  I was a Guiding Light fan, and recorded it every day, and if I was home I would sometimes watch As The World Turns, too.  But I didn't much care for Y&R and actively hated B&B (even for soaps it had such bad acting and ridiculous writing).  Most people were the opposite, because those two were consistently higher rated.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I'm not surprised - my preferences never lined up with the ratings.  I was a Guiding Light fan, and recorded it every day, and if I was home I would sometimes watch As The World Turns, too.  But I didn't much care for Y&R and actively hated B&B (even for soaps it had such bad acting and ridiculous writing).  Most people were the opposite, because those two were consistently higher rated.  

My best friend and I at the time Bold & the Beautiful premiered, called it the Ken and Barbie show. Because Ridge and Caroline looked empty and their acting was that wooden. I think I only tuned in because the actress who played Stephanie was woman I remembered from the Enjoli perfume commercial. And of course of her short stint on Dallas as JR's publicity person.

[DearEvette]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

 I was a Guiding Light fan, and recorded it every day, and if I was home I would sometimes watch As The World Turns, too.  But I didn't much care for Y&R and actively hated B&B (even for soaps it had such bad acting and ridiculous writing).  Most people were the opposite, because those two were consistently higher rated.  

Yeah, I hated The Bold and the Beautiful.  I was all about As The World Turns and Guiding Light though.  My roommate at the time loved B&B and once in awhile I'd watch just to ruthlessly mock.  For isntance, Brooke always whisper-talked.  And when she said Ridge's name she always pronounced it Ridge-uh.   And I wondered aloud if the Bells came up with the cast names while out on a nature hike because you had Thorne, Ridge and Brooke. 

[Annber03]

"All My Children" was the soap of choice in our household. My mom watched that one from day one. 

[SmithW6079]

16 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

"All My Children" was the soap of choice in our household. My mom watched that one from day one. 

I will always believe that Tara and Phil will be together again. I know he "died" and Tara remarried, but if I recall, his body was never found. 

My mom (and I) watched "All My Children," "Ryan's Hope," and later, "One Life to Live."

[Blergh]

6 hours ago, Katy M said:

Probably not going to happen. Reality shows (maybe not the competition type) are extremely low budget.  So, even if they don't have as many viewers and the advertising amount is less, they still come out as more profitable in the end.

 Well, in the mid 1960's, every US TV network had westerns galore which were also low budget (due to reusing the same old sets and costumes that had hearkened back to the movies) and profitable but by 1975,  Gunsmoke wheezed its last and there'd be no more westerns for quite some time. Hence western-hating TV viewers DID get to live to see the end of the genre in roughly ten years time. Thus, there's hope for us 'reality' show dislikers to have the same thing happen (or do our best to beat the odds re life expectancy)! 

[RealHousewife]

I don’t hate Friends, but I find it overrated and don’t understand how it’s one of the biggest shows of all time. Maybe the episodes I’ve seen were the least funny ones? None of the characters are compelling to me. I find the show and its characters very vanilla and basic.

I have no idea how Vanderpump Rules became such a hit show. Again, I don’t find the cast members intriguing and don’t care about their drama. Like Friends, I keep giving it a chance because I have friends who are into it.

Edited May 9, 2019 by RealHousewife

[Blergh]

I never got how Wings lasted seven episodes much less seven seasons! 

[Misslindsey]

I may be a horrible person for this UO, but I cannot stand the precocious children that Ellen has on her show. Then again, I do not really like Ellen either. I did not mind her at first, but over the years I like her less and less.

[andromeda331]

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

I'm not surprised - my preferences never lined up with the ratings.  I was a Guiding Light fan, and recorded it every day, and if I was home I would sometimes watch As The World Turns, too.  But I didn't much care for Y&R and actively hated B&B (even for soaps it had such bad acting and ridiculous writing).  Most people were the opposite, because those two were consistently higher rated.  

10 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

My best friend and I at the time Bold & the Beautiful premiered, called it the Ken and Barbie show. Because Ridge and Caroline looked empty and their acting was that wooden. I think I only tuned in because the actress who played Stephanie was woman I remembered from the Enjoli perfume commercial. And of course of her short stint on Dallas as JR's publicity person.

7 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Yeah, I hated The Bold and the Beautiful.  I was all about As The World Turns and Guiding Light though.  My roommate at the time loved B&B and once in awhile I'd watch just to ruthlessly mock.  For isntance, Brooke always whisper-talked.  And when she said Ridge's name she always pronounced it Ridge-uh.   And I wondered aloud if the Bells came up with the cast names while out on a nature hike because you had Thorne, Ridge and Brooke. 

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

"All My Children" was the soap of choice in our household. My mom watched that one from day one. 

7 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I will always believe that Tara and Phil will be together again. I know he "died" and Tara remarried, but if I recall, his body was never found. 

My mom (and I) watched "All My Children," "Ryan's Hope," and later, "One Life to Live."

Guiding Light fan here. I loved that soap along with All My Children, As the World Turns and General Hospital. Hated Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless I tried them in the late 90s and again after my three favorite went off the air trying to find another soap to get into. Nope. still hate them.  I miss all those soaps so much and General Hospital before it turned into the Sonny-Carly-Jason.  All My Children and One Life to Live they to keep going by moving it to internet TV Prospect Park but ran into problems with unions and other stuff which halted those plans.  

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/8/2019 at 10:35 PM, Blergh said:

On 5/8/2019 at 3:57 PM, Katy M said:

Probably not going to happen. Reality shows (maybe not the competition type) are extremely low budget.  So, even if they don't have as many viewers and the advertising amount is less, they still come out as more profitable in the end.

 Well, in the mid 1960's, every US TV network had westerns galore which were also low budget (due to reusing the same old sets and costumes that had hearkened back to the movies) and profitable but by 1975,  Gunsmoke wheezed its last and there'd be no more westerns for quite some time. Hence western-hating TV viewers DID get to live to see the end of the genre in roughly ten years time. Thus, there's hope for us 'reality' show dislikers to have the same thing happen (or do our best to beat the odds re life expectancy)! 

My unpopular opinion is that I really like Westerns.  Not all of them, and to be honest there are literally dozens of TV Western series of which I have never watched a single minute. But I think Gunsmoke,  Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick for example are some of the best shows ever on television - most adult and intelligent writing, some of the best casting.  I love some of the juvenile Westerns also, like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.  Lone Ranger OTOH has always bored me and I wish I liked it more since so many stations seem to run it.

Edited May 10, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[MaryMitch]

5 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

My unpopular opinion is that I really like Westerns.  Not all of them, and to be honest there are literally dozens of TV Western series of which I have never watched a single minute. But I think Gunsmoke,  Have Gun Will Travel and Maverick for example are some of the best shows ever on television - most adult and intelligent writing, some of the best casting.  I love some of the juvenile Westerns also, like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.  Lone Ranger OTOH has always bored me and I wish I liked it more since so many stations seem to run it.

The early black/white episodes of Gunsmoke are the best!

[Spartan Girl]

I think Marge Simpson is a terrible mother (smothering, narrow-minded, petty, bitter, judgmental) and every time I see her listed on an article counting down the best TV mothers for Mother's Day, I throw up in my mouth a little.

[CaffeinatedAunt79]

Stunned to see Grey’s Anatomy is not only still on the air, but has been renewed for two more seasons!  I watched on and off in the early years but it never hooked me.  Also not a fan of Ellen Pompeo, onscreen or off.  She comes off as cold and unlikeable to me.

[Blergh]

On 5/10/2019 at 11:23 AM, Spartan Girl said:

I think Marge Simpson is a terrible mother (smothering, narrow-minded, petty, bitter, judgmental) and every time I see her listed on an article counting down the best TV mothers for Mother's Day, I throw up in my mouth a little.

One has to wonder if those who vote for Mrs. Simpson consider her to be the 'best' of TV mothers, what would a TV mother have to do for them to consider her to be  the 'worst' (and do they apply such skewed rationale to real life folks?).

Edited May 13, 2019 by Blergh
no double l

[Neurochick]

I don't know if this is an UO or not, but I prefer to binge watch a show rather than watching it live.  I binged the first season of Black Sails and loved it.  When I watched the second season live I didn't love it as much...until I binged it later, then I thought, "This is a fucking great show."  To me binging a show is like reading a book, I don't put a book down for a whole year and pick it up again.  

I think one issue about watching TV live is that after the episode is over, I'd go online and read other people's comments about the show, I'll see so many negative comments and wonder if the show I love is really that bad, or if negativity just feeds more negativity.  

[ganesh]

I go back and forth, and it's an interesting issue. I don't usually binge because I like to come here and talk about shows I like over the week. The Orville board has been really active and it's fun to talk about the show there. I like to watch the Sunday cartoons in real time too. 

Topical shows like Sam Bee and Real Time I watch when they air or the day after because the timeliness of the discussion goes goes from week to week.

But there's so much content out there. I travel a lot so I'll binge on the plane. I watched Sex Education and Glow recently. The Man in the High Castle and Stranger Things at the end of last year. 

[2727]

I don't blame networks for cancelling shows without an ending.

I do wave my private parts directly at the writers/showrunners who deliberately chose cliffhangers when they don't even know if their show has been renewed.

I also think today's audiences have moved way beyond who shot JR as a way to keep them engaged in a show over the break. Binging has spoiled me and I'm now more likely to be annoyed than intrigued at a cliffhanger.

[ganesh]

TBH with the 'binge style' of watching nowadays I would think most viewers would prefer a self contained story season to season than cliffhangers now. 

[Danny Franks]

So I'm feeling more justified by the week, in my opinion that Game of Thrones went to utter shit two or three years ago. Seems like the falling writing standards just took a while to be reflected in the views of many people.

It's funny how neat an allegorical tale this is turning out to be - a TV show gains more and more hype, until it's heralded as the biggest, best, most important thing on TV and saturates the media with hype for months before airing. And then... it's dogshit, and even fans who have adored the show for years are shocked into seeing how awful the writers have been.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Danny Franks

[ganesh]

I didn't think it was that bad last year but it was rushed. For one, they all just wanted to end the show, so they smashed everything together, and the narrative suffered as a result. Two - 90 minute episodes were just a poor decision. It's just a chore to watch. 55 days of shooting a tv show at night is just ridiculous. 

I don't doubt it's a lot of work. Perhaps the showrunners should have handed it off for S6 and S7 to a new team to end it. 

I don't necessarily fault the show for the hype though. They're all obviously excited to be part of what was something unprecedented at the time. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by ganesh

[Katy M]

21 hours ago, 2727 said:

I don't blame networks for cancelling shows without an ending.

I do wave my private parts directly at the writers/showrunners who deliberately chose cliffhangers when they don't even know if their show has been renewed.

I also think today's audiences have moved way beyond who shot JR as a way to keep them engaged in a show over the break. Binging has spoiled me and I'm now more likely to be annoyed than intrigued at a cliffhanger.

I never watched the show, but IIRC, when the soap opera Capitol was cancelled, they had months of notice.  Soaps aren't big money makers, but networks know the fans are loyal and they aren't in a prime time slot, so they tend to not make last minute cancellation decisions with them. Anyway, the show decided to go ahead and leave it on a cliffhanger, and fans were rightfully pissed.  I guess it was supposed to be a screw you to the network for cancelling them, but the network isn't the one who is going to care.

[DearEvette]

49 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

It's funny how neat an allegorical tale this is turning out to be - a TV show gains more and more hype, until it's heralded as the biggest, best, most important thing on TV and saturates the media with hype for months before airing. And then... it's dogshit, and even fans who have adored the show for years are shocked into seeing how awful the writers have been.

Been through this with The Walking Dead.  Had no desire to revisit it with GOT.

Probably not a coincidence that both are adaptations from work from another medium that allows a lot more space & time to tell a story.  The original  story isn't done and no matter how involved the original creator is, it is obvious the new creators can't carry over the entire vision, especially as it has to build on what came before. 

[ganesh]

Oh, I think TWD is much worse because the showrunners cannot shut up. They set themselves up to fail. 

[proserpina65]

I guess my unpopular opinion is that Game of Thrones has been mostly pretty damned good this season.  I wasn't thrilled with episode 4, but the rest has been great.

[Danny Franks]

3 hours ago, ganesh said:

I didn't think it was that bad last year but it was rushed. For one, they all just wanted to end the show, so they smashed everything together, and the narrative suffered as a result. Two - 90 minute episodes were just a poor decision. It's just a chore to watch. 55 days of shooting a tv show at night is just ridiculous. 

I don't doubt it's a lot of work. Perhaps the showrunners should have handed it off for S6 and S7 to a new team to end it. 

I don't necessarily fault the show for the hype though. They're all obviously excited to be part of what was something unprecedented at the time. 

The fact that Benioff and Weiss had another show in development with HBO, and then signed on to a Star Wars property, before they'd even finished Game of Thrones, should have been a big, red warning flag. Because I think you're right, it's all completely rushed. They need to get a character or a plot from point A to point F, and instead of doing it properly they just make the leap instantly. 

From what I've seen, a lot of the cast have made veiled remarks that make it clear they haven't been happy with the writing of this final season either.

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Been through this with The Walking Dead.  Had no desire to revisit it with GOT.

Probably not a coincidence that both are adaptations from work from another medium that allows a lot more space & time to tell a story.  The original  story isn't done and no matter how involved the original creator is, it is obvious the new creators can't carry over the entire vision, especially as it has to build on what came before. 

I made it through two seasons of The Walking Dead, but it was pretty boring. I absolutely lost my patience with the following six or so years of constant coverage for it. That's why I ended up abandoning sites like io9 and Nerdist, particularly around that time when some bad guy killed someone in a cliffhanger, and no one knew who. Just... fuck that, I'm not interested.

Shows becoming some kind of zeitgeist that everyone is supposed to be connected to is really annoying. That will never be the case, because everyone has different tastes and different standards. But the media will just use a blanket approach that means you can't get away from something unless you deliberately force yourself to avoid places.

[topanga]

18 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

Shows becoming some kind of zeitgeist that everyone is supposed to be connected to is really annoying. That will never be the case, because everyone has different tastes and different standards. But the media will just use a blanket approach that means you can't get away from something unless you deliberately force yourself to avoid places.

But I sure do miss the days of water cooler shows. I remember going to work at a busy hospital the day after a Seinfeld episode aired, and most of the staff members on my floor would be able to joke about what had happened.

And back in the '80s, I'd talk to my friends at school about what was happening on The Thorn Birds or in the TV movie where Phoebe Cates asked the three women which one of those bitches was her mother. Those moments were great.

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

They need to get a character or a plot from point A to point F, and instead of doing it properly they just make the leap instantly. 

I actually think the show was better when they got past the books. In the beginning, it was really really slow because they were taking so much time to go over so many details. There had to have been a more optimal approach. Asking any actor to be part of a show for a decade+ is difficult at best, and this seemed like a demanding show to make. 

[proserpina65]

17 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I actually think the show was better when they got past the books. In the beginning, it was really really slow because they were taking so much time to go over so many details. There had to have been a more optimal approach. Asking any actor to be part of a show for a decade+ is difficult at best, and this seemed like a demanding show to make. 

I certainly spent less time saying "but that's not how it happened in the book!" after Season 5, that's for sure.

[Neurochick]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I guess my unpopular opinion is that Game of Thrones has been mostly pretty damned good this season.  I wasn't thrilled with episode 4, but the rest has been great.

I'll sit at the table with you there.  I think that no matter WHAT the showrunners came up with, people would complain.  I have discovered that there are just people who love to complain about anything and everything.  I too think the show was rushed, but to me, that's not a bad thing.   If the show went on for TOO many years, people would have stopped watching.  I've been enjoying the episodes, and really don't get all this outrage, I guess different strokes for different folks.

Someone upthread said they missed "water cooler" shows and I agree.  I'm not surprised folks are so divided these days.  We don't even laugh at the same things anymore.  In my office, no one watches the same shows, so nobody really talks to each other.  Sad and a far cry from the days when I started working in the 80's and people would always talk about whatever the latest hot show was then.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Neurochick

[meep.meep]

I decided to watch season 3 of Deadwood before the movie airs.  Somehow I had never gotten around to it.  So, I watch two or three episodes a week.

It's a real slog.  And it's because of the writing.  So many characters can't seem to spit out a coherent sentence to save their lives.  And so many characters - aka too many characters.  There are a few actors who seem to be able to rise above the opaque dialog, but most of them just seem to wallow in it.

I'm sorry that Milch has Alzheimers, but this was before and I think it sucks.