Tuesday, September 7, 2010

UNEASY RIDER: I'm sure Sons of Anarchy (which returns tonight, kicking off the fall TV season, followed by new CW programming starting tomorrow night) is great--people I trust rave about it, and those members of the cast that I'm familiar with are pretty impressive actors--but I just can't get past the fact that I'm not interested in watching a show about a motorcycle club/gang (also, I understand that trying to start now is perhaps not the best idea). What other shows do you have a blind spot for because of subject matter or similar?

(Semi-related--debuting tomorrow night is FX's Terriers, which Alan loved, and which has a pretty damn solid pedigree, but be careful, since even with minimal network programming, there's a fairly severe pileup tomorrow at 10 with Top Chef and Psych finales, along with a Castle repeat, against the Terriers premiere--I'm picking up a later repeat.)

46 comments:

  1. Heather K12:37 PM

    Breaking Bad is my blind spot.  I am sure the acting is good, I admire those actors.  It just seems so unrelentingly bleak, and I am at a point where I would prefer my entertainment be at worst medium bleak.  In fact hardly at all bleak or Doctor-Who-rescued-from-bleak-by-end-of-episode-salvation-nearly-every-episode bleak are what I am looking for.  Or cheesecake bleak like a cop/forensic/fbi procedural on CBS.  And even master classes in acting cannot tempt me into that darkness.

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  2. christy in nyc12:47 PM

    The most fitting example for me would be True Blood. I've always said it was like Alan Ball wracked his brain trying to figure out a premise to a show that I would not watch even though Six Feet Under is one of my favorites ever. Vampires didn't interest me at the beginning of the craze five years ago, and they sure don't interest me now. Just not my bag.

    The show that most people assume I watch but I don't is Top Chef. Project Runway is my favorite reality show of all time, I love cooking shows too, and I have a higher-than-average literacy of the chef and restaurant world. But for some reason, the combination of these elements in the form it takes on Top Chef just doesn't do it for me. I've never watched an entire episode. I just don't care. So much so that it took me until last week to realize that I used to work for one of this season's contestants.

    Other shows people-I-trust love but I haven't yet: Sopranos, Chuck, Breaking Bad.

    Other shows EVERYONE watches or watched but I probably never will: CSI, L&O, ER, basically all your procedural initialisms.

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  3. SoA, Breaking Bad and Dexter are all shows I didn't watch at the beginning, and have yet to find time to catch up on despite the what I'm sure to be justified acclaim. While I watch plenty of dark shows, I always have a harder time adding yet another one to my plate, and I'm sure that's all impacting those show's place in my Netflix queue.

    My Tivo is set for Terriers though, which I'm excited for (and must throw a shout-out to one of the show's writers, Angela Kang, who I took many an Occidental theater class with -- she was one year behind me, in the same class as Dr. Horrible/Dollhouse/Spartacus writer Maurissa Tauncheron. Go Oxy!)

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  4. Matt, I'm with you on Sons of Anarchy re: block due to biker gang.  Similary, "men's prison" kept me from ever getting into Oz (and I did watch a couple of episodes just to see, and, no, my love of J.K. Simmons couldn't keep me watching).  Weeds also quickly lost its appeal because of its central subject matter, too.

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  5. Genevieve12:57 PM

    What Heather said, absolutely.  Which has kept me from seeing top-notch shows like The Wire and The Sopranos (and even less bleak than those shows like The Closer, that star people I like and would normally watch), but I know what I can handle and it's not that.

    Lawyer shows are a bit of a blind spot for me - too much of a busman's honeymoon, even when it's a different kind of lawyering (as it usually is) from what I do.  But I'm going to have to break that rule to go ahead and watch The Good Wife, starting with last season on DVD.

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  6. Genevieve12:59 PM

    Christy, please tell - which contestant?

    Top Chef comment - I am so sorry that the person who went out last week went out (won't name in case people haven't seen it yet - as River Song warns, "Spoilers!").  I thought that person had a damn good shot at winning. 

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  7. J. Bowman1:34 PM

    For my part, I just can't get into the story about a guy who becomes a meth dealer for all the right reasons. At the end of the day, he's a fucking meth dealer.
    I complain occasionally that Weeds has become cartoonish, but it has occurred to me that, for much the same reason, I'd have stopped watching if it hadn't.

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  8. Joseph J. Finn1:51 PM

    Totally Project Runway.  Look, I know it has Tim Gunn, who is completely awesome every time I've seen him interviewed.  I just have no interest in a fashion competition.

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  9. Becca1:51 PM

    Does not watching reality TV because I hate people count? You'd think I'd like the dancing and fashion shows, but nope. They still involve *shudder* people. But yeah, count me in on skipping shows that appear bleak. I've still never finished the last season of BSG because I'm certain it'll be depressing. I prefer my entertainment light 'n fluffy. Life is serious. TV is fun!

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  10. Heather K2:16 PM

    And I watched the Wire, but could never get into the Sopranos.  Maybe the Wire took the bleak slot in tv I will watch from Breaking Bad?

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  11. Heather K2:16 PM

    And I watched the Wire, but could never get into the Sopranos.  Maybe the Wire took the bleak slot in tv I will watch from Breaking Bad?

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  12. Christy in Philly2:31 PM

    I am so glad I did not let the subject matter get in the way of my watching Friday Night Lights. Because I hate football. With a flaming purple passion. But I love FNL.

    Also, other than The Osbornes, I've never watched a reality show that was about already famous people or people who are on tv because of their extravagant lifestyle- Real Housewives of Whatever, My Super Sweet 16, the Bachelor, anything with Paris Hilton, etc. Rich people irritate me.

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  13. ChipC2:31 PM

    The biker factor kept me away from "Sons of Anarchy" initially too, but I caught up over the summer and am stoked beyond words that it's back tonight. I had seen all of the raves from the critics, particularly Sepinwall, but I had sampled the first episode and wasn't immediately enthralled and it never made the regular rotation. Even after the raves reached a boiling point during the second season, I just wasn't that tempted because it did seem like a dark show and I wasn't sure I needed to add another and, since I hadn't yet watched more than the first season of "The Shield" (since rectified), I wasn't a huge fan of FX in general (never a big "Damages" fan).

    But then I started seeing raves about "SoA" from friends who I never would have suspected of liking the show or, really, critically acclaimed TV in general. That finally swayed me. Trying it out again didn't feel like I was eating my vegetables, like it sometimes can when trying out something that all the critics love.

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  14. isaac_spaceman2:36 PM

    Bowman -- he doesn't get into dealing meth for all of the right reasons, and the show does not let him off the hook for his bad decisions.  It is not Weeds.  We see him quite clearly for the monster he is. 

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  15. isaac_spaceman2:38 PM

    I am a person highly likely to watch a show about a biker gang, yet I didn't watch it in the first season and I lost interest a half-dozen or so episodes into the second season.  I didn't care much about the characters, and I found Charlie Hunnam's inability to carry an American accent so distracting that I just couldn't stay focused. 

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  16. isaac_spaceman2:39 PM

    (what I mean is that it becomes clear that the supposedly good reasons he uses as his excuse to deal meth are not the actual reasons, which are not noble.) 

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  17. Andrew2:40 PM

    Breaking Bad is probably more of black comedy than a pure tragedy. Walt is turning to dealing meth and the show is about his decisions to make the worst possible choices at every turn, but there's definitely some levity to the show. Like The Wire and The Sopranos, it's not all bleak and serious. There are moments of levity and humor. In some ways, I find it to be a less heavy and serious show than Mad Men, perhaps because the situations that the characters on Breaking Bad find themselves in are both tragic and comedic. 

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  18. Adam C.2:41 PM

    Speaking of which, is Tim Gunn's Guide to Style ever coming back?  Because that was some good fashion makeover TV (though I distinguish that from fashion competition, which I too don't enjoy). 

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  19. It's not usually subject matter that keeps me from watching a show - it's usually my block against having to catch up on a show, either while it's airing or when it's over.  I've heard amazing things about The Wire, but watching five seasons of one-hour drama sounds exhausting.  Same thing for Breaking Bad, same reason I've never watched Battlestar Galactica even though all my friends loved it.  If the show is available On Demand on my tv, it's easier - I caught up on Mad Men season 1 before season 2 aired this way.  But the idea of getting DVDs three episodes at a time with Netflix, or buying a box set before I know if I like it, doesn't appeal to me.

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  20. Andrew3:14 PM

    I've just started in catching up on Sons of Anarchy with season 1 -- interesting to have just watched Undeclared recently and see Charlie Hunnam playing a very different character. And the same for Katey Sagal and Maggie Siff (previously Rachel Menken on Mad Men.)

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  21. Travis3:53 PM

    Everyone I know tries to convince me to watch True Bood by using the same phrase.. Softcore porn, WITH VAMPIRES!1!! But I just cant shake the Twilight comparissons.

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  22. Becca3:56 PM

    Yeah, whatever happened to that show? While I disagreed with some of his basics, his guidance and technique were spot-on. I do enjoy me some cheerful makeover shows!

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  23. The Other Kate4:12 PM

    I'm the same way, Sue. As it happens, though, Battlestar Galactica was one of only a handful of successful "catch ups" I've been able to do. Come to think of it, I've never been able to make up more than a single season. (The takeaway: BE VIGILANT!! Don't half-ass something as important as TV connoisseurism!)

    I'm trying now to catch up on Treme and finding it really a grind ... like doing required reading for a course outside my major ... a course the prerequisites of which are greater enthusiasm for jazz and parades than I'm able to muster. Being sufficiently cowed by the genius of Simon et al., I'm convinced the failing is my own.

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  24. The Pathetic Earthling4:14 PM

    As much of a science fiction fan that I am, I more or less completely avoid time travel stories (and, therefore, Dr. Who).  I find them (mostly) annoying.  I suppose it is because I am a great believer in Niven's Paradox:  In any universe where time travel is invented, time is so completely unstable that the universe will keep changing until it reaches an equilibrium where time travel is never invented.

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  25. Adam C.4:40 PM

    Yeah, Becca, that's what we liked about it -- much more positive and less snarky than most of the other makeover shows, with a mindset geared to actually educating people about things rather than just lavishing them with new stuff.

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  26. linda4:51 PM

    I would just like to echo Genevieve on her TOP CHEF comment.  I was so disappointed.  Fan Favorite.

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  27. I won't watch anything with Vampires.  I also can't take any show that's too raw- like Oz or the Wire.  And the Sopranos weirdly hit too close to home.  I also won't watch any reality show where there isn't a test of professional skill (yes to Top Chef, Project Runway)- if you're getting paid to sit around a house or get drunk or turn 16, then no thanks.

    And I, too, generally want my entertainment to be light (although I do have a weakness for L&O).  Too many things come too close to my job and I'm happy to leave that at work.

    September 23rd is Community - it's streets ahead of all the other shows!!!

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  28. Heather K5:33 PM

    Wait, The Other Kate, are you saying that an enthusiasm for jazz is a req for liking Treme?  I have a jazz loving, anything remotely interesting on tv not interested in fiancee who I might be able to get on board if there is enough jazz each episode.

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  29. For years I avoided Six Feet Under because I thought it would be depressing drama about relationships and pershonal growth, but at this point I happily dvr and consume half-season marathons.  Even more happily there are still some holes to fill in the run so I'm not finished yet.  If only I'd known that the depression, relationships and personal growth would involve so much well-observed and quiet social commentary (as well as drug abuse, sexual mania, mental illness, etc.).

    SoA is enjoyable mostly because the cast does such a good job with the material they're given.  Most of that material is not remotely plausible, and much of it is easy to dismiss as obvious pandering to grandiose unspoken fantasies that lurk in the persistently adolescent quarters of Male America's inevitably disappointed ego.  I'll indulge those quarters of my own ego fairly happily, however, for the privilege of watching so much talent performing up to its potential.  They even found Henry Rollins a coherent and credible character that is nonetheless so scowly and one-dimensional that HR is not far over-taxed delivering a believable performance.  Also, I'd probably watch Ron Perlman it anything.  (If you look at his IMDB page, that's quite a statement.  Coming in 2011: Bubba Nosferatu - Curse of the She Vampires.)

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  30. christy in nyc5:36 PM

    Arnold Myint, who was auf'd fairly early. Though to his credit--and I'm really saying this more from my reality-viewing experience than any "hey, I know him!" affection--he was kind of a victim of one of those episodes where everyone does a good job but someone has to go home.

    OK I guess I lied--after I saw him on there, I did watch a couple of full episodes. But those are the only ones! Therefore I have no idea what you're talking about in the rest of your comment :)

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  31. Genevieve6:03 PM

    See, and I love jazz and New Orleans and want to watch Treme, but will have to steel myself for the Katrina-related tragedy, and know I wouldn't be able to watch it right now - will have a wait a couple months and see if I'm ready then.  (Kind of like I felt about The Accused, except that here I know there will be tons that I will love to counterbalance the tragic parts that will push all my anxiety/sadness buttons.)

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  32. The Other Kate6:04 PM

    Ooooh, there is jazz. Treme may be the show for you two!

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  33. Genevieve6:07 PM

    Yes!  And given past performance, the ouster seemed so unpredictable (spoilers)

    Never had been in the bottom before (except on a team challenge), whereas all the other people had been, I believe.

    I hope someone with a terrific restaurant watched and thought 'I want that person who cooks amazing food and has a positive, helpful, cooperative attitude to work for/with me.'

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  34. I'm gonna go ahead and request elaboration on how the Sopranos "hit too close to home."  If you are prohibited from answering under the terms of your agreement with the Witness Protection Program I will of course understand.

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  36. To say there is jazz is an understatement.  There are extended periods where the show is nothing but jazz.  It's good, although certainly a different kind of show. 

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  37. Alan Sepinwall8:55 PM

    Thanks, guys, for finally giving me a hook for the "Nikita" review I'd been struggling all day to write. (Look for it, and a link back to this discussion, tomorrow morning.)

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  38. christy in nyc9:12 PM

    Tim had an interview with the NYDN recently that seemed to indicate that he was actually really frustrated that they wanted him to be more mean and that wasn't what he did. I kind of doubt that will come back, especially because that was on Bravo.

    But apparently he talks a lot about his own life in his new book, which I am now dying to read.

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  39. I just discovered, and now highly recommend, Tim Gunn's vlog on his facebook page, where he discusses each episode of PR, and talks about a lot of behind-the-scenes information. Plus, as always, he's delightful.

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  40. Genevieve10:46 PM

    Thanks, Christy.  His food always looked like something I'd want to eat, definitely.

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  41. Thanks to you Alan, for your SoA coverage.  It's because of you that I first started watching and got hooked.  I agree with everything Phil says above (all three times!) that it's the cast that keeps me coming back, particularly Katey Sagal, Dayton Callie and Ron Perlman, but also a wonderful supporting cast of great characters.

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  42. Alan Sepinwall8:14 AM

    The Nikita review in question: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-nikita-on-the-cw

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  43. Uh, Jake, I suggest you eat with your back to the wall from here on out.

    My extended family is all Italian - and I do have some mafia ancestors.  I don't need to see Italian drama and grudges played out on TV- I can just have dinner with my Aunt Rose. 

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  44. KR, we need to talk regarding The Wire.  I don't think it's too raw for you, and I think you'd be especially happy to have seen season 4.  

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