Frustration When You Hate "Brilliant" SHows

Post Reply New Topic

Does this drive anybody else crazy?

FOr instance, Mad Men. I like it, I've watched almost all the episodes and think parts of it are great. But unfortunately, Don bores the crap out of me as far as character, and even worse Jon Hamm strikes me as a one-note eyebrow actor. His back story bores me, his girlfriends bore me. Yuck!l Whatever is good about it has to be good in the spare time outside his major role.

What am I missing?

But generally, just whenever everyone is loving a show and you don't get it, do you keep trying to figure it out until it drives you mad?

I didn't have the patience to make it through the first season. It's well done and all, it just didn't pique my interest, and I really thought it would, as I've worked in advertising most of my adult life and I have a nostalgia for the time period it's set in, but the show just left me cold.

I also cannot fathom how so many people could glamorize and idolize the world of a meth dealer, like Breaking Bad. I've personally seen what that world has done to two people I knew very well and there is absolutely nothing glamorous or exciting about it. It's quite seedy, loathsome and pathetic.

It is interesting you brought this up. I have been trying to figure this out, off-and-on, for a couple of years. I am always looking for tv series to obsess about. I wanted to love it but it made me really uncomfortable, so I stopped watching it. I read Matthew Weiner created "Mad Men". He wrote and produced seasons 5 and 6 of "The Sopranos" (which I am obsessed with) so I tried again and gave up.

I try to talk to my therapist using tv analogies but he tries to get me just to talk. Then I asked him what tv shows he liked and he said "Mad Men" and "Downton Abbey". So, I started watching "Mad Men" again. I told the psychologist "Mad Men" is sexist and annoys me. Later, I thought what is more sexist than "The Sopranos" but I am interested in that.

The only thing I can think of is that "Mad Men" represents the world I was supposed to fit into (I grew up in the '50s and '60s). I failed across the board, in every way to fit into anything in the "Mad Men" world. It probably hits too close to home for me.

I do keep trying to figure it out. Sometimes, I do change my mind. I did not like the advertisements for "Veep" (HBO tv series) but I watched a marathon yesterday and loved it.

I wouldn't worry about it too much -- just because something's been well-recieved by the general populace (or is hyped up/marketed as so), doesn't mean you're wrong for feeling the way you feel. Interpretation is purely individualistic after all.

I couldn't get into Mad Men nor the Sopranos myself (I seem to have an aversion to very "typically male" shows for some reason, and I'm probably far too young to understand both examples fully at any rate), but I can understand why they were popular. I personally liked Breaking Bad because of how tragically human it was - that the best of intentions could lead to the worst atrocities, and unless you see all sides to a person, you can't say you truly know them. And well, power corrupts. But that's just me.

Anyway, point is: fret not. Just enjoy what you want for your own reasons. At least you like some aspects of popular culture in the first place.

Any show can be called "brilliant" by critics.

If a food expert called salted cow dung the taste of the century, I'd question his senses, not line up for a plate of poop.

Most "hot" and "brilliant" shows are garbage. Oh you might laugh at the jokes and even find yourself drawn to keep watching...like people are drawn to rubberneck at car crashes on the side of the road. That doesn't mean it's something that you'd really want to watch.

People rave about House. I watched it for a while...then stopped. When I realized the show was about this looser who keeps screwing up his life and everyone else's around him, I just lost interest. It was good enough to keep my interest, but it was the same basic theme over and over.

I read on Wikipedia that Mike Judge (creator of "Beavis and Butt-head", "Office Space" and "Silicon Valley) said about the people he worked with at a company in Silicon Valley: "The people I met were like Stepford Wives. They were true believers in something, and I don't know what it was." That is the way I feel about "Mad Men".

Also, for such a handsome man, Don Draper is really unappealing.

I've never watched any of the shows mentioned in this thread.

To add: when LOST was on and everyone was raving about it, I just couldn't get into it. Watched the pilot, found it incredibly boring.