Party of One: Unpopular TV Opinions

[zxy556575]

I like all judges on competitive reality shows. Seriously! I can't think of anyone who's bothered me, including Colicchio, Bastianich, Tosi, Kors, Nina Garcia, Kelly Osbourne, Nancy Fuller, Kerry Vincent, Tonioli, or anyone on The Voice or American Idol (although I haven't watched that for years). Their purpose is to pass judgment and make little moues of distaste, so I can't fault them for it. I may even like them better when they're snarky!

[Blergh]

OK, here's [what may not be] an UO re the recently announced "Friends" cast reunion. I think I'll find something else to do when it comes on- as  IMO, the show ended about four years too late and I was sick of  how annoying and unappealing every single one of the characters had devolved to.  It had all the appeal of   cereal that had sat in milk that had long since curdled by the time it ended.

[ByTor]

Sopranos UO. It seems that there are two major factions on the finale, the "it goes on and on and on (as Journey says)" camp and the "Tony gets whacked" camp. I say it's neither. My interpretation is that we are circling right back to the beginning...the screen going black was Tony passing out after the return of his panic attacks.

Edited January 14, 2016 by ByTor

[mansonlamps]

I don't see what's so fantabulous about Regina King.  She almost always seems to play the same character.

 

OK, here's [what may not be] an UO re the recently announced "Friends" cast reunion. I think I'll find something else to do when it comes on- as  IMO, the show ended about four years too late and I was sick of  how annoying and unappealing every single one of the characters had devolved to.  It had all the appeal of   cereal that had sat in milk that had long since curdled by the time it ended.

 

 

This times 1000 and this is the first time I'm hearing about the reunion.

[ganesh]

I never really watched Friends. 

[UYI]

I don't see what's so fantabulous about Regina King.  She almost always seems to play the same character.

 

 

This times 1000 and this is the first time I'm hearing about the reunion.

 

There's a tribute next month on NBC for TV director Jim Burrows, and a bunch of the casts from shows he directed are showing up to honor him, including the cast of Friends.

 

So, it's not a reunion JUST for them, but it IS the first time the whole cast will have been together on TV since the finale.

 

Topic?

 

Dharma and Greg is a fun little show. It's on a cable channel called Ovation and I enjoy watching it when it's on. 

[izabella]

Dharma and Greg is a fun little show. It's on a cable channel called Ovation and I enjoy watching it when it's on. 

 

I always liked Dharma and Greg!  I especially thought the actors for the two sets of parents were wonderful, and everyone was having fun with their roles.

[selkie]

I don't see what's so fantabulous about Regina King.  She almost always seems to play the same character.

 

 

I don't mind it if an actor seems to stay in the same character lane for their roles if they're competent to good at it. I'm okay with Merit Weaver essentially is playing Dr. Zoe on The Walking Dead since I liked Nurse Zoe: original recipe.

[ganesh]

I thought King did a decent job on the Leftovers considering she admitted to not knowing what the show was about or what was going on. 

[peachmangosteen]

I like Karen Page from Daredevil. I like her way more than Claire. I may not have liked all of Karen's actions, but understood why she did them.

 

 

Karen did have a mixed-to-negative reception on the thread (I'm not a fan at all), but I still prefer her over Foggy.  Words cannot express how much he annoys me, and is the reason I likely won't be watching season 2 (or if I do, it'll be some time in the distant future). 

 

Regarding Daredevil vs Jessica Jones - my interest in both waned significantly towards the end of their respective seasons.  Daredevil was the well-written of the two, but Jessica Jones had better characters and relationships.  

 

These two posts have me wanting to list my Daredevil UOs because they made me happy that other people actually share some. Everyone I know who watches Daredevil has all the opposite opinions as me and it's so annoying!

 

- I didn't give a shit about Claire. I found her painfully boring. 

- In fact, I found pretty much all the main characters annoying and/or boring and much preferred the secondary and even tertiary characters.

- I hate Foggy. HATE him.

- While I can't say I actually ship them, I'd rather see Karen/Matt than Karen/Foggy or Claire/Matt. Those two ships are awful to me tbh.

[peachmangosteen]

I completely agree with you on both points.

I watched Daredevil pretty late, after I had heard all the acclaim it got, and I wonder if that possibly contributed to my feeling that it wasn't that great. Too high of expectations maybe.

[ribboninthesky1]

To add - I thought a lot of the fight choreography and camera shots were down right cheesy. The scene where he goes to rescue the boy and takes down all those henchmen? I was a mix of bored and amused.

I don't mind it if an actor seems to stay in the same character lane for their roles if they're competent to good at it

 

Yep, I've thought for a long time that most decent actors are typecast, and that's not a bad thing. If you're good at it, works for me.

For me, it was just a less cheesy Arrow with a bigger budget and a more handsome lead.

This makes me chuckle because I've never understood the physical appeal of Stephen Amell. Something is off with his face. Being a literal block of wood doesn't help. It's why I never understood the virulent criticism of Katie Cassidy. They've always been at the same level for me.

I actually don't find Charlie Cox to be conventionally handsome, but I do find him attractive.

Agree with earlier posts on being blah about David Tennant.

Finally, Jessica Jones was the least interesting character on her show. Jury's still out for me if it was the writing or Krysten Ritter. Perhaps it was a combination. But most of the supporting cast was quite stellar, especially Rachael Taylor as Trish and Eka Darville as Malcolm.

[MaryPatShelby]

An awards show UO - I don't care (or even notice, most of the time) if the winner forgets to thank someone who probably should have been thanked. Unless they have prepared a speech and are reading it word for word, they are in a heightened state of excitement while being pressed for time and I would guess it's natural to forget someone. If the forgotten person has their feelings hurt, well, they need more important things to worry about.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

As for Katie Cassidy, I always liked her on Arrow and never got the intense level of hatred she received. Sure, her character is kind of annoying and she's not the greatest actress in the world, but that description fits a lot of the actors in the Arrow-universe. But I guess, the reason for the intense level of hatred is that she is a woman. Female characters always get so much hatred, it's insane.

 

Prefacing this by saying that I have no feelings about Katie Cassidy one way or the other, IMO the phrase 'they hate her because she's a woman' has always struck me as a touch disingenuous, when the people who hate Whatever Character are sometimes shippers who turn their anger on the "interloper" that's interfering with X Whatever Ship.

 

Let's consider Supernatural, where Cassidy appeared before she was on Arrow. Regardless of issues about writing, I feel fairly comfortable saying that the shippers from that particular fandom can be very....intense in their dedication, and thus just as intense in their resentment of any and all "spoilers" who intrude on the pure, sacred love of their chosen pairing. Or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Buffy was excoriated for being "mean" to Spike by not loving the poor beleaguered murderer back. I'm sure there's others, but I slept in and am not fully awake yet so I can't think of them. But let's not forget Criminal Minds, which has nothing to do with shipping but does have to do with ignoring however much merit there may be to complaints about writing and acting. Any griping being classified as "Because she's a woman" makes it an 'ism', so if the complainers are also women, does that make them 'ists'?

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Women can and do perpetuate misogyny.

[ShellSeeker]

I think I'm the only one who still likes Garcia.

 

It was actually Garcia that turned me off of this show. Not the actress, because I did like her, but an idiotic thing her character did that I found totally unbelievable. This was in a pretty early season. She met some guy online, and started talking with him. She brought her personal laptop to work with her, plugged it into the FBI's network, and started talking with him. It turns out that he was the bad guy they were trying to track down, and because she was chatting online with him from behind the FBI firewall, he was able to hack into their files.

 

Anyone as technical as she's supposed to be would NEVER do something that stupid. Plus, I did some contract work at a DoD facility years ago. I was using my work laptop on their network, which wouldn't let me behind the firewall. Then I got a pop-up message from Yahoo Messenger, and in about 10 minutes there was a swarm of security people around my desk, telling me that the use all external chat/IM applications in federal government facilities was banned after 9/11. They stood there and watched me uninstall it, and told me not to re-install it until I was done working at that facility. I was getting ready to quit the show anyway, and that was the final push I needed.

[Miss Dee]

I'm inclined to think the two reasons intersect. I do see a lot of hatred come from shipping, but women characters who "spoil" the OTP seem to get a lot more flack from fans then men characters who do the same.

[festivus]

So I just got Hulu and I'm finally getting to watch The Mindy Project season 4. My unpopular opinion is that I miss Peter. I loved the friendship that he and Mindy had and I thought he was pretty funny.

Edited January 18, 2016 by festivus

[cpcathy]

I really liked Peter too, though most of the show is a mess. I don't have Hulu, so I'll have to suffer without any of it!

[amensisterfriend]

Literally everyone I know in real life and online (naturally, I spend far more time with the latter!) absolutely loves Dana Scully, so I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I think she's kind of flat, bland and forgettable. I can objectively see why people like and admire her, but there's just nothing about the character that grabs me or even makes much of an impression one way or the other. I just don't see her as having much of a clearly defined character or personality. I want to love her, but I just find myself weirdly indifferent. 

[proserpina65]

I hated The X-Files long before the end of its original run (despite enjoying it immensely early on) and have no interest whatsoever in the current new mini-series or whatever you want to call it.

[ganesh]

I've only seen 30 minutes of the new XF. I'm not pleased in the narrative direction, and frankly I find it antiquated. I will say, if you didn't notice their age, (and they've aged well), maybe if you only listened to the audio from some of the original series run, and then threw in just anything from the first half of the first episode, you wouldn't guess that it was 20 years later for the actors. The characterization, inflection, back and forth is seamless. 

[spaceytraci1208]

Found myself watching Entourage this past weekend, and it reminded me that don't mind Turtle. In fact, I like the guy. He's not particularly talented or anything, but he always presented as a nice, regular guy. Out of the foursome, the only one I actually dislike is Vince.

[truthaboutluv]

I saw some images from last night's The Fosters episode on Tumblr and it just reminded me that I have all but stopped watching the show because I really could not stand Callie anymore. Brandon gets a lot of shit but honestly, and I acknowledge this likely super unpopular, I just find Callie to be a whole bunch of drama and just kind of annoying. It's just always something with her. I'm just over the character and over her being adopted by the Fosters and in fact think they should have been nixed the second they brought in the conveniently "never knew existed" biological father. 

[Enigma X]

I like both Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. equally with the U.O. being liking the latter as much as the former. Another UO is I don't get all the Sara Lance love (Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow).

[Misslindsey]

 

Another UO is I don't get all the Sara Lance love (Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow).

I am not a Sara Lance fan either. I liked her version of the Black Canary, but beyond that not so much. 

 

My super UO is that I am not a Felicity on Arrow fan. I liked her initially, but then became less and less enamored with her. I especially do not think everything the character and actress does is awesome. I think the actress is pretty much on par with the rest of the cast on her show, though she probably gets more to work with. I am not a Laurel fan either (unless they decide to make Laurel more bitchy, because Katie Cassidy can do bitchy well), but I do not hate her either. 

[Bastet]

Literally everyone I know in real life and online (naturally, I spend far more time with the latter!) absolutely loves Dana Scully, so I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I think she's kind of flat, bland and forgettable. I can objectively see why people like and admire her, but there's just nothing about the character that grabs me or even makes much of an impression one way or the other. I just don't see her as having much of a clearly defined character or personality. I want to love her, but I just find myself weirdly indifferent.

 

Since Scully is one of my favorite characters (sometimes in spite of how she's written), I'd love for you to come back to the XF forum and expand upon this opinion if you're inclined -- it's so different from when you posted in that forum, I'm really curious what changed your mind about her.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Bastet

[Enigma X]

I don't think that Serena Southerlyn was Law & Order's worst ADA. That distinction goes to Alexandra Borgia.

[Craphole Island]

This is super random and honestly I don't know if it's unpopular, but oh well:

 

In general, I think most of the "hot wife/scrub husband" sitcoms are mostly meh/stupid, but dammit I kind of loved Still Standing. Sure, it was formulaic and predictable, but whatever it made me laugh. I loved when it was on reruns. And quite frankly, I think Jami Gertz is awesome and totally underrated. Would love to see her in more stuff.

[Misslindsey]

I do not mind when period piece television shows are not historically accurate. It used to bother me when I started watching various shows, but somewhere down the line I just let all the inaccuracies go and enjoyed the story and characters.

[ganesh]

Well, it depends on the intent of the show. The Tudors was awful in their inaccuracies for no reason and the show wasn't that good. DaVincis Demons, you can roll with because the show intended to be ridiculously crazy from the start. 

[MaryPatShelby]

This is super random and honestly I don't know if it's unpopular, but oh well:

 

In general, I think most of the "hot wife/scrub husband" sitcoms are mostly meh/stupid, but dammit I kind of loved Still Standing. Sure, it was formulaic and predictable, but whatever it made me laugh. I loved when it was on reruns. And quite frankly, I think Jami Gertz is awesome and totally underrated. Would love to see her in more stuff.

I loved Still Standing too; Jami Gertz nailed it every time.  Yes, it was hot wife/scrub husband, but it was obvious they loved each other, unlike a lot of shows in that genre.

[Rick Kitchen]

I do not mind when period piece television shows are not historically accurate. It used to bother me when I started watching various shows, but somewhere down the line I just let all the inaccuracies go and enjoyed the story and characters.

 

Reign invented a half-brother for the King of France who never really existed, not to mention a cabal of witches that were plotting to overthrow the rightful King  Would that bother you?  ;)

[Misslindsey]

 

Reign invented a half-brother for the King of France who never really existed, not to mention a cabal of witches that were plotting to overthrow the rightful King  Would that bother you?  ;)

Hee! Nope it would not, nor would Reign's costume choices either or even Mary's ladies-in-waiting basically never doing their job and their modern names. I just roll with it. 

 

I do not care if a show takes itself far more seriously than a Reign-like show. I still do not care about it not being historically accurate. I used to, but now, I am just easy that way.

[SmithW6079]

Reign invented a half-brother for the King of France who never really existed, not to mention a cabal of witches that were plotting to overthrow the rightful King Would that bother you? ;)

I didn't even get that far to know that; I quit the show after the pilot because of its inaccuracies. I've never understood why, if writers want to make shit up, they don't just use the literary technique roman à clef instead of bastardizing real history. (The novelist Guy Gavriel Kay uses this technique to perfection.)

Topic? I don't find Samantha Bee funny at all. I never liked her "reports" on "The Daily Show," and I'm already sick of the commercials for her new show.

Edited January 31, 2016 by SmithW6079

[ganesh]

I'm already over the discussion about the Mulder and Scully relationship on the X Files. 

[ABay]

I don't care what Susan Sarandon wore or did not wear at the SAG awards.

[Rick Kitchen]

I don't care what Susan Sarandon wore or did not wear at the SAG awards.

 

Kate Winslet clearly wasn't  :D

[Danny Franks]

I do not mind when period piece television shows are not historically accurate. It used to bother me when I started watching various shows, but somewhere down the line I just let all the inaccuracies go and enjoyed the story and characters.

 

I think it depends on a number of things. If it's based on source material like Austen, Dickens etc, then it should be period accurate. Not being is just doing an injustice to the text. And, if it's something like Sharpe (also based on a series of novels) where a writer-created character is inserted into a period and is doing significant things, it can be fine if everything else around that is relatively accurate. Sharpe did not save Wellington's life in reality, but in the grand scheme of things, writing that into the books and the show did not change the historical narrative in any significant way.

 

If it's just laziness or bad research or disregard for historic facts, then those writers/directors/costume designers/actors need to get new jobs. In my opinion anyway.  I never watched Reign, because it looked atrociously bad, and it sounds like that's what I would have thought of it if I had watched. One thing I'm curious about though, will the series end with Mary's imprisonment and eventual execution? Probably not, I'd guess.

[proserpina65]

Reign invented a half-brother for the King of France who never really existed, not to mention a cabal of witches that were plotting to overthrow the rightful King  Would that bother you?  ;)

Me?  Hell to the yes because I only rarely make exceptions regarding historical inaccuracies, but I get that other people wouldn't care.

Edited February 1, 2016 by proserpina65

[Chaos Theory]

I think Uzo Aduba has become overrated in a lot of ways.  She had become more of the "face" of OITNB and although it is actually nice to have a POC face on a multi-racial show.  She got overshadowed this season by many other characters.  She most certainly deserved accolades in season 1 and her turn in season 2 was fabulous but even if you are just talking POC actresses there are those who are more deserving of awards then her in season 3.  Selenis Leyva & Laverne Cox had breakout performances.    But hey like I said it is nice to have a POC as one of the main faces of the show i just wish it was one of the more deserving ones this season.  

[roseha]

I don't think that Serena Southerlyn was Law & Order's worst ADA. That distinction goes to Alexandra Borgia.

 

I'm sure this is a UO with some people, but for me the absolute worst ADA in terms of personality, unbelievability and bad acting was Abby Carmichael.  No one who insulted her superiors as much as Abby did would last a week in her job.

Edited February 3, 2016 by roseha

[Chaos Theory]

I actually don't think anyone was horrible on L&O. Of course there were better characters then others but L&O is one of the few long running shows without stinker characters.

[meep.meep]

Reign invented a half-brother for the King of France who never really existed, not to mention a cabal of witches that were plotting to overthrow the rightful King  Would that bother you?  ;)

 

It would only bother me if they were trying to convince me that they were going for historical accuracy.  Like Steve Spielberg and Young Indiana Jones - he said that children should watch it and learn history.  Sounds like  Reign set out for bodice ripper terrain from the start (but I've never seen it.)

[Julia]

It would only bother me if they were trying to convince me that they were going for historical accuracy.  Like Steve Spielberg and Young Indiana Jones - he said that children should watch it and learn history.  Sounds like  Reign set out for bodice ripper terrain from the start (but I've never seen it.)

I almost want to defend that? Because I suffered through 12 years of agonizingly dull history classes before I discovered that history was basically stories with really interesting people in them. I think watching things with a historical context made that easier for my kid to grasp.

[meep.meep]

I get that.  But it wasn't history - they made things up.  There was no young Indiana Jones meeting with all these historical figures and changing the course of history.  And the show sucked so it only lasted 1 season.

[Chaos Theory]

I don't necessarily hate teens on non teen shows as long as they act like teenagers and not mini adults. Paige on The Americans is an awesome example of a teenager who acts like a reasonable version of a teenager. I also thought Homelands Dana Brody (at least later versions of her) was a well written teen.

[Melancholy]

Well, I hated Dana Brody (which is a popular opinion). Between the actress and the nature of her angst, I found it profoundly unaffecting and out of place in a espionage thriller like Homeland, even if it was also a character study of Carrie and Brody at the time. However, I do agree with your general point that I don't necessarily hate teens on non-teen shows. I don't watch The Americans. However, I recall everyone hating Meadow and AJ Soprano and I really liked both of them as characters and I downright liked Meadow as a human being. Despite her selfish, pretentious moments, Meadow reminds me of myself and many of my friends and I liked that she figured out how to grow up Casa Soprano and develop some tolerance and a moral compass and work ethic. Also, I thought it was crucial to focus on Tony's kids within the study of Tony as a man- the interlocking worlds between him as the godFATHER of his mafia-family and the FATHER of his blood family- so I never felt it distracted from the point of the show as I did with Homeland. 

 

However as always, I think Mad Men did something just so incredibly right by writing/casting Sally Draper to make it as a legit fan favorite even though she's a child/teen on an emphatically adult show (and you're right that it's typical to hate children/teens on adult shows). Sally often felt more germane to the show's themes and deeper and frankly, wittier and more salty-amusing than the majority of adults on the show.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Melancholy

[Enigma X]

Since this is the topic of a Netflix series and numerous TV specials, I think the Steven Avery case is fair game to be mentioned in this forum.

 

My UO is that I am appalled that what happened to  Teresa Halbach is being marginalized while people are forming an opinion of the verdict and  of law enforcement. To a certain degree I think she has become less of a real person to many and more of an instrument to prove or disprove Avery's innocence or guilt.

 

My UO is not condoning any alleged framing, cover up, crime, sinister deed, or pure incompetence on either side of the fence. Basically, I am not expressing my opinion in anyway on case's outcome. My post is about Teresa.

[Enigma X]

On Homeland, is it an unpopular opinion to dislike Carrie with a passion? I do. I just started binge watching and don't follow the Homeland boards, so I really don't know.