Anyone else have a hard time sitting through TV show/movies?

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I have always had a difficult time understanding what was going on in movies and on television since the time I was a child. I can not understand what is going on based on the mere dialogue and cinematic effects, I need a more thorough explanation. As a child, I did not like children's shows such as Sesame Street and Barney because I found them artificial and socially manufactured. I found Cookie monster and Oscar the Grouch disturbing and Barney was silly. I was ultra serious as a child. As I got older I found teen dramas to be one dimensional and stereotypical, almost as if the writers and directors who presumably grew up during a different era can not relate to the complexities of my generation and comedies were down right repetetive, using the same tired and overused sex jokes over and over.

You sound like me. I had a very jaded entertainment bringing up.

My parents always watched the best movies. The good movies and dad always listened to all kinds of music. My media knowledge was fed through experiences of foreign media, less local, and indies.

And our humor had always been jaded.

I can relate with the experiences with comedy that others have - I find stereotypical "comedies" unfunny and boring. I do like black humor and political satire, however.

As for films in general? I usually lose attention during the film and need to take a break. When I return, everything's fine, however.

I grew up on Allen Sherman, Inca Son, Harry Belafonte, Pedro Almodovar films and Monty Python (although that has seen a resurgeance in popularity in mainstream American culture.) It was hard for me to sit through movies

I found the mainstream Television and Movies to be boring. The afterschool specials mostly had the same plot. There were always the stereotypical cliques, (the nerd, the jocks, the popular girls, the druggies), there was always a lot of focus on romantic relationships and that always involved a lot of psycho-drama, and the shows produced in the 00's were way too sexualized for younger children, who usually ended up being the main audience although they were not the target audience.

Yes I have a hard time with TV and films. If I have not seen them before then its usualy a difficult experience sitting through them. I particularly don't like adverts so I avoid TV mostly because of those. I also cannot stand the people who introduce the programs and I don't like it when TV channels advertise what is on tomorrow or later or next week. With film I prefer if I have seen the movie before. I do like horror films though, and I wonder if thats because they usually have the simplist storylines.

I hate most television and radio shows. I cannot force myself to watch them. The advertisements are even worse.

There are, of course, exceptions. The Simpsons has always been a favorite of mine, often managing to be humorous and apt. I also love British humor, from Monty Python to Mitchell and Webb.


Television news is especially bad. Bad journalism just irks the hell out of me. CNN, NBC, FOX (heh), ABC... they're all terrible. I don't see how we let our news networks get so ridiculous. The Onion is dead-on accurate and, because of this, is my favorite contemporary American satire.

Unlike you mention, I can usually understand the material. To answer the question, though: Often, yes. It's been suggested to me by multiple people on multiple occasions that I am not emotionally affected by these things the way most people are. I suspect this is why I don't normally become immersed in them the way others do, and thus lose interest.

Yes! Even movies I love, I find it hard to sit through them. I liked Seasame Street as a kid for the skits and cartoons but aside from Oscar, I hated the regualr characters. I loved Barney but as an adult I wonder why becuase the show was full of things I hated. I NEVER watched shows intended for teens as a teenager. I was still watching cartoons intended for younger audiences such as Arthur (I still watch Arthur) and programs that were relivant to my special intrests. I find it hard to sit through any TV program. I listen to the TV while I am working on the computer. I make my own video games. Sometimes I will glance up at the TV to see what's going on. I remember one time I was watching X Files and glanced up when they showed an alien. I gasped and jumped about three feet in the air. It was actualy a very cute alien. I tried to read the Goosebumps books that were so popular at the time but my attention span was so short, I couldn't even get through a single page in one sitting.

I used to be a cartoon junkie around the ages of 9, 10 and 11 when I was being severely bullied in school and no one would do a damb thing about it. Cartoons were my way to escape from reality.

When I was younger, I watched almost nothing but cartoons and anime, so I had very little exposure to live-action movies and television shows which were popular and regarded as shocking, innovative and classic in their heyday. Eventually I became too mature to enjoy cartoons anymore. Anime began to bore me because I had become so familiar with the various tropes and characters types that are commonly used in that medium that I no longer found it mentally stimulating.

It's only been roughly around one year since I started indulging regularly in live-action movies, so I'm able to find genuine enjoyment in movies that more jaded people would probably find cliche or hackneyed nowadays.

It's a pretty rare film that grabs my attention and holds it to the end. I often find myself checking the running time to see how long I have to put up with the film. TV is even worse. I watch no broadcast TV anymore and the few DVDs I have of TV series are very difficult to get through.

Yeah, it's pretty rare to have a show or movie hold my attention, even my favorites. I was so excited on Xmas that there were all those NBA games on, I tuned into them all only to lose attention quickly, ha. I usually opt for exploring the internet, playing crossword puzzles online, while listening to my favorite radio shows/podcasts. Man, my attention span is terrible, even in my everyday life, especially with goals and work, I think them up and a day later, Im on a totally different idea.

About 95% of the movies out there don't hold my interest whatsoever, especially action movies. I do like Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure, though.

I have never understood nor been interested in TV and have spent my whole life feeling as though there was something extra wrong with me, because I just didn't get it. I have never understood how people can know which actor is which, who is who in terms of characters, let alone follow a plot all the way through. The only things I really watch are documentaries, but then I can be really picky on them as well. If they do not back up what they are saying in really quality ways then I am not interested in them. Do watch some TV news, but get very frustrated with it very quickly.

My TV is never on unless I'm playing video games or need to watch something so I'm not the only guy at university who didn't know how well our football team did during this past weekend's game.

I often tend to slowly lose my attention in a tired sense. :S But that's also due to sleep deprivation as well. I couldn't sit through most of the James Bond movies my parents wanted to watch with me. But that wasn't the best activity with them anyways.

I'm trying to get back into anime, however. I don't mind cartoons. But I'm not consistent with them.