Taste being a personal thing, this question is about your deciding something just isn’t for you rather than slagging off others’ faves as being of little or no artistic merit (aka a load of old bollocks as it’s known in the trade). One man’s meat and all that…
Reason why the question came to me was the recent Crowded House thread when I thought that as I’d always been quite fond of Split Enz, I’d never really got deeper into the Finn’s more recent band than the better known songs (Weather, Dream, Cake, etc).
Subsequently bought the 2 CD Gold collection and got six songs in before deciding that myself and messers Finn et al weren’t – and were never likely to become – BFFs.
If I don’t really enjoy a book, I’ll generally chuck it within the first 50-pages.
While TV series rarely last more than one or two episodes, I did make a notable exception in the form of Peaky Blinders which I got four episodes into twice before deciding it wasn’t for me. Some stuff I just know I’m not going to like so don’t even bother to start (those US sitcoms where they have about 100 writers pounding out wall-to-wall gags.
Films tend to vary depending on who’s directed., written or starred in it. Unless it’s by someone like David Lean, anything over three hours tends to get a very wide berth or, like Scorsese’s bloated Irishman, viewed in episodic chunks.
When it comes to music, some things I’ll persevere with, some I won’t. However, some stuff does only click over time – when I was much younger and music was a relatively costly pastime, I would try harder to like stuff I’d bought blind. Not so much these days, with streaming as a quality control filter.
One recent example though: I never took to Bowie’s Lodger album, but prolonged exposure finally made an impression on me, and now I think it’s one of his best. It was a pleasant surprise to find this could still happen.
Certain genres I have no truck with, just because there’s no appeal there for me whatsoever. Contemporary, autotuned pop, for instance, just leaves me totally cold.
I’m less patient with TV and films. I’m usually pretty sure by 10 to 20 minutes in if it’s something I want to continue watching. there’s nothing worse than committing yourself to some drama that has a really disappointing conclusion (case for the prosecution: that recent Bloodlands debacle starring James Nesbitt).
Oh, and I sat through the Irishman in one sitting and wish I hadn’t bothered. Really awful and tedious.
It’s resonance, isn’t it? Does the cultural item you are reading, watching, listening or dancing to have any points of connection for you? And also, does that open door lead in an interesting direction, promising discovery? If it ‘says nothing to me about my life’, to quote some bloke, then for me it is time to stop, or put it on pause until any resonance emerges at a later point.
Also, some stuff you just like, and you can’t easily explain why it resonates. I’ve found that this can happen with types of music that at one time I would have found too alien to my tastes – jazz, for example.
Other music I liked once I find I can’t return to. I once had a fondness for Deep Purple, but now their music sounds dull, predictable, and actually not really very “heavy” at all (Black Sabbath on the other hand…)
There’s a sweet spot, isn’t there – a kind of cultural Overton window – that sits between bland overfamiliarity and vindaloo unfamiliarity, between fast food that slips in and out without noticing and a massive banquet of multiple courses with dishes of every taste and texture that just seems insurmountable. Just a question of whether you develop the stomach for the latter.
Referencing your nom-de-mer, I guess from Filet-O-Fish® to Bouillabaisse.
Exactly!
There’s more than enough good stuff out there to not persevere if something hasn’t clicked after a fair go. To take two popular examples, I’ve read half a dozen Terry Pratchett books over 30+ years, which is enough to know that I would be wasting my time trying any more. I just don’t like them.
And I watched half the first season of Schitt’s Creek before bailing out (try Gas Corner on Amazon, it has a similar premise but it’s funny). As for series which ‘really get going in the fourth season’, sod that. If something can’t grab my attention without dozens of hours of pre-work then it doesn’t deserve it.
It’s Corner Gas, and yes its superb. Kim’s Convenience is also worth a watch. I think Schitt’s Creek actually improved series over series. Canadian comedy, who’d have thunk it?
This is a good question now that we are all hooked on streaming services. “Netflix Bloat” is the term in our place for serieseses that have 10 Seasons but “jump the shark” in Season 5.
For this reason I am always slightly worried that starting anything new will be a disappointing and frustrating waste of time in hindsight. Recent culprits: “Designated Survivor” (1.5 seasons) and “The Expanse” (1 season).
We have just kicked off with Mad Men and I sense the vague clouds of apprehension gathering already.
Oh yes, and Schitt’s Creek rapidly moved into “so pleased with itself it’s untrue” territory. Took 2 episodes IIRC
Designated Survivor was great for one series after that it rapidly ran out of steam. The beginning of the end came the moment Kiefer uttered his first “goddamn it, people” and morphed from Jedidiah Bartlett into Jack Bauer.
Couldn’t get my head around the Expanse at all and bailed after one episode.
Never watched Schitts Creek – Just looks like one of those non-stop wisecracking US comedies I loathe (cf Frazier, BBT, etc – my loss, I know)
Assume you have Amazon, MC, If so check out the Patriot, MCE (assuming you’ve not already seen it) It’s absolutely brilliant
Designated Survivor was flawed by the main character being, like, the President, and therefore unable to actually do any of the heroic or thrilling stuff himself. Plus he would without fail remove his glasses at moments of tension at least twice per episode. The David Caruso school of acting.
Will look our for Patriot.
Schitts Creek is brilliant, brilliant. And by the way , it’s Canadian. Sure, it lost its way for a bit then the writers (unlike Mash, Friends, Porridge etc etc) said “”You know what, let’s just do a cracking final series and finish it right here, right now”
What’s the fans’ opinion of the first episodes, the ones I saw before deciding not to continue? I’ve asked his in a few places and never got an answer, but does it get better or is it just that what it wasn’t for me?
I watched the entire run recently for the first time.
I feel it starts slowly, with mostly unlikeable characters. As it moves through ever-improving seasons the Rose family (mostly) become nicer people.
Felt the same about This Country, which I also sped through recently. Came to really enjoy and sympathise with its characters.
I think it was the absence of any likeable characters which I found difficult, much more of an obstacle in a comedy than a drama. There was only so much of every scene leading up to Levy Junior pulling a face of exaggerated disgust that I could take.
@gatz if you haven’t got it two thirds the way through Series 1 I can confidently predict Schitts Creek ain’t for you (you sap)
I am in the last season of Schitt’s Creek and struggling a bit to finish it. I think it probably peaked (for me) in season 2 or 3, the shift towards Levy Jr’s domination of story lines is regrettable I think.
We are half-way through House of Cards series 3 (I know, the last people in the universe etc. and we only finished Breaking Bad 6 months ago..) and the drop-off is starting we fear.
House of Cards is the most obvious example I can think of of giving up on a series. I kept thinking it would get better, that I’d see what the fuss was about, and I just never did. Gave up somewhere around the end of series 1.
Gave up on House of Cards in S1 too. Ditto Ozark, the plot of which I thought preposterous and badly written
@moseleymoles
You might say that, mosleymoles. I couldn’t possibly comment.
Assume you’ve seen the UK original, MM. Ian Richardson’s peformance knocks spots off Kevin Spacey’s US simulacrum
The only show I can think of where I persevered after a pretty meh first season/series was Buffy which I loved. Were I ever to watch it again, I’d skip the first batch and go for a best 30 episodes or something. Trouble is there is just too much to watch/listen to nowadays
I posted a ‘dump your cultural crud here’ a few weeks ago, and from that offered the Netflix drama Another Life which I bailed on after about 40 mins of lazy and derivative plotting and ‘come ons’… however wish I had not invested 4 hours in Bloodlands.
Peaky Blinders we also did one ep. to see what all the Black Country Living Museum fuss was about.
Conversely, within 10 mins of watching Call My Agent we said ‘yesssss’ to preposterously well-dressed Parisians bitching about each other.
I also bailed on Peaky Blinders but my wife, who will never normally persist with anything, even the good stuff, says you have to get past the first one or two episodes.
I agree with your wife.
My wife [my wife*] watched the whole lot ‘live’ but it didn’t appeal to me [an opinion I based mostly on the stupid name]. She wanted to re-watch the lot in preparation for the most recent season and asked me to join her. I said that I would watch it if she watched The Wire [as I wanted to re-watch that and she hadn’t seen it and I was sure she would love it ‘if she just gave it a try’] I became hooked on PB but she bailed on The Wire after 4 episodes.
It has a strong cast [and some dodgy accents] but Cillian Murphy is excellent as the main Blinder [and also has great taste in music – check out his 6Music show] and I look forward to the next season.
I’ve never seen an episode of PB – nobody wears a uniform and calls their superior “Guv” or “Boss”, so Mrs F won’t watch it – but I did buy the soundtrack CD.
Helen McCrory RIP
I’m actually quite nostalgic for the TV shows that didn’t tell a long, involved story over multiple seasons, but had episodes with individual storylines and recurring characters. Things like Northern Exposure and NYPD Blue. It didn’t really matter if you missed a few weeks, and you didn’t feel this urge to “finish” them.
Shtisel is entertainingly slow, or do I mean slowly entertaining. A struggle without subtitles, mind.
With books my general rule of thumb is to give it 50 pages (or at a stretch 75 if unsure). I’m pretty sure by then if it’s working for me.
Having said that, my attention span for books has collapsed during the pandemic – I’ve been working from home since last March & I can’t recall a time in over 30 years when I’ve started but dropped so many books. Can’t put my finger on it.
Is that why, because your fingers are a bit buttery?
Well that’s handy because *SNIIIIII-IIIIP!
I have the attention span of a goldfish so something would need to grab me fairly quickly. If not I drift off to th…..
The first four series of Arrested Development probably had the highest quota of brilliant absurd jokes outside of cartoons like Family Guy or The Simpsons when it was funny. But series 5 went something like, “why isn’t this funny any more?”, “what on earth has happened to her face??”, off.
Game of Thrones around season 3: I had enjoyed the outrageous medievalism of season 1, but the relentless cruelty and torture-porn of season 3 wore me down (yes, I do know I am missing the whole point of the saga, but this is my choice of cup of tea).
I gave up around the same time for the same reason.