This has to be the single worst season on tv
- Thread starter startrekwatcher
- Start date
I've found in the past year that there's more going on that interests me than ever. Most of it's on cable, but here's what I enjoy:
FOX - House, Bones, Fringe
CW - Supernatural
NBC - The Office, Grimm
SyFy - Eureka, Being Human, Alphas, Lost Girl
HBO - Game of Thrones
Showtime - True Blood, Dexter
TNT - The Closer
BBC - Doctor Who, Sherlock
Starz - Torchwood
AMC - Mad Men
We kind of gave up on Once Upon a Time, but that was the exception to the rule. Oh, and I didn't much care for what Weeds did in the last 2 seasons.
And there's lots of good stuff on Food Network if you're in to that sort of thing - Next Food Network Star, Iron Chef America, Chopped, Sweet Genius, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, etc.
FOX - House, Bones, Fringe
CW - Supernatural
NBC - The Office, Grimm
SyFy - Eureka, Being Human, Alphas, Lost Girl
HBO - Game of Thrones
Showtime - True Blood, Dexter
TNT - The Closer
BBC - Doctor Who, Sherlock
Starz - Torchwood
AMC - Mad Men
We kind of gave up on Once Upon a Time, but that was the exception to the rule. Oh, and I didn't much care for what Weeds did in the last 2 seasons.
And there's lots of good stuff on Food Network if you're in to that sort of thing - Next Food Network Star, Iron Chef America, Chopped, Sweet Genius, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, etc.
These days, I only watch a handful of shows:
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
True Blood
House (sometimes, and that's almost over anyway)
Community (sporadically)
Parks & Recreation (also sporadically)
I watched Terra Nova and found it to be pretty lousy. How the hell does a show about humanity rebuilding civilization in the time of the dinosaurs wind up being so bland?
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
True Blood
House (sometimes, and that's almost over anyway)
Community (sporadically)
Parks & Recreation (also sporadically)
I watched Terra Nova and found it to be pretty lousy. How the hell does a show about humanity rebuilding civilization in the time of the dinosaurs wind up being so bland?
I simply don't want to commit to following something for several years - plus once you start watch more than one america show, that commitment gets bigger and bigger.
If a show is good, I want as much of it as possible. If it's not worth watching X number of episodes, it's not worth watching one episode. There's no "commitment" needed. If a show starts to go bad, I bail on it and don't look back. As long as I enjoyed what I saw, I'm getting what I want.
I watched two seasons and change of The Vampire Diaries before realizing I was getting bored, and stopped watching. That doesn't mean I regret seeing what I did of it. It was fun while it lasted, but the whole vampire teen angst love triangle thing is really limiting to the show (unless you're in the CW demographic I guess.)
The real driving factor in the quality of a show is, broadcast or cable? If it's the latter, the odds of it being worthwhile are much higher, since they have the luxury of not having to appeal to a mass audience. The other element is the premise. Some shows only have X number of seasons in is premise, others can go on forever.
On cable, showrunners have been getting more pro-active in only doing their shows for the number of seasons they think is right. Breaking Bad is ending, that's a good call, the premise is at the point where they'd have to force the issue to keep it alive.
Kurt Sutter says he has a seven-year plan for Sons of Anarchy. I can't envision how he's going to keep it going that long, but so far, he's pulled it off, so I'll keep watching as long as he keeps up the balancing act.
I watched two seasons and change of The Vampire Diaries before realizing I was getting bored, and stopped watching. That doesn't mean I regret seeing what I did of it. It was fun while it lasted, but the whole vampire teen angst love triangle thing is really limiting to the show (unless you're in the CW demographic I guess.)
The real driving factor in the quality of a show is, broadcast or cable? If it's the latter, the odds of it being worthwhile are much higher, since they have the luxury of not having to appeal to a mass audience. The other element is the premise. Some shows only have X number of seasons in is premise, others can go on forever.
On cable, showrunners have been getting more pro-active in only doing their shows for the number of seasons they think is right. Breaking Bad is ending, that's a good call, the premise is at the point where they'd have to force the issue to keep it alive.
Kurt Sutter says he has a seven-year plan for Sons of Anarchy. I can't envision how he's going to keep it going that long, but so far, he's pulled it off, so I'll keep watching as long as he keeps up the balancing act.
That amazed me, too. It was a throwback to how Star Trek used to be with TNG and VOY - family friendly comfort food. But the audience for that style of show is simply gone, even on broadcast, at least in the numbers that could support a pricey SFX extravaganza.I watched Terra Nova and found it to be pretty lousy. How the hell does a show about humanity rebuilding civilization in the time of the dinosaurs wind up being so bland?
Yeah, season 9 has been deadly ... And while I don't dislike JLC, I despise her character. Bleah.
I am hoping for better next season.
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
The Walking Dead
Boardwalk Empire
Sherlock
Luther
Shadow Line
The Killing
Dexter
I really haven't struggled with finding things to watch in the past 12 months. In fact, I can't remember ever having a raft of quality like that mentioned above.
Mad Men
The Walking Dead
Boardwalk Empire
Sherlock
Luther
Shadow Line
The Killing
Dexter
I really haven't struggled with finding things to watch in the past 12 months. In fact, I can't remember ever having a raft of quality like that mentioned above.
I haven't watched too much TV live this season because I've fallen into the habit of watching my shows on DVD/Blu-ray. But I think this season was fine - certainly far from the worst, and I've been paying attention to TV seasons since 1976. I'd actually put 1981-82 as among the worst because so many shows came and went that year with barely a tick of interest. If it weren't for ongoing shows like MASH and one or two others it would have been a complete washout. Thankfully the next season made up for it as shows like Remington Steele and Knight Rider debuted.
This season there were a number of shows I either followed or heard enough good about that it made the season a good one:
Doctor Who
Game of Thrones
Once Upon a Time
Grimm
NCIS
The new Hawaii 5-0
Archer
Adventure Time
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Nikita
Person of Interest
Downton Abbey
Bones
Plus add on all the comments by others about "insert favorite show" having an excellent season this year.
Overall, it's been a fairly good year - better than some, not as good as some. Certainly nowhere near the worst.
Alex
This season there were a number of shows I either followed or heard enough good about that it made the season a good one:
Doctor Who
Game of Thrones
Once Upon a Time
Grimm
NCIS
The new Hawaii 5-0
Archer
Adventure Time
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Nikita
Person of Interest
Downton Abbey
Bones
Plus add on all the comments by others about "insert favorite show" having an excellent season this year.
Overall, it's been a fairly good year - better than some, not as good as some. Certainly nowhere near the worst.
Alex
don't know... i was pretty disapointed by Doctor Who last year...
i've got nothing against 11th Doctor, i think Smith is doing fantastic in the role... I just got very bored of the River Song storyline very quickly... think she's an annoying irritating character, so basically an entire season focusing on her 'secrets' and 'truth' got too much for me... hopefully now it's over we can actually get back to some interesting storylines soon...
M
i've got nothing against 11th Doctor, i think Smith is doing fantastic in the role... I just got very bored of the River Song storyline very quickly... think she's an annoying irritating character, so basically an entire season focusing on her 'secrets' and 'truth' got too much for me... hopefully now it's over we can actually get back to some interesting storylines soon...
M
It's all a matter of taste. Others - like myself - consider it one of the best seasons in years, and the River Song thing only involved a few episodes - the Doctor's death was the main arc and it was handled well.
But your comments do bring to mind a fatal flaw whenever anyone does a "single worst..." type thread. It's all subjective. Someone who only likes space shows is going to call recent seasons bad because there haven't been that many shows of that nature. Someone who only likes reality shows could well roll their eyes when they see things like NCIS doing well; they'd rather see Survivor: Spokane.
Right now reality shows nominate; 50 years ago if you hated cowboys and horses, you were pretty much screwed because that was almost all that was on US TV at the time (ever wonder why shows like My Living Doll and Bewitched made such a huge impact back in the day? Aside from their own quality, the shows made an impact because they weren't westerns). In the 1970s if you didn't like gritty cop shows featuring middle-aged men driving boat-sized Fords, or videotaped urban-based sitcoms shot on sets that looked like they hadn't been vacuumed in a month (Fred Sanford, I'm looking at you), you likewise didn't have a heck of a lot of choice. Others might wish we could go back to those days.
Alex
^Having said all that, if Zap2It's predictions for NBC's 12-13 season pan out as detailed in the linked article, and if it's indicative of the other networks, come this time next year I might be in full agreement if a similar "worst season ever" thread is launched for next season:
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsideth...es-to-fall-and-community-gets-a-new-home.html
Aside from Grimm, that has got to be one of the dullest skeds I've ever seen... (remember, though, this is just a prediction by one entertainment site (albeit one tied in with the LA Times as opposed to being an amateur fan site) so NBC might do something different when it announces the actual schedule over the weekend.)
Alex
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsideth...es-to-fall-and-community-gets-a-new-home.html
Aside from Grimm, that has got to be one of the dullest skeds I've ever seen... (remember, though, this is just a prediction by one entertainment site (albeit one tied in with the LA Times as opposed to being an amateur fan site) so NBC might do something different when it announces the actual schedule over the weekend.)
Alex
Thanks for saying that, it summed it up pretty much for me.
Your point about the old way of doing it (7-9 cast, etc), true, but that format was getting tirted too. Shows with big casts are trying to do something different, they just haven't figured out what it is yet.
As for current TV, after being burned in trying to watch some long-term arc shows and having them fall apart or peter out, I'm very reluctant to commit to new shows I don't know. I found Game of Thrones tedious for the first 5 eps and gave up (yes, I know, I'll have to try again), and I just can't work it up to even try Touch or Awake. I'm hoping Burn Notice, Dr Who and Leverage don't suck, which they usually don't.
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You and me both.
Go back to peddling yogurt!
One thing that would really help for next year is if they actually got back to the Navy. There have been plenty of episodes (going back to last year too) where the naval connection was rather flimsy.
You want broadcast to get bolder? NBC is talking about an 18th C pirate show for spring. That's the boldest idea I've seen so far, among any of the broadcast pilots with a decent chance of getting picked up.
I'm curious to see how they manage to do a plausible pirate show without calling down the wrath of the FCC. It's not some Johnny Depp type comic fantasy - and any attempt at historical reality will have to be fairly "gritty." Starz is doing a pirate show, too. I am confident they will bring the grit.
The show about intelligent AI at NBC sadly didn't make it very far through the process - I wonder what they did to frak it up?
But as per usual, most of the interesting stuff will be on cable. I hope I'm not jinxing anything by saying this, but Frank Darabont's LA Noir is viewed as a "sure thing" at TNT, as long as he doesn't fall on his face with the pilot (which seems unlikely to say the least.)
American Horror Story is changing their premise entirely to be set in a "horrifying" mental hospital, probably some historical period like the 1950s. They've got an amazing cast - Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, Chloe Sevigny, and James Cromwell.
I'm curious to see how they manage to do a plausible pirate show without calling down the wrath of the FCC. It's not some Johnny Depp type comic fantasy - and any attempt at historical reality will have to be fairly "gritty." Starz is doing a pirate show, too. I am confident they will bring the grit.
The show about intelligent AI at NBC sadly didn't make it very far through the process - I wonder what they did to frak it up?
But as per usual, most of the interesting stuff will be on cable. I hope I'm not jinxing anything by saying this, but Frank Darabont's LA Noir is viewed as a "sure thing" at TNT, as long as he doesn't fall on his face with the pilot (which seems unlikely to say the least.)
American Horror Story is changing their premise entirely to be set in a "horrifying" mental hospital, probably some historical period like the 1950s. They've got an amazing cast - Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, Chloe Sevigny, and James Cromwell.
