It's astounding to think that only less than thirty years ago there were only a few of television shows to watch at any given time.
Cable is still not that old. Many people still remember a time when there were only a handful of channels.
Now there are too many to count. It's obscene. But we have options. Can you imagine disliking most of the shows on TV with only handful of channels?
You'd have to like... read a book. The stress of it all.
What I do find funny today, in the midst of a thousand shows, there is still a lot of crap. And for some reason so much of that crap is lauded and heralded as genius.
I'll never understand what makes some entertainment popular. And I'm not alone.
Redditor Stevie-Avail wanted to discuss some television entertainment some of us tried to love, they asked:
"What TV show did you try really hard to get into but you just couldn't do it?"
Bridgerton. What in the holy HOT MESS is that? "I BURN for you?!" Did no one else laugh out loud? I mean... really?
Meredith and her issues...
Greys Anatomy Help GIF
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"Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t believe it’s gone on for 18 or whatever seasons." ~ BratS94
"A lot of us who watch it have watched it since childhood and are now stuck because we want to know how it ends." ~ spazzy_jazzy_
Dude was weak...
"Iron fist I'm not sure about this but I could not get into the second season." ~ dogethememedog
"Iron Fist was by far the weakest Netflix/Marvel show. I liked the side characters in Iron Fist more than the main characters, and they weren't great either." ~ as_a_fake
"Bro Iron Fist was so underdone. In the comics he'd plow through legions of Hydra. Put down multiple enemies in a single blow and send them flying."
"Dude pulled out the Dragons heart with his bare hands to become the Iron Fist. Daredevil gave him his mask and outfit so he could 'take over' allowing Murdoch a small break/reprieve. Also fought Shang Chi to a tie. In the Netflix adaptation he's stuck brawling with a single thug heaps of the time and the fight scenes were like dances. Dude was weak." ~ xVOYEVODA
Fast Peak
"Heroes. I made it to season 3 but the show got away from itself. Sad that it peaked in season 1." ~ pokemamorytrainer
"Series 2 inadvertently had the best character death I've seen in anything, because the writer's strike meant they had no way to write around it. "
"Peter takes his girlfriend to what is a dystopian future. He then gets separated from her and travels back in time. Then people in the present solve the problem which means that the dystopian future his girlfriend is stuck in no longer exists. Explain that one to her parents." ~ Kimantha_Allerdings
I tried...
"The Man in the High Castle. I thought the premise was intriguing, but it lost me after awhile. I even tried to restart it, nope again." ~ RepresentativeNo2187
"I actually really liked this show but that’s a great call. The whole time it just felt like it had so much more potential to be great. There were definitely times in the show where it felt lost. Been wanting to do a rewatch for months but haven’t been able to do it." ~ MattMcK2419
Walk Away
Stephen Amell Arrow GIF
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"Arrow. At some point it got all weird, like out of sync and I’d think I missed episodes and these random new characters acting like they’d been in it for ages. It did my head in I had to walk away." ~ miss_winky
That Arrow guy is hot though! That alone keeps people coming back for more. Heroes, yeah, they lost me too.
Plot Mess
Unimpressed Viola Davis GIF
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"How to get away with Murder. Started out so well and then just got confusing. It's like it's trying too hard to keep going, when will it end?? Definitely didn't need to be as long as it is." ~ ambitious-failure
Too Silly
"Once Upon a Time. I just couldn’t care about any of the characters. I should like it as I read fantasy books and I was a huge Grimm/Andersen Fan besides. But nah." ~ Imraith-Nimphais
"It worked OK until they started introducing full on Disney characters, then I was like 'OK this is too silly.' They made some genuinely interesting decisions like making Peter Pan a bad guy, but at a certain point they jumped the shark totally." ~ Signature_Sea
These Actors Were Perfectly Cast In Their Roles | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Sometimes an actor comes along that is able to reach the audience on a deeper level. The actor that immediately comes to mind is Robin Williams. Although it ...Fear Nothing
"Fear the Walking Dead. The husband was the exact same character from the mist TV series (which also sucked). None of the characters were likeable and for a zombie apocalypse it was sure boring." ~ Island_Maximum
"The moment they killed the husband is when the show lost me. I also found out that everyone in the family (except for the daughter) dies off and I just thought… why should I care anymore? Why care for anything when the show decides to rip it all away?" ~ MintEclair
Be Quiet
"The Voice, American Idol, other talent show-style shows. I don't like the idea of listening to ten minutes of fair to middling singers with a couple really good ones in the mix followed by another ten minutes of ads. If I want to listen to music, I have YouTube. If I wanted to listen to live music, I'd just go to a concert."
"Also, I don't really care for (nation)'s Got Talent. I mean, the first few episodes of a season are okay because you get to see a range of acts, but it seems to always be the musicians who win. Personally, I don't think they should allow people who are just singers on the show."
"Like, if they sing while slacklining or breathing fire or something, that's cool- or even if they just play a funky instrument or an unusual kind of music. But if all they do is stand still on the stage, maybe play a guitar, and over-sing Hallelujah there's other shows for that. It irks me." ~ Gongaloon
Unmasked
Jenny Mccarthy No GIF by The Masked Singer
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"The Masked Singer. Everytime I watched I would fall asleep." ~ titan_odyssey
'run faster'
"The flash on CW it's boring and slow." ~ Kakebaker95
"Seriously, the fact that the Flash gets laid out by any given villain of the week without any of them having speed powers is not only hilariously bad, but also painfully predictable. Especially when the solution is 'run faster' every single time." ~ PunkandCannonballer
Try 99
"The 100 , I tried I really did but I just couldn't get into it, also kept googling the main character's name cuz I thought there's no way she's not related to Reese Witherspoon." ~ Namjoonie94
"I love/hate this show. It constantly switches it’s direction, which is intentional. Each season there’s some apocalyptic problem that must be solved. It’s cheesy, and the acting is just average. But there’s something about it that keeps me watching." ~ Sierra-117-
"Damn! The show hooked me for 3 seasons and then I couldn't even bother anymore. They kept putting in copy and pasted character archetypes which often felt forced and frustrating." ~ Kipawa
Too Much Drama
"Suits. It got boring at season 4 and I don't know why. Just thought it maybe focused too much on the drama, instead of the work problems that were what actually got me in the show at the start." ~ HotChilliWithButter
"Every episode was exactly the same. On no we can't win this case, we're gonna lose the firm... no wait here comes Mike with another Hail Mary." ~ Richie217
SNOOOOOOZE!!
jeffrey dean morgan twd GIF by The Walking Dead
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"The Walking Dead. How far can a show about killing zombies go? No matter where the plot with the lead characters goes, they are still trying not to become zombies while killing zombies. IT'S JUST A FREAKING SNOOZE FEST." ~ DEVILDORIGHT
Damn Jack
"24. I really like the concept and the genre, but you know that 'Name a character that's suffered more than [X]' meme? To me, it's Jack Bauer. Every time. I personally couldn't commit to NINE seasons of one man's cycle of tragedy."
"Edit: Wow, this really blew up bigger than I thought a little reply like mine would. Wasn't sure if people remembered 24 these days. Good reads and discussions all around. Cheers, friends." ~ TheRoseMaestro
Classic Jenji...
"Orange is the New Black. Lost interest during the whole prison riot season." ~ BigNinja96
"That is classic Jenji Kohan. First 3 seasons of Weeds and OITNB were AWESOME but then it gets so insane it loses all of the original point. i.e. Weeds starts with a mom who loses her husband and sells weed to get by, fast forward and she is married to a Mexican President Drug Lord who smuggles women through underground tunnels. lol" ~ CaptainCorpse666
Unnecessary
"My girlfriend and I actually really started to get in to Outlander. Then it basically turned into soft core porn. Never actually felt ripped off by a tv show before, but with Ronald D. Moore, both of us being big Star Trek and BSG fans, and Bear McCreary doing the sound track, we honestly really tried to though this one out. But we just wanted more story and fewer unneccesary sex scenes. I honestly never thought I'd ever say that either, but it's true." ~ ipulloffmygstring
Marvel
"The Netflix Marvel shows. I absolutely loved Daredevil, it's a literal masterpiece. But for some reason I just could NOT get into Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or (due to not seeing the others) The Defenders. The first seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are good, but it wasn't enough for me to keep watching." ~ _bluefish
More Unnatural
supernatural yes GIF
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"Supernatural, first few seasons were seriously great, then it started repeating itself with more ridiculous stuff and when there is like 15 seasons or something, I had to pull the plug :D." ~ Dziugasas777
Love Fail
"90 Day Fiancé. I watched most of an early season and was intrigued by the show, but when the next season started I just couldn't do it. I despise most of the people on the show and I feel dirty watching it. (My sister loves the show so I catch bits and pieces of it when she's watching it.) It just feels wrong watching someone's very dysfunctional relationship for entertainment." ~ biancanevenc
There is a boring plethora of these competition shows. And some of them have to go. Enough already. But anything with Viola Davis is genius, so you take HTGAWM back.
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Curious to hear from those who lived to tell their distressing stories, Redditor mind_guardian asked:
"For survivors of attempted kidnapping. How did you escape?"
The following Redditor had very close calls.
Spontaneous Escape Plan
"Guy at a club and his mix of friends was insistent about coming back to a party, I politely declined. Didn't think much of it. They got increasingly aggressive about it, to a physical extent, and I left. Walking back home, I realized they were following me in their car."
"Dashed down the road through the mid-path of a packed apartment complex and just started yelling like crazy."
"No one actually responded or poked their head out or maybe they just didn't hear me. But it sparked the escape reflex of the creeps and I hid in a bush until my heart slowed down. Jumped the fence of someone's property -risky in its own right- wandered through a field, avoiding the main roads, and circled back to a side-street to home. Lucky I knew the area better than they did."
– Dangercakes13
Offering A Ride Home
"I don't know sure what this was, but i was riding my bike home alone, cutting through a deserted middle school and high school parking lots during the summer time. A man in a station wagon pulled up and offered me a ride home. I never stopped pedaling, just said no I'm fine."
"He pressed several times saying he could fit my bike in his car, it was no big deal. I kept saying no. He gave up and left. Don't know if it was just a genuinely helpful guy (this was the late 70s or early 80s so it wasn't yet completely extinct practice that strangers might offer each other rides) or a potential kidnapper."
– DiligentAdvantage475
Up In The Treehouse
"My mum was always paranoid someone would kidnap us kids from the yard. We used to play outside while she worked from home, we were 10, 8 and 6 at this time. She paid our neighbours teenage daughter to sit in the yard and watch us. Mostly she just ignored us and read a magazine with her headphones on and Walkman playing, but she was nice to us. I remember thinking this was stupid and mum was right there anyway so why did I 'basically a teenage' need to be babysat lol."
"One day we were all up in our tree house being jerks to our babysitter and unplugging her headset cord while she was trying to nap. A man and woman came into the yard via the side gate. They started talking to my youngest sibling trying to get her to climb down. The babysitter screamed for help but no one came. She ended up throwing the ladder from the treehouse over our back fence into her own yard and made us all climb into her yard with her dog who was going insane at the fence."
"We ended up locked in her house and she called the police. My mum didn't hear any of the commotion from inside the house and she won't speak about it even now that we are all adults. Never complained about my babysitter after that though."
– Dark_Valefor
The Creepy Customer
"I don’t remember how old I was, just that I was small enough to fit into the kids seat on a grocery cart. This was the early 90s and my mom had taken me grocery shopping with her. I was sitting in the grocery cart while my mom was focused on picking out produce only a few feet away when an older woman swooped in between us and started pushing the cart away quickly. I recall her smiling at me and trying to make me feel comfortable while also making the 'shh' gesture with her hand."
"I did not feel comfortable and started making enough noise to alert my mom. She ran over and loudly yelled at this stranger that this child was hers. The most chilling part that I still remember was that she didn’t flee the scene and instead made a comment about how cute I was and calmly walked away. Before she disappeared down an aisle she took one last look at me and winked."
– gnophy
People who were actually abducted talked about how they got out of their situation.
The Elderly Hero
"It was the 90s in SE Asia. I wasn’t old enough to go to school yet so my grandma took care of me while my parents were at work. My grandma had a little convenience store and one day 2 men approached her. One was in his 30s and the other was an old short man with white hair. They were carrying those hand weave basket pig cage."
"They asked my grandma if I was for sale. She told them to bugger off. While my grandma was distracted, they snatched me and I was carried away. I was kicking and screaming until they knocked me out. One of the neighbors saw me and alerted my grandma. My grandma rode her bicycle down the main street looking for me. She argued and threatened them to get me back."
"If it wasn’t for my grandma and her stubborn fierceness, I wouldn’t be here. She passed away in 2016. Love you and miss you grandma."
– Sir_Blinklot
Dumb Cabbie
"My wife told me that when she was just a teenager, she got in a cab and the cab driver just abducted her. He didn't take her to her destination, instead he took her to a hotel room. She was really scared but she kind of started playing along a little and pretended that she was interested and into it. Then he lay down on the bed, and she said something like 'Oh, I'm hungry. Can we order a pizza first?' and the cab driver said okay."
"So she picked up the phone, while she was dialing he wasn't paying attention so she disconnected the cable. Then she said, you know, I think the phone is broken. Let me go to the front desk to tell them, and I'll order the pizza while I'm there. So he says, okay sure."
"She went to the front desk and told them what was happening, they called the cops, the cops came and hauled him away."
– humanefly
Fighting For Life
"Was drugged at a small town bar, went to the bartender and asked what drink she had given me. She recited what I had ordered. I told her I asked because I'm not feeling well suddenly and it was like the world was spinning on its head. I sat at my seat because she said she hadn't seen anyone near my table/drink. Cool, whatever."
"It's getting worse and I feeling the worst I've ever felt in my life. I don't really remember what happened but a guy had led me outside and we were getting in a car. I remember hearing 'bracele' and seeing handcuff clink on my tiny a** wrist. My first response was scream, kick, anything. I already felt like vomiting and pooping so in my panic of scream and writhing around (drawing a LOT of attention from a closed car apparently) I stopped for a second and hear 'finally you b*tch' before I vomited all of the back seat, myself, and I threw myself forward to cover him as well."
"At this point I had no control between vomiting and screaming as loud I as could to vomit more, my drugged self was like 'it can't get worse for me' and I literally pulled my pants down and shat as my body saw fit. Guy never left the parking lot because of the commotion I raised."
"I remember hearing people banging on the windows and the guy freaking out, so I started screaming 'help' the best I could. The guy was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping and drugging me with meth and fet that they found on his person. Blessed be the big man 'mike' who carried my vomit poop cover self to the gym (next to the bar) where they let me shower and change."
– totallyoriginalacct
The Ultimate Betrayal
"My best friend tricked me into hanging out with her after I moved to another coast to be closer to her. Once I got there she introduced me to her 'friend' then slipped out of the house. When i asked about it he laughed and said 'you really thought she was your friend? She owes me money and you’re her payment. I’ve known about you for months. None of this was coincidental' then proceeded to pull up pics of me and conversations between them two."
"After a lot of initial crying and begging I told him I needed to go to her house to get my stuff and my phone. He told me he would get me all new stuff and I didn’t need it. Why would I go back to her. I immediately told him that he was right. I didn’t wanna go back to her. That he really saved me from her cause what kind of friend would sell me to someone. I told him that he was gonna take care of me and I knew that. I just needed my phone to let my parents know I was okay and wouldn’t see them for a bit or they’d get worried and file a report."
"After much convincing he agreed to let me go to her house around the corner to grab my stuff and come back. I took off running once I got around the corner. Had to take 2 busses and 2 trains to get home. I haven’t had a close friend since."
– [deleted]
These Redditors recalled making a run for it before anything bad could happen.
Declining An Invitation
"When I was 8 years old (f) I had just moved to a new house that was directly across the street from the school I would be starting in just a month or two. I would sometimes go to the school and play by myself for a bit. One time I was headed back home when I was approached and surrounded by a group of boys in their early teens. They told me to come hang out at their house. I shook my head and tried to run home but was blocked. The second oldest pulls out a $20 and tells me that I can have it once we get to their house. I think for a moment and decline again but am blocked again from leaving. My heart is racing and I keep looking longingly at my house."
"The boy with the money holds it out to me and says to take it and he'll give me another $20 at the house, it's in his wallet, he forgot it. The oldest chimes in telling me I would be able to buy a LOT of candy with that money. I hesitate, and start to reach my hand out to take the money and then see my chance to run between two of the boys and escape. They yelled and tried to grab me but I made it home."
"I saw some of them on occasion but I always stayed far away and they seemed to have forgotten about me. I later learned that the house they were trying to take me to belonged to a drug addicted mother who was rarely home and her son's just did whatever they wanted."
– CMaya2006
Teacher "Dad"
"I was 12 and some guy was walking towards me after school. He said, 'Hey there kiddo, You remember me, don't you!? Mom told me to take you home!' I thought, 'B*tch, that's the oldest trick in the book!' My parents told me if this ever happened, one thing I could do was run to the nearest adult and yell 'Mom, Mom' or 'Dad, Dad' So that's what I did."
"A teacher was walking into the school and I said, 'Oh Dad, there you are!' The guy got TF outta there. I explained to the teacher why I did what I did. We didn't get his plate number sadly enough."
– SMG4-Is-My-God
"It Only Takes A Second"
"When I was very little my dad took my sister and I on a river camping trip for a few days. We got to the little rural town at the end of the river where a buddy left our truck and trailer at the boat launch for us. My sister was old enough to sort of help dad with loading the boat (hold rope so it doesn’t float away while we back up etc) but I was too little to really do much so I started wandering around looking for stuff. I found a dead bumblebee and I really loved bumblebees so I decided to bury it in a little grave to pay respects. I found a patch of flowers near the edge of the boat launch, by the woods. I’m crouched down, completely absorbed by my trying to make a little cross for a headstone out of two twigs and a bit of grass, when suddenly I hear my dad’s deep, booming voice scream."
“HEY!!!”
"He was a good ten yards away from me but it was so loud I could feel it in my chest and I jump and spun around towards him. He is already halfway to me, running. His face looks scary. He looks so mad, so focused, and he’s looking over my shoulder instead of at me. I run over to him, no idea what’s happening but scared that I’d at least get in trouble if I didn’t go over to him right away. He picks me up and puts both me and my sister into the truck to finish loading by himself."
"Apparently a man tried to take me. I never even knew he was there. Dad caught sight of him just as he began lunging towards me and scared him off. I wouldn’t have known until I was already gone if he hadn’t been so aware."
"Watch your kids, it only takes a second."
– CopsaLau
A Convenient Tool
"I was about 7 at the time, and at that time i thought it was cool to carry a pocket knife, well, one day i was riding my bike, and a man knocked me over covering my mouth, i grabbed my knife and stabbed him in the side and ran inside crying."
– Toaster_Ruler
Listen To Your Gut
"I was 19 walking to work in the early hours of the morning in winter. I knew someone was following me for a little while and I was just praying I was making it up. Suddenly all the sh*t I have even been taught about self defence came forward. He grabbed me and pulled me."
"There was a moment when I turned to look at him and he laughed and it was at this point I pissed my pants. I was walking as close to the road as I physically could without being on it and I pushed my head down and then threw it back as quickly as I could."
"He fell and I ran in the middle of the road with my armsout screaming. Flagged down to cars. It was a very scary moment in my life and taught me a harsh lesson. Listen to your gut, even if you've done something 100 times if you don't feel safe you're not safe."
– Ok_Talk_90
These and hundreds of other examples on this Reddit thread reflect the sad reality of the horrors of the crime that still happen to this day.
Hopefully, what the survivors did to flee from their traumatizing situations can be a useful reminder to always stay vigilant, whether it is for yourself or your children.
And when all else fails, always scream and fight for your life before the situation can get any worse.
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Interesting points were brought up when Redditor onegrayhair asked:
"What culinary hill are you willing to die on?"
People shared cooking tips and how some foods should be prepared a certain way.
Poor Construction
"Nachos should be built wide not tall."
– DBroncos515
"I hate when the chips at the bottom don’t have all the cheese and toppings, but the chips on top have too much. Balance is key to a great plate of nachos!"
– yo_kashlee
Jaws Have Limitations
"We need to make burgers wider not taller."
– John_Lives
"If I have to disassemble a burger to eat it, it’s missing the point, isn’t it?"
– JediTigger
Just Let It Stew
"Homemade chili is almost always better the next day."
– burritokiller1971
"And most soups and stews."
– wjglenn
Add Some Zap
"Worcestershire sauce can work magic."
– dberis
Resourcefulness
"Being poor isn’t a culinary crime. It takes talent to make cheap food taste as good as my mom did."
– urbancowgirl42
People had plenty to say about rating recipes.
Unfair Critique
"When you're baking from an online recipe, don't change three or four ingredients "to make it healthy" and then leave a one star review about how bad it is."
– cliff99
Inaccurate Reviews
"Don't leave a 5-star review on someone's recipe while saying 'This was a great recipe... after I made these 10 changes!' At that point, you're not rating that person's recipe, you are rating YOUR OWN recipe. That person's recipe must not have been so good if you had to make so many changes."
"Also, don't leave a 5-star review on someone's recipe while saying 'This recipe looks great, I can't wait to try it!' Why skew the ratings when you haven't even tried it yet?"
– randomentity1
Snobbery Is Tasteless
"Being snobby about food to the point where you're hindering someone else's enjoyment is not a positive personality trait."
– swordcowboy
Taste Buds Don't Lie
"If it tastes good it tastes good."
– Danielwols
Some questioned others' capabilities in the kitchen while others straight up forbade them from doing something that is unfavorable.
The Complaint
"People who hate cooking with stainless steel don’t know how to cook with stainless steel."
– 3Me20
There's A Dress Code
"DON’T WEAR YOUR APRON INTO THE BATHROOM."
– andre3kthegiant
"I've called people out for doing this. It's disgusting. This isn't a hill to die on, this should be common sense. People be dumb."
– Aldayne
Cross-Contamination–Bad
"I had to call a girl out again for putting a container of raw meat on a cold station."
"She complained that I 'always call her out on that.'"
"Yeah no sh*t, you're the only one tryna catch state health code write ups.'
"e/ she saw the post and I made her cry, oops."
– ChefBoredAreWe
Don't Interrupt The Cook
"Get out of the kitchen if I'm cooking. Out out out I don't want your help."
– Justice171
Not All Salads Are Good For You
"I live in the Midwest, I love the Midwest but just because you call something a salad does not mean it is healthy and an acceptable side dish to your main course. Snicker-marshmallow-mayo-whatever is not salad."
– ArachnesChallenge
I don't consider myself a cook, but I do pat myself on the back for some of the dishes I do know how to make well.
One of those is Japanese curry. And while I can't keep from serving and eating what takes at least an hour-and-a-half to make, I do find that my leftover tastes infinitely better the next day.
I make a HUGE batch of curry sauce so I can continue enjoying it for the next few days. There's something about leaving it in the fridge and heating up portions at a time that really activate the spices.
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