Warning: Contains spoilers for Dexter, The Tudors, Jericho, Supernatural, Smallville, Heroes, Prison Break and others.
I have watched quite a bit of series. Some of them I stopped watching in mid-season. I don't like to stop watching something, as I don`t like stop reading something. Not only do I then not know how it will end - which in some cases really doesn`t matter that much - but my inner demon tells me that then everything before will be wasted time, and who wants to waste time, right? Nonetheless, there is some stuff I didn't finish, and now I will take the time to tell you why, and you may stop reading anytime and consider what you've read up to this point as wasted time. So, here we go.
13 Reasons Why. Watched: The first two episodes. Not a really bad series by any means, if you're willing to overlook wooden dialogue, but it failed to click for me. The characters just don't interest me, and in a series in which the whole premise is to figure out what these characters did and how they connect to each other, that's pretty much a death sentence. Also the Highschool is totally unbelievable. Why do movies have such a big problem depicting school in a halfway believable way?
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Natural fit for Netflix for obvious reasons. |
Would try picking up again: Certainly not.
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Scoring 10 of 10 on the mediocre-o-meter. |
Would try picking up again: Not likely, but more because time is limited.
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Imitating Michelangelo does not score points with this script. |
Would try picking up again: No, no, no.
Around the World in 80 Days. Watched: First 30 minutes. There are two ways one could adapt content like the Victorian era Jules Verne classic "Around the World in 80 Days". You can make it into a period piece and show the vagaries of the era, or you could modernize it. Best thing would be not adapting it at all, but I digress. This series does neither, but rather modernizes its characters into the typically half-assed fashion that brings the big bucks to Disney, fails in bringing whimsical humor to the piece and is generally an atrocity to watch. Stay away.
Would try picking up again: Fuck, no.
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Totally not Batman. |
Would try picking up again: God no.
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Never has saving the world be that joyful. |
Would try picking up again: Maybe? But I'd need a good reason.
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Sorry, these stories don't get better if you make the hero female. |
Away. Watched: The first 24 minutes. This is show is dumb like a bag of hammers. Ostensibly about the first crewed expedition to Mars, the series puts an emphasis on the human drama. The crew of five "astronauts" (using the term loosely here) is so grossly incompetent that they shouldn't have survived an internship, and the authorities on the ground behave like an especially laxly managed frat house as well. All of this to generate DRAMA in capital letters. It's fucking awful, and I'll neither get back these 24 minutes nor the brain cells that dies witnessing them.
Would try picking up again: No, it's awful.
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Never ask them what happened to Babylon 1-4. |
Would try picking up again: I don't think so, because the series is just too old and I feel I can't do it justice.
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It's about Weimar Germany! You can tell by the fashion. |
Would try picking up again: Maybe. More optimistic on this than many other things.
Batman: The Animated Series. Watched: The first three episodes, and a bit of stuff back in the 90s. The Batman animated series has achieved cult status, and rightly so. It has a firm grasp of mood and style, going for a, well, gothic 1930s vibe that is very much its own thing. The stories are surprisingly mature for a kid's series and have well thought arcs and all. However, I'm still an adult closer to 40 than 30, and this remains a cartoon for kids, albeit a very good one. And so, I simply couldn't bring myself to keep watching.
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This was really scary when I was a kid. |
Would try picking up again: Maybe, if given a reason.
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Orlando Bloom, desperate to find relevance again. |
Would try picking up again: I cannot see why, it was bad.
Cowboy Beebop. Watched: The pilot. Not being a fan of Anime, I obviously haven't seen the original that this Netflix adaptation is based on, so I can't comment on anything in that area. However, I did not like the adaptation. Not because it's bad, necessarily, I'm just not the intended target audience, I feel. It's incredibly silly, full of badassery, and seems to aimed squarely at fans of the Anime as well as younger audiences. I dig the style of the show, but the characters and plot left me cold, and the dialogues made me groan.
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They forgot to mention "tits" in the teaser. |
Would try picking up again: If I didn't have this list, I'd already forgotten this existed twice over, so, no.
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"You know, the one where the first season is good." |
Would try picking up again: As with the other Marvel Netflix series, I can't see what would entice me.
Dawson's Creek. Watched: Two seasons and some episodes. Don't judge me too harshly; this was one of the first series I ever had access to. Recommended by a friend while I was as old as the actors in this show try to pretend to be, this classic of stupid high school drama has it all: totally unbelievable characters and story beats, repetitive structure, self-referential importance and lots of Americana.
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Totally High-Schoolers. |
Would try picking up again: No, it's a cultural artifact, nothing more.
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Team Generic is on it! |
Would try picking up again: No way.
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Desperate for vierwers, one hopes. |
Would try picking up again: If you pay me top dollars, maybe.
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He looks as bored as I am. |
Dexter. Watched: First two-and-a-half seasons. I did come a long way with Dexter. It was praised by several friends whom I attributed at least rudimentary taste in these things, and the premise of the show - a forensic expert is a hidden serial killer - sounded interesting enough. I made into the midst of the third season before I finally quit, after watching three or four episodes in a row that left me cold like if I was Dexter myself. Already in season 1, several problems presented itself, of which the biggest was the lack of cohesion. The characters did whatever the plot required of them at that moment, and they didn't do it because they were compelled, to quote Rorchach. Believability was absent from the show from the beginning. This is evident by such simple things as money. In so many shows and movies, money is nothing one needs to be concerned with. As a police detective, you simply jump in a cab in your time off to follow a lead on your own, because, well, money grows on trees and these characters don't have a private life to begin with. Absurdely, they also own lavish apartments they could never afford on their salary. But money doesn't get into it, it's there when needed. Dexter also lacked serious character motivations, which led to frequent overacting and more and more absurd character development (or lack thereof). Written out like this, I fail to understand how I suffered it to season 3.
Would try picking up again:I don't see a reason to watch even more mediocre stuff.
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After taking this picture, everyone went back to the social class they belonged to. |
Would try picking up again: Nah, I just can't in good conscience ignore the flaws.
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Starting the culture war of whether it's better than the Simpsons. |
Would try picking up again: Why not? But not in a binge manner, most likely.
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In really small letters on the pavement. |
Would try picking up again: No reason, there's no lack of bad series out there.
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"Let's all look naturally. Act, like in the show!" |
Would try picking up again: No, no, no.
Gotham. Watched: The first ten minutes of the pilot.
I was a bit sceptical about Gotham, because I simply can't imagine the
premise amounting to anything. The teenage years of Gotham's villains
aren't exactly something that needs to be explored and will most likely
amount to a bunch of malarkey. The character of Jim Gordon has nothing
to do with the Jim Gordon we see later, and the dialogue is
cringe-worthy bad. On the plus-side, the actors try their best with the
material they're given and the visual style is pretty well done.
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People. Looking at you. |
Would try picking up again: Again, no lack of bad to mediocre super hero series out there.
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His face is him looking at the script. |
Would try picking up again: Don't think so.
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Created by Tim Kring, as it never fails to remind you. |
Heroes. Watched: First two seasons.
Heroes was my first love after being weaned from Smallville. A
consecutive story, interesting characters, nice themes - it was really
exciting, and we burned through the episodes. Then, the long wait for
season 2. When it finally came, it was underwhelming, to say the least,
but it was Heroes! It had to be great. After the last episode of season 2
was over, it hadn't been, though. Tim Kring's supposed masterpiece fell into
the trap of bloating itself up with epic scale, which is a common mistake.
Heroes, season 1, already told you about "Save the cheerleader, save the
world", but in the end, it was just an attempt to defeat Sylar and not
get blasted - a plot to prevent disaster. In season 2, they did what I
like to call the "DragonBall effect" and gave everything just one
potency level more. It also became more unfocused. Several plotlines had no
connection to each other, and with the scale of the story growing the
scale of the human emotions that drives every good story shrank. After
hearing from several people that season 3 was even worse, I never
bothered trying it. A shame, really, because Heroes is another show that
could have been great.
Would try picking up again: Hahahahahaha no. Way too old for that.
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We're old enough now for this to be really nostalgic. |
Highscore. Watched: The first three episodes. In this documentary series, important milestones of video game history are visited. While there are classics in - Space Invaders, the foundation of Nintendo, etc. - the series has a surprising amount of people and games in it that aren't widely known but who were the respective firsts in the fields. They are also having a strong focus on the community, which is good. However, I simply couldn't sustain interest enough to watch all these well-made episodes. Time constraints of real life being what they are...
Would try picking up again: Nah, didn't catch me enough the first time around, no reason it will later.
Would try picking up again: Nope, not my genre anway. Never really was and surely has only degraded for me.
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When a political drama gets bloody, something's deeply wrong. |
Would try picking up again: No, since I really don't care for the nihilism at all.
Jericho. Watched: 16 episodes.
Oh boy. How much could they have done with that one! "The Day After",
only as a series, with interesting characters...oh wait, there weren't
any. There were walking clichees. Again, we were forced to watch the
midwestern town, where ordinary people have their heart at the right
place and overcome serious problems that don`t really look that serious.
I haven't seen such a cheerful apocalypse since Kevin Costner's
"Postman". People don't even get dirty. After several weeks into the
nuclear apocalypse, their cloths are still in perfect shape, their
cheeks clean shaven. Such sloppiness in ambience really bugs me. Jericho
suffered from an even greater problem, though. The writers didn't seem
to have much confidence in it, because they decided to write a
super-idiotic conspiracy plot into the show basically from day one. If
you don't know what to do with your material, make a conspiracy out of
it. But, seriously, even Lost survived some episodes without it. I
didn't even finish Jericho's first season, and now I know why they cancelled it so quickly and really mourn the money.
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The look on their faces when they first saw the script. |
Would try picking up again: Nope, and I sold the DVDs long ago.
Jessica
Jones. Watched: One season. Daredevil's little sister is a freakishly strong
private detective who tries to break the spell that a supervillain named
Kilgrave has over her, protecting herselves and other victims in the
process. The themes the show tries to develop are mature and very
undercovered in fiction of all sorts, but unfortunately, the writing
isn't up to the challenge and delivers really bad dialogue and crappy
plotting at least half of the time.
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Lips to make Angelina Jolie envious. |
Would try picking up again: On danger of repeating me, but enough mediocrity to go around.
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There's an obvious joke applying the title to the series but it's not actually bad. |
Would try picking up again: If you convinced me that for some reason it wildly improves, yes.
Krypton. Watched: The first ten minutes. This series explores the background of Superman's ancestral home and his clan of El. The scenes on Krypton were practically the best part of "Man of Steel", and the idea to expand on that is good in theory, but low production values, bad dialogue and utterly uncharismatic leads bury any interest I might have had in seconds. All of it reeks like "15-year-olds may find it cool", and I'm decidedly not that target demographic.
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Looks like the 90s. Cheap and without taste. |
Would try picking up again: You read my remarks above, didn't you?
Line of Duty. Watched: The first half of the pilot. In this crime series, the internal affairs division of the British police is investigating other police people. I didn't care for anything that was happening on the screen, so while I can recount a few plot points, I don't know if there is more to it than that. Failed to grap me in every respect; actors, setting, dialogue, style. Maybe it's for you. I hear good things.
Would try picking up again: Unlikely.
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Strong man in search for a strong script. |
Would try picking up again: If I were to prepare a lecture on why the 13-episodes-Netflix format was a mistake, maybe.
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Rorchach tests may hide an actual lack of depth. |
Would try picking up again: Maybe yes. It was the most promising of the mediocre stuff.
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Badass costume, underwhelming series. |
Would try picking up again: Naaaaah.
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His face when he read the script. |
Narcos. Watched: One season and one episode. This series is a mix between a documentary and drama, which is a bit odd. It recreates the story of the first sixteen years of Pablo Escobars reign of narco terror, leaving the last bloody sixteen months for season 2 and the continuing story of the Columbian cartels for the afterthought of a "oh, that succesful, let's mine it"-decision in Netflix' corporate board. This leads to the ostensible main characters, two DEA agents played by Pedro Pascal and a generic white male hunk I don't even have the interest to google, being rather bland and out of the narrative for long stretches of time. That's not my main issue with the series, though. Much more important to my belated cancellation is the gratuitous glorification of violence and toxic masulinity. It's incredible how repetitive fucking hookers and mistresses, snorting coke and shooting people can become. Add to that the absolut toxic mix of "violence is sexy, and it's necessary to defeat crime, you snowflake"-attitude that the show brings, and I'm wondering why I didn't stop sooner, trying to find the good on the ground of it. None was there.
Would try picking up again: Very unlikely, but never say never.
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"Really, man? Another two seasons of this?" |
Narcos: Mexico. Watched: One-and-a-half episodes. Why, after the bad impression that the original Narcos left me with, did I try its sister show? Two names for you: Diego Luna and Scoot McNairy. Unfortunately, the script does the former no favors, and the latter is practically abused by screenwriters and director and should file for damages. The damn thing starts with a voice-over with that oh-so-cynical, world-weary attitude of "you civilians know nothing let me explain why only men with no restraint for violence can solve this". Then, the main character's wife glowingly tells him to follow his dreams, she'll support him all the way and I puke. I made it another hour into this, then they shot a horse, randomly cursed into the telephone, cursed at their other people, made quibs about dead people and I was sure I wasn't waiting around for some McNairy magic that might or might not appear.
Would try picking up again: Only if I'd finished the original first.
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It's also the new torture porn. |
Orange is the new black. Watched: Five seasons and two episodes. This is a really weird series, moving back and forth between comedy and tragedy, making you care for characters in one minute and laughing about them in the next. The series starts off as entertaining but becomes increasingly gripping, especially in seasons three and four. You should watch this for the emotional rollercoaster ride it presents alone. However, I stopped when season 6 started to pander REALLY hard to its progressive audience half of the time and delved into pure misery porn in the other.
Would try picking up again: Very unlikely.
Orphan Black. Watched: Eleven episodes. Another series that already overstays its welcome in season 1, and there are like four of this thing. The concept is that a woman finds out there are several clones of her leading radically different lives, and someone's after them and mystery and McGuffin and GOD I'M BORED ALREADY. The main drag on this is that a charming idea in theory - an actress portrays radically different versions of her character, from suburban housewive to hipster hacker to Punk - cannot be pulled off by the lead actress, leading to crass overacting and overwriting of these characters and turning them into caricatures that don't allow me to actually emphasize with them.
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Too many orphans, too much blackness. |
Would try picking up again: No. I'd need to rewatch it first because I forgot the plot, and that's not about to happen.
Outlander. Watched: One episode. I don't remember much about this, to be honest. I wanted to like it because I dig Tobias Menzies, and there's too little he's in, but the series didn't catch me despite the subject matter in theory appealing to me. I guess it's a bit too much on the generic side of things.
Would try to pick up again: No, there's just too much better stuff around.
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Pretty only if you like inches of make-up. |
Would try picking up again: No, no, no.
Prison Break. Watched: First two seasons.
The premise did sound very exciting. A guy gets himself imprisoned and
stages a high-level escape for his brother. Ususally, this would involve
Clint Eastwood and 90 minutes of suspense, but with more time it could
possibly make for some really exciting TV. And it did in one half of its
first season, the half that was not killed by a conspiracy plot. Again,
the writers seemed to have lost faith in their own brain child,
deciding to add some mystery. As it is nearly always the case with these
things, logic and believability go right out the window. In the first
season, the conspiracy plot is distracting, but you suffer through it to
get back at the action in prison. In the second season, when they are
running through the US, it becomes predominant, and even more stupid.
But at one point, they had to solve it, season finale, thing was over.
Of course, you didn't make your calculation with the execs, did you?
Ratings were good enough, so they needed a third season for what should
have been a mini-series to start with. And for that, they added an even
bigger conspiracy, even less logic, and resetted all to the first
episode of season 1, just meaner. Wow. I never even bothered with season
3. Really, had they made a mini-series, it would have been hell of a
ride, dense and exciting. Now, it's bloated and stupid. Great call.
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Adding a high-level conspiracy to a prison break. What could possibly go wrong? |
Would try picking up again: Certainly not.
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A series set in a 50s asylum with lots of weird people. Innovative approach. |
Rachted. Watched: The pilot. Another Netflix series with the premise of exploring the backstory of Nurse Ratched from "One flew over the cuckoos nest". It's set in the 1950s, and its pilot leaves out no clichee about asylums or the period, while managing to be all over the place and heavily reliant on hand waving to make the already incredibly convolued plot work. Count me out.
Would try picking up again: One more case in which there is no lack of mediocre shit to watch.
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Booooooooooring. |
Resident Alien. Watched: The first 15 minutes of the pilot. The general idea is solid: an alien impersonates a doctor, gets drafted by the police to solve murders and does so thanks to superior intellect, but struggles to pass as human. It's weighed down by stilted dialogue, uninteresting characters, wild and badly executed swings in tone and a paint-by-numbers-approach to more interesting ideas, of which there aren't many to begin with.
Would try picking up again: Nope.
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Revolutionizing exactly nothing. |
Would try picking up again: Is this even on anywhere?
Sherlock.
Watched: Two seasons and two episodes. Before watching Sherlock, I wouldn't have thought that the story of a
genius detective might get me excited. However, Sherlock does the trick.
It's not that they would develop Sherlock into a real character (Robert
Downey Jr.'s version has more depth), it's the blatant statement that
they don't even bother. Sherlock is a hyper-genius on his field, larger
than life, all his traits amplified. This works because of really clever
plots, great dialogue and superb acting by the leads Benedict
Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. The routine does get a bit stale in
season 3, however, and didn't really interest me enough to continue once I had stopped. I could go on longer about the problems, but someone already did it.
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You don't want to spend several seasons in a Ferris wheel, nor should you with this show. |
Would try picking up again: No. It's likely one of the more qualitative interesting things I dropped.
Six Feet Under: Watched: Two or three episodes. This is one of those that's not really bad, at least as far as I remember (it has been awhile), but that just didn't grab me, concept-wise. Perhaps it was too artsy for my then unrefined tastes (ahem), I don't know. The travails of the coroner business did not hold their sway over me. Never made it past the initial two or three episodes.
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A series about coroners. That should cheer you up! |
Would try picking up again: Absolutely. Just need a reason, I guess.
Sliders. Watched: Two episodes. An interesting concept in theory - a ragtag team of characters exploring parallel dimensions with what-could've-been versions of earth - gets bogged down quickly by the farcical nature of it. The problem with concepts like this is that they tend to portray very one-note versions and go for the obvious instead of the subversive, telling us more about the smugness of their creators as of the question pondered.
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Gimli is in it. |
Would try picking up again: No, artifact of its time, nothing there today.
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Kansas. Who doesn't love the place? |
Would try picking up again: Certainly not.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Watched: The first episode. When people talk about gratuitous sex and violence in "Game of Thrones", they supposedly never saw this travesty. Its sole reason of being is satisfying the most infantile instincts, appealing to gore and tits. The characters are paper-thin, the dialogue is laughable, the acting at times unappealing and at times ridiculous. It hurts seeing that this shit is going on season after season, where good shows have been cancelled.
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Not depicted: blood and sex. But there's a lot of that, no worries. |
Would try picking up again: No, I don't have the need to watch blood-and-tits stuff for 16-year-olds.
Sons of Anarchy. Watched: six seasons. This is a very similar case to Lost: despite knowing
better, I just kept watching. There's a tag for the show in the sidebar
on the right, where I wrote more extensive reviews and stuff about it,
but suffice to say that the plot is often lackluster and the characters
lack severely in depth and development. The show excels in its portrayal
of action and chase scenes, though, and at least at times manages to
get genuine suspense and excitment in its run despite the formulaic
approach. I stopped after season 6 mostly for the reason that the final season wasn't out then, and haven't returned since.
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Unironically celebrating violence and misoginy. |
Would try picking up again: If so, only to get it off this fucking list, but I don't care enough.
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What if Star Trek, but with more action? |
Would try picking up again: Very unlikely, as I don't have the enthusiasm.
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Going where no bad CGI has ever gone before. |
Would try picking up again: The effects were bad then, and time was not kind. No.
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Is this the screen test for the ever elusive R-rated Tarantino Star-Trek-movie? |
Star Trek Lower Decks. Watched: The pilot. The setup of this series is intriguing: instead of the same old senior staff on the bridge and their adventures making first contact, we follow the lives of the deckhands on the lower decks on a ship making second contact, where they're doing the boring, bureaucratic stuff and menial work. However, the over-reliance of the show on gruesome (cartoon) violence is really odd and doesn't add anything other than shock value, and the same is true of the crass humor, cursing and general bufoonery that is the best part of the dialogue. Just reading your lines very fast does not make good humor.
Would try picking up again: Not unless someone gives me a compelling reason.
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Degrading season by season. |
Would try picking up again: I'm actively angry with this show, so, unlikely.
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A softie and a badass, what could possibly go wrong? |
Supernatural. Watched: First season.
Two brothers chasing ghosts and other supernatural stuff, hunted by the
demon that killed their mother, trained by their now missing father -
solid premise, if you ask me. The actors weren't half bad, but not
brillant either. It worked out. In the first half of the series or so,
the episodes didn't really have that much connection with each other,
each telling its individual story. It was like a lottery; one time,
you'll get a good episode, one time, it really sucks. Later in the first
season, they actually try to make sense of it, bringing daddy in and
letting them charge at the demon (or whatever it was, I don't really
remember). The story mainly worked on the actors looking scampered and
creating suspense out of thin air by letting something supernatural
appear whenever they needed it. That way, they covered a lot of ground,
but neither story not characters did progress in any meaningful way, so I
never bothered with season 2. Since then, many people have told me that
it starts to get good at season 3, but when someone can't tell a story
for two consecutive seasons, it's not worth the bother in my eyes.
Would try picking up again: Another artifact of its time, so, no.
Swamp Thing. Watched: The first 30 minutes. I didn't manage to read the graphic novel, which I found in turns unengaging and baffling. The series doesn't baffle me, it's just not engaging. The storytelling it showcases in its first half-hour is riddled with dumb cliches, the characters are behaving like raving idiots, and the CGI is incredibly bad.
Would try picking up again: nope.
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Jeremy Irons, front and center. His hands, anyway. |
Would try picking up again: No, it's just another blood and violence show disguising itself in historic clothing.
The Boys. Watched: Two seasons. This
comic adaptation sees Amazon try to do the same thing twice, once with
"Invincible" (see above) as a cartoon and then with "The Boys" as a real
series. The premise: super heroes exist, and they're just the worst,
unaccountable and powerful. Our main character becomes part of the
titular Boys, a group trying to bring them down. There are some
interesting ideas in the by now worn-out formula, such as a the
corporate identity of the superheroes, but boy(s), this show sucks with
heaps of toxic masculinity, cliched dialogue, bad writing and tons of
gore to pass itself as "mature" to audiences of 16-year-olds. I did a podcast on it, too.
Would watch again: Oh boy(s), hell fucking no.
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Pictured: An incredibly subtle metaphor. |
Would try picking up again: No, too much misery to endure.
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Listen to the liberal demigod, he is so much smarter than you are! |
Would try picking up again:No, the self-loathing is too much to bear.
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Not quite sure what they're shielding. |
Would try picking up again: Unlikely, but possible, given the good reviews it created.
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Most famous American family, to the dismay of conservatives. |
The Simpsons. Watched: Three seasons and a scattershot of episodes. I don't know how many people watched ALL of Simpsons, but I guess most people watched at least a bit. This is one of the most important shows of all time, and I tried to watch all of it because I felt I should. Maybe I'll finish it at some point. Maybe not. We'll see.
Would try picking up again: Sure, but I don't see me binging it.
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These are two people, not a staircase. I call bullshit. |
Would try picking up again: I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts, when you read this, you don't even remember this existed.
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Try as you want, you sure as hell won't seduce me. |
The Tudors. Watched: First two seasons. The first season of The Tudors I found interesting. Sam Neill was great as Wolsey and provided an interesting and exciting counterpart to King Henry. The second season...not so much. The first season had an interesting and well functioning diversion between the love plots (who is allowed to fuck Edward when, where and why) and a political subplot about the founding of the Church of England, alliances with France and the German Empire and intrigues at court. When Nathalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn showed up, the plot consisted only of "who fucks when why where". The only other themes where the fight of Thomas More and his ultimate execution. To make up for it, the series dove into brutality porn with their gruesome execution and torture scenes. At the end of the season I had stopped caring and never even considered touching the third, because to see Edward ponder on whether he was in love or not after the question had been resolved fifty times over didn't have great appeal anymore. It was especially jarring to see how the political subplots and intrigues that had made up much of the variety in season 1 where completely beaten into the affair-mode of season 2, where even the question of war with Spain could somehow be reduced to the question of who was getting into Edward's bed.
Would try picking up again: No, not nearly good or interesting enough for that.
The Undoing. Watched: Four episodes. This show reminds me a lot about "Defending Jacob", downright to the feeling of wanting it to be over while watching it. Like "Defending Jacob", it has a ridiculously overqualified cast and all the hallmarks of a high-end production, but its script and direction are atrocious. Script first: The dumb shit happening in this thing is beyond belief. Policemen that conduct their interviews purely for dramatic effect, including time and location. A main character that is just doing obviously dumb shit. A laywer that antagonizes everyone. Generally, no one behaves or talks like humans do. It's a shit-show. And the direction makes it worse: the considerable talents of the likes of Kidman and Grant are totally wasted, as their pushed to overact practically every line and emotion. Stay away from this glossy crap.
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It went all downhill from this shot. |
The
Walking Dead. Watched: Six seasons. The
series often borders the insanely stupid and boring, with almost
non-existent character arcs and the misperception that characters
talking endlessly about the same stupid stuff for four seasons in a row
would make up for that. Unfortunately, the show is also bound to moments
of great fun and excitement, especially if the zombies finally do show
up and "the group" (how I hate that term) stops the stupid talk for just
a second to split some zombie heads. This, however, doesn't enable me to overlook the increasingly fascist and nihilistic undertones and the sheer unpleasantness of it all, rubbing in the misery constantly and without any point. I despise this thing by now.
Would try picking up again: No, I can't stand the fascism any longer.
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It would like to be Game of Thrones on a budget but doesn't even clear that low bar. |
Would try picking up again: Possible, but unlikely. Too campy for my tastes.
Tribes of Europa. Watched: the first 15 minutes of the pilot. This German TV show is so hilariously bad that it's almost worth a watch. Almost. The actors are bad beyond belief, the costumes are bad, the CGI is bad, he plot is bad, the dialogue is bad. It's like watching a LARP going on, and boy have I participated in enough of them to grown here.
Would try picking up again: You'd need to pay me big bucks.
True Blood. Watched: First five seasons. In the first version of this article, back in the day, True Blood was in my list of good series, but that was before I had watched seasons 4 and 5. I stopped after 5, never even bothering for 6. In the beginning, it was interesting, but at some point, the show simply outstayed its welcome. The real trouble started with two plotlines: Lafayette having some witch-capacity and the whole Alcide-and-the-werewolves stuff. Lafayette, like Jason, always had the function of an anchor in the madness of fantasy elements all around. At some point, everyone was able to do some magic stuff. Why? And Alcide certainly is the most uninspired addition to the main cast. As if the Bill vs. Erik struggle for Sookie wasn't tiresome already, we get a third member for the love story, but one that's so uninteresting that you grab your remote. But the show went totally haywire at the end of season 5, when, out of any sensible plotlines, they introduced Lillith as an harbinger of the apocalpyse to raise the stakes (heh) after Russel essentially eliminated any menace that derived from very old and powerful vampires. True Blood, there's a line between cool fantasy ideas and outright sillyness, and you not only crossed it, but jumped over it with both feet.
Would try picking up again: Very unlikely. It's been so long, I don't remember it well enough - other than my reasons to quit.
Veep. Watched: Three Episodes. This political comedy follows the hapless fictional Vice President Selina Meyer and her staff through absolute political meaninglessness and trivial public relations tribulations. I watched three episodes, but it never clicked with me. I didn't really like the cynical undertone of it and found the humor occasionally funny, but not consistently enough.
Would try picking up again: Maybe? It's not offensive. Give me a reason.
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A lot of red. Believe me, there's more to come. |
Would try picking up again: Unlikely, for the reasons given above.
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How could something with such a high standard of production have such bad writing? |
Would try picking up again: No, I have too little interest inp puzzle boxes.
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From the people who brought you "Sharknado". Seriously. |
Would try picking up again: I won't to back to the Walking Dead, so why to this?
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This poster decidedly not conveys what this show is about. |
Zoo. Watched: Three episodes. The idea of all animals becoming sentient and then attacking humanity is weird, and there's a story that can be told with it. Or you can go down the route this show did, which is probably the smarter take. Just embrace the weirdness and madness of it. It just wasn't my cup of tea. But it might be yours!
Would try picking up again: Very unlikely, but stranger things have happened.
And writing all this made me realize how much I already watched, and I feel sad and absurdely proud at the same time. To make up for the sadness, a complete list of series I did finish.
Hm, what about Dark Angel? I think it's missing in one of the lists.^^
ReplyDeleteNever saw it.
ReplyDeleteAh, you're much too sophisticated, Stefan. :p Prison Break isn't that bad if you enjoy suspense and don't bother that the plot sometimes is pretty much insane. Supernatural DOES get better wirh Season 3. Dexter is simply great. On the other hand I have no idea how someone is able to make it through all the seven seasons of the West Wing. As a scholar in American Studies I tried again and again and finally gave up. None of the characters is in any way intriguing in my eyes. Rome and The Wire likewiese bored me to death.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with your judgement considering Smallville (you made it through five seasons of that nonsense, too? :D), Heroes, Jericho (what a waste of a great idea indeed!), Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Breaking Bad (genius!), Caprica, Mad Men and Sherlock.
Didn't watch a single episode of The Tudors (and don`t intend to). Am looking forward to watch The Game of Thrones.
Heh, doesn't pay off being a nerd if you can't use it to brag a bit. But seriously, you can't watch West Wing for the characters, it's not that kind of series. They started actually being characters in season 4, but I watch West Wing because it gives me something...it's that look into a world perceived better, the ideals, the themes and topics. The characters just serve functions; it's a Sorkin-world after all. Dexter...? Nah, really not. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Wire had great characters, though, but you need to see it as more of an ambience show, much like Boardwalk Empire. It's slow going, and you need to like the setting and immerse yourself. Rome is great, what's there not to like? ^^
Game of Thrones, of course, is king supreme, but under no cirumstance forget to read the books.
i couldnt get past Season 2 episode 2 of Deadwood. just a little boring and i said i would go back and continue to watch it but i wonder if that day will ever come. Lots of swearing in the show though GOT and ROME have lots of sex so i guess with HBO you have to take your pick with which one you want more of in your show. I thought The Wire balanced sex and profanity better than any other HBO show to date.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Deadwood is really slow. Have to like it.
DeleteDo you watch the shows in German or English? I think alot of the jokes in Supernatural wouldn't translate well.
ReplyDeleteEnglish. Always English.
ReplyDeleteIn your TUDORS segment, you keep referring to "Edward" -- surely you mean Henry VIII? Excellent new blog, btw.
ReplyDeleteOops, thanks, corrected.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the main problem of all these series that they are aiming at large audiences, especially those produced for basic cable? They are all geared towards the lowest common demoninator, whatever the ambition of their premise. In some cases, like Heroes, the incompatibility between the fantastic initial premise and the realities of basic cable production is just even more glaringly obvious. But even the Tudors (or, one might add, The Borgias) show symptoms of forced mainstream market compatibility, by adding pointless gore and sex. And I *like* gore and sex, so it amazes me when a show manages to completely overshoot my rather immense tolerance for it.
ReplyDeleteOne show I missed from the list is House, MD. Good for you if you never watched it, although the first two seasons were somewhat ok. But after that, the show became a trainwreck rivaled only by the likes of How I Met Your Mother. Downhill at the speed of light.
Segueing of which, there's also Battlestar Galactica, which had a fantastic premise, and then they ruined it with story arcs that make Lost appear like a Neal Stephenson novel by comparison.
And there are many other, less notable shows that have rapidly deteriorated. I'd include e.g. The 4400 on that list. And Sons of Anarchy. Started out great, then it became generic and insufferably cheap drama.
And then there's also those shows that started with a bang only to hit the wall within their first or second season, like the abysmal FlashForward and The Event.
Luckily for all of us, there are always new shows to discover. Some of them are cancelled before they have a chance to turn sour, including the two seasons of the very watchable Men of a Certain Age.
My personal problem is rather what I can even watch anymore after being spoiled by the greats like The Sopranos, The Wire and Six Feet Under. Exceedingly few shows can keep up with those in terms of pace and complexity. After having watched those, it's mostly back to reading good books for me.
Also, in the Tudors section, "intrigue" is misspelt as "intriegue".
Spelling error corrected.
DeleteI have never seen House, 4400, SoA, FF or The Event. I plan on watching Sons of Anarchy, though.
I rather liked BSG, although the mystery elements dominate after a time, and not to the show's benefit.
I totally agree on the gore&sex aspect. Spartacus, anyone?
I can understand your personal problem. I still haven't watched the Sopranos, have to catch up with that. But there's still a good load of good stuff around. Watch Game of Thrones, Deadwood, Rome, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, and you have enough to do ;)
Ok, House MD really sucks ass. Wannabe-Sherlock.
DeleteRome is the only of these I haven't devoured yet... :(
ReplyDeleteNot a huge fan of Walking Dead though, especially the lower budget second season contained far too much awfully drawn out relationship drama, cheap filler for the dollar.
Also, while we're exchanging must-sees, I'd throw in Mad Men, Firefly, The Kingdom (Riget), Spaced, Black Books, and Homeland (although I'm looking forward to watching the Israeli original "Hatufim") just in case you haven't watched those.
On the other hand, and I know it's a sacrilege to say as much on the internet, but I don't even like where they are going with the final season of Breaking Bad. Too much pointless back and forth.
SoA is worth it for Katey Sagal's performance alone. Just don't expect the most convincing story arcs. Some individual episodes are outstanding though, especially the ones directed by TV mastermind Paris Barclay.
Ditto wrt BSG and supernatural elements taking over. Similar was true for Lost. At some point, I fantasized they would use some new generic character as a stand-in for internet fandumb, and give the polar bear a final appearance, by eating that fan alive. Like, "Hey, you guys, whatever happened to that polar bear?" -- And then it just appears and eats his face. I just hate it when producers become attached to silly story arcs when they could simply jettison them and semi-reboot the show with only the stronger elements in place.
Oh well, remarkable complaints... :D
Walking Dead, see my recaps, gets better in season 3. There's more dough there, visibly.
DeleteMad Men I also devoured and just forgot to mention, thanks! Firefly is good, but not great. Homeland I reviewed only today. The rest I don't know.
Breaking Bad was really good, the last season too. Really excited to see where this is heading.
And don't get me started on Lost. It sucks.
I'm watching tudors now. I'm on season 2 episode 2 and looking for validation to quit it. Season 1 was a pain. I made a mistake downloading up to season 3. Now I'm in dilemma; if I stop completely then my 15gb are wasted and if I push it's time wasted.
ReplyDelete