TV: signifying nothing

[sigma7]

Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Hrm. Surely nobody's expecting me to like Sex and the City or Grey's Anatomy. Or the large swath of reality TV. In that subset, Jersey Shore is particularly awful, not just for its implicit advocacy of the lifestyles of its participants but for propelling said entities into some semblance of that modern fame of the famous-for-being-famous variety, and Auction Kings...what is this I don't even. Or that subset of CBS comedies that boil down to "dopey unfunny comedian with hot wife in wacky domestic situations" which garners unthinkable ratings via...I don't know, channel inertia or something. Or whatever Seth Macfarlane's newest iteration of his animated family comedy is.

No, to achieve the true singularity of my loathing, it has to encompass the full gamut of hatred. Smugness. A laugh track. Hideously annoying and appalling behavior masking itself as merely idiosyncratic. New-York-City-centricity to the exclusion of all else. And, worst of all, wasted potential. I realize this makes me the exception rather than the rule, but I hate Seinfeld with a burning fiery passion. Maybe this is because the one time I saw him on Letterman (when Dave was at home waiting for the cable) he was still unknown but still unrelentingly smug and pretentious. And not particularly funny, except for one bumper car joke.

But, as before, the threshold between "most loathed" and "almost most loathed" is very thin. And I have enough loathing of current TV to go around.

Comments

[jeditigger.livejournal.com]

My name is Pamela, and I endorse this message.

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

I hate Seinfeld! I had an acting teacher who thought it was the best thing ever filmed and brought it up a lot, and I liked him so I just never said a word, but I just do not find it the least bit funny.

(True story: Do you remember at all the show about the lady cartoonist, Caroline in the City? Malcolm Gets, who played her assistant, was a friend of that particular teacher, and did not want a job on a sitcom, but his agent made him audition. So he did an impersonation of my teacher, cynical and gruff, which he believed to be the opposite of what they wanted. And they loved him and he got stuck doing it for four years.)

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

HA. That's frickin' awesome. Though I confess that I never watched it, just didn't oppose the idea of Lea Thompson pulling down a steady paycheck. Didn't strike me as "my thing."

I mentioned today during my...thing I did...that for my thesis, one of my lead actors auditioned for her role via email. And got it. And was brilliant.

[patchsassy.livejournal.com]

I've seen one episode of Seinfeld. I couldn't understand what everyone was raving about.

The people who are REALLY hardcore into Seinfeld also love quoting it randomly (something about a soup nazi) at every turn as well.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I try not to do that anymore. Or at least make it specific enough that they don't realize I'm quoting anything. I still feel like I get extra credit points from somewhere when I do work in a sly BSG reference undetected.

[mindset]

Yesssss. I can't pinpoint exactly when my opinion of Seinfeld went from "I guess since everyone else is laughing, it might be funny" to "My God I loathe this and want everyone involved to die", it was probably around the dentist episode, but I'm not normally so idiosyncratic re pop culture and it felt very odd to be alone in the world.

That said, the last scene of the marine biologist/Titelist episode was absolutely dead-on perfect comedy. The one episode I can tolerate.

BTW, considering the reasons you (and I) dislike Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm would probably have you kicking in your screen. No laugh track, but the smugness and annoying/appalling behavior up the wazoo. Aiegch.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about Curb, but considering its pedigree, yeah, I'd come to the same conclusion. It's not like I want all my TV characters to be saints, but I'm not sure how long I can watch "smug and loathsome" without there being serious karmic blowback. Everybody's got their intolerances, and I think this one's mine.

[catcom.livejournal.com]

You can't possibly edge out Everybody Loves Raymond in my opinion.

UGH.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

There must be a state of mind people enter into when they want to watch one of those shows, and that's made CBS eleventy billion dollars a year. But whatever that state of mind is, I don't think I've ever been in it. And if I am, please, kill me.

I did have the opportunity to overhear someone extol the virtues of what he thought the funniest show on TV was: Two and a Half Men. I immediately reached for my iPod and set it to "deafen."

[catcom.livejournal.com]

I weep for the human soul.

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

That's my hated show, though I watch little TV anyway. I dislike sitcoms to begin with, and this is a sitcom with a poor plot, and a really horrible person making millions as the star.

I couldn't begin to do this meme. I don't pay much attention to TV. I watch GhostHunters and Dirty Jobs occasionally, and a batch of science shows, but "entertainment" tends to leave me cold.

[jeditigger.livejournal.com]

OH. The show I loathe and will never understand why ANYONE likes it? Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[daethkow.livejournal.com]

Which is essentially Seinfeld 2.0, except with a truly unattractive lead man instead of just a goofy-looking one.

[jeditigger.livejournal.com]

Right, which is why I remembered it...the Seinfeld references.

[daethkow.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank God. I simply could not understand why everyone loved that show. Friends I understood, the female leads were smokin' (at the time) and Matthew Perry was legitimately funny. Seinfeld, no clue. Absolutely none.

And we're not as small a group as we might think. There was an episode of Dharma and Greg, where everywhere they went, people were watching Seinfeld. For a running gag on a passable sitcom, it was inspired.

ditto

[(Anonymous)]

I can't stand Seinfeld! My coworker emailed me Monday a Seinfeld clip she wants me watch. —Delete—

Re: ditto

[(Anonymous)]

by the way, it's kmc

Re: ditto

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured. Don't ask me how I figured it out.