Moments in a TV show/Movie that made you stop watching

[John Price]

Season 2 was heinously bad, but it did pick up a bit...for a while. You had a compelling villain in The Governor, moderately interesting side characters, rising tension...but then it just fell into the same formula over and over.

Our gang reaches a "safe haven", relaxes for a bit, then the "safe haven" turns out to, of course, not be. Cue the Big Battle with bad guys/dead guys, some extraneous secondary cast members become zombie kibble, and the team splits up in the season finale. Most of the next season has episodes focusing on groups of twos or threes as the show slowly reveals what happened to everyone, they all eventually meet up at the new "safe haven", rinse and repeat. Cliffhanger, see you next October/February, folks!



After the show came back after cancellation, it was like a switch flipped. It was a lot less funny than mean-spirited and, yes, overtly racist. I guess Seth MacFarlane got really bitter during his time off and had a lot of negative energy to take out on everyone.

I used to watch family Guy but gave up on it... They just ripped on everyone and it wasn't funny anymore.

American dad was good too but they moved to tbs and i gave up on that. Sounds like I'm not missing much. Same with conan and tbs. He moved there and I was like I don't have cable, no point watching. I now have cable through vue and still don't watch.

 

[DeYarmond Edison]

That obviously meant that ALL Canadians were jerks, you know Nevermind that the main characters of the show are American rednecks of either the "aw shucks" or complete dumbass variety.

Seriously. I can't believe people were actually offended by that episode. The entire series is aimed at relentlessly insulting/poking fun at southern Americans.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I stopped watching TWD after that cannibal cult started slitting throats over the trough. I know this sounds odd considering the show but it became too gratuitous to me.

I suspended watching The X-Files after the third episode of season 8 when Scully put Mulder's nameplate in the drawer. It was a metaphor for Chris Carter's hostility towards David Duchovny and the Mulder character and was followed by a string of the most inane eps in the show's history.

 

[Mimsy]

I dunno why it would make people angry. A Canadian family moves in across the street for the summer, and they're sort of jerks. That's about it.

If I got deeply personally offended every time some TV show or movie made fun of NJ I wouldn't have that many options.

That obviously meant that ALL Canadians were jerks, you know Nevermind that the main characters of the show are American rednecks of either the "aw shucks" or complete dumbass variety.

The first half of the episode trades stereotypical jabs regarding Americans and Canadians. No problem there. The second half takes on a preachier tone about Canadians being sanctimonious turds who should be grateful to Americans for protecting their collective rear ends. The message is not specific to the two obnoxious Canadians depicted in the episode.

South Park regularly takes jabs at Canada with a wink and a nudge. The King of the Hill episode had a good premise and intro before ending on a nastier note. Redneck or not, Hank is the moral compass of the show. By my recollection, some of his dialogue came off as more of an indictment of Canadians' attitudes towards America. It left me wondering if Judge had been roughed up at customs, doesn't like our politics, or was force fed some nasty back bacon. Whatever, the tone seemed personal (a Judge grudge, if you will).

I'm not interested in any potential ongoing debate over the merits of this episode. I'm just expanding on my original reply as requested earlier. There were some humorous barbs in the beginning before Judge fired a few hand grenades to close out the episode. I didn't like it.

 

[Ozz]

The first half of the episode trades stereotypical jabs regarding Americans and Canadians. No problem there. The second half takes on a preachier tone about Canadians being sanctimonious turds who should be grateful to Americans for protecting their collective rear ends. The message is not specific to the two obnoxious Canadians depicted in the episode.

South Park regularly takes jabs at Canada with a wink and a nudge. The King of the Hill episode had a good premise and intro before ending on a nastier note. Redneck or not, Hank is the moral compass of the show. By my recollection, some of his dialogue came off as more of an indictment of Canadians' attitudes towards America. It left me wondering if Judge had been roughed up at customs, doesn't like our politics, or was force fed some nasty back bacon. Whatever, the tone seemed personal (a Judge grudge, if you will).

I'm not interested in any potential ongoing debate over the merits of this episode. I'm just expanding on my original reply as requested earlier. There were some humorous barbs in the beginning before Judge fired a few hand grenades to close out the episode. I didn't like it.

But it's coming from characters who are stereotypically less-than-wise Southerners who are more-than-prideful of their country.

Should all Americans watch that and feel it speaks for us? I'd say no.

Anyway, keep yer stick on the ice! :drives off:

 

[Shareefruck]

But it's not WRITTEN by rednecks. You can't just use the fact that your show is poking fun at ignorant people and use that to get away with anything and everything. There needs to be actual satire visible for it to make sense, and in that episode, there doesn't seem to be much of it. Hank simply has preconceived notions about Canada, and rants about stereoetypes (fine), all of the preconceived notions turn out to be true with regards to the Canadian family, which further fuels his vitriol towards them and then it just sort of ends.

The comments of the ignorant characters don't make you raise your eyebrow, what happens in the actual reality of the events in the episode does. If anything, the whole episode almost feels like it's just saying "Hank is usually a fool, but in this case, he's right on the money!" or something.

I'm just not sure what it was going for, but it sure felt like it was getting personal after a while.

 

[Ozz]

But it's not WRITTEN by rednecks. You can't just use the fact that your show is poking fun at ignorant people and use that to get away with anything and everything. There needs to be actual satire visible for it to make sense, and in that episode, there doesn't seem to be much of it. Hank simply has preconceived notions about Canada, and rants about stereoetypes (fine), all of the preconceived notions turn out to be true with regards to the Canadian family, which further fuels his vitriol towards them and then it just sort of ends.

The comments of the ignorant characters don't make you raise your eyebrow, what happens in the actual reality of the events in the episode does. If anything, the whole episode almost feels like it's just saying "Hank is usually a fool, but in this case, he's right on the money!" or something.

I'm just not sure what it was going for, but it sure felt like it was getting personal after a while.

What do you think of Planet of the Apes, did the real monkey men use those movies as propoganda to help enslave the human race?


What DON'T you take personally, anyway?

 

[End on a Hinote]

The first half of the episode trades stereotypical jabs regarding Americans and Canadians. No problem there. The second half takes on a preachier tone about Canadians being sanctimonious turds who should be grateful to Americans for protecting their collective rear ends. The message is not specific to the two obnoxious Canadians depicted in the episode.

South Park regularly takes jabs at Canada with a wink and a nudge. The King of the Hill episode had a good premise and intro before ending on a nastier note. Redneck or not, Hank is the moral compass of the show. By my recollection, some of his dialogue came off as more of an indictment of Canadians' attitudes towards America. It left me wondering if Judge had been roughed up at customs, doesn't like our politics, or was force fed some nasty back bacon. Whatever, the tone seemed personal (a Judge grudge, if you will).

I'm not interested in any potential ongoing debate over the merits of this episode. I'm just expanding on my original reply as requested earlier. There were some humorous barbs in the beginning before Judge fired a few hand grenades to close out the episode. I didn't like it.

Very well said!

I also found the timing of the episode interesting, as it was the third last of the series. Almost like Judge wanted to get something off his chest before the series wrapped.

Seriously. I can't believe people were actually offended by that episode. The entire series is aimed at relentlessly insulting/poking fun at southern Americans.

I dunno why it would make people angry. A Canadian family moves in across the street for the summer, and they're sort of jerks. That's about it.

If I got deeply personally offended every time some TV show or movie made fun of NJ I wouldn't have that many options.

Those are just specific areas of the US, how would you feel if they completely trashed the USA as a whole? If someone mocked just BC specifically rather than all of Canada, I would be nearly (if at all) bothered.

 

[Power Man]

When LOST started to have too many flashbacks and too many "it's all connected" monents

 

[tarheelhockey]

After the show came back after cancellation, it was like a switch flipped. It was a lot less funny than mean-spirited and, yes, overtly racist. I guess Seth MacFarlane got really bitter during his time off and had a lot of negative energy to take out on everyone.

Mean-spirited... yeah, that's the word I was looking for. It became a really mean-spirited show.

I really wanted it to be satire, but after a while I realized it wasn't providing a sophisticated enough take to be called satire. If anything, it was almost like it was using the excuse of satire ("Look! We're making fun of topical things!") to make really low-brow jokes about things that really aren't funny if you put down the beer and give them ANY thought whatsoever.

To the thread topic, I think it really hit me when they spun off the Cleveland Show. I realized that there was only a tiny sliver of difference between these characters and racial caricatures. And the difference was less "walking the line between offensive and funny" and more "walking the line between being on TV and not". Once I picked up on that, the main show suddenly seemed a lot less funny to me.

Those are just specific areas of the US, how would you feel if they completely trashed the USA as a whole? If someone mocked just BC specifically rather than all of Canada, I would be nearly (if at all) bothered.

Oh yeah, because **** the people in those areas, right?

The entire show is dedicated to making Texans look like abject morons. Why is that OK but half an episode poking at Canada isn't?

 

[End on a Hinote]

Gravity's script summed up:

*heavy breathing*
*heavy breathing*

AH AH AH. UHHAAA AAAAHHHH!!!

*heavy breathing*
*heavy breathing*

OH OH OH AAAHHHHHH OOOOHHHHH

Space porn?

Oh yeah, because **** the people in those areas, right?

The entire show is dedicated to making Texans look like abject morons. Why is that OK but half an episode poking at Canada isn't?

No, what I meant was that people seem to be less offended whenever a specific region of their home country is mocked as opposed to their country as a whole. The two previous examples I quoted compared insulting the nation of Canada to the region/state of the Southern US and New Jersey. If that KotH episode mocked people from BC rather than all of Canada I wouldn't really care, and I'm from BC.

Why didn't they say they wouldn't be offended if it insulted their country?

 

[NyQuil]

Once I picked up on that, the main show suddenly seemed a lot less funny to me.

To me, the saving grace of the show is its treatment of Brian, the opinionated and morally condescending lazy liberal who is quick to judge but rarely acts in accordance with his principles.

I feel that it shows that they are willing to lampoon anyone really.

 

[End on a Hinote]

To me, the saving grace of the show is its treatment of Brian, the opinionated and morally condescending lazy liberal who is quick to judge but rarely acts in accordance with his principles.

I dunno if it was meant to be ironic or not, but in the episode where Meg found religion Brian got all pissed off about it. Yet when the town found out that he was an atheist, he expected that it wouldn't be a big deal because "People are more tolerant these days".

 

[Player big P]

Those are just specific areas of the US, how would you feel if they completely trashed the USA as a whole? If someone mocked just BC specifically rather than all of Canada, I would be nearly (if at all) bothered.

Dude that happens like...all the time. People make fun of the US ALL THE TIME.

 

[zac]

Stopped TWD after it became a cartoon I would say in season 3 and anyone that could actually act was gone.

Dexter as some point, the writers lost it after Trinity. I came back for the finale lol.

TV shows are really difficult past season 3, they just get old and stale. A few good ones push through.

After an amazing first season my interest was waning by the end of season 2. By season 3 it was definitely more of a soap opera than the sci-fi apocalypse it started out as.

 

[GarbageGoal]

Never seen the Canada episode, but there was an episode of King Of The Hill where some guy was from Massachusetts and they were making fun of the Kennedys and Mike Dukakis and thank god for George HW Bush and whatever. Apparently this is some kind of theme in Judge's writing.

I don't feel Judge is punching down on most of his regular characters, except maybe Dale, Cotton in certain ways, and someone like Lucky on occasion, so the idea that the whole show is about Southerns being idiots doesn't fly with me. He certainly doesn't flat out hate them, like Family Guy does with Meg.

 

[GarbageGoal]

I'm too much of a completist to ever totally give up on a TV show or movie. If I give up on a movie, I probably simply don't remember it.

 

[tarheelhockey]

No, what I meant was that people seem to be less offended whenever a specific region of their home country is mocked as opposed to their country as a whole.

Perhaps this is because the people of that region are a minority who are drowned out by the laughter of the majority.

As GH said, this happens in American shows all the time. To draw to threads of this conversation together, look at Family Guy's treatment of the South. Like holy ****. It's 10 times worse than anything KotH had to say about Canada. People just get used to being made fun of after a while.

 

[Player big P]

Oh I also stopped watching Vikings somewhere midseason 2 I think, then went back and watched when they were in Paris and I was like "Nah" again.

 

[Ozz]

Perhaps this is because the people of that region are a minority who are drowned out by the laughter of the majority.

As GH said, this happens in American shows all the time. To draw to threads of this conversation together, look at Family Guy's treatment of the South. Like holy ****. It's 10 times worse than anything KotH had to say about Canada. People just get used to being made fun of after a while.

I'll take that as an excuse to post this! Still funny:

 

[jw2]

I'm too much of a completist to ever totally give up on a TV show or movie. If I give up on a movie, I probably simply don't remember it.

I think that's the case for most of us, hence the naming of mostly popular shows.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Mean-spirited... yeah, that's the word I was looking for. It became a really mean-spirited show.

I really wanted it to be satire, but after a while I realized it wasn't providing a sophisticated enough take to be called satire. If anything, it was almost like it was using the excuse of satire ("Look! We're making fun of topical things!") to make really low-brow jokes about things that really aren't funny if you put down the beer and give them ANY thought whatsoever.

To the thread topic, I think it really hit me when they spun off the Cleveland Show. I realized that there was only a tiny sliver of difference between these characters and racial caricatures. And the difference was less "walking the line between offensive and funny" and more "walking the line between being on TV and not". Once I picked up on that, the main show suddenly seemed a lot less funny to me.

A lot of the "edgy" animated shows get that way after a while. I tuned out South Park somewhere around Manbearpig because all the wit and uniqueness had been replaced with topical shows and lazy, easy stereotypes. I don't even mind the Canadian South Park shows; some are among my favourites of the later seasons. But so often you can tell the guys were just flipping through a newspaper and said okay, that's what the next show's about, Jersey Shore! Or similar. And with South Park, the antisemitism really got old. Okay, they take pains to make fun of everyone, but they just keep on coming back to hammer on the Jews over and over and over again. Towards the end I remember rolling my eyes at the screen and saying: "Okay. We get it. You don't like Jews. Move on already!"

I never watched the Cleveland show. Just more lazy MacFarlane formula: fat bozo + hot wife + loser son + daughter who despises the dad + non-human best friend + evil small thing = show!

To me, the saving grace of the show is its treatment of Brian, the opinionated and morally condescending lazy liberal who is quick to judge but rarely acts in accordance with his principles.

I feel that it shows that they are willing to lampoon anyone really.

But is any of it funny? I'll still tune in an episode from the early seasons and actually laugh once in a while. The new ones? I've tried and I just turn it off after about ten minutes because I just don't find it funny. Gross and/or mean =/= funny.

-----------------------------------

And I do recall the episode of King of the Hill people are talking about. Didn't like it much, but I didn't tune the show out because of it.

 

[Stylizer1]

All the Donald Trump bashing on Real Time with Bill Maher. I've watched him for almost 20 years and I find it is not entertaining.

After Brody dies in Homeland the show really started to feel like propaganda.

Z Nation. I was a pretty crappy show at the beginning which is why I like it. It wasn't until the half Zombie guy started controlling people with his mind and the zombie weed/weed monster came into the show.

 

[Stylizer1]

Oh I also stopped watching Vikings somewhere midseason 2 I think, then went back and watched when they were in Paris and I was like "Nah" again.

I started losing interest around the end of the Paris thing. Way too much Drama for vikings.

 

[sdf]

I wonder if there is american analog of russian meme "hous****er". This is guy who try to be as smart and funny like that character