
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...
"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
"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
"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
"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!!
"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, 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.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
Most couples are inseparable and enjoy doing everything together, thanks in part to shared mutual interests.
But on occasion, some people in relationships go off in pursuit of one-sided pleasures in secret for various reasons.
These can range from going out to a vegan restaurant when the other person is a carnivore to seeing a Netflix show that is too violent for a squeamish significant other.
Because not every significant other may not share the same passion, Redditors TheTinRam asked:
"What’s a guilty pleasure you hide from your significant other?"

These Redditors needed some "me time."
Dad Time
"Everytime I go on a late night grocery run (once or twice a month) because I work nights, and my wife forgot to grab whatever, I add a $0.70 Mexican soda to the cart. It is just for me. It is something my dad used to get me on especially long days when I was a kid 'helping' him on jobsites. It is my tiny reminder of him."
– thecountnotthesaint
Story For No One
"I write stories for years now, some of the times she thinks I'm working on the computer but I'm actually writing a story. There is nothing to hide but I just keep it to myself, none of my family members know I write stories. Till today I have written 56 stories (most of them are short)."
– SuvenPan
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
"Staying up late for peace and quiet."
– Blue_OG_46
Chatting For One
"I talk to myself all the time, I was actually wondering last night if it was a really weird thing to do lol"
– hottytoddy_sko
Naked And Sacred
"I will cruise the house butt naked and just do whatever the hell I want. About once a month. I won’t be able to this summer because the kids will be back in school, but come August, I’ll be naked and free again!"
– batchofbetterbutter
Some people need to get out of the house.
Self Therapy
"Sometimes I take the long way home and talk to myself in the car about my 'problems' - like Self Therapy. I put one earbud in so ppl think I could be on the phone."
"I get quite animated. It helps to get a stressful day out of my system before I get home and switch gears."
– Humble-Plankton2217
Solo Slice
"My husband has gluten sensitivity. If he eats regular pizza, his stomach hurts for a couple of days after."
"Well, I don't, so sometimes I say I'm going for a run, and I do run.... to the pizza store, eat a slice, and run back."
– sohumsahm
Catching Up With The Boys
"Covid has messed it up for a bit now. But every 3 or so months the boys and I all get up like we are going to work at our respective jobs but instead all call in sick and meet for breakfast, then go back to our one buddies place for the day to hangout. Around 4 or 5 one by one we all head home for our normal arrival time."
"It's literally the only way for us all to get together reliably. Most of us have known each other for the better part of 30 years now, going way back to junior kindergarten for some."
"Twice I have let her know my plan for the day and twice I have gotten phone calls to come home early for what ever not some emergency. So now we do it secretly."
– foh242
Some of the things people do behind their SO's backs is for endearing reasons.
Smooch Ploy
"I don’t know if this is a guilty pleasure necessarily but I pretend to be asleep when he comes home from work because he always kisses me on the forehead."
– str8outofabook
Catching Zzzs
"I love when she snores."
"She complains (only lightly) about my snoring all the time, and I always feel awful that I make it tricky for her to get a good night's sleep. When she's snoring, I know she's actually going to rest well, and it makes me happy."
– ricdesi
Scent Of A Man
"Smelling his clothes. Not creepily, like his boxers. But when he lets me borrow a shirt or a sweater I’ll put it on and just revel in the smell of him on his clothes. If I recall correctly, it definitely wasn’t like this when we first started dating. It’s been over two years now and I only remember doing this around the 7 month mark. He smells really, really good."
– he-whoeatsbugs
The Forever Admirer
"I have a whole album of 'unflattering' pictures of her. Not really something I hide, but they make me happy. She’s so silly yet so beautiful."
– Dewahll
They say that a couple that plays together, stays together.
That's all well and good. However, a significant other having some alone time should never be stigmatized.
My husband and I usually watch every TV show together, but I watch Netflix's Ozark by myself because I enjoy intense dramas, immensely.
It's not a secret. And he's glad I watch the shows that I want to watch on my own time–just like I encourage him to watch all those UFO documentaries that he's obsessed with, by himself.
No really, watch them without me.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
"Do you know who I am?"
A question which often comes from an exasperated individual, who believes they are entitled to VIP treatment everywhere they go.
Occasionally, these people are indeed household names whom most everyone would likely recognize.
More often than not, however, people might need some reminding as to how or why said individual should be recognized.
Each and every time, though, the arrogant question is never justified, and is often greeted with an appropriate response.
Redditor brotherbrother99 was eager to know the best clap backs to this notorious question, leading them to ask:
"What is the best response to "'Do you know who I am?'"
That's starting to get old.
"I bet you use that line a lot."- michaelochurch.
Right back atcha!
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
"I AM!"- itskavia.
You tell me.
"No, who do you think you are?"- Random_puns.
I'll have to ask someone else.
“'Hey Brian, I’ve got a guy here who doesn’t know who he is!'"
"'Do you know who he might be?'”- llovejoy1234.
I'll take a guess
"Ronnie Pickering."- Shadow_0852.
I'm getting a sense...
"I know who you think you are."- automoth.
I'll help you figure it out.
"My husband was working in construction."
"A guy came onto the job site giving the workers a hard time about something or other."
"When he started yelling at my husband for whatever, my husband basically ignored him."
"The guy goes, 'do you know who I am?'”
"My husband yelled across the site to his foreman, 'Joe! Call an ambulance, this guy doesn’t know who he is!'”- Littlepaintbrush0814.
Gotcha!
"Yes, and I've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."- ShadyMyLady.
Rightfully put in their place.
"There is the old joke about the British Prime Minister eating out during the war time and asking for extra butter with his bread, the waiter refused to which the PM, rather annoyed, asked "'do you know who I am?'"
"To which the waiter replied, 'yes, I do, but rather importantly you have forgot who I am, I am the man who responsible for the rations of the butter'."- ScholarImpossible121
Of course, when people do dare to ask "do you know who I am", they never realize that the people they ask this immediately discover the answer.
Which is someone absolutely no one wants to be around.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Moviegoers go to the cinema to be transported and forget–even for about two hours–about either the mundanity of their everyday lives or the stress of problematic situations.
But if there's one thing cinephiles roll their eyes at while watching a movie, it's the predictable plot twist or a typical scenario often depicted in films that lack imagination.
Curious to hear examples, Redditor cnukles1 asked:
"What's a movie trope you are sick and tired of?"

Hollywood tends to glorify and dramatize violence almost comically.
Brief Inconvenience
"When someone is stabbed/shot, limps around in pain for 30 seconds, then continues on as if nothing happened."
– FioreFalinesti
Instant Death
"On the flipside, it drives me nuts when bad guys get shot in the torso and drop dead immediately. They'd realistically have at least a few seconds if not minutes of consciousness."
– itguy1991
Smooth Recovery
"People being knocked out for hours and no brain damage."
– TankApprehensive3571
That doesn't happen in real life.
Atypical Casting
"The broke 'Single Mom' who looks like she could model for Victoria's Secret. On the flip side, male gangsters, drug dealers or prisoners who look like they could win a state bodybuilding championship."
– Johhnymaddog316
Unnecessary Extravagance
"Or same broke single mom with an awesome house and perfect clothes/hair. Can't they ever just dress like normal people and living in normal homes?"
– Expensive_Structure2
Disarming Explosives
"Bombs with helpful color-coded wires."
– SuvenPan
Inconvenient Birth
"There's a pregnant woman and she goes into labor right at the worst possible time. For drama of course."
– RogueKatt
When actions depicted on the screen are not plausible.
The Struggle Is Real
"Just once I'd like to see somebody struggle to find parking in Los Angeles."
– stupidlyugly
The Structure Of Romance
"You're a jerk and I have no interest in you despite the fact that you are incredibly handsome, charming, and funny. We have to work together to save the world but make no mistake about it, I can't stand you. Let's just get this over with so I never have to see you again."
"Whoops, we f'ked. I guess we're in love now."
– DickySchmidt33
Love Connections
"Every disaster movie, the love interest always works at a hospital."
– Terrible-Ad-4879
Let's Communicate Better
"When a simple conversation could have entirely solved the central conflict of the movie."
– Katarassein
If everything happened on screen the way it does in real life, would it diminish your moviegoing experience?
Some people just like watching characters make believable choices. But if that's the case, you may as well go outside and film your own movie.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
People Share Their Craziest 'You've Become The Thing You Swore To Destroy' Experiences
Life's viewpoints can be so different when you're younger, when you have your whole life ahead of you, when you think you're fighting back against some tyrannical power bent on keeping your rebel heart in check. It's then, in those rage-filled glory years, you might think, "I'll never become like them. I'm going to keep sticking it to the man."
But years pass, and before you know it, you are "the man."
Reddit user, Zealousideal-Golf984, wanted to hear about the time when you became that which you vowed to destroy when they asked:
"What is your "You have become the very thing you swore to destroy" moment?"
You know who you are right now?
Your parents.
Doesn't matter if you responded, "No I'm not!" to that statement. You are your mother. You are your father. And there's nothing you can do about it. Cue evil laughter.
Rhetorical Questions Abound
"I told my friend's kids they could have a toy if they didn't fight over it, and if they fought I would take it back, they agreed, then proceeded immediately fight over it when I turned around. Without any conscious input from my brain I span back and heard myself exclaim "What did I just say?!""
"And suddenly I was my mother."
ttnl35
Coming Round Full Circle
"I teach at my old high school lol literally have coworkers that have sent me to the principal’s office before"
Watchtwentytwo
It's Going To Rot Your Brain!
"Complaining to my son about him playing to much video games."
skwolf522
Nothing Better Than Plans Getting Cancelled
"Growing up, my dad hated going out. When we went on church outings, we were always the first family to leave. He just wanted to stay in and read the paper or watch tv. I vowed to never be as boring as him when I got older."
"Now that I'm older, nothing makes me happier than when plans get cancelled and I can just chill at home, and not worry about the commute or how much money I'd have to spend going out. Even if it's something I'm looking forward to like a band I really wanna see, part of me still wants to not go because of how crappy the late night commute will be."
YounomsayinMawfk
Where Do You Even Sit?
"My couch has no less than 8 decorative pillows on it. I am a monster."
MargotFenring
"This is the worst one"
lowtoiletsitter
You don't think the job changes you. "I'm never going to sell out to the man," you tell yourself as you wake up at 4am to make your commute to the office.
Little do you know...
It's In The Fine-Print Within The Fine-Print
"I make commercials for a living. I f-cking hate commercials to the core of my soul."
JhymnMusic
"Ugh dude same."
"I got hired as an animator at an agency not too long ago, so I figured I'd be doing lots of fun and flashy animations. I don't mind making commercials so long as they've got interesting visuals, which is something I greatly enjoy doing."
"I've been making glorified powerpoints about Medicare ever since I got hired. I've frequently received feedback to literally "make it less fun". A project I made 2 years ago, a fun and flashy internal use video, is getting a new iteration that I'll be doing soon. The old version made setting up web pages and product descriptions look interesting."
"They said they didn't like it and to "have less fun" with it, so I plan on being spiteful and making it f-cking awful to sit through. The problem with that is that I know that's exactly what they want."
"I'm reminded of the Pixies from Fairly Odd Parents, and how Timmy and the gang are the exciting antithesis of the drab corporate culture the pixies represent. I didn't think I'd become one. Lord help me."
Tokiw4
Karmic Payback Is Amplified In The Classroom
"I was in a computer class in high school and would drive the teachers nuts. I even had the other kids mocking the teachers by shouting out "on task!" whenever the teacher would start looking around to make sure we were working."
"I now teach a high school computer class. A student the other day stopped me before I could tell them to put their phone away and go back to work by saying "I know, I know, on task, on task".
"I was speechless and just left the student to return to my desk and rethink my life choices."
majorscud
Stopping People From Having Fun
"When I setup the website blocker on the company network. I spent so much of my childhood trying to get around those blockers at school, and now I'm the one setting it up."
"Edit: Admittedly, I'm not so evil as to block things for being categorized as "tasteless" like my school did, it's really just porn and illegal things, but I still feel slimy for doing it."
"Edit 2: Also, so be clear, I don't work at a school. My company does however employ a lot of Salesmen, and they're basically children, so..."
Nik_Tesla
Leaving The Grunt Work To Someone Else
"When I was an apprentice electrician it always pissed me off when my journeyman would make me do the hard manual parts of a job while he did the easier, but more technical work. I always swore that when I got my license and my first apprentice that I’d be different."
"That went out the window pretty quick."
Anakin_Skywanker
We're products of those who raise us. We take in what they do, what they say, and how they act to become the people the outside world gets to interact with.
It's critical we recognize this, for better or worse.
Seeing, Growing, Learning
"Sh-t, a looooong time ago (when I was 11 or so) I was walking across the school yard. My dad used to beat my butt when he was having a bad day and it really f-cked with me, so I was walking and just fuming, hating on him and how much of a tyrant he was for taking out his anger on me."
"Well, in that moment I bumped into a kid like 1/2 my size and he went to the ground. He hugged my legs (I think reflexively) and I just started pounding his face. I remember him crying, begging me to stop, the hatred, and then just a sudden moment of clarity. I realized I was a sh-tty person, that I was super mean, and that the kid I was hitting had done nothing wrong but was just a helpless target for my anger. I instantly flipped to empathizing for him, and saw myself for who I was. I can't describe the horror."
"I started crying and helping the boy up, we walked to the office together in tears and I ended up telling my principal everything. It was a long time ago, so they just decided to give me an in school suspension and not inform my parents."
"Also, that kid and I ended up exchanging SNES games and playing mtg/warhammer together a bunch in the following years. Andrew, dude, I can't apologize enough, and thank you so much for not leaving me in a hell of my own creation. Decades later and I still think about you, and how kind of a person you were, you changed a life, man."
"EDIT: Okay, just to clear up misconceptions and mass respond. This did not flip a switch and end my relationship with violence and anger. That took, well, up until today and then some. I still have anger that flares up and completely blinds me, but after decades, I'm not losing control or lashing out. Andrew wasn't one of the kids that I went after at school, I picked on kids that I thought were bullies, totally oblivious to the commonalities between me and them."
"I don't really have words for those of you that were bullied, or hurt while at school. Except that those of you that fantasize about beating up bullies now, as adults, need to find a better method for feeling empowered. You are literally just adult versions of playground bullies, we all had the kids that we thought were okay to victimize for some justification or another."
IonlyusethrowawaysA
We all have to grow up sometime.
Maybe don't worry so much about picking up that ice cream on the way home.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.