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Popular TV Programs I’ve Never Watched

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Absolutely refused to watch it............hate whiners
I have more than likely watched every episode. Your life is none the less for it, because it really was a show about nothing. Julia Louis Dreyfus wouldn't let her kids watch it, that should tell you something.

BUT! The show about "Festivus for the Rest,of,us is a gem that I could watch on a 24 hour loop. Stupid, but genius. (I probably feel that way because I am a stoopid genius.)
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Everything I'm about to say is subjective.

In my opinion, some of the shows people have listed are well known but weren't super popular. They may have had a season or two with an overall high Nielsen rating but by and large weren't that significant to the zeitgeist at a given time. Are Nielsen ratings--the traditional marker for TV-the end all, be all?

What is "popular" though? Is it number of viewers as tracked by Nielsen? Is it just because people name drop them?

There are myriad shows which had dismal ratings on TV but by many sources are considered to be among "the best" shows of all time, shows like The Wire; does that make them popular or not? I truly don't know.

What I do know though, is that there are many shows that--whether or not had high ratings--were absolute social phenomenon. Among these are ones like Dallas, The Cosby Show, The Simpsons, E.R., Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc.

I'm going to ponder which phenomena I missed out on.
I had surgery for varicose veins at U of M hospital not long after "Breaking Bad" was showing it's last season. Bryan Cranston was superb. It was a role of a lifetime, and he absolutely nailed it.

My surgery rehab/healing was BRUTAL. Tylenol #4 didn't touch the pain for WEEKS. Diversion was the ONLY thing that helped. There wasn't a bad performance, or a single bad episode that I remember.

I felt bad watching it, as my son was young, and I enjoy much more "wholesome" fare as a rule, and my wife would never enjoy such a show. So I usually watched a few episodes at a time while they were at Wednesday night church services while I wondered about what the Lord was thinking about my taste in TV! I decided I'd tell Him it was the Codeine that made me do it!

But for the weeks that I wished I'd had my head amputated instead of the varicose veins werked on it was good medicine!

And now I can wear support hose just because I feel pretty, instead of to prevent blood clots! Lol, no I still NEED the hose; the operation could only do so much, but if anyone reading this is postponing surgery: man up and do it! Weeks of pain probably allowed me to live long enough to see my overachiever son grow up! That's more fun than any TV show. (Except maybe the original "All Creatures Great and Small!")
 
I'm glad it helped divert your attention away from the pain; Breaking Bad is one of my all-time favorite shows ever and was just about perfect. I also enjoy the prequel spinoff Better Call Saul; Bob Odenkirk in his role is almost as good as Bryan Cranstons.

On Seinfeld...I watched it often in the 90s but now I couldn't care less about it. Larry David's other show Curb Your Enthusiasm earns higher praise from me, but like many shows, some seasons are much better than others.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I'm glad it helped divert your attention away from the pain; Breaking Bad is one of my all-time favorite shows ever and was just about perfect. I also enjoy the prequel spinoff Better Call Saul; Bob Odenkirk in his role is almost as good as Bryan Cranstons.

On Seinfeld...I watched it often in the 90s but now I couldn't care less about it. Larry David's other show Curb Your Enthusiasm earns higher praise from me, but like many shows, some seasons are much better than others.
I'd forgotten about "Better Call Saul" ! I will have to look into it.

Breaking Bad was such an intense show for me that I think I needed a break from that "universe" for awhile! I think I can handle it again, lol!
 
Breaking Bad came at me sideways, as my lovely wife first fell in love with it. I started watching out the corner of my eye as I'd read and just got hooked into it. Seinfeld is one I never watched religiously, but every time I did I was rewarded. That and Fawlty Towers plays well as audio only too, good for the treadmill.
 

Messygoon

Abandoned By Gypsies.
Born in 1963. Mom and dad made the evening news selection in my formative years, and it was always NBC with David Brinkley and Chet Huntley. Which means I never watched the iconic Walter Cronkite live on CBS. I recall once suggesting we switch for a night. You would have thought I suggested they stop following the St. Louis Cardinals and become Chicago Cubs fans.

Love my parents, but we had a big miss on this one. Cronkite that is... not the Cubs. :001_tt2:
 
Since I don't have cable now, and have skipped premium cable such as HBO and sources such as NetFlix for a long time, I've missed out (or have I?) on this new "Golden Age" of TV. The titles that TexOkieShaver listed are familiar to me, but the premises of many of them are not. I'd say a good 15 of his list are ones I've never seen.

Breaking Bad swam into my ken because Linda brought home the season packages of the DVDs from the library. Same with Better Call Saul. With other limited series that are available to me now on services like Tubi or Pluto, it's hard to find one that appeals enough for me to give it my attention. Dead Like Me is one.
 
As one might gather from my posts here, I end up watching a lot of TV, and I would definitely consider this to be a Golden Age of TV. There are a number of shows on TexOkie's list that I have not seen much of. But the show that immediately comes to mind as a popular show I have watched very little of is Mad Men. I really have no particular reason why, except that my wife kind of watched it without me. The West Wing also comes to mind.
 
We are not big TV watchers at my house, so I haven't seen a single episode of most of the TV shows that have come out in the past 20 years that get talked about a lot. Having said that, the wife and I have been binging Netflix during the pandemic. We watched all of Breaking Bad and are half way through Better Call Saul. I can't believe how amazing Breaking Bad was. Just pitch perfect. We are enjoying Better Call Saul just as much, although it is quite different than BB.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I don't have HBO or Showtime or Netflix or anything like that so I've seen none of those shows they produce. I really only watch sports and cable news, although that has dropped off by at least 50% in the past 2 years. In fact, I only watch the weather forecast on the local news. I never watch any new shows produced by the networks. I only watch 30 or 60 minute sitcoms or dramas years after they've gone into syndication. In other words, I'm conversant with things like Hogan's Heroes and the Beverly Hillbillies.
 
"Life with Elizabeth."

I hear tell Betty White was a real scamp!

Also, "The Donald O'Connor Show."

He had some really great stars, like: Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, Mitzi Gaynor, 'Snub' Pollard, Nestor Paiva, Molly McCart, Reginald Denny, Sidney Miller, Lillian Bronson, Jimmy Durante, Greta Granstedt, André Previn, Mary Ellen Terry, Boris Karloff, and Harry Shearer.

Sorry I missed it!
 
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AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I got rid of my telly in 2008, so most things have eluded me. Notable exceptions - i.e. stuff I did see - was stuff that I bought on DVD. These were...

House MD
Doctor Who (till the end of Matt Smith's run)
Sherlock
Dexter

I don't think I have watched a full episode of anything else on telly (anyone else's) in the last 13 years. The glimpses I have seen, either at friends or family's homes, or at hotels etc, have only reaffirmed that I did the right thing in getting rid.
 
Excellent show! It has a very intricate mythology.

Here's an iconic prop (Spike's Amulet) that was used on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The Fatboy is for scale.
IMG_1284.JPG
 

tankerjohn

A little poofier than I prefer
Pretty much all of them. I just don't have time anymore to stay on top of TV shows, let alone binge watch whole seasons. Plus, the best ones are all on pay channels I never bothered subscribing to. Well, I did watch Tiger King on Netflix when that was a thing. I'm allowed one guilty pleasure, right?
 
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