Seeing a thread on Girls made me think of shows I used to look forward and in some cases was obsessed with that I gave up on.

I officially gave up on Girls this week. Loved it last season but it is just crappy now. Add to that list Idol, Amazing Race, America's Top Model, Downton Abbey and Big Brother. Some of these just became stale (Race) while others just got awful. What was once appointment tv for you that you threw in the towel on?

I enjoyed AMERICAN IDOL for the first two or three seasons but when the opening weeks became about humiliating borderline mental cases I stopped watching completely.
TAR, The Killing, Supernatural, the X-Files. The last was especially disappointing.
TAR got good again. "Revenge" is teetering toward tedium. I still watch it because I'm invested in the story, but it really needs to get back on track.
Top Model, YEARS ago now...
I haven't watched a single episode of GIRLS this season. I'm a Lena Dunham fan, so I don't know why that is. It could be that one some level, I agree that a series about white girls transitioning into adulthood isn't compelling enough to bother tuning in again. I still think Lena's hilarious though.
CSI went to hell when Grissom left and I never even cared for him at all. The baby ended my addiction to Bones and House driving through Cuddy's home made me realize that there was nothing left to enjoy. When last week's episode of Glee looked like an attempt by a creepy old gay producer too trot his young male stars around half naked, and Geyer fully naked, I thought "I am done with this."
CSI is the perfect example. I've caught the season premiere of every season since Grissom left to see what changes they've made to the show I once lived for, and this year it's unspeakable. Ted Danson, Elizabeth Shue?! Awful. And the writing is now a sick joke.
Melrose Place. Couldn't wait to see what Sydney Andrews was up to. After Sydney was killed seconds after her wedding ceremony, I had to throw in the towel too.
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about CSI and House. I loved both for the first few seasons and stuck with House for far too long. CSI, I ditched as soon as Gary Dourdan left.
Sex and the City after Aiden. Couldnt' take any more of Carrie's needy insecurity. All the other women moved on and she was still nitpicking at her boyfriends. Most shows usually jump the shark after a few years and viewers give up.
With a very few exceptions, there's something wrong with you if a TV show continues to amuse you year after year after year.
A lot of times you are just remain too invested in the characters to walk away from. You spend a fair amount of time with a television show hearing them tell you a story, generally people stick with it because they want to see how the story ends. I gave up on Dexter and Weeds in the last couple of years, shows that I was into at one point but just couldn't keep watching. For some reason I can't fucking give up on Glee even though I want to, I keep going back.
SVU. It has changed beyond recognition in the last two years since Chris Meloni and the writing team left, and not in a good way. The writing is much more graphic. They show the crime happening instead of the cops being called. The lighting has turned everything a dull red colour. The camera work is all shaky for some reason. They are now focus on Benson's love life and on ADA who has just been introduced. The actors look bored and tired most of the time. I had stopped watching a few months before they decided to stunt cast a real life rapist. (It didn't work and their ratings sucked) I no longer have any show that I have got into enough to make me want to tune in each week.
[quote]With a very few exceptions, there's something wrong with you if a TV show continues to amuse you year after year after year. One of those few exceptions is Breaking Bad, which is just as strong and fascinating 5 years later as it was in the beginning.
There have been seasons I've skipped the Amazing Race but I always come back eventually and I usually fall in love with it. One of my favorites. Anyone clamoring for the campfest that was SVU during Meloni's last season, has lost all sense of taste.
AI is much better now that JLo and Steven Tyler are gone. If you haven't checked it out lately, you should give it a look.
I'm weird in that when I start watching a show, I stick with it until the bitter, bitter end. Usually. A few exceptions - SVU, Survivor, Brothers & Sisters, The Simpsons. I'm not adverse to seeing the episode I missed, but I just sorta slipped away from them. Revenge might be next. While I think it is improving after a terrible start, it's becoming extremely hard to watch. Dump Aiden, please!
I have the most irritating personality tick: I have to finish what I start. Great for relationships, work endeavors, etc. It's horrible for bad novels, bad movies and bad TV shows. I still watch Grey's fucking Anatomy. I play video games throughout it.
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R15 SVU lost its way in Season 8, Season 9 was AWFUL, but I thought it improved in seasons 10 to 12. Now it's not even the same show. I don't get why they kept the same name.
House did linger too long. I heard that Dexter was good last season but I slowly fizzled on the series ... Which series is TAR?
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I agree about CSI. Once, it was my favorite show on TV. After William Peterson and Gary Dourdan left, it became godawful. I think Peterson saw the writing on the wall and got out before it went totally to shit. I think Danson and Shue are totally wrong for the show. I still watch it occasionally, but it no longer holds the magic. And what the FUCK happened to George Eads? He used to be fucking hot, but lately he looks like shit. His face has completely changed... and not for the better. It's almost like an imposter has taken his place. He looks like he's in his late '50s now.
I used to be obsessed with Big Brother, but gave it up when it stopped being about 12 strangers. I gave up RuPaul's show. Am about to drop Project Runway and Top Chef. I gave up One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl and House in the penultimate seasons. I also gave up Califrnication and Nurse Jackie. Some shows just stay too long at the table.
"The Simpsons" would be the prime example. "Treme." David Simon got more interested in establishing his New Orleans credibility than in entertaining the audience. A lot of the music was good, but watching musicians sit around and TALK about music, not so much. And, I think, "Smash." I didn't see all of Season 1, but it was sort of fun to watch: a combination of razzamatazz and awfulness. But the two-hour Season 2 debut was just awfulness without any of the fun.
Oh yes and Nurse Jackie. She was just too awful to take. And really she and her husband did not match up at all. Then when they added Bobby C. - I stopped watching altogether. United States of TARA - great for 1st season and get tedious really fast.
anon
The Killing, Revenge, House, Prison Break. PB and TK particularly went to absolute shit.
Oh, and The Walking Dead. One season was enough. I see it has huge ratings now, but I'm still not tempted to go back. Will also add USoT and NJ, as per R24.
I would watch a spinoff called "Nurse Jackie's Husband Walks Around With His Shirt Off For Half an Hour," but what finally wore me down with NJ was the cutesy-isms, particularly with Zoey the "quirky" nurse.
Gave up on Dexter after the season with Lithgow (he was so fucking good in it). American Idol got stale a long time ago. Too many commercials, and I despise Seacrest and the ruse that he is straight. I'll give Big Brother a shot but usually give up after a few weeks if there isn't any eye candy. Top Chef and its variants can be good, depends on the season. I used to watch Project Runway but never followed it when it switched off Bravo. And I used to love House Hunters but I can't recall the last time I have seen it. There was such a huge gap in time between the shows that were on and the real world ("flight attendant Kyle is looking for a 2 bedroom condo in the ultra-competitive market of Las Vegas..."), or every show was about fucking Canada.
I gave up on LOST. Unfortunately, it took me until the last episode to realize the whole thing was a crock of shit. Until then, it was putting on a good show of leading us somewhere we had never been before, not somewhere that was old hat even before Twilight Zone.
I can usually tell if I'm going to like a show by watching the pilot and Episode 2, so there aren't a whole lot I've given up after regular, long-term viewing. But REVENGE is an exception. After watching LOST and any number of other of nighttime serials that got lost along the way, I have pretty good showdar for something that's going to stop making sense. And when REVENGE stopped making sense, I was outathere. See ya, Hamptons. The same thing happened with Pembleton's ABC show Thursdays at 8 this year. I couldn't get all the underwater war action, and instead of hurting my brain, I gave it up. Sometimes I come back to a show. I gave up GREY'S ANATOMY during the Dizzy mess, and started watching again last season. It's been more than acceptable, and a good lead-in to my favorite show, SCANDAL, which I thought might make no sense, but that never came to pass. Yay, Shonda. It's melodramatic, and somewhat unbelievable, but it's got my girl Kerry in it, and I love it. I'm so glad they explained everything this year and didn't lose their way.
Can one of you with Netflix tell me if the HBO Latino show Capadocia is available? I'm trying to watch it on HBOGo, but the app isn't that great - it all of a sudden freezes or the quality degrades. I'd rather just rent the DVDs if possible.
[quote]Which series is TAR? TAR is The Amazing Race.
[quote]I gave up RuPaul's show. Drag Race, or Drag U.? The Drag Race All-Stars mini-season was boring as hell, but the actual show is still amazing. Drag U. was always dead on arrival. Just horrible.
Drag Race. It's not fun for me any more.
I sadly gave up on Breaking Bad. The first 4 seasons were great, but Vince Gilligan has taken to beating us over the head with the "Walt goes Bad Guy" message and it has caused the show to get more and more outlandish.
I gave up on Grey's. Killing off Lexi and maiming Arizona was the last straw. I gave up on Survivor, but Lisa W. brought me back.
American Horror Story - first season was great but the second season is terrible.
R35 By outlandish I take it you mean some of Walt's actions in the first half of season 5 and his hubris ("Say my name!")? I think a large part of it is because this is the final season and it was split into two halves. This forced the writers to do some things I think they might not normally have so they can get to the end-game in the last 8 episodes.
Loved the first season of Girls, even though it took me a couple of episodes to get into it. The second season has been lackluster so far. It makes me think Lena Dunham only had enough good material for one season and that's it.
Amazing Race, The Big C, House, Hoarding Buried Alive, Biggest Loser, Top Chef.
I never understood why CSI was so big. I thought the writing and editing were atrocious from day one.
I keep meaning to start Homeland but it seems like it is universally despised now after season 2.
Homeland first season was great, I thought.
"Ted Danson, Elizabeth Shue?! Awful. And the writing is now a sick joke." I actually like Elizabeth Shue, but I agree that the writing keeps getting worse and worse. Downton Abbey has jumped the shark. The first season was good, but the second was bad and the third is worse.
Heroes Alias Smallville Dexter Nurse Jackie America's Next Top Model The Simpsons Glee The Closer/Major Crimes 30 Rock Damages
I forgot about House, R25. I couldn't stand it when they replaced the original trio, and stopped watching after six eps or so.
The Office (gave up years ago - was surprised it is still on) 30 Rock Glee Community I should give up on Dexter b/c it has jumped
SVU for me as well. Loved that show for years, but Meloni's last season just kind of lost me, and I've tuned in several times since he's left and the writing is just not the same and the crimes are really ridiculous now. Danny Pino isn't bad, but the new female detective (can't remember her name) is just so uninteresting. Mariska just seems to be phoning it in. Maybe she realizes that after SVU is over she's probably not going to work again and just wants to make as much $$$ as possible before they pull the plug. I also used to love the Simpsons but I haven't watched it in years.
I'm thrilled my TV show does that for you today, OP. I am truly humbled being The Voice of a Generation.
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American Idol and Lost were two I quit and never went back to. I stay with Dexter for MCH who is always fun. I still like the rest of the characters too. But the seasonal storylines are a mess.