Shows you want to like, but don't

What shows have you watched that you really want to like, but, for various reasons, you don't?

For me, Firefly. I saw, and liked, Serenity. I liked most of the characters. The setting, in Broad Strokes, I liked. I've watched the first three episodes, and have no real intention of watching any more. The Space Western setting falls apart when you start thinking about the details, and I absolutely hate River, which, considering that she's somewhat important to the plot of two of the three episodes I've seen, really drags the show down.

So, what things do you guys want to like, but don't?

[offtopic] ^If you liked Serenity, you should give the episode "Ariel" a try.[/offtopic]

As a self-identified geek, I hate to admit that I do not like Chuck. I've seen quite a few episodes (mostly when I'm waiting for another show), but none have ever really struck me as something I would enjoy watching every week. I never feel as if the characters are in any real danger, I don't find the humor to be very humorous, and it's altogether kinda boring, all of which are a bit of a problem for a spy comedy.

edited 4th Jun '10 7:31:17 AM by SaturnCity

Firefly here too.

Also, The Sopranos, but I've only seen it in bits and pieces so.....

Dumbo

I lot of more popular drama shows, like Lost, Heroes, Glee, Gossip Girl, etc. I don't really watch TV anymore, so by the time I hear of it, it's probably already got 3 seasons under its belt. For me the main hang up is I don't want to invest the weeks it would take to catch up on these things. See also: Dr. Who.

Thanks for the all fish!

@colin: Wait, you liked Serenity but you aren't enjoying the show because you don't like River? That seems kinda...wrong, since she was given far more prominence in the movie than in most episodes of the series.

I guess it is.

^Hence why I want to like Firefly. Really, the reason I dislike River in Firefly is because Firefly is a Space Western, with a heavy emphasis on the Western part. Serenity doesn't emphasize the western part near as heavily, thus I don't mind River's involvement.

I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again, but Babylon 5. Too much continuity, too many characters, and if you miss one week you are lost. And I don't like feeling lost. That is not entertaining to me.

mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really.

The Big Bang Theory. It just feels like something I should personally watch and love, but, from what I've seen, I find the humor to be very cheesy.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It almost feels like a sin against Geekery, but I've never been able to get into the show. I've watched a few seasons out of a sense of obligation, and they were pleasant enough, but nothing I felt like getting invested in. I'm really not sure what went wrong.

edited 5th Jun '10 9:50:24 PM by MissHap

Spartacus: Blood and Sand. It comes off as Rome but not as good.

True Blood. Seems hackneyed and minstrel-showish. Doesn't help that a group of my friends are madly devoted to it.

@colin: That whole bank robbery in the movie, where they were certain it wouldn't be crowded because of Sunday worship? That didn't seem Westerny to you?

I wrote about a fish turning into the moon.

^^^Seconded. It's got a lot of references (and "Bazinga!"), but it seems like usually it's the whole "lol nerds are socially inept let's laugh at them" sort of thing. But hey, Moist is in it!

Hmm...I'd have to say The Office. I'd love to like it like most people, but dry comedy like that kinda turns me off. I much prefer Thirty Rock.

I will say True Blood. I watched the pilot but because {[Twilight}} has ruined the Vampire genre for me I just can't watch anything with Vampires in without bursting into Laughter.

With the exception of some of Anne Rice's books mind.

"Assimilate This!"

Really? Anne Rice's vampires are the ones you can take seriously after Twilight?

I wanted to like....no, love, Stargate Universe. I thought Stargate SG 1 was such pure, simple brilliance that I was ready to give anything with the 'Gate tag a chance.

First, Atlantis disppointed the crap out of me (and that was another show I wanted to like). It seemed as if they took all the rejected scripts for SG-1, and added a bunch of actors that were okay but nowhere near as good as the original gang (I mean the Replacement Scrappy actors from SG-1 were more fun to watch than Atlantis's main stars). It was nothing more than an attempt to milk the franchise.

When they cancelled Atlantis and started working on Universe, I thought 'well, okay. They've learned from their mistakes, and now they're ready to actually get back to what makes Stargate so cool. I also thought that since they weren't going to be working on two shows at the same time like what happened before, Universe was gonna get it's proper attention and the producers would make a good product.

I was SO mistaken. Universe is nothing more than a cheap attempt to capitalize on the Battlestar Galactica bandwagon of dreary and depressing sci-fi.

Much like Galactica, Universe confuses dark and gritty for dim and insipid. There is no sense of adventure, none of the witty dialogue that made SG-1 a treat (hell, sometimes witty dialogue even managed to salvage a few episodes of Atlantis).

But what really gets me is that everytime they do, by some miracle, come up with an engaging plotline, they rush it over, but then they spend 8 episodes on crap that would've been solved by the second commercial break on SG-1.

The final straw is how they waste the actors. I spend more time being annoyed by the characters than sympathizing with them, let alone rooting for them. Hell, if the Destiny blew up and killed them all, they wouldn't be missed.

It was an honor

Lost. God, how I tried to like it. Wanted to like it. But I just could not get connected with the characters, and like the poster above said about B5, miss one week and you are (pardon the pun) lost.

And I agree wholeheartedly with the above poster re: Stargate Universe. Tried it, but it paled in comparison to SG-1.

I am not really here. Or am I? Heh Heh Heh

V-2009. Love the premise, love so, so many of the people in it - can not get into it at all. The station airing it has been jumping it around a bit too which never helps.

Sex and the City. It's supposed to be GIRL POWAH!! and feminist and empowering, right?

Except I think these women are shallow, self-absorbed label whores who don't care about anyone around them.

I recall reading about one episode where Carrie misplaces a pair of Manolos at a friend's birthday party for her baby. Carrie harangues the woman until she gives in and the mother of a small child in one of the most expensive cities buys some woman a FIVE-HUNDRED DOLLAR PAIR OF SHOES. We're supposed to side with Carrie here? REALLY?

Stargate Universe. I'm normally a big Stargate fan, but the show lacks consistency, the characters are unlikeable, and there really seems to be no overarching plot to it other than "can't get home, getting farther and farther away".

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

On Stargate Universe: It's the first Stargate show I've watched,  ^*

and I keep watching it mainly because I will watch pretty much anythiing that could be called "space opera". I will grant the show two things: you don't need to know anything about the Stargate Universe to start watching, and some of the concepts they come up with are interesting. Other than that, it's not terrible, there's probably an interesting show that could be salvaged from this, but right now it's, well, it's possibly sub-Voyager  ^*

^{There. I said it, I'd say it again if I had to.}

, which at least had some characters I could care about.

edited 11th Jun '10 10:22:53 PM by MissHap

Dexter, sort of. It's enjoyable but I think it's a lot dumber then most people do.

Dumbo

Firefly, Glee and The Big Bang Theory

I also can't get into V. There's some good actors and ideas there, but the characters are unforgivably, wall-bangingly Genre Blind in a world that contains scifi movies like Independence Day.

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.

• Private Practice: Greys Anatomy being one of my favorite shows on TV, it seemed like the spinoff would be just as good. I liked the Backdoor Pilot, but then in the series proper they replaced my favorite cast member, lost the humor, and didn't bother even trying to approach the Beyond the Impossible drama that made Greys Anatomy compelling. Oh, and Taye Diggs should be a model, not an actor.
• Eureka, Sanctuary, and Warehouse13: In theory, Sy Fy original series should be the perfect shows for me, but these all fell flat. All have interesting premises, but they're too episodic, and shallow in both plot and characterization.
• Smallville: Every so often I'll read about an episode here and download it to see the Smallvilleverse version of a character from the comics, but the show is just painfully, bafflingly bad.
• V, for reasons already mentioned, plus the fact that I just don't care about anybody in this show, especially the humans. The only reason I ended up going back and watching the second half of the season is to see what got Anna listed as a Complete Monster.
• Dexter: Another that's perfect on paper, seeing how much I love serial killers and Villain Protagonists, but Dexter's Heroic Sociopathy has been much too rare, overshadowed by his constant Wangst about Rita and the kids and his daddy issues. It doesn't really even feel like I'm watching a show about a sociopath anymore.

I tried to like "Flash Forward", I really made the effort, but by the fourth episode I still couldn't remember the characters' names and realized it was because I didn't care.

Move confidently in the direction of your dreams.

oops wrong thread

edited 14th Aug '10 6:44:09 PM by Cider

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack