Originally Posted by Michael

When "Seinfeld" and "Taxi" originally started airing on TV, I only occasionally watched either program and didn't find either that funny. It wasn't until they started in syndication and was on TV every night that I got interested. Since then, I've probably watched each episode a half dozen times.

I still haven't gotten interested in "Friends" or "Two and a Half Men".

I really like "Family Guy" but never liked "The Simpsons".

I think it has something to do with understanding the characters.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

Taxi was pretty funny when they showed it in the UK back in the early 80's, and I liked the Simpsons, though I haven't watched it for years. But most US "comedy" shows aren't worth the effort, endless reworking of family and friend relationships for amusement. There are no characters like Basil Fawlty, Fletcher, Arkwright, or Del Boy; they were interesting personalities, flawed but funny, though I don't see much evidence of Britain being able to create sitcoms of the caliber of those these days either.

Originally Posted by Michael

I suspect the older you get, you immediately expect something unusual and different out of TV shows since you've seen similar plots before.

Currently there is not more than one or two TV shows that I watch regularly.

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

I think the comedy shows can be very formulaic. ....

Originally Posted by Steve_

Yes I know there's a TV thread, which is about a thousand posts long, meh.

New TV show / My considered opinion of it

Betrayal / Didn't watch it for long, seemed crap
Mom (sitcom) / Crap
Low Winter Sun (drama) / Started off good then went crap
Sleepy Hollow (drama) / Crap
Dads (sitcom) / Painfully crap
The Blacklist (drama) / Hmm... not total crap but not that good
The Goldbergs (sitcom) / Dunno, fell asleep, not a good sign
Hostages (drama) / Crap
Brooklyn 99 (sitcom) / Moderately amusing
Lucky 7 (drama) / The story line seems a bit too obvious but it was okay, based on a UK show apparently.
We Are Men (sitcom) / Looked crap from the promos
Trophy Wife (sitcom) / Avoided it, looked crap from the promos
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD / Hmm... jury still out on that one. Storyline seemed a bit thin.

Still to come:

The Originals (drama)
Back in the Game (sitcom)
Super Fun Night (sitcom)
The Tomorrow People (drama) / (Based on the UK show I assume)
Ironside (drama) / (Promos don't inspire confidence)
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (drama)
The Millers (sitcom) / (promos look okay)
The Crazy Ones (sitcom) / (Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar but it looks a bit crap)
Reign (drama)
Welcome to the Family (sitcom)
Sean Saves the World (sitcom)
The Michael J. Fox Show (sitcom) / (looks massively overhyped)
Masterchef Junior (reality - supposedly)


The main positive is that the networks seem to have given up on new reality shows, finally.

Originally Posted by Adnams

Why don't you just stick to British TV, generally far far superior than anything the US channels put out.

Originally Posted by mikelincs

Some of the series are excelleny IMHO, Sons of Anarchy, Gray's Anatomy, Suits, Scandal, and many others, British TV usually has a 'series' of 4 or 5 episodes, which makes character development very difficult.

Originally Posted by mikelincs

Have watched the first episodes of both of those, and lets agree to disagree..

Originally Posted by Bob

You missed SAF3...that was the worst one yet.

Sleepy Hollow and the Blacklist were the best of the bunch. Hostages was okay but only for a mini series, it'll become Homeland if they stretch it out for a longer series.

Originally Posted by Adnams

Why don't you just stick to British TV, generally far far superior than anything the US channels put out.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

Let's hope they soon give up on what they try to pass of as "comedy" too. I was recommended The Big Bang Theory as being "hilarious" by several colleagues. I tried watching a couple of episodes last year. ..... Good grief, is that the cutting edge of American humour?