What popular shows have you never watched?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You see...what really ticks me off about most one-hour drama shows is the acting. Nobody acts or speaks like that in real life! People don't usually come up with quick, clever, witty one-liners or say something super-dramatic, leaving the opposite party speechless as they walk away. It just doesn't happen...but in these shows, it's an everyday occurrence.

Then there's the sitcoms, which are probably even worse than the one-hour drama shows! Sitcom plotlines are formulaic pieces of ####### that anybody with a kernel of a brain could figure out ahead of time, laughtracks are just plain sad, and the gender stereotyping for both men and women (especially men though) is incredibly insulting.

Just once I'd like to see a show that doesn't rely on hackneyed gimmicks and writing or over-the-top melodrama. This must be the reason I refuse to watch all the terrible shows available on the networks and cable today.

There is a certain amount of dramatic license - but it really depends how good the screen-writer is.

I quite like the Sopranos, for example, and the characterisation is quite subtle. Tony Soprano has a number of personal idiosyncrasies that feature in almost every episode (even down to the way he plays with the food on his plate)

[me_4_musa 1]

Tony Soprano has a number of personal idiosyncrasies that feature in almost every episode (even down to the way he plays with the food on his plate)

So true - love the show!

[SoL. 0]

I only watch a few:

CSI, Law & Order, Without a Trace & The Sopranos.

The ones I REALLY do not like are:

Sex & the City & Friends. So unrealistic & woody acting

I prefer to watch The Discovery Health Channel.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

After reading all the replies, I realized that I forgot

JERICHO

THE SOPRANOS

THE APPRENTICE

and more, from my original list.

[eap620 0]

There is only one show that I actually follow on TV and that is LOST.

Otherwise, many of the shows listed in this thread, I have come across but don't have a clue what's going on. I usually channel surf for a few minutes and then turn it off. I don't have but a few channels anyway. So, besides LOST, the only other shows that I sit down and watch are those such as: Dateline, 20/20, 60 minutes and oh...I do have a weakness for Seinfeld and King of the Hill reruns that come on Fox after 10pm CST. I probably need more channels for better TV.

[dkalXuan 0]

for me,

i watch

Lost

The Sheild

Cops

and anything on Discovery Science

oh and ESPN

[Alex+R 0]

I've seen almost nothing... oh except I've seen every episode of Six Feet Under and Battlestar Galactica. Can't say I don't like Sex and the City or Family Guy either. Seen most of those. Too bad only 2 of those are still on the air. I really hate Greys Anatomy and haven't seen House or any of the popular sitcoms, whatever they may be. I only recently began watching TV, and I still sort of have no respect for it.

What's up with the posts that are like "I don't like show x because it's not realistic enough for me" LAWL

I don't get wanting to watch TV for the "realism"...isn't the whole point of TV stepping out of reality to make yourself a little stupider for awhile? Seriously, if you want art or great acting, try film. And only some film. Six Feet Under, for example, can be beautiful and explore a lot of great themes, but at the end of the day it's just a glorified soap opera. Like all the other HBO-type shows.

[sparkofcreation 0]

Lost (except one episode during the first season when my sister was over)

Desperate Housewives

Grey's Anatomy

24

The Sopranos

Sex and the City

Six Feet Under

The Apprentice

Survivor (except the finale of the first season)

CSI (or its offshoots)

Ugly Betty

Gilmore Girls

The Amazing Race

My Name is Earl

Jericho

Prison Break

Project Runway

House I've seen 2-3 times but never really gotten into it. I used to watch the Simpsons when I lived in Spain (in 1999), but never before or since. I used to watch "Crossing Jordan" but it got too weird in about the fourth season. We used to watch "Battlestar Galactica" but then we moved, missed four episodes, and never got back into it. We do own the DVDs and are hoping to catch up in time to watch Season 4 when it starts in the fall. I like to watch Law & Order once in a blue moon (only the original) but I don't follow it.

Basically all we watch with any frequency is "Heroes." Oh, and once in a while "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars," but not regularly. (Oh, and home-improvement shows.)

Edited February 19, 2007 by sparkofcreation

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I've seen almost nothing... oh except I've seen every episode of Six Feet Under and Battlestar Galactica. Can't say I don't like Sex and the City or Family Guy either. Seen most of those. Too bad only 2 of those are still on the air. I really hate Greys Anatomy and haven't seen House or any of the popular sitcoms, whatever they may be. I only recently began watching TV, and I still sort of have no respect for it.

What's up with the posts that are like "I don't like show x because it's not realistic enough for me" LAWL

I don't get wanting to watch TV for the "realism"...isn't the whole point of TV stepping out of reality to make yourself a little stupider for awhile? Seriously, if you want art or great acting, try film. And only some film. Six Feet Under, for example, can be beautiful and explore a lot of great themes, but at the end of the day it's just a glorified soap opera. Like all the other HBO-type shows.

I think it probably has more to do with believability - it doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, but at least convincing. I used to watch Six Feet Under, Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm - and I enjoyed them all for what they were. In film, there's a term called suspension of disbelief - an audience will buy into what the filmmaker is showing them to a point, but if the filmmaker doesn't succeed then the spell is broken and the audience feels jipped.

Also another thing about realism that I deal with professionally - as more and more video games mimick movies, there is the notion even among developers of video games that we should be duplicating real life. When I was working on an Indian Jones game, I analyzed video footage of the fight sequences and the choreography is way over the top, yet interestingly I think people are so used to seeing 'cinematic realism' that they mistake it for real life. Harrison Ford would never be able to do the things he did even in the fight sequences. It's not realism that most viewers want - they just want to be convinced...we want to believe in the magic of cinema.

[Marilyn. 340]

I have never watched .....

Desperate House Wives

Ugly Betty

24..... ( well, I watched one episode of 24 but I couldn't get into the show and haven't watched it since) ...

My Name is Earl

Scrubs (I have watched the occasional episode but I am not really into the show)

Malcolm in the Middle (same as above)

West Wing

The OC

That 70's Show

Dawson's Crack (the only time I watched that show is when my roommate would watch it.... I hated that show)

I do watch .....

Battlestar Galatica

Prison Break

Heroes

Ghost Whisperer

American Idol

House

Grey's Anatomy

Stargate SG1

Stargate Atlantis

Ghost Hunters

Smallville (we are a a little behind with this show though)

Bones (I am a season behind on this show)

yes, my hubby and me are very boring..... we like to stay home and watch TV or movies

Edited February 19, 2007 by MarilynP

[JenT 0]

I'm among the group who doesn't watch TV.... no time for it.

[eric&gen 0]

My favorite shows are

SOUTH PARK

WWE RAW

SMACK DOWN

ECW

RENO 911

AMERICAN CHOPPER

[CarolineM 0]

Hmmm.

Lost

24

heros

ugly betty

ER

desperate housewives

OMg there's so many. Maybe it's easier to tell what shows I DO watch LOL

[DeadPoolX 9]

I've seen almost nothing... oh except I've seen every episode of Six Feet Under and Battlestar Galactica. Can't say I don't like Sex and the City or Family Guy either. Seen most of those. Too bad only 2 of those are still on the air. I really hate Greys Anatomy and haven't seen House or any of the popular sitcoms, whatever they may be. I only recently began watching TV, and I still sort of have no respect for it.

What's up with the posts that are like "I don't like show x because it's not realistic enough for me" LAWL

I don't get wanting to watch TV for the "realism"...isn't the whole point of TV stepping out of reality to make yourself a little stupider for awhile? Seriously, if you want art or great acting, try film. And only some film. Six Feet Under, for example, can be beautiful and explore a lot of great themes, but at the end of the day it's just a glorified soap opera. Like all the other HBO-type shows.

I think it probably has more to do with believability - it doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, but at least convincing. I used to watch Six Feet Under, Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm - and I enjoyed them all for what they were. In film, there's a term called suspension of disbelief - an audience will buy into what the filmmaker is showing them to a point, but if the filmmaker doesn't succeed then the spell is broken and the audience feels jipped.

Also another thing about realism that I deal with professionally - as more and more video games mimick movies, there is the notion even among developers of video games that we should be duplicating real life. When I was working on an Indian Jones game, I analyzed video footage of the fight sequences and the choreography is way over the top, yet interestingly I think people are so used to seeing 'cinematic realism' that they mistake it for real life. Harrison Ford would never be able to do the things he did even in the fight sequences. It's not realism that most viewers want - they just want to be convinced...we want to believe in the magic of cinema.

Steven hit the nail on the head. I probably have difficulty with "suspension of belief" in so far as dialogue is concerned. I can deal with a number of things that are so-so in terms of believability (such as the fight scenes Steven mentioned; I readily realize they're not realistic, but if they were, the movie wouldn't be nearly as entertaining!) but I like my dialogue as close to real life as possible. Cheesy, hackneyed, or overly melodramatic dialogue really ticks me off, because it's not the least bit convincing. How do I know? I talk to people everyday! I know what speaking to people sounds like and how discussion and discourse is supposed to go. Do I necessarily know how war is in a trench or flying a plane or what dueling an opponent is like with swords while fending off snakes? Of course not! It may not be realistic, but I've never encountered that either, so I can't readily say to myself, "That's #######. I know stuff in the real world doesn't work that way."

Now, the one caveat to this is if the movie or TV show is set in a fantasy realm or sufficiently historical/futuristic society, all of which might mean people act differently than they would in modern day life. But so long as the show or movie is set within the 20th or 21st century, I expect them to speak and behave as normal people do in today's world.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I do watch

ALL THE CSIs

ALL THE L&Os

The CLOSER

CLOSE TO HOME

SHARK

NUMBERS

GREY'S ANATOMY

LOU DOBBS

Dr 90210

48 HOURS

60 MINUTES

20/20

Lots of HGTV, CSPAN, News channels, Arabic channels, Travel channel, FitTV, Court TV, Discovery channels stuff, History channels stuff, Science and NGEO stuff.

I have 3 DVRs and a preference for legal, medical, historical, cultural, and self-improvement shows.