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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsBased on a GD thread: Stupidiest show currently on TV (besides anything on Fox News)
Someone on GD posted that "Splash", which is Dancing with the Stars crossed with Olympic Diving, is currently the stupidest show on TV.
Now, that does sound rather ridiculous. But I think there are even stupider shows on television. We're talking countless reality shows based on fake "celebrities" that you really couldn't care less about, "Duck Dynasty" (apparently watching a show about people who make duck calls and decoys is highly entertaining to some people), "Two Broke Girls" (torture to the poor laugh track that is forced to aid and abet in so-called "jokes" , and much, much more.
Just wanted to get everyone's personal opinions here.
But to make it harder, I'm excluding anything that airs on the Fox News Channel. That's just like shooting fish in a barrel. (And, by the way, I believe there is a reality show where they actually shoot fish in a barrel for a living, called Barrelin', currently airing on A&E)
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)In fact, if Chuck Lorre would cease production the average intelligence of television would rise by 15 points overnight.
The first show is nothing more or less than Amos and Andy with caricatures of "smart" people.
Two and a half men seems to be an endless parade of sex jokes punctuated by the occasional bit of scatological humor. Even getting rid of the incredibly lame-ass Charlie Sheen can not help.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,219 posts)Both my parents and my in-laws love The Big Bang Theory. I will say whenever I have watched it, it will sometimes have jokes that make me laugh. More clever than funny though, IMHO.
I only watched Two and a Half Men a couple of times. Never recall it ever making me laugh that much, which explains why it never caught on with me.
Both of those shows are laugh riots when compared to Two Broke Girls, though. For whatever reason, my wife watches it, and it's just the most stupid, unfunny sitcom on TV right now.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)I know he's an inveterate philistine, and so I wasn't optimistic. It was brutal, and for all the reasons you say and more. The worst part was that the very lines I groaned, sighed, and rolled my eyes at....and there was that aplenty...was the exact stuff he went bonkers over. Talk about a disconnect!
lastlib
(23,322 posts)What kind of sick mind dreams up that drek??!?
Chan790
(20,176 posts)It's not funny or entertaining because they make duck calls and decoys...it's entertaining because of the people on the show: Jace who has to be the laziest person alive but typically expends more energy avoiding doing his job than he'd use to simply do his job; Si who is so mentally altered by his experiences in Vietnam that more than half the time, he's saying or doing something inexplicable. Willie who nobody trusts or listens to because he went off and got book-learning...and when they do listen to him, it's the rare occasions when he's as wrong as the rest of them which reinforces their dismissive impression of his education; he compounds the problem by being a font of useless business-administration philosophy and having a "I'm right because I'm the CEO" attitude. Phil who founded the company and despite having extremely odd views on life (such as marry an ugly woman that knows how to fish & cook or his discomfort with civilization or killing things makes him happy happy happy) seems to often be the smartest one in the room...typically on the basis of experience.
If you grew up in America and particularly the rural parts of America...there's a good chance you see your own family in this family. Everybody has a ne'er-do-well cousin that constantly schemes to avoid work and who would be successful if they just did the work. Everybody has the over-educated relative that borders on incompetent because they only know what books have taught them. Everybody has that one weird uncle who isn't crazy but isn't on the same mental plateau as the rest of society anymore. Everybody has that older relative who insists on doing things the old way because it's the only way they've ever trusted to work. It's America's television family.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,219 posts)libodem
(19,288 posts)And I liked it, too.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)My wife paid 8 bucks for an ice tea cup like Si's this weekend.
I grew up in Texas and I know someone like every single one of those guys - and many of them are people I love.
"He's running around like a chicken with its legs cut off!" Man, I love Uncle Si.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)The Carrie Diaries: If there was one character I didn't need to know more about...it's Carrie Bradshaw, the least-interesting character on SatC. The show fails to disappoint on my expectation of being unbearable. Exceptional writing and ensemble cast saved the original from a terrible protagonist...this show has neither and even casting a better lead (SJP may be a better actress, but Anna-Sophia Robb is a much better Carrie Bradshaw) can't save Carrie from Carrie. What they needed to make was "The Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte Diaries." (ie. No Carrie!)
The Vampire Diaries: Remember a few years back when it seemed all the daytime soaps were ending; I worried about all those writers too melodramatic and histrionic to ever get paying work again and starving. Rest easy. Based on the melodramatic and histrionic plotlines of TVD, I think they may have found a new home. This may be the worst-written and plotted successful drama in TV history.
Revolution: I'm befuddled this is still on TV, better shows get the axe constantly and plot-progression premises this shoddy typically don't even make it past pilot. It may be the dumbest show in history...they could do so much more and better with it but they don't. They telegraph every plot-twist, they have the kinds of plot-holes you could drive Acela through, the bad guys seem more likable and interesting than the protagonists. What they should have done was kept the premise and sent the entire concept back for retcon, firing the producers and show-runners, paying the concept creator to sell them the concept and walk away. Post-apoc/death-of-technology and mankind's struggle to overcome: awesome concept. Revolution: terrible execution.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)When (and why) did we become so uncreative?
libodem
(19,288 posts)I've been watching gypsy stuff at a friends house. A look into a secret world.
Wounded Bear
(58,737 posts)The shows have writers, just not the best ones.
libodem
(19,288 posts)I stand corrected. I'm sure the shows are somewhat scripted.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)challenge shows on FoodNetwork. Now they are worth watching.
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
don't have a specific, but them "reality", "survivor" shows irritate me.
and "talk" shows - although I do like Leno
liked David Letterman too.
CC
dr.strangelove
(4,851 posts)While I have never watched the diving show, that does seem like a silly premise for a show, but having never watched it I could not say if it is terrible. I watched one episode of Duck Dynasty and found that it was "forced" like people were trying too hard to make an unscripted show which was clearly scripted. That said, the people seemed fun to me and if I had time, it might be a show I would watch. Right now I am limited to Mad Men, Survivor, How I met your Mother, Big Bang, Defiance and Game of Thrones. I dvr them and watch them throughout the week at night. Otherwise I watch MASH, LOST, All in the Family, Cheers and West Wing on the dvds.
olddots
(10,237 posts)This woman could be wonderful in real life but try to take her for 1/2 minute with the fake Italian accent and Fonzi isms .
Archae
(46,358 posts)There's hardly anything I do watch.
On a daily basis I DVR the news and then Rachel.
When it's on, I DVR Animal Planet's "Too Cute." Can never have enough kittens!
PBS has good shows once in a while too.
They just broadcast Ken Burns' look at the Central Park rape case, and the NYPD did their damndest to keep it off the air.
From National Geographic I DVR'ed "The 80's."
Am laughing my head off at that one.
mikeytherat
(6,829 posts)mikey_the_rat
tabbycat31
(6,336 posts)UrbScotty
(23,980 posts)I used to watch Maury, but I couldn't tolerate anymore of his biased audience. The pattern I noticed is that if someone is simply accused of cheating or denies that they are the father of someone's baby, they get booed even before giving their side of the story first. He should at least have the decency to tell his audience to hold off the booing until after the results are in.
You're basically guilty until proven innocent on the Maury show. These people seem so deficient in regards to critical thinking skills, they give Jerry Springer's audience a run for their money in terms of obnoxiousness.
Boomerproud
(7,970 posts)Banal in the extreme.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Dancing with the Stars, Cupcake Wars, that stupid crap where people climb through the obstacle course..... I'm sure I could think of more.
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)people rednecking up.
I try to avoid those people in real life; why would I want to watch them on television?
EvilAL
(1,437 posts)plus the child beauty pageants and other garbage..
doesnt wanna work, search for 'I can't believe these are all TV shows' on youtube.. or don't, whatever.
UrbScotty
(23,980 posts)Wow.
EvilAL
(1,437 posts)tabbycat31
(6,336 posts)Jersey Shore.
olddots
(10,237 posts)I've tried to find out but it looks like shell production companies and since they are done with tiny crews its hard to get some inside knowledge about the workings so maybe something could be done about raising the level of dumbth to a minus 13 .
Did it start with THE REAL WORLD ? how long ago ?
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)because there is just so little of the fake reality crap that I bother with I'll stick with programmed TV.
The Following is one of the most contrived and poorly thought out programs I've ever seen and I was really hoping it would work. I like Kevin Bacon, I like James Purefoy and I really like the creative team.
But damn it starts off with the lamest prison escape in the history of prison escapes and just gets worse from there. I've never seen such a bunch of truly idiotic cops in my life and I watched every season of The Sopranos. The evil is just so evil and so brilliant it's amazing they haven't figured out how to fully escape the dumb cops.
I really really wanted to like this show, I even gave it a few weeks before ditching it.
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)I am still watching it every week and it hasn't improved.
Spike89
(1,569 posts)I can't comprehend the appeal behind the Bachelor, never watched it, but this new one seemed too awful to not check out. It was worse than I could imagine. The premise seems to have dredged out of a simple child's confused romantic nightmare. Simply put, they bring on a "hunk" that is "Ready for Love" and teams of matchmakers vie to get him to fall for one of their clients. Pretty horrid right there, but the format only cruddifies the awfulness. The prospective love interests make a "blind" 30 second plea to be chosen, the dude picks 3 of the 4 and does this 3 or 4 times until he has a harem chosen. He then goes on a "date" with all the girls before having to choose one that must leave.
Obviously this is maybe the sickest, most humiliating way of finding a date ever devised. There is no way these people can be genuine, they are making a mockery of courtship and love. It literally made me angry that the producers thought anyone would be fooled by the cynical and manipulative game-showification of romance.
Taverner
(55,476 posts)madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)I never watch reality shows but it struck me as one of the most bizarre ideas for a show Ive ever heard. I think reality shows have not only jumped the shark but now theyre stuffing it.
rurallib
(62,465 posts)tried to watch it a couple times after my brother said it was really funny (note:quit talking to brother)
Anything on the History Channel - god their stuff is horrible. (and their related channels)
Still Blue in PDX
(1,999 posts)Any show where someone says "That smells squatchy" has to be bad.
mikeytherat
(6,829 posts)When anyone says something really, really stupid, Mrs. Rat will whisper to me, "I think there's a 'squatch' out here." It's become our catch phrase for the monumentally stupid. And I've never seen the show - I only know that damn phrase from a commercial.
"squatch"
mikey_the_rat
Loryn
(945 posts)I have no words.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)Had I not done so currently, I would have bought a sledge hammer, and made a mess that would take hours to clean up.
graham4anything
(11,464 posts)Her 5 minutes a week are some of the funniest on tv.
She is continuing her persona from the Christopher Guest movies and American Pie movies
The rest of the show I can take or leave.
The thing I like about Big Bang is it makes losers popular.(though it actually is exploiting them).
And that they bring back people from the past on their show.
BTW-the worst tv year in year out, since 1969 are NY Jet games.
How much do Jet fans have to endure since the greatest SuperBowl of all time (#3).
you know what-time for a favorite thread. Someone should start one, if nobody else does I will.
Still Blue in PDX
(1,999 posts)Yes, it's true. I'm a bit of a nerd and an embarrassment to my children.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,219 posts)But 2 Broke Girls is still utter crap and she can't even come close to saving it.