Unfairly maligned TV shows and movies

I loved the Seinfeld finale. One of the 3 best episodes. Perfection.

 

I like the finale. It's unfairly maligned.

 

For me, the finale was when Susan died. The last scene of that episode did everything which the greatest hits that the finale wanted to do.

 

At first I was watching to see if it ever was good. Then to see where it went bad.

Ted's not really a character so much as he is a placeholder for the viewer and plot device. Sort of like Carrie on Sex and the City. But the show was better when it was more often centered on his little philosophical conundrums, for whatever reason.

It's not so much that I need the plot reveal or am invested in Ted's story -- it's that somewhere in there, you lose a sense that THEY know where this is all going. Not just from a plot standpoint, but from an ethos standpoint.

What's funny is another show which couldn't be much more different from this one is stuck with the same problem: Sons of Anarchy.

 

"Gump" veered off into a horrible ending by creating that "Run Across America" bullshit, which wasn't in the book and was just plain stooopid. The book was excellent, and that ending angered me. Why introduce that nonsense while leaving out, say, Gump saving Mao from drowning?

 

Unpopular answer, but here goes...

For me, it's the back half of Season 3, specifically (though I realize this more in retrospect) beginning with Sandcastles in the Sand, which tries to go back to the well of Slapsgiving too soon, and intros the weak device of relying on a wacky guest star (Van Der Beek) for cheap laughs. It seemed like a funny premise, but the Sandcastles in the Sand video is so disappointing compared with Let's Go To The Mall, and it begins I think a lot of lazy, broad humor. And of course, the big development at the end where (SPOILER!!!!) Robin and Barney hook up. Everyone seems to like Robin and Barney a lot, but to me, it created a weird dynamic. The whole thing where Ted might still be in love with Robin, and it gets to destroy three future relationships, means you have to keep jumping through hoops to sustain the "Will they? Won't they?" stuff.

Part of what I loved about HIMYM when it was good is that it had little Easter Eggs and played with time in a fun way. I don't think it's an all-time sitcom or anything, but it was creative and fun and would drop a hint to something that would play out several episodes later. The episode with the 2 minute date, Ten Sessions, is really the last good "Ted" episode, I think. I thought that was one of the last times Ted was a sympathetic character you were kind of rooting for, and the relationship whiplash for him didn't feel like a plot contrivance to keep the show going. Sarah Chalke is actually a really sweet match for him, up to that point.

But then you get the lame feud between Barney and Ted, and the thing where they get hit by cars/buses, which is just a little too silly, frankly. And then you get the proposal between Ted and Stella that feels forced, and I think the show never really regained its equilibrium after that.

There are some good episodes in Seasons 4, 5 and 6, but I feel like it's diminishing returns. As Vers pointed out, it's just not as funny as it once was, which makes the show less tolerable from a plot standpoint, when you keep going in six different directions.

 

I still watch Seinfeld reruns and there's never a show that doesn't provide me with a laugh or two. Other than that, I don't watch much TV other than sports and Turner Classic Movies.
As for movies, I was not a fan of Forrest Gump, but the movie I can't bear to watch is Godfather III. Yet I and II are among the best movies I've ever seen.

 

Okay, Ragu, you're right. It wasn't unfairly maligned, it deserved it.

 

I don't think it ruins the good parts. I saw a re-run of the Season 1 finale not long ago and it is still fantastic.

Maybe it ruins how we will look back at the show when it's gone, if that's what you mean, but it doesn't make me think the show was never good.

 

When I was recovering from surgery, a bunch of my friends came over and we watched all three Godfathers back to back to back... It is only then when you truly realize that compared to the first two, the third one is pure shit...

 

For unfairly maligned, I am going to show my non-critic everyman colors and say 2 1/2 Men. I know it has been hated since day one, but it was a pretty good show for four or five years when the kid was young. Somewhere in around 2008 or 2009 they decided to make it about the most obscene sex joke they could get on the air every week. But before that, the show had a plot and sometimes even a heart.