TV Insider’s 6 Shows We Wish We Could Quit
Television is a commitment. A single show can demand attention for dozens of hours, spread out over the course of years. Like any long-term relationship, those between viewers and their shows often sour for one reason or another. But, again like any other relationship, breakups with TV shows are hard. Some combination of obligation and familiarity keeps people coming back to the same old series that treat them wrong. Here are 5 shows that the TV Insider staff wish they could break it off with.
Dancing with the Stars
—Matt Roush, TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine Senior Critic
The Walking Dead
—Evan Lewis, TV Insider Writer
My relationship with The Walking Dead has been complicated since the latter episodes of Season 1. The pilot was fantastic, and the next few episodes carried that momentum reasonably well, but once the CDC came into play, my appreciation for the show shifted from legitimate character drama to genre fiction goof. I got into the comics as a curiosity after watching the first couple of seasons, and for a while, making comparisons between the page and the screen was entertaining enough to keep me interested. Still, much of seasons 2-6, I watched half seriously and half mockingly, and that balance keeps skewing more and more into hate-watch territory as the show lurches on. But now, no matter how bad it gets, I’ve survived it for seven years, and I’m determined to keep it up.
See Also 5 Best Moments from 'The Walking Dead' Midseason Premiere
Game of Thrones
—Jason Clark, TV Guide Magazine Associate Editor
As any studious Emmy prognosticator knows, you really only need to watch the last two episodes of Game of Thrones in any season to be fully in-the-know, as that’s where the creators backload all the best and most talked-about stuff. So why do I actually watch the eight that precede those last two episodes year in and year out? Maybe it’s my deep appreciation for the day players of the United Kingdom, or the hopes of seeing a pristine CGI dragon, or maybe just because there is a deep-seated responsibility to be a true completist regarding the most-watched television show on a pay-cable network.
House Hunters
—Kellie Freeze, TV Insider and Channel Guide Magazine Writer
I’m an addict of HGTV’s House Hunters. It started when the series first premiered; I was a college student and dreamed of someday owning my first place. This was reality TV’s early days, when TLC had Trading Spaces and A Baby Story, and lifestyle shows about normal folks were a TV rarity. When I got married, my husband joined me in my obsession, and together, we’d join the televised homebuyers as they peeked into strangers’ closets and critiqued wall colors. The series has made changes—branching out into specialty series for tiny homes and luxury homes and vacation homes—and after becoming homebuyers and parents, our House Hunters relationship has evolved, too. We’re no longer watching it in primetime, but at bedtime, when the dulcet sound of the series’ opening doorbell and low-stakes storylines lull us to sleep. And it’s the franchise’s International series that now most piques our interest. After a day of watching and writing about dark and cutting-edge TV for work, House Hunters is and will always be my cozy, milquetoast TV pal, whom I love despite rumors of TV fakery and its plethora of gold-toned bathroom fixtures.
Pretty Little Liars
—Emily Aslanian, TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine Assistant Editor
Grey’s Anatomy
—Erin Medley, TV Insider Editorial Director
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