TV shows I've lost interest in

[Miss Shelf]

I used to not miss an episode of "Desperate Housewives" or "LOST", but lately I find I can survive quite well without seeing either of them. I don't know, it seems that every time a new show starts collecting viewers and critics, and the stars get bigger heads, the quality of the show declines, IMO. It seems like the writers feel pressured to come up with stories that top last week's stories, instead of letting things take a natural course.

In the case of LOST, I got tired of the endless psychological studies of the survivors and flashbacks. I know the flashbacks are necessary to establish how the person came to be on the island, but still... I'd find it more interesting seeing how they survive. I mean, food can't be so plentiful there that everyone's satisfied, for instance. They lost me when Locke started spending more time in the hatch pushing the button than he did in hunting meat.

 

[Shade]

I think you're right, Miss Shelf, and it's down to the relentless length of US TV seasons. When I started watching Desperate Housewives last year, it was a great bit of fun, but when it didn't end after about 12 weeks - and kept on not ending - I started to get increasingly bored. Man, I wouldn't want to do something I liked for 24 weeks on the trot.

It's this need to fill twenty-plus episodes per year that leads to diminished quality and enjoyment. Why not let a good thing stand alone as a one-off? Because there's no money in that, and we must never forget that commercial TV is driven not by the interests of viewers but by those of advertisers, who want reliability and repetition.

In the UK most drama or comedy shows run to just six episodes per series, maybe 10 or so if they're really popular and churning them out. This doesn't intrinsically make them better than US shows, but it greatly diminishes the possibility of creative burn-out (since most UK shows are auteured by one or two writers rather than produced committee-style like in the US) and enables the makers to stop at the top, maybe after just 12 or so episodes (see The Office for example) - that's less than half of one normal US season!

 

[Stewart]

I've actually given up on television over the past month, although I still watch Lost...when it's on. The networks have really messed up with that programme as it appears they are making it as they broadcast it, rather than just wait until all the episodes are made.

I mean, for Season #2, they showed about ten episodes on a weekly basis, then stopped for six weeks for Christmas. In those six weeks they showed the previous six episodes they had broadcast (repeats so soon?) and then showed a couple more. Then they took two weeks off and replaced the the middle week with a repeat. Then the same. And now, after last week's episode, there's still two weeks to go before the next episode, meaning two extra repeats.

 

[curiouswonder]

At our house we've decided the only way to watch series TV is on DVD. No breaks for Christmas, Spring Break, Groundhog's Day, etc. No worries about schedule changes or decisions to run two episodes on the same night (24?). We caught season 1 of LOST in about a week and a half. It does require a measure of patience and we avoid Lost season two commercials and articles like the plague, but with our lives, we would end up missing half of the episodes if we tried to watch any way.
All that being said, back to the original question. We gave up on most television a couple of years ago. The only show we have watched faithfully for the last few years is 24. It almost lost me last season with the non-stop game of "where's Marwan?", but we tuned back in when the season started in January and this year (day?) is much better.

 

[Miss Shelf]

As far as "24", I've missed some episodes bacause I rely on the captions, and two of the episodes didn't have captions. They re-ran those soon after and the captions came on and off, so I stopped watching. Then last week's episode had captions-until the last 20 minutes or so. I wanted to throw my remote through the TV. I'm not holding my breath for tonight's episode.

 

[pontalba]

It's this need to fill twenty-plus episodes per year that leads to diminished quality and enjoyment. Why not let a good thing stand alone as a one-off?

Back in the "old days"... ....the television season lasted a lot longer, I don't remember how many episodes per season, but we certainly didn't have reruns in from january on! The season ran from September thru at least May. Reruns all summer. Thats all the reruns there were, not in the middle of the season, cause I remember when it started how aggrevating it was! Good God, reruns already?? Now I am talking about the 60's and probably a good chunk of the 70's.

I have had it with Lost as well, the uncertainty was fine for awhile, but after a bit, it just became cumbersome and irritating, ditto for Dedperate Housewives.

I do like 24, even though I accidently taped over part of last weeks episode... But I do have most of it on DVD anyway (previous seasons I mean).

I've stopped watching Three and a Half Men as well, when it started mimicing Sheen's life, it was just too much.

 

[Miss Shelf]

Back in the "old days"... ....the television season lasted a lot longer, I don't remember how many episodes per season, but we certainly didn't have reruns in from january on! The season ran from September thru at least May. Reruns all summer. Thats all the reruns there were, not in the middle of the season, cause I remember when it started how aggrevating it was! Good God, reruns already?? Now I am talking about the 60's and probably a good chunk of the 70's.

I have had it with Lost as well, the uncertainty was fine for awhile, but after a bit, it just became cumbersome and irritating, ditto for Dedperate Housewives.

I do like 24, even though I accidently taped over part of last weeks episode... But I do have most of it on DVD anyway (previous seasons I mean).

I've stopped watching Three and a Half Men as well, when it started mimicing Sheen's life, it was just too much.

Two and a Half Men is really funny sometimes, but it has too much sex for my taste. It's all about the guys getting laid by brainless bimbos. And you're right, it mimics Sheen's life, which I'm not interested in.

I agree about the old days, and the reruns only in the summer. Nowadays they have too many "TV specials" interrupting the regular season, and they don't want to put their new episodes up against shows like American Idol so they show reruns up the wazoo. Hello? Those of us who actually follow the shows don't need a refresher on what happened two weeks ago, we just want things to get moving. Shows are indeed all about advertising and if the target audience is likely to skip an episode to watch something like American Idol, the advertisers prefer to wait till the coast is clear. No wonder so many people tape their favorite shows instead of watching them as they're aired. I'm wondering how in the future, advertisers will get around this-I bet they'll somehow make it impossible for you to FF through the commercials if you've taped the show.

 

[pontalba]

LOL, I wouldn't put it past the manufacturers to team up with the tv guys and pull something like that! Really, I don't consider it far fetched at all.

I do like NCIS, as so far they've kept it pretty fresh. And Mark Harmon is pretty cute. Oh, and of course there is Ducky!! Illia Kuriocken...I know I am mauling the spelling, but remember The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?

 

[curiouswonder]

I'm wondering how in the future, advertisers will get around this-I bet they'll somehow make it impossible for you to FF through the commercials if you've taped the show.

TiVo is already experimenting with ads that run as you fast forward. So you might be FFing through commercials for whatever and over the top of the commercials will come up a static pitcure ad for a new movie or a car company or whatever. I've also read that they are working on figuring out how to niche market based on viewer preferences so a company might come out with ten different ads for the same product that are beamed to specific houses based on viewing preferences. Wild stuff.

 

[Miss Shelf]

If they pull any stunts like that, I might wind up not watching TV altogether. I'd just borrow DVDs from the library. Although I'm sure that soon, movies will have even more advertising than they do now. The DVD player I have won't let me FF thru the copyright warnings and the studio logos. I guess our only alterative is...books. Until they figure out a way to ruin that, too. I can see it now: "The Da Vinci Code, brought to you by The Home Depot", with pages of advertising scattered through the book, and the last chapter will be unavailable until you log onto the website and give your name and address.

I watch NCIS sometimes, but that whatshisname, the one with sex on the brain, irritates the crap out of me. I want to jump into the screen and slap him, then get a lawyer to file a sexual harassment charge.

 

[pontalba]

Miss Shelf said: I watch NCIS sometimes, but that whatshisname, the one with sex on the brain, irritates the crap out of me. I want to jump into the screen and slap him, then get a lawyer to file a sexual harassment charge.

LOL!! He is fairly harmless. That new woman on there certainly knows how to handle him. You know at first this season, I refused to watch that show as it really made me mad the way they killed off the other woman last season, so I didn't know how the new one came into it. But then they re-ran the opener, and I started watching. I fully admit to the irony of that situation.

curiouswonder said: I've also read that they are working on figuring out how to niche market based on viewer preferences so a company might come out with ten different ads for the same product that are beamed to specific houses based on viewing preferences. Wild stuff.

 

[henrietta]

Back in the "old days"... ....the television season lasted a lot longer, I don't remember how many episodes per season, but we certainly didn't have reruns in from january on! The season ran from September thru at least May. Reruns all summer. Thats all the reruns there were, not in the middle of the season, cause I remember when it started how aggrevating it was! Good God, reruns already?? Now I am talking about the 60's and probably a good chunk of the 70's.

Back in the really old days for US television (from the late 1940s through the early 1960's) the season lasted from about late August to early July of the following year for the few series that were on. It was amazing, and the reason why old westerns, for example, have so many episodes.

 

[henrietta]

I think you're right, Miss Shelf, and it's down to the relentless length of US TV seasons....It's this need to fill twenty-plus episodes per year that leads to diminished quality and enjoyment. Why not let a good thing stand alone as a one-off? Because there's no money in that, and we must never forget that commercial TV is driven not by the interests of viewers but by those of advertisers, who want reliability and repetition. In the UK most drama or comedy shows run to just six episodes per series, maybe 10 or so if they're really popular and churning them out. This doesn't intrinsically make them better than US shows, but it greatly diminishes the possibility of creative burn-out (since most UK shows are auteured by one or two writers rather than produced committee-style like in the US) and enables the makers to stop at the top, maybe after just 12 or so episodes (see The Office for example) - that's less than half of one normal US season!

I don't think it's the length of the series that hurts US television. (Knowing when to pull the plug on an elderly show is another matter, most shows straggle on dispiritedly long after they should have been cancelled.) Consider how unusual it is for the networks to produce anything interesting. Then consider how much more often they'd have to produce something new if we had 6-episode series like the UK. It'd be a mercy to have a King Of Queens that went away after 6 shows, but we'd just end up with four of them a year.

 

[jaynebosco]

I must be a rare bird, as I have latched onto some shows so badly that I am obsessed with them and have watched nearly every episode of them. I am talking about Third Watch, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Prison Break (who returns with a new episode tonight, yay!!), The West Wing, and Grey's Anatomy (missed about half of the second season, but will catch up when they come with the second season DVDs). I am a TV whore and really don't have a life outside of that (I do have things outside of TV and the internet). I also watch the US version of Big Brother, which is my guilty pleasure each summer, even though can become increasingly boring by the end of the show, although some seasons can be very interesting at times.

One show I lost interest in is 7th Heaven. Too cheesy. I am slowly losing interest in 24, even though there is something each week that makes me want to come back; now I just want to see how the season ends.

 

[tartan_skirt]

I like Desperate Housewives and watched the first series of Lost because I want to find out whats going on.. but there are shows which I just gave up on after watching almost religiously. One Tree Hill for one. I watched almost all of the first series but after missing one episode I didn't want to watch the next episode (I get obsessive) so stopped until it repeated... but between that time I realised it's a pile of junk.

 

[venusunfolding]

i lost interest in Lost because it just kept getting more ridiculous. I wanted at least a few answers not more nonsense every week.

Desperate Housewives still has its moments, but I've seen maybe 3 episodes this season.

Only think I still watch regularly is The OC.

 

[Stewart]

I mean, food can't be so plentiful there that everyone's satisfied, for instance. They lost me when Locke started spending more time in the hatch pushing the button than he did in hunting meat.

Well, the hatch was stocked with months' worth of food and, in S02E17 we learned how there is always food there. Why hunt it when it comes in a pack?

 

[Choc]

I know that it is not exactly a new show, But I really loved '8 simple rules' whilst John Ritter was still alive. And I would never miss an episode. But sadly since his passing the show just died rapidly after a couple of episodes. Even with the introduction of a few new characters it now rates poorly in my mind

 

[tundra]

I've actually given up on television over the past month, although I still watch Lost...when it's on. The networks have really messed up with that programme as it appears they are making it as they broadcast it, rather than just wait until all the episodes are made.

I mean, for Season #2, they showed about ten episodes on a weekly basis, then stopped for six weeks for Christmas. In those six weeks they showed the previous six episodes they had broadcast (repeats so soon?) and then showed a couple more. Then they took two weeks off and replaced the the middle week with a repeat. Then the same. And now, after last week's episode, there's still two weeks to go before the next episode, meaning two extra repeats.

U.S. shows always stop midseason and show reruns (excepting reality shows). I've never known it any other way. Lost certainly isn't unique in that respect. I know plenty of people who purposefully don't watch the shows until the season is over and then watch them all in a row...it's too annoying otherwise. One very annoying thing I've noticed is that producers will choose to show the season finale of a show on a different night of the week than the regular show spot. I can't keep up with that. I've also seen a few shows where there is a pause in the programming from January to April, where they interrupt the show not with reruns, but with an entirely new show. I actually prefer it that way..I hate when there are reruns every other week. Well..I hated it when I still watched tv that is. Now all I do is watch Gilmore Girls on a DVD after the season ends.

 

[lady.cordelia]

I've actually given up on television over the past month, although I still watch Lost...when it's on. The networks have really messed up with that programme as it appears they are making it as they broadcast it, rather than just wait until all the episodes are made.

I mean, for Season #2, they showed about ten episodes on a weekly basis, then stopped for six weeks for Christmas. In those six weeks they showed the previous six episodes they had broadcast (repeats so soon?) and then showed a couple more. Then they took two weeks off and replaced the the middle week with a repeat. Then the same. And now, after last week's episode, there's still two weeks to go before the next episode, meaning two extra repeats.

i heard that they won't be doing that for #3 and i hope not. i ended up deciding to just wait until #2 came out on dvd (so as to avoid the repeats and those stupid catch-up shows) all on my time table.

*edited to remove the bit about how they get food, as i see stewart answered it. oops!

i think if someone told me exactly the plot and the ending of the entire series from start to finish i would be happy and not have to bother watching.

right now, i will occasionally watch the biography channel or the history channel and sometimes the national geograhic channel. just a total nerd. occasionally, i am forced to watch a few episodes of spongebob, jimmy neutron, and fosters home for imaginary friends with the kids, but otherwise, i would rather be reading. although, i am a big movie buff, so sometimes i'll watch a movie if i want to watch tv. i have gotten to where i really hate the TV in general. i hope i am imparting that hatred to my kids, too. i limit their TV greatly, much to their chagrin, although my oldest is now loving to read (and i make her stick to the classics), so i think they are coming around.

i hate to admit i was once addicted to soap operas when my children were babies and nursing through the night and there was nothing to do but watch soapnet (it is hard to read and nurse at the same time, especially when they are wiggily and start reaching for the book trying to tear it apart). luckily, that addiction has disappeared without withdrawal. i cannot believe i watched such stupidity. the plotlines are horrendous.