TV Shows You Love to HATE

**Circle_10** · 03-08-19, 18:16

Originally Posted by BoringGuy45

I kind of liked Terra Nova. Admittedly, it was cheesy and it had a million elements in the "done to death" category and all that crap. It was pretty ambitious for Fox to green light that show, and I thought it had potential. It would have been much better with a bigger budget as a Netflix or Amazon Prime show.

In my case, since I'm a fairly big paleontology buff, and was even more "into" dinosaur science back when Terra Nova was on the air than I even am now, I couldn't forgive the series' really bad depictions of the dinosaurs. Lazy, inaccurate designs, and giving totally incorrect factoids (a "scientist" character on the show describing a carnivorous dinosaur species as having "multiple rows of razor sharp incisors" just....ugh, no.) So the bungling of the dinosaurs was the show's "original sin" and everything else that irked me about it got piled on top of that.

I will give the writers props for one thing though...
One annoying plot point that lasted through the show's entire run was the teenage son of the main character pining for his girlfriend who was still in the future. In like the second to last episode she arrives as part of a subsequent group of colonists. Along with this group come some saboteurs or mercenaries or something, and during the process of a confrontation that ensues shortly after their arrival in the past the girl gets blown up by an IED. I congratulate the writers for having the balls to go that route, and since I hated the teenage boy character so much, the fact that someone he apparently cared about a lot and wouldn't shut up about was vaporized by a bomb also made me smile.

**SteyrAUG** · 03-08-19, 18:29

Speaking of Punky, Soleil Moon Frye aged very nicely.

**Doc Safari** · 03-08-19, 18:41

As an addendum, here's a list of shows that started out really good, but sucked at the end. I know, there are tons of shows that fit this category, so I concentrated on ones that I personally wanted to remain great, but ended up catastrophic disappointments:

1. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Okay, the first season was fluff, but it was fun fluff, and the ratings proved that it was okay with fans. Mindless escapist space opera. A lot of other shows could learn from it. The thing is: Fred Freiberger (remember how he did with the third season of the original Star Trek?) was brought in, and made huge changes to the show. He added characters, changed the format to be a very, very poor copy of the "space exploring starship" like Star Trek, and filmed stories that tried to be serious but were mostly just horribly written. The show did not survive to a third season.

2. Lost In Space

It started as a black and white space adventure in the early 1960's, and the black and white episodes were mostly fairly decent family-oriented space adventure. When the show finally started being filmed in color, it had changed into more of a "kiddie" show with Dr. Smith and Will Robinson dominating less-than-serious episodes. Dr. Smith had been a real villain in the B&W episodes. He had changed to a cowardly clown by the time the show was shot in color.

3. The X-Files

Most people believe the show should have ended around the sixth season. What started great seemed to get worse and worse. And when the two principal actors started skipping huge blocks of episodes the writers brought in lead characters that no one cared about. Even though the show soldiered on beyond the sixth season to a ninth and then a revival years later, the X-Files ran out of steam a long time ago. Perhaps the best "revival" episode was "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat", in which the writers produced a none-too-subtle episode more or less admitting that the glory days were over. At the end of the episode Scully starts to eat some 1970's era jello type product, and puts it down with the remark "I'd rather remember it the way it was." Fans probably felt the same way.

4. 24

It started out as a taught, nail-biting, can't-miss-an-episode spy thriller, supposedly told in "real" time with the hero only having 24 hours to take care of whatever crisis he faced. For several years it was literally the best action-adventure ANYTHING on TV or the big screen. The trouble is, as time went by it was obvious the writers ran out of new material, and as the show became more PC and hired lefty loons like Janeane Garofalo, it was clear the glory days were over. Even a reboot with a different actor several years later tanked. It's unlikely this one can be revived, at least anytime soon.

5. Bonanza

Maybe the most well-liked TV western of all time, it was one of the longest running as well (14 seasons). I bet no one would have predicted it, but when Dan Blocker (Hoss) died, the series immediately went into the crapper and died the following spring. The final season of Bonanza was painful to watch. Ironically, the creators produced this show and The High Chaparral, but supposedly the more violent story lines killed the High Chapparal. https://truewestmagazine.com/what-ki...igh-chaparral/ Oh, what might have been, if High Chaparral had survived.

(Dis)Honorable Mention:

Star Trek

The original series started great but its woes in the ratings and low budget finally got it canceled. Fred Freiberger didn't help any. Early episodes were thought-provoking conversation pieces. Later ones were embarassing and forgettable.

M*A*S*H

I'll probably get flamed for this one, since a lot of people prefer the later episodes that were about 50/50 serious and funny. To me it was over when too many of the original cast members had been replaced and it was less about laughs than social commentary.

**Diamondback** · 03-08-19, 18:50

Oh, sooo many... Pull up a chair, fellas, this could be a while.

1. ANYTHING by Dick Wolf. Nothing but a toxic stream of Leftist talking points, the only good points were Fred Thompson and Jerry Orbach, may they rest in peace.

2. ANYTHING on TLC, particularly that obnoxious "Say Yes To The Dress" that my mother insists on tuning in at every opportunity while I'm stuck taking care of her. Exception to Dr. Pimple Popper, which is okay other than her insistence on comparing various removed lumps to foods.

3. Food Network. Used to be good ideas, then they went to "how else can we repackage the already stale Chopped concept?" Exceptions for Burgers, Brew & 'Que, Guy's Grocery Games and Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

4. Criminal Minds after about Season 5 or so. Early on it was more about the psych and science of Behavioral Analysis and one episode even portrayed CCW in a positive light, but then it graduated into Leftist talking-points, Freak-of-the-Week and torture porn. If I wanted that I'd tune in one of those disgusting, uncultured SAW movies...

It'd be easier to list the things on TV I DON'T hate actually... LOL (Mostly Weather Channel, Travel and Animal Planet.)

**SteyrAUG** · 03-08-19, 19:18

Originally Posted by Doc Safari

As an addendum, here's a list of shows that started out really good, but sucked at the end. I know, there are tons of shows that fit this category, so I concentrated on ones that I personally wanted to remain great, but ended up catastrophic disappointments:

1. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Hands down, one of the best shows ever. Between Erin Gray and Princess Amaldalawhatever, it was almost as good as Wonder Woman.

**Circle_10** · 03-08-19, 20:05

I could discuss things I hate all day.
It keeps me warm....

As a kid, I learned about the cathartic value of pure unadulterated hatred early on. And one of my favorite hate sinks was something called Zoobilee Zoo. In fact, lingering memories of it might help explain my extreme hostility toward the "Furry" community as an adult.

I also couldn't stand the live-action Winnie the Pooh series on Disney called Welcome to Pooh Corner or another similar show called Dumbo's Circus. Both had characters portrayed by actors in big stupid costumes

**LowSpeed_HighDrag** · 03-08-19, 20:15

Originally Posted by Circle_10

I could discuss things I hate all day.
It keeps me warm....

As a kid, I learned about the cathartic value of pure unadulterated hatred early on. And one of my favorite hate sinks was something called Zoobilee Zoo. In fact, lingering memories of it might help explain my extreme hostility toward the "Furry" community as an adult.

I also couldn't stand the live-action Winnie the Pooh series on Disney called Welcome to Pooh Corner or another similar show called Dumbo's Circus. Both had characters portrayed by actors in big stupid costumes

Holy shit. Zoobilee Zoo scared the life out of me as a kid. So much so, that I have a legitimate phobia of furries to this day. They creep me out in a big way. I was scared of foxes when I was young, exclusively because of that show. Apparently, there are lots more like us out there, we need a support group.

http://shezcrafti.com/zoobilee-zoo-hate/

I also hate sitcoms on sets with canned laughter as well. Like Big Bang Theory, that may be the worst show of all time.

**militarymoron** · 03-08-19, 20:29

Originally Posted by SteyrAUG

Hands down, one of the best shows ever. Between Erin Gray and Princess Amaldalawhatever, it was almost as good as Wonder Woman.

I liked Buck Rogers in the 25th Century growing up, too. Met Gil Gerard about 20 years ago - he wasn't very friendly. Met Erin Gray a couple of years after. Very friendly, down to earth, and a really charming lady.