TV shows that have done me wrong

I hate it when I find a new TV show I like and commit to watching it, only to discover that after about 5 episodes in they switch to the B-team writers. The characters I once found so funny / charming / clever are now insipid and stripped of all originality, and I have to spend time in the tedious TiVO screens to remove them from my season pass list.

But what I think is even worse is when a show you’ve become attached to turns around and viciously attacks you.

at least that’s what it feels like to me

Over the years there have been just a handful of shows that feel as if those behind it just wanted to lash out at their audience. I really can’t think of a better way to put it.

I’ll start out with a really tame one. You remember “King of Queens”? I think it might still be on even now. In one episode the woman gets pregnant unexpectedly. The couple goes from surprised to excited, and then (of course) she has a miscarriage.

And then it was never mentioned again. The hell? That’s just irritating. It’s like they were trying out the idea of adding a kid to the cast, it didn’t test well, so they moved on and never looked back.

look at me, I’m so kooky!

Another show I used to watch was “Dharma and Greg” — don’t laugh scornfully! The first season or so was pretty funny. But then in one episode they adopted a toddler boy.

Then his birth mom “took him back.”

They were sad at the end of the episode.

And then it was never mentioned again.

I was left to wonder just how stupid the writers / producers thought their audience was.

but those were nothing

Clearly I get the most attached to shows about couples, because the last show I’m going to mention is “Mad About You.” And if you were a fan, you know exactly where I’m about to go.

Season after season this show was pretty funny and had some sweet and even moving moments as well. It was really about two people who really were mad about each other. The love they had for each other was as real as it gets in TV. Mr. Plain and I watched that sappy show every week, and it was such a satisfying guilty pleasure.

But then came the final season.

They decided to “mix it up” and turned the main characters against each other. They had a traumatic and horrifying screaming breakup. Yeah, amazing acting, but so what?

All it made me do was want to find Paul Reiser and kick him in the nads.

What to the people making the show may have felt like an “acting triumph” or some other bullshit, felt to me like the ultimate act of agression against the people who had been loyally watching and supporting the show over the years.

The fact that it has been 8 years since that show ended and I am still pissed off about it should tell you something about either my obsessive love of television, or about the level of disregard that went into making the final season of that show.

phew

OK, I’ve spilled my guts about the shows that have been used to manipulate my emotions. What are yours? Are there shows that you still are pissed off about? I’m not talking about once great shows which drift away because they ended a season or two too late. How about more examples of shows which screwed you over? I can’t be the only one with a list!


Posted

in

by

Comments

15 responses to “TV shows that have done me wrong”

  1. Jennifer Avatar

    I hate that Judging Amy was never finished!

    And every week that i watch the final episodes of The Sopranos, I have a terrible stomach ache. The show STRESSES ME OUT, but I can’t stop watching!

  2. Karly Avatar

    I can’t think of anything except for ER…when Abby and Carter didn’t hook up, I just quit watching it. THEY WERE MEANT TO BE! My biggest pet peeve about TV shows is when they put a good one on for a season and then it is never again seen. Like Kidnapped and Windfall (both on NBC)! I loved those shows and they are gone. Stupid NBC. Who do they think they are, anyway?

  3. Jean Avatar

    I’m so with you on Mad About You. Hubs and I both loved that show when we were first married. It just killed us how they ended the season.

    I have gotten to the point where I just can’t watch regular television where I have to watch every show to “get it” if I miss one than I’m totally lost. No pun intended for Lost, but yet it’s one those.

    I also hate it that the hubs gets me sucked into Stargate SG1 or Battlestar Galactica (yeah were nerds). I don’t want to get “sucked in” yet somehow always I do.

  4. mel Avatar

    I loved Mad About You. Loved it. I totally agree with you. It was just so wrong.

    I don’t watch all that many shows like that anymore….but I do watch Grey’s Anatomy…and they walk the fine line so many times, I know it is bound to happen there.

  5. Shauna Avatar

    I am SO with you about Mad About You. It was horrible the way they threw the relationship into turmoil. And then at the end, they decide to have a kid? Like that’s going to fix it. And then, after that, the kid seemed more like a burden than someone they really loved. Ygh.

  6. thordora Avatar

    Alias. Goddamn it, I LOVED that show when it came out, and then it just got….WEIRD and absolutely out of hand. i was SOOOOOO mad. I was screaming DON’T LET HER KISS HIM!!!!!

    Sigh….

    I’m waiting for them to ruin Heroes as well….

  7. Jill Avatar

    I stopped watching MAY that last season and I was really upset about it. I watched it faithfully for years and was so put off by the whole Jamie/Paul break up. In fact, I only recent saw the final episode, with “Mabel’s” movie about her parents. I think that was the final episode at least.

  8. Annie Avatar

    This will probably mean nothing to you, but I am still pissed off that BBC America stopped airing ‘Eastenders’ lol! It was a soap opera based in cockney East London. Depressing, but a sight near reality than any US soap I’ve had the misfortune of catching :)

  9. AbsolutelyBananas Avatar

    I totally agree, and ironic b/c my husband and I were just discussing this last night. only OUR latest outrage was at Amazing Race… where the producers TOTALLY dropped the ball and had the lamest challenges EVER on the season finale. So compeltely lame; we felt used and abused.

  10. tulipmom Avatar

    I got totally hooked on “Once and Again” and then ABC dropped it after a couple of seasons. So annoying!

  11. Karen Avatar

    Mad About you is pretty high on my sad list. Grey’s Anatomy is the most recent subject of my wrath. I have no time to plan my revenge, but it’s a thought. In the mix with tragic betrayals are tragically premature cancellations: Firefly, Sports Night. Recently, Aaron Sorkin struck again, this time by not being up to par with Studio 60 – and I had been looking forward to Sorkin’s writing since he’d “left” the West Wing…apparently, I have to wait some more.

  12. nell Avatar

    I think there are two general categories that TV shows seem to have a hard time staying out of: becoming totally generic and repetitive (24, Ugly Betty) or going off the deep end and doing something totally out of character (Grey’s Anatomy – specifically the one where Meredith was not-quite-dead for the entire episode).

  13. Rhonda Avatar

    I’d have to agree and say Grey’s Anatomy too. Not only for the is she/isn’t she dead (which I totally saw coming…hell a brain dead monkey could have seen that)…but also for this week’s episode. I’m a die-hard fan of the show, but I don’t like the new show they’re trying to spin off from it.

    The show was very choppy and they were trying to do too much with it. I hope the new show tanks so they can get back to concentrating on good storylines for Grey’s.

  14. Jhianna Avatar

    Oh yeah, add me to the list of Mad About You. I’ve mostly blocked that out of my memory because it was so awful.

  15. Tantowi Avatar

    TV can hurting your productivity

    1) TV watching encourages passivity

    2) TV makes you tired and depressed

    3) Most TV program promotes a negative philosophy

    4) Television Sucks Up Valuable Time

Leave a Reply to Rhonda Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *