Keeping it light -- what TV shows do you find unwatchable?

wrath
101

Me, neither. How can they be real housewives if they are paid to be on television? Isn’t that a job or something? They could be Genuine Imitation Housewives, but come on. I seen commercials for it and it is more than obvious everything is scripted and choreographed. I want to pretend to believe those people pretending are being real? Really? Who are we fooling? It’s times like these when I think we need a different sort of criminal code for misusing your time in a democracy – except there is no greater punishment than sinking your life watching that cheesy and demented dreck; so then I just let go and resist the urge to meddle.

And Kardashians – where do I start with that red flag signalling the fall of civilization? For every person who is complaining about Trump winning the presidency, I would have a mandatory survey: did you ever willingly watch more than one episode of Kardashians or Housewives (Apprentice, Honey Boo-Boo, etc.)? Did you think that made you cool? Did you angrily defend and/or justify these actions to others who were alarmed by your viewing choices? Yes, well then, your complaining privileges have been revoked because you got the government you deserved, and I hope you are happy with yourself because you’re responsible for that unthinkable turn of events. (For those who answered “no” to the survey, carry on)…

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102

I am not sure what that means but I liked it with the assumption that’s hysterical once explained to me. I even went to urban dictionary for help. Too many definitions that don’t quite fit, from my POV at least.

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103

Claire works now. At the closet place her dad still works at. The gay couple’s kid is the worst. I hate that kid. The Sofia/Bundy kid (Joey?) is catching up to her.

It’s infinitely better than 99% of comedies out there, even if it’s grown too predictable.

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104

Yes. No ifs, ands or buts. Yes.

I don’t get it, at all. From the economics, to the entertainment, to… Anything. I guess I am not their target audience. And frankly, that doesn’t bug me.

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105

Ted was an utter nuisance on that show. Just STFU and meet the mother already. My wife loved the show. I tolerated it with the help of Ashley Williams and other guests who rotated through Ted’s life. Ashley Williams is now Jim Gaffigan’s wife on his show – which has its moments, and is easier to watch thanks to Ashley Williams.

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106

I really don’t think we can blame HoneyBooBoo or the Kardashians or really any other TV show save perhaps anything on Fox for the current political climate.

Nor am I going to blame anyone who watches reality TV for any government.
Cuz The Great British Bake Off is amazing and RuPauls Drag Race is awesome, and ANTM is a guilty pleasure. But I certainly didn’t vote rightwing, ever, in my life.

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107

The great British bakeoff blew my mind. However it was because of the skill and kindness.

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108

oh god, my kids love this shit and I hate it so very very badly. Sam & Kat and the three or four other shows that are all basically in the same universe - I dislike them all. It’s not that they’re never funny, but so much of those shows is just people being spectacularly gratuitously gleefully shitty towards each other.

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It truly blows my mind that the Kardashians are popular enough that Kim Kardashian’s emoji app, KIMOJI, is one of the most popular apps of all time, and that she’s now opening a new line of stores selling apparel and merchandise based on the emoji in her app. It’s like looking through a window at a weird alternate universe that makes no sense.

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110

That’s not her only foray into mobile games. I remember reading in gamasutra that Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was shockingly lucrative

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111

My ex loved that show, and when she watched it, I could stand to be in the same room for approximately 30 seconds before I just couldn’t handle it anymore. Their insipid, boring lives of being catty and perfectly coiffed, their ignorance of the world around them…nope. When I was a kid my family watched “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, and that show was enough to convince me that watching wealthy people do anything (other than, say, act in a movie) is a complete waste of time and energy. Kinda made me hate rich people, too.

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My kids were so used to that sorta schtick that when they watched old Brady Bunch episodes one of them said “Why are they all so nice to each other?”

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113

MrPants is criminal defence, sometimes for fun, I put Law&OrderSVU on when he’s in the room. Just to time him to see how long he can go without yelling at the TV. Two minutes tops. :slight_smile: So much right infringements on cop shows!

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114

OK I have already posted but one just came on that is this shrill scream as well as an ice pick jabbed into my head with the level of hate it generates.

Reba.

You have a divorced mother taking care of her three kids. Fine. She’s still friends with her ex for the sake of her kids still having him somewhat in their lives even though he cheated on her. Respectable but totally unrealistic. However the whole thing falls flat.

The major source of comedy is the ex husband’s new wife, woman that cheated on Reba for, keeps hanging around… and is such a brain dead idiot I want to visit upon her physical harm. They somehow get along with many jokes at barbera’s expense. However her voice, her complete gospel belief in bullshit, and everything makes it hard for me to stick around for the moments of awesomeness {I like you because you’re honest to me about how you feel. You don’t fake nice. I know you’ve been giving me crap ever since we knew each other.’)

Then there’ the kids. The youngest is just filled. The eldest got teen preggers and is dating a clueless jock who has a loveless family so basically lives with Reba’s clan til later seasons had them move out. My problem is the middle one Kira. She’s an absolute snit at everything she does. Always a sarcastic quip always a total lack of respect to everyone always the mile of attitude and snideness with basically no redeeming qualities.

It does a few interesting things like Reba having to reenter the work force and Shooting down ‘I have management experience in chaotic situations and keeping an organization in order’ by going ‘this proves you are good under stress. But what do you know about procedure and systems we use?’ That it actually showed at least a small measure of that, the problems with teen pregnancy (combined with the school principle trying to get the girl to not show for graduation because embarrassment to them.) You’d think I’d like it right?

Reba meddles. ALL. THE. TIME. She acts infallible. She goes on and on and on and doing the whole long suffering thing. Her kids keep fucking things up in ways only she can fix. She is a saint for not tearing ‘the other woman’ in half for trying to be a friend even though she’s a fucking moron. She is portrayed as long suffering putting up with her ex being a dentist but being the stereotypical sitcom dad. That is to say a bumbling moron that needs a woman to tell him how to walk and breath at the same time.

The show just grates at me constantly.

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115

I would be interested in his writeup on the worst consistant issues the show has.

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116

Probably the most egregious is that an entire precinct does not work on the same case all at once, and only that case, cops work on more than one case at a time. Also, in Toronto, you do not get to see your clients in jail. You need to get someone to bail you out before you get a lawyer. He’s never set foot inside a police station, and hopefully never will.

He said the best show for how lawyers actually work: Better Call Saul. :slight_smile:

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117

I have to disagree: they set the climate and made those distorting filters on reality acceptable. It made wanton self-absorption normalized, but even if people want to dismiss those arguments, the bottom line is that you only have so much brain space, attention, energy, and focus, and people choose to remember those shows instead of care about actual reality – such as who is running your city/state/country, what problems are getting out of hand, etc.

People walk over homeless people, ignoring the increasing empty storefronts, the people renting out their couch, or taking three jobs because they have to rush home and watch “reality” shows that tell them it is all about who on television is taking the most demeaning selfies as they pretend to live this non-existent highlife and think that’s how life rolls – and then, when it all implodes, because this mess was simmering for a very long time – people are shocked.

Kardashians and Housewives had the same message: throw a fit, make pouty faces on Instagram, and everything will work out in the end. That is propaganda. That is a psychological distortion made to seem benign. It’s a bastardization of the American Dream: once upon a time, if you were an inventor, innovator, creator, or visionary, you were rewarded with wealth and fame as well as goodwill and accolades with your place in history assured. You were an average person who tried hard, worked hard, toiled, changed, and grew, and you made yourself special.

These shows – and what makes them destructive – is that now you don’t have to anything: you are born special and you don’t have to lift a finger because everyone will give you that wealth and fame without trying.

We don’t have Real Women Executives of Sillicon Valley, or Keeping Up With The Female Nuclear Scientists – we have shows all about teen moms, housewives, and gold-digging socialites. That is a wonderful way to drill in those misogynistic lessons into women – be stupid, be beautiful, and it all works out in the end.

It’s no coincidence that archaic sexist garbage rules the airwaves and the U.S. had yet to even have a female vice president, let alone president.

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118

:scream:

Sometimes you don’t need a criminal lawyer, you need a criminal lawyer.

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119

So why were they so nice to each other? My family was certainly not like that.

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120
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