Little Things About Shows You Love That You Hate

[DrNewGod]

It happens to all of us. We love a show...except, there's this...thing...that just makes you nuts!

Mine is Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Their mainia for having everybody refer to each other as "Agent [So-And-So]" makes me beserk. That's not the way it happens at government agencies. Even back in the 1950s, when honorifics were the way it was done, people were addressed as "Mister (Miss/Ms/Misses)".

So there's my irrational hate of a beloved show. Yours?

[Malvolio]

I love Modern Family, but I hate when the characters talk back to the camera like a confessional in a reality show. They're a sitcom; they should revel in it, instead of pretending to be a reality show. Do they think that the confessionals are the reason that the networks love the reality shows? The networks love reality shows because they're cheap to produce. They don't have to build any sets or pay real actors, as the stars of reality shows often work for scale or a little bit more, certainly a lot less than ABC pays Ed O'Neill or Eric Stonestreet. And no number of couch confessionals will change that.

[Powerboy]

I love Supergirl and a lot of the CW shows but dang, all the navel gazing, deconstructionist, apologizing stuff gets old. It makes me kind of long for something like the 1950s Superman show. These are the good guys. Those are the bad guys and we have some confidence in who we are and what we do and every story doesn't have to drag every character into every lowest of the low feelings they can possibly get to. We can actually just have an adventure most of the time.

[C_Miller]

I love Modern Family, but I hate when the characters talk back to the camera like a confessional in a reality show. They're a sitcom; they should revel in it, instead of pretending to be a reality show. Do they think that the confessionals are the reason that the networks love the reality shows? The networks love reality shows because they're cheap to produce. They don't have to build any sets or pay real actors, as the stars of reality shows often work for scale or a little bit more, certainly a lot less than ABC pays Ed O'Neill or Eric Stonestreet. And no number of couch confessionals will change that.

It's a mockumentary. It's a style of comedy that's been around since the 80s and it's definitely not due to reality tv. It's designed to make the fourth wall be a known thing. Even in the non-confessional sections, the characters are aware they're being followed around by the camera. The resurgence of this style is mainly due to The Office being so successful. I will grant you that it's sometimes easy to forget that because Modern Family does not use the mocumentary to a great extent.

[babyblob]

In Agents of Shield season One There was a scene where they say Bucky Barnes had a star on the wall to honor agents who have died in the line of duty. That really bugged the Hell out of me.

[AndrewCrossett]

Many, many, many shows that I liked irritated me by forcing the male and female lead into a romantic relationship... because apparently men and women can't interface at all without eventually jumping into bed together. I long for a show where the male and female leads are just friends and partners and not lovers. The Avengers (British TV show) is literally the last series I can think of that did that.

[jetengine]

In Agents of Shield season One There was a scene where they say Bucky Barnes had a star on the wall to honor agents who have died in the line of duty. That really bugged the Hell out of me.

Why ? The howling commando unit (with Stark/Peggy and some OSS staff) were effectively Proto Shield.