Unpopular TV series opinions you hold

[Gabriel Knight]

So, last night I rewatched the episode THE INNER LIGHT of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. I remember doing it for the first time a couple of years ago, and being very hyped about it. I mean, it's the highest rated episode and usually considered as the best in the entire series. I was all like, better than Q WHO, THE ENEMY, THE DEFECTOR, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE? Better than THE OFFSPRING and THE MEASURE OF A MAN? No way. And that's just counting some episodes before season 5.

SPOILERS ALERT

When I finally watched, I felt... underwhelmed. This second time, I was plain bored. I don't know what I expected, but certainly not that over sentimental stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great episode, but it's not only inconsistent, but deeply flawed. How did that people managed to create such a piece of technology when they barely started to launch missiles to the sky, for example?
Something that I feel it could've helped the episode a lot was to save the reveal of his return as a surprise ending, meaning, you only see what happens in the Enterprise after the planet collapses. Otherwise it's pretty obvious that he is living a lifetime in a matter of minutes, taking away the impact.

One of my main gripes is that the experience should've changed Picard completely, and yet they never even make a reference to it, except in another one where it barely matters. Not only that, but Picard wakes up and he's like "ok, I'm back being a captain now". Seriously? After a lifetime, you just go back? Come on.
Not to mention, it could've happened to anyone. Picard doesn't really act as Picard in this other life, you could've changed to Riker and nothing changes. Hell, it could happen in any sci fi or fantasy series or movie. It feels totally disconnected from the rest of the episodes, as if it were a standalone production.

I know this rant makes no sense, especially decades after it aired, but it's just bugs me.

tl;dr: THE INNER LIGHT from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is overrated.

[Sitting Duck]

Most everyone seems to love the new Trigun: Stampede, but I'm not one of them. First off, there's the computer animation, which is the source of much of the praise. But I feel more like Gypsy reacting to the new wallpaper in the prologue host segment from the MST3K episode The Beast of Yucca Flats, screaming, "WRONG! WRONG!!! WRONG!!!!!" Then there's how so much of the worldbuilding that was carefully parcelled out through the 1998 series gets infodumped in the first episode. But the biggest crime was getting rid of Milly Thompson, which some of the current series lovers are willing to acknowledge was a Bad Idea.

[sprite75]

So, last night I rewatched the episode THE INNER LIGHT of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. I remember doing it for the first time a couple of years ago, and being very hyped about it. I mean, it's the highest rated episode and usually considered as the best in the entire series. I was all like, better than Q WHO, THE ENEMY, THE DEFECTOR, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE? Better than THE OFFSPRING and THE MEASURE OF A MAN? No way. And that's just counting some episodes before season 5.

SPOILERS ALERT

When I finally watched, I felt... underwhelmed. This second time, I was plain bored. I don't know what I expected, but certainly not that over sentimental stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great episode, but it's not only inconsistent, but deeply flawed. How did that people managed to create such a piece of technology when they barely started to launch missiles to the sky, for example?
Something that I feel it could've helped the episode a lot was to save the reveal of his return as a surprise ending, meaning, you only see what happens in the Enterprise after the planet collapses. Otherwise it's pretty obvious that he is living a lifetime in a matter of minutes, taking away the impact.

One of my main gripes is that the experience should've changed Picard completely, and yet they never even make a reference to it, except in another one where it barely matters. Not only that, but Picard wakes up and he's like "ok, I'm back being a captain now". Seriously? After a lifetime, you just go back? Come on.
Not to mention, it could've happened to anyone. Picard doesn't really act as Picard in this other life, you could've changed to Riker and nothing changes. Hell, it could happen in any sci fi or fantasy series or movie. It feels totally disconnected from the rest of the episodes, as if it were a standalone production.

I know this rant makes no sense, especially decades after it aired, but it's just bugs me.

tl;dr: THE INNER LIGHT from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is overrated.

Status quo was god with Star Trek to the point that show runners had to fight to get the episode Family made the way they wanted.  Namely that Picard's assimilation by the Borg was something that was going to be with him for a very long time and he wasn't going to be all healed up by the next episode.  Paramount didn't want that and just have Picard back in the center seat next episode like nothing happened.  Fortunately the show runners stood their ground and we got to see Picard dealing with the effects of what the Borg did to him.  Yeah, they didn't touch on the Borg all that much for the rest of the series but First Contact and the new Picard series made it clear Picard was still suffering mental trauma from being assimilated decades after he was assimilated.

Unfortunately some of the other traumas that obviously would've taken more than one episode to heal from weren't addressed for Picard.  Picard was tortured by the Cardassians but you never really heard mention of that after Chain of Command.  I agree that they didn't really explore the aftermath of what happened after The Inner Light, and that even if the 20 years of life was lived in 20 minutes Picard should have been profoundly affected over the long term.

And it wasn't just with Picard.  Worf, for example, had his spinal column replaced but was back to normal the following episode.  Or on DS9 where Chief O'Brien had his own misadventures.  Such as 20 simulated years of imprisonment.  The trauma of that almost drove him to suicide but he was back to normal the next episode.

[chainsaw midget]

Most everyone seems to love the new Trigun: Stampede, but I'm not one of them. First off, there's the computer animation, which is the source of much of the praise. But I feel more like Gypsy reacting to the new wallpaper in the prologue host segment from the MST3K episode The Beast of Yucca Flats, screaming, "WRONG! WRONG!!! WRONG!!!!!" Then there's how so much of the worldbuilding that was carefully parcelled out through the 1998 series gets infodumped in the first episode. But the biggest crime was getting rid of Milly Thompson, which some of the current series lovers are willing to acknowledge was a Bad Idea.

I will back you 100% on it being bad. 

The first time you see Vash in the classic series he's shown as a badass.  Then you see he's out of ammo and freaks out.  The first several episodes plays with the idea of whether or not this guy is as dangerous as his reputation suggests or maybe he's just really unlucky. 

The new series shows him as helpess and caught the first time you see him and by the end of the episode he's shown to be an unnatural shot.  In general that's a big problem with the new series.  It gives away everything way too fast.  Mysteries that lasted a dozen episodes or more were  just given away in the first episode. 

Likewise, the first series was clearly a western, with some sci-fi. 

There's no Western at all in this new series.  It's no more western than any other sci-fi series set ona  desert planet.  Dune or Star Wars feels more western than the new Trigun. 


.... 

ANYWAY... unpopular opinion of mine.  If a season of your show is less than 12 episodes, you don't have a show.  You have a miniseries. 

[ER]

The Sopranos was overrated. Its storytelling was of a high quality in parts of its run but at other times the quality was not there. A few of the actors gave consistently marvelous performances, but most of the cast were no better than you'd find anywhere. I'd argue that it ran out of places to go long before it ran out of screen time. I see it as more of a fin de siècle cultural phenom than a show detined to be an an enduring classic. In fact I think it's already off the cultural radar screen. I don't hold that last part against it, exactly, but in its heyday it was hard to find a critic who wasn't calling it TV's all-time greatest drama, destined to be adored forever. Shrug, time will tell.

[Rev. Powell]

Unpopular opinion? I never really much liked "Star Trek" anything. The first series was OK, at times; the dynamic between the three main characters was entertaining. The plots were usually silly. The movies were occasionally good (THE WRATH OF KHAN), but often really bad. No interest in any of the reboots.

[RCMerchant]

I loved the first series. The rest- not a fan at all. The WRATH OF KHAN was good!

[ER]

I don't understand how soap operas were ever popular. They have the slowest moving storylines I have ever.... I mean never did I imagine writers could drag something out like soaps do. And then there's the sheer amount of suspension of disbelief required. A viewer is expected to believe a baby born one season is a child the next, a teen the next, and the season after she's pregnant and on drugs holding up an airliner where she is a veteran flight attendant. Everyone has a long lost twin, and it's also possible to get plastic surgery and pass for someone else, fooling even this person's spouse and baseball-playing year-old children. Likewise every business owner has an archenemy who comes back from the dead to ruin him. Yet soaps made it to prime time and in the '80s millions of people put aside all incredulousness and readily tuned in to show with plot holes big enough for the coke-addled fast-maturing flight attendant to pilot a 747 through.

[Alex]

Always hated soap operas, game shows, and reality tv.

[RCMerchant]

How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Seinfeld...almost all sit coms make me puke. MASH was good for the first couple of seasons- then it got all touchy feely. Ugh. Most cop shows are sh!t. How many f**king CSI shows are there? I liked Criminal Minds for a while, but catching serial killers takes years- not an hour. I know it's just a TV show, but it reminded me of Kolchak- the Night Stalker, instead of Monster of the Week, it's serial killer of the week.

[HappyGilmore]

Law and order criminal intent was the best LnO spin-off ever made.

Yes. Yes indeed.

Fantastic show.