Most Overrated TV Show of All Time?

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  • Did you even watch the finale?

    The most selfish 'self-sacrifice' I've ever seen. Walter White playing God.

    How was it selfish? I think by the end of the series he was probably past redemption but he did everything he could to make things right.

    Too little too late, I'm afraid.

    He did everything he could do in his situation. He admitted to Skylar that he did it for himself. He made sure that Marie could bury Hank and he made sure that Walt Jr would at least get the money he deserved. He also saved Jesse and even gave him the opportunity to kill him.

    And before that, had just committed mass murder of all his enemies (namely the neo-Nazi gang: after all, neo-Nazis are the new evil and beyond redemption or understanding) as if he were Jehovah from the Old Testament. Him saving Jesse is just Walt flaunting his supreme power (imagining he has full control over life and death in others, like Harold Shipman) rather than any profound forgiveness.

    All I see is a reprehensible excuse for a human being (ablate more honest and self-aware than before) playing God. Walter White or Heisenberg, it's all the same.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I find Little Britain to be very annoying and repetitive. I know it has a lot of fans but I'm not one of them.
  • edited October 2013 Posts: 11,189
    @stirrednotshaken

    That's fairly similar to my rankings. I think season 8 redeems itself in the second half.

    Season 6 was good for the first couple of episodes but soon lost its way. I do like the final scene with Audrey though.
  • Same here. Just a bunch of cheap grotesques. Same old gags over and over again.
  • Posts: 2,400
    BAIN123 wrote:
    That's fairly similar to my rankings. I think season 8 redeems itself in the second half.

    Season 6 was good for the first couple of episodes but soon lost its way. I do like the final scene with Audrey though.

    Sorry yeah, I typed that wrong. 8 before 7, since 8's sort of the one season that isn't excellent and isn't terrible. But it did have an excellent second half, and at least they knew how to make a finale unlike the incompetent morons behind Dexter.

  • edited November 2013 Posts: 12,837
    JBFan626 wrote:
    Did you even watch the finale?

    The most selfish 'self-sacrifice' I've ever seen. Walter White playing God.

    How was it selfish? I think by the end of the series he was probably past redemption but he did everything he could to make things right.

    That's the issue I have with the show overall, is it's fatalism. Anti-heroes can work, but when the main character skews so far off in the direction of poor and amoral decision making, I find it not relatable to the human experience.

    Walter White starts off as a hero forced to do bad things to provide for his family. But he gets better at it, he starts to enjoy it (I think him blowing up Tuco's office was the beginning of this) becoming more of an anti hero (him killing those two drug dealers to save Jesse), and eventually he morphs into a full on villain (poisoning Brock, killing Gus by blowing up the old peoples home).

    By this point you're not meant to relate to him or root for him any more because he's turned into an evil psychopath. Even then though there are other main characters you can relate to.
    Did you even watch the finale?

    The most selfish 'self-sacrifice' I've ever seen. Walter White playing God.

    How was it selfish? I think by the end of the series he was probably past redemption but he did everything he could to make things right.

    Too little too late, I'm afraid.

    He did everything he could do in his situation. He admitted to Skylar that he did it for himself. He made sure that Marie could bury Hank and he made sure that Walt Jr would at least get the money he deserved. He also saved Jesse and even gave him the opportunity to kill him.

    And before that, had just committed mass murder of all his enemies (namely the neo-Nazi gang: after all, neo-Nazis are the new evil and beyond redemption or understanding) as if he were Jehovah from the Old Testament. Him saving Jesse is just Walt flaunting his supreme power (imagining he has full control over life and death in others, like Harold Shipman) rather than any profound forgiveness.

    All I see is a reprehensible excuse for a human being (ablate more honest and self-aware than before) playing God. Walter White or Heisenberg, it's all the same.

    They were Nazis. They'd killed plenty of people before including Hank, Walt's brother in law. One of them shot a kid at point blank range. They took Walt's money. They killed Jesse's girlfriend, orphaning a child. And they tortured Jesse (who Walt did care about despite everything), and kept him as a slave to cook meth for them.

    So yeah, they were evil bastards that got what was coming to them. And so was Walt. The difference is that by the end, Walt knew that what he'd done was wrong and he was trying to make right what he could. He knew that he deserved to die and even gave Jesse the chance to kill him.

    Heisenberg I think was almost like a split personality from Walt. It was his dark side, the side of him that was pissed off because he thought the life he was living before was beneath him, the side of him that thought he deserved an empire and lots of money like he should've gotten when he started Gray Matter.

    This bit I think is when Heisenberg died and Walter White came back. When he finally realised what a bastard he'd been and decided that he had to try to make things right before he got what was coming to him.



    But even if you see Walt that way, it doesn't make the show bad or overrated.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 157
    They were Nazis. They'd killed plenty of people before including Hank, Walt's brother in law. One of them shot a kid at point blank range. They took Walt's money. They killed Jesse's girlfriend, orphaning a child. And they tortured Jesse (who Walt did care about despite everything), and kept him as a slave to cook meth for them.

    Regardless, they should have been tried and sentenced by law-- not killed by a vigilante. Like Gandhi once said: 'an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.'
    But even if you see Walt that way, it doesn't make the show bad or overrated.

    Well, it's technically competent, atmospheric and shows an understanding of genre conventions, but morally it's more bankrupt than the Greek economy. That's why I hate it. Just like I hate the films of Lars Von Trier, Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn. I hate what they've done to audiences.
  • Posts: 1,637
    2 and half men is underrated imo , it's only meant to give you a belly laugh....but yeah , should've canned it after Sheen left.
  • Posts: 1,817
    I couldn't believe when I was reading that The Sopranos is overrated. First, the quality of the production, from photography to non-original music, was groundbreaking. Second, the performances are most exceptional, from James Gandolfini, to Edie Falco, Nancy Marchand, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, as are the secondary and picturesque portrayals by Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Dominic Chianese, ecc.
    Third, taking Sopranos as a gangster glorification is totally misleading. Sopranos is not about cosa nostra or mafia. It's about a middle age man and how he deals with the problems at home (cheating his wife, raising his kids, trying to provide them a better future), at work (envy, insubordination, conflicts), and with society. The thing is that his work happens to be in organized crime. But even if it wasn't, he still had issues with his mother, and the need to speak with someone in order to fight depression. It's about a man who at the begining only sees a "big nothing" until he finally gets it: "you'll remember the little moments like this... that were good".
    At the end, even if Tony tries to be happy, he knows that, because of the nature of his work, the choices he has made, he will end on prison or death, "You probably don't even heard it when it happens".
    I've never seen on movies or in another TV series a more impressive confrontation between couples as in Carmela and Tony's separation ("Whitecaps"), or a more shocking and painful to watch sexual assault as in "Employee of the month" (and yet, Dr. Melfi refuses to take revenge, how could it be a mafia glorification when the character says the opposite of what the audience was anxiously asking?).
    Not everyone has to agree that it is the best TV show of all time, but it's hard to justify how a masterpiece like this one could be judge on the grounds that is mafia glorification. It is not. Watch "The Army of One".
    It is about a man who asks himself "Who am I? Where am I going?" It's about hypocrisy and loyalty, greed and generosity, betrayal and friendship, hate and love. It's about everything that makes us humans.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Lost had no plan, much like the Cylons of the new Battlestar Galactica. The two most overrated shows for me.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 2,341
    I liked The Wire.
    The best seasons were the first and the fourth. (Drug War and Public Schools)
    The second season was not as gritty as the first but decent.
    The Third Season was the let down. I kept wondering where they were going here. I guess they were putting pieces in place for the superb Fourth Season.
    Fifth Season was so so.

    I don't think the show was overrated. It is worth a watch. But I warn you the third season is rather weak.

    I loved the new Battlestar Galectica. I thought they could have drug out the New Caprica sequences longer but I have no real complaints about the show. I don't think it was ever overrated, but thats just my honest opinion.





    I

  • Posts: 11,189
    I can see why The Wire is very well regarded but I found it a little heavy going for my taste. I need to give it another look though now a few years have passed.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    0013 wrote:
    I couldn't believe when I was reading that The Sopranos is overrated. First, the quality of the production, from photography to non-original music, was groundbreaking. Second, the performances are most exceptional, from James Gandolfini, to Edie Falco, Nancy Marchand, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, as are the secondary and picturesque portrayals by Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Dominic Chianese, ecc.
    Third, taking Sopranos as a gangster glorification is totally misleading. Sopranos is not about cosa nostra or mafia. It's about a middle age man and how he deals with the problems at home (cheating his wife, raising his kids, trying to provide them a better future), at work (envy, insubordination, conflicts), and with society. The thing is that his work happens to be in organized crime. But even if it wasn't, he still had issues with his mother, and the need to speak with someone in order to fight depression. It's about a man who at the begining only sees a "big nothing" until he finally gets it: "you'll remember the little moments like this... that were good".
    At the end, even if Tony tries to be happy, he knows that, because of the nature of his work, the choices he has made, he will end on prison or death, "You probably don't even heard it when it happens".
    I've never seen on movies or in another TV series a more impressive confrontation between couples as in Carmela and Tony's separation ("Whitecaps"), or a more shocking and painful to watch sexual assault as in "Employee of the month" (and yet, Dr. Melfi refuses to take revenge, how could it be a mafia glorification when the character says the opposite of what the audience was anxiously asking?).
    Not everyone has to agree that it is the best TV show of all time, but it's hard to justify how a masterpiece like this one could be judge on the grounds that is mafia glorification. It is not. Watch "The Army of One".
    It is about a man who asks himself "Who am I? Where am I going?" It's about hypocrisy and loyalty, greed and generosity, betrayal and friendship, hate and love. It's about everything that makes us humans.

    =D> I couldn't have said it any better myself. Goodfellas focuses much more on glorifying mob life itself, rather than the mobster's life "outside of the life". And mob guys are notoriously quiet about their personal lives, you rarely hear about this level of detail in the books because they don't discuss that dynamic, and that isn't part of their deals with the government. The Sopranos is about telling the personal stories of a group of men and those around them, where their profession is a backdrop rather than the focus.

  • They were Nazis. They'd killed plenty of people before including Hank, Walt's brother in law. One of them shot a kid at point blank range. They took Walt's money. They killed Jesse's girlfriend, orphaning a child. And they tortured Jesse (who Walt did care about despite everything), and kept him as a slave to cook meth for them.

    Regardless, they should have been tried and sentenced by law-- not killed by a vigilante. Like Gandhi once said: 'an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.'

    But that's boring. Imagine if in LTK Bond had just turned himself in and given the DEA info about Sanchez rather than blowing up his base, chasing him down in a tanker and burning him alive. It would've been a boring finale but Sanchez should have been tried and sentenced by law, not killed by a rogue MI6 agent.
  • Posts: 14,799
    Creasy, you can't call The Wire overrated if you haven't seen any of it.

    Also 24 would be perfect if it ended with the fifth season.

    I do think The Wire is slightly overrated. It was really good but after years of hearing how it was the greatest TV show ever I was slightly let down. I really enjoyed it but it seemed a bit dull and slow sometimes. It was great but there are better shows imo.

    The Wire is so not overrated, it is the opposite. It deserved every praise it got, but never had the fame it deserved. It is perfectly written and perfectly cast and unlike so many dramas it refuses to go easy on the audience.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Ludovico wrote:
    Creasy, you can't call The Wire overrated if you haven't seen any of it.

    Also 24 would be perfect if it ended with the fifth season.

    I do think The Wire is slightly overrated. It was really good but after years of hearing how it was the greatest TV show ever I was slightly let down. I really enjoyed it but it seemed a bit dull and slow sometimes. It was great but there are better shows imo.

    The Wire is so not overrated, it is the opposite. It deserved every praise it got, but never had the fame it deserved. It is perfectly written and perfectly cast and unlike so many dramas it refuses to go easy on the audience.

    Well said.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    edited November 2013 Posts: 16,328
    Family Guy At one point used to be a decent show in it's first couple seasons. But now it is utter mind numbing garbage. I'm glad Seth Macfarlane's Flintstones Reboot never got anywhere. It would just end up being like Family Guy in the Stone Age.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Murdock wrote:
    Family Guy At one point used to be a decent show in it's first couple seasons. But now it is utter mind numbing garbage. I'm glad Seth Macfarlane's Flintstones Reboot never got anywhere. It would just end up being like Family Guy in the Stone Age.

    You can add The Simpsons to that. Used to be brilliant but has been on the downslide since around season 10. And considering we're now on season 25/26 you can see just how crap it is now.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    Murdock wrote:
    Family Guy At one point used to be a decent show in it's first couple seasons. But now it is utter mind numbing garbage. I'm glad Seth Macfarlane's Flintstones Reboot never got anywhere. It would just end up being like Family Guy in the Stone Age.

    You can add The Simpsons to that. Used to be brilliant but has been on the downslide since around season 10. And considering we're now on season 25/26 you can see just how crap it is now.

    Agreed. I heard that there's going to be a crossover show between the two. But I haven't watched either in years.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,372
    I don't know if I would call 'The Simpsons' overrated, I just never liked the show. Always preferred 'South Park' and 'Family Guy,' though the latter sometimes runs with really dull jokes for a minute or two straight and it gets incredibly annoying.
  • Posts: 6,396
    Murdock wrote:
    Murdock wrote:
    Family Guy At one point used to be a decent show in it's first couple seasons. But now it is utter mind numbing garbage. I'm glad Seth Macfarlane's Flintstones Reboot never got anywhere. It would just end up being like Family Guy in the Stone Age.

    You can add The Simpsons to that. Used to be brilliant but has been on the downslide since around season 10. And considering we're now on season 25/26 you can see just how crap it is now.

    Agreed. I heard that there's going to be a crossover show between the two. But I haven't watched either in years.

    A 'crossover' show is usually another term for 'desperation'.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    Any trashy American sitcom. EXCEPT Friends, which happens to be one of my favourite shows of all time. Also, has anybody watched 'As Time Goes By' with Judi Dench? Saw an episode the other day and I thought it was rather good,
  • Posts: 14,799
    Murdock wrote:
    Family Guy At one point used to be a decent show in it's first couple seasons. But now it is utter mind numbing garbage. I'm glad Seth Macfarlane's Flintstones Reboot never got anywhere. It would just end up being like Family Guy in the Stone Age.

    You can add The Simpsons to that. Used to be brilliant but has been on the downslide since around season 10. And considering we're now on season 25/26 you can see just how crap it is now.

    The Simpsons used to be absolutely brilliant, maybe the greatest cartoon ever. That was I would say the first seven season or so, but even at the seventh seasons things started getting repetitive. Then they were a few episodes of the next seasons that were funny, until it became a caricature of a caricature. It is now overrated because it still runs on the reputation it deservedly gained in the early seasons.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 14,799
    To answer the OP, I would say 24 is overrated. Like other people said, the first two seasons were good, if a bit melodramatic (and sometimes irritatingly soap operatic), but at least there was a core that was good, they were actually taking into account the 24 hours sleepless period for most characters. Then it became a soap opera with more action and violence, with the 24 hours gimmick not even a gimmick anymore. I stopped following after season 4 and I felt stupid to have watched season 3 and 4.

    And maybe it is because I loathe it, but I always thought Sex and the City was so dumb and shallow and did not deserve any praise it received.
  • Posts: 2,341
    They were Nazis. They'd killed plenty of people before including Hank, Walt's brother in law. One of them shot a kid at point blank range. They took Walt's money. They killed Jesse's girlfriend, orphaning a child. And they tortured Jesse (who Walt did care about despite everything), and kept him as a slave to cook meth for them.

    Regardless, they should have been tried and sentenced by law-- not killed by a vigilante. Like Gandhi once said: 'an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.'

    But that's boring. Imagine if in LTK Bond had just turned himself in and given the DEA info about Sanchez rather than blowing up his base, chasing him down in a tanker and burning him alive. It would've been a boring finale but Sanchez should have been tried and sentenced by law, not killed by a rogue MI6 agent.

    DogGone it.
    I had stopped watching Breaking Bad and was considering returning to it.I just want to thank you for the spoilers. Now I don't have to go back and finish watching it. Jeez!
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 157
    But that's boring. Imagine if in LTK Bond had just turned himself in and given the DEA info about Sanchez rather than blowing up his base, chasing him down in a tanker and burning him alive. It would've been a boring finale but Sanchez should have been tried and sentenced by law, not killed by a rogue MI6 agent.

    Last time I checked, Bond wasn't a meth kingpin selfishly trying to help his family (at the expense of other families).

    Apples and oranges.

    Also: The Wire is overrated, while The Shield and Deadwood are underrated.
  • Posts: 1,497
    I still enjoy the Simpsons but agree it isn't what it used to be. I think Phil Hartman's voices added a lot to the show.

    I do think the current episodes are still better than any of the Family Guy shows. FG and pretty much all MacFarlane material is overrated IMO. Sex and/or fart jokes with random asides and little to no plot - just not my thing.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    edited November 2013 Posts: 16,328
    JBFan626 wrote:
    I still enjoy the Simpsons but agree it isn't what it used to be. I think Phil Hartman's voices added a lot to the show.

    I do think the current episodes are still better than any of the Family Guy shows. FG and pretty much all MacFarlane material is overrated IMO. Sex and/or fart jokes with random asides and little to no plot - just not my thing.

    Not to mention Saturday Night Live style political commentary now plaguing it.
  • Posts: 14,799

    The Wire is overrated,

    How so? Most of the success it had was a critical success, but not merely from TV critics: academics of various fields (they use the series for sociology classes), actors, police forces, Baltimore citizens, heck, so many people from various professions consider it a brilliant drama. I am not making an argument at popularity here, I am saying the praise The Wire received was from a wide variety of sources, all credible in their own respective field, which at least speaks of its relevance as a work of fiction. That said, it was not a hugely popular show, it had its fanbase but that's it, so hardly overrated.
  • But that's boring. Imagine if in LTK Bond had just turned himself in and given the DEA info about Sanchez rather than blowing up his base, chasing him down in a tanker and burning him alive. It would've been a boring finale but Sanchez should have been tried and sentenced by law, not killed by a rogue MI6 agent.

    Last time I checked, Bond wasn't a meth kingpin selfishly trying to help his family (at the expense of other families).

    No he's a goverment assassin selfishly fulfilling his own desire for revenge (at the expense of Sharky, those Chinese agents, etc)*. But that's not my point. My point was that it's always satisfying watching the hero get the bad guy.

    *I'm not slagging off LTK, it's actually my favourite.
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