Does anyone watch shows out of habit?

[Trek4Ever]

What I mean by this question is that I've noticed that I've watched shows that I didn't like but kept watching for various reasons. Berman's Star Trek shows is one obvious example, the Stargate shows are another. It's always amusing to read the posts by members here bitching about how crappy the shows are but they keep watching it.

Usually, I liked the premise, actor, etc. and hoped it would get better but it never did. Other times I really enjoyed the show at the beginning (like Heroes and 24) but find that the show faltered so badly but kept watching out of inertia or loyalty.

In hindsight I find myself wishing I could get back the time I wasted on those shows I disliked and actually like the fact that now there are these huge midseason breaks because they give me the chance to wean myself off these sucky shows. I did this with Jericho, Nip/Tuck and most recently with Flashforward.

I guess back in the day one could argue that there was nothing else on TV but with all the choices and venues of entertainment why waste time on a program hoping that it will get better?

 

[Rii]

Only until I realise I'm doing so.

 

[Harvey]

It seems like I watch 24 out of habit these days, but it's a series that comes and goes. I rather liked season five, though I hated season four and there. I thought season seven was decent, though I loathed season six. Season eight isn't very good, but what can you do?

 

[Starbreaker]

I'll watch entire seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent for the handful of good episodes.

 

[Caliburn24]

I wouldn't call it habit, since I DVR my shows and watch them whenever. It is more a hope that certain shows rise to the potential they have displayed. SGU for example is pretty bad so far, but it has potential to improve vastly.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Not habit so much as being completist - Heroes, Flash Forward - I just want to see how the story ends. This approach applies only to serialized shows, but that's pretty much all I watch anymore.

It is more a hope that certain shows rise to the potential they have displayed. SGU for example is pretty bad so far, but it has potential to improve vastly.

I do that, too. But I didn't have enough patience/see enough potential in SGU to stick around.

 

[auntiehill]

I wouldn't say I watch them out of habit, but rather because my husband likes them. For instance: Heroes. I think I would have quit watching long ago but hubby is determined to see it through to the bitter end.

I like 24, although it really is more a parody of itself now. However, I am curious to see how they can wrap up this whole over-the-top show without resorting to evil twins or aliens.

I starting watching SG:U out of curiousity. I LOVED SG1--not so much with Atlantis. I'm hoping this will turn out well. I'm a bit iffy on it, but I'm finding it more engaging than Atlantis so far, so I'll stick with it.

I think the only show I ever watched out of habit was Voyager. I watched TNG and DS9 religously, and I loved them both. So, I watch Voyager. The feminist in me was thrilled to have a female captain, so I recorded it and put it on when I came home. It wasn't until I realized that I spent that time vacuuming, doing laundry, or simply just fast-forwarding through, that I only watched it out of habit or a sense of obligation (it was Trek! Surely it would be good). I didn't actually enjoy it at all.

Once I realized it was just a habit, I stopped watching.

 

[Hermiod]

Yep - Smallville, 24 and Heroes.

Smallville has, at least, the fact that very occasionally they have a really good episode that fulfills my inner comics fanboy. Plus it has Allison Mack.

24 is pretty much complete garbage these days but it's nearly finished, apparently, so I may as well see it through to the end.

With Heroes, it's not so bad. The show is just dumb sometimes and the characters are very frustrating. The writers keep crippling their characters' abilities and then they always just shrug their shoulders and say "easy come, easy go". I keep hoping that one day Peter would get his proper ability back and the writers would just admit they were wrong.

 

[Ward Fowler]

At some point I realized that every time I turned on the tv it was out of habit, so I had the cable turned off.

 

[Goji]

No. I don't have a TV so everything I do watch, I watch on DVD or iTunes, so I make an effort to only watch the things that I am actively enjoying.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I watch Heroes and Lost out of habit. I've really grown to dislike both shows but I really have to find out what's going on.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Well I just found out Robert Knepper is joining SGU in S2 for a run of episodes...so I guess I will be having patience for that show after all. In S2, whenever the heck that happens.

 

[sidious618]

Only until I realise I'm doing so.

Same here.

 

[Kirby]

The Office. While it still illicits a few chuckles it's not a great show anymore.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I watched the first series of Enterprise out of habit but i gave up on series two when i realize what i was doing.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Like others I'd say not so much habit because I record the shows, but I will continue to watch shows I've liked in the past in hope that they become good again, or match the potential they seem to have, but even then I will only give them so long.

 

[bigdaddy]

House and Bones.

Neither one is all the great anymore, but I still watching to waste time. However if I'm busy I no longer care if I miss an episode.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Well I claim to be a Voyager hater, but I have seen every episode at least twice.

 

[Trek4Ever]

I watched the first series of Enterprise out of habit but i gave up on series two when i realize what i was doing.

That is the rare show that to me actually improved once the third season (and for some the fourth) came around but alas it was too late.

Funny but it was the second season that I nearly dropped the show, there are even a few episodes that I actually skipped but I'm glad I stuck around.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Voyager, Smallville, Angel, first two seasons of Enterprise...mostly, I bailed mid way through seasons 1 and 2 to watch...Buffy, maybe? Or Angel? I can't remember. Whichever was more watchable.

When I didn't have cable...Everwood...some other stuff I've forgotten.