TV: Shows that take themselves too seriously

[End on a Hinote]

I remember watching many years ago the CW show Nikita.

The only reason why I gave it any time of day was to fulfill by desire to watch attractive women with fire arms (weird fetish, I know).

But one thing that kind of annoyed me about the several episodes I watched (aside from it being, honestly, a terrible show in general) was how seriously it took itself.

Just my opinion, but for a show where it's premise is 8/10 looking actors who could be underwear models and are no older than the age of 29 portraying fearless assassins and government agents can only be taken so far, dramatically.

There was next to no humor, and each episode was just so over the top with the thrilling dramatics.

What other shows out there do you think take/took itself too seriously?

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[Jumptheshark]

I remember watching many years ago the CW show Nikita.

The only reason why I gave it any time of day was to fulfill by desire to watch attractive women with fire arms (weird fetish, I know).

But one thing that kind of annoyed me about the several episodes I watched (aside from it being, honestly, a terrible show in general) was how seriously it took itself.

Just my opinion, but for a show where it's premise is 8/10 looking actors who could be underwear models and are no older than the age of 29 portraying fearless assassins and government agents can only be taken so far, dramatically.

There was next to no humor, and each episode was just so over the top with the thrilling dramatics.

What other shows out there do you think take/took itself too seriously?

jiggle TV of the 70's changed everything. It became style over substance and it has only gotten worse. Most drama, have only beautiful rich people trying so dang hard to help the ugly poor people

 

[Nakatomi]

The Bear seemed pretty into itself.

 

[I am not exposed]

Sense 8

 

[End on a Hinote]

The Bear seemed pretty into itself.

Idk about this one. I've only seen the first season and it did have solid comedy in it. And from what I've heard from those in the restaurant business the stresses and drama of that industry is apparently well represented in the show but I'd have to watch the rest to see it.

 

[Speyer]

Breaking Bad season 3 and onwards. It was pretty good and cool but probably not as much as the Showrunner and the directors thought.

 

[phrenssoa]

The Bear seemed pretty into itself.

Season 3 gave that impression for sure. I thought the first two seasons were really good though.

 

[SirPaste]

The Bear seemed pretty into itself.

Absolutely, this last season was pretty bad and reeked of this.

 

[NyQuil]

The same thing happened with Ted Lasso as it progressed.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Hannibal and House of Cards

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Haven't seen a show that had its head up its own ass more than The Leftovers.

 

[The Shadow]

The Bear seemed pretty into itself.

This scene made me cry laughing

Party scene

 

[Stylizer1]

Every season of the Walking Dead after the 4th.

 

[Killer Orcas]

Every season of the Walking Dead after the 4th.

I couldn't even watch anything after season 5.5 no idea how my wife kept going.

 

[Shareefruck]

Agree with The Leftovers.

 

[Crow]

Lost

 

[Peasy]

The Leftovers is GOATED, fight me.

 

[Satans Hockey]

True Detective

 

[koyvoo]

Breaking Bad season 3 and onwards. It was pretty good and cool but probably not as much as the Showrunner and the directors thought.

Agreed. Good show, but nowhere near the level they imagined themselves to be.

 

[Crow]

Agreed. Good show, but nowhere near the level they imagined themselves to be.

Yeah there was always a difficult to describe cheesiness to that show. Maybe it was too over the top or something.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

First one that came to mind for me was Survivor. We talk about it quite often in the dedicated Survivor threads, but the way production and host Jeff Probst specifically take the show has become grating... They speak like it's some Utopia of competition reality TV shows that will change the world with its very existence. Every year now they focus so much on how incredible and life-changing this experience is.

Grey's Anatomy. I know it's basically a soap opera, but every single conversation and plot line feels like they're trying to hold the entire world in every scene.

I lost interest by Season 3, but Stranger Things kind of felt that way to me too. Got a bit stale and self-important.

 

[Shareefruck]

Yeah there was always a difficult to describe cheesiness to that show. Maybe it was too over the top or something.

While I don't have a high opinion of Breaking Bad either, wouldn't over the top cheesiness be the opposite of "Taking itself too seriously"?

 

[Crow]

While I don't have a high opinion of Breaking Bad either, wouldn't over the top cheesiness be the opposite of "Taking itself too seriously"?

It just seemed like in trying to take itself so seriously it came off as a little cheesy.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I'd cast a vote for Breaking Bad as well. I loved the show and thought it was a great piece of entertainment but there was always one aspect of it that irritated me and it has everything to do with taking itself too seriously.

It's the Skyler White problem. Skyler became probably THE example of the wet blanket put-upon TV wife who doesn't let her badass husband be a badass. Carmella Soprano and Betty Draper (among many others in TV's rich history of women characters getting short shrift) also got this tag but it all really came to a head with Skyler. It was so bad that actress Anna Gunn said people would confront her on the street about how they didn't like her character ... she even wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the issue (Opinion | I Have a Character Issue (Published 2013)). The creative team and much of TV critic press scolded "bad fans" who were taking the "wrong message" from the show. The Sopranos had this issue too but Breaking Bad really seemed to be the flashpoint for this debate.

"Walt's a BAD person. You SHOULDN'T like him!" They'd say.

But here's the problem: THE CREATORS made Walt a cool, super villain. It wasn't a misunderstanding. They scold fans in one breath but then make a show where Walt outsmarts everyone at every turn and concocts cool deadly traps like exploding wheelchairs and remote controlled trunk-hidden machine guns. And then, to soften him just a little bit they pull out the oldest trick in the book by pitting him against Nazis in the final season which gives him an actual heroic redemption arc (and a fun Nazi killing one at that).

Is Walt a bad human? Yes! But is he also cool? Also yes. And this was baked into the premise from the very beginning. Vince Gilligan frequently repeated the pitch that the story was "Mr. Chips becomes Scarface." You know Scarface right? The famous morality play and cautionary tale! Oh wait, I mean the aspirational movie character valorized throughtout rap music and dorm room posters. Sure he dies at the end, but boy did he kick all sorts of ass while he was alive.

Great, entertaining show. But the scolding moralizing by the creators and critics ... gimme a break.

 

[Shareefruck]

Yeah, personally, I find the "serious" thematic content in Breaking Bad pretty much impossible to take seriously. Even if it hypothetically tracks and has logical value (debateable), it's PAINFULLY obvious that it was never the priority that everything else in the show is truly in service of, in my opinion. Instead, it just comes across as an excuse to sound intelligent while they get to do their entertaining rollercoaster of thrills, shocks, cliffhangers, and "What bad-ass way will Walt use to get himself out of yet another impossible situation" formula over and over again, which is what it always feel like they're actually after. Any substance feels completely compromised by that superficial primary thrust, in my opinion.