Shows you just quit watching

[HappyGilmore]

Monday Night Raw- I still like wrestling, but it's no longer must see tv for me.  Still catch it occasionally, but mostly just read reports on WWE's website.

The Simpsons- Not that I dislike the show.  I just don't have time to catch it every week.  I still think they put on some quality episodes.  Just not something I watch every week.

Smallville- Watched it steadily the first 7 seasons.  Season 8 saw the massive departure of Lex Luthor, Lana, etc, and I couldn't even be bothered with Season 9.  I saw maybe 2 episodes this past season.  Sad too, as I quite liked it the first few years.

I gotta say, I mostly stopped watchng most tv.  The main shows I go out of my way to watch are South Park, Law and Order, and any Law and Order.

[AndyC]

Smallville- Watched it steadily the first 7 seasons.  Season 8 saw the massive departure of Lex Luthor, Lana, etc, and I couldn't even be bothered with Season 9.  I saw maybe 2 episodes this past season.  Sad too, as I quite liked it the first few years.

Exactly the same for me. When they lost Lex, Lana, Lionel and Martha, it was never the same. The overall style of the show has changed too, and the story arc has pretty much stalled. For the first seven seasons, Clark was discovering his powers, discovering his origins and coming to terms with his destiny, while Lex was gradually going down the path to full-blown sociopathic supervillainy. By Season 7, the whole Superman mythos was in place, with nothing left but the costume and the flying. Since then, they've just been tossing in characters and subplots to keep some kind of an arc going, and in terms of following Clark Kent's journey to becoming Superman, the last two seasons have just been jerking off the audience.

Funny, halfway through September, and it was only last night that it even occurred to me that the fall TV season was starting. Lost interest in pretty much every show I was following.

[HappyGilmore]

Smallville- Watched it steadily the first 7 seasons.  Season 8 saw the massive departure of Lex Luthor, Lana, etc, and I couldn't even be bothered with Season 9.  I saw maybe 2 episodes this past season.  Sad too, as I quite liked it the first few years.

Exactly the same for me. When they lost Lex, Lana, Lionel and Martha, it was never the same. The overall style of the show has changed too, and the story arc has pretty much stalled. For the first seven seasons, Clark was discovering his powers, discovering his origins and coming to terms with his destiny, while Lex was gradually going down the path to full-blown sociopathic supervillainy. By Season 7, the whole Superman mythos was in place, with nothing left but the costume and the flying. Since then, they've just been tossing in characters and subplots to keep some kind of an arc going, and in terms of following Clark Kent's journey to becoming Superman, the last two seasons have just been jerking off the audience.

Funny, halfway through September, and it was only last night that it even occurred to me that the fall TV season was starting. Lost interest in pretty much every show I was following.

Sadly they're adhering to their "No Tights, No Flights" rule they put in place at the outset of the show.  Meaning once Season 7 happened, and all the powers were discovered, there was nowhere else to go buy flying and tights.  Now they just make attempts at humor, what with the blue shirts and red jackets, things like that.

I may watch it this season as it's the last, but seeing as I missed last season, I dunno what's going on.

[AndyC]

Yeah, "no tights and no flights" made sense then, when Clark was a long way from being Superman and there was a lot to explore that wouldn't have worked as well with all-out superhero action. It was great as a story of an ordinary teenager with extraordinary abilities and a hidden past who has to use his powers discreetly to avoid calling attention to himself. That, along with the solid blueprint of who he would ultimately become, made for a good show. But they've gotten as far as that blueprint can take them without Clark actually becoming Superman, and they still think flying is something to tease the audience with but never actually do. There are even fans who think the rules from Season 1 somehow still apply.

Between the departure of some of the best characters and the cutting and pasting of villains from later in Superman's career to try and make up for the story having stopped in its tracks with nowhere else to go, the show is just crap.

[HappyGilmore]

If only Smallville ended in Season 7, or just did a 2 hour tv movie to wrap things up I'd be happy.

It was a show I loved til the departures of great characters.  I don't care about what the hardcore comic geeks say.  MIchael Rosenbaum was great as Lex and John Glover great as Lionel, and I liked the way the writers handled the show for those 7 years.  Then again, I'm not a HUGE Superman fan.  In fact, I rank him lowest in my list of favorite heroes. 

Did you watch this past season? Anything happen?

I know Zod was around or something.  Sad thing is, it's not available On Demand, and since it was changed to Friday's, I keep missing it.  I go out Friday nights.  When the choice is between watching Superman or having some friends get together to go out, going out wins.

[AndyC]

I didn't catch much of last season. A bunch of Kryptonian soldiers were restored from preserved DNA that was sent into space as a precaution long before Krypton was destroyed. Their CO was Major Zod, who was copied just as he was starting to go bad, but still not really a villain. Don't know where it went from there.

That's the problem. They've followed the pre-Superman Clark Kent story as far as it goes, and now they're just pulling stuff out of their butts and bouncing willynilly all over the mythos for ideas.

I agree entirely about the Luthors. I thought Rosenbaum was great, as was the whole process of him going from a poor little rich boy who wants to be liked, all the way to the Lex Luthor we all know. And Lionel might have been even better. I always enjoy John Glover when he plays a charming but creepy villain. And I liked the show when the Kents were still around. John Schneider is an underrated actor, no doubt because he is so widely known for playing Bo Duke. And Annette O'Toole has achieved full MILF status in my books. I suppose the departure of everyone but the "kids" on the show is natural in terms of the story's progression, but it's another way in which they've totally used up the Superboy story. The grownups are out of the way, the kids have taken over and everybody is where they need to be. It's time to wrap up the story. But no, they keep it going.

They should have done a series finale back when they still had a Lex Luthor.

[HappyGilmore]

I'd love if they announced Rosenbaum coming back for a few episodes this season.  Doubt it'd happen, but I'd totally watch.

Glover is an underrated actor.

[AndyC]

I'd love if they announced Rosenbaum coming back for a few episodes this season.  Doubt it'd happen, but I'd totally watch.

Glover is an underrated actor.

With it being the last season, who knows what might happen? It's conceivable that Rosenbaum might come back at least for the finale. Don't know if the haircut would be convenient for him at this point, but he could always do it as a Hackman-style toupeed Luthor. A disguise for somebody who is supposed to be dead.

At the very least, Clark had better fly, and I want to see the red and blue undies make an appearance in the series finale at least.

Thinking about Hackman, I always thought it would have been fun if they could have gotten him for an episode as his version of Luthor, only make him some good-for-nothing relative Lionel normally pays to stay away. Maybe Lionel's uncle Larry Luthor, having landed in trouble, comes to freeload at the mansion and sweet-talk his nephews into helping him out. They had plenty of tie-ins to the movies, so it could have worked. That was my dream episode when there were still Luthors on the show.

[WingedSerpent]

I seem to be watching less NCIS.  I liked the show, but this season I missed a lot of episodes and really didn't mind it so much.

[HappyGilmore]

I seem to be watching less NCIS.  I liked the show, but this season I missed a lot of episodes and really didn't mind it so much.

Just caught my first few episodes of that show, ever, around Labor Day.  Was on vacation, and was in the motel just getting out of the pool.  Had a couple hours to kill between the boardwalk and drinking so watched some tv.  Good show.

[Sister Grace]

I used to love CSI Las Vegas, but then Lawrence Fishburn came along and ruined it. Sometimes I still catch Criminal Minds on the ION channel along with Without a Trace, but both seem to get redundant.

[AndyC]

I used to love CSI Las Vegas, but then Lawrence Fishburn came along and ruined it. Sometimes I still catch Criminal Minds on the ION channel along with Without a Trace, but both seem to get redundant.

I like Fishburne just fine, but the show has definitely lost something for me too. Last season, I went from never missing an episode of CSI to more of a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. So far, Criminal Minds is still interesting, although I only started watching last year.

[InformationGeek]

I haven't outright quit watching CSI in general, but I don't really watch the new episodes on TV anymore since that is the time when World's Dumbest [Insert Topic] is on.  I just like watching stupid people/criminals a bit more because it is actually real.

[AndyC]

For a while, I really liked CSI: Miami, but just stopped watching it. I don't recall exactly when or why. It just stopped entertaining me. I think it was the combination of Caruso's hammy performances and some decent stories that made me enjoy it. I think the episodes just started to feel repetitive and predictable, or really clumsy in attempting to be unpredictable. In any case, the writing took a nosedive, leaving nothing but a redheaded Shatner to entertain me.

[ulthar]

CSI Miami....

 In any case, the writing took a nosedive, leaving nothing but a redheaded Shatner to entertain me.

Maybe that's about the time they quit calling me for technical advice....HAHA.

Seriously, someone from the CSI Miami production staff called me every few months with questions.  I finally told them that if they wanted to hire me as a consultant that we could work something out, but I was not giving away any more technical advice for free.

I later found out that they called a lot of consultants like this.  So, it seems that the only info they are getting is free; sometimes, you get what you pay for.

I gave them teaser info; I was very close-vested with what I told them.  I gave them 'samples' in hopes they would hire me.  From what I understand, that's what the other (reputable) consultants were doing as well.

So, if the show has limited technical accuracy, it could be (a) legit folks giving a teaser and/or (b) folks who are just star-struck by the idea of talking to a TV SHOW that they say whatever.  In either case, they are not getting the best information.

Though I've never watched the show, this solidified in my mind how "cheap" it was.  That they would not even make an effort to having sound technical underpinnings in my mind at least speaks to the attitude of the entire production effort.