The Worst Shows On TV Are....`

[RallyCola]

The Honey Boo Boo thread got me wondering about what the worst shows on TV are...

do you hate political shows that don't agree with your ideology?
do you hate "you are the father" maury episodes?
do you hate reality shows that show the underbelly of american society?
do you hate sesame street because furry things scare you?

what say you?

[bassman2546]

I watch mostly sitcoms since I don't have the patience to sit through one-hour dramas. That being said, the worst sitcoms are:

1) Two and a Half Men
2) Two Broke Girls
3) Whitney

[Stavros]

In the case of non-fiction, its about the whole package -the production values, the writing, the acting -too many programmes on UK TV are made to a formula, short 2-3 minute scenes, saturated with anonymous muzak, with stereotypical characters who constantly repeat the words in dialogue -for example someone says 'are you going to the movies?' and the reply is 'the movies?' rather than yes, no, or maybe. Most programmes these days anyway are about cops or detectives or forensics -drunk cops, divorced cops, classical-music loving cops, jazz-loving cops, Danish cops, misogynist cops; cops in uniform, cops in jumpers, cops who wear ties, cops who don't wear ties; amateur cops, African cops.

I liked The Wire because I thought it was challenging and original, and because it is unusual to see characters develop over six series; I like Homeland because it tries to deal with serious issues, but it does have plot holes and is unlikely to survive increasingly unbelievable storylines.
There is a profound lack of imagination and creativity, it means I rarely watch tv these days.

Factual tv also suffers from the formula curse. If its history then park the historian in front of the usual global icons: Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Brooklyn Bridge/Statue of Liberty, Kremlin, Colosseum, etc. Then give them something pompous to say to mark a commercial break: With this one decision, Henry, without realising it at the time, was changing the fate of the English monarchy, indeed of his Kingdom...It was here, on this piece of New England that history was made: neither the British Empire nor its American Colonies would ever be the same again...gasp!

Stick to the movies, much more reliable and much better entertainment.

[Dino Velvet]

No likey reality shows or Whitney.

[ImpulZ]

Fuck fakeshows like,hardcore pawn,repoman and that *Dog* bountyhunter shit...

[Dino Velvet]

Fuck fakeshows like,hardcore pawn,repoman and that bountyhunter shit...

That Bounty Hunter ain't even strapped. Don't be coming after Josey Wales.

[Prospero]

The worst programmes on contemporary TV are reality programmes and celebrity led twaddle. House makeover shows and cookery programmes are just tedious. I hate soap operas too - and medical dramas. I agree with Stavros about the bulk of contemporary documentaries - all too often an once amusing comedian fronting a programme which offers little in the way of new information.

The TV I like best are factual programmes which do delve deeper, and well written contemporary drama. So The Wire, yes, The Sopranos Yes, Homeland yes, The Good Wife (a qualified yes), Madmen, The Newsroom (for its political stance otherwise rather hokey), Nurse jackie, Sherlock Holmes.... and good comedy. But what is funny is so subjective that anything I say I have found hugely funny is likely to simply irritate others. So - subjective choice... Fawlty Towers and, long ago, Monty Python. More recently Have i Got News For you, Outnumbered, London 2012 (a spoof about the planning of the 2012 Olympics). Classics - the Marx Brothers and the best of Woody Allen (long long go now sadly)

[Dino Velvet]

The worst programmes on contemporary TV are reality programmes and celebrity led twaddle. House makeover shows and cookery programmes are just tedious. I hate soap operas too - and medical dramas. I agree with Stavros about the bulk of contemporary documentaries - all too often an once amusing comedian fronting a programme which offers little in the way of new information.

The TV I like best are factual programmes which do delve deeper, and well written contemporary drama. So The Wire, yes, The Sopranos Yes, Homeland yes, The Good Wife (a qualified yes), Madmen, The Newsroom (for its political stance otherwise rather hokey), Nurse jackie, Sherlock Holmes.... and good comedy. But what is funny is so subjective that anything I say I have found hugely funny is likely to simply irritate others. So - subjective choice... Fawlty Towers and, long ago, Monty Python. More recently Have i Got News For you, Outnumbered, London 2012 (a spoof about the planning of the 2012 Olympics). Classics - the Marx Brothers and the best of Woody Allen (long long go now sadly)

Are soap operas popular in the UK? They're getting easier and easier to avoid over here. They replaced them with cooking shows, home improvement, or The View ripoffs. Sometimes the cooking shows aren't too bad. I do like to eat.

Afternoon television will always be shit. Thank God for TIVO and DVR.

[Prospero]

Yes - the longest running show on british TV is a hugely popular soap opera called Coronation Street - sent in a fictional working class street in Manchester. And we also have a radio soap that has been on since the 1950s - every evening monday thru friday - called The Archers which has an agricultural plotline. Just about every living brit has listened to it - by intent or accidentally - at some point. The Archers are a farming dynasty.

There are plenty of other long running soaps. Another is called Eastenders - about life centering around a working class pub in the East End of London.

[Dino Velvet]

Yes - the longest running show on british TV is a hugely popular soap opera called Coronation Street - sent in a fictional working class street in Manchester. And we also have a radio soap that has been on since the 1950s - every evening monday thru friday - called The Archers which has an agricultural plotline. Just about every living brit has listened to it - by intent or accidentally - at some point. The Archers are a farming dynasty.

There are plenty of other long running soaps. Another is called Eastenders - about life centering around a working class pub in the East End of London.

Is there an exact definition of what a soap opera is? I've watched much episodic television over the years that had a soapy feeling to it even though it was action driven toward a male demo.

Do soaps usually need to be afternoon(sometimes prime-time too) melodramas that are geared toward women?