Honestly, I still think of anything from 1977 on as "new" or "modern," as opposed to, say, TOS or The Twilight Zone.
Gotham. I watched most of the first season and after about six episodes even that was a struggle. The first and (so far) only DVD set I ever gave away. Didn't even bother buying the others.
Thought of a few more: Angel. The next logical step after finishing Buffy but it was too adult for my taste. Grace And Frankie. It had some good humour but I only watched it out of boredom to begin with. Jessica Jones. Season 1 was really good. David Tennant was an excellent villain but it’s just not my type of show.
I just finished watching Season 3, and it's a big step up from the previous 2. With the introduction of Proctor John in the back half of the season as the main antagonist, season 4 was shaping up to be pretty good. Then the showrunner left and they brought in Scott Gimple who jettisoned everything and everyone. As for a show in gave up on in the first season, unfortunately I'd have to say Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. I've since gone back and re-watched them on DVD and it noticeably improves, so I'm glad I'm caught up.
Star Trek: DS9 -- thought it was way too soapy. House -- got tired of House and how his character just devolved. CSI -- hated how they treated fans towards the end, so I stopped watching the show. CSI: Miami -- they used too much fast cuts and it ended up making the show unwatchable.
Interesting point about people’s cutoff for ‘new’. Mine would be around 2001, when I was 18. I’d be curious if the age is similar for all of us. CSI I quit after four seasons. I liked the first couple seasons a lot. Then they kind of stopped making interesting crimes and made it all about the cast’s personal lives. Dexter I also quit after four. Season four rubber me the wrong way with the way Dexter came off as incompetent at the end. And I hear the last four seasons are bad anyway.
I wasn’t a fan of the way they handled the breakup. First Cuddy says she doesn’t want him to change then dumps him for not changing. Then Foreman hires him back?! I was off and on viewer for season 8. But I loved the finale. And I think the show stayed fairly strong up to the point of the breakup.
There are interesting ideas in seasons 5-7 of Dexter that just don't come together, especially with the awful season 6 which had one really good concept that had nothing to do with the serial killers he he was going up against. Season 8 was just one stupid thing after another and any good will the show ever built up was gone. There was a scene in season 8 where Dexter was observing the big bad by standing outside a restaurant out in the open for a really long time. And then when the bad guy loses Dexter by slashing his tires, Dexter's shocked that he had been spotted.
I hear Dexter might be making a come back so it might be time so it might be subjected to this question again. I just hope it isn't him killing lumberjacks for a year. Jason
I don't usually give up right at the end of a 1st season, but I can usually tell I'm going to bail very soon into season 2 Among those... Penny Dreadful Peaky Blinders Orange Is The New Black Hell On Wheels Better Call Saul & I haven't been back to see Daredevil's 2nd yet. If Punisher S2 is any indicator of what Netflix's Marvel has going on, I might not bother either. I'm sure there's more
Jessica Jones (I made it to Episode 6 and then said "this is way too slow and repetitive, and just isn't interesting enough to continue with") The only other instances where I've ended up giving up on a series outright - instead of just not watching due to a lack of time or a shift in my attention span - are Fringe (Season 3) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 7), although, in the case of the latter, I ultimately ended up returning to and finishing the season (as well as purchasing it on DVD).
Wife and I thought the first season of The Handmaid's Tale was interesting but couldn't get through S2 at all, gave up 3-4 episodes in. The show wasn't much fun to watch anymore. It became an unpleasant chore to sit through, which was too bad, I felt there was a lot that went right with the first season. Kind of feel the same way about Stranger Things. Season 1 was so much fun, Season 2 seemed like a miserable chore. Didn't finish it. A great achievement, they took a bad show and made it worse. Television history! Breaking Bad is the only show I've seen listed in this thread worthy of a second chance. It doesn't really get going until S2... and S1 is only 5 episodes. I almost didn't make it myself. It's lean television: well crafted and light on nonsense. There are zero useless characters or pointless scenes. You just have to love seeing drugs and violence. The John Lithgow season?? Oh man! Lithgow was the best foil for Dexter! Actually, I'm rather jealous that you did give up Dexter... I wish I had after S4. This show and Heroes I watched to completion, big mistake - I'll never sit through a revival of either show for any reason. Heroes is noteworthy in that nothing satisfying ever takes place in any episode. Fucking irritating, that. Every episode only serves to build up the next episode which then in turn builds up the next one. You'll starve to death watching Heroes. Fucking Tim Kring!! My list of shows given up during/after the 1st season: Masters of Sex Veep Banshee Orphan Black Nick Cage Jessica Jones Weeds Silicon Valley Fuller House The Americans DC's Legends of Tomorrow Daredevil Justified The Deuce Kidding
Just 1 season Dawson's Creek (barely made it through one, even though I usually tend to like teen angst, the characters were way too annoying) Breaking Bad (pretty good acting, overly unappealing characters and uneven pacing/development plus sensationalism) The Walking Dead (too shock value and pretentious) Soon into season 2 Gossip Girl (too much forced conflict)
The X Files. I regret ever watching s10 and 11. Just trash. (minus very little good there was there -- only getting 11 as completion and for what I did like along with the BTS and the gag reel) Otherwise the writing was sub par, especially in the CC written episodes and s11's cinematography was horrible. Way too many fast cuts and too dark at times (as in more so than even in the original series). Just amateurish.
Legends got way better after season 1 when they jettisoned the Hawks. They turned hard into the "It's ridiculous and we know it" curve. Great fun every week.
People who have dropped "Legends of Tomorrow" should give it another chance. It's basically the new "Doctor Who" especially now that "Doctor Who" has become boiler plate Sci-Fi adventure with all the weird and quirky stuff being downplayed for a bigger mass audience. The fact that "Legends" is getting bad ratings should be seen as a good sign. Usually the best and most original stuff always gets bad ratings because people usually want the safe and familiar. Jason