Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[proserpina65]

6 hours ago, Anduin said:

Yes Minister. No, I'm not saying it's bad. Just that when I was younger, I saw it as a fun satire of politics and bureaucracy. As I've gotten older, it now resembles a horrifying documentary. It's just not fun any more.

I used to really like Humphrey, but now, rewatching the episodes, I really want Jim Hacker to get the better of him.  He's not for the little guy, he's all about keeping what he has and to hell with what's best for the nation.  The hospital episode really pissed me off.

[Anduin]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I used to really like Humphrey, but now, rewatching the episodes, I really want Jim Hacker to get the better of him.  He's not for the little guy, he's all about keeping what he has and to hell with what's best for the nation.  The hospital episode really pissed me off.

IIRC, there was a new hospital that had won awards for its cleanliness. Only, it hadn't opened yet. There were no patients to mess it up. He wanted it to remain closed? Yeah, I can't support that kind of attitude.

[Blergh]

To me the Top Ten oldies soundtrack for Cold Case was kind of like icing on gingerbread cake: it enhanced the confection but wasn't necessary to the confection's enjoyment(and since said frosting guaranteed that the cake was never to be released again- it makes it less palatable in retrospect). They COULD have either used some retro tunes from the crimes' eras that were so obscure that the composers would have been too grateful for their re-discovery to have attempted  any trouble re future music rights OR they could have simply had  contemporary composers compose tunes that SOUNDED like the eras.

[kathyk2]

19 minutes ago, Blergh said:

To me the Top Ten oldies soundtrack for Cold Case was kind of like icing on gingerbread cake: it enhanced the confection but wasn't necessary to the confection's enjoyment(and since said frosting guaranteed that the cake was never to be released again- it makes it less palatable in retrospect). They COULD have either used some retro tunes from the crimes' eras that were so obscure that the composers would have been too grateful for their re-discovery to have attempted  any trouble re future music rights OR they could have simply had  contemporary composers compose tunes that SOUNDED like the eras.

I disagree Cold Case made me cry more than any other show and the soundtrack is a major reason why. If you replace the pop hits with generic music the impact isn't as great. Turn Turn Turn was a prefect ending to A Time to Kill. 

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

To me the Top Ten oldies soundtrack for Cold Case was kind of like icing on gingerbread cake: it enhanced the confection but wasn't necessary to the confection's enjoyment(and since said frosting guaranteed that the cake was never to be released again- it makes it less palatable in retrospect). They COULD have either used some retro tunes from the crimes' eras that were so obscure that the composers would have been too grateful for their re-discovery to have attempted  any trouble re future music rights OR they could have simply had  contemporary composers compose tunes that SOUNDED like the eras.

I don't think that beast exist. If the old song was picked up for a TV show the recording industry still reacts like it was the biggest hit from the world's most popular pop music act. And that you are buying the DVD just to get the snippet of that song.

Before DVD when the medium was VHS with lower fidelity following the lead of Miami Vice songs were placed as advertisements for the bands/songwriter 

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, Anduin said:

IIRC, there was a new hospital that had won awards for its cleanliness. Only, it hadn't opened yet. There were no patients to mess it up. He wanted it to remain closed? Yeah, I can't support that kind of attitude.

Yeah, it had a full staff of administrators (civil servants much like Humphrey himself) but no medical staff at all.

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

They COULD have either used some retro tunes from the crimes' eras that were so obscure that the composers would have been too grateful for their re-discovery to have attempted  any trouble re future music rights OR they could have simply had  contemporary composers compose tunes that SOUNDED like the eras.

The latter would have been cringe-inducing, and the former not a viable scenario for a long-running show (and, even if it was, would not have served the show as well as the music they used). 

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

(and since said frosting guaranteed that the cake was never to be released again- it makes it less palatable in retrospect)

The only thing it has prevented is DVD release.  We still got not only the original in its best possible form, we got the reruns and syndicated airings in that same form.  I'd never opt to go back in time and give all that up in favor of some pale imitation just so it could also exist on DVD.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

We still got not only the original in its best possible form, we got the reruns and syndicated airings in that same form.  I'd never opt to go back in time and give all that up in favor of some pale imitation just so it could also exist on DVD.

Agree. I wish, instead of these blocks of "marathan episodes" on a daily basis, that some of these basic cable channels would re-air shows Cold Case, and others. Now it's 2, 4 or 8 hour blocks of of the same frickin' shows.

[Anduin]

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Yeah, it had a full staff of administrators (civil servants much like Humphrey himself) but no medical staff at all.

Yep. Like I said, it just isn't funny any more. A little too real. Ah well.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 3/9/2020 at 6:45 PM, Dani-Ellie said:

I love me some Cold Case, and the music is exactly what hooked me. I didn't watch a lot of it first run (mostly because I had conflated it with Without a Trace, which I didn't like) but I happened to catch a syndicated ep of a case set in the 60s. My oldies-loving self adored the soundtrack and I never looked back.

I love that StartTV airs it now, music intact. I try to catch it anytime I'm home in the afternoons.

I loved Without a Trace, most of the time, and it had some great music too, often at the beginning of the show instead of a final montage (which they also had).  I added some great song to my collection between Cold Case, Without a Trace, and Scrubs.

[DrSpaceman73]

My general unpopular opinion, based on how many shows out there of the genre, is law and investigational crime dramas bore me to tears.  Not any one in particular, just all of them, the whole group.  I have never watched any of them and don't care about them.  It amazes me they are so popular. 

[bmoore4026]

I have no desire to see The Good Place (despite me liking Kristin Bell and Ted Danson).  It's right up there with Community with annoying over hyped, over rated, over gushed, and over troped sitcoms that aren't that damn popular. 

[juno]

My new UO is shows killing off major characters. Without going into the why it happens whether it is the star or the showrunner.

I am going to say that it completely changes the whole show. Sort of like when a member of a rock band quits/fired and the group change their sound (I am looking at you Eddie Van Halen).

Anyway, I am still angry about season 1 of GOT. That right, I still can't discuss the death of Ned Stark without getting angry and misty. Yes Joffrey, I still hate you.

***Honorable mention to Ygritte who is the only person to have some chemistry with Jon and like below I love strong female characters. No... still don't bring up Ned.

On the Rookie they killed off Captain Zoe Andersen (Mercedes Mason), I still can't figure it out. But unlike GOT I quit the show that episode. Such a great character and needlessly killed off.

So the Magicians is humming along. Great show, great chemistry (I have no idea what is going on but I love it). They then kill off the star of the show Quentin. The new season is now its last season and even though I almost quit it is still good but there is a glaring hole were his character fits.

Spoiler

Yep, they killed off Dr. Melendez the only character that seemed to have real character growth on the Good Doctor. They actually left the two worst characters on the show; Lea and Reznick-go figure. Time will tell if I drop it. I will give it a shot next year but it doesn't look good.

Honorable mention part 2: Chuck Cunningham, dude where the hell are you? Are you still in College? Help us.

[Annber03]

Yeah, killing off main characters is a very tough line to walk. It can be done really well, and there are certain types of shows where the chances of a main character dying are more likely than others, so killing them off can make sense in that setting as a result.

But a lot of shows nowadays don't seem to be able to handle that well. They tend to do it simply for shock and clicks and "ooh, aren't we edgy!" types of reasons, and not because the death genuinely makes sense for the story in question, which ruins the emotional impact and just leaves everyone all pissed off. I definitely agree that too many shows go to that well nowadays, instead of considering other valid ways to write out characters. And if they're doing the "anyone can die!" thing but clearly leaving certain characters to be untouchable, well, then that kind of defeats the "anyone can die" sentiment, doesn't it? 

Having said that, there is also the thing of fans going, "Why did they kill off this character? They were beloved!" and...well, yeah, that's kind of the point, isn't it? A death is much more meaningful when you care about the character involved. If it's some random one-off who dies, it's not going to have as much impact. The issue there tends to be in how the death is written more than anything else, and, again, whether it actually works for the story. 

[juno]

Quote

A death is much more meaningful when you care about the character involved. If it's some random one-off who dies, it's not going to have as much impact.

I know Ned's death was meaningful and allowed the story to actually begin but it still was a crapper for me. The fine line was a death like Quentin's where it does move the story is meaningful and was a sacrifice to let his friends live but in hindsight was not that necessary. At least to me.

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, juno said:

That right, I still can't discuss the death of Ned Stark without getting angry and misty.

To be fair, it was in the book. The showrunners didn't just decide to do it. Additionally, Ned was played by Sean Bean. I mean, the smart move on their part was to do it in the second to last episode of the season. We all knew it was coming. 

[kiddo82]

2 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Yeah, killing off main characters is a very tough line to walk. It can be done really well, and there are certain types of shows where the chances of a main character dying are more likely than others, so killing them off can make sense in that setting as a result.

But a lot of shows nowadays don't seem to be able to handle that well. They tend to do it simply for shock and clicks and "ooh, aren't we edgy!" types of reasons, and not because the death genuinely makes sense for the story in question, which ruins the emotional impact and just leaves everyone all pissed off. I definitely agree that too many shows go to that well nowadays, instead of considering other valid ways to write out characters. And if they're doing the "anyone can die!" thing but clearly leaving certain characters to be untouchable, well, then that kind of defeats the "anyone can die" sentiment, doesn't it? 

Having said that, there is also the thing of fans going, "Why did they kill off this character? They were beloved!" and...well, yeah, that's kind of the point, isn't it? A death is much more meaningful when you care about the character involved. If it's some random one-off who dies, it's not going to have as much impact. The issue there tends to be in how the death is written more than anything else, and, again, whether it actually works for the story. 

Couldn't agree more but I think it's so much more difficult today because there are so many other things to pull focus in regards to television and as a result it is less about the big picture and more about the right now.  It's too risky for a show runner to play the long game cause your show could get yanked before it really had a chance to get off the ground.  Having said that, I agree that I hate when show runners pat themselves on the back for being edgy or...gritty (shudder.)  Yeah, you killed off character X which was a shock but now what do you do?  Also, showrunners?  Don't let Twitter/the vocal minority write your show for you.  As ass-tacular the Joss Whedon "not giving them what they want but giving what they need" comment is, I respect the sentiment.  That you need to take ownership of your show and do what you need to do (or what at least you think you need to do) to tell the most compelling story possible.

[Guest]

 

2 hours ago, juno said:

The fine line was a death like Quentin's where it does move the story is meaningful and was a sacrifice to let his friends live but in hindsight was not that necessary. At least to me.

Forty  percent of the Magicians viewers have no idea if Quentin's sacrifice was meaningful or not in hindsight because we stopped watching.

Quentin's death was the perfect example of the show runners/ writers getting too concerned about their own hype and agendas and losing sight of their characterizations.

They decided to subvert the trope that the white male protagonist is always safe and demonstrate that the side characters were what the show was really about and crafted the season around that idea.  They kind of forgot that over the seasons that they had developed a character that had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies and was bisexual.  Not your classic white male protagonist. 

I think that killing of a main character never works unless the show is so strongly written that the viewers have enough trust in what comes next.  Season 4 of Magicians was not good.  Quentin's death was just the rotten cherry on top.  And they made enough choices through the season that they lost the audience's trust and left them feeling gypped.

[MargeGunderson]

I was actually ok with Omar being killed off on The Wire. It was realistic that a stickup boy on the streets of Baltimore would get shot, and frankly he lived longer than most in his line of business. But why did it have to be Kenard? That name is still a swear word in my house. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Because the game done changed. Omar wouldn't have thought that a kid was a threat while he was just out buying some snacks. 

Everyone would have rightly called bs if it was anyone in the game because Omar was way too smart and careful. 

[MargeGunderson]

@DoctorAtomic, intellectually it makes sense, but emotionally, I hated Kenard even before that, so it just made it worse.

 

[DearEvette]

13 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

I was actually ok with Omar being killed off on The Wire. It was realistic that a stickup boy on the streets of Baltimore would get shot, and frankly he lived longer than most in his line of business. But why did it have to be Kenard? That name is still a swear word in my house.

I 100% agree.  I loved Omar's character from jump.   Omar was a towering figure for me.

But I was also very much ok with 1) killing him and 2) how he went out.  Mainly because unlike so many shows these days that seem to want to kill major characters only for shock and awe or to get some sort of immediate grittiness-cred, Omar's death felt like something that would happen in real life.  No big event, no huge foreshadowing, no giant plot surrounding it, --- just so realistically mundane.  After having defied death in more fraught circumstances over and over before, it is just felt right.  And again, I thought Bunk and McNulty's reaction standing over him in a morgue was well done as well.  Not a big towering plot thing since, iirc, Bunk basically shrugs and pit him on the list of another body to investigate.

[DoctorAtomic]

I always tell students when they have a presentation to get there early. 

[Hiyo]

I really don't care for One Day at a Time. Never got my interest. Even though I find Rita Moreno to be divine, the show itself does nothing for me.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I can't stand Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I find him aggressively boring. I think watching water boil is more fun than watching Mike.

[DrSpaceman73]

Well that brings up my UO that while the Wire is a good show, I wouldn't put it near the top of my "best shows ever" like some people do. 

In a similar vein, Better Call Saul.  I enjoy it, but it is in now way near as good as breaking Bad.  And Kim Wexler really just isn't that interesting of a character. 

[Ohwell]

The only thing remotely interesting about Kim Wexler is that ponytail, which has a life of its own.

[Blergh]

On 4/7/2020 at 3:52 AM, Hiyo said:

I really don't care for One Day at a Time. Never got my interest. Even though I find Rita Moreno to be divine, the show itself does nothing for me.

From what I've seen of her in this role, Miss Moreno is terrific as  the impossible but ultimately likable and intriguing matriarch Lidia but the others are all just bland walking posters, IMO. If they just spun Lidia off into her own show, that would be terrific! BTW, I've always liked the name Lidia/Lydia ( meaning inhabitant of the former nation of Lydia in what's now Turkey AND the first European mainland Christian- a wealthy widow who sold purple cloth and became a patroness to the nascent faith)! 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Blergh

[Annber03]

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

BTW, I've always liked the name Lidia/Lydia ( meaning inhabitant of the former nation of Lydia in what's now Turkey AND the first European mainland Christian- a wealthy widow who sold purple cloth and became a patroness to the nascent faith)! 

I've always liked that name, too (though I'm not used to seeing it spelled "Lidia"). In my case, I first heard that name when watching the "Beetlejuice" cartoon as a kid. I just think it's such a cool-sounding name. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎04‎/‎07‎/‎2020 at 9:01 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

Well that brings up my UO that while the Wire is a good show, I wouldn't put it near the top of my "best shows ever" like some people do. 

I'd put season one up there with my best shows ever, but not the seasons after that.  Even though they were still very good.  That's not quite as unpopular opinion, but I know people tend to think all five seasons are the best ever.

[DearEvette]

44 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I'd put season one up there with my best shows ever, but not the seasons after that.  Even though they were still very good.  That's not quite as unpopular opinion, but I know people tend to think all five seasons are the best ever.

Agreed.  Overall S1 is really some of the best tv I'd ever seen.  I even liked that version of the theme song the best.  LOL.

S4 comes a close second, but overall I found that season just depressing.

S2 has some good parts, I love the episode with Omar on the witness stand.  My overall memory is that it felt jarring and I wasn't invested in the waterfront story.

S3 was forgettable and S5 was downright awful.

Edited April 9, 2020 by DearEvette

[Ohwell]

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

[Blergh]

5 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

Unless it's a show about an actual feline tiger and his family, me either! 

[BlackberryJam]

49 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

I don't either! However, I hate being out of the conversational loop in certain group texts. It bugs. Is there a Wiki where I can just read the whole thing?

[GreekGeek]

46 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I don't either! However, I hate being out of the conversational loop in certain group texts. It bugs. Is there a Wiki where I can just read the whole thing?

I watched the first episode and have no desire to see the rest. I've lost patience with the "everybody is an asshole" shows.

[supposebly]

11 minutes ago, GreekGeek said:

I watched the first episode and have no desire to see the rest. I've lost patience with the "everybody is an asshole" shows.

I never had any patience with stuff like that. And anyone who keeps wild animals as pets deserves a special circle in hell, not a TV show IMO.

[DoctorAtomic]

I still don't know what it is. 

 

[auntlada]

10 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I don't either! However, I hate being out of the conversational loop in certain group texts. It bugs. Is there a Wiki where I can just read the whole thing?

I don't know exactly what's in the series/movie/whatever it is, but you could google the story and find out all about the guy it's about. He's in prison now.

[DoctorAtomic]

I could. But I won't. 

[ratgirlagogo]

22 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

Gee, I do.  I love true crime drive-in exploitation bullshit.  But not enough to subscribe to Netflix.  Eventually I'll see it one way or another and  I gave up caring decades ago about keeping up with the current fashionable thing so I don't care about being out of it right now.

[Spartan Girl]

On April 10, 2020 at 8:57 AM, Ohwell said:

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

Aw you beat me to it! But yeah, same. My friend has watched it and age assures me it's highly overrated. I would have preferred another season of YOU or Stranger Things to get us through this quarantine.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[DearEvette]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:57 AM, Ohwell said:

I have no desire whatsoever to watch Tiger King.

I did so you don't have to.  Take my word.  It is terrible.

It wouldn't have been so bad if the show had really focused on the breeding and mistreatment of the exotic animals.  It had the potential to be what the documentary Blackfish was to Sea World wrt to  Orcas raised in captivity.  But instead it chose to play up the  batshit OTT personalities and ramp up on unconfirmed murder allegations and only use the animals as a backdrop & prop, playing lip-service here or there to their plight.  

The fact that more people are talking about freeing Joe Exotic or trying to get Carole Baskin tried for a murder there is no proof that she committed than the cruelty to the animals and the widespread shadiness of the exotic animal trade in the US is all you need to know to stay away from that mess.

Edited April 12, 2020 by DearEvette

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

The fact that more people are talking about freeing Joe Exotic or trying to get Carole Baskin tried for a murder there is no proof that she committed than the cruelty to the animals and the widespread shadiness of the exotic animal trade in the US is all you need to know to stay away from that mess.

Seriously. One of those guys was openly running a sex cult where he lured young girls with tiger cubs, but Carol Baskin fed her husband to a tiger because why not?

[BlackberryJam]

I caved and watched it. What a group of completely horrific people. There was not one likable person in the bunch. I won't say that was seven hours of my life wasted, because I did manage to match all of my socks, and I mean even out of that basket of socks that has been sitting there a decade, and I get the joke, but I have no urge to see it made into a movie.

Wait, the woman who left the tiger sex cult, I felt bad for her, and the reality TV guy who looked like Ray Walton whose footage (and savings) got burned, I felt bad for him. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I can't believe these virtual words are coming out of my mouth, but does tiger sex cult mean a sex cult with a tiger or a cult about tiger sex? 

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Tiger King was entertaining, but now I'm worried that too many people are taking away the wrong message from it. I don't find Joe Exotic to be a charismatic underdog, I think he's an exploitative, unhinged creep, and we should all be grateful as hell that he's behind bars. In fact, why aren't more of these people behind bars?!

[sistermagpie]

10 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I can't believe these virtual words are coming out of my mouth, but does tiger sex cult mean a sex cult with a tiger or a cult about tiger sex? 

 

LOL! It's a reasonable question. The sex seemed to be between the man and young women who worked 16-hour days taking care of the man's tigers. The tigers were just there to make him look cool--which was a problem with the series in general, as noted above!

[Annber03]

6 hours ago, DearEvette said:

The fact that more people are talking about freeing Joe Exotic or trying to get Carole Baskin tried for a murder there is no proof that she committed than the cruelty to the animals and the widespread shadiness of the exotic animal trade in the US is all you need to know to stay away from that mess.

I haven't seen the documentary, but I've certainly heard about it, and I saw a clip on Seth Meyers' show the other night where, during one of the coronavirus press briefings, a reporter mentioned that there were people taking about the idea of Joe Exotic being pardoned. 

And I was just sitting here going, "Uh, can we not with this, please?" .Read the room, buddy, is this really something we need to be discussing right now? For a whole host of reasons? 

[Shannon L.]

The Tiger King is disturbing to say the least. It's appeal is purely that of a trainwreck.  The only reason I sat through it is because my husband and son were watching it and even then, most of the time I was on my phone.

Modern Family UO #1: I thought it was amusing all the way to the end.  Sure, the final few seasons had a few more episodes that were duds than the first few seasons, but even parts of the finale were making me laugh. 

Modern Family UO #2: Mitch, Cam and Lily were my favorites. 

[DoctorAtomic]

All this tiger fucking show sounds the like stupidest thing ever.