Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[potatoradio]

At the risk of repeating myself from unpopular opinions...

 

Carol Hathaway on ER. Humorless, judgmental sourpuss (IMHO). I learned to smile politely and inwardly roll my eyes whenever people talked about how strong and fascinating a character she was, as I secretly prayed for a Finch or Weaver centric story line instead of the awful Carol mopes about Doug and then is awesome story line.

 

Phoebe on Friends. I don't like anyone on this show (or this show), but I literally cannot watch more than a second of this character. No, I don't think she's hilariously quirky and interesting. No, really. I don't. She's annoying as all f*ck. That is all.

 

Mindy on The Mindy Project. Oh, Mindy. I wanted to like you. You are funny and upfront in real life, as far as I know. Why is your character on this show such an irritating ditz who refuses to live in the real world? Unless you're being ironic, maybe? Maybe?

 

Rebooted Jason (mobster-style, now with extra bad hair) on General Hospital. New Coke was a bad idea. So was this reboot.

 

Jamal's music on Empire (yes, I'm stretching the definition of "character," because music is the lifeblood of these characters) - I admit I can have lousy music tastes, but my God, I would rather listen to an extended version of "Drip Drop" or any other cheesy Hakeem creation than have to sit through Jamal's angsty warbling. As the saying goes...I don't know art, but I know what I like (and hate). I like Jamal as a character, but me no likee when he picks up the microphone.

Edited July 23, 2015 by potatoradio

[Janet Snakehole]

I liked Phoebe through about season 5, but after a while she just got mean. I hated when she introduced Monica to the guy she thought was Monica's soulmate, when Monica was freaking married to Chandler. Chandler was supposedly one of her good friends, but she was straight up cruel to him at times. And the way she treated David in Barbados. I did not mind her quirky stuff at first, but when combined with the meanness, she was my least favorite on the show.

[Blergh]

Can I use this forum to mourn the demise of a personality I formerly liked and considered helpful and entertaining but now comes across as completely arrogant and snotty? I refer to Alton Brown .IMO ,he  was fantastic in the early years of "Good Eats" and even was fairly good in "Iron Chef America" but somehow was started to fray by the time "Good Eats" finished and become completely a smug bore by "Next Food Network Star". Now with "Cutthroat Kitchen" , he comes across as downright cruel and unpleasant with virtually no trace of his onetime likability. May I ask what happened to him? I'm not going to speculate on his personal life but was it a case of him at one time being a pleasant, intelligent and clever person who seems to have morphed into someone he'd have wanted to avoid or was he always mean and snotty but disguised it under a civilized veneer? I'd like to think it was the former and if by chance the Good Alton wants to overcome the BA side [and apologize for it and own it], I'd be willing to welcome him back but for now I have to say I miss him and have to say goodbye.

 

reason for edit- clarification

Edited July 23, 2015 by Blergh

[Julia]

Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that not-horrible Alton was a character producer Alton invented for his show, and douchebro aging hipster Alton is closer to the actual man. 

[FilmTVGeek80]

 

It's not Katie Cassidy's fault that the writers force her onto the fans as much.

 

I don't even really see how she's being forced on the fans. Not anymore than Felicity is shoved down their throats.

 

 

It IS kind of her fault though that she can't act (as much as it's anyone's fault for going into the profession of acting, not being any good at it, but being cast anyway).

 

That's not really her fault. Acting, and liking actors, is a subjective thing. I quite frankly don't think she's particularly terrible at acting or at doing stunts.

[FilmTVGeek80]

 

Me neither. I think she is doing fine. She won't win any Awards anytime soon, but she has never taken me out of a storyline and I don't think she's worse than most of the other young leads on that show. Haynes is also not the greatest actor in the world, yet Cassidy only gets the intense hatred and from what I've read online, the response to her character is quite nasty. It's unwarranted.

 

Yeah, I don't think anyone on the show is really that incredible or award worthy, including Caity Lotz/Sarah and EBR/Felicity. I will say for Colton Haynes is that IMO he is actually far better on Arrow than he was on Teen Wolf. I used to think he was horrifically bad on TW, but he's never made me cringe on Arrow.

[potatoradio]

I read a fair amount of intense dislike for Mary on Downton Abbey, but I actually like her. I can see why she'd get a lot of grief for being a cold fish or an entitled jerk, but somehow, she just comes off as reserved and measured to me, not evil or blank. And she's had some very dark, acerbic lines that I found amusing...as in, "oh no she didn't!".  I don't know if the writers want me rooting for her, but I find myself doing so.

[kiddo82]

I'm no stranger to binge watching and I'm all for the convenience of streaming but there is definitely a simple pleasure that goes along with watching a show live. The anticipation that "Today is 'Buffy Day'" or "Today is '24 Day'" or if we're talking Must See TV in its heyday "Today is Thursday!*" can't be replicated when I know I can watch the next episode at my leisure.

*I mean, between syndication on the WB and the new episode on NBC I could see three episodes of Friends in one day. THREE! Life couldn't get much better.

Edited July 24, 2015 by kiddo82

[memememe76]

I have enjoyed Wayward Pines quite a bit and hope it comes back next season.

[Misslindsey]

Didn't Alton Brown write some sort of Fanifesto? I do not remember what was on it or if it was actually a joke, but I thought it was a bit overboard writing it down and sharing with his fans. I met Alton Brown ( and Michael Ruhlman) at Michael Symon's Lola probably midway during his "Good Eats" run. He was nice then, but I think he comes off as smug hipster now and cannot stand him. My sister-in-law was on "Cutthroat Kitchen" but never really commented on Alton Brown when she tells about it.

 

 

[Misslindsey]

I am indifferent on Laurel on Arrow, but I always thought they should make her more bitchy or a villain, because I thought that Katie Cassidy plays bitchy better than good girl.

[Julia]

Michaels Symon and Ruhlman I would love to meet. I'm having my little family take my brother-in-law to Roast while they're in Detroit next month. And yeah, Alton Brown is a little controlling with his trufans.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Julia

[ABay]

I posted it somewhere around here but here's my take on Alton Brown. I really enjoyed Good Eats and Alton seemed like a smart and funny guy. I also thought Giada deLaurentiis, for all her over-enunciated Italian, seemed decent enough and showed how to make dishes I could actually make myself. I didn't mind Ann Burrell. I loathed Bobby Flay. Just loathed. And then I watched Next Food Network Star and Worst Cook. Now I love Bobby Flay and dislike the others. Alton, especially, comes across as a total asshole almost all of the time.

 

ETA: Michael Symon seems like he'd be a hoot and a half to hang out with.

Edited July 24, 2015 by ABay

[Rick Kitchen]

 

Phoebe on Friends. I don't like anyone on this show (or this show), but I literally cannot watch more than a second of this character. No, I don't think she's hilariously quirky and interesting. No, really. I don't. She's annoying as all f*ck. That is all.

 

And yet she was 1000 times more likeable than Ursula.

[Kromm]

And yet she was 1000 times more likeable than Ursula.

Well to be fair, nobody was supposed to LIKE Ursula.

 

Then again I'm not sure audiences were really supposed to like Phoebe either.  We were supposed to like Joey, because he was stupid. Chandler, because he was a proto-hipster and the writers thought that's what their audience was like at the time. Monica, because despite being type-A she was hapless. Rachel, because she was supposedly the answer to the question "what if the head cheerleader wasn't a total bitch"? (not that I even recall if Flashback Rachel was a cheerleader, but you know what I mean...) And I suppose on SOME level we were supposed to like Ross, even though he was kind of a jerk, for a similar reason to Monica--he was so hapless a person we were supposed to find that lovable.  But Phoebe?  I don't think there was ever a hook inserted to like her. She's weird? Was that supposed to be the likability hook?  I doubt it.  She's cutting and sarcastic?  Well it worked for Chandler, but he was also supposed to be a nice guy at the same time.  I dunno.

[mansonlamps]

JJ on Criminal Minds and Piper on Orange is the New Black. I have zero problem with either of them.

[DearEvette]

I never hated Laurel on Arrow.  I always felt sorry for the actress especially in season one.  In genre shows a female character is only instantly accepted if she is one of two things: bad-ass or cool.  Laurel was neither.  She was the pre-ordained love interest, saddled with the dual thankless roles of being a laughably bad, overly earnest lawyer (seriously go back and watch some of the law stuff they had on the show in S1, really bad, even by tv standards) and sometime damsel.  She was doomed from the start.  If they had given the character a bit more of an edge or made her a little darker while also  throwing obvious  hints re:her transformation to BC earlier, I think her reception might have been a bit different.

[Sweet Tee]

Well, she did have a pretty rough childhood.  I'm not big Phoebe fan either but I'm sure the writers intended for us to like her.

[DittyDotDot]

Yeah, I'd place money that the writers wanted us to like all the friends. It would unfriendly otherwise.

[ChaseMCP]

April from Parks and Recreation. I actually stopped watching the show because I couldn't stand how surly she was. I could only listen to her say she hated everything so often before I wanted to smack her.

 

Brennan and Booth from Bones. I stopped watching it years ago, but even early in the show I couldn't stand them. Brennan reached a point when she seemed too stupid to live and Booth was way too full of himself.

 

Then I have a couple that I don't really hate, but I'm not as in love with them as many are so sometimes I find myself disliking them because of it:

- Carol from The Walking Dead. She's actually had the best arc because she's grown so much, but I agree that something had to happen when Rick found out she killed the people at the prison. Neither Rick nor she came out of that plot looking good, but I see Rick get most of the blame from fans who seem to forget she killed two unarmed people. 

- Alex Cabot from Law and Order: SVU. I don't really hate her but I don't like her either. She was just...there. I never understood what made her so special that people demanded she come back. 

 

I'll also add to the Phoebe from Friends comments. Thing is, I've never watched Friends specifically because any time I've decided to watch an episode and saw a scene with her it put me off from watching the rest of the show. I just can't stand obnoxious characters and that always appeared to be her trait. I may try again, but I'll have to swallow through her scenes (and I'm not sure I'll enjoy Joey either - I tend to not like characters who seem too stupid to live). 

[Spartan Girl]

I grew to hate Robin on How I Met Your Mother. She was fine in earlier seasons, but as the show went downhill so did her character (and her love life). I really hated how she tended to get more interested in Barney and Ted only when they didn't seem interested in her anymore.

And I really hated her attitude in the series finale. "Woe is me, I can't be in the gang anymore because I can't stand watching my ex husband (who I dumped for my career) hit on other girls and the guy I "should have" picked (who I also dumped) be happy with his fiancée." Her calling Ted "the guy I should have ended up with" was just such an entitled attitude that I wanted to slap her. I will NEVER forgive the writers for killing off the mother just so they could have a Ted/Robin endgame after all that.

[amensisterfriend]

I actually disliked literally every HIMYM character except maybe Marshall, but I agree that Robin was among the most aggravating. And were the writers contractually obligated to clunkily remind us in every episode that men consider Robin the very most beautiful and awesome woman alive---and that she generally seems to hold that same opinion of herself?! It was so off putting to me and triggered this automatic "enough already, she's really just NOT that great" response. I found them all such insufferable, quasi-cool annoyances, though. It's actually too bad, because based on the episodes I saw of that show the actual plotting and much of the dialogue were pretty good---I just couldn't stand to be in these people's company! 

 

I also disliked every character on Sex and the City, though I can't gauge how widely loved they are. I do know that a few of my friends used to want everyone to take those 'which SaTC character are you?' quizzes and that I was always praying my results would indicate I was "none of the above" :)  

Edited July 26, 2015 by amensisterfriend

[islandgal140]

Yes to the April Ludgate from Parks & Rec hate. She was just a mean, surly, nasty bitch. Andy could've done so much better.

 

Kalinda from The Good Wife. Too ridiculous - so bad ass, solves damn near every case, and irresistible to both men and women. All while wearing pretty much the same leather jacket, boots and hairstyle for her entire run on the show.

 

Moreno from Orange is the New Black. Never cared for her but absolutely grew to despise her after season 3 when she sent her new boyfriend out to re-victimize the poor guy she was stalking that put her ass in jail to begin with. 

 

Huck from Scandal.  I don't give a damn about his manpain and I hate the actor's halted and asthmatic way of delivering his lines.

 

Old school stuff:

 

Urkel's alternate personality Stefan. Just hated. This is to me when the show jumped the shark. 

 

Nana Mary on Roseanne. The too cool for the nursing home and I don't bake cookies routine was eye roll worthy.

[smices]

Scott Foley's character from Scandal. Don't get the hotness. Don't get the appeal.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I disliked Monica the most.  I bet I could find some redeeming quality in all the other Friends, but I always found Monica to be self-centered, petty, and ungenerous.

[andromeda331]

Kalinda from The Good Wife. Too ridiculous - so bad ass, solves damn near every case, and irresistible to both men and women. All while wearing pretty much the same leather jacket, boots and hairstyle for her entire run on the show.

 

I thought I was the only one who didn't like her.

[ganesh]

It's borderline deplorable to me that in 2015 a gf/wife can punch, push, or smack their bf/husband. For one, the husband never says "stop that. grow up. act like an adult. For the other, it gives the impression that women let their emotions get the better of them and can't control themselves. 

[selkie]

I'll join you in the camp that says domestic violence is never funny regardless of the genders of the people involved. Hated the scene in Mad Men when Joan hit her husband with the frying pan.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I'll join you in the camp that says domestic violence is never funny regardless of the genders of the people involved. Hated the scene in Mad Men when Joan hit her husband with the frying pan.

 

It wasn't a frying pan, it was a vase, and considering that Greg had raped Joan early in their relationship and was an overall dick to her, I think she was more than entitled.

 

If I were married to Greg, Don, or Pete, you can bet dollars to donuts I'd give them the frying pan treatment in addition to divorce papers.

[ganesh]

That's my point. As awful as Don and Pete were, they never hit their wives/gfs so they don't deserve to be hit. If you can't stand your spouse, divorce them, which they did. 

[QueerGirrl]

Scott Foley's character from Scandal. Don't get the hotness. Don't get the appeal.

 

He's not Fitz.  Which pretty much makes him perfect!

[Gurkel]

 

UO:  I missed all the behind the scenes showrunner drama on Sleepy Hollow.  I just binged Season Two, which I'd DVR'd but never watched.  I liked it almost as much as Season One.

That's why I've started avoiding the Sleepy Hollow boards. There are already several pages of people talking about how much they're going to hate Season 3--which doesn't premiere till the fall. I have my concerns, given some of the Season 2 changes that didn't work. But I don't want to repeat the same thing every single day. Or read about it all day.  And people on the boards rile each other up so much that everyone is extremely angry all the time. Not my cup of tea.

[Rosiejuliemom]

It's borderline deplorable to me that in 2015 a gf/wife can punch, push, or smack their bf/husband. For one, the husband never says "stop that. grow up. act like an adult. For the other, it gives the impression that women let their emotions get the better of them and can't control themselves. 

 

The double standard when it comes to domestic abuse on TV drives me nuts. Hence why I cannot stand Everybody Loves Raymond. 

[ganesh]

There are already several pages of people talking about how much they're going to hate Season 3--which doesn't premiere till the fall.

 

That's why I stay unspoiled and away from a show's media. I think this is the problem with True Detective. I came in cold to S2 and I'll come in cold to S3 SH and judge for myself, by you know, actually watching the show.

 

S2 SH had some problems, but wasn't nearly as awful as people made it out to be. Similarly TD. It shouldn't be compared to S1 because it's a distinct entity. It's a little messy but S1 was too if you look at the entire thing. 

 

This trend of trashing a show and making judgments about what TPTBs say is way way out of hand. 

[Spartan Girl]

A monkey flinging poop would still be better than Fitz.

[ChromaKelly]

The showrunner stuff with Game of Thrones is out of control and it makes talking about the show not much fun on some boards. The hate is oppressive. You would think D&D are the worst people on the planet. Yes, I enjoyed the books. Yes, I find some of the characters not the way I imagined them and I do wonder about some of the choices, but FFS, it's a TV show.

[HalcyonDays]

I also disliked every character on Sex and the City, though I can't gauge how widely loved they are. I do know that a few of my friends used to want everyone to take those 'which SaTC character are you?'

 

I had little/no problem with Miranda and definitely not with Samantha. It was Carrie and Charlotte that bothered me. They were all self-absorbed but the latter two were the worst. Carrie, freaking out like a twit over a squirrel, or spending $50,000 on shoes, then getting upset when she needed money to buy her flat and Charlotte refused to give her the money. Entitled much? Or Charlotte, with the constant baby whining and wanting the "perfect house and perfect boyfriend" and her giving up a good career as a art curator (or whatever it was) for what....literally nothing. Made my blood boil. Loved the show though, but the later seasons started to really showcase how entitled, self-absorbed and out of touch these people were.

[ganesh]

I tried to participate in the discussion of GOT, but there were 4 discussion threads and I got snipped at for posting in two of them and I was only supposed to pick one. I'm out. I'll just watch the show myself and post something on FB with my friends. 

 

I like talking about tv shows. I'm as critical as anyone. *shakes fist at Falling Skies*  It seems like it's really hard to do that than it used to be. 

[Julia]

I'll join you in the camp that says domestic violence is never funny regardless of the genders of the people involved. Hated the scene in Mad Men when Joan hit her husband with the frying pan.

It wasn't a frying pan, it was a vase, and considering that Greg had raped Joan early in their relationship and was an overall dick to her, I think she was more than entitled.

 

If I were married to Greg, Don, or Pete, you can bet dollars to donuts I'd give them the frying pan treatment in addition to divorce papers.

That's my point. As awful as Don and Pete were, they never hit their wives/gfs so they don't deserve to be hit. If you can't stand your spouse, divorce them, which they did.

I'm not sure what epidemic of unprovoked girl-on-man violence you're responding to, or who is excusing it, but a violent rapist is not the best example of someone who never committed physical assault. Particularly a rapist who violently raped his wife in a drama set at a time when New York didn't recognize the concept of marital rape, which it didn't until I was in my twenties.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Julia

[Wiendish Fitch]

I'm not sure what epidemic of unprovoked girl-on-man violence you're responding to, or who is excusing it, but a violent rapist is not the best example of someone who never committed physical assault. Particularly a rapist who violently raped his wife in a drama set at a time when New York didn't recognize the concept of marital rape, which it didn't until I was in my twenties.

 

Exactly. Greg is so despicable, I wouldn't care if he got tied to a rock, covered in gravy, and left to be devoured by fire ants and buzzards.

 

Joan was the victim of Greg's violence, not the other way around.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[ganesh]

I'm not sure what epidemic of unprovoked girl-on-man violence you're responding to, or who is excusing it, but a violent rapist is not the best example of someone who never committed physical assault. Particularly a rapist who violently raped his wife in a drama set at a time when New York didn't recognize the concept of marital rape, which it didn't until I was in my twenties.

 

If you look at my quote, I specifically omitted Greg because I don't recall Don or Pete raping any one, and obviously Greg did. Lumping Don, Pete, Greg together is inaccurate because two of them did not rape their spouses, that I recall.

 

I guess I should restate myself since it looks like my comment wasn't carefully read.

 

My original point was that tv shouldn't show women hitting their partners just because their mad at them, justifiably or not. Then someone made a comment about Joan, then I said:

 

 

That's my point. As awful as Don and Pete were, they never hit their wives/gfs so they don't deserve to be hit. If you can't stand your spouse, divorce them, which they did.

 

 

Assuming Don and Pete didn't rape anyone on the show, and I just don't remember if they did. My point was that even if you're a terrible spouse and person, and they certainly were, their wives shouldn't be justified in hitting them, and they didn't, they just divorced them, which is the adult thing to do.

 

I didn't bring up the Mad Men example. I was initially referring to Halt and Catch Fire where the wife got ticked off at her husband and started hitting him, and he didn't say anything. That's stupid. He wasn't physically or verbally abusive. They were having an argument. 

 

Let me be clear one last time, the epidemic of unprovoked girl on man violence I'm responding to is the 1000+ scenes over the last 4 decades where a gf/wife pushes or smacks her male partner and they don't call them on it and tell them to stop. I thought of it when I was watching a similar scene on Halt and Catch Fire. Because it's not acceptable and it's a stupid tv trope. I'm sure a cursory google search will yield copious results in the history of modern television. 

 

None of my discussion included a violent rapist. None of my discussion insinuated or hinted that the spouse should retaliate. 

 

I don't appreciate the tone and find it somewhat insulting and condescending that my comments weren't read before issuing a scathing response to something I didn't even say.  

Edited July 29, 2015 by ganesh

[selkie]

My issue with Joan hitting Greg had nothing to do with who deserved what but that domestic violence was presented in a way that we were supposed to think it was funny.

[andromeda331]

This is probably a strange question, but do women in real life use the word "pee" more

often now? I see it coming up a lot on tv shows and always think that sounds like

something a guy would say but not a woman. Bathroom or restroom yes. Is it very

common?    

Edited July 29, 2015 by andromeda331

[Princess Sparkle]

As in, I'm talking to a friend and say "excuse me, I need to pee"?  At work or in polite company, no, but around friends, I'll totally say "pee." 

 

But you know, I'm a classy dame, so if it's around my best friend, I'll say the Rodney Dangerfield classic "I need to take a leak so bad I can taste it."

[kassygreene]

My mother has started saying it, and she's 81.  It surprises me, but it has been in more common usage lately.

[Bastet]

This is probably a strange question, but do women in real life use the word "pee" more

often now? I see it coming up a lot on tv shows and always think that sounds like

something a guy would say but not a woman. Bathroom or restroom yes. Is it very

common?

 

Do you mean women saying "I have to pee" rather than "I have to use the restroom"?  There's nothing strange about that to me, depending on who she's saying it to; I would think for both men and women, how it was phrased would depend on the company in which it was said.

[CoderLady]

It's probably because now we have ads that start with the voice over line "Pee happens" or others which sell "pee pads." It's getting to not be an embarrassing word anymore.

Edited July 29, 2015 by CoderLady

[andromeda331]

As in, I'm talking to a friend and say "excuse me, I need to pee"?  At work or in polite company, no, but around friends, I'll totally say "pee." Do you mean women saying "I have to pee" rather than "I have to use the restroom"?

 

Both. I've never heard women say among my friends or family, and rarely at places I've

worked, that was usually with the eighteen year olds when they started to work. Otherwise

its always been from guys whether they were friends, family or co-workers. I wondered if it

came up on tv because they were guy writers but then wondered maybe it was more

common for women to say "I have to pee, or excuse me I have to pee, then I have to go

to the bathroom or I have to use the restroom then I thought. I figured this was a good place

to ask.

Edited July 30, 2015 by andromeda331

[ChromaKelly]

Do you mean women saying "I have to pee" rather than "I have to use the restroom"?  There's nothing strange about that to me, depending on who she's saying it to; I would think for both men and women, how it was phrased would depend on the company in which it was said.

Hmmm... it really depends on the company. I do think it's said more on TV to be cute or funny.

[Hava]

I'll start with the biggest one first: Matt Saracen from Friday Night Lights. I literally have not found more than one person who disliked Matt Saracen (and, trust me, I searched!). His accent annoyed me, I was not taken with Gilford's acting, I didn't think he was "OMGZ the sweetest guys ever!!!111!!!!" All in all, I just didn't get the hype. And don't get me started on Matt/Julie. Ugh. Honestly, since his character was such a big part of the show, I can't even say I loved the show like most people did. I really want to know if anyone agrees with me on this one!

 

Mad Men: Rachel and Peggy. Just completely overrated, in my opinion. 

 

Walking Dead: Carol and Glenn.