Black Books and other shows that you felt didnt live upto their reputation

IvaBigWun

Black Books

Well I gave it a go on Netflix over the weekend. I thought the combination of two of the finest comedians of recent years plus one half of the writing team of Father Ted would result in much merriment.

The was the occasional chuckle, but no real belly laughs. And when you get Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Graham Linehan all playing "lets make a TV show" together you expect the results will make you almost pass out from the hilarity. It wasnt so.

Maybe it just hasnt aged that well? I finished the 6 episodes of Series one but dont think I fancy watching a second.

Anyhoo, it got me thinking of shows that just didnt live upto their hype for me. The two other main ones are:

Person Of Interest: Now apparently this is a great show if you can get to mid season 2?

Eh?

That would be ok if it wasnt 22/23 episodes long per season. Who has the time and patience for that given this golden age of TV we are now in?

And the other is probably the most debated/most over hyped TV show of all time: The Wire.

I tried lads, I really did. Twice. First time I managed to watch half of the first season and the second time I just about got through all of it. And that was enough. To be fair, this was maybe 7 or 8 years ago and my taste in shows has changed somewhat so I might give it one more go.

What other TV shows do you feel didnt live upto their reputation?

Oh anyone who says "Breaking Bad" will have this guy to answer to

kerry4sam

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Black Books

Well I gave it a go on Netflix over the weekend. I thought the combination of two of the finest comedians of recent years plus one half of the writing team of Father Ted would result in much merriment.

The was the occasional chuckle, but no real belly laughs. And when you get Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Graham Linehan all playing "lets make a TV show" together you expect the results will make you almost pass out from the hilarity. It wasnt so.

Maybe it just hasnt aged that well? I finished the 6 episodes of Series one but dont think I fancy watching a second.

Anyhoo, it got me thinking of shows that just didnt live upto their hype for me. The two other main ones are:

...

Never had any interest in the latter two you refer to here but Black Books I have to disagree with you on.
Many's a night during college I'd have the boxset on my laptop while I read and studied. That comedy carried me through many a long nights' study so it did - still makes me laugh to this day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3tFEoWNv50

Would this snippet help change your mind?,
Thanks,
kerry4sam

Grayditch

I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like Black Books.

lazybones32

Breaking bad was overhyped and easily deduced (I could piece together what was going to happen before it happened a lot of the time). I bought the first 2 seasons; watched them and gave them away immediately...not impressed in the slightest!

True detective wasn't as good as I was led to believe; the Last Ship isn't worth watching; Orange is the new black has me wondering if some people actually would watch a pile of faeces if the camera was pointed at it for 25 mins. Family Guy has been crap since day 1 but some muppets (IMO) fawn over it as if it were original and insightful.

Re: The Wire?! Sheeeeett (Clay Davis) Best American accents by English actors in a long time! Went down after Season 3 but had redeeming factors until the very end

The Pooka

Grayditch wrote: »

I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like Black Books.

Yeah, I was gonna say - kind of a leading thread title! I'm also not sure if you really can judge a whole series based on only a handful of episodes - a lot of, if not most, sitcoms take a while to hit their stride, and when people heap praise on (e.g.) The Wire, they tend to mean as a whole, with generally a later season singled out as the 'best' (often #4 for both Wire and BrBa) - not that it's not fair enough to give up earlier if it's just not doing it for you, but you may at least have to concede you can't speak to it with as much 'authority' as others...

Tbh, this seems essentially a rehash of the 'overrated' tv shows thread, and I can't say I've ever really understand the point of these kind of threads - it's all just so subjective!

2ndcoming

When about 90% of what is on the telly is absolute tripe I always have to wonder about the mindset of people who seek out stuff that gets generally universal acclaim just to knock it. I personally love Black Books and The Wire and Breaking Bad. I don't watch Downton Abbey or The Good Wife because they don't appeal to me, but I appreciate they offer far more than, say, the Big Bang Theory or Fair City so I won't knock them.

This is considered a golden age of TV for a reason.

lazybones32 wrote: »

Re: The Wire?! Sheeeeett (Clay Davis) Best American accents by English actors in a long time! Went down after Season 3 but had redeeming factors until the very end

Clay Davis was played by a Yank though, but I agree with you on the accents. I didn't realise Stringer and McNutty were Brits til about season 4.

pickarooney

There are lots of British and Australian actors starring in US shows whom the American audiences never pick out as foreign. Michael Sheen, Ryan Kwanten, Hugh Laurie, Jason Isaacs... nearly every program has at least one these days.

squonk

I really disliked Black Books. Like you OP I figured one half of the Fr. Ted team and Bill Bailey would be comedy gold. I cannot stand nor ever could stand Dylan Moran. He's an unfunny twat.

As for Person Of Interest and The Wire, Mods, it's time the OP was banned for life for obvious trolling .

Each to their own I suppose

Harry Palmr

Black Books is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wBLUBa8YI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN5R0oSfpzk

AnonoBoy

squonk wrote: »

I cannot stand nor ever could stand Dylan Moran. He's an unfunny twat.

Even with Linehan and Bailey on board did you really think that it would be good given that you hate the lead actor/creator of the show?

Game of Thrones for me. I'd heard so much about it but watched the first three episodes and thought it was just medicore sword and sorcery type of stuff with nudity thrown in to keep people interested.

2ndcoming

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Even with Linehan and Bailey on board did you really think that it would be good given that you hate the lead actor/creator of the show?

Game of Thrones for me. I'd heard so much about it but watched the first three episodes and thought it was just medicore sword and sorcery type of stuff with nudity thrown in to keep people interested.

Shame you didn't give it one more episode, the end of S1E4 was the first hook scene for me, the end of S1E9 finished the job.

Greenmachine

1.How I met your mother, easily one of the most contrived shows out there.
2. Sex in the city. Horrible, horrible pun, ridiculously materialistic bitch, and a horrible friend. How she inspires anyone is beyond me.

drugstore cowboy

Greenmachine wrote: »

2. Sex in the city. Horrible, horrible pun, ridiculously materialistic bitch, and a horrible friend. How she inspires anyone is beyond me.

When that show became a "thing" in Ireland I worked with females who suddenly took an interest in wine drinking and mimicking the characters.

circadian

Lost is awful, in my opinion.

So much hype and ut delivered so little.