Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[supposebly]

 

basically anyone Steven Moffatt introduces because they pretty much are the same people (ie: Amy/River Song).

I couldn't agree more. What makes them different is what the respective actors manage to bring to the table. For me, Amy was saved by the chemistry she had with Twelve and River was saved by Alex Kingston. Well, at least before her last two appearances. No one could save that crap.

 

The others never really stood a chance since they weren't on screen enough to make a difference. And Clara is the worst of them all because the actress just sort of runs with it and it's bugging the hell out of me with the feistyness and the one-liners and the smugness....ugh.

[Princess Sparkle]

Annie (Alison Brie) on Community. She's so smug and prissy and not funny to me at all. I also don't get why everyone thinks she's hot. I find the character and actress completely unappealing, and have never heard anything but adoration for her.

Oh lord, let me pull up a seat next to you.  I can't STAND Annie; those little girl mannerisms set my teeth on edge.  

[JocelynCavanaugh]

Oh lord, let me pull up a seat next to you.  I can't STAND Annie; those little girl mannerisms set my teeth on edge.  

 

 It squicks me out that anyone over 18 is attracted to her. Like, what else are you into, Jared Fogle?

[UYI]

I think what makes great shows unimpressive years later is that they were groundbreaking in their time and changed the landscape, and that's what made them exciting. And then everyone else adapted. So years later, the great shows look dated because what was revolutionary at the time has become normal.

 

Which leads me to this UO:

 

I don't give two craps how many people think All in the Family is dated today. As someone who was born WAY after Nixon and Watergate but LOVES politics, that is a FASCINATING time capsule to watch, not to mention, IMO, still one of the best sitcoms of all time. I think I am also drawn to it by the fact that so many sitcoms since it ended seem so...banal by comparison. Not every sitcom needs to be about social issues or have some deeper meaning, but AITF did things and said things most sitcoms would never DARE touch today. For all the ways television has evolved since 1971 (when AITF began), in many ways it's devolved, too.

 

And of course, the acting and writing was almost always top-notch. It's almost like I'm watching a play (the live studio audience and their reactions actually enhances this more for me).

 

And in a related UO:

 

I still love watching NYPD Blue reruns when its on. It's status as a groundbreaking drama in primetime may not mean much nowadays, but I'll still watch it happily. In fact, to make this even more of a UO: I think I actually prefer it to the L&O franchise, whether LA was masquerading as New York on that show or not.

Edited August 20, 2015 by UYI

[truelovekiss]

Not sure if this is a an opinion of one, but I really didn't like Locke from Lost . He was okay in the first few seasons but by season 4 or so I was so sick of the "poor me.. I would believe anything". His past sucked and it he never learned from any of it. I was so happy when Ben killed him.

I totally agree with this! One of the worst Locke moments (to me) was when he became doubting Thomas Locke, and decided he didn't believe in pushing the button anymore. Then Mr. Eko decides he wants to push the button. But Locke decides if he doesn't believe in the button, NO ONE can believe in the button, even though he bitched and whined because Jack didn't believe in everything he did. So he locks Eko out, and then when the hatch is about to blow up, and he says "...I wad wrong."

Head meet desk. Repeatedly.

[proserpina65]

I never understood the hatred for Serena (or Elizabeth Roehm)  on Law and Order. The notorious "Is it because I'm a lesbian?" was kind of random, but it didn't cause me to eyeroll. All those pretty ADA's were essentially interchangeable to me. The only one who stood out was Abbie. Dianne Wiest and Fred Dalton Thompson (or their characters) came in for a lot of flak, too, and I never minded them. 

I found Elizabeth Roehm to be very stiff and robotic in the role, but I wasn't fond of Carey Lowell either, as I thought she was quite limited as an actress.

[Spartan Girl]

I hated Serena simply because her compassion tended to be very misplaced...case in point: she actually felt sorry for the parents that literally pimped their child out to be a sex slave just because they needed money for their sick younger child. It's still a disgusting thing to do.

[Janet Snakehole]

Watching the OC back in the day, I didn't love or really like Marissa Cooper, but instead of seeing her as an annoying poor little rich girl, I saw her as a teenager who was depressed. So I did not hate her as much as a lot of people.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Janet Snakehole

[Chaos Theory]

Let's see my lists consists entirely of hated women but I will keep it to shows currently on the air so I won't include my top pick of Skyler White.

1. Piper Chapman (OITNB)

2. Laurel. (Arrow)

3.. Barbara Keen (Gotham)

Honorable mention to JJ from Criminal Minds because the insane hatred of her only seems to be on this board. Most people I know and other boards I go to either love her or highly tolerate her.

[Bastet]

Going around the dial and discovering a TV movie about Full House brings me to a UO:

 

I have no earthly idea how this show became a hit in the first place or why they're bringing it back; its range stretched from bland to stupid.  Also, while they grew into their looks, the Olsen twins at the time of the show looked like they'd been beat with the ugly stick, so the biggest mystery to me was how Michelle became such a phenomenon. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

Going around the dial and discovering a TV movie about Full House brings me to a UO:

 

I have no earthly idea how this show became a hit in the first place or why they're bringing it back; its range stretched from bland to stupid.  Also, while they grew into their looks, the Olsen twins at the time of the show looked like they'd been beat with the ugly stick, so the biggest mystery to me was how Michelle became such a phenomenon. 

 

We don't need Fuller House. We don't need Girl Meets World. For God's sake, folks, some things are better in the past (not that Full House and Boy Meets World were all that great to begin with), take off the rose-colored glasses and grow the hell up!

[mansonlamps]

Going around the dial and discovering a TV movie about Full House brings me to a UO:

I have no earthly idea how this show became a hit in the first place or why they're bringing it back; its range stretched from bland to stupid. Also, while they grew into their looks, the Olsen twins at the time of the show looked like they'd been beat with the ugly stick, so the biggest mystery to me was how Michelle became such a phenomenon.

I never really watched the show but I've read many times that, for their age, the twins really had some stage presence, acting chops or whatever. What I don't get is how they were cast in the first place since they just weren't very cute little girls. And of the movie is to be believed, they weren't even there to be auditioned, they were asked to based on their alleged adorableness. Never saw it.

[Janet Snakehole]

Going around the dial and discovering a TV movie about Full House brings me to a UO:

I have no earthly idea how this show became a hit in the first place or why they're bringing it back; its range stretched from bland to stupid. Also, while they grew into their looks, the Olsen twins at the time of the show looked like they'd been beat with the ugly stick, so the biggest mystery to me was how Michelle became such a phenomenon.

Michelle was also the brattiest, most selfish, and most obnoxious child I have ever seen on my tv. I even hated her as a kid watching the show. Edited August 23, 2015 by Janet Snakehole

[SmithW6079]

Michelle was so ugly she was cute. At least that's how my mom saw it.

[Sheenieb]

Can we talk about Skyler White, though? I binged watched Breaking Bad on Netflix last year, and considering all the shit she got, I expected her to be this harridan, but I didn't see that at all.  Walt put their family in an impossible, shitty, situation.  What was she supposed to do? Be happy that her husband is a meth cook? Let it slide that he's been lying to them for months? It's not as if she were a Carmela Soprano type.  Someone who enjoyed the perks of her husband's criminal activities.  I don't know what she did specifically to garner all this vitriol.

 

To be honest, I never sympathized with Walt.  Especially since he had an opportunity to go back to Gray Matter and be legitimate.  I could understand feeling as if your soul is dying while working at a job that you're overqualified for and dissatisfied with, but he had another option. Instead, he chose to shame his family by going into the drug business.

Edited August 24, 2015 by Sheenieb

[amensisterfriend]

Speaking of Elisabeth Rohm characters, I found myself loving the widely hated Kate on Angel. She was actually among my favorite characters on that show and one reason why S1 is my favorite season. She just felt like a really believable, touchingly relatable mixture of vulnerability and sharpness to me. 

[Chaos Theory]

Can we talk about Skyler White, though? I binged watched Breaking Bad on Netflix last year, and considering all the shit she got, I expected her to be this harridan, but I didn't see that at all.  Walt put their family in an impossible, shitty, situation.  What was she supposed to do? Be happy that her husband is a meth cook? Let it slide that he's been lying to them for months? It's not as if she were a Carmela Soprano type.  Someone who enjoyed the perks of her husband's criminal activities.  I don't know what she did specifically to garner all this vitriol.

 

 

First off @Sheenueb can we be friends?   I agree that the vitriol  hatred of Skyler was just insane.  As to why it went back to the first episode.   You remember the first episode when a very pregnant Styler gave her put upon husband a half hearted hand job on his birthday.   The haters never forgave her for that like not sexing up your husband is some kind of unforgivable crime.  What Walt did was nothing....Skyler was the real evil.  

[Shannon L.]

 

You remember the first episode when a very pregnant Styler gave her put upon husband a half hearted hand job on his birthday.   The haters never forgave her for that like not sexing up your husband is some kind of unforgivable crime.

Really?  It goes back to that for some people?  We thought it was funny.  Everything you and Sheenieb said is stuff that I said before.  While she wasn't a saint, I felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place and was justified in most everything she did.  I also had kind of a girl-crush on the actress.  She's not the typical stunning Hollywood type, but I thought she was beautiful.

[supposebly]

 

Speaking of Elisabeth Rohm characters, I found myself loving the widely hated Kate on Angel.

While I found her hard to love, I liked how the season followed her trying to deal with the craziness while at the same time being completely ostracized at work.

 

She never really handled it particularly well but she lost her father, her job and at least she didn't just stick her head in the sand. For a show that relies a lot on archetypes even when making fun of them, she was a surprisingly realistic character.

[Daisy]

Hmm

Christopher On GIlmore GIrls: I never minded Luke. cranky, whatever, anti-social Luke, but when Christopher Hayden rode up on his motorcycle, he had me at "Hello." I feel, personally, that he grew up and that he + Lorelai should have been end game. (Lorelai grew up... heh, "grew up" at 16, and Christopher needed a chance to grow up at 33 when Gigi was born - something, in my mind Lorelai stole from him from really not allowing Christopher to be there for Rory as a child.  from all conversations, Christopher was "around" but my personal feeling is that Lorelai never let him be around. I was pissed when Lorelai treated Christopher like poop. (every season), culminating in their divorce.)

 

Martha & Donna: Doctor Who. Martha got flack for "loving" the Doctor - to me, I never really saw the love. I just thought it was a crush on a charming guy (hello. Ten :D ) but I don't think she really acted drippy or lovey, except near the end, and then she was like, you know what? I deserve better than this - bye. so. go Martha (also - the fact that she always had to do her stuff "alone" - and be smart and get herself out of situations, was awesome, and something I feel we haven't seen with a companion since Martha). Donna i also feel doesn't get uber love because she was a bit shouty - but like the doctor - I see right through her shouty gimmick, and see someone who wants to be seen and appreciated. I cried hard when the Doctor erased her memories.

 

Mary: Downton Abbey: I can get why people don't like her - but I love Mary. (but then I love poor, poor Edith too). 

 

Doctor  Bashir: Star Trek Deep Space Nine:  I know there was a point where a lot of people did not like Bashir. I liked him from the get go. 

[Hava]

I've decided that I dislike fandoms (I think that's an unpopular opinion, anyway). I love that people are passionate about TV shows and I love reading and interacting with other TV-obsessed people, but once a fandom develops around a TV show, my love quickly subsides. In my experience, fandoms take shows way too seriously, to the point that they take any attack on a show as a personal attack. I hate being in a forum where my criticisms of a show are quickly excused or downplayed as me being "nitpicky" or a "hater." It's just not fun when you can't love a show but also point out its faults where they exist. 

 

Another UO is w/r/t Fringe. I'm on the fourth season, and I am finding myself disliking the Peter/Olivia relationship more and more. I was rooting for them early on, but once almost everything about the show became about them being DESTINED to be together and Olivia being not whole without Peter, it just became too much. I always when it feels like a show is forcing me to like something or root for something. 

[Julia]

I think fandoms are like the blind men and the elephant. If you come across well-meaning people who love the show and want to talk about it, they're a wonderful thing. If you stumble into the handful of people who really miss terrorizing the cafeteria back in high school (or are still enjoying it now), they're a depressing statement on human existence, the more so because people who don't enjoy that sort of thing tend to leave or stop talking. And nobody seems to agree which group is which...

The thing is, though the interwebs are a big place. When you find those well-meaning people, they're your corner of fandom. For the rest the good lord invented the bozo filter.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Julia

[Enigma X]

I have an equal amount of annoyance for obsessive fandoms and constant (dare I say obsessive) nitpickers. On one hand, fanatics of anything feel as if what they love can do no wrong, and on the other hand, constant nitpickers can beat a dead horse into the ground for so long, that it seems as if they want to ruin the show for everyone else. I avoid both those types in these here forums.

[ganesh]

Unfortunately there seems to be way too much of both this year.

[Shannon L.]

 

I have an equal amount of annoyance for obsessive fandoms and constant (dare I say obsessive) nitpickers. On one hand, fanatics of anything feel as if what they love can do no wrong, and on the other hand, constant nitpickers can beat a dead horse into the ground for so long, that it seems as if they want to ruin the show for everyone else. I avoid both those types in these here forums.

So much this!  I seem to enjoy the shows that have forums that have been taken over by the nit pickers.  I can't read the threads because I'm scared to mention that I like or at the very least am not bothered by certain things that they are hating on. 

Edited August 25, 2015 by Shannon L.

[Chaos Theory]

People don't know how to enjoy....just enjoy television anymore. It has become a lesson on critical thinking and fanaticism. Plenty of times I have gone to a site thinking a show/episode was awesome only to see posts upon posts of people nitpicking tiny details and acting choices. Dude not every show has to be Breaking Bad or (enter your choice for greatest show ever here).

[UYI]

I never really watched the show but I've read many times that, for their age, the twins really had some stage presence, acting chops or whatever. What I don't get is how they were cast in the first place since they just weren't very cute little girls. And of the movie is to be believed, they weren't even there to be auditioned, they were asked to based on their alleged adorableness. Never saw it.

 

I can tell you the EXACT reason they were cast, as MK&A themselves have told the story in interviews: They were literally the only babies at the audition who didn't cry when the producers held them. So in other words, if you wanted cuter babies as Michelle, you would have had to put up with a lot of crying. It's a cruel world, isn't it? ;)

 

If the movie tried to make it look like they didn't auditon, it was dead wrong. They absolutely did; Full House was their first (and only) audition, in fact, and it was friends of their parents, who had kids of their own in the business, who convinced the Olsens to give it a try; the girls have a brother, Trent, who is two years older than they are, and the only acting he ever did was in one or two of their DTV specials. 

Edited August 25, 2015 by UYI

[mansonlamps]

So much this!  I seem to enjoy the shows that have forums that have been taken over by the nit pickers.  I can't read the threads because I'm scared to mention that I like or at the very least aren't bothered by certain things that they are hating on. 

 

OMG, I know.  I think I'm going to have to stop reading the Project Runway forums for this very reason, which is a shame because discussing the fashion show and judging on the forums used to be a huge part of the enjoyment of the show for me.

[BizBuzz]

Hey Ya'll,

 

Let's remember we are to snark about TV Shows, not about (possible) posters.  This discussion about fandoms is leaning dangerously close to snarking on each other, and that isn't cool.  Even though it might be an UO that is shared by many, we have to remember that fellow posters could be a part of the fans you are talking about, and we can't do that.

 

Please drop the fandom conversation and let's get back to UO's about TV!  Thanks a ton!

[GHScorpiosRule]

I don't think that every show that has been broadcast since television first started broadcasting shows needs to have an UNAUTHORIZED movie to "expose" behind the scenes shenanigans, or co-workers who couldn't stand each other.  It seems that Lifetime has decided that every show from the '80s and '90s needs to have one and that it should be aired.

 

No thank you.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Here's a UO:

 

I'm sick of hearing about "actors who actually hate(d) each other in real life!"

 

First off, who cares? Second, I have to feel for actors, because they are under this bizarre, unspoken obligation to be BFFs with whomever they work with. Before you all sarcastically grab your little violins, think about your jobs and your co-workers: do you like all your co-workers? You don't have one or two co-workers who annoy the ever-living crap out of you? Do you hang out with your co-workers, veg out on Netflix shows, go out for drinks, house-sit for them when they're out of town? Or do you try to maintain a civil relationship, but, since you associate them with work, spend your free time with your loved ones and real friends?

 

Actors are no different. Their fellow actors are co-workers, and maybe they like each other, maybe not, but so what? They have a job to do, they do it and that's fine with me. 

 

By the way, my gal Ginger Rogers had this to say about her partnership with Fred Astaire (paraphrasing here):

 

"When you make 10 films together, you obviously become good friends, though he was just as delighted not to see me across the dinner table as I was."

Edited August 25, 2015 by Wiendish Fitch

[CoderLady]

And think about having customers follow you home, go through your trash, peek in your windows, take pictures of you when you go out shopping and behave as though they're entitled to your attention 24/7. Entertaining is probably a lovely job but the people doing it should be allowed to leave work behind, go home and just veg out alone with a supermarket pizza and TV sometimes.

[opus]

Before the hype machine cranks up again in the next couple of weeks, if I never heard the words empire or cookie again, I'd be happy.

[callmebetty]

My UO is as soon as I hear the raving and undying love for any entertainer (even if I really liked them) I immediately get turned off. I don't know why. Some I've never seen their stuff ie. Amy Schumer, Louis C.K., Lena Dunham and others but they all seem to be the second coming and geniuses and everybody loves them blah blah blah. Others I liked until the started getting to much press and found out too much about them, ie Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Tina Fey Amy Poehler, Jennifer Lawrence . I loved both 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation but found myself waning on them when they became in a way too self aware. Maybe I'm just jealous and because I don't have tons of friends and people telling me how great I am all the time but lately even the "humble " ones seem full of themselves. I think I need to just concentrate on the work and not worry about the interviews or books they put out.

[topanga]

 

Michelle was also the brattiest, most selfish, and most obnoxious child I have ever seen on my tv. I even hated her as a kid watching the show.

I do think that when Michelle was older (4 or 5), she was written as bratty and obnoxious. I don't know if that reflected the true personalities of Mary Kate and Ashley, but the writers on the show weren't the greatest. Every character on that show was written as some kind of douchebag, but when Michelle was an infant and young toddler, she didn't have as many lines as the other characters. So the writers hadn't had a chance to corrupt her yet.

[ganesh]

As long as actors can work together onscreen, I don't really care if they don't like each other. However, they should be professional enough for that not ruining the show or the movie. 

 

I'd also like to point out if CoderLady was my coworker, I'd just bring in vanilla ice cream and I'd be golden.

[ABay]

My UO is as soon as I hear the raving and undying love for any entertainer (even if I really liked them) I immediately get turned off.

This part I completely agree with. There have been actors I have absolutely adored but then they start getting noticed by the press, people I know start obsessing on them, and I'm gone. I don't like to share my fantasy boyfriends. Edited August 26, 2015 by ABay

[ChromaKelly]

So much this!  I seem to enjoy the shows that have forums that have been taken over by the nit pickers.  I can't read the threads because I'm scared to mention that I like or at the very least am not bothered by certain things that they are hating on. 

Doesn't it bother you so so much that people are travelling around Westeros too quickly? How did Littlefinger get from the Vale to Winterfell that quickly? Let's discuss it for 8 pages. Or whether or not a woman was too old to have been the wife of a WWII vet? Please, let's go on about it.

 

Edit - Oops sorry, I just saw the request to not post about fandoms. My bad.

Edited August 26, 2015 by ChromaKelly

[ganesh]

In terms of details, there are some that TPTBs on shows should get right on terms of world building, and there's stuff you have to cheat for TV.

Manhattan is a good show, but I'm not expecting highly technical information about nuclear weapons, and they've done a good job with the broad strokes. The show is about secrets and spying, so the technicalities aren't the focus.

There's stuff that just doesn't get thought through, Stargate Universe, and they should be called on it.

I thought Westeros was small, like if California was a country. So fairly easy to travel. Like KL in San Diego and the Starks somewhere north of Sacramento.

Edited August 26, 2015 by ganesh

[Chaos Theory]

I happen to enjoy thrillers so I give borderline ones like Scream, The Whispers, and Wayward Pines a wide birth if they are thrilling and/or entertaining. If minor details don't jive I let them pass. If the characters are dumbasses I let it pass if it makes sense for the story. If the story is entertaining.

[kiddo82]

Here's a UO:

 

I'm sick of hearing about "actors who actually hate(d) each other in real life!"

 

First off, who cares? Second, I have to feel for actors, because they are under this bizarre, unspoken obligation to be BFFs with whomever they work with. Before you all sarcastically grab your little violins, think about your jobs and your co-workers: do you like all your co-workers? You don't have one or two co-workers who annoy the ever-living crap out of you? Do you hang out with your co-workers, veg out on Netflix shows, go out for drinks, house-sit for them when they're out of town? Or do you try to maintain a civil relationship, but, since you associate them with work, spend your free time with your loved ones and real friends?

 

Actors are no different. Their fellow actors are co-workers, and maybe they like each other, maybe not, but so what? They have a job to do, they do it and that's fine with me. 

I watched some silly video last summer (my own fault. Don't know why I even clicked on the link) that stated clearly the other core girls on Pretty Little Liars don't support Lucy Hale because none of them --I kid you not-- tweeted any sort of congratulations when Lucy's country album dropped. Excuse me? Let's for a second say that's true...WHO CARES!? As long as it doesn't effect the show what business is it of the average fan? Now about the tweeting, or lack there of, these women spend what? 10, 12, 14+ hours a day together? So it's not possible that somewhere in those vast acres of time with which you could plant crops that they couldn't have given her an "atta girl" leaving the need to tweet it out redundant? Ooooh, that's right...if it isn't expressed over social media, it isn't expressed.

[CoderLady]

So it's not possible that somewhere in those vast acres of time with which you could plant crops that they couldn't have given her an "atta girl" leaving the need to tweet it out redundant? Ooooh, that's right...if it isn't expressed over social media, it isn't expressed.

 

Good point. Because for 5 seconds in their lives no one had a smartphone pointed at them when Actor A hugged Actor B and said "Congratulations!" that means there's an undying feud going on? Jeez.

[SmithW6079]

I think Ava, Auggie's little girlfriend from "Girl Meets World," is funny, and I liked how she and Topanga were "enemies." General consensus on the "Girl Meets World" forums is that she's hated.

[UYI]

I missed the thread on TWOP.  I have no doubt that Kelly was hated.  I bet there are a lot of fans that realized Brenda wasn't so bad once Kelly became the star rather than the BFF because she morphed into an entirely different character.  The never ending Dylan or Brandon couldn't have endeared her to a number of fans long term.  Triangles are never good for the person in the middle.  The difference for me is that mainstream interest in the show waned by then and Kelly hate never made it to full on media saturation.

 

Honestly, I can't think of another character that has been that publically hated who wasn't supposed to be.  A few actresses, but not characters

 

Just for fun, here's a whole story from 1993 on MTV News about the I Hate Brenda movement. Enjoy.

 

[DangerousMinds]

Nm

Edited August 28, 2015 by DangerousMinds

[Danny Franks]

I watched some silly video last summer (my own fault. Don't know why I even clicked on the link) that stated clearly the other core girls on Pretty Little Liars don't support Lucy Hale because none of them --I kid you not-- tweeted any sort of congratulations when Lucy's country album dropped. Excuse me? Let's for a second say that's true...WHO CARES!? As long as it doesn't effect the show what business is it of the average fan? Now about the tweeting, or lack there of, these women spend what? 10, 12, 14+ hours a day together? So it's not possible that somewhere in those vast acres of time with which you could plant crops that they couldn't have given her an "atta girl" leaving the need to tweet it out redundant? Ooooh, that's right...if it isn't expressed over social media, it isn't expressed.

 

Heh. I remember some of the crazed Stana Katic fans losing their collective shit a few years ago, because Nathan Fillion didn't tweet happy birthday to her. As though that's the only possible avenue he had to communicate with her. This demand that fans have for celebrities to live their lives over social media is one of the least appealing things about twitter as a platform.

 

'Oh my god! He/she isn't following him/her! They must hate each other!'

 

As for nitpicks, I think it's a question of how large a nit it is. Some stuff feels like it's been overlooked because it's a minor, inconsequential bit of convenience. But there are things that shows do, where you feel like it was consciously done to make things easier to write, and to try and deal with a hole in the writing before it comes up. I don't care for that. If you can't make it work without taking shortcuts, then you shouldn't really be doing it.

[ganesh]

I call those 'fair cheats'. You can't have every single detail in a show because you'll never get anywhere with the plot. But a fair cheat can only be fair if the show has a reasonably established universe. On GOT people get places rather quick, but the opening theme shows the land isn't that large of a mass. Does the show have to have a scene with the Chief Map Guy explaining how big it is exactly? No, that's boring and dumb. 

 

Galactica actually did this quite well too. The ships "jump" and they have a "drive" to do it. The show requires FTL travel. Rather than have an entire episode totally about 'zomg we has to fix teh drive because Cylons are coming!!!', they had like 15 seconds in the command room where they showed there was an upper limit on how far you could jump and know where you were actually going. Good enough, let's move on. 

 

Same thing with Farscape. There's a whole bunch of aliens, how are they all speaking English? They were injected with microbes that make them understand language. Ok. 

 

But then there's just lazy writing. Torchwood's last series was notorious for this, and clearly the show concept was not thought out at all. Falling Skies too. Way too much swept under the rug. 

[LeeLeePanda]

Really weird unpopular opinion of mine: It doesn't upset me if a show retcons something that happened in the pilot. I don't consider pilots to be canon. The purpose of a pilot is to get a network to order a show, and so many things can and will change from then and the first episode. I actually like to give leeway for the pilot and first 6 episodes, since everyone is still trying to figure out what works.

Which brings me to another unpopular opinion:'I don't care if tptb don't have everything planned out for a series all at once. Plots that sound amazing on paper may be crap when actually executed. Actors come and go as their fame rises. Producers leave. The only thing that matters to me is that I'm entertained.

[Bastet]

Really weird unpopular opinion of mine: It doesn't upset me if a show retcons something that happened in the pilot. I don't consider pilots to be canon.

 

I'm with you.  I consider them canon, but if anything later contradicts something said/shown in the pilot, I consider the retcon canon and don't have any issue doing so.  A pilot is such a different animal.  By the time those that are picked up get underway, the sets are generally different, hell, it's not unusual for an actor to be different.  So I can go with just about any discrepancy between the pilot and a later episode, especially an episode early in the first season.  Change a character's name or profession, lose a kid/add a kid, adjust characterization, I don't care.

[Sandman87]

I thought Westeros was small, like if California was a country. So fairly easy to travel. Like KL in San Diego and the Starks somewhere north of Sacramento.

According to the author, it's about the size of South America.