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
Giphy
"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
Giphy
"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
Giphy
"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
Giphy
"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
Giphy
"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
Giphy
"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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I have a constant fear of death. I wanna perfect the ending of "Death Becomes Her" so I can live forever.
Before
morbid death GIFGiphy"I'm not scared of death because of working in health care I was around it so much. I AM scared of what leads to death, however."
Full-Mulberry5020
Why now?
"Why should I be scared now of something that's only going to happen at the end of my life?"
User Deleted
"I did this cult thing called the landmark forum and I actually did like their “meaning of life”: the meaning of life is that there is no meaning. Life is empty and meaningless. There is no answer."
"Life is what you make of it and every persons answer is equally valid because there is no meaning to life. Life exists as, basically, an accident, we are all here by complete accident, there’s no great mystery, it’s all biology and you are 100% free to make life about whatever it is you want."
Conservative_HalfWit
Death and I are good friends...
"I was very sick as a child. Spent ages 7-20 in and out of hospital due to kidney issues. Lost a kidney at 28. Almost died during the surgery to removed the dead kidney due to blood loss. Had 5 surgeries back to back during the next 2 years. Twice they had difficulties bringing me out of anesthesia."
"Found my favorite aunt dead in her bed when I was 22. Watched my best friend die from a brain tumor at 30. Death has been a constant force in my life. Sometimes just on the edges waiting, sometimes unexpected staring me in the face. I'm not afraid because it's always been there. I now work in healthcare. Death and I are good friends."
Tiny_Teach_5466
No Worries
"Because it's coming for us all, sooner or later. So there's no point in worrying about it. I am much more concerned about day to day minutiae. The Lars von Trier film Melancholia starring Kirstin Dunst portrayed this perfectly. If there was an asteroid hurtling towards the earth, I'd probably be more preoccupied with worrying about whether I left the back light on or not."
Giallo_submarine
It's Over
The Lord Of The Rings Mueller Report GIF by reactionseditorGiphy"Because no one has ever made it out alive, and I was dead for an eternity before I was alive, and didn't suffer the slightest inconvenience because of it."
MarshallApplewhiteDo
I never thought about the before much. I hope the before is quick.
The Effects
Pray I Hope GIFGiphy"I hope that when my times comes it will be merciful. My uncle had a stroke, he is paralyzed. My grandmother is 91, but is losing all her memories of her life. Death does not scare me, what could be left of me before I die is what terrifies me."
M1ssy_M3
No Terror
"It’s like when the writer Nabokov said that he saw a picture one time, a picture of before he was born. It was a picture of his mother, his brother and sister that were older than him, but he had not been born yet. He said that when he saw that picture there was no terror in him, even though he was looking at a picture where he didn’t exist."
im_on-the_can
state of nonexistence...
"I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of dying. Death is just the state of nonexistence I experienced before I was born. I don't remember it because I didn't exist yet. Death will be the same way. I just don't want the transition to be marked by pain and sorrow at things left unfinished. I want it to be quick, painless, and with me surrounded by love."
Wazula42
I'm Gone...
"Because once I die, I won't know it. I won't miss people or regret things or feel pain or sadness about anything. I might fear being sick and slowly dying, just having to live with the knowledge that it's all going to end and this is the last time I'll ever see the people I love or taste good food or hear good music. That sounds almost unbearable. But death isn't even a thing, it's just having done something (died)."
"It's like virginity, it's a made-up state of being that just says whether or not you've experienced a specific occurrence. Once I die, I'm gone. My corpse will be the empty wrapper I used to be in, just garbage to be disposed of in whatever way makes my survivors feel better. I'll be switched off. If I don't worry about what the light feels after the bulb burns out, why would I be afraid of being dead?"
SallyHeap
At Peace
Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Good PlaceGiphy"I’m scared now because I have young kids. Once my kids are old enough to be on their own I imagine the fear will subside and I’ll have a more relaxed approach."
User Deleted
Some very interesting perspectives. May it all calm peacefully and with great mercy for us all.
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I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
Wait What Wtf GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
Lying Simon Rex GIF by Simon Rex / Dirt NastyGiphy"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
just kidding jk GIFGiphy"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"
Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"
Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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