Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[MargeGunderson]

I hate Amy and Mandy, think Joey was too good for Josh, and in general hate Josh. He has not held up well in my re-watch. My favorite episodes are ones in which he gets schooled, especially by a woman, because he’s more than a little misogynistic.

[BlackberryJam]

Josh haters are MY PEOPLE. I liked Joey Lucas a lot and I liked how her calm reasonableness always made Josh look like an idiot. She didn't actively try to make him look stupid; it was just all on his own. 

Donna went from slightly dim, quirky assistant to competent political analyst in like 2 episodes. It was silly. Ginger and Carole and the other assistants never showed any of that development and Carole was a damn sight better than Donna.

I had never been a Danny fan, but the way they developed that relationship when Danny returned was really well done. But honestly, CJ/Simon Donovan was her best pairing. 

Also I went back and forth on Toby. Sometimes I loved him, sometimes...not so much.

TWW's worst episodes were when Josh ate the show. 

[callie lee 29]

My UO for West Wing?  I didn't really like Toby and thought the hype for CJ was ridiculous. She was fine but that's about it.  I wanted to see more of some of the assitants (outside of Donna). 

[Zella]

My UO for the West Wing is I really didn't like President Bartlett. 

My Josh hatred is apparently not unpopular. I loved Sam and CJ! I had mixed feelings about Toby so am still unsure how I feel about once being told I reminded someone of him. 

[Mabinogia]

20 hours ago, juno said:

Otto (Sex Education) and anyone else besides Maeve. Worst shipping in history.

AMEN! I like them as friends but they are terrible as a couple and I don't get why the show is forcing it so hard. I think they could tell a really interesting story with them as good friends, far more interesting than the story of two people who keep having blockades to their getting together because....reasons. (maybe it's because the writers realize what a terrible couple they make but can't bring themselves to tell the fans lol)

[DoctorAtomic]

I've never seen the West Wing. 

[Annber03]

6 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I've never seen the West Wing. 

Nor have I. 

[Browncoat]

Toby on The West Wing was my favorite, followed by Sam and Mrs. Landingham.

[supposebly]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

The only character I ever liked with Josh in terms of a love interest was Joey Lucas.

He didn't deserve her and she deserved much better. In fact any of the women deserved better than Josh. He was an idiot with the maturity of a teenager regarding women. 

[Mabinogia]

22 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I've never seen the West Wing. 

I'll see your West Wing and raise you a Modern Family. 

West Wing I never watched because I have zero interest in politics. Modern Family I never watched because Sofia Vergara's voice drives me up a wall. She is up there with that screechy Guy Fieri when it comes to people I have to mute as soon as I hear a peep from them. 

I've seen Friends but never cared for it. Watched Seinfeld once and thought they were horrible people and never watched again. I also hate the Simpsons. I'm pretty sure I'm not actually an American despite being born here and spending my entire life save 10 days during college, in the States. lol

[Shannon L.]

I'm enjoying Killing Eve (binged the first 2 season a couple of months ago), but this romantic obsession Eve and Villanelle have with each other takes me out of it every time they are on screen together.  I really hate that part of it.

[Zella]

I watched the first few seasons of the West Wing and enjoyed it, but on a rewatch a couple of years later, I found a lot of the episodes and characters very shrill and grating. 

[Annber03]

20 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I'll see your West Wing and raise you a Modern Family. 

West Wing I never watched because I have zero interest in politics. Modern Family I never watched because Sofia Vergara's voice drives me up a wall. She is up there with that screechy Guy Fieri when it comes to people I have to mute as soon as I hear a peep from them. 

I've seen Friends but never cared for it. Watched Seinfeld once and thought they were horrible people and never watched again. I also hate the Simpsons. I'm pretty sure I'm not actually an American despite being born here and spending my entire life save 10 days during college, in the States. lol

I am interested in politics, so I wouldn't mind checking out "The West Wing" someday, I'd just need to set aside the time to do so and all that. Many of the notable series that are out there, if I haven't seen them, it's usually because we either didn't have the channel/streaming service it was on, or there was other stuff going on at the time that kinda put checking out some of these shows on the back burner, or things of that sort. .Some of them I would like to give a look sometime, others, meh. If I do, fine, if I don't, that's fine, too. 

I have seen some of "Friends" and "Seinfeld", but I don't really have much opinion on them one way or another. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I have not seen Modern Family.

[Haleth]

14 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

I hate Amy and Mandy, think Joey was too good for Josh, and in general hate Josh. He has not held up well in my re-watch. My favorite episodes are ones in which he gets schooled, especially by a woman, because he’s more than a little misogynistic.

My husband just did a quarantine binge of TWW and I watched some.  It shocked me how misogynistic Josh was, how a lot of his rants would not be tolerated these days.  He'd be marched up to HR in no time.  Most everything else held up pretty well though.  A lot of times the writers seemed to be talking down to the audience in terms of over explaining things, but it may be that in hindsight I know more than I did then.  

[festivus]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I am interested in politics, so I wouldn't mind checking out "The West Wing" someday, I'd just need to set aside the time to do so and all that.

Exact opposite for me, so it's a hard pass on The West Wing. I also hate cop shows and lawyer shows, so like at least half of TV shows, lol.

I do love my Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but it took me forever to watch it because it's a cop comedy.

I also hate comedies that are the family with children kind unless said family is twisted and wrong. Something like Malcolm in the Middle or the sadly cancelled Kids are Alright. I do think these opinions are unpopular because just looking at network TV it seems like there are so many of these types of shows.

[Hiyo]

You might enjoy The Middle then (without Malcolm). Not the greatest comedy ever, but usually good and rather underrated.

[Blergh]

I hate it when they dumb  down girls/women just because the pairing looks better. Here's an oldie but baddie:

 

On Degrassi: TNG- after she'd spent about a year being frustrated trying to pair with Marco who was gay, the goth Ellie got a more intriguing pairing with Sean who was also a rebel and they even moved in together (as teens). They not only seemed to 'get' each other but actually encouraged each other to be be less self-destructive and more positive. It didn't last long. The School Shooting (in which the PTB rammed down the viewers' throats how the abusive,shooting thug who'd been the principal's pet was supposed to be the victim  ) threw Sean off the show for the most part. Then they had Ellie (who'd been brilliant and had totally nailed others beforehand) become a complete airhead and fall for Craig despite having been Craig's ex's Ashley's bestie  and the fact that Ellie had supported Ashley through Craig's blatant cheating on her. Suddenly, they retroed it so she'd had had no feeling for Sean beforehand and even had her claim that they'd NEVER hooked up (two non-religious teens living in the very same apartment with no adult supervision? Yeah, right!)- and had her stick with the self-pitying, using, drugging Craig for far too long. This was but one reason I had to give up the show even before that original cast graduated (and had only gotten into it because I recalled the original show). 

[BlackberryJam]

As a rule, I dislike sitcoms and refuse to watch them. I'll get pressured into watching one episode and hate it.

Seinfeld was NOT funny.

Friends should have been called Enemies because all they did was lie to one another about every single little thing. Just tell the truth and apologize. That's what friends do.

I don't even know what Modern Family is.

Parks and Rec? Not even one episode.

The Office? Wasn't that a British show?

Brooklyn Nine Nine. Isn't that a running SNL skit that became a show?

The Simpsons still exists? I thought it ended a decade ago.

The last sitcom that I enjoyed was Soap.

[Blergh]

7 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

 Friends should have been called Enemies because all they did was lie to one another about every single little thing. Just tell the truth and apologize. That's what friends do.

I don't even know what Modern Family is.

Parks and Rec? Not even one episode.

The Office? Wasn't that a British show?

Brooklyn Nine Nine. Isn't that a running SNL skit that became a show?

The Simpsons still exists? I thought it ended a decade ago.

The last sitcom that I enjoyed was Soap.

Absolutely right about Friends- they lied and backstabbed so much they made I Love Lucy seem  as though the leading character was George Washington (and, of course, she was infinitely FUNNIER than that whole crew put together). But one reason I refuse to even watch SECONDS of it in reruns.

Modern Family started out fairly good but they trashed all the characters so badly. Gloria had started out as a sympathetic (albeit tempermental) Latina single mother who'd lucked out via marrying Jay and was dedicating herself to being the best wife to her new husband and best mother to her son but that got trashed for her to become a shrill, complaining, vindictive, greedy, backbiting person who turned out to be an unreformed criminal. Mitch and Cam started out as a sympathetic gay couple who were learning the ropes re raising their adoptive new daughter but they wound up treating her like a houseplant while becoming petty and hypersensitive with even the tiniest disagreements become full-blown teapot tempests in which each dragged everyone else into it they could.  Way to go, PTB, you  handed  the bigots against Hispanics and gays all kinds of ammo to justify their hatred of minorities and did it in a way that makes it tougher for the fair-minded to argue against because ALL they have to do is say ' that's what them liberal Hollywood writers themselves believe about Hispanics and gays '. Thanks a LOT for that!

 

Never saw the others  on your list    The Simpsons but bailed on that one about five years after it started- and am convinced its longevity must solely rest on a hidden tribe who somehow have had broken channel changers (or whatever the latest equivalent is) all these years. 

[Danny Franks]

I am never, ever going to watch Breaking Bad. I don't care how good it is, I don't care how many awards it won. I am simply not interested, and am sick to death of people telling me I just have to watch it. No I don't.

Same goes for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I keep being told I have to watch it, and a friend of mine is always telling me about stuff that happens in it, but I just do not care. 

I will actively go out of my way to make sure I never watch a single episode of either of these shows.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Danny Franks

[Katy M]

30 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

am never, ever going to watch Breaking Bad. I don't care how good it is, I don't care how many awards it won. I am simply not interested, and am sick to death of people telling me I just have to to watch it. No I don't.

I hate it when people insist that you watch something because it's great.  My boss is always trying to get me to watch Mad Men and HOmeland.  I did watch one (or maybe 3/4) episode of a Mad Men and I didn't care for it.  Just not my thing. I'm already pretty sure Homeland isn't something I'd be into either.  Different people have different tastes.

[truthaboutluv]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

Modern Family started out fairly good but they trashed all the characters so badly.

Modern Family suffered the fate of many once successful shows and is another perfect example of why I've always been adamant in my, "most shows should not go past six seasons" belief.

After about the sixth season mark is when storylines start getting hokier and hokier and yes, inevitably, all the characters start getting on the viewers' nerve because they all become increasingly annoying and ridiculous. I've said it before and stand by it, that in my opinion, after six seasons, especially 22-24 episode seasons, they've told every story there is to tell with the characters. Time to move on. 

2 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I am never, ever going to watch Breaking Bad. I don't care how good it is, I don't care how many awards it won. I am simply not interested, and am sick to death of people telling me I just have to to watch it. No I don't.

Same goes for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I keep being told I have to watch it, and a friend of mine is always telling me about stuff that happens in it, but I just do not care. 

I will actively go out of my way to make sure I never watch a single episode of either of these shows.

That's me and Game of Thrones. Don't care, will never care.

Edited April 29, 2020 by truthaboutluv

[BlackberryJam]

48 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

I am never, ever going to watch Breaking Bad. I don't care how good it is, I don't care how many awards it won. I am simply not interested, and am sick to death of people telling me I just have to to watch it. No I don't.

 

Please come sit by me. If it's a show about a middle-aged white dude in mid-life crisis, I do NOT fucking care. Not going watch it. Never will. I am seriously DONE with shows about middle-aged white dudes.

Do not watch Game of Thrones. Save yourself the pain of the shittiest show ending since Dexter. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

16 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Modern Family suffered the fate of many once successful show and is another perfect example of why I've always been adamant in my, "most shows should not go past six seasons" belief. After about the sixth season mark is when storylines start getting hokier and hokier and yes, inevitably, all the characters start getting on the viewers' nerve because they all become increasingly annoying and ridiculous. I've said it before and stand by it, that in my opinion, after six seasons, especially 22-24 episode seasons, they've told every story there is to tell with the characters. Time to move on. 

That's me and Game of Thrones. Don't care, will never care.

Considering how mind-bogglingly off the rails Game of Thrones went in terms of quality, you have the right idea.

And I agree with you on the "six season" belief. Because American TV execs are greedy, and a lot of viewers are piss-pants terrified of finality, shows are dragged out long past their prime, until they remind you of an aging athlete who just won't retire, even though they now just look foolish. Shows like Saturday Night Live can have a long shelf life because of the rotating cast and topical humor, but that's the exception, not the rule. 

M.A.S.H should have lasted exactly as long as the Korean war, and no longer.

All in the Family was, at best, a five season show, not 9. 

I loved Frasier but really, 11 seasons?

Friends was delightful the first five or six seasons; after that, it became a ridiculous, Flanderized nightmare.

And, oh my god, will someone shoot that lurching zombie The Simpsons in the head already?!

 

 

[festivus]

I mostly agree with the 6 season rule except it's a 5 season rule for me. I do have some exceptions, like Scrubs, which I think kept quality until the end. Which is probably a UO because I loved the last season and it's one of my favorites.

[Katy M]

34 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Friends was delightful the first five or six seasons; after that, it became a ridiculous, Flanderized nightmare.

Actually my unpopular opinion is that I like Seasons 4-9 of Friends more than the first 3 seasons.

 

34 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

And, oh my god, will someone shoot that lurching zombie The Simpsons in the head already?!

I watched the movie bc my bf at the time wanted to go see it.  But, I don't think I've watched an actual episode since the very early 2000s if not earlier.  They have the advantage of the kids not aging, but I really can't imagine how they're coming up with new ideas.

 

[Bort]

I can’t watch the new episodes of the Simpsons because I can’t reconcile the fact that they use smartphones. In my head, they’re still in the pre-cellphone 90s. 

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

Do not watch Game of Thrones. Save yourself the pain of the shittiest show ending since Dexter. 

ooooohhhhh, I don't know if GOT's ending is *that* low. That's like giving someone's mother a backhand low.

 

[Irlandesa]

I'm weird about shows because sometimes I agree that the first five seasons tend to be the best but then every now and then later seasons have a return to quality or enjoyment.

For instance:

Many didn't like The West Wing after Sorkin left and Season 5 was abysmal.  Season 6 was iffy  But I thought Season 7 was very good and made them continuing on worthwhile to me.

Frasier's last season was very funny.  In fact, even some of the later seasons of that show that I thought weren't as good as the show in its prime hold up really well upon rewatch.*

The 8th season of Friends was one of my favorites.

Law & Order had some rough middle years but its final seasons were some of my favorite. 

 

[Blergh]

56 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Actually my unpopular opinion is that I like Seasons 4-9 of Friends more than the first 3 seasons.

 

I watched the movie bc my bf at the time wanted to go see it.  But, I don't think I've watched an actual episode since the very early 2000s if not earlier.  They have the advantage of the kids not aging, but I really can't imagine how they're coming up with new ideas.

 

AFAIC, The Simpsons are NOT coming up with any new ideas! Just recycled old ones that their audience somehow are unable to change the channel to avoid. 

[Hiyo]

Quote

If it's a show about a middle-aged white dude in mid-life crisis, I do NOT fucking care. Not going watch it. Never will. I am seriously DONE with shows about middle-aged white dudes.

The race of the protagonists isn't something I really care about, because honestly...

My unpopular opinion is that I don't care about diversity/representation. I just want to be entertained. I loved both the original 90210 and A Different World, even though I'm not represented by either casts. But I still loved both shows.

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Frasier's last season was very funny.  In fact, even some of the later seasons of that show that I thought weren't as good as the show in its prime hold up really well upon rewatch.

Agreed. I think that's one show that generally managed to stay consistently strong throughout its entire run. Not to say it was perfect or anything, but it didn't have, to me, at least, the kind of significant dip in quality in latter years that other shows often do. 

4 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

and a lot of viewers are piss-pants terrified of finality.

Yeah, just look at all the reboots/revivals and people begging somebody to pick up a show that's been cancelled. I mean, I've enjoyed some of the reboots/revivals that have happened in recent years, too, simply because it is nice to see some of these casts again...but those have been for shows that ended at least a decade ago, if not longer. It seems weird for people to try and talk about reboots and revivals of shows that haven't been off the air very long. At the very least, let's give people time to actually miss these characters before we start talking about bringing them back for a reunion or something. 

Same with people wanting a show that's been cancelled to be picked up and renewed somewhere else. If it's a show that's only had one or two seasons, that's one thing, because there can still be much promise (though, even then, that's not always true, either-sometimes there is a reason a show only lasts a short time, either because it was intended to be that way or because it just wasn't that great).

But people are trying to do that for shows that have lasted for many years, too, and it's like, "Okay, but it had a really good, long run, does it really need to be picked up by some other outlet?" I'm sad when a show I like gets cancelled, too, certainly, but sometimes a show just ends and that's it, and I think fans need to learn to accept that. If nothing else, at least they'd get to go out on top, hopefully, which would be a great legacy to leave behind. 

[Ohiopirate02]

33 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Agreed. I think that's one show that generally managed to stay consistently strong throughout its entire run. Not to say it was perfect or anything, but it didn't have, to me, at least, the kind of significant dip in quality in latter years that other shows often do. 

Yeah, just look at all the reboots/revivals and people begging somebody to pick up a show that's been cancelled. I mean, I've enjoyed some of the reboots/revivals that have happened in recent years, too, simply because it is nice to see some of these casts again...but those have been for shows that ended at least a decade ago, if not longer. It seems weird for people to try and talk about reboots and revivals of shows that haven't been off the air very long. At the very least, let's give people time to actually miss these characters before we start talking about bringing them back for a reunion or something. 

Same with people wanting a show that's been cancelled to be picked up and renewed somewhere else. If it's a show that's only had one or two seasons, that's one thing, because there can still be much promise (though, even then, that's not always true, either-sometimes there is a reason a show only lasts a short time, either because it was intended to be that way or because it just wasn't that great).

But people are trying to do that for shows that have lasted for many years, too, and it's like, "Okay, but it had a really good, long run, does it really need to be picked up by some other outlet?" I'm sad when a show I like gets cancelled, too, certainly, but sometimes a show just ends and that's it, and I think fans need to learn to accept that. If nothing else, at least they'd get to go out on top, hopefully, which would be a great legacy to leave behind. 

I get what you are saying, but some shows need to be on the right network for them to flourish.  Take Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Fox was not the network for the show.  They kept on moving it from one night to another night and the ratings fell.  But, Fox did give the show five seasons before cancelling, and the final Fox episode could have been a satisfying series finale.  I am still thrilled that NBC picked it up because there is so much more story to tell.  It's never going to be a ratings juggernaut, but still funnier than the vast majority of current sitcoms.  

Now NBC deciding to reboot Will and Grace was the worst possible kind of fan service.  

[Irlandesa]

Speaking of finality, maybe this belongs in the tropes thread but I loathe finales with the "everyone moves on" motif.

It has only worked for me maybe once or twice and the reason it worked is because there was the sense that most were coming back.

 

 

[sistermagpie]

6 hours ago, Katy M said:

I hate it when people insist that you watch something because it's great.  My boss is always trying to get me to watch Mad Men and HOmeland.  I did watch one (or maybe 3/4) episode of a Mad Men and I didn't care for it.  Just not my thing. I'm already pretty sure Homeland isn't something I'd be into either.  Different people have different tastes.

I don't understand why people do this. All they do is create somebody who is now going to tell them that not only are they not interested in their favorite show, they thought it was boring and here's why. Don't make shows an assignment! People like different things!

34 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Speaking of finality, maybe this belongs in the tropes thread but I loathe finales with the "everyone moves on" motif.

It has only worked for me maybe once or twice and the reason it worked is because there was the sense that most were coming back.

 

 

OMG, that is my biggest biggest pet peeve. It's a cheap attempt to make everybody sad about the show ending and frankly most of the time it doesn't even make sense. A group of people have been joined at the hip for years, choosing over and over to stay together. Then suddenly they all get these random offers that it's not even clear they'd want them. Why would this person really want to go live in that European country where they don't speak the language? Why is it better for the young couple's kids to live in a big house in the suburbs they could never afford than for them to live in the city surrounded by an extended adult family that loves them? What possible qualifications does this character have for the job they just got offered by some millionaire at the diner?

Etc. Drives me nuts.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

Speaking of finality, maybe this belongs in the tropes thread but I loathe finales with the "everyone moves on" motif.

It has only worked for me maybe once or twice and the reason it worked is because there was the sense that most were coming back.

The only time it works for me is something like MASH were the whole reason they were together, the war, ended so obviously they were gonna go home. It worked for me with The Good Place too because that whole show was about them getting out of where they were and moving on. 

But for most shows, I would rather believe that they are just off living their lives as they have been, we're just not watching it. Maybe it's because I'm a mental fan-ficer and want to be able to imagine what they are getting up to on my own. 

9 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

The last sitcom that I enjoyed was Soap.

I LOVE SOAP!!!!! Jessica Tate was my idol as a kid, which probably explains way too much about me. haha

I avoided Parks and Rec and B99 for a long time, but when I fell in love with The Good Place I had to check them out because I now worship Michael Schur. That said, I can't stand The Office or Superstore which are also things he is involved in. Not sure what his involvement is in Superstore but I think he wrote for The Office. B99 is my current favorite show (and not just because there is a corgi). 

[DearEvette]

7 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

And I agree with you on the "six season" belief. Because American TV execs are greedy, and a lot of viewers are piss-pants terrified of finality,

I also agree that most shows have at most a shelf life of six seasons.  Even episodic shows and reality shows get old real fast.  Especially those because they are more formulaic in tone to start with.

Thought I think I blame the execs more than the fans for greedily stringing stuff along beyond its shelf life.  Fans tend to get upset when they abruptly cancel a show before it gets it sea-legs.  I can understand that completely  (Pitch. *sobs*).  But even die hard fans who still tune into something after umpty years probably do it more out of comfort and habit rather than zeal.

I venture to guess if you give a show a beginning, middle and a real end and start building toward your end game noticeably, the fans would be ok with a complete story and a satisfying finale and wouldn't be too upset once it is over with no plans to come back.

[festivus]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Speaking of finality, maybe this belongs in the tropes thread but I loathe finales with the "everyone moves on" motif.

 

34 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

But for most shows, I would rather believe that they are just off living their lives as they have been, we're just not watching it. Maybe it's because I'm a mental fan-ficer and want to be able to imagine what they are getting up to on my own. 

Exactly! Believe it or not I was about to come in here with this exact opinion. I would like shows to wrap with resolving any major plot threads but everything else, just let us continue to imagine them going on about their lives. I hate the shows where someone decides to leave right there in the last couple of episodes. Bleh.

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I get what you are saying, but some shows need to be on the right network for them to flourish.  Take Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Fox was not the network for the show.  They kept on moving it from one night to another night and the ratings fell.  But, Fox did give the show five seasons before cancelling, and the final Fox episode could have been a satisfying series finale.  I am still thrilled that NBC picked it up because there is so much more story to tell.  It's never going to be a ratings juggernaut, but still funnier than the vast majority of current sitcoms.  

This is true, too, yes, good point. I'm just mainly thinking about the people who expect that every show they like that gets cancelled will naturally have a chance at being picked up because some other show did, forgetting that sometimes there's particular circumstances involved in why some shows get a second chance/life and others don't. And then there's the people who are sad when a show that's gone at least a decade, if not more, ends and are like, "But can it show up somewhere else?" Ten plus years is an exceptional run for any show, and even then, after a time many of the original actors either will have moved on by then or want to move on, so it's only natural there has to be an actual endpoint eventually. 

37 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

The only time it works for me is something like MASH were the whole reason they were together, the war, ended so obviously they were gonna go home. It worked for me with The Good Place too because that whole show was about them getting out of where they were and moving on. 

But for most shows, I would rather believe that they are just off living their lives as they have been, we're just not watching it. Maybe it's because I'm a mental fan-ficer and want to be able to imagine what they are getting up to on my own. 

I'm a fanfic sort, too :D. I will say that there can also be some fun in imagining characters reuniting x number of years later or whatever if the series finale does have them all going off in different directions-maybe it allows a ship we wanted to happen but didn't to flourish, maybe something forces a character to return home and they have to adjust to the changes that have happened since they moved away, maybe they wind up thriving wherever they move to, as opposed to struggling in their hometown/old job, etc.

But yeah, I agree that the whole "characters going off in different directions" ending depends heavily on the type of show in question, too, and what makes sense for the specific characters and the storylines in question. 

Echoing the love for "SOAP", and I also agree that people shouldn't try and force someone to watch a show if they're not interested in it. 

[Minneapple]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Law & Order had some rough middle years but its final seasons were some of my favorite. 

 

Were those the seasons in which Jack was the DA? I liked those seasons too. They were a nice breath of fresh air and a change after like a hundred seasons of the same thing.

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Minneapple said:

Were those the seasons in which Jack was the DA? I liked those seasons too. They were a nice breath of fresh air and a change after like a hundred seasons of the same thing.

Yes.  Linus Roache was the lead ADA (after Jack moved up to DA).  Alana de la Garza the assistant or second chair ADA.  The cops included S. Epatha Merkerson who had been around for a long time and then Jeremy Sisto with either Anthony Anderson or Jesse L. Martin in the cop roles. 

The cast chemistry was really good.  Perhaps my favorite cast since the fifth season.

[BlackberryJam]

10 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

ooooohhhhh, I don't know if GOT's ending is *that* low. That's like giving someone's mother a backhand low.

 

I said it and I meant it. Jaime and Brienne got done so dirty.

Also Lena Headey was one note. She did that note very very well, but she showed no range and was not Emmy worthy. Dinklage only deserved an Emmy once. It would have been Coster-Waldau’s in S3.

Edited April 30, 2020 by BlackberryJam

[DoctorAtomic]

Did you see her as Sarah Connor? 

[andromeda331]

I used to love sitcoms as a kid and teenager. But haven't really been interested in that many probably in the last decade. Most just seem boring or I end up hating like Modern Family. I really liked the concept of Modern Family but I hated the characters.  I can't ever decided if Friends went on too long or if I'd like better if they let the Ross-Rachel crap die and the two more on because I did like the development of Monica and Chandler. I don't know because I hated Rachel, Ross and Phoebe by that point so maybe not.   Frasier went on for eleven years and while the Niles-Daphne ended up being something that I didn't like. They had a lot of good episodes throughout the entire series. Season ten was terrible but season eleven was really good. But Everyone Loves Raymond and the Big Bang Theory went on far too long and the characters became too unlikable. Characters especially in sitcoms just remain stuck in the same spot for so long and/or become horrible. I don't know if its out laziness or think that any development means people will stop watching. The Nanny only made it to six seasons and by the fifth the will they or won't they were getting really old. Rather then wait until the end of the season to finally marry Maxwell and Fran, they really could have done that by the end of season three or four. Not only would it had ended a tired plotline but it could have moved the characters and show forward giving them new material.  I always lean towards laziness because its seems like they usually get to a point and it all stops. Characters stop being development or lose it, they use the same jokes, and do the same things over and over again. And it feels like most sitcoms don't ever really end up being full developed or reach their potential.  Plus there are other shows that do have bad seasons but then get better like Frasier or the last seasons of Law & Order. The Middle which I loved. The Sue-Sean story arc wasn't bad because it was in the last seasons it was bad because they stretched it out, wasted two guys and two seasons for no reason. They didn't do anything with it. There was no build and no obstacle they simply wouldn't tell each other they felt. Watching Frankie still being same disorganized mom who forgot everything including her kids birthdays and was still bad at her job to the very end? That wasn't funny or fun. Seeing her actually learning to do better would have been great. 

[BlackberryJam]

7 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Did you see her as Sarah Connor? 

No...but I was talking about her portrayal of Cersei. The only time you get an Emmy for an aggregate of roles is a Lifetime Achievement Award. And she's not worthy of that either.

[Haleth]

23 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

As a rule, I dislike sitcoms and refuse to watch them. I'll get pressured into watching one episode and hate it.

Me too.  The humor on sitcoms is usually at someone's expense and I don't enjoy watching people being mean to other people.

[Ohiopirate02]

8 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I used to love sitcoms as a kid and teenager. But haven't really been interested in that many probably in the last decade. Most just seem boring or I end up hating like Modern Family. I really liked the concept of Modern Family but I hated the characters.  I can't ever decided if Friends went on too long or if I'd like better if they let the Ross-Rachel crap die and the two more on because I did like the development of Monica and Chandler. I don't know because I hated Rachel, Ross and Phoebe by that point so maybe not.   Frasier went on for eleven years and while the Niles-Daphne ended up being something that I didn't like. They had a lot of good episodes throughout the entire series. Season ten was terrible but season eleven was really good. But Everyone Loves Raymond and the Big Bang Theory went on far too long and the characters became too unlikable. Characters especially in sitcoms just remain stuck in the same spot for so long and/or become horrible. I don't know if its out laziness or think that any development means people will stop watching. The Nanny only made it to six seasons and by the fifth the will they or won't they were getting really old. Rather then wait until the end of the season to finally marry Maxwell and Fran, they really could have done that by the end of season three or four. Not only would it had ended a tired plotline but it could have moved the characters and show forward giving them new material.  I always lean towards laziness because its seems like they usually get to a point and it all stops. Characters stop being development or lose it, they use the same jokes, and do the same things over and over again. And it feels like most sitcoms don't ever really end up being full developed or reach their potential.  Plus there are other shows that do have bad seasons but then get better like Frasier or the last seasons of Law & Order. The Middle which I loved. The Sue-Sean story arc wasn't bad because it was in the last seasons it was bad because they stretched it out, wasted two guys and two seasons for no reason. They didn't do anything with it. There was no build and no obstacle they simply wouldn't tell each other they felt. Watching Frankie still being same disorganized mom who forgot everything including her kids birthdays and was still bad at her job to the very end? That wasn't funny or fun. Seeing her actually learning to do better would have been great. 

I also don't watch a lot of sitcoms except for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Schitt's Creek, What We Do in the Shadows, and The Good Place.  These shows all have or had good writing and fully-realized characters.  Writing where they craft the plots around the characters instead of forcing the characters into a plot just to create an episode.  Characters who grow to become better versions of the season one version. It can be done, but it is rarely rewarded by the networks.  I hated The Big Bang Theory because the characters were paper-thin and never developed as the seasons went on.  But millions of people watched it and it soldiered on for far more seasons than was necessary.  I also don't think a sitcom needs 22 episodes a season.  All of the shows I listed above have 13 episode seasons.  Twenty-two episode seasons create more filler.  

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

No...but I was talking about her portrayal of Cersei.

Yes, I know. Cersei was basically a one-note character, and that's how she played her. I was saying that I don't think Hedley is a one note actor if you check her out as Sarah Conner. I don't really care about the awards part. 

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I also don't think a sitcom needs 22 episodes a season.  All of the shows I listed above have 13 episode seasons.  Twenty-two episode seasons create more filler.  

I think that model is outdated. With year round original content now, you can have more shows with less episodes, or limited series, which there is clearly an audience for.