Ever Watched A TV Episode That Pissed You Off So Much You Quit Watching The Series?

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

Oh, there's been a couple. The premiere for Spartacus: Gods of the Arena comes to mind. I know they were kinda flailing around plot-wise, having had to churn that mini-series out in the wake of Whitfield's sickness, but damn if it wasn't just shamelessly exploitational. I mean, even by that shows already exploitational standards! It felt more like a soft-core porno film that incidentally had Spartacus characters in it.

Recently in Game of Thrones season 2 I was miffed by one or two episodes. I understand that it being a different medium from that of the novel, certain events and characters needed to be conflated, but I'll be damned if some of the story decisions just seemed unecessary and strange.

And American Horror Story. Hell, I don't expect quality, the show's a guilty pleasure for me. But in season 1, that Piggy Piggy episode was totally a waste of time.

 

[Ishal]

1) what exactly don't you like about TWD now? You think the pacing of action/exposition/character building is skewed? I kinda got that impression too.

2) What is your opinion on Michione? Cuz me personally, I can't stand her. She is a borderline Mary Sue imo. She is something straight out of a bad anime like BLEACH. Constantly dark and brooding, the katana, there is probably a backstory for her to explain all that but I don't really care. I feel like the show is forcing her Badassery on me... not so with Deryl or Meryl. Am I out on left field on this?

3) I notice Game of Thrones isn't on your list, so I got to ask. Should I start watching that show? I've put it off since I didn't really have an interest at first not having read the books. I also didn't really have time. Now that I can get the first two (or 3?) seasons is it worth it?

1) TWD has terrible pacing problems and is still weighed down by a plethora of bad, poorly acted characters. Additionally, the titular environmental threat...the zombies...are rendered comical by their slowness and scarcity. Slow zombies are threatening en masse. They overwhelm you with pure force of numbers. When there's 6, and you're all inexplicably head-shotting them from 100 yards away, all sense of dread is gone. So we're left with human drama, which has been middling at best and agonizingly dull at worst.

2) One note character. One note writing, one note acting. I understand that she's meant to be suspicious and with-holding, but we're given nothing to hold on to aside from her competence. At least she's better than Andrea.

3) Game of Thrones is a perfectly serviceable show for anyone who hasn't read the books, and Chinese Water Torture for anyone who has. I enjoy seeing the "books" for the first time through the eyes of complete newcomers, so I'm getting some vicarious enjoyment of of it, but the number of pointless (and frequently awful) deviations from the books drives me to distraction.

I've watched a bunch of clips on youtube and watched some lore videos. I have to say I'll probably buy season 1 of Game of Thrones soon. So many of the characters seem so twisted and without morals, and that is awesome. I think the Lannisters are the most interesting so far. The only one who seems to have rubbed me the wrong way is Stannis... but thats because I'm not fan of religious zealots. I'll get the first season and see how I like it.

You don't like Andrea? hehehe care to explain (in detail) why? I just like reading your opinions on such things. Her character is a classic example of a necessary, yet unlikable character. I detest both her and Michione..but at least Andrea is a plot device.

edit: Andrea is a plot device this season. Perhaps not so much in the previous ones.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've watched a bunch of clips on youtube and watched some lore videos. I have to say I'll probably buy season 1 of Game of Thrones soon. So many of the characters seem so twisted and without morals, and that is awesome. I think the Lannisters are the most interesting so far. The only one who seems to have rubbed me the wrong way is Stannis... but thats because I'm not fan of religious zealots. I'll get the first season and see how I like it.

Be wary of any kind of net discussion of the series. One of the major appeals of A Song of Ice and Fire is surprising plot developments, so more than with most shows/books you are going to be extremely vulnerable to spoilers.

And without giving anything away, Stannis is not really a religious zealot. At all. He's a pragmatist, first and foremost. It's not about faith for him, it's about power.

You don't like Andrea? hehehe care to explain (in detail) why? I just like reading your opinions on such things. Her character is a classic example of a necessary, yet unlikable character. I detest both her and Michione..but at least Andrea is a plot device.

Well, if you're going to be so nice about it...

It's several things. It's Andrea inexplicably becoming a crack shot after 20 minutes of shooting wildly at a log (mind you they're all crack shots now, but she was the first untrained shooter to start putting out eyes from half a football field away, and thus the most irritating). It's her perpetual stupidity and stunningly poor judge of character, which has reached comical heights in the present season. It's the poor dialogue the writers have given her, and the generally poor acting from Laurie Holden. And, I hate to say this, but the Botox has gotten incredibly distracting. When you're an actor, and part of your job is expressing emotion through subtlety in facial expression, having half of it puffy and perpetually swollen isn't doing you any favors.

At this point she has surpassed Lori and Dale as the most aggravating character on the show, which is an extraordinary accomplishment. It's like all the stupid that used to be spread out over several awful characters is becoming more and more concentrated in her.

Michonne...eh. She doesn't really bother me. She doesn't really do anything, except glower wordlessly.

 

[minimacker]

Well not TV and, I was never much of a fan of the show but Extra Credits did some episode called "God Dose not play Dice." I was never much of a fan anyway, but way to kill any interest.

Really? What was your issue with the episode? I thought it was well done

"If I drop an item, I believe that it will fall to the ground." (Faith)

This can literally be applied to any action you do.

"If I go and take a dump, I believe I will excrete feces." (Faith)

You can look the word up. It's about having complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Besides, experimenting isn't faith. If Newton got his head bopped by a falling apple (It's a story, deal with it), he asks a question. "Why and how does this apple fall?"

You don't have faith in gravity. You don't have faith in the intake of nutrients, nor the excretion of them.

 

[Quellist]

The first episode of "The Following" pissed me off so badly i decided the series would just make me way too angry. The whole concept of the serial killer recruiting an army of people, while in prison, and having them flawlessly infiltrate the lives of his wife and surviving victim was just so far fetched and stupid i was shaking my head, then when the killer was gloating at the end and i could see how the whole series was going to be about him playing his games with Kevin Bacon and the cops from in Prison, i was really hoping Bacon would just walk over and snap his neck, did he? no, he snapped his finger.

I knew at that point the series would piss me off so bad i was better off just stopping right there and then.

 

[Epic Bear Man]

I forget the episode, but on Bones, around the time that Bones was pregnant, she was at a crime scene and talking about how delightful the smell of the decaying bodies was (since the pregnancy heightened her senses and all). Now if you watch Bones, you know the show has a habit of trying to gross you out; it's part of their formula.

But for some reason, hearing about the smell instead of just seeing the bodies made me so disgusted, I felt like I was going to puke. I had to put the series down.

But also the show had been going downhill for some time; that was kind of the last straw.

 

[Kavonde]

"The Angels Take Manhattan" from Doctor Who. I'm not ready to quit watching the show over it, but it retroactively ruined Ten's entire run for me by making me think about all the problems I've had with the show since Moffat took over.

 

[blaize2010]

The Pilot for Breaking Bad.

Holy shit, I've seen a lot of bad pilots in my time, but that one takes the cake. I could not make myself watch any more of that bile.

Almost right there with you. So very awkward and boring.

Gets better though.

Though there is still significantly more dude butt than I am okay with.

 

[Warachia]

You sympathize with Walt and how he starts out but you lose more sympathy as the show goes on. I don't see how you can find him sympathetic at all in this last season.

So explain it to me: WHAT exactly makes her such a sanctimonious *****?

No. It's been weeks since I last watched a Breaking Bad ep, so I'd have to spend hours going through episodes just to pick out examples for a forum post. Screw that shit. There's plenty of other people that's made arguments of my positions better than I ever could have. Just google those if you really don't get why people hate her. If you really want to continue this exchange, write something I can respond to with 3 minutes of effort or less.

Uh-huh. The question's open to anyone because I am genuinely curious as what specifically people don't like about her instead of just "she's a *****," which I don't think is fair at all.

Here's why I hate her, (halfway through season 2) she's a control freak, she wants to be in control of everyone else's life, she want's to know what happens in everyone else's life and everyone only exists to make her happy, your husband doesn't want to get treatment and wants to live the rest of his life to the fullest? Fuck him, guilt him into going with what you want.
She plans everyone's days out and hates when anyone goes slightly against what she plans she acts as if they've betrayed her in some way, not to mention she goes behind people's backs, and hates it whenever somebody goes behind her back, the hypocrite.

I also want to be clear here, she isn't the only character in the show I don't like, these are just the reasons I don't like her specifically.

 

[Nouw]

The Pilot for Breaking Bad.

Holy shit, I've seen a lot of bad pilots in my time, but that one takes the cake. I could not make myself watch any more of that bile.

Almost right there with you. So very awkward and boring.

Gets better though.

Though there is still significantly more dude butt than I am okay with.

Interesting. The Breaking Bad Pilot is probably my favourite pilot out of the, admittedly few, pilots I've seen. It introduced the characters without overloading me and had appropriate pacing. Any particular reasons you guys didn't like it? Just curious that's all.

 

[blaize2010]

The Pilot for Breaking Bad.

Holy shit, I've seen a lot of bad pilots in my time, but that one takes the cake. I could not make myself watch any more of that bile.

Almost right there with you. So very awkward and boring.

Gets better though.

Though there is still significantly more dude butt than I am okay with.

Interesting. The Breaking Bad Pilot is probably my favourite pilot out of the, admittedly few, pilots I've seen. It introduced the characters without overloading me and had appropriate pacing. Any particular reasons you guys didn't like it? Just curious that's all.

The aforementioned dude butt for one, and in addition it was a bit awkward. Like, the introduction of Walt to Pinkman was just kinda weird. I dunno. I have this thing where when I see or hear things i perceive as awkward I cringe. Probably why Napoleon Dynamite was not as much fun as everyone else said

 

[Johnny Impact]

Jericho. OMFG, Jericho. A guy at my work really got into it, so I gave it a try. I made it about 5 episodes and had to stop. There are only so many inexcusably poor decisions I can watch people make unless it's very funny. Jericho wasn't funny, it was just sad and stupid.

The only other show I hated so much I quit was The Office (British version). I quit that after just one episode. My thoughts went, "OK, this guy is a massive tool...okay, he's still a tool...okay, STILL a tool...still waiting for this to be funny...what? Roll credits? Are you fucking kidding me? THIS is the show everyone's raving about??"

Often enough I will watch 2-3 episodes of a show and say, "Nope." This isn't necessarily because I get pissed off, I just don't care about anything that's happening. The Sopranos was like that. I know, I know, highly rated. I found Tony unlikeable on any level.

There are several entries in the category of Shows I Watched All The Way Through And Wish I Hadn't

Lost. You got the idea early on in this show that the Island and its mysteries were Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Then you discover the whole plotline of season six was Things Man Was Not Meant To Write. Everything that happened was an obvious ass pull, every explanation was lame and unimaginative, etc. The wine cork analogy from season two or three was cool -- until we found out that the Island's evil was contained by a literal cork, a plug that can be pulled out as if from God's own bathtub? What the absolute fuck?? I could go on.

Battlestar. I really got into the first season. Then the show started a long, slow descent that reached its nadir at the final episode. Yeah, let's take all our miraculous future technology that makes life bearable -- and pitch it into the sun! Now let's interbreed with African pygmies and forget everything we ever knew, so we'll have to spend 25,000 years discovering it all over again! Total idiocy. Honestly, was there anyone who thought this was a good ending?

Heroes. Dynamite concept, well executed for a season or two. Then it just started meandering. For me the jumping-the-shark moment was when Mohinder turned himself into Spider-Man. I had to keep watching, but it was clear the show had lost it.

Oz. Tremendous first couple of seasons. Season 5 was like a fever dream, the show taking a sharp turn toward the supernatural. Odd and, given that the show had been thoroughly grounded in reality up to then, totally unwarranted.

 

[Dangit2019]

Doctor Who Season 7 has almost, but not quite done it for me. The standalone episodes, especially the non-Moffat written ones have been great, but dear God that man has lost sight of both scope and pacing.

I mean, look at Blink. It's considered one of the best and most genuinely creepy episodes because of the great villains and execution of the story. The angels were deadly, quick, and could do a lot of damage in very small groups.

So what does Moffat do when they come back? He has them come in freaking swarms, but downplays their powers to keep the characters alive. Does he not realize that when he keeps doing that, they get less and less scary?

And freaking "Angels Take Manhattan", man. I liked

Spoiler

Rory and Amy's sendoff,

but I just couldn't get over basic shit:

1. The Angels aren't scary anymore because they get less and less subtle.
2. What the hell was the deal with the Statue of Liberty being an Angel? I'm pretty sure if that moved, it would get seen in about 5 seconds, especially in the most densely populated place in the world.
3. How did they capture and move that one Angel?
4. I thought Angels could send you back/kill you with a single touch. Why didn't the captive one do this when it had a grasp on River's wrist?

And so on and so on. I still watch it for the standalones, and because Matt Smith still kicks plenty amounts of ass, but with episodes like that and "Asylum of the Daleks", Moffat is really pushing the limits on the amount of B.S. I will stand.

 

[Nouw]

The aforementioned dude butt for one, and in addition it was a bit awkward. Like, the introduction of Walt to Pinkman was just kinda weird. I dunno. I have this thing where when I see or hear things i perceive as awkward I cringe. Probably why Napoleon Dynamite was not as much fun as everyone else said

Even more interesting because I loathed Napoleon Dynamite. I actually found Bryan's butt to be something of a wake-up call to me. I'm so used to watching media that censors this and that, and so his pant-lessness made it feel a tad more realistic. That's enough talk of his butt for one post .

Having said all of this, I can definitely see where you're coming from.

 

[Accel]

Here's why I hate her, (halfway through season 2) she's a control freak, she wants to be in control of everyone else's life, she want's to know what happens in everyone else's life and everyone only exists to make her happy, your husband doesn't want to get treatment and wants to live the rest of his life to the fullest? Fuck him, guilt him into going with what you want.

Well, yeah, because the treatment could potentially help him LIVE a lot longer. Considering this would also cause her teenage son to lose his dad and her not-yet-born baby to never even meet her father, I'd imagine anyone would want the same if they found out their significant other was dying. The idea that a dad would just leave his family like that without even trying to find a solution because he wants to "live his short life to the fullest" is pretty selfish.

She plans everyone's days out and hates when anyone goes slightly against what she plans she acts as if they've betrayed her in some way, not to mention she goes behind people's backs, and hates it whenever somebody goes behind her back, the hypocrite.

I don?t see it, especially considering people going behind her back usually involves acts such as making meth (Walt) or stealing (her sister).

 

[King Billi]

Geez... Am I really the only person who was still able to watch Lost after I came the realisation that it was never ever going to end in a way that made sense and just enjoy it for the characters I liked and the imaginative bull**** they kept coming up with?

 

[chikusho]

snip

I think most people dislike Skyler simply because she's an obstacle to Walt. "She¨s just selfish, she just doesn't understand" they say, while the reason she doesn't understand is that Walt keeps everything from her until the very last second.
I find her reactions to be completely reasonable and believable and I loved it when she started shutting him out completely.

 

[Warachia]

Here's why I hate her, (halfway through season 2) she's a control freak, she wants to be in control of everyone else's life, she want's to know what happens in everyone else's life and everyone only exists to make her happy, your husband doesn't want to get treatment and wants to live the rest of his life to the fullest? Fuck him, guilt him into going with what you want.

Well, yeah, because the treatment could potentially help him LIVE a lot longer. Considering this would also cause her teenage son to lose his dad and her not-yet-born baby to never even meet her father, I'd imagine anyone would want the same if they found out their significant other was dying. The idea that a dad would just leave his family like that without even trying to find a solution because he wants to "live his short life to the fullest" is pretty selfish.

Not nearly as selfish as wanting somebody else to live for you, not to mention treatment can also mean he lives the rest of his days in more distress than if he never got the treatment at all, and when you consider they were already in financial trouble it's pretty obvious why he'd be at the very least reluctant at accepting medical treatment.
I've had family die from cancer and I've met other's who were going through treatment for years only for it not to matter in the end (one of whom was a friend of my family), and I would NEVER force or guilt them into taking treatment unless it was their own decision (of course I'd try to convince them though).

I don?t see it, especially considering people going behind her back usually involves acts such as making meth (Walt) or stealing (her sister).

I didn't say they were justified, just that she does it too and that certainly doesn't do her any favours, also she seems to force herself on other's lives.

 

[Strazdas]

There was a show called "Is it real?".
they were testing a person burning to death overnight. at first they described real occurrences, then asked some scientific opinions on how it could occur, they have crafterd a theory to which firemen team agreed with as well.
so far so good, they decide to make an experiment, build a fake house, ontroduce conditions, set it aflame. during the experiment the fire proceeded just liek the theory stated, pretty much a 100% confirm.
5 minutes later the represented turns to use and starts babbling how the experiment failed, how the theory is bull and its all just a myth and nothing like that ever happens. (thier other episodes were also aimed at disproving things, even going as far as a "psychic" guy getting a good guess and they still claim he didnt, but this topped it all)
i was just like "are you fucking kidding me?" and stopped watching it.

Geez... Am I really the only person who was still able to watch Lost after I came the realisation that it was never ever going to end in a way that made sense and just enjoy it for the characters I liked and the imaginative bull**** they kept coming up with?

no your not, i enjoyed lost.

 

[Uberpig]

Nobody's mentioned this one yet so I guess it's not that popular, but my one is Weeds.
I never especially loved the show but season one was watchable.
Got to the end of season two hating every single character in it. None of them gave me any reason to care about them.

Also, if you guys dislike Dexter the TV series, you should see some of the ridiculous shit that's pulled in the books.