Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[ganesh]

I'm fine with Sunday night being the night for cool, edgy shows, but having literally *everything* on Sunday is a bit much. Who can watch 5 tv shows before starting the work week?

[cpcathy]

Except for tonight, since it's Easter, there is NOTHING.

[amensisterfriend]

Random UOs re Charmed...starting with the fact that I actually like Charmed :) It's got MAJOR issues, but I find it addictive fun anyway, and some of the ideas behind it were actually really interesting. 

 

1) I was never much of a Piper fan. She's so dour and joyless IMO. My favorite sisters were Pru and Paige...by far. 

2) I didn't enjoy Cole. I adore Leo for reasons that defy rational explanation. 

3) I actually prefer the later seasons and love the cheesy stuff with the Magic School (clever name, no?!), Chris, etc. 

4) I actually kind of liked Billie. 

[Anna Yolei]

Except for tonight, since it's Easter, there is NOTHING.

Somewhat related, but does ABC still air "The Ten Commandments" on Easter Sunday? I've spent most of the past five years overseas and haven't got cable since coming back to the States, so I'm not sure. My family used to always watch it every year.

[topanga]

 

Somewhat related, but does ABC still air "The Ten Commandments" on Easter Sunday? I've spent most of the past five years overseas and haven't got cable since coming back to the States, so I'm not sure. My family used to always watch it every year.

Yes, my family watched it last night. Although I had to DVR the last hour since it was getting late and I had to work today.

 

My eleven-year-old son liked the movie but kept commenting about how fake the backgrounds looked. I kept having to remind him that the movie was made in 1956, but I don't think that swayed him.

[amensisterfriend]

Since there are a few other people here decidedly indifferent (or worse) towards Arrow, I can safely confess that I think the widely derided Smallville was a much more enjoyable, engaging show. Yeah, I know,..I have no taste :) Lord knows Smallville had many, many MAJOR flaws, but somehow even many of the worst episodes are more fun for me in a cheesy, so-bad-it's-weirdly-enjoyable sort of way than Arrow's self-serious flatness. 

 

Other Smallville UOs: 

 

1) I never once wanted Chloe and Clark to get together. I always thought she'd be better paired with someone far more vibrant and interesting. 

2) Michael Rosenbaum's Lex is still one of my favorite characters of any show, and I found his relationship with Lionel a million times more engaging than any of the show's romances or even friendships.

3) I do hold the 'popular' opinion of not liking Lana, but I don't hate her as much as nearly everyone else seems to (honestly, I'm mostly indifferent) and hold the UO of thinking Lois was an even more annoying character. 

4) I far prefer Smallville's Arrow to Arrow's Arrow :) 

5) I actually enjoyed Kara and the seventh season overall. 

Edited April 6, 2015 by amensisterfriend

[DittyDotDot]

Since there are a few other people here decidedly indifferent (or worse) towards Arrow, I can safely confess that I think the widely derided Smallville was a much more enjoyable, engaging show. Yeah, I know,..I have no taste :) Lord knows Smallville had many, many MAJOR flaws, but somehow even many of the worst episodes are more fun for me in a cheesy, so-bad-it's-weirdly-enjoyable sort of way than Arrow's self-serious flatness. 

 

Other Smallville UOs: 

 

1) I never once wanted Chloe and Clark to get together. I always thought she'd be better paired with someone far more vibrant and interesting. 

2) Michael Rosenbaum's Lex is still one of my favorite characters of any show, and I found his relationship with Lionel a million times more engaging than any of the show's romances or even friendships.

3) I do hold the 'popular' opinion of not liking Lana, but I don't hate her as much as nearly everyone else seems to (honestly, I'm mostly indifferent) and hold the UO of thinking Lois was an even more annoying character. 

4) I far prefer Smallville's Arrow to Arrow's Arrow :) 

5) I actually enjoyed Kara and the seventh season overall. 

 

Funny you should mention Smallville, I just started watching a couple months ago on a lark. I never watched it when it was actually on and just finished S2. Oh Lord, is it cheesy, but I'm genuinely amused by it's cheesiness! I think viewing it with the knowledge of it being a product of it's time helps greatly. I don't know if I'd say I prefer it to Arrow, but probably feel very similar about both shows--they both have their good and bad points.

 

I'm totally with you about Lana though. While I don't love her, I certainly don't hate her and I wouldn't say she was responsible for all the wrong on the show either. Kinda similar to my feelings about Laurel and Arrow. And, I also don't have any great affection or hatred for Chloe as with Felicity.

 

Rosenbaum's Lex is by far the most interesting character on the show to me, though. In-fact I was commenting to someone the other day that Tom Welling kinda creeps me out at times. Sometimes when he smiles, I get a chill down my spine, and not in a good way. Mostly though, I just find Clark to be boring.

 

amensisterfriend, are secretly spying on me...first Psych and now Smallville... ;)

[amensisterfriend]

Ha! I'm excited that you're mainlining this show, too, DittyDot....I hope you'll venture over to the Smallville threads. You've got some fun times ahead. (S3 may be the best of the series, so keep watching!) 

 

I do hold the (somewhat?) popular of loving Chloe, but I just see ZERO romantic chemistry between Chloe and Clark. Honestly, I see more between Chloe and Lex...which is just warped :) 

[DittyDotDot]

Ha! I'm excited that you're mainlining this show, too, DittyDot....I hope you'll venture over to the Smallville threads. You've got some fun times ahead. (S3 may be the best of the series, so keep watching!) 

 

I do hold the (somewhat?) popular of loving Chloe, but I just see ZERO romantic chemistry between Chloe and Clark. Honestly, I see more between Chloe and Lex...which is just warped :) 

 

Well, I did venture into the threads a couple weeks ago, but it kinda scared me with all the Lana hatred. It felt a lot like the Arrow threads with all the screaming for Katie Cassidy's head. So, I don't think you'll coerce me to hang out there. Sorry!

 

I agree about Lex and Chloe having good chemistry, would be an interesting place to go.

[kassygreene]

Somewhat related, but does ABC still air "The Ten Commandments" on Easter Sunday? I've spent most of the past five years overseas and haven't got cable since coming back to the States, so I'm not sure. My family used to always watch it every year.

I heard the opening music last night from another room and for some reason I thought it was Ben-Hur, which is more tied to Easter, I would think.  Anyway, as an artifact of its time, that scene where Moses starts the Exodus and all those people followed him was actually filmed with that many people, and was a pretty big deal at the time.  It would so totally be CGI today.

[rue721]

Since there are a few other people here decidedly indifferent (or worse) towards Arrow, I can safely confess that I think the widely derided Smallville was a much more enjoyable, engaging show. Yeah, I know,..I have no taste :) Lord knows Smallville had many, many MAJOR flaws, but somehow even many of the worst episodes are more fun for me in a cheesy, so-bad-it's-weirdly-enjoyable sort of way than Arrow's self-serious flatness. 

 

Other Smallville UOs: 

 

1) I never once wanted Chloe and Clark to get together. I always thought she'd be better paired with someone far more vibrant and interesting. 

2) Michael Rosenbaum's Lex is still one of my favorite characters of any show, and I found his relationship with Lionel a million times more engaging than any of the show's romances or even friendships.

3) I do hold the 'popular' opinion of not liking Lana, but I don't hate her as much as nearly everyone else seems to (honestly, I'm mostly indifferent) and hold the UO of thinking Lois was an even more annoying character. 

4) I far prefer Smallville's Arrow to Arrow's Arrow :) 

5) I actually enjoyed Kara and the seventh season overall. 

 

Totally agree on all accounts, especially about Lex. Well, except that I straight up liked Lana (and really like Kristin Kreuk on Beauty and the Beast now. She's so good at action sequences, both shows needed/need to give her more of them!).

 

My favorite "romance" on the show was Lex/Lana. They actually made a lot of sense together imo (including how she changed while she was with him. And how a big part of what Lex liked about her (though not ALL) was his weird Single White Female obsession with Clark).

 

Also, I didn't particularly like Chloe. She wasn't terrible or anything, she was just kind of boring and difficult to relate to imo. I had no desire to see her and Clark get together, because I didn't care enough about either of them to care about their (hypothetical) relationship. Pete seemed like he could have been interesting, though (I think it would have been better for the show all-around if Clark had continued to have a real male bff OTHER than Lex-and-his-shrine-to-Clark), and wish they'd done more with Pete's family. His mom was a judge iIrc? I would have loved to know more about *her* (hypothetical/potential) relationship with Mr. Lionel "No Rules Apply to Me and I Own This (Company) Town" Luthor, lol.

 

I enjoyed Lex's storyline in S7, including how they handled him killing Lionel. He just slowly lost his grip. I think it was mostly Michael Rosenbaum who made that storyline as good as it was, though. He really killed it in that role. (And I hate to say this because it's so shallow, but his body was *banging* at the beginning of SV. I was so sad to see how beefed up (Crossfit-ed up?!) he got for Breaking In. :P)

 

I also liked Promises, the episode where Lana and Lex get married (and which everyone seems to hate). I liked the silliness of Lex killing that guy in the wine celler (?) and trying to cover it up, the way that at-that-time-ostensibly-reformed!Lionel just casually popped Lex in the face and gave him a nosebleed and then neither of them really reacted to it, how Lana looked like a trembling rabbit when she was walking down the aisle...Idk, there were a lot of great things about that episode!

 

Arrow's a pretty good show, but I definitely liked Smallville better. It was more fun, and the characters were actually more interesting somehow imo.

[rue721]

And now you've done it. I had to put in a Smallville DVD because after all that reminiscing, how could I not!

 

Another SV UO:  The first season is my favorite, by far.

[Guest]

l

Jack and Lennie are my favorites, but I do enjoy those episodes too. I just usually hear more about people commenting on Jack being self-righteous (which is true, but not nearly as bad as Bensen and Stabler). Logan actually reminds me of Stabler a bit - with the hot temper and all. But at least when Logan went too far (punching the politician) he faced the consequence for it. The thing I always liked about the original, no matter which characters were on it, was that it was about the case versus the drama around the characters. I just watched Briscoe's last episode and he just...leaves.

 

But Lennie left for the spin off so they couldn't do anything that dramatic.  Plus they killed off Logan's first two partners so that trend needed to end.  I think there could have been a happy medium between L&O SVU and original recipe.  L&O used to make me crazy because they made a point of not seeing anyone's lives off the job, but couldn't resist alluding to something with a one sentence bombshell.  Jack's history of sleeping with all his female ADAs.  Serena's 'is this because I'm a lesbian?'

[Rick Kitchen]

I was wondering why The Ten Commandments would be airing on Easter, and then it occurred to me, that it was Passover, too

[Enigma X]

Just from reading message forums such as this, I think this may be some UOs I hold about L&O:

 

1. Jack, Claire, and Adam were my favorite "Order" team.

2. Lenny, Mike, and Van Buren were my favorite "Law" team

3. Every version in every timeframe of L&O needed an angry, unhinged cop or one struggling with an ethical issue. Mike portrayed that best throughout his run on the show, whereas all the others started to seem repetitive to me.

[amensisterfriend]

rue, I'm not sure whether I should be excited or just apologetic at encouraging you to delve back into the cheesy addiction known as Smallville :) 

 

I'm definitely with you on liking the widely disliked Promises! 

 

Another one: I kind of adored sweet, goofy Jimmy Olsen and thought Aaron Ashmore was perfectly cast in the role. 

[DittyDotDot]

Another one: I kind of adored sweet, goofy Jimmy Olsen and thought Aaron Ashmore was perfectly cast in the role. 

 

Jimmy Olsen, eh? That sounds promising...

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, I did venture into the threads a couple weeks ago, but it kinda scared me with all the Lana hatred. It felt a lot like the Arrow threads with all the screaming for Katie Cassidy's head. So, I don't think you'll coerce me to hang out there. Sorry!

I'm sooo sorry if I scared you off, Ditty! My hatred for Lana goes aaaaaalll the way back to the TWoP days; and has everything to do with her needing and wanting to know EVERY.DAMN.THING.THOUGHT.MOMENT. in Clark's life.  Then the whole mantra of "Sekriths and lies" nonsense. And the pink! The PINK. Oh, and did you know, that her parents were killed by a meteor rock?

[DittyDotDot]

I'm sooo sorry if I scared you off, Ditty! My hatred for Lana goes aaaaaalll the way back to the TWoP days; and has everything to do with her needing and wanting to know EVERY.DAMN.THING.THOUGHT.MOMENT. in Clark's life.  Then the whole mantra of "Sekriths and lies" nonsense. And the pink! The PINK. Oh, and did you know, that her parents were killed by a meteor rock?

 

Nah, I doubt is was you personally. It just seemed that was the only conversation going on in every thread and I have no interest in that particular conversation, so I moved on. No worries, everyone is entitled to their own love and hatred.

[Blergh]

OK, here's one. As much as I like Candice Bergen as a person and have, overall, admired her work as a performer; I've not quite forgiven her for having agreed to co-star on Boston Legal. Why? Because I hated the show, the premise and disliked the way it grew out of The Practice essentially letting James Spader and his despicable character turn all the other performers into wallpaper on what was originally an ensemble show and refused to watch the 'spin off'. In summation, I always thought if only Miss Bergen hadn't participated in this show, there was a possibility it would have IMO deservedly sunk into obscure derision but since she did participate, it got enough 'cred' to draw in the viewers. Oh, and does anyone think we'd be having Shatner as the Priceline Negotiator if this show had died of bombitus ASAP? I rest my case.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Blergh

[Janet Snakehole]

I liked the fourth season of Arrested Development, and find it on par with the first three, particularly on rewatches.

I am glad Netflix announced a fifth season.

[ganesh]

Season 4 was fine. People were expected the same type of show as when it was on Fox and TPTBs explained pretty clearly that the season was highly experimental and they were taking advantage of the ability to binge watch. There's legit criticisms of the plot that some people may not have liked: Michael was a more of a jerk this time around, for example. But they delivered what they said they would. 

[amensisterfriend]

Not only do I like Charmed far more than most of the TV-viewing world despite its flaws (frighteningly enough, I actually kind of love it!), but the widely reviled Phoebe Halliwell/Alyssa Milano may be my very favorite of the sisters. Even by this thread's standards of unpopularity, I feel like that one is pretty embarrassing :) 

[applecrisp]

How do you feel about the actual original L&O? With Michael Moriarity, George Dzundza, Chris Noth? Jack McCoy is a replacement character.

They were my favs. Loved Logan-so cute. Dzundza was only on the first season I think.  I really liked Moriarity, he 's a good actor and his character was a good but flawed guy.  Have you ever seen Bang The Drum Slowly.  A baseball movie he was very good in.  

 

In the early seasons they did well with replacements, but for me there was just too much change and the"ripped from the headline stories " got very old.

[Guest]

Every show that Shannen Doherty got fired from (90210, Charmed) suffered for it despite going on long after she was gone.  Too bad behind the scenes was so bad it made it to the screen.

 

 

In the early seasons they did well with replacements, but for me there was just too much change and the"ripped from the headline stories " got very old.

 

I used to laugh in the early seasons when they would occasionally do their disclaimer and proclaim that the story was fictional and then site the specific case that they were not depicting.  Any similarity to Flintstone vs. Rubble is completely in your imagination.

[callie lee 29]

I could never stand Shannon Doherty so I was glad whenever she left (it was always inevitable).

 

 

How do you feel about the actual original L&O? With Michael Moriarity, George Dzundza, Chris Noth? Jack McCoy is a replacement character.

I always preferred Moriarity. And Robinette was my favorite ADA, tied with Abby.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Not only do I like Charmed far more than most of the TV-viewing world despite its flaws (frighteningly enough, I actually kind of love it!), but the widely reviled Phoebe Halliwell/Alyssa Milano may be my very favorite of the sisters.

 

 

Every show that Shannen Doherty got fired from (90210, Charmed) suffered for it despite going on long after she was gone.  Too bad behind the scenes was so bad it made it to the screen.

 

I actually didn't start to really dislike Alyssa Milano until she (allegedly) got Shannen fired. I know La Doherty did not make many friends back in the day, but since then some of the stories I've heard about the BTS stuff makes me wonder if it was really Shannen who was entirely the problem.

[Guest]

I actually didn't start to really dislike Alyssa Milano until she (allegedly) got Shannen fired. I know La Doherty did not make many friends back in the day, but since then some of the stories I've heard about the BTS stuff makes me wonder if it was really Shannen who was entirely the problem.

 

I read the same thing.  While I believe Doherty got herself let go from 90210, I think that it was more Milano on Charmed and anything Doherty may have done didn't rise to the level of 'its her or me'.

[ganesh]

I don't rewatch episodes. I'll come to the boards regularly to talk about them, but I have no interest in rewatching. There's a lot of original content to get to. I find the "I rewatch so I can catch all the layers" to be pretentious. You can't digest a show in one sitting?

 

I think people who say "she's obviously showing" about actors who are pregnant irl playing characters who are not are largely full of it. They "see her showing" because they read about it in a magazine and are predisposed to see it. Also, who cares? I can suspend my disbelief far enough to ignore it. 

Edited April 9, 2015 by ganesh

[Joe]

 

I don't rewatch episodes. I'll come to the boards regularly to talk about them, but I have no interest in rewatching. There's a lot of original content to get to. I find the "I rewatch so I can catch all the layers" to be pretentious. You can't digest a show in one sitting?

I see what you mean, but there are reasons to if you want to. In this day and age of seralised shows, sometimes you want to see a plot point brought up early, see how it develops. Or just because you enjoy it. Yeah, some people seem to overanalyse things, but not always.

[DittyDotDot]

I don't rewatch episodes. I'll come to the boards regularly to talk about them, but I have no interest in rewatching. There's a lot of original content to get to. I find the "I rewatch so I can catch all the layers" to be pretentious. You can't digest a show in one sitting?

 

I just sometimes like to re-watch something I enjoyed greatly again. It's probably foolish to try and recapture that special feeling, but I endeavor anyway. Sometimes it's also fun to see how my impressions of things changes over time. There's only a handful of shows that are enjoyably re-watchable to me, though.

[amensisterfriend]

I actually didn't start to really dislike Alyssa Milano until she (allegedly) got Shannen fired. I know La Doherty did not make many friends back in the day, but since then some of the stories I've heard about the BTS stuff makes me wonder if it was really Shannen who was entirely the problem.

 

My really UO is that I never really care about whether actors get along behind the scenes or even whether they're especially nice people in real life. Alyssa Milano may well be every bit as much to blame as as the notoriously difficult Shannen Doherty for the latter's departure from Charmed, but it never affected my view of the characters or show. 

 

On a different but still Charmed-related note (I could never admit to non-PTVers how much I've grown to love this cheesy show!), I really enjoy both Prue AND Paige and think both Prue's seasons and Paige's seasons had their share of really good---and really NOT good---episodes. Pretty much every fandom I've come across still seems to think that one can like either Prue OR Paige...not both. I'm also the only fan I've come across who grew kind of weary of the never-not-irritated, perpetually put upon Piper in later seasons. (She's still almost universally the most beloved and least criticized of the sisters.)  As if all this isn't unpopular enough, I also really liked Chris. 

[DeLurker]

I don't rewatch episodes. I'll come to the boards regularly to talk about them, but I have no interest in rewatching. There's a lot of original content to get to. I find the "I rewatch so I can catch all the layers" to be pretentious. You can't digest a show in one sitting?

 

I don't usually rewatch an episode and reading the boards shows me how much stuff I missed in the single viewing.  And with life's regular distractions, there usually is stuff I didn't catch on the viewing.  But for those who rewatch and share their more detailed take, I appreciate it. 

[ganesh]

I see what you mean, but there are reasons to if you want to. In this day and age of seralised shows, sometimes you want to see a plot point brought up early, see how it develops. Or just because you enjoy it. Yeah, some people seem to overanalyse things, but not always.

 

The key word in my original post being "layers". Going back to refresh your memory is one thing. Going back to see all the "layers" is silly. Mad Men has been getting mad fellation because it's the last season. It's a good show. I watch every week. It's not even remotely as deep as people make it out to be and it takes away from my enjoyment sometimes. 

 

I like talking about shows over the week, but typically I don't miss much that I would feel the need to go back and rewatch.

 

Do people actually sit and watch a tv show straight through? Or do they pay attention to like 5 different things at once so they miss the show details?

[proserpina65]

Do people actually sit and watch a tv show straight through? Or do they pay attention to like 5 different things at once so they miss the show details?

 

I do both, depending on the show, but even when I pay attention and watch a show straight through, there are sometimes things I miss on the first go-round.  And things whose significance doesn't become apparent.  And yes, sometimes there are layers which I didn't really get the first time I watched.  (Perfect example: I'm currently rewatching The Jewel in the Crown on PBS and am discovering all sorts of layers I hadn't noticed when I first watched it.)  Yes, not every show is like that; some are shallow and entertaining, and sometimes I rewatch those just because they make me laugh or cry or whatever.  I go back and watch shows I like for a variety of reasons.  But I don't think it makes me pretentious or silly to think that some shows have layers which I can appreciate better upon a second (or third) viewing.

Edited April 9, 2015 by proserpina65

[Cobalt Stargazer]

My really UO is that I never really care about whether actors get along behind the scenes or even whether they're especially nice people in real life. Alyssa Milano may well be every bit as much to blame as as the notoriously difficult Shannen Doherty for the latter's departure from Charmed, but it never affected my view of the characters or show. 

 

Normally I don't really care either, but if its true that Alyssa got Shannen canned, even if it was just because they didn't get along, that kind of smacks of entitlement to me. As you say, Doherty was reportedly very difficult to work with, but its hardly for Milano to say ,"I cannot work with that woman, fire her or I quit!" Who is she, Norma Desmond?

 

 

I don't rewatch episodes. I'll come to the boards regularly to talk about them, but I have no interest in rewatching. There's a lot of original content to get to. I find the "I rewatch so I can catch all the layers" to be pretentious. You can't digest a show in one sitting?

 

I re-watch[ stuff all the time. Admittedly, I have the perfect attention span for re-watching, and I can watch an episode of something and catch something I completely missed before. And yeah, I do watch episodes all the way through, and I kind of think what's pretentious is talking about how pretentious someone else is. There's a lot of programming out there that's already aired (that's what Netflix in particular is for) and if you're into binge-watching, DVD sets are an excellent Christmas/birthday gift.

[FormerMod-a1]

I don't rewatch, in general*, either.  Things people say took them multiple rewatches to pick up or catch I get on first viewing.  I don't know, when I actually pay attention and only mult-task during commercials, I just don't miss stuff.  Of course if you're doing multiple things, or have kids or pets running around, interrupting, taking your attention in different ways, stuff can be missed.  But some folks insist they give 100% of their attention and still miss very obvious things, and I mean obvious like an actor turning to the camera and saying "I did it.  I did it all.  I'm just lying to everyone now", and somehow not seeing that until the 5th rewatch?  I'm calling BS on you paying 100% attention.  Nothing wrong with that, of course.

 

* There are a few old shows in syndication I "rewatch", to either enjoy certain scenes or jokes, but mostly for "comfort tv" to have on the background while I do other things.  Shows like Law & Order or Golden Girls.  However, for shows currently airing, I don't feel the need to rewatch 5 more times before the next episode.  Even ones I *really* enjoyed.  I just watch each episode as the season goes on.

[cleo]

Black-ish unpopular opinion. I don't like Diane and wish there was more of Jack. I'm just not into fake tv kids that are miniature clever adults. Or whatever she is supposed to be. 

 

The actress I'm sure is a great kid though.

[funkopop]

 

Do people actually sit and watch a tv show straight through? Or do they pay attention to like 5 different things at once so they miss the show details?

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much always Internet browsing on my IPAD when I watch television.

[SmithW6079]

I'm not sure where this goes, since there doesn't seem to be a "TV Personalities/Characters/Actors I Hate" thread, but since this thread sometimes serves as a general "hate" thread, I just have to say -- I can't stand Michael Yo on whatever celebrity "journalism" show he's on. I can't think of a bigger ass-kissing, bootlicking douchebag phony on TV. He makes my skin crawl and I have to change the channel or mute him. Even though I stopped watching her train wreck of a TV show way before it was cancelled, at least Chelsea Handler would mock him for being a d-bag. I'm not even sure if it's an unpopular opinion.

[Guest]

My really UO is that I never really care about whether actors get along behind the scenes or even whether they're especially nice people in real life. Alyssa Milano may well be every bit as much to blame as as the notoriously difficult Shannen Doherty for the latter's departure from Charmed, but it never affected my view of the characters or show. 

 

I share that unpopular opinion but I'll add the caveat that it only holds as long as the backstage doesn't translate to the screen.  Charmed did a fairly decent job handling it even though it changed the show.  My only issue is that I never liked Piper or Phoebe as much as Prue, so the fact that I liked Paige more than them but less than Prue had an actual impact to how I felt about the show.

 

My proof that I can separate backstage from TV is that there used to be an actress on a soap opera who had well publicized backstage feuds, used the most atrocious religious prejudice I've ever heard from a celebrity to excuse her real life adultery, and hid a pregnancy to do a witness stand reveal to win a court case (you know who it is now right?) and despite the fact that her character was perpetually feuding with another character played by a seemingly lovely woman, I still liked the nutjob's character better.

 

The reverse is the Good Wife.  I know nothing about the backstage situation there because its a mystery wrapped in an enigma that is buried with Jimmy Hoffa.  For all I know, everyone gets along great; however Kalinda and Alicia never share a scene.  Ever.  They used to pretend it was fallout of a plot twist but now they do speak by phone.  I presume this is to avoid the actresses acting in a scene together.  Its distracting and practically a spoiler.  When Diane went to F&A and took Kalinda, the next words out of my mouth were 'how are they going to move Alicia out of the law firm's day to day?'

[Princess Sparkle]

I always preferred Moriarity. And Robinette was my favorite ADA, tied with Abby.

Stone/Robinette was always my favorite "Law" pairing. And I know the show always had Jack as the one who had slept a few of his ADAs, but I swear, I always found Michael Moriarity so attractive as Ben Stone.

My law and order SVU UO: I do not understand the love of Barba. At all. My favorite SVU DA has always been Casey Novak (which is its own UO)

[kiddo82]

Novak is my favorite as well.

[amensisterfriend]

My favorite SVU DA has always been Casey Novak (which is its own UO)

 

Table for two! And I never quite got the deep love for Alex Cabot or her allegedly special bond with Olivia. Alex was fine, but not especially dynamic or interesting to me, and IMUO she and Olivia seemed more like courteous coworkers than soulmates :) 

 

Even back when liking Benson and Stabler was a far more popular opinion, I was never a fan. I always found them both just so overly, almost artificially intense about every single freaking thing and downright exhausting. I'd have very happily taken a version of SVU in which Munch was the lead instead.  

Edited April 10, 2015 by amensisterfriend

[Lady Calypso]

As if all this isn't unpopular enough, I also really liked Chris.

 

 

I'm gonna take this one step further: season 6 is my favourite season and it's all because of Chris. I loved Chris, and I think he helped improve the season a lot. Sure, there were plot holes, but season 6 has more episodes that I would absolutely rewatch over all other seasons. Season 4 is my next favourite season and I attribute it to Paige, who is my favourite sister. I remember the season 2 penultimate episode, Apocalypse Now, was the first episode I saw and because of the little we saw Prue, I didn't like her, and then I started watching late season 5 and fell in love with Paige. It took me much longer to like Piper.

 

 I also wished they had an episode of just Prue and Paige meeting and interacting, because I think they would get along the best out of all the sisters. I found Phoebe/Prue's relationship exhaustingly boring, Prue/Piper was just eh, and Piper/Phoebe's relationship incredibly annoying. Furthermore, I found that Piper and Phoebe treated Paige like crap most of the time and Prue wouldn't have been so judgemental toward their half sister. Leo treated Paige better than the other two.

[ribboninthesky1]

I don't rewatch, in general*, either.  Things people say took them multiple rewatches to pick up or catch I get on first viewing.  I don't know, when I actually pay attention and only mult-task during commercials, I just don't miss stuff.  Of course if you're doing multiple things, or have kids or pets running around, interrupting, taking your attention in different ways, stuff can be missed.  But some folks insist they give 100% of their attention and still miss very obvious things, and I mean obvious like an actor turning to the camera and saying "I did it.  I did it all.  I'm just lying to everyone now", and somehow not seeing that until the 5th rewatch?  I'm calling BS on you paying 100% attention.  Nothing wrong with that, of course.

 

Agreed. I'll rewatch something if I'm participating in the discussion and perceive that getting a plot point or dialogue right is key to my assertions.  But I generally don't rewatch episodes, either, because I pay attention on first viewing. If I find myself multitasking, I take it as a sign that my interest isn't there, usually stop watching, and rarely go back. 

 

On a related note, If it so happens that I wasn't paying much attention, I usually don't participate in those parts of the discussion.  I really don't understand coming to a discussion board and posting something like, "Can someone recap what happened in the episode?" Um...why don't you just watch it yourself?  

Edited April 10, 2015 by ribboninthesky1

[manbearpig]

I like rewatching, but only for shows I really love. I'd rather watch Buffy for the third time than most of the things I'm watching week to week now, but I also love BtVS so much that I intentionally leave long gaps before I get back to it because I don't ever want to get tired of my favourite show.

[ChromaKelly]

Re: Rewatching

I feel like if I need to rewatch a show several times, listen to a podcast, follow Twitter accounts, and whatever else to catch what is going on in a show, then it's not worth it for me.

[proserpina65]

Re: Rewatching

I feel like if I need to rewatch a show several times, listen to a podcast, follow Twitter accounts, and whatever else to catch what is going on in a show, then it's not worth it for me.

Rewatching for me isn't about catching what's going on in a show - I rarely have a problem doing that on the first viewing.  It's about seeing the little subtle hints which might not have had much significance the first time around, and seeing how a particular narrative was built.  Like I said, some shows do have layers which can change my appreciation of them on subsequent viewings.  Not many, but for me, the ones that do make rewatching worth the effort.  Other shows, rewatching can just be about something that made me really laugh or, in the case of shows like ANTM, something which is just so entertaining in its trainwreckiness.  I've found that there aren't that many new shows around which interest me, so right now I am rewatching some old favorites, but that varies from season to season.

 

Hey, to each, their own.  Neither position is superior to the other.

[ChromaKelly]

Rewatching for me isn't about catching what's going on in a show - I rarely have a problem doing that on the first viewing.  It's about seeing the little subtle hints which might not have had much significance the first time around, and seeing how a particular narrative was built.  Like I said, some shows do have layers which can change my appreciation of them on subsequent viewings.  Not many, but for me, the ones that do make rewatching worth the effort.  Other shows, rewatching can just be about something that made me really laugh or, in the case of shows like ANTM, something which is just so entertaining in its trainwreckiness.  I've found that there aren't that many new shows around which interest me, so right now I am rewatching some old favorites, but that varies from season to season.

 

Hey, to each, their own.  Neither position is superior to the other.

I didn't mean that rewatching is bad. I do rewatch at times. It's the shows where there's some important detail that only if you are super really paying attention, you notice. Or information that was doled out in the podcast (I'm looking at you, The Walking Dead). That gets really annoying.