Most Overrated tv shows ever - Television Hate thread
- Thread starter TheMasterOfOrion
- Start date
1) FRIENDS: Not only was this show not funny, but it was set in a racially monolithic NYC with a cast of characters living a lifestyle totally impossible even by mid-90s economic standards. Convinced a generation of yuppies that intellectual discourse meant sitting in overpriced coffee shops and trying to sleep with platonic friends of the opposite sex. Waste of time.
2) AMERICAN IDOL: Who cares? Seriously. I liked it better when it was called STAR SEARCH and Ed McMahon hosted it.
3) EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: I didn't.
4) LAW & ORDER: This show has been on forever and it seems like it is on all the damn time. I hate this series because it ripped off far more superior shows like NYPD BLUE which ripped off HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET. Somehow, Homicide and THE WIRE disappear with little or no fanfare, but this Law & Order crap with the same plot every episode for 12 years manages to keep going strong. Bizarre.
5) CSI: Same as above. Not only is this show repetitive, but it is scientifically impossible. If you want the real thing, watch FORENSIC FILES on TRU TV. It not only is based on real events and real technology, but it doesn't insult your intelligence.
6) HANNAH MONTANA: Apparently American children are enamored with redneck kid stars on a TV show that ripped off its premise from the 80s cartoon JEM.
7) THE SOPRANOS: Basically, this show was GOODFELLAS stretched out over 10 years. People who liked The Sopranos obviously never went to the movies because the plots of the show were taken from: GOODFELLAS, GODFATHER I, GODFATHER II, A BRONX TALE, DONNIE BRASCO, CRIME STORY, and HEAT. Goes to show what happens when an artistically illiterate society has too much free time to watch cable.
8) FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: A cult TV series on HBO featuring a couple of guys no one has ever heard of but all the critics seem to love. I guess its a musical variety/sketch show but every episode I saw looks like it was shot on an East Village rooftop in Mahnattan with a pair of deeply pretentious British Mod/Hipster types wearing white t-shirts, wool hats, and tight jeans. Maybe I missed something, but this would only appeal to an art school drop out.
9) KIDS IN THE HALL: The ultimate, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious English major variety show. That's about the only folks who seem to love Kids in the Hall. I saw it as an inferior version of Conan O'Brien-style humor packed with gay white men constantly wearing drag and performing like 40% of their sketches as transvestites. That wasn't my real problem with the show because I am not homophobic, it just wasn't funny.
10) CHEERS: I liked Cheers, but a lot of people seem to elevate the show to almost mythic status despite that fact that no one would have ever heard of Cheers if it wasn't for THE COSBY SHOW. You see, in the early days of Cheers, the ratings were dismal beyond belief and it wasn't an across the board critical success. With the addition of The Cosby Show and FAMILY TIES at the top of the Thursday night lineup, NBC created the concept of a united theme block of TV programming (i.e. "Must See Thursday Night"). While Cheers improved exponentially in following seasons, a lot of people overestimate the influence of the show and the potency of the scripts. Cheers had the right actors at the right time, a show like that wouldn't work today because the Bostonian nativistic vibe would turn off lots of viewers. Hyped way too much.
CBW
2) AMERICAN IDOL: Who cares? Seriously. I liked it better when it was called STAR SEARCH and Ed McMahon hosted it.
3) EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: I didn't.
4) LAW & ORDER: This show has been on forever and it seems like it is on all the damn time. I hate this series because it ripped off far more superior shows like NYPD BLUE which ripped off HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET. Somehow, Homicide and THE WIRE disappear with little or no fanfare, but this Law & Order crap with the same plot every episode for 12 years manages to keep going strong. Bizarre.
5) CSI: Same as above. Not only is this show repetitive, but it is scientifically impossible. If you want the real thing, watch FORENSIC FILES on TRU TV. It not only is based on real events and real technology, but it doesn't insult your intelligence.
6) HANNAH MONTANA: Apparently American children are enamored with redneck kid stars on a TV show that ripped off its premise from the 80s cartoon JEM.
7) THE SOPRANOS: Basically, this show was GOODFELLAS stretched out over 10 years. People who liked The Sopranos obviously never went to the movies because the plots of the show were taken from: GOODFELLAS, GODFATHER I, GODFATHER II, A BRONX TALE, DONNIE BRASCO, CRIME STORY, and HEAT. Goes to show what happens when an artistically illiterate society has too much free time to watch cable.
8) FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: A cult TV series on HBO featuring a couple of guys no one has ever heard of but all the critics seem to love. I guess its a musical variety/sketch show but every episode I saw looks like it was shot on an East Village rooftop in Mahnattan with a pair of deeply pretentious British Mod/Hipster types wearing white t-shirts, wool hats, and tight jeans. Maybe I missed something, but this would only appeal to an art school drop out.
9) KIDS IN THE HALL: The ultimate, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious English major variety show. That's about the only folks who seem to love Kids in the Hall. I saw it as an inferior version of Conan O'Brien-style humor packed with gay white men constantly wearing drag and performing like 40% of their sketches as transvestites. That wasn't my real problem with the show because I am not homophobic, it just wasn't funny.
10) CHEERS: I liked Cheers, but a lot of people seem to elevate the show to almost mythic status despite that fact that no one would have ever heard of Cheers if it wasn't for THE COSBY SHOW. You see, in the early days of Cheers, the ratings were dismal beyond belief and it wasn't an across the board critical success. With the addition of The Cosby Show and FAMILY TIES at the top of the Thursday night lineup, NBC created the concept of a united theme block of TV programming (i.e. "Must See Thursday Night"). While Cheers improved exponentially in following seasons, a lot of people overestimate the influence of the show and the potency of the scripts. Cheers had the right actors at the right time, a show like that wouldn't work today because the Bostonian nativistic vibe would turn off lots of viewers. Hyped way too much.
CBW
Sex In The City - So it's a show about three hookers and their mom? Never watched an episode, not even on a dare. Only thing that might have gotten me to watch was Jason Lewis.
24 - Villains who make plans that can be undone in 24 hours are not the kind that make good plots.
Sex In The City - Really this show is so over rated it deserves to be on my list more than once.
Survivor - Let them die.
The Tudors - The real King Henry VIII was not hot.
Firefly - Bored the hell out of me. (Awaiting the flying debris.)
Mad About You - No I'm mad at you NBC, for renewing this piece of cow pies as often as you did.
Dharma And Greg - How was this show funny?
I would add The Sopranos but the only reason I never watched it was because I'm not big fan of Mafia based movies or shows. The Godfather is the only exception.
24 - Villains who make plans that can be undone in 24 hours are not the kind that make good plots.
Sex In The City - Really this show is so over rated it deserves to be on my list more than once.
Survivor - Let them die.
The Tudors - The real King Henry VIII was not hot.
Firefly - Bored the hell out of me. (Awaiting the flying debris.)
Mad About You - No I'm mad at you NBC, for renewing this piece of cow pies as often as you did.
Dharma And Greg - How was this show funny?
I would add The Sopranos but the only reason I never watched it was because I'm not big fan of Mafia based movies or shows. The Godfather is the only exception.
Fair comment ratings-wise, but "Cheers" did win the Emmy for best comedy series in its first and second seasons, and was well received by the critics. It wasn't like nobody had heard of "Cheers," but CBS had a strong Thursday with "Magnum, P.I." followed by "Simon & Simon" and then "Knot's Landing," and NBC couldn't break in till "The Cosby Show" came along and "Family Ties" moved to Thursday. But "Cheers' had respect in some quarters from the get-go, because it had some of the same creative team as the popular "Taxi."
--Justin
Law & Order existed before those other two shows ever did. So if anybody's doing the ripping off, L&O can't be it.
How can you hate a show you've never seen a second of?
"deeply pretentious British Mod/Hipster types wearing white t-shirts, wool hats, and tight jeans"
I can't even imagine what show you mistook for Conchords!! There isn't the slightest bit of pretense to the show!! Variety/sketch? Yeah. You couldn't have seen even a second of it. 
Another vote for that piece of crap they called LOST.....lost my viewership after season 2.
I have nothing bad to say about anything else. However for the people who list NCIS
opinions are opinions but I love the show to death.
I have nothing bad to say about anything else. However for the people who list NCIS
opinions are opinions but I love the show to death.
Considering that Law & Order was in its third season before either of those shows had bowed, you may be slightly off in your assessment of who was doing what to who...
How can you hate a show you've never seen a second of?
"deeply pretentious British Mod/Hipster types wearing white t-shirts, wool hats, and tight jeans"
Not to mention the fact that they're not even British.
Honestly, if you're going to form an extreme opinion about something, at least try to know more than dick all about it.
I don't watch TV shows that much but i dont like CSI Miami.
However my biggest grief is with shows like Buffy & Smallvil. I really liked those 2 shows first season. They were least promising but after the first season they went auto destruct for me. They just became bizarre. In Buffy the vampires became more and more stupid zombie like witch Buffy killing them without breaking her fingernails. Smallvile same story. We had more and more kryptonite based villain that was stupid and so repetitive.
p.s. Lay off Survivor bashing. Survivor is the greatest reality show ever. FACT.
However my biggest grief is with shows like Buffy & Smallvil. I really liked those 2 shows first season. They were least promising but after the first season they went auto destruct for me. They just became bizarre. In Buffy the vampires became more and more stupid zombie like witch Buffy killing them without breaking her fingernails. Smallvile same story. We had more and more kryptonite based villain that was stupid and so repetitive.
p.s. Lay off Survivor bashing. Survivor is the greatest reality show ever. FACT.
axing Survivor is maybe the one right move ITV ever made when it came to reality TV
Agreed. But, the vast majority of people I know who dislike Survivor haven't even seen it. They just assume it's bad because it's a reality show and it's been on so long. I'm sure many people probably would not like it even when they saw it, but they would find out it's not the utter crapfest they assume it to be.
A decision completely cancelled out by allowing Celebair to exist.
One thing I want to say about The Office.
I absolutely love the show now, but when I watched the first season I thought it was AWFUL. Those 6 episodes are absolute crap. The only reason I stuck with it is because I had seen several later episodes and knew how much better the show would get.
So, for those of you who only watched the first season of The Office, or most of the episodes you've seen of it were from that season, you had a very bad first impression of the show and you may like it if you try later seasons.
I absolutely love the show now, but when I watched the first season I thought it was AWFUL. Those 6 episodes are absolute crap. The only reason I stuck with it is because I had seen several later episodes and knew how much better the show would get.
So, for those of you who only watched the first season of The Office, or most of the episodes you've seen of it were from that season, you had a very bad first impression of the show and you may like it if you try later seasons.
fair point, I have managed to avoid seeing that.
however lets not forget ITV2's latest high quality public service boardcasting effort, Paris Hilton British Best Friend, if that show alone does not justify the licence fee, I dont know what does.
^ Jordan and Peter's chat show.