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Most Overrated tv shows ever - Television Hate thread

Lost - I was unaware that anyone was actually watching this after season 2, but then come the final season suddenly everyone thinks it's the greatest and smartest show in history.

South Park - I like most adult oriented cartoons I've seen, but South Park is not one of them. I don't know why it's lasted this long. And I'm a Family Guy fan, so it's not like my standards are all that high.

Friends - a run of the mill tired predictable comedy with a bunch of unlikeable actors pretending to be hip in one of the most uncool periods in history.

Two and a Half Men - how is Charlie Sheen employed and paid?! Another predictable comedy that makes no sense, and yet it's apparently the biggest sitcom in the world. Shows like this make me lose all hope for humanity.

Everybody Loves Raymond - the exact same crap every single episode. It wasn't funny, it was just awkward and formulaic. It was a crap show that was in the right place at the right time.

And every single sitcom pre-1990. MASH and Cheers, I'm looking at you.
 
It's not that it seems like a bad show, I just find it's not at all funny, and I personally felt they mixed the drama and comedy elements very awkwardly at times. It's probably a generational thing too. The fact that it's an older show with humour for a different time, and the fact it's a period show probably both contribute to my inability to see its appeal.
 
most have probably been said already:

lost, house, family guy, friends, dr who, 24, the last 10 years of the simpsons, the wire
 
Seinfeld.


The perfect example of a decent TV show getting blown way, way out of proportion to something it never was. It's not even in my top 25, yet TV Guide names it the best show of all time... make me gag!

That show was never Funny, and neither is the Jerry. :thumbdown::ack::barf:

9) KIDS IN THE HALL: The ultimate, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious English major variety show. That's about the only folks who seem to love Kids in the Hall. I saw it as an inferior version of Conan O'Brien-style humor packed with gay white men constantly wearing drag and performing like 40% of their sketches as transvestites. That wasn't my real problem with the show because I am not homophobic, it just wasn't funny.

.CBW

Actually this was A Canadian show produced for HBO & CBC
bur you are right Highly over rated and not Funny.


CSI- Miami: Liked the show when it first came on, but now Horatio has become a wanna-be tough guy cop who bends the rules by threating suspects.
 
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"Overrated" is such a relative term, that the definition ought to be established before the discussion begins
 
"Overrated" is such a relative term, that the definition ought to be established before the discussion begins
For a simple definition, a show acclaimed as unique or best of its kind, when really it is (while perhaps well acted) nothing more than derivative of something prior. Rosanne is a show that I'd call overrated in the shadow of All in the Family. Another would be Sex and the City an incredibly overrated show about 4 narcissistic tarts. Anyone claiming this as something new hasn't seen any daytime soaps or nighttime soaps like Dallas (another overrated show.)
 
"Overrated" is such a relative term, that the definition ought to be established before the discussion begins
Judging by some posts in this thread it means a popular show that the poster either doesn't like or had trouble getting into regardless of the show's actual quality.

I still think that Star Trek is far and away the most overrated show of all time. It's a good show, but not deserving of all this.
 
"Overrated" is such a relative term, that the definition ought to be established before the discussion begins
Judging by some posts in this thread it means a popular show that the poster either doesn't like or had trouble getting into regardless of the show's actual quality.

I still think that Star Trek is far and away the most overrated show of all time. It's a good show, but not deserving of all this.
Yes, I can agree with that. Story wise, the show didn't function very differently from many westerns that were on TV at the time. The Sheriff/Marshal (Kirk) the cranky Doctor, the stalwart but out of place deputy (Spock). The science fiction wasn't all that ground breaking in relation to shows like Outer Limits or Twilight Zone for exploring the unknown. TNG forward were just grander versions of the original.
 
"Overrated" is such a relative term, that the definition ought to be established before the discussion begins
Judging by some posts in this thread it means a popular show that the poster either doesn't like or had trouble getting into regardless of the show's actual quality.

Which is a perfectly valid definition if the detractor doesn't see the quality the fan sees. Hence, the detractor is saying the fan "overrates" the quality of what's being presented. There doesn't have a to be an objective definition because the whole concept is subjective.
 
Which is a perfectly valid definition if the detractor doesn't see the quality the fan sees. Hence, the detractor is saying the fan "overrates" the quality of what's being presented. There doesn't have a to be an objective definition because the whole concept is subjective.
No, that would be a list of shows that are highly rated that the poster doesn't like, being overrated is something different. For an example of an overrated show I'd cite The Wire. It's a brilliant show, it's in my top 5 of TV drama and I would heartily recommend that everyone should watch it, but the amount of praise that it gets makes it seem like David Simon is the second coming of Jesus when he's not. It's just a damn good TV show.

Conversely, I don't like Mad Men. I tried to watch it but it just wasn't a show I could get into. I don't think it's overrated, I can see why many people consider it to be the finest drama on TV and they may well be right, but it just wasn't to my taste.
 
nuBattlestar Galactica.

It puts on this facade of gritty realism, and then cures cancer with baby blood. When ratings drop, nonsensical twists are added (these characters were cylons all along, honest!). The ending (angels? time travel?) was an insult. Hilariously, it was hyped in the UK as not being sci-fi, but a drama that just happened to be set in space.

The acting was okay but I thought all the characters were dull and unlikable.

Worst of all? This overhyped shit ruined, and then killed, my precious Stargate. I really hope the twat that thought fans of the fun, lighthearted Stargate franchise would rather watch nuBSGate got fired.
 
Which is a perfectly valid definition if the detractor doesn't see the quality the fan sees. Hence, the detractor is saying the fan "overrates" the quality of what's being presented. There doesn't have a to be an objective definition because the whole concept is subjective.
No, that would be a list of shows that are highly rated that the poster doesn't like, being overrated is something different. For an example of an overrated show I'd cite The Wire. It's a brilliant show, it's in my top 5 of TV drama and I would heartily recommend that everyone should watch it, but the amount of praise that it gets makes it seem like David Simon is the second coming of Jesus when he's not. It's just a damn good TV show.

Conversely, I don't like Mad Men. I tried to watch it but it just wasn't a show I could get into. I don't think it's overrated, I can see why many people consider it to be the finest drama on TV and they may well be right, but it just wasn't to my taste.

You don't think Mad Men is overrated. I do, by critics and fans alike. It's just a soap opera about an ad exec in the sixties gettin' some on the side. The supposed "quality" is really the technique of making the show progress so slowly and deliberately that you need the patience of Job to sit through a whole episode.

And your definition of "overrated" is just as subjective as others' opinions of what shows are overrated. There is no objective definition.
 
Lost - I was unaware that anyone was actually watching this after season 2, but then come the final season suddenly everyone thinks it's the greatest and smartest show in history.

Actually we all thought that by season 1 not 6 and about 15 million in the U.S alone were watching it regulary after season 2 so I don't know how you were unaware of people viewing it.
 
You don't think Mad Men is overrated. I do, by critics and fans alike. It's just a soap opera about an ad exec in the sixties gettin' some on the side.
I consider that to be a legitimate criticism of the show as being overrated while not necessarily agreeing with it.

The supposed "quality" is really the technique of making the show progress so slowly and deliberately that you need the patience of Job to sit through a whole episode.
This, I don't. I haven't watched enough of Mad Men to make that kind of judgement on it, but I know that The Wire is often criticised for the same thing; slow progress, nothing really happens in a given episode. But that's because The Wire is structured differently from most TV shows, it is supposed to be a visual novel with the episodes representing chapters and not complete stories by themselves. It is rare for there to be a big pay-off or climax at the end of each episode, the climax comes at the end of the season and it sometimes takes up multiple episodes rather than 5-10 minutes at the end of a regular show. It is a perfectly legitimate way of telling a story that I find much more rewarding than more traditional TV. The technique is not to your taste? Fair enough. But that doesn't mean that Mad Men is overrated because of it, it just means that you don't like part of what makes the show so highly rated in the first place.
 
Lost - I was unaware that anyone was actually watching this after season 2, but then come the final season suddenly everyone thinks it's the greatest and smartest show in history.

Actually we all thought that by season 1 not 6 and about 15 million in the U.S alone were watching it regulary after season 2 so I don't know how you were unaware of people viewing it.

Over here in Australia, everybody was watching it for season 1, then every person I know lost interest when it got silly in season 2, and then they started showing it late at night because it wasn't rating well enough. Then it was only near the final that everyone online suddenly appeared to care again.

So from my point of view, it seemed that nobody cared after season 2. Whether or not the US was watching it doesn't really affect how I perceived it here. I only speak of my own experience.
 
The Wire is often criticised for the same thing; slow progress, nothing really happens in a given episode. But that's because The Wire is structured differently from most TV shows, it is supposed to be a visual novel with the episodes representing chapters and not complete stories by themselves. It is rare for there to be a big pay-off or climax at the end of each episode, the climax comes at the end of the season and it sometimes takes up multiple episodes rather than 5-10 minutes at the end of a regular show.

It's true, but somehow, the pacing on The Wire, doesn't feel slow to me. There have been TV shows where I got annoyed waiting for the story arcs to actually pay off, but not that one. Probably comes down to the quality of the writing, I guess.

As for overrated - among sci-fi fans at least I'd list Firefly (yeah, original, I know...), which is a show that I genuinely like, but when I hear people raving about how it's better than TNG or something like that, I don't really recognise the fun and promising but uneven series I actually watched.
 
I've always found "Lost" to be pretty overrated. I've enjoyed certain elements of it (Terry O'Quinn is a good example), but by and large the success of the show has been something of a mystery to me.

I understand why it's popular, but those reasons don't seem to work with me. It's nothing against the people who dig it.

One show I not only don't understand the popularity of but also think it's one of the dumbest (in terms of writing, direction and acting) things I've ever seen is Grey's Anatomy. CSI is another. That may well be the worst written show I've ever seen (the original--I've barely seen the others) and most of the cast is just awful and completely devoid of anything that might make me care about them.

Actually I'm at a loss for most of what's hot on TV these days.
 
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