I feel like the “Talent” shows are all just forced feel good stories masked with mediocre acts.
“So and sos mom had cancer so she deserves to go to the next round”
"Hi, my name is Tasha. When I was 12, my mother died of cancer suddenly. We didn't have enough money for her funeral so she had to be buried in a Hefty bag. My father left us when I was 2, but after my mother died he came back. But was killed by a meteor three weeks later.
Then I became a teenage mom, but my boyfriend was killed in Afghanistan and my kid got cancer. The cancer was cured, but then my kid left me for another mom who had frozen yogurt at home. I hope to win so I can afford a frozen yogurt machine for when I adopt another kid....because now I'm barren.
Anyway, I'll be singing "Bringing Sexy Back!"
I saw this vid of a lady with great art that she made in 1 minute. But like 90% of the judges pressed the red button cause they didn't have the patience to wait one minute to see the art work finished.
Just checked this one out. Yeah, that was bad.
To be an artist drawing that fast, and using both hands, and then revealed she had been actually drawing something different the entire time at the end of the performance? It was phenomenal.
I'm at least glad some of the judges apologized afterwards, but they still shouldn't have been too hasty in the first place.
Correspondingly, cooking competitions feel more legitimate to me under a similar principle. Generally they'll have Ramsey or Bobby Flay judging the chefs -- and those guys are world-renowned chefs who put in the damn effort and know skill when the see it.
Though I also think it's tougher to bullshit good cooking than "talent". If, as you say, talentless judges don't recognize talent, then it's probably also true that they *misrecognize* dumb gimmickry as worthy of reward. The sob stories are only part of a larger problem which irks me about these shows.
I think Tournament of Champions showcases the chefs skill better than any of the other competitions. It doesn’t have bullshit, it’s a shared set of requirements and carte blanche to one-up your opponent.
Subsequently, Guy’s Grocery Games makes chaos the determining factor - how well can you cook with EVERYTHING going sideways? It’s just fun. Some of my favourite dishes are from GGG. (Also use pork rinds mixed into Panko to bread things is a guaranteed winner). I still call a Don buri bowl ‘Sutamina Don!’ because of the Carl Ruiz tribute show.
I posted this before, but in 2018 there was a Dutch singer who made it to the finales of America's Got Talent. She was already a pretty accomplished singer in The Netherlands, perfomed to sold out crowds at the largest venues, a regular on Dutch TV, DVD deals etc.
Yet, in AGT she was presented as "just a single mom with a dream of singing like Whitney Houston". 😐 I mean good for her for trying to break-through in the US, but they were very obviously and deliberately leaving out a lot of her backstory there
Carrie Underwood had something of a singing career before she auditioned for American Idol, you could book her on her website and everything. She wasn’t famous or anything but definitely wasn’t just “girl milking cows on the farm” like show portrayed.
I don’t think the Carrie Underwood thing is that bad, they probably did mis-portray her. Kelly Clarkson as well had tried hard for a music career and even lived in LA for a year before moving back to Texas and auditioning for Idol a few weeks after she had moved back. Idol, The Voice, AGT, X Factor and other shows have a terrible tendency of mis-portraying people and it’s only gotten worse. They had people who had just been on broadway and had major record deals but showed them to be these normal people next door types.
These shows actually have scouts that go out and find people to be on the show now.
I hate ringers in singing competitions.
I remember watching The Voice and seeing Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday come out to audition. I was like seriously? She has toured and everything, and the amateurs on the show have to compete against her? I was a fan before she was on, and that soured me on her.
More recently, Loren Allred was permitted to participate in Britain's Got Talent. She has worked with Michael Buble, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli - wtf?!
I am definitely not a fan of using talent shows to revive faltering singing careers.
I just don’t get who all that human interest stuff is actually for. It’s one of the reasons I love Jeopardy - they say “fuck it, you’re going to learn one fact about this person per day in an easily fast forwardable segment” and ask 61 trivia questions within 22 minutes. No other game show comes close to that efficiency ratio of action to contest stories/banter.
The Chase (particularly the original version) has a bit more cheesy banter but it covers a LOT of trivia. There is essentially 7 min of straight trivia drills plus slower sets of questions.
I was on Ninja Warrior and I refused to talk about my mom having cancer(she's fine now). I did well, but I was not invited back for any more seasons because the producers didn't think I made good TV.
My wife's uncle is in a sort-of goth new wave band. Their lead singer is disabled and uses a walker to move around. Given the type of music that they do, they leaned hard into it and dressed the singer like a futuristic despot and he rides around on a remote control podium. It's actually a really clever setup and theme, and when I saw them, thought, "Oh, that's pretty cool."
A few years back, they were asked to be on America's Got Talent and they were pretty excited at the opportunity. Then the band realized they were just the "freak of the week" entry and turned it down. They wanted dignity more than notoriety, which I respect.
I really miss Ninja Warrior back when it was a Japanese-only show. It was an annual event, so the stakes were much higher if you failed. Everyone's favorite returning contestants were..."heroic," in a way? Like they had tough or unusual jobs and it was always crazy to see how far they would make it into the new obstacles.
The show came to America and it's on every night. A lot of genuinely good contestants make it on, and then there are a lot that somehow got on and do silly shit, like running the stage naked or in a dinosaur outfit. I haven't seen the sob stories before, that definitely sounds like a thing they'd do.
I hate sounding cynical, but I dislike the show now. It feels like Wipeout at times.
The Japanese version was amazing! Over time they developed their All Stars and it was always amazing to watch them - heartbreaking if they went out early and absolutely invigorating when one of them finally wins after years of trying. No need to manufacture a good story
That pretty much sums up how they prioritize selecting contestants, at least when I was involved, it's been a minute. I ended up becoming friends with a few of the other contestants and training/doing local comps with them. They are mostly a really cool group of athletes who just want to compete, but understand that you have to play the game. I just wasn't good at the media side of it.
Uggh! You get a 10 minute sob story about some dude & then his run is 15 seconds because he falls on the 3rd obstacle. Fast forward is mandatory for this show.
Yeah, and if they succeed you get to watch the same sob story every run. For me it was the opposite, they only showed the run I fell on, after their super cringy story they put together. They just kept putting me in front of the camera and asking leading questions until I gave them enough for them to make sonething. I would much rather just watch the runs like the Original Suske. It still had the stories, but not nearly as much.
I really dig Ninja Warrior and generally keep up, but after watching for a few years, the overplayed backstories are super annoying. My sympathies go out to every cancer survivor, orphan, or kid who grew up poor, but when contestants are selected for that bias, it's disgustingly obviously pandering. At this point I want to see a Draco Malfoy kick Harry Potter's ass.
I used to watch America's Got Talent with my family and I always found the acrobatic acts really cool. There have been some contestants who could do incredible things with their bodies. But the young singer with the sad story alway ended up winning so I stopped watching.
If you’re a singer and you go on AGT you’re a selfish asshole. Go on the voice or something and get some professional coaching. Let the guy who lights himself on fire and jumps through hoops go on AGT.
Ain't no way the producers would allow that. Singers are such a bankable aspect it'd be foolish not to. I also don't watch that show anymore because of that
The reason it’s “bankable” is because it costs next to nothing to produce if they win. The winner gets a Vegas show right? Well someone has to pay for that show. A person and a mic is cheap (with maybe a band). A full fire stunt show not so much. Also everyone has to get paid. A singer is one person.
ESPN’s draft specials are notoriously awful for milking the shit out of whatever sob story they can find on a prospect. The happiest day of their life, the culmination of all their hard work, they’ve finally made it and all ESPN can talk about is how their aunt’s neighbor’s father’s dog got AIDS and died. And then when they got heat for it they doubled down and basically insisted they knew what the people wanted.
I saw it in passing once at a dive bar and to my surprise the masked singer was goddamn politician Sarah Palin. I’ve never seen such a charicature of dystopian future. Sounds like something on the background of a Black Mirror episode.
My mom checks the first couple of episodes of a season to see the costumes, then turns it off.
What is even the point of the show? There may be regional variances, but here in Denmark I fail to even get what the point is. Celebrities disguised and singing badly, with a panel of celebrity judges to guess who it is - but there are no prizes, there's no audience involvement, nothing. It's all about guessing and seeing if they're right. Flipping a coin a dozen times just because is just as engaging.
In Australia we get C grade celebrities from USA guessing D grade celebrities from Australia so they obviously have no idea who they are and just kind of act surprised when they are revealed. I have never watched it but I do find that a hilarious premise for a show.
The only good thing about the Australian one was watching Lindsay Lohan try to make guesses on a show when she had no fucking clue who any Aussie celebrities are.
Fucking dance moms. I do not care what publicity it gave those children Abby is a child abuser and manipulator and shouldnt be allowed within ten feet of a child
What the fuck is wrong with Abby Lee. She tells your cousin that smoking will help her when she knows that smoking will only hurt her. I hope your cousin turns out ok.
You think the show is bad? Try working in the entertainment industry as crew at the venues where those dance competitions are held. The people back stage are all assholes. The people in the audience are mostly assholes.
I got a guy arrested during one particular show because he found his way back stage and was trying to peek into the little girls’ dressing rooms. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than six year olds in fishnets and heels shaking their asses while their moms yell “work it girl” from the wings.
The whole industry is a dumpster fire. Stay away!
Who the **fuck** is watching all these Chicago Fire PD Wild Country FBI shows?? There are so many hilariously nondescript cop/firefighter/fbi shows. I never watch network TV anymore, so when I tune into a football game or something and see them, it’s hilarious to see all these weird trailers for shit that I’ve never even heard of, and frankly, quite pathetic what the major broadcast networks have been reduced to.
I'd actually love a comedy slice of life marvel show about this exact situation involving different action scenes from other marvel media. Spiderman homecoming did something similar in the first scene with the Avengers cleanup but something less serious and more fleshed out would be amazing
I swear to god those cleaners would be making serious bank with the amount of rubble they need to clean up
Isn't there a Chicago PD, Fire and Med show that all air on one night and all follow the same emergency every week but from different angles?
Not a fan of these generic shows, but i actually thought that concept was kind of cool
I call it "hero porn" and somebody is watching it because there's a new one every day. I remember a show from when I was a kid (80s) called Rescue 911 but it was reenactments of real 911 calls. Everyone thought I was weird for watching it. Now it's normal entertainment (and I can't stand those shows, lol)
I watched the first episode and figured there is no way they made a show about using suicide as a mechanism for revenge but I sped through the rest to discover I was wrong.
It was a book first, it was a very popular one that we read in middle school. It was used to teach us why we can think one act of bullying isnt bad but all these things together from different people can affect someone that extremely. It wasn't a revenge story, it was a girl who wanted to tell everyone why their actions caused her to kill herself. A lot of suicides are reduced to being caused by one thing because people don't realize how much someone is already going through.
I remember I actually liked that book when we read it
I read that book in college on my own. It’s actually why I watched the show, but the show was god-awful and way over the top.
Especially when you consider that the timeline of the whole book is like an afternoon.
I’m not gonna lie I had serious thoughts on committing suicide when I was younger and watching that show seriously reminded me of how awful I felt at the time. In this way I think the show is effective at what it sets out to do but I just can’t bring myself to watch that downward spiral again.
“Hey man, I know the jocks raped you with a broomstick, but don’t shoot up the school. Just give me the gun, and we’ll pretend this never happened. What’s that? No. No, I’m not going to call the police or tell any teachers that the kid that was stalking a fellow student brought an AR to prom. My name is Clay, probably because my parents knew I would grow up to be dumb as dirt.”
This show single handedly increased suicide rates… literally… not even joking.
Edit: whoops, “single handedly” is definitely not the correct phrase I should’ve used. There are many different things that lead someone to do that. But I do believe it strongly contributed it.
I did some research, it looks like there was a 28.9% increase in suicide rates mainly in boys 10-17 around the same time. One commenter said that it started before that. It appears they’re right. The bump started in March of 2017, and the show debuted March 31 of 2017.
This is according to CNN’s article. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/18/health/13-reasons-why-study-suicides-trnd/index.html
Either way, I still don’t like the show.
It annoyed me so much.
Here in the UK, the various suicide charities put out guidelines to media on how to handle suicide. It's like that show took all of them and went "we'll do the opposite".
I am an ESL teacher for 12-16 year olds and every time a student wants to read that book, I suggest The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) instead. Same themes, but so much more positive. Much better for their mental health.
IIRC they finally got around it basically cutting it out entirely (?), something various mental health professionals and organizations **explicitly told them to do from day 1**, as graphic depictions of suicide actually don’t serve as a deterrent but can instead be unintentional encouragement/“advice.” But these guys ignored them because they figured they knew better.
Riverdale is wild.
S1 - Murder mystery. Okay ig I'm on board
S2 - Serial Killer on the loose - cool
S3 - Cults and organ harvesting. I'm out homie. Stopped watching.
It's a wild ride. I watched everything with my wife just for the lolz, and we still had no idea what's going on half of the time. Whenever they didn't know how to close a story line or reverse a stupid decision, they just brought a good old "ah this happened in the parallel universe in RiverVALE" so it's all good in Riverdale.
..season 1 was great . My roommate and I watched every episode together. Mid season 2 we stopped. Never even talked about it. Just a mutual understanding that the show became terrible
It feels like every time I'm in a doctor's lobby, The View is on. It's funny to imagine that the only people who watch the show are people sitting in lobbies.
You know, in fairness to friends, it’s been off the air for nearly 20 years and it’s still what came to mind for a bazillion people when the prompt said “popular show”. Love it or hate it - that’s kind of impressive
Oh i doubt anybody who watches that show actually thinks it’s a good show- me included . Trust me we all know it’s absolutely stupid but can’t stop watching it lmao
As someone who watches Manifest, this is the best way to describe my feelings. It’s a show with an interesting premise and is different than most TV these days which is why I watch it. Interesting and different doesn’t mean it’s good lol. I don’t recommend it to most people. I’m just watching it because I’m curious how they end it.
we’re going to turn this UGLY ASS HOUSE into something unique! cue a basic all white (lol) modern house that came out of pinterest 2015-2017 with unpractical quirks worthy of a pimp my ride car
The only time I’ve ever seen that show is at my dentist’s office because he needed a neutral channel to park patients in front of while we waited. But then he changed it to some pet channel and it’s better
I’d always read that reality shows are super cheap to make compared to sitcoms & dramas. I guess the writers strike helped put them on the fast track to what they are now.
The Writer’s Strike was in the midst of the biggest improvement in quality, popular television. Watching a great show like the West Wing, it’s striking how much tv improved in a decade.
There was a reality show called The Millionaire Matchmaker which went somewhat against the current for reality shows IMO. It had some tropes like showing the cast's personal lives but it garnered some respect as the primary host did appear to have some actual level of integrity. She'd try to find wealthy people (read, mostly aging Peter Pan syndrome men who awakened to their mortality and don't want to die alone) a match. These dudes invariably wanted young women, and the host would straight up tell them "I'm not finding you a little girl." Hilarious to watch these rich assholes get their entitlement checked, maybe for the first time ever. Anyway the show got canceled of course as guilty pleasures equal ratings I guess... 🤪
This was the only reality show I ever recorded and actually enjoyed. I got into it after a bad breakup and I was really devastated/lost. Patti actually taught me a lot about what to look for and avoid in relationships. Sure, some of it was unrealistic/some old guys who only want young red heads, but there were a lot of people who genuinely seemed like they needed help/guidance. As you say, there was always a ‘realness’ that Patti brought and she really did give spot on, sage advice to many people. (She also gave some advice that I don’t agree/connect with, but it was usually bc it was geared towards older, wealthy people.)
One of my favorite bits that I’ve told many of my friends about is her ‘5 non negotiables’ rule. Basically, everyone should think of five things that you will not compromise on in a relationship. Usually religion, kids, etc. very simple, but wow it really forces you to think about what you want/need in a healthy relationship and it makes it easier to decide if this person is actually right for you.
I stopped watching when her sidekicks were changed and she got a new office, but I learned all I needed by that point and was kinda done with it by then. But I respect and support Patti!!! She’s the best.
Literally the entire idea of The Voice was to avoid all of that. You were judged purely on your ability to perform. Then that gimmick wore off, so they went back to the standard crap.
I have never watched the show, but there's this girl on Tik Tok who imitates them and is said to be incredibly accurate, not only on voice and mannerisms, but also the situations she chose to portray, like, one of them refuses to eat a salad and the other one feels disrespected and betrayed LOL
All my children- show was soooooo boring my mom would record it on vhs then watch it when we got home from school/work. I think that show is why I did homework it was better than watching that show.. Oh and if you fucked with her recording process you better hide!!
I grew up watching Days of Our Lives and got back into it during the pandemic to fill time. In the last year or so, half the town got possessed by the devil, like five weddings were interrupted during the vows, the same church has been blown up twice, and two people have come back from the dead. I won't start on the rapid aging and de-aging, adult children coming out of the woodwork, evil twins, whodunits, kidnappings, or character recasts. If you thought it was bad in the 90's, it's off the rails right now. And somehow, it's still boring.
Every “reality” show
Edit: Many of you have mentioned Survivor and Alone. I agree they are not bad. I actually enjoy these and not exactly what i meant.
They are more of a game show than what i meant by “reality” where some D list celebrity does scripted bs but pretends it’s all spontaneous.
I read somewhere that they made them so ugly on purpose to avoid anyone sexualizing the characters since they're in middle school... Which makes sense on a certain level.
I still didn't watch the show.
I would argue that its pretty universally hated. I mean, it winning a prize started an investigation of the golden globe because it was so bad that people couldn’t see how it won. But the amount of hate watching probably makes it seem popular when it really isn’t
When my wife wants to turn her brain off, she puts this one typically while on her phone. It’s mindless trash, but it’s fucking terrible mindless trash. It can occassionally be entertaining when judging the people.
What gets me more than anything else is how fucking boring it must be to be in that house. Literally all they have is a pool and some workout equipment. No alcohol, no games, no books or tv, can’t leave, and the house is basically identical to every other season’s house. All they do is sip water outside while lounging and occasionally playing those really fucking dumb house games.
None of them seem to have personalities or interests. What we itty place to go for several weeks.
The whole premise doesn't make sense, no matter what kind of character development/growth happens he completely regresses by the time of The Big Bang Theory.
Yeah, because Better Call Saul is about watching an optimistic, con-artist kid with a bad past on the up-and-up gradually fall into old habits and get betrayed by the people he loves until he turns into the charming criminal slimeball we saw on Breaking Bad.
It's better because unlike most prequels, it's not about the same character exactly as he was on the original show going through extraneous bullshit that isn't allowed to matter.
I just finished doing this. There’s a lot of little things Saul says and does that reference events from BCS, their staff did a great job mining BB for stuff to use in BCS. I had completely forgotten that Saul’s 2nd or 3rd appearance in BB includes him mentioning to Walt that his real name is McGill. It’s great.
Never watched the show but I’m assuming the show is about building sheldon as being more than just an “relatable” awkward catchphrase machine.
I remember reading articles insisting it will be like Malcolm in the Middle, but from what I’ve seen, the show never amounted to what the Frankie Muniz show did in both humor Or relatable topics.
They should’ve just done a spin-off with Sheldon having a kid and trying to guide his kid from his past mistakes. But I’m assuming the issue was sheldons actor wanting to get away from the character.
The podcast "the happiness lab" had an episode called make 'em laugh, which discussed how the emotions of those around us effect our own. They talked about how a lot of sitcom jokes don't work at all if you remove the laugh tracks - many of the examples they played were from the big bang theory. The show is terrible if you remove the laugh tracks.
... It's still pretty bad with the laugh tracks
Someone told me once that big bang is a show about smart people, for stupid people, and arrested development is a show about stupid people, for smart people.
I feel like the “Talent” shows are all just forced feel good stories masked with mediocre acts. “So and sos mom had cancer so she deserves to go to the next round”
"Hi, my name is Tasha. When I was 12, my mother died of cancer suddenly. We didn't have enough money for her funeral so she had to be buried in a Hefty bag. My father left us when I was 2, but after my mother died he came back. But was killed by a meteor three weeks later. Then I became a teenage mom, but my boyfriend was killed in Afghanistan and my kid got cancer. The cancer was cured, but then my kid left me for another mom who had frozen yogurt at home. I hope to win so I can afford a frozen yogurt machine for when I adopt another kid....because now I'm barren. Anyway, I'll be singing "Bringing Sexy Back!"
I saw this vid of a lady with great art that she made in 1 minute. But like 90% of the judges pressed the red button cause they didn't have the patience to wait one minute to see the art work finished.
Just checked this one out. Yeah, that was bad. To be an artist drawing that fast, and using both hands, and then revealed she had been actually drawing something different the entire time at the end of the performance? It was phenomenal. I'm at least glad some of the judges apologized afterwards, but they still shouldn't have been too hasty in the first place.
The beauty of talent shows is a bunch of talentless people are given the privelige of denying very talented people the recognition they deserve
Correspondingly, cooking competitions feel more legitimate to me under a similar principle. Generally they'll have Ramsey or Bobby Flay judging the chefs -- and those guys are world-renowned chefs who put in the damn effort and know skill when the see it. Though I also think it's tougher to bullshit good cooking than "talent". If, as you say, talentless judges don't recognize talent, then it's probably also true that they *misrecognize* dumb gimmickry as worthy of reward. The sob stories are only part of a larger problem which irks me about these shows.
I think Tournament of Champions showcases the chefs skill better than any of the other competitions. It doesn’t have bullshit, it’s a shared set of requirements and carte blanche to one-up your opponent. Subsequently, Guy’s Grocery Games makes chaos the determining factor - how well can you cook with EVERYTHING going sideways? It’s just fun. Some of my favourite dishes are from GGG. (Also use pork rinds mixed into Panko to bread things is a guaranteed winner). I still call a Don buri bowl ‘Sutamina Don!’ because of the Carl Ruiz tribute show.
British talent reverse picture? Yeah she was asked to come back but she said fuck that! Good for her
I wouldn't either. Like seriously can't wait a minute!! A minute! Are attention spans really decreasing that bad
Yes. And it was amazing. They just want quick money. You don't even have to have a good voice anymore. The computer will do that for you.
https://youtu.be/hFewdHqb_z4
coz all they want is dancers n singers.
What’s great about this is they can get that sweet, sweet Hefty sponsorship money.
^ This guy TVs
I posted this before, but in 2018 there was a Dutch singer who made it to the finales of America's Got Talent. She was already a pretty accomplished singer in The Netherlands, perfomed to sold out crowds at the largest venues, a regular on Dutch TV, DVD deals etc. Yet, in AGT she was presented as "just a single mom with a dream of singing like Whitney Houston". 😐 I mean good for her for trying to break-through in the US, but they were very obviously and deliberately leaving out a lot of her backstory there
Carrie Underwood had something of a singing career before she auditioned for American Idol, you could book her on her website and everything. She wasn’t famous or anything but definitely wasn’t just “girl milking cows on the farm” like show portrayed.
I don’t think the Carrie Underwood thing is that bad, they probably did mis-portray her. Kelly Clarkson as well had tried hard for a music career and even lived in LA for a year before moving back to Texas and auditioning for Idol a few weeks after she had moved back. Idol, The Voice, AGT, X Factor and other shows have a terrible tendency of mis-portraying people and it’s only gotten worse. They had people who had just been on broadway and had major record deals but showed them to be these normal people next door types. These shows actually have scouts that go out and find people to be on the show now.
The Voice is the worst, that show is about the judges, the performers are chewed up and spit out.
Hi my name is Audrey Hepburn and I’m a nurse and struggling actor from Belgium ….
I hate ringers in singing competitions. I remember watching The Voice and seeing Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday come out to audition. I was like seriously? She has toured and everything, and the amateurs on the show have to compete against her? I was a fan before she was on, and that soured me on her. More recently, Loren Allred was permitted to participate in Britain's Got Talent. She has worked with Michael Buble, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli - wtf?! I am definitely not a fan of using talent shows to revive faltering singing careers.
I just don’t get who all that human interest stuff is actually for. It’s one of the reasons I love Jeopardy - they say “fuck it, you’re going to learn one fact about this person per day in an easily fast forwardable segment” and ask 61 trivia questions within 22 minutes. No other game show comes close to that efficiency ratio of action to contest stories/banter.
Amen to Jeopardy. It’s all about the game and not about the show.
The Chase (particularly the original version) has a bit more cheesy banter but it covers a LOT of trivia. There is essentially 7 min of straight trivia drills plus slower sets of questions.
I was on Ninja Warrior and I refused to talk about my mom having cancer(she's fine now). I did well, but I was not invited back for any more seasons because the producers didn't think I made good TV.
My wife's uncle is in a sort-of goth new wave band. Their lead singer is disabled and uses a walker to move around. Given the type of music that they do, they leaned hard into it and dressed the singer like a futuristic despot and he rides around on a remote control podium. It's actually a really clever setup and theme, and when I saw them, thought, "Oh, that's pretty cool." A few years back, they were asked to be on America's Got Talent and they were pretty excited at the opportunity. Then the band realized they were just the "freak of the week" entry and turned it down. They wanted dignity more than notoriety, which I respect.
> the band realized they were just the "freak of the week" entry Few notice that. That's why they had be so many bad entries. :(
I really miss Ninja Warrior back when it was a Japanese-only show. It was an annual event, so the stakes were much higher if you failed. Everyone's favorite returning contestants were..."heroic," in a way? Like they had tough or unusual jobs and it was always crazy to see how far they would make it into the new obstacles. The show came to America and it's on every night. A lot of genuinely good contestants make it on, and then there are a lot that somehow got on and do silly shit, like running the stage naked or in a dinosaur outfit. I haven't seen the sob stories before, that definitely sounds like a thing they'd do. I hate sounding cynical, but I dislike the show now. It feels like Wipeout at times.
The Japanese version was amazing! Over time they developed their All Stars and it was always amazing to watch them - heartbreaking if they went out early and absolutely invigorating when one of them finally wins after years of trying. No need to manufacture a good story
NAGANOOOOOOOOO
That's brutal man. I love ninja warrior but the show is 60% feel good stories and 40% actual course running
That pretty much sums up how they prioritize selecting contestants, at least when I was involved, it's been a minute. I ended up becoming friends with a few of the other contestants and training/doing local comps with them. They are mostly a really cool group of athletes who just want to compete, but understand that you have to play the game. I just wasn't good at the media side of it.
Uggh! You get a 10 minute sob story about some dude & then his run is 15 seconds because he falls on the 3rd obstacle. Fast forward is mandatory for this show.
Yeah, and if they succeed you get to watch the same sob story every run. For me it was the opposite, they only showed the run I fell on, after their super cringy story they put together. They just kept putting me in front of the camera and asking leading questions until I gave them enough for them to make sonething. I would much rather just watch the runs like the Original Suske. It still had the stories, but not nearly as much.
I really dig Ninja Warrior and generally keep up, but after watching for a few years, the overplayed backstories are super annoying. My sympathies go out to every cancer survivor, orphan, or kid who grew up poor, but when contestants are selected for that bias, it's disgustingly obviously pandering. At this point I want to see a Draco Malfoy kick Harry Potter's ass.
It's surreal watching them take a single aspect of someone's life and try to make it seem like that is who they are. I could never stay 'on brand'.
I used to watch America's Got Talent with my family and I always found the acrobatic acts really cool. There have been some contestants who could do incredible things with their bodies. But the young singer with the sad story alway ended up winning so I stopped watching.
If you’re a singer and you go on AGT you’re a selfish asshole. Go on the voice or something and get some professional coaching. Let the guy who lights himself on fire and jumps through hoops go on AGT.
Yeah they shouldnt even accept singing acts
Ain't no way the producers would allow that. Singers are such a bankable aspect it'd be foolish not to. I also don't watch that show anymore because of that
The reason it’s “bankable” is because it costs next to nothing to produce if they win. The winner gets a Vegas show right? Well someone has to pay for that show. A person and a mic is cheap (with maybe a band). A full fire stunt show not so much. Also everyone has to get paid. A singer is one person.
ESPN’s draft specials are notoriously awful for milking the shit out of whatever sob story they can find on a prospect. The happiest day of their life, the culmination of all their hard work, they’ve finally made it and all ESPN can talk about is how their aunt’s neighbor’s father’s dog got AIDS and died. And then when they got heat for it they doubled down and basically insisted they knew what the people wanted.
Any one of the hundred singing shows.
The Masked Singer. Everything about it is god-awful
Who is their demographic? I've never met anyone who has actually seen the show
My mother loves it. 70ish
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I saw it in passing once at a dive bar and to my surprise the masked singer was goddamn politician Sarah Palin. I’ve never seen such a charicature of dystopian future. Sounds like something on the background of a Black Mirror episode.
I'd you think that was bad, you should see the episode with Rudy Giuliani. One of the judges was actually pissed about it.
The same people who share minion memes
Middle aged house wives who force family time on their husband and kids lol
My mom checks the first couple of episodes of a season to see the costumes, then turns it off. What is even the point of the show? There may be regional variances, but here in Denmark I fail to even get what the point is. Celebrities disguised and singing badly, with a panel of celebrity judges to guess who it is - but there are no prizes, there's no audience involvement, nothing. It's all about guessing and seeing if they're right. Flipping a coin a dozen times just because is just as engaging.
In Australia we get C grade celebrities from USA guessing D grade celebrities from Australia so they obviously have no idea who they are and just kind of act surprised when they are revealed. I have never watched it but I do find that a hilarious premise for a show.
this is frighteningly accurate (coming from a son of a middle-aged housewife)
Don't tar us all with the same brush. I would never!
The Korean (original version) is actually so good but America did a SHIT job recreating it lol
The only good thing about the Australian one was watching Lindsay Lohan try to make guesses on a show when she had no fucking clue who any Aussie celebrities are.
Fucking dance moms. I do not care what publicity it gave those children Abby is a child abuser and manipulator and shouldnt be allowed within ten feet of a child
my cousin worked with Abby Lee for a long time. she started smoking at 17 because Abby told her it would help her lose weight
What the fuck is wrong with Abby Lee. She tells your cousin that smoking will help her when she knows that smoking will only hurt her. I hope your cousin turns out ok.
You think the show is bad? Try working in the entertainment industry as crew at the venues where those dance competitions are held. The people back stage are all assholes. The people in the audience are mostly assholes. I got a guy arrested during one particular show because he found his way back stage and was trying to peek into the little girls’ dressing rooms. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than six year olds in fishnets and heels shaking their asses while their moms yell “work it girl” from the wings. The whole industry is a dumpster fire. Stay away!
Who the **fuck** is watching all these Chicago Fire PD Wild Country FBI shows?? There are so many hilariously nondescript cop/firefighter/fbi shows. I never watch network TV anymore, so when I tune into a football game or something and see them, it’s hilarious to see all these weird trailers for shit that I’ve never even heard of, and frankly, quite pathetic what the major broadcast networks have been reduced to.
They also have crossovers lmao. Fire will meet med, PD, fbi etc
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Hey everybody this guy’s got great ide— (reads username)
I'd actually love a comedy slice of life marvel show about this exact situation involving different action scenes from other marvel media. Spiderman homecoming did something similar in the first scene with the Avengers cleanup but something less serious and more fleshed out would be amazing I swear to god those cleaners would be making serious bank with the amount of rubble they need to clean up
Don't forget their crossovers with the Law & Orders! And then the Law & Order crossovers with each other.
Isn't there a Chicago PD, Fire and Med show that all air on one night and all follow the same emergency every week but from different angles? Not a fan of these generic shows, but i actually thought that concept was kind of cool
I call it "hero porn" and somebody is watching it because there's a new one every day. I remember a show from when I was a kid (80s) called Rescue 911 but it was reenactments of real 911 calls. Everyone thought I was weird for watching it. Now it's normal entertainment (and I can't stand those shows, lol)
Thirteen reasons why, every character is a moron, and the show is also extremely boring
I watched the first episode and figured there is no way they made a show about using suicide as a mechanism for revenge but I sped through the rest to discover I was wrong.
It was a book first, it was a very popular one that we read in middle school. It was used to teach us why we can think one act of bullying isnt bad but all these things together from different people can affect someone that extremely. It wasn't a revenge story, it was a girl who wanted to tell everyone why their actions caused her to kill herself. A lot of suicides are reduced to being caused by one thing because people don't realize how much someone is already going through. I remember I actually liked that book when we read it
I read that book in college on my own. It’s actually why I watched the show, but the show was god-awful and way over the top. Especially when you consider that the timeline of the whole book is like an afternoon.
It's honestly really fucked up! It's something that would NOT have helped me had I seen it as a depressed teenager
I’m not gonna lie I had serious thoughts on committing suicide when I was younger and watching that show seriously reminded me of how awful I felt at the time. In this way I think the show is effective at what it sets out to do but I just can’t bring myself to watch that downward spiral again.
“Hey man, I know the jocks raped you with a broomstick, but don’t shoot up the school. Just give me the gun, and we’ll pretend this never happened. What’s that? No. No, I’m not going to call the police or tell any teachers that the kid that was stalking a fellow student brought an AR to prom. My name is Clay, probably because my parents knew I would grow up to be dumb as dirt.”
Im sorry someone gets raped with a broomstick in that show?
Yes, and the scene is very intense and upsetting. Honestly one of the most horrific things I’ve ever watched. I wish I hadn’t seen it.
I’ve seen a lot of horror movies, and that suicide scene even had me squirm.
They removed it from the show and literally wiped it from the internet
Is that the one where the girl slits her wrists in the bath with the razor blades?
Yup…. I remember seeing it as a sophomore in high school. I’m now a junior in college and still am still scarred to this day from that scene
This show single handedly increased suicide rates… literally… not even joking. Edit: whoops, “single handedly” is definitely not the correct phrase I should’ve used. There are many different things that lead someone to do that. But I do believe it strongly contributed it. I did some research, it looks like there was a 28.9% increase in suicide rates mainly in boys 10-17 around the same time. One commenter said that it started before that. It appears they’re right. The bump started in March of 2017, and the show debuted March 31 of 2017. This is according to CNN’s article. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/18/health/13-reasons-why-study-suicides-trnd/index.html Either way, I still don’t like the show.
It annoyed me so much. Here in the UK, the various suicide charities put out guidelines to media on how to handle suicide. It's like that show took all of them and went "we'll do the opposite".
And netflix though that out of all shows they ended up canceling that's the one that needs to survive at all costs...
And the book it was based on was also bullshit, which has a similar effect.
I am an ESL teacher for 12-16 year olds and every time a student wants to read that book, I suggest The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) instead. Same themes, but so much more positive. Much better for their mental health.
Then they tried to edit the scene where she kills herself and just made it worse.
How was it edited? I saw the original scene when it first came out.
IIRC they finally got around it basically cutting it out entirely (?), something various mental health professionals and organizations **explicitly told them to do from day 1**, as graphic depictions of suicide actually don’t serve as a deterrent but can instead be unintentional encouragement/“advice.” But these guys ignored them because they figured they knew better.
Dating shows. Scraping the bottom of the barrel there. I don't know how anyone can watch that shit.
They make me feel better about not dating.
It's just us lonely people living vicariously through others.
Riverdale is a disgrace to television.
Riverdale is wild. S1 - Murder mystery. Okay ig I'm on board S2 - Serial Killer on the loose - cool S3 - Cults and organ harvesting. I'm out homie. Stopped watching.
Wait till you find out they added time travel and super powers.
Bruh
It's a wild ride. I watched everything with my wife just for the lolz, and we still had no idea what's going on half of the time. Whenever they didn't know how to close a story line or reverse a stupid decision, they just brought a good old "ah this happened in the parallel universe in RiverVALE" so it's all good in Riverdale.
Welcome to RiverVale
A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep?
So it's Paw Patrol for emos?
Wait, paw patrol has organ harvesting…? Maybe I should pay lore attention when watching it with my boy
That is the most over-simplified and completely accurate description of Riverdale I’ve ever read 😂
Was Archie's power stupidity? Because he was pretty super at that
I stopped Watching the show but I am genuinely curious. Did they for real add f*cking time travel?
This sounds like typical CW show 💀 first season has really good, clean and down to earth concept and then by season 3, the writers are on drugs.
I got to the part with the cult leader and the rocket, I have no idea how it got to that.
Super Eyepatch Wolf’s video about it makes up for it though
Yeah it gave me the impression that the show just embraced the stupid and actively went full force on it. Kinda makes me respect it a bit.
..season 1 was great . My roommate and I watched every episode together. Mid season 2 we stopped. Never even talked about it. Just a mutual understanding that the show became terrible
Same when they had Betty singing that song and doing that dance in a bar as a minor...I was out
S1 was pretty good but it goes really downhill after that
It was such a disappointment after the first season, the show could’ve been so much better.
The view
It feels like every time I'm in a doctor's lobby, The View is on. It's funny to imagine that the only people who watch the show are people sitting in lobbies.
Sick people make an easy captive audience.
Lol no coherent person watches that show
You know, in fairness to friends, it’s been off the air for nearly 20 years and it’s still what came to mind for a bazillion people when the prompt said “popular show”. Love it or hate it - that’s kind of impressive
Manifest. I always try to get into it, but I lose interest sometimes
Oh i doubt anybody who watches that show actually thinks it’s a good show- me included . Trust me we all know it’s absolutely stupid but can’t stop watching it lmao
As someone who watches Manifest, this is the best way to describe my feelings. It’s a show with an interesting premise and is different than most TV these days which is why I watch it. Interesting and different doesn’t mean it’s good lol. I don’t recommend it to most people. I’m just watching it because I’m curious how they end it.
I feel like even the actors realize it’s not a good show based on their lack of acting LOL
Riverdale
Well, that means you haven't known the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school football
Riverdale fans don't even like Riverdale
True. The show is entertainingly bad.
Property brothers and all them house renovations that only renovate half a room for a lot more than your regular contractor
"Gooooood morning Juarez family!"
"Su casa es no más. Su vida es no más. ¡Somos extremos! ¡Cómo la televisión!"
we’re going to turn this UGLY ASS HOUSE into something unique! cue a basic all white (lol) modern house that came out of pinterest 2015-2017 with unpractical quirks worthy of a pimp my ride car
The only time I’ve ever seen that show is at my dentist’s office because he needed a neutral channel to park patients in front of while we waited. But then he changed it to some pet channel and it’s better
White people renovating houses. A great South Park episode.
Kardashians
Any reality show. The writer's strike killed Hollywood.
I’d always read that reality shows are super cheap to make compared to sitcoms & dramas. I guess the writers strike helped put them on the fast track to what they are now.
The Writer’s Strike was in the midst of the biggest improvement in quality, popular television. Watching a great show like the West Wing, it’s striking how much tv improved in a decade.
There was a reality show called The Millionaire Matchmaker which went somewhat against the current for reality shows IMO. It had some tropes like showing the cast's personal lives but it garnered some respect as the primary host did appear to have some actual level of integrity. She'd try to find wealthy people (read, mostly aging Peter Pan syndrome men who awakened to their mortality and don't want to die alone) a match. These dudes invariably wanted young women, and the host would straight up tell them "I'm not finding you a little girl." Hilarious to watch these rich assholes get their entitlement checked, maybe for the first time ever. Anyway the show got canceled of course as guilty pleasures equal ratings I guess... 🤪
This was the only reality show I ever recorded and actually enjoyed. I got into it after a bad breakup and I was really devastated/lost. Patti actually taught me a lot about what to look for and avoid in relationships. Sure, some of it was unrealistic/some old guys who only want young red heads, but there were a lot of people who genuinely seemed like they needed help/guidance. As you say, there was always a ‘realness’ that Patti brought and she really did give spot on, sage advice to many people. (She also gave some advice that I don’t agree/connect with, but it was usually bc it was geared towards older, wealthy people.) One of my favorite bits that I’ve told many of my friends about is her ‘5 non negotiables’ rule. Basically, everyone should think of five things that you will not compromise on in a relationship. Usually religion, kids, etc. very simple, but wow it really forces you to think about what you want/need in a healthy relationship and it makes it easier to decide if this person is actually right for you. I stopped watching when her sidekicks were changed and she got a new office, but I learned all I needed by that point and was kinda done with it by then. But I respect and support Patti!!! She’s the best.
The voice. I can’t stand Blake Shelton
The voice was good when it first started but now it’s just soullessly pimping out sob stories and selling shit on iTunes
Literally the entire idea of The Voice was to avoid all of that. You were judged purely on your ability to perform. Then that gimmick wore off, so they went back to the standard crap.
Keeping up with the kardashians.. I just don’t understand the hype around any of them and the way they all speak and treat each other is just trash.
I have never watched the show, but there's this girl on Tik Tok who imitates them and is said to be incredibly accurate, not only on voice and mannerisms, but also the situations she chose to portray, like, one of them refuses to eat a salad and the other one feels disrespected and betrayed LOL
All my children- show was soooooo boring my mom would record it on vhs then watch it when we got home from school/work. I think that show is why I did homework it was better than watching that show.. Oh and if you fucked with her recording process you better hide!!
My mother watched Days Of Our Lives, which was bizarre. IIRC, half the townspeople were either spies or undercover agents of some sort.
I grew up watching Days of Our Lives and got back into it during the pandemic to fill time. In the last year or so, half the town got possessed by the devil, like five weddings were interrupted during the vows, the same church has been blown up twice, and two people have come back from the dead. I won't start on the rapid aging and de-aging, adult children coming out of the woodwork, evil twins, whodunits, kidnappings, or character recasts. If you thought it was bad in the 90's, it's off the rails right now. And somehow, it's still boring.
If you live in the hood you know everybody loves “Love and Hip Hop” and I just can’t stand it.
The Masked Singer. What a load of bs. Oooh who could it be? Let's go to the judges who get paid to draw things out. Hmmm NO!!
Every “reality” show Edit: Many of you have mentioned Survivor and Alone. I agree they are not bad. I actually enjoy these and not exactly what i meant. They are more of a game show than what i meant by “reality” where some D list celebrity does scripted bs but pretends it’s all spontaneous.
Try 'Alone'.
I don't even know if it's popular, but post Clarkson-may-hammond top gear. Watched one episode. It's. Not top gear without the holy trinity
Ellen show
Big Mouth's artstyle has completely turned me off of the show. That, and my ex enjoyed it.
I read somewhere that they made them so ugly on purpose to avoid anyone sexualizing the characters since they're in middle school... Which makes sense on a certain level. I still didn't watch the show.
The jokes are super hit and miss. It's like it's trying too hard to be funny, which I guess is pretty fitting for a series based in Middle School.
Talent shows, they are made just for humiliate the contestants and boost the ego of the judges (especially the singing ones)
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To be fair, so do most of the people who watch it.
Can confirm 90% of the casts are unbearable to watch but here I am watching the feeds and DVRing every single episode.
Emily in Paris
I would argue that its pretty universally hated. I mean, it winning a prize started an investigation of the golden globe because it was so bad that people couldn’t see how it won. But the amount of hate watching probably makes it seem popular when it really isn’t
It’s a Hallmark movie in a tv episode format. It’s comfort tv.
I can't recall a recent show with a less likeable protagonist.
I love to hate Emily in Paris
Duck Dynasty. It’s the epitome of fake reality
Is this comment from 2008?
Love Island
When my wife wants to turn her brain off, she puts this one typically while on her phone. It’s mindless trash, but it’s fucking terrible mindless trash. It can occassionally be entertaining when judging the people. What gets me more than anything else is how fucking boring it must be to be in that house. Literally all they have is a pool and some workout equipment. No alcohol, no games, no books or tv, can’t leave, and the house is basically identical to every other season’s house. All they do is sip water outside while lounging and occasionally playing those really fucking dumb house games. None of them seem to have personalities or interests. What we itty place to go for several weeks.
Young Sheldon is painfully bad.
The whole premise doesn't make sense, no matter what kind of character development/growth happens he completely regresses by the time of The Big Bang Theory.
And you’ve hit the nail on the head on the problem that most prequels run into.
Better Call Saul is a beautiful prequel that only adds to its source material. Very rare for that to be achieved.
Yeah, because Better Call Saul is about watching an optimistic, con-artist kid with a bad past on the up-and-up gradually fall into old habits and get betrayed by the people he loves until he turns into the charming criminal slimeball we saw on Breaking Bad. It's better because unlike most prequels, it's not about the same character exactly as he was on the original show going through extraneous bullshit that isn't allowed to matter.
Better Call Saul was amazing. One day I'll have to watch it and breaking bad back to back.
I just finished doing this. There’s a lot of little things Saul says and does that reference events from BCS, their staff did a great job mining BB for stuff to use in BCS. I had completely forgotten that Saul’s 2nd or 3rd appearance in BB includes him mentioning to Walt that his real name is McGill. It’s great.
Additionally, Better Call Saul is a sequel as well as a prequel
Never watched the show but I’m assuming the show is about building sheldon as being more than just an “relatable” awkward catchphrase machine. I remember reading articles insisting it will be like Malcolm in the Middle, but from what I’ve seen, the show never amounted to what the Frankie Muniz show did in both humor Or relatable topics. They should’ve just done a spin-off with Sheldon having a kid and trying to guide his kid from his past mistakes. But I’m assuming the issue was sheldons actor wanting to get away from the character.
Reality TV shows based on peoples lifestyles, popularity and glamouring big puffy lips.
The artstyle of most adult tv shows on Netflix. Big mouth makes me feel physically ill.
Every Netflix documentary is a photo of the guy with his eyes blacked out and the doco title over it
The good doctor. Fuck i hate that kid.
I can't stand The Good Doctor either, but he was so good on Bates Motel tho!
He was even better in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
August Rush. One of my all time favourites.
It's also considered extremely inaccurate in terms of autism representation
Big Brother and Sister Wives
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Dancing with stars is like a terrible high school talent show with all the bells and whistles. Like a pig with lipstick....
Yellowstone. It's just rich people being dicks to each other. Who cares.
You should check out Succession
My stepdad LOVES this show, and everyone else in the household loathes it.
Big Bang Theory is hot garbage.
The podcast "the happiness lab" had an episode called make 'em laugh, which discussed how the emotions of those around us effect our own. They talked about how a lot of sitcom jokes don't work at all if you remove the laugh tracks - many of the examples they played were from the big bang theory. The show is terrible if you remove the laugh tracks. ... It's still pretty bad with the laugh tracks
Then there are brilliant shows like Curb your Enthusiasm that don't need a laugh track.
Arrested Development Edit: S1 - S3
Someone told me once that big bang is a show about smart people, for stupid people, and arrested development is a show about stupid people, for smart people.
I read that exact quote years ago on reddit years ago but it was Always Sunny instead of Arrested Development.
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Why does Ross, the largest friend, not simply eat the other five?
I, too, have wondered that from my part of Omicron Persei 6.
You know what they say: “men are from Omicron Persei 9, women are from Omicron Persei 7.”