The downside to this is that the warts are more apparent as well. Things that might be annoying in small doses become unwatchable en masse. And it also makes it more of a snap judgement on new shows.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
We've been watching this since the beginning. Lori gave up part-way through the whole Laurence Fishburne/Nate Haskell thing. I stuck around. Lori came back for Ted Danson and we were really impressed. He brought new life and new sensibilities to the show, but the show began to take back over in the creepy, annoying way it does to where by the end of last season we were only sort of caring and we suffered through this season to reach the end where once again, a cliffhanger with people shot and people in jeopardy Gil and Sara probably having marital problems and us just not caring at all.
Hawaii 5-0
I'll miss all that gorgeous sun and blue sky and beaches emanating from my TV. I'll miss the witty banter of Steve and Dano and the crazy entrepreneurial style of Kamekona not to mention the Daniel Dae Kim from Lost getting to be cool and stoic and have a stronger character (both characters were well acted, it's just nice to see him have more authority and less meekness and less answer and less confusion - nice to root for him instead of feeling sorry for him - plus respect for anyone who nabs roles in back-to-back shows shot on the island).
I'll miss the flying tackles and the more decent car chases. It's unfortunate that Hawaii wasn't enough of a product placement for them because I will not miss the Bing, Windows 8, Surface, Slate, Skype, Yammer, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Sharepoint and Bob product placements from Microsoft. Oh, wait - and Windows 8 Phone which can connect through Bluetooth to your Chevy whatever. I loved the call-back episodes to the original (Ed Asner was gone too quickly) but the worst was in that episode with the guy who was killing cops. I knew as soon as they pulled up to the house the way they parked the car that it was all about product placement, even though it was stupid to park that close when there was a suspect sniper inside. Sure enough, before too long a cop was shot in the head, he slumped against the hood of the car and fell to the ground, a bright red stain of blood sweeping down the hood as if it were an arrow pointing to the Chevrolet bowtie. Disgusting.
And then you throw in plots that were often insultingly stupid or filled with holes or the ongoing stuff with Wo Fat (is it a credit to Mark Decascos for never being as sinister as the deeds his character did, or just the opposite? I never could tell so I guess I have to go with credit.) But the absolute worst? Steve's mom.
Someone needs to vote Doris off the island. Permanently.
Siberia
I've thought this was a great idea for a show long before it was a show - a fake version of a reality TV show where the stakes are much higher. Now.. trying to combine it with LOST, not so much. They did a great job out of the gate of making every character interesting (except the host) even though you knew that two would be eliminated from the game before the end of the first episode. But it just was ultimately not what I'd hoped for and Lori wasn't too keen on it either and we eventually deleted the folder from the DVR with 3-4 episodes unwatched and then I read the recaps online which confirmed that I had made the right decision.
Motive
This show started by showing you the killer and the victim and then through the course of the episode, they try to figure out the motive. We watched the first episode. That was enough. The episode seemed to drag on, we didn't really feel like the characters were relatable.
Broadchurch
It's a BBC show that had great review, but it's about the murder of a child. We had it on the DVR, but after a friend posted that after the first episode they wanted to wake up their child and hug them, we ended up deleting it without even trying it.
Copper
A lush BBC show looking at New York in the 1860s (starring Toronto as "Young New York") was interesting and really intricate. It fell apart for us when they killed a character we kinda sorta liked and then there was a child actor who was really frustrating and a really horrible character. We just couldn't keep watching, stopped it recording future episodes.
How I Met Your Mother
When Ted ran off with Victoria, we decided we didn't want to go with them. I don't know how many seasons we missed, but we will probably return from the final season because it's supposed to all take place over a single day and we finally get to see how Saget meets his wife and whether she's even still alive or if this is a story told on the day of her funeral as some have suggested.
On the Bubble: Crossing Lines
Great concept - because the different law enforcement agencies across the European Union don't necessarily share information openly, often and willingly, Donald Sutherland is free to dispatch his motley crue of international crime fighters with awesome accents to uncover crimes (usually murders) that cross international borders. Almost everyone has a backstory and there's unnecessary personal drama and they take advantage of one slightly outrageous piece of technology, but it's fun and it's neat seeing all of those locales, until you look at IMDB and find that the role of "all of the EU" is played by Paris and Prague. The trains make a nice break / setting for conversations, but it does seem like they can zip around a little quicker than you'd think. The different locales mean that there's always a constant new set of law enforcement to work with or against them. There have been some interesting plots and some that have been frustratingly lame. One of the apparently recurring villains is a horrid caricature and there's a frustrating relationship between the team's lead and his wife. He always chooses work over her, they're struggling with a Russian who bombed their house and killed their son and has bugged their residence in Paris. Near the end of a recent episode when it looked like they were agreeing to patch things up and get on with their lives, she dropped the bombshell that getting on for her meant a divorce. His reaction, which looked like an invisible person punched him and caused him to choke on a mouthful of water was really, really well done. Without any words he conveyed the surprise and utter dismay of that surprising news. There's also a character who's been somewhat useless, kidnapped in the first episode and just plain missing the whole last episode. They ended the season with a cliffhanger involving possibly finding her, the team's leader and his wife kidnapped by the Russian and the revelation that her work as a prosecutor with Donald Sutherland (before she gave it up to be a stay-at-home mom) and not his work as a cop was the reason their son was killed.
Image from BigStockPhoto.com
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