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TV series which should be pensioned off

(92 Posts)
MrsPickle Wed 21-Jan-15 11:04:57

There are quite a few, in my most humble opinion!
For starters:

New Tricks. Way past its sell by date for me.
Still open all hours. Should have shut them when Ronnie Barker left.
Death in Paradise. Despite the endearing Kris Marshall
Call the midwife. Hackneyed in Hackney.. or caputneyed in Putney?

Any other suggestions?

sunseeker Thu 22-Jan-15 13:14:22

hildajenniJ I also love Big Bang Theory - Sheldon is my favourite, of course! As far as I am concerned all the soaps can be cancelled, also any of the so called "reality" programmes

soontobe Thu 22-Jan-15 13:54:41

We like Big Bang here too.

GillT57 Thu 22-Jan-15 13:56:43

Cant abide:
Mrs Brown's Boys, it is as jane said, like the worst of those awful 70s so called comedies. Also find that actor who plays Mrs Brown rather creepy.

the One Show, bland rubbish.

Anya Thu 22-Jan-15 14:05:10

Absolutely VQ all soaps must go.

Tegan Thu 22-Jan-15 14:40:25

I only saw a couple of minutes of OAH recently [didn't know it had been resurrected] but I find that comedy has moved on and the double entendres are a bit anachronistc and no longer funny. Having said that [how two faced am I?] I like Mrs Browns Boys confused. But my favourite is The IT Crowd; I must give TBBT another go but I need to get to know the characters [no need to do that with the IT crowd cause it's all about the computer people I used to deal with at work [bless them]]. I think Call the Midwife has lost it's original charm and assume it's moved away from the books and is no longer based on true stories [?] which shouldn't really matter in a tv programme but somehow does.

soontobe Thu 22-Jan-15 14:45:59

Yes, I think that Still Open All Hours has stuck too firmly to the original. It just doesnt really work now.
A second hand coffee machine/broken down one or whatever it was is a bit of an unworkable concept nowadays. It did make me realise how something or other this country has become. I cant quite think of the right word. Sophisticated??

janerowena Thu 22-Jan-15 15:01:29

I've never been able to watch soaps - not because they are rubbish (although I do think anti-depressants should be distributed free of charge to anyone watching 'Stenders) but because I became convinced that it was a plot by someone to force us all to stop what we are doing, not talk to each other, not answer the phone and begrudge any invitations to go out because an episode might be missed. So I made a conscious effort to not watch any.

So if I inadvertently found myself at my sister's, forced to endure an episode after four years of not having viewed it, it was quite consoling to see that nothing much had changed at all during those intervening years. The goings-on in my own and DBH's families were far more riveting, if not quite as murderous.

Grannyknot Thu 22-Jan-15 15:16:43

Come Dine with Me and anything similar. In fact the current "Show Me Your Garden" is just CHWM with a twist.

Really sticking my neck out now, due to Fawlty Towers being a "national treasure" and all that ... and of course we thought it was hilariously funny at the time too! But I happened on one of the episodes whilst panning the other day, and I was quite shocked at just how sexist the dialogue is: "Women don't have a brain between them" and that sort of thing. Into Room 101 for TV shows it goes, it is horribly dated.

And sorry for all the Corrie fans, also 'Enders, they are dreadful.

We still like "A Question of Sport" smile

KatyK Thu 22-Jan-15 15:56:35

I love Mrs Brown's boys - maybe because I had an Irish mammie smile
I also love Corrie. Maybe they could get rid of all football on TV grin

gillybob Thu 22-Jan-15 16:09:41

You can get rid of them all except Corrie vampirequeen. Which is the only soap I can watch. I love Mrs Brown's boys too.

Hate all the hospital crap stuff.

Eloethan Thu 22-Jan-15 16:42:33

People have different tastes in the programmes they watch but I agree that some programmes are rather jaded or becoming sillier by the minute:

New Tricks
Still open all Hours (didn't like Open All Hours either)
Death in Paradise
Midsomer Murders

I really like Call the Midwife. It is quite sentimental but I like the characters and it's interesting to see how times have changed.

I love Fawlty Towers and haven't noticed any obvious sexism. In fact, I think the two most sensible and capable characters in it are women (Sybil and Polly).

I'm sorry that Foyle's War has ended but perhaps it's better to finish on a high note.

I enjoy Coronation Street, especially its humour. I do think there's room for a soap that is more rooted in reality though.

Grannyknot Thu 22-Jan-15 17:16:04

Yes, 're FT that's true eloethan so women are shown in a good light in the series, I'm just grumpy today. I googled some of 'Basil Fawlty' s funniest quotes' and this one came up (perhaps it needs to he in context). There are loads of similar ones.

"Basil Fawlty: [to Sybil] I'm fed up with you, you rancorous, coiffured old sow. Why don't you syringe the donuts out of your ear and get some sense into the dormant organ you keep hidden in that rat's maze of yours?"

Elegran Thu 22-Jan-15 17:24:08

But aren't Basil's rants supposed to be so over-the-top to deliberately mark him out as an intolerant git? They are not opinions that the writer seriously wants to promote.

Knowsley Thu 22-Jan-15 17:57:26

I'd like to get rid of all 'reality' shows. They have a different reality to real people. Soaps I don't watch, but the memsahib is an avid viewer so I can't get rid of them, and am sometimes a captive audience while she watches. I despair at the standard of writing for them though with paper thin plots.

Doctors, for example is terrible. The series is used as an apprentice scheme for budding drama writers at the BBC. If they are successful, they get promoted to either Casualty or Holby City. In Doctors, one of the GPs will disappear from their surgery for an entire day, following a hunch about one of the patients, or some complete stranger that crosses their path. The entire staff all attend courses or team building events leaving the surgery unattended. No wonder the NHS is in such a state.

Grannyknot Thu 22-Jan-15 17:59:43

Maybe, but the rants just don't seem that funny to me now. So I think the humour is dated, if nothing else.

cazthebookworm Thu 22-Jan-15 20:02:38

I agree with you views entirely JANEROWENA on the reasons why to not watch "soaps," well said.
A programme that really irritates me is "Pointless" due to the regimental ways of Alexander Armstrong. He never ever varies his words, seems to ridgidly follow a script to the letter. It's so unnatural, boring, and predictable By comparison, Bradley Walsh on "The Chase" is much more relaxed and spontaneous, much more fun.

Juliette Thu 22-Jan-15 20:20:38

Doctors is 'comedy gold'. Don't think it's supposed to be taken seriously.....Is it? confused

chloe1984 Thu 22-Jan-15 21:00:57

Please let them delete casualty it just seems to get sillier and sillier for me.

Jane10 Thu 22-Jan-15 21:07:02

X factor? Britain's got Talent? The Voice? -freak shows as far as I can see!

NanKate Thu 22-Jan-15 22:28:30

Anything with Jonathan Ross and his awful side kick with the long hair. Can't stand either of them.

I want more Sherlock, Homeland and anything with Prof Brian Cox.

gillybob Thu 22-Jan-15 23:05:40

I'm with you there NanKate JR and RB make my blood boil !

ninathenana Fri 23-Jan-15 01:02:47

We love if Big Bang too. We've got DD watching it now and she's got her new partner hooked grin

Boohoo, we don't have Sky so won't be able to see the re runs of M*A*S*H

MrsPickle Fri 23-Jan-15 09:00:43

I didn't realise how many programmes I actually don't watch... soaps, reality thingies, sleb stuff, chat shows, sport (hub not a sports fan), hysterical dramas (Wolf Hall currently excluded from that), location and property progs (Though Restoration Man can be interesting occasionally).

If we didn't all pay a flat rate for our TV licence, but by Pay per view, would I be Better Off?

Nelliemoser Fri 23-Jan-15 09:36:14

Get rid of the "talent" shows and the celebrity shows and crime dramas that happens in total darkness.
I think Silent Witness has picked up of late. There are less flash backs to nasty violence and it seems the pathologist is no longer doing PMs with the aid of a hand torch. They have obviously paid their electricity bills.

I don't think a pathologist would go out and about playing detectives as she does. Yes they attend the scene to get initial evidence. I doubt if they run around with the detectives.

Bring back Quantum leap and the X files. They were great fun!.

trisher Fri 23-Jan-15 10:12:04

Casualty, Holby City and New Tricks can go.
I love Big Bang, but I am also addicted to "The Good Wife"- great to see Michael Fox acting again!