Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[ChromaKelly]

I'm growing rather weary of shows that don't advance the timeline. I really don't need three episodes covering the same day, plus a backstory thrown in for good measure. The Walking Dead is extremely guilty of this. I think this current season has timewise been what, two days?

[ganesh]

The movie Family Guy did was actually quite good too. Recently, the Halloween episode was all right. When they actually have a plot, they're watchable.

 

The Walking Dead is extremely guilty of this. I think this current season has timewise been what, two days?

 

I liked the first two episodes giving the full pov on the day from different locations. I mean, the Wolves attack was less time to cook a casserole. But, I think the storyline should have been wrapped up in the first two episodes and then jump ahead. If this season ends with only like a week elapsed, I don't think it's a good idea. 

[Guest]

I'm growing rather weary of shows that don't advance the timeline. I really don't need three episodes covering the same day, plus a backstory thrown in for good measure. The Walking Dead is extremely guilty of this. I think this current season has timewise been what, two days?

 

I blame Lost for this and I quit that show over it.

 

For me its not such a problem getting a full picture of what is happening that day as much as focus and cliffhangers.  Walking Dead is annoying me because they are breaking up they story in a way that they insert a cliffhanger in the middle of exploring various happenings and then narrowing the focus so much that not every viewer can find something they are interested in.  And narrowing focus after a cliffhanger, just not wise. 

Edited November 2, 2015 by ParadoxLost

[Kel Varnsen]

I'm growing rather weary of shows that don't advance the timeline. I really don't need three episodes covering the same day, plus a backstory thrown in for good measure. The Walking Dead is extremely guilty of this. I think this current season has timewise been what, two days?

I'm on the flip side where i hate it when shows feel the need to make sure that one season equals one year. Just seems lazy and annoying to me. When i used to actually watch Grey's Anatomy the fact that it spent like 3 years dealing with the lives of 1st year interns was interesting. If they had done one year of life is one year of show it would have been much worse.

[proserpina65]

Yeah, Jack "let's prosecute all the murderers under any law I can find" McCoy was willing to let that one slide.   Until the cop's widow showed up.    Oh wait, cops are people too.   

 

Why I liked Angie Harmon as DA.   She took no shit and was not a liberal sitting at the prosecutor's table (I'm looking at you Serena).

Heck, I'm a liberal and something of a bleeding heart on social issues, and I ADORED Angie Harmon's character because she was so hardass and so much the opposite of the previous female assistant d.a.s.

[proserpina65]

Family Guy to me seems like a show that does not hold up well on repeated viewings. I stopped watching a few years ago, and even before that I can't think of any of the post cancellation episodes that I wanted to watch more than once. And the chicken thing was painful. I think there was at least one episode where the chicken fight took up close to 1/3 the entire run time of the episode. 

Well there was the episode where Peter & Lois end up in Mel Gibson's hotel suite and find the secret sequel to The Last Temptation of Christ.  I thought that one was absolutely hilarious.  But that's about the only episode in the last few seasons which made me laugh.  (And that one could've been pre-cancellation.  I won't guarantee it wasn't a re-run.)

[yourpointis]

Family Guy to me seems like a show that does not hold up well on repeated viewings. I stopped watching a few years ago, and even before that I can't think of any of the post cancellation episodes that I wanted to watch more than once. And the chicken thing was painful. I think there was at least one episode where the chicken fight took up close to 1/3 the entire run time of the episode. 

 

Let's not forget the tiresome Conway Twitty cutaways.

[Rick Kitchen]

I'm growing rather weary of shows that don't advance the timeline. I really don't need three episodes covering the same day, plus a backstory thrown in for good measure. The Walking Dead is extremely guilty of this. I think this current season has timewise been what, two days?

 

The next two weeks of "Days of Our Lives" are expected to cover one night.

[andromeda331]

I wish some the writers/producers would know when to wrap some storylines and move on. Come

up with a new storyline.

 

For example on Castle yes finding out who murdered Beckett's mom was a big part of their story, except

they dragged it out for so long viewers lost interested and stop caring. They finally wrapped it up, but

where are we now? Yep back dealing with Beckett's mom's murderer.

 

NCIS the way they dragged out the Israeli storyline for years and the whole Tony and Ziva thing, I

honestly don't care if they were meant to be together or not, or even Ziva left so it ruined it, they had

what seven or eight years to do something and they didn't. After that many years a couple should

either be together or have decided not to and moved.    

 

Once Upon a Time has lost a lot of characters as they focused on a few

which caused actors to seek work elsewhere. Okay then wrap up their stories. A line

here or there to wrap up where the characters went. They could have even use at

the end of season three, the party at the end to wrap up several of them.

[ganesh]

The Mentalist made a huge narrative error imo by not wrapping up the Red John storyline in S3 when Jane just shot the guy in the mall. The show was popular because the two leads were really good. The show wasn't popular because of RJ. They could have reinvented/soft reboot the show post RJ with a copy cat or a cult, just to keep the theme going, or something else. By the time they resolved it, it was terrible. 

Dragging storylines out also kind of insults the characters too in a way. 

[Guest]

With the whole RJ thing, the showrunners should have paid attention when they were getting lauded in the media for being brave enough to kill off Red John in the middle of the series and changed direction and gone with it.  I think proving themselves no different than any other show of its type did more damage than the actual storytelling.  I know I did a 'what's the point this is going to go on forever and not make any sense and every character will be despicable by the end' and quit watching a few episodes after the end of S3.

[ganesh]

I don't think the characters grew to be unlikeable, but I think the decision not to kill RJ off was just flat out cowardly. I also got put in time out at the other place mainly because my opinion was in the minority, though 100% correct, at how RJ got wrapped up. 

[merylinkid]

It's not only that some storylines go on waaaaaaay too long, it's that they have to make the Big Bad the Biggest Baddest Head of some vast but yet completely secret conspiracy.   RJ being the perfect example.   The guy had more acolytes just blindly doing his will than you could shake a white cane at.   Same with the Mombatross on Castle.   It became this huge conspiracy that I am not even sure what it was about.   Honestly if half this shit went on in real life, there would be major task forces devoted solely to find the Big Bad.   Not a team that looks into the cases when something happens and they follow leads for a day or two until another case comes along.

[Shannon L.]

Project Runway UO:  I hated Edmund's white and black flowing dress.  I thought it looked sloppy and bulky.  I also don't hate Ashley's color choices. I'm not big on pastels for myself--they look awful on me--but I do think they're pretty and, since I love jewel tones, I wasn't bothered by the color purple she chose--I just think the amount of it and the fact that it was all lace was a bit much.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Shannon L.

[braziliangirl]

The 4400: I hate Tom Baldwin.

Grey's Anatomy: (please don't hurt me) I wouldn't mind (if it was done in a slow paced way) if Meredith and Alex got together.

[Demented Daisy]

I don't find Jimmy Kimmel's "prank" videos funny, especially the ones with kids.

 

How a parent can see their kids so miserable, crying their eyes out -- and laugh! -- is beyond me.

[annzeepark914]

I don't find Jimmy Kimmel's "prank" videos funny, especially the ones with kids.

 

How a parent can see their kids so miserable, crying their eyes out -- and laugh! -- is beyond me.

That's why I've never watched America's Funniest Videos or whatever that show is called after viewing it once.  A child was hit by a shovelful of snow and fell backward. That's funny?  The audience thought so as did the host.  And the word, "prank", IMO, allows people to get away with cruelty at the expense of others.

[Julia]

I think this is a good take on that.

[cleo]

I feel like we should have an 'I seriously dislike...' thread or 'I just quit watching x because of y' thread.

 

I watched Empire last season and enjoyed it, but it's become pretty unwatchable and awful to me, the primary reason being Lucious really using and abusing his sons. Andre crawling to his father for acceptance and his father watching him twist and sticking the knife in repeatedly before allowing him something, the stuff with Jamal last season, and now really going after Hakeem after the kid was beaten. It just seems abusive and ugly to me. And the show doesn't really show Lucious's treatment of them as problematic, it's just like- well that's dad!

 

Also- three quarters of the music is barely a person singing, it's mainly the electronic overlay/distortion. I can only guess half the actors can't really sing or rap at all. I've only gotten in to hip hop and rap in the last couple years and have slowly been listening both to classic artists and newer ones, reading up on what was critically acclaimed and why, and even to me as a novice listener, the music is not good. It's barely music. (Not referring to the actual artists they have guest star at times).

 

Anyway I'm out. 

[topanga]

 

I watched Empire last season and enjoyed it, but it's become pretty unwatchable and awful to me

Yes, I watched it last year because it had a novel premise, had good music, and Look! People of Color on TV!  But I never found the show particularly well-written. 

This year, it's even more over-the-top and ridiculous, and even my admiration of TPH's portrayal of Cookie can't keep me interested. I only watched the season premier. I feel like a traitor, though, because there aren't enough shows on TV with diverse casts, and I could be contributing to the demise of one. 

[Julia]

Yes, I watched it last year because it had a novel premise, had good music, and Look! People of Color on TV!  But I never found the show particularly well-written. 

This year, it's even more over-the-top and ridiculous, and even my admiration of TPH's portrayal of Cookie can't keep me interested. I only watched the season premier. I feel like a traitor, though, because there aren't enough shows on TV with diverse casts, and I could be contributing to the demise of one. 

 

I think probably not. It's one of the most popular scripted shows on TV, on a network that has far less reach than the others.

 

JMO the best argument for Empire (and Scandal) is that if popular TV is going to be histrionic and florid and full of awful people, there should be histrionic, florid shows full of awful people made by POC / featuring POC. And I think there's definitely a case that people watching Empire and Scandal is a step forward from people watching Gossip Girls or whatever other crappy soap operas people apparently watch. But if your thing is chamber opera or documentaries about albino shrews in the Amazon, I don't see why you have to encourage the cause of crappy soap operas. There are too few hours in the day.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Julia

[Rick Kitchen]

I've lost interest in practically all scripted TV.  I don't know why, but nothing motivates me to turn the channels.

[Rick Kitchen]

I am tired unto death of people complaining that producers of reality shows like Survivor or Amazing Race are fixing things to guarantee that one person or team wins.  It isn't happening, people.

[Guest]

I am tired unto death of people complaining that producers of reality shows like Survivor or Amazing Race are fixing things to guarantee that one person or team wins.  It isn't happening, people.

 

Amazing Race is indiscriminate in its fixing.  They only make sure that there are legs where though flights or time slots placed closely together that no team can get so far ahead that they ruin the show.  I think all that is predetermined but I could see some people thinking that is sometimes convenient in timing for some teams.

 

The only complaining about rigging Survivor I ever did was is when they had to invent a bunch of new types of competitions one season because the tribes were clearly on the verge of dying through ineptitude. Again didn't favor a winner, just stopped death and changed the game forever.

 

Even with skill competition shows like SYTYCD and Top Chef,and Project Runway I don't think they guarantee a winner.  I do think they don't drop the worst person in each round everytime early in the show if that person creates drama.  But I don't think they carry the high drama person all the way to the end.

[topanga]

 

 

But if your thing is chamber opera or documentaries about albino shrews in the Amazon, I don't see why you have to encourage the cause of crappy soap operas. There are too few hours in the day.

 

I more a fan of dramas/dramedies and police procedurals like Forever (RIP), Season 1 of Sleepy Hollow, early seasons of Castle, early seasons of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, and the original Law & Order. I'm not calling any of these shows Shakespeare, but they're more my style of show. 

[ganesh]

Forever was a good show. It should have been on a cable network.

 

I was prepared for my usual UO of "______ isn't nearly as bad as people say, and sometimes a show is just a show," for Fear The Walking Dead. It's not, but I can't say it was that good either. I watched it over 2 days on the plane, and I think that helps. I was unspoiled as to what the show was about except for the timing of the start of the outbreak. But really, meh. 

[Misslindsey]

My UO is that I do not mind reboots or revivals of shows. I am guilty of having watched various reboots. Some I like. Some I do not. Some are purely my fluff television.   I think since there are so many different places to watch programming and original content that I do not mind if they throw in a reboot/revival/limited series of an old show. I am just someone who enjoys both original programming and reboots of certain shows. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Yeah, Jack "let's prosecute all the murderers under any law I can find" McCoy was willing to let that one slide.   Until the cop's widow showed up.    Oh wait, cops are people too.   

 

Why I liked Angie Harmon as DA.   She took no shit and was not a liberal sitting at the prosecutor's table (I'm looking at you Serena).

 

 

Heck, I'm a liberal and something of a bleeding heart on social issues, and I ADORED Angie Harmon's character because she was so hardass and so much the opposite of the previous female assistant d.a.s.

My people!

 

I really liked Abbie Carmichael, and thought both she and Arthur Branch made good contrasts to Jack's tendency towards annoying self-righteousness. Arthur was fractious and Abbie could be bullheaded, but Jack's habit of demanding results and then either getting mad because he didn't get what he wanted or because he did get what he wanted but then got in trouble with a judge over it made me prefer their presence over his sometimes.

[ByTor]

I miss Resurrection...I assume that's unpopular.

[tribeca]

I like Nicki on Blue Bloods

[Misslindsey]

 

I like Nicki on Blue Bloods

I do not mind Nicki. My Blue Bloods UO is that I like Eddie. Though with that show Danny and Grandpa are the ones that I pretty much always hate. The rest, I sometimes like and sometimes get annoyed with depending on the episode. 

Edited November 16, 2015 by Misslindsey

[Rick Kitchen]

 

My Blue Bloods UO is that I like Eddie.

 

Who's Eddie?

[Gudzilla]

Who's Eddie?

He's the dog.... no...sorry that was Frasier.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Am I the only person on the planet who liked Peter Pan Live? Am I the only one who thought Allison Williams did a great job and that the special, dare I say it, made improvements over the old Mary Martin version (an actual American Indian playing Tiger Lily!)? On the flip side, I really didn't care for Christopher Walken as Captain Hook. Walken has reached the point in his career that he's more enjoyable as himself than when he's acting. It doesn't help that he's too damn old and barely danced (Cyril Ritchard was no spring chicken, either, but at least he still had some vitality).

[mansonlamps]

Who's Eddie?

Eddie is Jamie's partner.

[lucindabelle]

I am bored by "The Walking Dead."

[selkie]

I am bored by "The Walking Dead."

 

Same here. I've been detaching from the show for a while now and I think that the hour and a half of Morgan learning Zen serenity from Kyle of Tenacious D. is the point where I bail entirely. 

[ganesh]

TWD started out so good this season too. I just don't know what they're thinking. 

[MaryMitch]

Am I the only person on the planet who liked Peter Pan Live? Am I the only one who thought Allison Williams did a great job and that the special, dare I say it, made improvements over the old Mary Martin version (an actual American Indian playing Tiger Lily!)? On the flip side, I really didn't care for Christopher Walken as Captain Hook. Walken has reached the point in his career that he's more enjoyable as himself than when he's acting. It doesn't help that he's too damn old and barely danced (Cyril Ritchard was no spring chicken, either, but at least he still had some vitality).

 

I agree with you - I liked Peter Pan.  Walken wasn't very good in the part, and he should have been; I don't know what happened there!

 

I liked "The Sound of Music" too.  I love live theater!

[ChromaKelly]

Same here. I've been detaching from the show for a while now and I think that the hour and a half of Morgan learning Zen serenity from Kyle of Tenacious D. is the point where I bail entirely. 

OMG yes. If I was watching that ep as a standalone it would have been ok I guess, but not coming after the previous one. Plus I knew Zen Master was going to die. I posted before about time not advancing and after two more weeks, we're still on the same day. This whole season will have been what, two days?

[ganesh]

I think the entire first half of this season is going to be over the same two days or so. I liked the compressed time frame for the first 2 episodes, maybe for three, but after that it just drags. I don't care what show it is. The Zen Master episode should have been a web series. 

[ChromaKelly]

Yeah what's next? Let's see what Father Pee Pants has been doing! Let's have an ep focused on Baby Judith's perspective!

[ganesh]

The forum has little commentary to do with the actual episode, but Father Pee Pants is got to be one of the best nicknames ever. Seriously though, if you're only covering 3 days over 6 hours of show, it's kind of lazy in that you don't have to really invest much in character development. 

[Shannon L.]

Modern Family still produces episodes that make me laugh out loud. 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

I have no major complaints about The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. This may be because Jon Stewart was never the reason I watched The Daily Show in the first place. The writing hasn't suffered without him - I think it's actually been helped because now they can't get lazy and have Jon rely on his running jokes or silly voices. The correspondent pieces were (and still are) my favorite part though (another UO: currently I like Jordan Klepper the most). The guest interviews aren't great but I don't watch talk shows for the guests anyway. In the posts/articles I've seen about the show being RUINED FOREVER, it seems to be the same complaints as when Jon was the host (Only picks on conservatives/isn't harsh enough on conservatives, cares more about getting a laugh than covering the issues/not enough actual jokes, etc.)

[ganesh]

There's going to be a decent percentage of people who are just going to complain that it's Not The Same. The show is fine. I actually think it's a mistake to anchor TDS for more than one/one and a half election cycles anyway. Because politics is dynamic, you want people with fresh takes on it more frequently imo.

 

JS was a slightly below average interviewer at best anyway. 

[Miss Dee]

My UO: I think Season 3 of Sleepy Hollow is, on the whole, as good as or perhaps even slightly better than Season 1. Yes, Season 1 had a gonzo go-for-broke joy that was highly entertaining and I'll always be grateful that it sucked me into the show, but it was like a supernova... it couldn't last. Once they realized they had a hit, they didn't know where to go and it sadly resulted in season 2.

Another UO: Season 1 is not as good as people remember, and Season 2 is not as bad as people say. The contrast in quality between the two, together with what appears to be very real behind-the-scenes shenanigans of essentially replacing the WOC lead with a white actress and white washing other characters to boot, is altering people's memories. There's no doubt Season 2 was not great, but the really bad episodes were a few in the middle. The season started off well and it ended really well.

Season 3 is more measured, more careful. The whole "procedural" aspect is a smokescreen, much as Person of Interest uses it; the show is very serialized in terms of overarching storyline and thematic weight. Things get said in early episodes that only resonate fully in light of later ones. The characters are compelling; Abbie is once again the female lead and Jenny is at her side in every sense of the word. Past history is not forgotten, and Katrina is only mentioned in the ways we hope she would be. They took out Hawley, who was a misstep, and replace him with the very awesome Joe "Wendigo" Corbin. The new show runner says everything in the season is mapped out, and you can believe it when you see the threads run together - but they can change course too; the weight given to Betsy and Zoe at the beginning is not there after eight episodes, once they got fan reaction.

I can rewatch Season 3 in a way that is not possible with Season 2 and more enjoyable than Season 1. I think it's the best season of Sleepy Hollows so far, and I'm sick of the interweb's knee-jerk reaction that it's not like Season 1 so it must suck. It doesn't, if one is willing to watch it with an open mind and not let bitterness or rose-colored glasses get in one's way of judging what is actually on screen.

[ganesh]

Another UO: Season 1 is not as good as people remember, and Season 2 is not as bad as people say.

 

You could say that about a lot of shows. Clearly TPTBs intended from the start to tell the story of the Crane family. People didn't particularly like it because Abby and Crane are just so great together. And to be fair, Abby did take somewhat of a backseat and became one-dimensional. That doesn't mean the show was actually the worst thing ever. I liked the concept of the four horsemen.

I said before, credit TPTBs. They looked at the show they had and kind of soft-rebooted it for S3. I think the show is fun and cruising along. What I like now especially is that when a show takes on the apocalypse, it's always christian based. Now, in S3 they're bringing in other apocalyptic myth. 

The problem with S2 was sustaining Crane Family Drama over such a long season. If this is on FX with 10-13 episode seasons, it's totally different. 

 

People don't really watch a tv show much anymore. They root out spoilers and decide what they like before the show even airs. 

[ByTor]

I like Nicki on Blue Bloods

I always liked her and never thought of her as the brat many do.  In fact, if anything, I think she's a tad more on the too goody-goody to be true side for someone her age.

 

I am bored by "The Walking Dead."

This kind of show is right up my alley in theory, but in reality I couldn't make it past the 3rd episode of the 1st season.

[gator12]

Downton Abbey: do not like Edith and if she don't get a happy ending that would be fine with me. I don't get why she get a lot of excuses for what she has done. Marigold is the worse thing to happen to that character.