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!
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