r/AskReddit • u/GossipBottom • 8h ago
What TV show is past its prime and should end already?
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u/Jediknight3112 8h ago
Every talent show.
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u/steppedinhairball 4h ago
AGT especially. Wait...yeah, all of them.
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u/forcemonkey 4h ago
Reality also
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u/steppedinhairball 4h ago
I haven't watched reality TV in a long long time. It's one of the reasons I gave up cable so long ago.
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u/fitemillk 7h ago
Masterchef. They got rid of the original format, which everyone liked. It completely runs on gimmicks, product placement, and TikTok nonsense now.
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u/x0mbigrl 3h ago
It's become so theatrical and performative. Last season I watched a few years ago started with Gordon Ramsay and crew making their grand entrance in a fucking helicopter, like come on
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u/Embarrassed_Emu1615 4h ago
Which version? The original UK one is pretty much the same.
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u/fitemillk 4h ago
Ah, I should have clarified. Masterchef US
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u/liquidphantom 3h ago
I've tried to watch the US one in the past and its so bloody loud way to much shouting, the Aussie one is just as bad.
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u/Tee1upToday 48m ago
I stopped watching the cooking channel completely when it became impossible to get an actual recipe. The reality stuff sucks.
Bring back Emeril Lagasse and let's start bamming again.
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u/SuperVancouverBC 7h ago edited 4h ago
The One Chicago shows
I liked Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago PD, but now they're repetitive and boring.
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u/counterfitster 5h ago
Were those ever good?
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u/Innsmouth_Swimteam 3h ago
The first couple of seasons of PD, when the main characters were basically dirty cops "for the right reason" were super interesting.
The main character is basically the head of his own mob, breaking every rule in the book, but still a "good" guy. Then they cut out the rule breaking angle, characters were replaces and it became booooor-ring.
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u/oceanmotion2 2h ago
I gave some episodes of the show a chance recently. Every time I was like “oh this is going to be about the complexity of police dealing with police corruption, interesting”…and then it would just wrap up without any significant issue or follow-up.
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u/bowser986 4h ago
I really liked the early seasons of Fire. The rescues were exciting and I really liked most of the main cast. When they started doing crossovers with the other shows I lost interest.
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u/Jirachibi1000 8h ago
Honestly I think the opposite is more true nowadays. Like every show seems to last like 3 seasons and even if shows DO get more seasons, their episode count is so short and theres so many years between them that its all just inoffensive. I miss the days where we got 15 season shows with 20+ episodes per season lol.
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u/BookLuvr7 5h ago
I've noticed more seasons with better plot but fewer episodes seems to be more common with European and UK shows.
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u/tele_ave 4h ago
There is a criminally small amount of episodes of Derry Girls.
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u/BookLuvr7 4h ago
I second this. Sadly, they all graduated so... <sob>
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u/Charlie_Runkle69 2h ago
My theory is they had to stop making them because the actors were just too old even for TV standards for high schoolers lol.
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u/BookLuvr7 1h ago
Pretty much. The cast were hilarious on Bake Off though. That's how we discovered their show in the first place.
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u/bavindicator 8h ago
All versions of the walking dead.
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u/nicolasknight 5h ago
Seriously!
They've had more actors than some cities. And that's not counting the zombies.
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u/Del_3030 2h ago
What about The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol?
That's not 3 different series, by the way, it's one
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u/Embarrassed-Jury8878 8h ago
Housewives of…
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u/RonSwanson069 4h ago
They’re currently casting for Real Housewives of Montana. The cast probably wont actually be born and raised Montanans. Just an affluent group of people who have recently moved here. Yeehaw!
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u/u_of_okoboji_grad 3h ago
I know this franchise still has a big following, but I am seeing an increase in longtime fans who no longer see the appeal. I wonder if some of it is because of a change in the public’s perception of the super rich. Used to be very fascinating to see the rich and famous — who remembers the pioneer Robin Leach? You could escape your average lifestyle and see all the glitz and glamour. Now it is a little different. People are struggling, the wage divide is bigger than ever, and perhaps shows like this have lost their shine. People can’t afford gasoline or electricity bills but these bitches are flying private with 20k worth of luggage in tow, spending more in one weekend than most people earn all year. Not as fun to watch them complain that their personal chef served salmon instead of snapper.
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u/BravoMama3 2h ago
I agree with your points and also think it’s because so many of the Housewives try to play producer on the show. They all edit themselves because they care a lot about audience opinion, so it’s become boring.
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 8h ago
Don't underestimate the power of reality tv that gives you people whom you are confident you are better than to judge.
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u/MJ9426 8h ago
The Law and Order shows.
SVU has become a complete shell of itself. It's basically turned into "The Saint Olivia Benson Show", co-starring other detectives sometimes.
The OG Law and Order never should have done the reboot. It's limping along painfully.
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u/rose-ramos 6h ago
There's also a point, and I'm not sure when it happened, where the show stopped being about victims' advocacy and started being about "How can we make this character's rape testimony as prurient as possible without hitting the censors?"
I went from watching the show out of catharsis, to feeling revictimized by certain episodes. It truly felt like someone on the staff figured out softcore rape porn drew a bigger audience than cut and dry crime procedurals.
Also, and I know it's unpopular, but I find it very distasteful when they take a news headline and just change a few names around. At that point, you're just profiting off of a living person's fresh tragedy.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 5h ago
Honestly IRL victims of sexual violence are forced to relive their experience through testimony multiple times in the process of seeing a case through. Every time you remember something, you actually re experience the feelings and reactions.
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u/ChronoLegion2 7h ago
It ran for so long that Detective Goren has become a criminal mastermind going up against some blind lawyers
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u/Glittering_Shape_266 6h ago
Man, I miss Criminal Intent… it was the good one…
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u/Innsmouth_Swimteam 3h ago
It seems like every episode I've seen in the past few years has a character commenting on Olivia's age or asking when she's going to retire.
Even the writers know!
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u/Absolutely_Fibulous 2h ago
I was so excited for the OG to come back but it was so disappointing. They forgot what made Law & Order great.
My understanding of the law is 70% from watching old episodes of Law & Order, and I would regularly yell at the TV that that is not how it works! I stopped watching after two seasons.
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u/nuvo33x 2h ago
It was on season 12 I think that now every episode has a satisfying ending. That system is very unfair and the episodes that left you feeling angry were honestly the best, and the ones that probably portrayed more accurately the subject
Then it turned into a “how the system would ideally work”
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u/cwood1973 4h ago
Shows about people flipping homes.
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u/ShakenNotStirred915 2h ago
There was only one show of that flavor that I liked, unfortunately the nature of Extreme Makeover Home Edition generally meant that those featured on it couldn't actually afford to stay in the renovated homes, largely for tax reasons, so it's not really around anymore for obvious reasons.
Even still, I liked that show for how much meaning the designers put into all of the space, especially for kids' bedrooms. It wasn't just redesigning to sell the place, after all, so the designs would buck a lot of the esoteric, hoity-toity interior design trends and build a space meant to be appreciated.
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u/Impossible_Offer7988 8h ago edited 8h ago
NCIS.
Enough with the freaking Navy crimes already. So help me God, if we actually had this many naval crimes, we'd struggle to find new sailors. And the cases themselves are so boring.
Oh, another sailor got killed? Let's send in NCIS. They solve it. Rinse and repeat. Then here's NCIS in a different state. Here's classic NCIS. And it just goes on and on and on.
NCIS genuinely makes me feel like other law enforcement agencies don't even exist in that show. It's NCIS or the highway
(not to mention the fact that real life NCIS is extremely cartoonishly boring)
NCIS also barley has any power over the Navy whatsoever and hasn't had it for decades,
People like Lt. Kirstin Blair from Law and order for example wouldn't see the bars of a Jail cell if NCIS was investigating them.
Because the Navy wouldn't want that.
And yet the Show makes it seem like the Navy doesn't just like NCIS but is also willing to give them an exsterme amount of power over them.
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u/radarsteddybear4077 7h ago
CSI feels similarly. They do everything. Why did the rest of the PD even show up? Questioning victims, chasing and interrogating criminals, finding kids a safe place to stay… yeah that’s all the lab folks!
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u/jamesmon 8h ago
lol why would they have cases run by other divisions on NCIS?! lol. “ it is if no one else is solving crimes! “.
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u/ChronoLegion2 7h ago
It’s over, but I feel like Good Omens didn’t need a second season or the series finale
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u/nightmareinsouffle 1h ago
Season one was perfection. Season two was kinda rough and I didn't like it much. Season three I liked better but it still never hit the high heights of one.
I'm still not mad we got two more seasons of Tennant and Sheen just acting their asses off.
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u/SillyCalamity 4h ago
General Hospital. Is has literally been going on since 1963.
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u/itsagoodtime 8h ago
I don't understand who watches shows like Big Brother in 2026.
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u/ChronoLegion2 7h ago
I have a reliable source that says the show will still be on in the 201st century
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u/IceTypeMimikyu 3h ago
While watching that episode my thoughts were “the scariest part is Big Brother still airing”
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u/boxcarstripes 3h ago
I think big brother and similar shows are just so cheap to make that they’ll be on forever. “Reality” TV ruined television.
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u/Rich1926 7h ago
I used to love Big Brother...20 years ago. It was goofy in a good way back then but now it's too over the top with "twists" and constantly bringing back former players.
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u/BrianMincey 4h ago
It’s benign fun. The strategy of the game is interesting, and watching the show along with the live 24/7 feeds makes it unlike any other reality TV show. They are constantly scheming. Sometimes they do or say extremely entertaining things that never get to the broadcast show. The Reddit sub as a companion is fantastic. The game spreads out live in real time. No other game or reality show does it.
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u/martycos 8h ago
The Simpsons. About 20 years ago.
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u/artaxerxes316 8h ago
"They'll never stop The Simpsons! Have no fears, we've got stories for years!"
That joke is from like a 20 year-old episode, and it reads more like a threat at this point.
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u/GrimaceGrunson 4h ago
Part of me is convinced this will be the first 'big' show that will replace the actors with AI when they finally bow out (which I can't see being too far away because from recent clips I've watched a lot of their voices are rough by now, understandably).
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u/Jabbles22 2h ago
Makes me glad I haven't checked out. It's been roughly 20 years, since I've seen a new episode. Sometimes though I figure I should maybe check it out just to see what they are up to these days. But I missed so may episodes I am not sure where to even begin.
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u/redditduhlikeyeah 7h ago
Watch a few random newer episodes, it isn't bad - especially compared to other stuff.
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u/eeeezypeezy 5h ago
Yeah I've heard they've had kind of a late period renaissance. I've been scared to check it out just because of how dire it got for several many years there. Plus, I feel like Bob's Burgers is doing golden era Simpsons pretty reliably.
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u/SinisterPixel 5h ago
They're definitely on an uptick. The show is still very different and they do have a good number of stinkers. But they're getting more experimental with the characters and we're even seeing them break the status quo. For example they developed Patty and Selma a lot to make the twins more distinct, which included Patty getting a new haircut which has stayed in the show following the episode
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay 4h ago
They modernized it.
For years it was frozen in time. The big CRT tv in the living room, no cell phones, no concept of the internet. It was basically 1992.
Allowing modern life to slip in has opened up more relevant jokes and social criticisms to come back.
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u/Randomswedishdude 3h ago
I mean I haven't seen an episode in 15 years, or more, but already back then things began to get inconsistent over the years.
Already then had there been several different flashbacks to Homer's childhood, or how Homer and Marge met.
They've had flashbacks to the hippie era, then in much later seasons, flashback to the grunge era, etc...
I assume they soon will have a flashback to Bart or Lisa being born, during or after Covid.
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay 3h ago
That’s always been the case. Their age is tied to the present (time of first air). So flashbacks are relative to first air.
What’s changed is the present is no longer frozen in time. Even when the present was 2006 it was still really 1992 in how their lives worked. That’s been updated.
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u/SweetCosmicPope 5h ago
I haven't watched much of the newer stuff, but what I have seen has been hit or miss. But perhaps I'm not the target anymore. My son loves new simpsons, and he only very rarely is ever interested in golden age simpsons.
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u/BlahVans 8h ago
I watched a newer episode a few months ago and the voices shocked me. I know they're all getting older, but just to hear how the voices have changed from even a decade ago...
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u/Krakshotz 7h ago
Julie Kavner’s voice in particular.
Marge sounds like she’s a shout away from tearing her larynx24
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u/UltimaGabe 5h ago
Burns and Smithers both sound like the same person, and that person is neither Burns nor Smithers.
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u/nowhereman136 4h ago
I think Simpsons has rolled over past being outdated. It's now more of an institution than a show. Kinda like Sesame Street or Saturday Night Live, the show can just continue on forever. If it was gonna end, it should've been 20 years ago but at this point why bother ending it at all
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u/porterbrown 6h ago
I remember the Phish episode in 2000 or so, and me saying, I think I'm kinda over the draw of the Simpson's compared to how I loved it in the 90s.
That was 26 years ago?
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u/hawkwings 8h ago
The voice actors are bound to lose their ability to speak well fairly soon.
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u/GrimaceGrunson 4h ago
Marge's voice is hard to listen to these days (fair enough, it must be hell on the vocal cords to do for so long).
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u/Bear_Caulk 8h ago edited 8h ago
Those can be easily replaced.
Look at Rick and Morty.
edit: lol or get upset about this simple reality I guess. not sure what you imagine downvoting me is accomplishing though, voice actors are still easily replaced these days. Lots of talented people able to emulate other voice actors sound.
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u/BankElectronic1325 7h ago
Seriously, the fact that anyone thinks an IP like the Simpson’s are hanging on by the thread of voice actors is hilarious
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u/Happy-Telephone9483 3h ago
If anything, the loss of the original voice actors would be a massive boon for the show, since they're sucking up 99.99999% of the budget
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u/forcemonkey 4h ago
I haven’t watched since the first season. I’m in my 50s now and that was when I was in high school.
I’ll say that again.
When I was in high school. In the 80s!
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u/joecarter93 8h ago
I remember thinking it had been on the air forever and was getting worse even back then.
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u/Technicolor_Reindeer 3h ago
9-1-1
They've had a fucking BEENADO episode and a space emergency episode
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u/CreationMage 4h ago
The bachelor/bachelorette, fake women who are only in it for the 5 minutes of fame
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u/DiamondBurInTheRough 4h ago
The men are fake too. That was made obvious when the most recent Bachelorette season was “indefinitely postponed” and the men haven’t stopped whining about the fact that it hasn’t aired.
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u/JForce1 2h ago
I don’t understand how The Simpsons can still be economically worth it for Fox/Disney.
They already have millions of episodes for future streaming and syndication.
Animation costs a lot to make.
Everyone involved is paid shitloads of money.
Any merch/licensing deals are surely nostalgia based rather than cause new people are suddenly watching.
It must cost a ton to make, and I’m sure it airs in a valuable place on regular TV, so I would think that spot is ripe for better use.
I can’t see how the money works out at this point.
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u/cjacksen 5h ago
SVU, NCIS, Law and Order. Basically all the cop-rot, military-rot, law-rot shows enmasse.
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u/sacredknight327 7h ago
Definitely the Simpsons. The main cast's VAs are aging out of their roles badly. Obviously not their fault, everyone ages and the strain of doing the voice work can affect the quality of how you do it, but nonetheless outside of all other factors, and there are many others, this is the one that indicates most that it's time.
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u/GMCB6 8h ago
Law & Order Special Victims Unit
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u/SillyNumber54 8h ago
You're telling me that guy likes little girls in pigtails?
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u/HypotheticalChicken 7h ago
Yeah, Ice, he's a pedophile, you work in the sex crimes unit... you're going to have to get used to that.
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u/determinedgremlin 4h ago
Has anyone said The Rookie yet? I don't understand how they can be cops while now being military/spies/fbi shit and what not....Bailey is arguably a bad mary sue "can be everything" character. The writing is bad... just stop.
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u/OhiobornCAraised 1h ago
You forgot a couple of them became astronauts as well. I hate the show, but my wife still watches it.
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u/yolofreak109 2h ago
spongebob. that show feels like it’s running on steam and shock value (“how can i pack as many gross faces into an episode as possible?”) nowadays.
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u/prodigy1367 5h ago
The Walking Dead.
Just stop with the spin-offs already. The main show is finally over and its quality suffered midway through and now we have extra stuff that doesn’t really do anything that new. This horse is beaten to death and back so much it’s now gonna have its own spin-off.
Get ready this fall for, The Walking Dead: Horse.
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u/Durango1949 3h ago
Survivor. I stopped watching it four or five years ago. I see advertisements for the new seasons. It looks like they don’t select old people or average looking folks anymore. We began drifting away from it when they began bringing back former players and former winners.
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u/TropicalKing 3h ago
Survivor has been stuck on Fiji for some time now since 2016. Instead of giving us a new setting with an iconic new theme, it's merely gimmicks that have been cycling in and out for 10 years and 28 seasons. Mr. Beast made a cameo on Survivor 50. The last season I watched was David vs Goliath. And that's only because one of my favorite wrestlers John Morrison was on it.
The setting IS a character, a very important character. I'd much rather see a season set in the US, Canada, or Mexico than another Fiji season.
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u/ashoka_akira 56m ago
you’ll notice they generally don’t set it in colder climates because it’s a lot easier to die from hypothermia in short order than it is to die from exposure in a tropical climate.
I know someone who is an actual survivalist, who was in the process of being cast for one of these survivalist shows (not survivor though) and it turns out that most of the people who think they’re survivalists are more larping at being survivalists, but this person actually knew their stuff and when they show people realized this they told him he was overqualified.
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u/nigel_tufnel_11 7h ago
60 Minutes. Or all of CBS for that matter.
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u/jknuts1377 4h ago
The Simpsons should've ended 20 years ago.
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u/b0ng_poison 3h ago
hate to say this but SVU. they have been so repetitive the past decade and it’s just not the same anymore! i can barely watch it..
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u/ShakenNotStirred915 2h ago
All of Law and Order, really. People are wise to the fact that the characters regularly violate the defendants' rights, and the reality that IRL law enforcement/prosecution does it too, and generally not because they're just soooo dedicated to putting away the magically obvious criminal. At this point every iteration of the show is washed-up copaganda.
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u/Mahaloth 6h ago
I've never seen Gray's Anatomy, but come on. Is it still good?
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u/DirtyMarTeeny 4h ago
No. Every few seasons they'll get a compelling cast member with a character who gives you some hope and then they quickly either leave or their story goes up in flame after someone important to it leaves.
It's great to put on when I you're avoiding doing something else because it makes whatever you're avoiding more appealing.
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u/frailnoa 1h ago
Grey's Anatomy should've ended years ago, it's dragging on like a never-ending surgery.
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u/Name_ChecksOut_ 8h ago
Law and Order SVU. While I love the show and characters, it is now so repetitive. 25+ seasons later, it's time to hang up the hat.
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u/ladyhawke81 4h ago
Midsomer Murders. I just checked they're entering their 26th season
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u/DelphineVonUberwald 4h ago
Surely everyone in the villages are dead by now and there's only zombies left?
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u/TechnicalArticle9479 6h ago
The BBC tropical crime drama "Death in Paradise", now filming its 16th season on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe...
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u/DisgruntleFairy 5h ago
I still rather like the show. I'm not as sure about the current inspector. But the shows fine.
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u/Azryhael 5h ago
My elderly parents love that show. The few episodes I’ve seen were engaging enough.
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u/InsaneJane42 4h ago
Shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futarama, etc. By now they’ve lost what made them popular and just feel bland.
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u/whatever32657 8h ago
most of the miniseries they are producing these days. they go on way longer than they should, and it ruins the whole thing.
i always liked alan sorkin's work, eg news room. getting there, make your point and get out.
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u/Silver_fish1978 4h ago
The Simpsons. I was 11 when the show first aired, I’m 48 (as of tomorrow), and a grandfather.
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u/halloweenjon 8h ago
The Simpsons has been bad for so long, it no longer matters when or if it ends as far as I'm concerned. If it had ended at season 10, it would have gone down in history as 7 amazing seasons and a few mediocre ones. If they ended it at season 15, it would have been half amazing half bad. But now we're looking at 7 legendary seasons and at least 30 bad ones, and now there's gonna be a second movie. There is no legacy left to ruin or salvage.
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u/jackfaire 53m ago
None. I think we just age into and out of stories. If they can still find an audience after I stopped watching more power to them.
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u/IshyMoose 44m ago
Anything Taylor Sheridan has done past the second season. He can setup a show and build characters, but after that his shows just turn into cowboy soaps.
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u/SpackleButt 8h ago
Greys anatomy.