What are some tv shows you want to like but don't?

[Jayson1]

I got three.

One is Park and Recreations. Actually I kind of like it but last year I watched the whole series and I thought it was okay and all but I just don't see the love in it so many others do. I don't see why it's a cult hit except maybe the Ron Swanson character. The best thing about it. Thing is I do like all the actors in it as well. Great cast.

Made into season 2 but Brooklyn 99, much like Parks it's just kind of meh to me. Little lesser actually.

Will and Grace. I've tried watching the show and made it to season 3 and maybe season 4 but the characters are just to mean to each other and not in a fun way like in Seinfeld or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Feel kind of guilty because it was like one of the biggest shows on tv at the time and important because of the gay characters getting represented but I just didn't like the show.


Jason

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The Wire and Mad Men.

I can see why they're good shows, I just can't get into them.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Any Trek except TNG.

I've also really tried to like the Dallas continuation series (the original is my all time favorite show) they did a few years ago but ugh. No. NO. It didn't work for me AT ALL. I'll stick to the original. Same kinda goes for Dynasty, I liked the first season of the reboot and the fresh approaches it took but that was about it for me.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Don't hate me.

Archer.

It's got all the ingredients, I like spy-fi, I like parodies of spy-fi, I like satirical animation, I like many of the people involved. On paper, I should really like it. But I don't. And I've tried. I've really tried, I've watched three seasons of it. I was almost desperate to like it. But in the end, I had to admit to myself, this show and me just didn't click.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I tried watching Firefly but it didn't really work for me. And I suspect that's on purpose; I found myself rooting for the Alliance, and I don't think we're supposed to.

Ditto for nuBSG. I'm not one of these GINO nutbars, but I'm definitely old school when it comes to BSG. MUCH preferred the original over the reboot. My main beef with nuBSG was that these people and their society were too much like us. I mean, this is an alien society, it's not supposed to look so much like ours (esp. on Caprica)...

...and don't even get me started on All Along The Watchtower.

Spoiler

It is originally written 150,000 years ago, in the Colonies. Then, by an absolutely fucking UNBELIEVABLE coincidence, is written again, by Bob Dylan, on Earth? That violates every law of probability I can think of.

It is absolutely, statistically, impossible. I give up!

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Star Trek: TNG. I’ve tried numerous times and watched different episodes throughout the series. I just don’t click with the crew and find the show boring. Although I do like Generations and First Contact.

Game Of Thrones. I love the fantasy aspect but there was too much going on and too many characters. If it had just focused on the Lannisters and Daenerys then I would’ve watched it all.

 

[Kor]

Star Trek: Discovery. I just found
the characters too grouchy and joyless. Though it was better when Pike came in. I haven't tried Season 3, though.

Kor

 

[tomswift2002]

Star Trek Discovery & Star Trek Picard. Enterprise could sort of qualify, but it still has a little bit of that “magic” that TOS, TNG, DS9 & Voyager had, but DIS & PIC, just don’t. And with DIS, I really find Burnham to be a boring and uninteresting lead. And the other characters, they really didn’t develop well. Tasha Yar’s senseless death from Armus still resonates with me to this day, whereas the death of that cyborg woman on Discovery, really didn’t work, since in roughly the same number of episodes, I really didn’t get a reason to care for the character, whereas Yar I did.

Gotham, I’ve got all 5 seasons on Blu-Ray/DVD, and I’ve only made it through the first 3.5 seasons. I may finish it at some point...

 

[Starkers]

I tried watching Firefly but it didn't really work for me. And I suspect that's on purpose; I found myself rooting for the Alliance, and I suspect we're not supposed to.

Ditto for nuBSG. I'm not one of these GINO nutbars, but I'm definitely old school when it comes to BSG. MUCH preferred the original over the reboot. My main beef with nuBSG was that these people and their society were too much like us. I mean, this is an alien society, it's not supposed to look so much like ours (esp. on Caprica)...

...and don't even get me started on All Along The Watchtower.

Spoiler

It gets originally written 150,000 years ago, in the Colonies, and by an absolutely fucking UNBELIEVABLE coincidence, is written again, by Bob Dylan, on Earth? That violates every law of probability I can think of.

I'd kinda agree on both counts, though in fairness both have gown on me and I have watched Firefly through a couple of times, ditto the film which I really enjoy. I think with FF the vehemence of Browncoats saying it was the best show ever was a trifle off putting, certainly back in the day, but I'm more relaxed about such things now.

With nuBSG, it's exceptionally well made, and they do some neat things with space combat, but Christ it's depressing. I know humanity's been wiped out but I found the utter despair really wearing after a while. And the ending was just ridiculous. That a civilisation would wilfully give up every benefit of civilisation for some garden of Eden fantasy just struck me as preposterous.

I'd include the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as well. Not that I hate it, but I stopped watching midway through the second season and haven't really missed it. Such an oddly themed show, I still can't quite tell who it's aimed at, Sabrina is a tad annoying (and somehow doesn't know anything about being a witch despite being literally raised by three wtiches) and the way they take every opportunity to strip a 16 yr old girl down to her undies is a trifle creepy.

 

[Kirby]

Totally agree with Mad Men. I WANT to like it, but I just couldn't get into it at all after several tries.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Vikings. Thought it might fill the GOT-shaped hole between seasons but I much prefer The Last Kingdom.

Breaking Bad. Quite liked the first 2 seasons, which aired on channel 5 here, then it was only available on Netflix. When I eventually returned to it, couldn’t get past a few episodes of S3.

Similarly, everyone raves about Better Call Saul and I like a good legal drama, especially with a roguish hero (Boston Legal especially) but, geez, what, 2 seasons in and he’s not even Saul yet, he’s still Jimmy? Shame, because I like the actor, and I love Michael McKean.

Gotham; I was quite up for an OTT Batman based series, to contrast with the grimmer big screen versions but it just never worked for me. Ditto Agents of Shield - I liked the idea of seeing how ordinary grunts worked behind the scenes in the MCU and I like Coulson but it always felt old-fashioned and cheap to me.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Vikings. Thought it might fill the GOT-shaped hole between seasons but I much prefer The Last Kingdom.

Much prefer The Last Kingdom as well. It just feels more intimate, and they do cover some of the same stories but from a different perspective. But I think I stopped watching Vikings midway through the second season when I realized they were going for more of a fantasy view of the culture.

 

[Kor]

For a History Channel show, Vikings sure does mix up the historical aspects.

Kor

 

[Bornin1980something]

^Vikings, hey? Doesn't sound like my kind of show. I think this is my favorite band of vikings.

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[The Wormhole]

Netflix's Lost in Space. It seems to have all the right ingredients for me, and everyone always praises it and calls it so great, but I found it so boring I gave up after three episodes.

For a History Channel show, Vikings sure does mix up the historical aspects.

Eh, at least it actually is historical. You can't say that about a lot of shows on History Channel.

 

[Starkers]

Vikings. Thought it might fill the GOT-shaped hole between seasons but I much prefer The Last Kingdom.

Breaking Bad. Quite liked the first 2 seasons, which aired on channel 5 here, then it was only available on Netflix. When I eventually returned to it, couldn’t get past a few episodes of S3.

Similarly, everyone raves about Better Call Saul and I like a good legal drama, especially with a roguish hero (Boston Legal especially) but, geez, what, 2 seasons in and he’s not even Saul yet, he’s still Jimmy? Shame, because I like the actor, and I love Michael McKean.

Gotham; I was quite up for an OTT Batman based series, to contrast with the grimmer big screen versions but it just never worked for me. Ditto Agents of Shield - I liked the idea of seeing how ordinary grunts worked behind the scenes in the MCU and I like Coulson but it always felt old-fashioned and cheap to me.

I really liked BB, but I do think it over reached somewhat, by contrast although BCS has been a slow burn, for me it's been worth it. I know what you mean about how long it takes to make him Saul but the wait is worth it and its refreshing to see someone's personality evolve rather than having all their tics and tropes appear magically in a short period of time in a prequel (Indy/Han).

I thought Gotham got better when they moved away from the police procedural element and started to bring in the various villains. It had a great young Bruce, a great Penguin and Riddler and although he was never technically the Joker, I thought it gave us a great Joker as well. It did take a season or so to start getting really good though.

 

[DigificWriter]

Given my nerdery and the fact that I am on the Autism Spectrum, several people that I know intimately have told me that they think I would enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but I have little desire to actually watch the series.

I also wanted to continue enjoying Game of Thrones, but the way the creators ended the series made doing so impossible, and so I now have no interest in ever returning to that property or its setting (which is sad and deeply disappointing).

 

[Orphalesion]

Oh I very much agree that I wanted to continue to enjoy GoT, but Season 4 was the last good one (and even that one wasn't as good as the first three seasons).

Bridgerton isn't quite well written enough for me to like it, the characters behave too modern imo (and no, I'm not talking about casting non-Caucasians, I'm talking about how the characters behave and their modern view on premarital sex).

The current string of British mini-series dealing with the War of the Roses and early Tudor times should have been ideal for me. Unfortunately they were Phillipa Gregory adaptions, and not only can't that woman write (imo), but the adaptions are even worse than the books themselves.

And well, Picard and Season 3 of Disocvery are also shows I wanted to like, and see some good in, but....blergh...why does all modern Science Fiction have to look so boring?

As for Vikings being a "GoT substitute". That's only true if you enjoyed the Night's Watch storyline. My favourite part of the show was always King's Landing (well, again, until the end of Season 4) and Vikings is not a good substitute for that at all. It seems all the shows who try to follow GoT focus on the North and I'm fucking tired of grizzled men stalking around the snow with post-production draining all the colour from the picture.

 

[DigificWriter]

Oh I very much agree that I wanted to continue to enjoy GoT, but Season 4 was the last good one (and even that one wasn't as good as the first three seasons).

I disagree that Seasons 5-7 of GoT weren't good, which is why Season 8's last 4 episodes being such a steaming pile of garbage - especially in their treatment of Dany - felt like such a betrayal and why it was so devastating for me for the series to fall off of a narrative cliff in the way that it did.

Another series where I've been turned off by either poor or baffling decision-making is The CW's Batwoman, although in that case my issues are strictly behind-the-scenes-related in that I don't understand the logic in choosing to write out the series' central character when the first season's story was left unfinished.

 

[Orphalesion]

I disagree that Seasons 5-7 of GoT weren't good, which is why Season 8's last 4 episodes being such a steaming pile of garbage - especially in their treatment of Dany - felt like such a betrayal and why it was so devastating for me for the series to fall off of a narrative cliff in the way that it did.

Nah, sorry. Come Season 5 they left the book plots behind (or changed them beyond recognition), characters got their intelligence decreased so that things could happen to them and the two show runners more and more just wrote what they thought would be "kewl" instead of things that make sense or would grow naturally out of the characters or past events.

I could go into detail on how they messed up the various storylines, but that would derail the thread. So I'll just state the, in my eyes, core problem:

in Seasons 1-4 the plot grew out of the characters and their capabilities.
in Seasons 5-8 the characters and their capabilities were changed and bent out of shape (and again, frequently made much dumber than they used to be) so that they would fit the "plot" D&D had decided on.