Shows you thought you would hate, but didn't? |
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sharonite
Junior Executive Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Status: Offline Points: 565 |
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Posted: 15 Jun 2011 at 2:31am |
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Usually, TV (particularly network TV) is one disappointment after another, but every now and then a show comes along that grows on me even if the initial impression wasn't so great. Here are a few:
Everybody Hates Chris--Didn't discover this one until it had already ended and entered syndication. Absolutely hilarious and great nostalgia, too! Wish it lasted longer than four seasons.
Malcolm in the Middle--Initially thought it was the most annoying show on earth, largely due to the promos. Later I discovered that--gross-out and over-the-top moments aside--it was genuinely quirky and funny, mainly thanks to the characters of Francis, Hal, and Dewey.
The Middle--I couldn't stand Everybody Loves Raymond and didn't think Patricia Heaton had a comedic bone in her body. This show proved me wrong--way wrong.
NCIS Los Angeles--Thought this one would just be a re-hash of the original, but it's different enough to be entertaining in its own right. Linda Hunt is phenomenal. It's also to the show's benefit that none of the characters is a hugh jass hole a la Dinozzo. My pet peeve, though, is the ridiculously ornate beachfront "office" where they work. Does CBS film the show at Oprah's summer house?
The Closer--I couldn't get past Kyra Sedgwick's ridiculously phony accent at first, but gradually the interesting plot lines and strong ensemble cast won me over. It's also refreshing to see the main character portrayed as being in a stable and committed relationship rather than surfing a different mattress in every episode.
Anyone have a similar experience? These examples are the prime reason why TV networks need to give their shows MORE TIME to find an audience before pulling the plug.
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Yutolia
Honor Roll Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: Владивосток Status: Offline Points: 2586 |
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I remember my dad thought he would really hate both the X-Files and the Simpsons, and then once my mom and I talked him into watching, they ended up being two of his favorite shows for a few years.
I really thought I would hate Deadwood (even though I like westerns), purely because I am originally from that area and have grown up with those stories (my grandfather was born there in 1902 and actually met Poker Alice). I thought they might add a bunch of useless crap to try to "modernize" the stories, but they actually did a really good job. I was very pleasantly surprised. |
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"Xbox Live is an online homophobia club for pre-teen Tourette’s sufferers." - Brockway, Cracked.com
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Tech
Junior Executive Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 185 |
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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's now currently my favorite show.
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Yutolia
Honor Roll Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: Владивосток Status: Offline Points: 2586 |
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But at this point, I'm pretty sure I will hate "Hot in Cleveland" and "Happily Divorced".
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"Xbox Live is an online homophobia club for pre-teen Tourette’s sufferers." - Brockway, Cracked.com
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sharonite
Junior Executive Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Status: Offline Points: 565 |
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musicman
Revolutionary Formerly 0000 Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Greater Boston Status: Offline Points: 7539 |
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Operation Repo or Operacion Repo. I hated it at first, thought it was campy, but now I like it.
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musicman
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Maybe they could create a new show where Mary Tyler Moore works in a newsroom at a TV station and Betty White is a mean lady that does a cooking show.
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Thor
Revolutionary Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: Rockaway, NJ Status: Offline Points: 63903 |
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Ha! It was just the opposite for me. I liked it at first, but when it dawned on me that the whole thing was staged, I hated it.
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Grant
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COPS.
Not really!! Haven't (deliberately) watched a minute of it since it premiered.
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Yutolia
Honor Roll Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: Владивосток Status: Offline Points: 2586 |
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What I really can't stand is the fact that it seems like the only gimmick they can come up with is Betty White saying all of these slangy catch phrases. Look, she's old but she says "booty"! OMFG LOL!1!1!111!!!!1 I know it's been mentioned on this board before - just the fact that she's old doesn't automatically make it funny when she says the kind of thing that sounds stupid even when young people say it. I really think that they are wasting her talent here, and she is for some reason letting them. |
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"Xbox Live is an online homophobia club for pre-teen Tourette’s sufferers." - Brockway, Cracked.com
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Thor
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I agree with that, Yutolia. The whole "saucy old lady" schtick might be funny once or twice...but beyond that, forget it.
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Tiz
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Only In America
American Pickers Sons Of Guns
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ProudHeart86
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George Lopez... I found it actually quite recently on Nick @ Nite, and actually I have to say I find it quite enjoyable, even though for years I've laughed at jokes about how terrible it was, and was always afraid I'd hate it. After being ill and not having anything else on, I watched it..and by goodness I laughed! Sure some of his childhood "woah is me" jokes get very old, but for the most part, I enjoy the humour and the banter between him and his mother. Don't care too much for Angie though. She gives me the Beetis with her over-sweetness.
Switched at Birth... I went into this show thinking "Well, I'm familiar with the lady who plays the deaf girl's mom, so I may check it out..but I'm not gonna like it!" But, I actually like it! Constance Marie, who is pretty darned insufferable as Angie from George Lopez, plays a really good badarse former alcoholic, the birth mother of Leah Thompson's "daughter". I enjoy watching her roll her eyes at the other mom, played by Leah Thompson. I really can't stand Leah's character. She plays the real mother of the deaf girl and the adoptive mother of the rebellious artist. It's only been 2 episodes thus far, but ABC Family has me hooked already! It's much better than their "Secret Life of the American Teenager". I used to like that show, but now it's just OLD!
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Hootman
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Hawaii 5-0
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Jimbo
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"HUSTLE".
It's a PBS/BBC show about a group of flashy, talented young grifters who live in modern day London & go around conning people for fun & profit.
American actor Robert Vaughn (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) plays their mentor & leader.
From Wikipedia:
I didn't watch it when it first came on my local PBS station because I assumed it would be too much like all these youth-oriented American shows, in that the "team" is comprised mostly of stylish, good-looking young model types who I figured would all be self-serious a-holes like most of the characters on said American shows.
I relented & have watched it twice now & like most BBC/PBS shows, it's great fun.
I understand it's on cable, too.
If you haven't seen it, check it out.
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Jackson Browne - The Pretender C'mon, man! Joe Biden - 46th President of the United States |
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Ad Endless Nauseum
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Two shows: 24, and the new Battlestar Galactica.
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"Si vis pacem, para bellum"
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Asnotseenontv
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Franklin and Bash- At first it seemed like a rehash/ripoff of Raising The Bar, but when I actually watched it I found it hilarious and fun to watch.
Law and Order LA: WHY IS NBC CANCELING THIS? >:( At first I was expecting a hipper Law & Order, but it proved me wrong. Alfred Molina is one of my favorites!
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Coffee- The new opiate of the people.
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Obie
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Most of 'Hot in Cleveland's appeal is that Betty White, like George Burns around the same age, lasted that long, and remained sharp enough to be on TV(unlike, say, Bob Hope when he was trying to do TV in his 90s). The 'HIC' demographic grew up on shows like 'The Golden Girls', 'Frasier', 'Seinfeld', and, slightly skewing a bit, 'One Day at a Time', so it's shrewd casting. And, if you've stuck with the show, the writing has improved, although it is not consistently at the level of those shows in their primes.
As for TVLand's other stuff, that George Segal thing was a steaming-hot crap sandwich, and anything with Fran Drescher makes me itch in strange places. 'Cleveland' is a nice one-time success story, but the other shows that tried to follow TVLand's 'template' for low-budget sitcoms just aren't working.
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Zach6848
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Honestly, I think Betty White's popularity is mostly owed to the fact that she's old and still has a sense of humor.
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WDAN20
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The Cleveland Show - At the time this was promoted on TV I was upset with Family Guy's declining quality and thought the programme would be even worse! After episodes like The Juice Is Loose, I felt jaded by anything Seth Macfarlane put out. However I thought the show after the first season is genuinely funny, and the characters are likable, and the idea of having limited cutaways is a pleasantly refreshing after Family Guy was beating a dead horse with that concept.
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ThreadKiller
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Hundreds of threads killed.
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Christine
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Back in the day, The Simpsons. Took me years to catch on. My husband loves the "engineering porn" stuff like How It's Made*, Modern Marvels, and some others whose names I forget. Shows about building big things, extreme jobs, historical mechanical achievements etc.OH yeah, Dirty Jobs! At first, I thought it was just a gross-out show for boys, where the host got underground and saw roaches up close, or had to shovel muck. Ho-hum. But the humor of Mike Rowe and his willingness to DO the jobs** no matter how uncomfortable or scared he gets- that appealed to us pretty quickly.
*he's not even home yet and I'm watching it right now.
** there's another show with a nebbishy, whiny guy that's too annoying to watch- he's the opposite of Rowe, and I'm convinced the producers HATE him- he doesn't bother to hide his discomfort and is always complaining!! So that show is not on our list despite the engineer-porn-factor.
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Thor
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The Walking Dead on AMC. I didn't think I would hate it when I turned to it one rainy Saturday a few weeks ago, but I didn't think I'd become hooked on it---within minutes---and end up watching it for 8 hours straight on Saturday, and another 8 hours straight the next day.
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flychinook
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Someone else mentioned "The Middle", and I'll second it. Good writing, and probably the only realistic tv family since "Rosanne".
Also the "_______ Wars" shows. Storage wars is ok, and Shipping Wars is actually pretty entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised by both. |
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Papa Lazarou
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Actually, I've shockingly been moderately impressed with ABC's whole line-up.
I never watched any of that stuff, but we've recently set our television to automatically turn on Wheel Of Fortune during the week, and I ended up watching Suburgatory, The Middle, and even Modern Family afterwards, first only as background noise, then actually enjoying them. I don't enjoy Modern Family immensely, though. It's an Okay show, and I've been switching off more and more. The other two shows I really enjoy, though.
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