Mad Men to Seinfeld – TV's most criminally overrated shows - The Guardian

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Seinfeld was magic at the time and revolutionized the sitcom genre... but it's painful to watch nowadays.

Frasier though, still stands the test of time.

Really? I think Seinfeld holds up extremely well, I still watch it from time to time.
 
I agree withe Arrested Development / Community comments, more Community than Arrested Development. I always found Community to be a bit full of itself with some episodes.

Lost is criminally underrated these days. The backlash against it was completely out of proportion. People act like it's the worst TV show in history when it's a great show with a couple of weaker seasons.

I think the issue with Lost was that it was a victim of it's own success and fandom. It's the first show I can think of that had rapid fans who were trying to dissect everything and piece together ideas of what was going on. What I loved out of it was the mystery of everything and not having everything answered, however this wasn't the case for everyone. People needed answers and wanted to know every intricate thing explained back to them (remember the statue foot?). I believe this desire coupled with fan theories (I despise fan theories) is what killed the show for a lot of people. I remember after the finale a radio show had caller after caller saying how they "wasted six years for no answers". The show does go a bit to shite come season 4/5 and despite what people say season 3 is pretty damn strong.

I feel it doesn't work well now when people watch is because it was not written for binge watching (another issue I have is the loss of episodes in TV). So the mystery each episode and season built to keep viewers coming back is entirely lost (no pun) when someone mainlines 3 seasons over a weekend.
 
I still can't believe Battlestar Galactica was able to drag 5 shitty seasons of TV out of one REALLY GOOD pilot episode.

What an awful show that was.

Surprised Breaking Bad isn't on this list, it's much more overrated than something like Seinfeld or Mad Men.
 
I still can't believe Battlestar Galactica was able to drag 5 shitty seasons of TV out of one REALLY GOOD pilot episode.

What an awful show that was.

Surprised Breaking Bad isn't on this list, it's much more overrated than something like Seinfeld or Mad Men.
Agreed on Breaking Bad but how was Battlestar Galactica awful? If anything I was not a fan of the miniseries at all. It was too military gung-ho sci-fi nonsense. The show did a poor job at introducing its characters (who felt like caricatures in the mini-series) but were added depth later on as the series went along. Roslin scenes were especially badly handled I thought (in the Miniseries). The show definitely has its faults however and I think suffers from extended seasons of 20 episodes. I'm in the middle of watching it right now (halfway through S3) and there have been times where I felt like like quitting due to long strings mediocre episodes.
 
Agreed on Breaking Bad but how was Battlestar Galactica awful? If anything I was not a fan of the miniseries at all. It was too military gung-ho sci-fi nonsense. The show did a poor job at introducing its characters (who felt like caricatures in the mini-series) but were added depth later on. The show definitely has its faults however and I think suffers from extended seasons of 20 episodes. I'm in the middle of watching it right now (halfway through S3) and there have been times where I felt like like quitting due to long strings mediocre episodes.

Awful is a bit harsh, but the first 2 seasons are really the only GOOD seasons. It lost it's footing starting with S3 and never found it again.
 
The most overrated show is by far Game of Thrones. Big budget, beautiful production, mediocre acting and downright terrible writing and plot progression in the last 3 seasons.

Overloaded with minor side characters and story threads going nowhere. And as soon as you critizise it the a lot of the fans deflect with " Well in the books it was a lot more detailed..."
I don't care about your shitty books, I want good TV and GoT is failing to deliver that in the last couple of years.
 
Seinfeld was fine when it came out, but now that there are like 10 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm starring the real deal, I don't know why anybody would go back to Jerry.
 
Being overrated or not is a matter of opinion, but I really didn't find anything about Mad Men interesting or engrossing. I tried, but I just couldn't stand it.

DerZuhälter;211566699 said:
The most overrated show is by far Game of Thrones. Big budget, beautiful production, mediocre acting and downright terrible writing and plot progression in the last 3 seasons.

Overloaded with minor side characters and story threads going nowhere. And as soon as you critizise it the a lot of the fans deflect with " Well in the books it was a lot more detailed..."
I don't care about your shitty books, I want good TV and GoT is failing to deliver that in the last couple of years.

I agree for season 4 and 5, but 6 was excellent and it finally pushed the actual story (and most characters arcs) forward. Season 4 and 5 felt like they were stuck in limbo.
 
Agreed on Breaking Bad but how was Battlestar Galactica awful? If anything I was not a fan of the miniseries at all. It was too military gung-ho sci-fi nonsense. The show did a poor job at introducing its characters (who felt like caricatures in the mini-series) but were added depth later on as the series went along. Roslin scenes were especially badly handled I thought (in the Miniseries). The show definitely has its faults however and I think suffers from extended seasons of 20 episodes. I'm in the middle of watching it right now (halfway through S3) and there have been times where I felt like like quitting due to long strings mediocre episodes.

Battlestar is overrated in it get all sorts of critical love while other superior contemporary sci fi series, namely Farscape were ignored. Battlestar was good and had some top notch episodes(most of Season 1 and 2, New Caprica, The Mutiny etc) but was bogged down by poor filler episodes and ironically considering one of two taglines poorly planned story arches.
 
Seinfeld is still awesome today, a timeless classic for broadcast sitcom.

Arrested Development season 1-2 were great, season 3 okay, season 4 sucked
 
Battlestar is overrated in it get all sorts of critical love while other superior contemporary sci fi series, namely Farscape were ignored. Battlestar was good and had some top notch episodes(most of Season 1 and 2, New Caprica, The Mutiny etc) but was bogged down by poor filler episodes and ironically considering one of two taglines poorly planned story arches.

It may be overrated but it is not awful.
 
How is Top Gear and Survivor on they list ?

Aren't they both massive shows with millions of viewers?

Yeah I guess they're considering most people would watch but badmouth them, yet they're better than even viewers give them credit for? There's certainly shows I watch that I love to complain about, yet I don't stop watching.
I don't really know, I honestly only read the bits on Wonder Showzen and Clone High which are both fantastic.
 
I agree for season 4 and 5, but 6 was excellent and it finally pushed the actual story (and most characters arcs) forward. Season 4 and 5 felt like they were stuck in limbo.

That's what happens when you have to set things up for a huge endgame. Shit takes time.
 
Totally agree with BSG. It's up there with lost in that by the end of it I wanted to send an email asking the people who made it if they could reimburse me for the time I wasted watching it.
 
That's what happens when you have to set things up for a huge endgame. Shit takes time.

I understand, and GOT has a shitload of arcs, but it just felt like they didn't know what to do or how to really push the story forward in those two seasons. It seems that going ahead without the book was a good thing for the show.
 
Gotta agree with Mad Men... What a boring ass show...

Let's take all the interesting advertising bits, and maybe have a total of 45 mins dedicated to the product each season, and let's jumble up the rest of the story with corny love triangles and bullshit problems and mundane twists..
 
I guess of the actual 4 cows (Sopranos, Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) the easiest target will always be Mad Men. Because of what Matthew Weiner decided was the point of Mad Men......how Don Draper created the Coca Cola ad.


How a guy made a contribution to meaningless advertising.


That will never ever sit right with any critical viewer. Ever.
 
I guess of the actual 4 cows (Sopranos, Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) the easiest target will always be Mad Men. Because of what Matthew Weiner decided was the point of Mad Men......how Don Draper created the Coca Cola ad.


How a guy made a contribution to meaningless advertising.


That will never ever sit right with any critical viewer. Ever.

huh?
 
I guess of the actual 4 cows (Sopranos, Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) the easiest target will always be Mad Men. Because of what Matthew Weiner decided was the point of Mad Men......how Don Draper created the Coca Cola ad.


How a guy made a contribution to meaningless advertising.


That will never ever sit right with any critical viewer. Ever.
Now I haven't seen all of Mad Men but from what I have seen that never occurred to be the 'point' of Mad Men (to me at least).
 
Seinfeld and Arrested Development on the same list as Friends (which to be clear is a garbage show in comparison). yeah, no, fuck that.
 
Mad Men - one of the best shows ever not to air on HBO

Battlestar Galactica - I loved it, and it is one of my all-time favorites, but it does have several throw away episodes. Given the background of the show and the type of show it is they are wrong.

Arrested Development - What? Next you will say Seinfeld is overrated.

The Walking Dead - Ok not a great show, but overrated by who? It is not a critical darling like most of the shows on this list. Maybe it doesn't deserve the ratings it gets, but that allows AMC to keep shows like Halt & Catch Fire on the air.

Downton Abbey - went completely downhill after the season 3 finale. That said after season 3 it also stopped be a critical darling, because its soap opera format was exposed from that point on.

Friends - my wife will kill me, but it was overrated even when it originally aired. It never made me laugh ever, but I am really not a fan of sitcoms (Rosanne and Seinfeld are the only two from the 90's I liked).

Seinfeld - What? Next you will say Arrested Development is overrated.

The West Wing - Yep overrated.

Lost - hmmm...most people look at Lost (even fans) and recognize that it is a very flawed show that despite those flaws they still love it. So disagree it is overrated (at least in my circles).

This is England - Never head of it

So I agree on Friends and The West Wing, and 100% strongly disagree on Mad Men, Seinfeld, BSG, and Arrested Development. That said they are overrating the critical view of shows like The Walking Dead, Downton Abbey, and Lost. Most normal fans and critics have no problem pointing out the flaws of those shows.
 
In what world is Walking Dead actually overrated? It's super popular, sure, but most people seem to just find it entertaining and aren't praising it as the second coming of Christ.
 
BSG is one of my favorite shows of all time. I don't consider it overrated at all. I need to rewatch the series actually..
 
I went back to Arrested Development recently and I really didn't like it that much.

There are like four jokes in that show, told over and over and over. Tobias is gay! Buster wants to bang his mom! Lindsay is spoiled! Michael is a bad father and doesn't even know it!

GOB and Lucille are decent characters (and played by good comic actors) but overall it just felt incredibly lazy and repetitive.
 
seinfeld and mad men overrated?

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So much work went into making Mad Men historically accurate. That alone deserves merit. Show isn't for everyone but it's hardly overrated. That's like when people are like "I don't like Citizen Kane cause it's slow." Doesn't matter, it's still masterful.
 
^^^
I really don't see what historical accuracy has to do with whether or not a show is good.

There is no way to look at the ridiculous outpouring of Emmys/critical love for Mad Men and not come away thinking that the show, while good, was wildly overrated.
 
^^^
I really don't see what historical accuracy has to do with whether or not a show is good.

There is no way to look at the ridiculous outpouring of Emmys/critical love for Mad Men and not come away thinking that the show, while good, was wildly overrated.

You are making an absolute statement (there is no way) regarding something that is subjective. I don't find it overrated at all. If anything I think it deserved more Emmys, and right now I don't think there is anything currently that comes close to it's quality (seasons 2 of Leftovers & Halt & Catch Fire maybe).
 
Geez, I know money is tight at the Guardian, but must they really stoop to such terrible clickbait?
 
Friends I can get behind. Seinfeld has a terrible first season and an incredibly hit and miss last two seasons (one of my least favorite 30 minutes of a comedy show is in there), but a lot of the I between is some of the best sit com material ever. Arrested development is also really good, mainly the first to seasons, but there's good material in the other two. I can somewhat agree with Mad Men. I haven't seen all of it, just really couldn't get into it. Possibly doesn't help that the creator is the sole credited writer on the only episode of the Sopranos I hate.
 
Seinfeld is hilarious. So is AD. I guess the rest could be considered overrated.

I wonder what the author considers the best sitcoms of the '90s and 2000s if not Seinfeld and Arrested Development.

Edit: Mad Men is boring.
 
Opinions, I got em!

Mad Men: Maybe my favorite show. Overrated if you don't "get" it, but for those who care there's a ton there. Worth the praise it gets.

Battlestar Galactica: Started out awesome and tanked. And that's also the way everyone seems to rate it, so... not overrated? I didn't hate the last couple of seasons as much as some people, even.

Arrested Development: Didn't get into it, but seemed solid.

The Walking Dead: Who rates this highly?

Downton Abbey: haven't seen

Friends: Watched for a while, very fun.

Seinfeld: Haven't seen enough of, but what I saw was very funny.

The West Wing: Haven't seen

Lost: Haven't seen

This is England: Haven's seen

So, of the shows that I've seen a lot or at least a sampling of, the list is completely wrong.

I do recall reading some Mad Men recaps along the way where it seemed that the writer just misunderstood things (like, had character relationships or plot points factually wrong) and now I am wondering if that was this Guardian writer, who maybe lost track of what was going on and thus only saw it as a soap. Mad Men did make you work more than most shows.
 
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