For some reason a lot of TV shows don’t start well but then get good or are great to start with and then go off the boil.
Tell us about the shows that aren’t worth watching till episode 7 or season 3 and the ones that you need to get the fuck out of before season 4.
Also, as a potential discussion point (or something to ignore completely) I’m constantly amazed at the number of quite highly-rated comedy shows that have absolutely terrible pilot episodes and even weak first seasons. It almost seems that there’s an expectation that opening episodes will be poor these days. This seems really strange to me, I get that a show will grow, develop and get stronger but shouldn’t professional writers be able to present a first episode that has some laughs in it?
Yeah, that’s a show that is fairly uniquely written for wild plotting and structure and stuff though (and it still improves once you know the characters)
Basically, you can’t be like “Haha! That’s classic Joey” until you know who Joey is
I understand the point you’re making - the laughs should increase as we understand the characters better - but a good writer (ior team of writers) should be able to make an audience laugh from pretty early on.
Yeah, the whole setup of his persona and the ‘light’ humour of a world where animals live as humans is one of the great bait-and-switches but it’s a risky strategy. I gave up initially 4 or 5 episodes in I think. Then I revisited and it’s eps 6/7 where you realise the actual tone and themes of the show.
Honestly it’s one of the most profoundly emotive shows I’ve ever seen but you’d never glean that from the opening half of the first season.
Season 1 is a totally different tone to season 2. Leslie becomes a lot more likeable, they beef up the characterisation and quickly dispense of the deadwood (BRANDANOWICZ!!!). Seasons 2-4 are absolutely superb television.
Always Sunny - jump in at season 2. i didn’t hate 1 but feel like it’s a bit more ‘edgy’ and unpleasant in retrospect. there’s probably a bit of that in season 2 still as well
still has its moments now but you could probably jump out a few seasons ago without missing that much really