Asklemmy @lemmy.ml mortemtyrannis @lemmy.ml 1y ago

What show did you watch because of memes but were dissappointed?

On the other place I constantly saw memes of shows that I thought ‘well if they’re that popular they must be pretty good’

Shows like:

Avatar, The Office, Parks and Rec and IT Crowd

I’ve watched them and I just don’t get it. They aren’t so amazing that they are worth that level of adoration IMO. Avatar has its good spots and Parks and Rec is pretty enjoyable but I cringe at American office and IT crowd is forgettable.

However a show I actually really like, Community, only started getting the same type of treatment after the pandemic because people watched it on Netflix. Although it’s still not as popular as these others. Are people just really basic or am I out of touch?

Anyway, what show did you watch and think ‘I don’t get what the fuss is about’? Maybe it was Community?

93 comments

People have different tastes.
- Tom Segura joke that I'll butcher real quick:
  
  A stranger walks up to me
  
  "Hey know any good restaurants?"
  
  Yeah there's this really good dim sum place over there
  
  "Oh, I hate the Asian world"
  
  Oh, I didn't know that about you
- I'd say. OP didn't like ATLA. Everything from mid season 1 on is gold.
- People like to discuss tastes to understand differences of opinion and potentially change their own.
I've known a fair lot who are Office fans and these people are nothing basic. It's just different tastes. Sense of humor has a lot to do with cultural background too.
- True. I've seen some episodes of the Office (American version, haven't seen the British one) and found it occasionally funny but not legendary. I'm attributing it to the lack of cultural background. I'm not American and never had dealings with relevant kind of company culture.
  
  The Office is parodying for the lack of better term "small town/regional American office culture from early 2000s". If you ever worked in such an environment you'd probably find it hilarious.
  
  The British version is the one that everyone talks about. I don't know any office fans that liked the latter.
- The office is like the Star Wars of sitcoms. It's a good show but the hoards of fans who incorporate it into their personality make you want to pretend you're not a fan.
Are people just really basic

Says the guy making a thread from 2009
I cringe at American office

Isn't that the entire point? I hate cringe comedy myself - you couldn't pay me to watch The Office or IT Crowd, but "I dislike the show/genre" is pretty different from "the entire show/genre and everything in it sucks".

Are people just really basic or am I out of touch?

Maybe just a tad edgy about this. "People are basic" is rarely a good look even if you're right. In this case it's completely subjective.

Anyway, GoT S1 was really good, S2-4 were still decent, S5-7 stank like bad pooooosey, and S8 was so god-awful it retroactively made the whole series unwatchable for me, and turned me off the books too. Which is actually a real stroke of luck, beats waiting for Godot-R.-R.-Martin over here.

Apart from that, I don't remember watching a new show due to memes or popularity since Big Bang Theory, which was pitched as a "geek humor" thing but instead turned out to be... well, whatever BBT was.
- GoT still amazes me. How the hell could they fuck it up so incredibly hard that it retroactively ruined the show and the fucking source material for almost anyone I know including myself? I mean, that shouldn’t be possible.
The Walking Dead. Mediocre acting and worse writing. Production was really all it had going for it, which is ultimately just money that could have been better spent elsewhere.
- I agree somewhat, I never actually finished watching it, I was shocked when it just seemed to continue season after season. The show turned into a zombie.
  
  Yeah, I didn't make it past season 2. I've definitely watched more episodes of worse shows, but Walking Dead just did nothing for me. I am glad it helped popularize Steven Yeun though, he's awesome.
It actually WAS Community for me. I tried it a few years back and it just didn't click. I think because Joel and Pierce especially are such shitty people. Tried it again last year and loved it.

Same thing happened with The Orville. I didn't even make it through the first episode the first time I tried it. Loved it the next time.

Sometimes it's all about the timing in our lives or the experiences we've had.
- Community is one of my all time favourite shows but lots of people just don’t get it. It was never a popular show when it originally aired.
  
  I remember googling ‘community’ and the top result was the Wikipedia article for community it was that way going on season 3.
Morbius It wasn't bad enough to finish or good enough to enjoy. Never said it was Morbin time. It had Dr. Who so there was that.
- Did anyone actually like that though? I thought that was a meme because of how bad it was. I really don't know, I never saw it.
  
  The memes were making fun of the fact that no one had seen it, somehow Warner thought that re-releasing the film would make the memers go to see it, but that would have gone against the point of the meme
  
  No one liked it. But I only watched it because of all the memes.
  
  Like there had to be something at least worth making fun of. Nope. It just kinda sucked till I turned it off.
I first watched SpongeBob SquarePants as an adult and it’s shit. Maybe if I’d started watching when I was five it might have liked it.
- U had to have been there
- So you are not feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?
- Exactly my impression as well.
- That's unfortunate since there's a lot of genuinely good moments in the show that I didn't fully understand until I grew up.
- Sorry for reviving a dead thread, but I had to link this clip:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV_7c7sFk9g
  
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Not a show, but a movie. I watched Napoleon Dynamite because of the memes and because several people I knew would quote it a lot. I found it to be slow paced and boring outside of the scenes with the memes.
- It's definitely one of those 'slice of life' / vibe movies. You either like the atmosphere, mood, and characters, or you don't. Personally I love the movie but I can understand why it has mixed reception.
  
  Similarly in my brain is Dazed and Confused. There is hardly a plot to be found in that movie but it makes me nostalgic for a time before I was born. Something about it just draws me.
I haven't seen Morbius yet and I'm still disappointed.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine feels that way to me. Not that I think it's a particularly bad show, but I definitely feel like the memes spawned from it already contain the funniest parts of the show. The actual content of each episode is kinda predictable with the protagonist learning stone sort of lesson.

Also I so desperately wanted to get into Bojack Horseman because I love animation, puns, and to cry while watching shows. The memes showed so many really deep and interesting moments, but by the end of the third season, I just couldn't stand to watch Bojack learn a lesson only to revert to being a complete asshole an episode later. I get that's kind of the point, but it was more infuriating than engaging.
- What you describe about Bojack is frustrating but I think very realistic and kind of the core of the show. Bojack is flawed in so many ways and has a lot of baggage weighing on him. Him struggling to fix his flaws despite being entirely aware of them is very relatable.
  
  If fixing flaws was as easy as someone holding up a mirror for you then no one would struggle with personal demons. But it's not. It takes humility, self awareness, and constant self reflection to make progress. Bojack has an array of personality faults and trauma to overcome and it's no surprise he struggles the way he does.
  
  It's the best depiction of mental health and addiction I've encountered.
- Hah I also watched Bojack for the memes too.
  
  I thought it was good, not the most amazing thing ever.
  
  HSACWDTK?DTKT?LFO!
That banana stand show was hella underwhelming. The memes were everwhere and are still popular now, it felt like everybody bsck then was raving about how sidesplittingly hilarious and clever this show was.
- If it aired today I suspect most people would also find it underwhelming. The thing with Arrested Development is that it was truly unique and ahead of its time, enough that it couldn’t make it through three seasons on network tv. There was just nothing else like it, and audiences didn’t quite know what to do with it. People who loved it made a big deal about it because it could be (and turned out to be) the direction comedy was heading if only people would give it a chance.
- You know nothing John Snow ;)
  
  It’s a an off brand of humor that is specific t for that time. Also, there’s a bit of Seinfeld effect going on.
  
  I couldn't get into Game Of Thrones either tbh, it was so rapey.
  
  Seinfeld is ok for an episode here and there. Why is everyone yelling all the time in so many American shows though? Is it comfortable for you guys to listen to that for multiple episodes at a time?
- Hard diagree 🤔 but I respect ur right to say it
- Arrested Development? I tried to watch it recently and it came out as super cringey.
  
  Narrator: It was.
The Star Wars prequels.
- The prequels were memed because they were awful (except episode 3 which I will still maintain is better than episode 6) but somehow perception warped to make people think they were good or okay at best. The first 2 are terrible.
  
  If the star wars universe debuted with episode one, we would not have a star wars universe. The sound track rocked, and uh, there were rocks on planets.
  
  The third one is also terrible. Just slightly less terrible than the first two.
Out of curiosity, specify which Avatar
- Pretty sure they're talking about TLA
- Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  
  I also watched The Legend of Korra, which was also ok but not as good as the first show.
  
  Avatar is generally better if you watch it as a kid and come back to it. Can't say the same for Korra as I've never watched it tho
  
  Well one thing you need to understand is that Avatar is an actual kid's show. It was a lot of kids' first introduction to anime, so a lot of people have a "soft spot" for it. Like it's part of their childhood. Which it is.
- Said "shows", so I assumed the animated one
  
  The movies definitely qualify more than the cartoon imo, very underwhelming. At least the show was a unique story.
I think the problem is that a lot of shows become overhyped once they reach a certain level of popularity. While you may have enjoyed it if you came across it naturally, the hype you've encountered around it makes you expect more. Avatar and Parks and Rec are great shows, but they're definitely not the best shows of all time (although I do really love Parks and Rec) and you'd probably expect them to be these amazing shows if all you know about them is the hype from superfans.
- I think there's also an effect where shows get copied so much their original humour become cliche.
Spice and wolf. I saw "a picture" of the main girl Holo and was "intrigued" but the show it's was more about medival economics than what I expected.

Good show from what I heard, just not what 14 y/o me was interested in
I think you should leave. Memes were great. Show was alright
I saw some memes with Good Omens templates and decided to give the show a watch.

Season 1 was pretty good, the kind of comedy that made me smile occasionally, which is fine.

On the other hand season 2 was mostly boring, 2 episode's worth of story was stretched out to 6, and the ending ruined the friendship between the main characters, which was the cornerstone of the whole concept.
- I agree so much.
Breaking Bad.
White Lotus. The memes about the intro song got me, but I couldn't stuck with the show. Just not my thing I guess
Blend S. The theme song and associated meme is all this show has going for it. (In fact the theme song's first few seconds contain the whole point honestly.)

Believe me, I'm not the kind of person who hates this kind of thing on a conceptual level. I watch more anime than any other type of TV show (granted I don't watch much TV in general) and I'm not the kind of anime fan who acts "above" slice of life, wish fulfillment, or ecchi, I love shows way more "degen" than Blend S. But Blend S is just so boring I can't actually think of anything to say. It's the kind of show that is the reason why slice of life anime got shit on so much before isekai became oversaturated.
Futurama. I know it's supposed to be "a parody" of the future rather than a representation of it, but there are times it just feels like one big PSA. It doesn't age well at all, and the new season will age even worse, to the point where any child a decade from now is going to know what kind of people watched it, such as with its views on theology and politics which are trademark 90's views.

It makes it even more annoying when some world event happens and people are like "Futurama predicted this" as if the show is a kind of scripture, such as the show predicting that robosexual marriage would become a thing. It's like, I don't know, science fiction was made to predict and give ideas to science?
- It seems like you are mainly criticising fans (perhaps imaginary fans) rather than the show itself. I do agree that the later seasons are just not as good as the first ones, and personally I have little interest in the newest season, it never should have been revived in my opinion, it is just going to end up like the Simpsons.
  
  I will gladly rewatch old episodes though, and no, not because I think it predicts anything, but because it is damn funny.
  
  such as with its views on theology and politics which are trademark 90’s views.
  
  You are getting me curious. Could you give some examples of what trademark 90's views on theology and politics are?
  
  Out of curiosity, have you watched the Simpsons recently? I think, after season 31 or 32, it started getting better again. There are some really great episodes from two seasons ago.
  
  The latest season of Futurama had two good episodes, but the rest were kind of weak. About the same level as season 9-10(Hulu season numbering). Those seasons were "meh" mostly but with three really amazing episodes (Free Will Hunting, Game of Tones, Meanwhile).
  
  I watched Futurama trying to stay sane in grad school, as it was released on DVD. It's straight-up comforting to watch now. Watching it when I'm stressed connects me emotionally to almost 20 years ago. I was stressed then but I made it out ok.
  
  Could you give some examples of what trademark 90’s views on theology and politics are?
  
  Imagine being 3000 years into the future and being told the United States has become the ruler of the world, that Richard Nixon was revived and became president just so he could be made fun of (nobody in a few years is going to think of him as the butt of the presidential line), that Nibbler's species formed the universe by pooping out dark matter (again, the 90's was the prime Stephen Hawking age, and the 2000's were when the media had a big theology movement), Bender and "god" in the form of a galaxy, the beast with a billion backs, the robot devil (you have to wonder at this point how theological the show can get), etc.
  
  They did the worldview equivalent of making a show made in the 70's and set in the 70's and expecting the show to not be dated.

93 comments