Your unpopular TV opinions

Adamantium

Breaking Bad was hideously overrated and incredibly hollow and superficial. There’s something deeply frustrating about such a well-made show leaving me feeling so empty. I just didn't care and the fact that people felt a connection to Walt and his moral justifications for his deeds was slightly disturbing (even if it was only television).

My conclusion at the end was that Walter White is basically a goddamn psychopath, and the entire show was about watching him embrace his own psychopathy. ****ing great: as a good and decent person (at least I try to be), what exactly am I supposed to glean from that. It felt like lowest common denominator stuff.

Battlestar Galactica was an infinitely better show and it changed the medium for me at least. It can be every bit as dark and disquieting as Breaking Bad, its production values are equally top-shelf/cinema like, it has a great deal of substance and much to say about people and society, religion, history and the human experience, and most importantly it has central characters and even secondary characters who feel truly relatable. It's universe is lived out and feels alive, It’s serious TV but it has the soul that Breaking Bad lacks. Despite dealing with much harsher material than BB it felt like a more warm and endearing, hopeful show paradoxically it was doom laden as one could get and tough to watch.

What are yours?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

squonk

Yeah I don't think you can cheer for or even empathise with Walter White. For a time you saw him do more and even more despicable things but you thought there had to be some good in there and that he'd stop, or that he'd rein himself in before it all got too extreme. I think it's along the lines of wanting to believe in humanity and that a point will come when the time comes to do the right thing. Anyone who finishes the show really can't say they support Walter IMHO. I know for me a particular point came when I had to just admit that I was done rooting for Walter. I think that was the great thing about the show. You root for him from day 1 but the journey takes you beyond the point where you can even stand the guy. That's the show's greatness and I haven't experienced that from any other show. Yes, it's not remotely realistic but then again BSG isn't either - given present technology!

Rory28

Love\Hate is a terrible show. Granted I have only watched the first season and half of the second but I have no desire to finish it.

It could be because i am from Dublin but just about everybody in it irks me the wrong way.

Mr Rhode Island Red

Breaking bad, american horror story, game of thrones, friends, the big bang theory, how I met your mother etc. etc. are all rubbish.

Father ted for the win, Walter white for the bin

Tipsy McSwagger

Adamantium wrote: »

Breaking Bad was hideously overrated and incredibly hollow and superficial. There’s something deeply frustrating about such a well-made show leaving me feeling so empty. I just didn't care and the fact that people felt a connection to Walt and his moral justifications for his deeds was slightly disturbing (even if it was only television).

My conclusion at the end was that Walter White is basically a goddamn psychopath, and the entire show was about watching him embrace his own psychopathy. ****ing great: as a good and decent person (at least I try to be), what exactly am I supposed to glean from that. It felt like lowest common denominator stuff.

Battlestar Galactica was an infinitely better show and it changed the medium for me at least. It can be every bit as dark and disquieting as Breaking Bad, its production values are equally top-shelf/cinema like, it has a great deal of substance and much to say about people and society, religion, history and the human experience, and most importantly it has central characters and even secondary characters who feel truly relatable. It's universe is lived out and feels alive, It’s serious TV but it has the soul that Breaking Bad lacks. Despite dealing with much harsher material than BB it felt like a more warm and endearing, hopeful show paradoxically it was doom laden as one could get and tough to watch.

What are yours?

This from someone who thinks the absolute garbage that was Lost is the best thing ever.

somesoldiers

Which Battlestar Galactica? The one from the 80's or whenever I quite enjoyed but then I was a whippersnapper without a reference point or maybe that's because Face was in it. The more recent one, really, it sounds brilliant? I tried watching a few years back got to mid s02 and never went back

coylemj

I believe Twink is a grossly underrated talent.

Adamantium

somesoldiers wrote: »

Which Battlestar Galactica? The one from the 80's or whenever I quite enjoyed but then I was a whippersnapper without a reference point or maybe that's because Face was in it. The more recent one, really, it sounds brilliant? I tried watching a few years back got to mid s02 and never went back

The 00's one, most people think it slides off towards the end, but I only thought it got better, becoming even more harrowing and contemplative, but I'm strange in that regard as I love seeing characters being through the ringer and walking in their shoes and facing impossible situations while on the run ,being chased across the universe. Tied with the Wire as my favourite of all time. The rare time when the word "Epic" is applicable. It always felt like there was a whole world beyond the camera frame.

The relationships that develop in the show between the older characters and how they treat younger characters almost like surrogate adoptive children is very heartfelt and honest, people falling into relationships out of nessescity/PTSD/ companionship and not love as such after total disaster is so compelling and true to life and it's all painted against this incredibly broad canvas. I love the philosophy in it and the self aware pragmatic conversations (True Detective is very reminiscent of it) and it's also interweaved with some of the most intense space and action scenes ever. Religion used properly in a TV show for once because it has respect for people within it. Most religious diatribe is pretty focused on the religion and not the people, the characters being just mouthpieces for some ideal. Instead this was like exploring people through their culture and religion.

Putting basically ancient Greek type religion next to basically Christianity, and then making the Christians the bad guys was fun. Between Adama never buying into it much to Baltar having a total conversion, to Roslin's stoic determination, Starbuck's flippant arrogance that softens only in prayer, and Leigh pretty much being completely unaffected by it,

like all that religion is just rain drops sliding off him as he focuses instead on the human element before him. . I might add that given how little of the story was prepared when they started they managed to make the whole damned thing hang together to the end brilliantly somehow. Its also a facet of the characters being strong since they never really do anything that surprises you in a bad way.

The music is godly, and even if you hate the show, it'd be hard not to impressed by it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFz1409WBzo

Go Harvey Go

Not sure how unpopular this opinion is, but I think Carol Vorderman has become very unlikeable in the last few years.

Sirsok

Breaking Bad is the first show I have dedicated serious time to as I was so emotionally invested. I don't look deep into the characters souls, I watched it enjoyed it, wondered and cared what happened next and tuned it. Yeah it might be an overly simplistic view but it is true.

I haven't found that with any other show yet game of thrones, sopranos , the wire all shows I watched that I never really cared what happened next in

Fr Tod Umptious

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

Not sure how unpopular this opinion is, but I think Carol Vorderman has become very unlikeable in the last few years.

I never found her that a attractive really.

Thouhht Suzie Dent was much hotter, thinking mans crumpet.

IvaBigWun

The Wire is the most over-rated TV show of all time.

Dozen Wicked Words

IvaBigWun wrote: »

The Wire is the most over-rated TV show of all time.

I disagree, most over rated for me would be Mad Men. Hour upon hour of nothing happening.

Go Harvey Go

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I never found her that a attractive really.

Thouhht Suzie Dent was much hotter, thinking mans crumpet.

Well, Susie is much hotter than Carol today. As is Rachel, of course.

castletownman

How I Met Your Mother is superior to Friends.

lertsnim

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

I disagree, most over rated for me would be Mad Men. Hour upon hour of nothing happening.

This times a million.

Galway K9

Reality TV is for morons.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

I disagree, most over rated for me would be Mad Men. Hour upon hour of nothing happening.

I was disappointed in Mad Men at first but the more I watched it the more I loved it.Great show and its funnier than most sitcoms in my opinion.

ixoy

'The Inbetweeners' isn't funny.

'The Walking Dead' is poor: Bad character drama and weak acting. Not a patch on the games or the comic book source material.

Galway K9 wrote: »

Reality TV is for morons.

Hardly unpopular in this forum!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

IvaBigWun

ixoy wrote: »

'The Inbetweeners' isn't funny.

Wildly over-rated and a poor final season yes. But it is funny.

Quazzie

The Killing is better than True Detective.

Rob Thomas

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Agree since the middle of the second season. And in my view, Tom Vaughan Lawlor is comically overacting in his portrayal of Nidge for the past two seasons.

S.M.B.

Galway K9 wrote: »

Reality TV is for morons.

As has been said, hardly an unpopular opinion.

On the flip side I would say that there's a high level of skill and proficiency behind the best reality TV.

While the majority of it would bore me to tears, when done well it can be gripping TV.

FunLover18

castletownman wrote: »

How I Met Your Mother is superior to Friends.

I would have agreed with this at one point but the HIMYM ending has ruined everything that came before. Also, on rewatching Friends recently the first 3/4 seasons win out for the Joey/Chandler friendship alone.

I mentioned this before over in the recent 'Frasier Reevaluation' thread, but Cheers is a much better show. I love Frasier but imo he works much better as part of the Cheers ensemble than as the star of his own show. I think the variety of the Cheers cast helped as he had more people to bounce off and because of ensemble nature the jokes were much more give and take.

Adamantium

How I met Your Mother peaked with this scene in the 1st season for me and my mind was like "Wait there actually, this becoming a rather serious dramedy here, not falling into sitcom traps even though its a sitcom", and I was so pissed/not surprised when they brought Allyson Hannigan. I thought were they could have taken with a shook Marshall would have been infinitely more interesting than what they did of having become a homebird.

It would have been amazing and a brave creative decision if we never heard from Lily again. That for me is where they lost me a bit because before it seemed like they were willing to be anything but conventional, but realistic (what core group of friends doesn't have an atom bomb incident, loses a friend or two and chop and change new people in as others fallout (no pun) :P) . It was a 4 season show tops with they way they went, but doing decisions like above would have justified them going 9 whole fuarkin seasons

Ted (God Ted) and Marshall went from slightly doe eyed and naive, endearing and actually became completely insufferable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLn6Q5VdDHg

somesoldiers

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I never found her that a attractive really.

Thouhht Suzie Dent was much hotter, thinking mans crumpet.

Victoria Coren is the new thinking mans crumpet IMO

dark crystal

I think Doctor Who is not only bad, but excrutiatingly bad.

coylemj

somesoldiers wrote: »

Victoria Coren is the new thinking mans crumpet IMO

'New'? Hardly, she's been on the scene for a while now. Professional poker player, TV presenter and newspaper columnist - definitely ticks all the boxes in the cerebral stakes, and a pretty face too.

Which probably means I need to confess that my earlier post about Twink was not wholly in earnest.

Rory28

dark crystal wrote: »

I think Doctor Who is not only bad, but excrutiatingly bad.

You are entitled to an opinion but not that one.
Change your mind accordingly.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Alfred Borden

True Detective was severely overrated. Fargo, that was on around the same time was a far better more rounded series.

the_monkey

dark crystal wrote: »

I think Doctor Who is not only bad, but excrutiatingly bad.

Thank you ... it's utter tripe, the BBC cannot do Science Fiction - leave it to the Americans.

Jussnot Fairmann

I like to watch tv when it's on tv.

I don't do netflix or boxsets or downloads.

Snoopy1

Raf32 wrote: »

True Detective was severely overrated. Fargo, that was on around the same time was a far better more rounded series.

Thank you !!!
Totally Agree

Rory28

Jussnot Fairmann wrote: »

I like to watch tv when it's on tv.

I don't do netflix or boxsets or downloads.

Well la de da. A television snob. Thats a thing apparently.

Jussnot Fairmann

Definitely not a snob, just a personal thing. Got loads of CD's but I'd rather listen to the radio. There's a heap of DVD's at home, but I'd rather watch whatever film happens to be on the telly... I'm kinda odd like that.

Nichololas

Breaking Bad was great, but Boardwalk Empire is better. (Actually I hope this is not an unpopular opinion here, but I'm not sure)

Diabhal Beag

HIMYM was always as bad as TBBT was. Since the very start.

Arne_Saknussem

Modern Family is not funny