What show took you the longest to get into?

It's not a show I disliked and it wasn't a show I needed to pay incredibly close attention to so I watched it while I ate breakfast

extreme boredom and “everyone seems to like it, I must be wrong” are dangerous bedfellows

Sometimes there's some elements that really shows the potential and brilliance that is interesting enough to keep pushing forward. So while it might not hit the point of must see TV right away, going in with the knowledge that it hits its stride in season X helps keep things in perspective. When I'm informed of something like that I'm willing to put up with the slow burn if the pay off is to be great, and there's at least some redeeming qualities about the show until then.

Season 1 is terrible, they were basically trying to do a The Office spin-off but the humor fell completely flat.

Season 1 was charming but it becomes an excellent show when Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt show up. It starts running on all cylinders. (It's one of my favorite shows.)

My friend who recommended it to me before I had ever seen it basically said the same, but I loved it from the beginning.

I can’t really believe it didn’t get canceled before season 2.

I agree ... how did it not get cancelled?

I still think it's worth watching from season 1 - there are a couple of pretty good episodes and it sets up some stuff that comes back later on, like building the park in the vacant lot. Plus, it's only 6 episodes IIRC.

I had such a troubled relationship with The Expanse S01 as well.

I read the novel and thought the writing was meh, so I dropped it at some point.

Then my friends were telling me the show was great, so I gave it a go but got bored at about the same point and stopped.

So other friends insisted it was great, so I tried it again with my GF. She complained about the show, but we decided to really see what this show was about and stick with it no matter what.

Turns out I thought the story was heading into some sort of "space zombies" tale, but I couldn't have been more wrong. And the characters I thought were so bland and indistinguishable in S01 gained so much nuance that they're now so clear in my mind years later.

It's definitely one of my favorite sci-fi shows of all time. I guess it's worth listening to your friends and sticking with things sometimes.

The SNW/LD crossover episode was one of the most anticipated things of 2023 for me and fully delivered, just the perfect loveletter to being a Trekkie whilst also building on a fair number of personal plot developments.

If you've not already watched it I'd check out Prodigy too - it's probably the most underrated Nu Trek series imo being aimed at younger viewers. That said I loved it as an adult (ostensibly) and am praying season 2 gets picked up soon.

As to the topic, I can't think of anything as even series heavy on world building/low on action at the start like Andor or The Expense drew me in from the beginning.

I was hooked by episode 4 when Bunk and McNulty are at the crime scene

This was my experience as well. I ended up loving it!

There's only like two series and a couple of specials of The Office anyway, fourteen episodes in total I think.

American Office is a bit of an acquired taste as Dry Humor often is...

The Office UK is where I became convinced that Ricky Gervais is one of the least funny comedians of all time, nothing has been able to change my mind.

Breaking Bad was so depressing. I couldn't binge it - my husband and I could only do an episode at a time once every few days, with sitcoms immediately after or in between. We finished it and it was truly well done and deserves all its praise, but it was a slog just because of how dark it was.

Arrested Development, I admit, took me a few episodes.

Arrested Development took everyone a few episodes. Much of the humour is about riffing on repeated jokes set up in previous episodes - you've got to get through a few episodes first for these to start to click.

That's partly why it was never successful when broadcast. It's a show that should have been binge-watched but was released on broadcast TV, an episode a week, but tellingly it only took off in popularity with the DVD release (and later on streaming).

Lost was very popular at the time, but it's not a good show at all.

I still argue that season 3 has to be one of the best seasons of any show made. Period.

I get a lot of anime recommendations that come with the same line

Exactly the same experience for me. I have friends ready to waterboard me over this, but I still haven't made it past ep2

I was the same way! I just finally watched it this year, after about my 5th attempt. Once I got past the first 2 episodes I was loving it lol.

It also has a very high rewatch value. Each time through you notice something you missed the previous times.

I find myself rewatching occasionally it when I introduce someone new to the series.

I watched everything and I'm of the opinion that it's an amazing show, huge production, great acting but it's definitely not for everyone. Even as a fan of the show you still look back at every episode / season and are like: "What did I even watch?" :P

It's very unique.

Have you given House of the Dragon a chance?

I wonder what other shows people stopped watching because they heard it had a bad ending.

My colleague at work told me to stick it out through the first season. Neither of us were really into fantasy, so it was kind of odd at first. But man, it was worth it. Seasons 7 and 8 were a bit rushed, which really fucked with the cadence of the timeline. Seasons 1-6 are still my favorite show ever. May be a bit of a hot take, considering the books are so awesome, or not idk.

Interesting ... I'm in a kinda similar boat with GOT. I watched S1-S2, roughly when it came out ... and didn't like it that much. I could see the appeal, but it generally felt like the whole thing was drawn out for the sake of making a long fantasy series without that much character growth or compelling plot lines.

I looked up a summary of plot points from the books that follow and it didn't really change my mind.

Fast forward to season 6, and I end up at friends house watching episodes together. I haven't seen any of it since S2, but figure I'll watch with them. I watch a couple of episodes, and start asking questions generally about how it really wasn't hard to catch up from S2 ... like, it didn't seem much had really changed apart from the Red wedding ... over 3-4 seasons.

And however valid a critique that is ... what was interesting was that many of the fans I was asking this of got really awkward about the questions. They had no answer, no defence, and it seemed apparent to me that their excitement about the show was entirely about expectations for what was to come and that they were mostly ignoring how they actually weren't enjoying the show that much any more. I now know that the show is widely regarded to have gone downhill after S4, though many hadn't really acknowledged that, and that feeling was the nerve I had probably touched. Fastforward, and S8 is coming out, so I figure I'll watch it to see the end ... may as well. And we all know how good that season was.

So, after basically being part of the GoT generation, and watching a lot of it, including the beginning when it came out ... I never got into the show and always thought it was shit.

Yeah Breaking Bad and stranger things are those shows that everyone else loves, that I just can't get into. I have been meaning to go back to them though.

I don't know that I ever will.

The Wire for my parent and myself also.

We watched it once, got a few episodes in, and we were like “we’ll come back to this I’m sure”

Seven years later, we finish The Sopranos. “Well I guess this is kinda like it…”

Nah, but we got through season three at least!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of those shows where I definitely recommend skipping the first season. Normally even if the first season is kind of bad, I still recommend people watch it in order to familiarize themselves with the show. But the jump in quality after Danny DeVito joins the cast.. really is that severe, especially since he brings a whole bunch of other changes to the show. Such as Deandra no longer being the voice of reason, but being just as unstable as everyone else, which is a very welcome change because the woman being the one smart person is a sitcom cliche that is honestly quite tiresome. Plus her delusions of grandeur are funny as hell.

I would dare say that the first season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is painfully unfunny aside, where is the rest of the series is just downright amazing.

I don't think you understood the question. Lol