Have you ever started watching a TV series and thought it was the best thing ever, and continued watching it long after it became almost an obligation to watch? Why do we do that to ourselves?
I remember the first time I watched Dexter, I was blown away, it was such a different show. The “good guy” is a really bad guy. We didn’t have Showtime at the time, and I’m not one for downloading things online, so I’d have to wait for each season to come on DVD and then we’d binge watch it all in a week. When it got to later seasons, it was no longer fun to watch anymore, we just watched it out of habit almost, to the point that the finale, although awful was almost a relief, we didn’t have to suffer another crazy nonsensical plot twist. I felt the same way about True Blood, the first season, although cheesy, was enjoyable, but by the time the show was wrapping up in the last season, I gave up. I felt legitimately bad about it too, like I owed the show something.
I think the main reason that I continue to watch shows, even after they’re not that great is partly nostalgia for when the show was good, and partly me wanting the show to redeem itself in some way. If I just keep watching, the show will get better, right? RIGHT?! Something that I think is not great in American television (I can’t speak for the rest of the world) is that instead of wanting to tell a story, the show ends up just being a way to make money. Even if the show started out with a thought of “this is what I want to tell,” if that show is successful, the show then just turns into a cash generating machine with the plots getting worse and more nonsensical until it alienates its fan base and then is cancelled. I’m happy to have a show tell a story and then be done, even if I wish there were more of that show to watch, shouldn’t you leave them wanting more?
I think another reason that people watch long after the show has just gone off the deep end, is a sense of loyalty to the show itself. It’s like your old friend from high school that you once had so much in common with, but now you’re just friends out of habit. We just get in a routine and it’s hard to let go of the things that we fill our time with. I know this sense of loyalty was why I felt bad about deciding that watching the last season of True Blood was just not going to happen. It felt like I was abandoning an old friend, as crazy as that sounds.
Lately, I’ve remedied this by just not watching a lot of TV. Ok I still watch TV, but it’s mostly watching 30 Rock, or Gilmore Girls, or Bob’s Burgers on Netflix repeatedly. I’d love to know what shows you think should be stopped, and what ones you still think are going strong after many seasons. I’d also like to hear if you feel loyalty to a show, or if you will just drop it at the first sign of bad plot ideas.