TV Tuesday: Going the Distance

[yourlibrarian]

It's easy to try out a lot of different shows nowadays, but maybe harder to decide what to stick with. What was the longest you ever watched a show before giving up on it?

Poll #32984 What was the longest you ever watched a show before giving up on it?

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

The longest I watched was...

View Answers

Less than 1 episode
0 (0.0%)

1 episode
0 (0.0%)

2-3 episodes
3 (8.6%)

4-6 episodes
2 (5.7%)

7-12 episodes
0 (0.0%)

13-18 episodes
0 (0.0%)

19-24 episodes
1 (2.9%)

25-44 episodes
4 (11.4%)

45-66 episodes
4 (11.4%)

67-88 episodes
1 (2.9%)

89-111 episodes
3 (8.6%)

Over 111 episodes
17 (48.6%)

Comments

[haunted_cherries]

Saw this and IMMEDIATELY thought of the Walking Dead. I gave that show chance after chance and I finally just gave up. Never even went back to finish it. xD

Spoilers for The Walking Dead TV show and comics

I was really trying up to that point to give the show the benefit of the doubt, but after Carl died in Season 8 and them writing Rick off in Season 9, I was over it. Thankfully Rick, didn't die like how he did in the comics, but even still. :/

[yourlibrarian]

I never saw the show but from osmosis it sounds like you were not alone in that experience. I ended up going back to see the last 2 seasons of Supernatural but there are two more I have never seen. Given how long that show ran it was easy to pick it for my longest incomplete watch.

[haunted_cherries]

Me remembering that Supernatural was a whole 15 SEASONS, GOODNESS HDJSDHKSJ Honestly, now that I know what I know, FAIR xD

[reeby10]

There are plenty of shows I happened to stop watching after quite a few episodes, because my schedule changed or their schedule changed or whatever and I just never bothered to catch up. But I think the longest I watched and then specifically gave up on watching was 44 episodes with Grimm. I was not enjoying the zombie arc at the end of season 3 and when it looked like they were picking up with the same for season 4, I decided it was just not it for me anymore lol

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, personal schedules can make a big difference. I watch more TV now than I ever did, just because I have more time.

[onlysmallwings]

Critical Role badly skews my results, lol. Watched the whole first campaign and only bits of everything after. I only have so much time after work and making time for friends. It's just so much content every week, even if it's good.

[yourlibrarian]

A lot of content can make a difference. I'm not accustomed to long seasons anymore. Usually I'm ready to move on after 10 episodes.

[rogueslayer452]

lol, that's understandable considering that Critical Role has not only hundreds of episodes per campaign but those episodes combined consists of thousands of hours when totaled together. And that's not taking into account the one-shots and mini-campaigns, and other additional content they have on their channel. It can be overwhelming for a lot of people, so yeah it's definitely a bit skewed when measuring it against regular television programming.

[donutsweeper]

I try to give most things that I was at least somewhat interested in originally at least a full episode. There's honestly been quite a number of shows I dropped numerous seasons in, 5, 6, even 10 or 12. Sometimes it's due to a cast change but often it's just my level of interest had been lowering and lowering for a while and there was some sort of break (either mid-season or between seasons) and I got out of the habit of tuning in to X channel at Y time (for shows airing on regular tv) or I just never noticed or cared enough to watch when a new season dropped on a streaming service.

I'm not sure how what the longest I watched something before quitting I think I lasted until after s10 of, ER, NCIS, and Supernatural so over 200 episodes. And then there's soap operas, many of which I watched for years and years before wandering away and they air 250 episodes (ish) a year so probably well over 1k episodes if not much, much more.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm trying to remember if there's a show I just noped out of well along because of some development. But for the most part it's similar, in that a number of things have either been boring me or rubbing me the wrong way.

[merydian]

Having been a Grey's Anatomy fan on and off over the last 12 years, 111 episodes is like a little snack. I think I have given up on it for good, but they sometimes bring back my favorite characters from the earlier days so it ends up back on my radar.

Anyway, I tend to stick to much smaller shows these days. I have a soft spot for shows that were canceled too soon, and the quicker it is to get through the sooner I can start participating in fandom and fix whatever would've made me give up if there had been more episodes to sit through.

[yourlibrarian]

Hee, not many shows can say that! But I know what you mean about older fandoms that I want to get through so I can read about them.

[china_shop]

Haha, maths is too hard.

Generally speaking, I'm not a completionist and will cheerfully jump ship if the show seems to be going in a direction I don't like or if I get bored. I've watched the first few seasons of various sitcoms (eg, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, The New Girl -- probably many more) and then decided they were getting samey. I gave up on The West Wing after season 4 or 5? Can't remember. And when Sherlock fell off the wagon on Elementary, I stopped watching (though I believe he quickly scrambled back on). There are bound to be many more I can't remember... :-)

[yourlibrarian]

Ha, yeah, the problem with seasons is that they vary so much per show (30 episodes! 3 episodes!) Of course viewing time varies a lot too (20 minute episodes! 90 minute episodes!) but that probably matters less when it comes to sticking with something.

[china_shop]

Oh my goodness, episode length (and the way that streaming has removed any constraints for episode length)! Was it last season's Stranger Things finale that was hours and hours long?

A lot of Kdramas have extremely long episodes, too: Hospital Playlist is a show about some doctors in which almost nothing happens FOR AGES (it's enjoyable watching), and the episodes started out eight-something minutes long; the finale was 113 minutes. I remember feeling like every episode of Something in the Rain was almost an indie movie in itself.

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, that kind of variation -- in the same show -- is wild!

[starfleetbrat]

I've given up on some shows after less than an ep, but also given up on some after half a dozen or more seasons.

Usually its because I lose interest. Sometimes its because the show took soooooo long to come back, that I can't remember what happened originally so I feel lost when the new seasons drops.

There's also been a few times where the follow up season fails to air in my country (australia) because the show changed networks in its origin country and an agreement wasn't made to stream it here through the same or different service.

For example, I still cannot legally watch Snowpiercer season 4 anywhere, nor can I legally watch the final 6 eps of The Nevers.

[yourlibrarian]

I have to wonder how few thousand people ever did see the end of The Nevers! I have never been able to find them anywhere to watch.

[starfleetbrat]

yeah they really made it hard to watch. I believe its on Tubi in some countries, just not all countries for some reason.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I heard that but when I searched Tubi it turned up nothing recent. Apparently it was running only live and there was nothing scheduled for repeats.

[rocky41_7]

My general feeling is that it's never too late to peace out. Sticking with a TV show is a real time commitment! I refuse to fall prey to sunk cost fallacy with my TV time (or at least, I try!)

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I started to do that well after I gave up on books, but when I forget about watching something it tells me something about my level of interest.

[rocky41_7]

FR...if catching up starts feeling like a chore rather than something I look forward to, I'm over it.

[alchemicink]

I was afraid I was gonna be the only one voting "over 111 episodes" in the poll, but I'm not, thank goodness 😂

Usually I try to give new shows about 4 or 5 episodes to grab my attention, because I know some good ones get off to a rocky start. But occasionally, I do get overly optimistic and think "ah, maybe the next arc will be better" and keep watching against my better judgment.

Anyway, I did watch 133 episodes (out of 170 total) of the anime Black Clover until I moved and no longer had access to the channel it was airing on. I think by that point I was probably just hate-watching it and was glad for an excuse to drop it 😂

[yourlibrarian]

I suspect a lot of longtime viewers end up hate watching shows!

[rogueslayer452]

I accidentally misclicked due to a miscalculation, it was supposed to be over 111 episodes. It was for Supernatural since I stopped watching after season six. That was perhaps the longest I have stuck with a show, even if I had reservations and dislikes about the writing and direction I tried to stick with it. But unfortunately at that point I just was so unhappy with the way the show was going that I completely stopped after watching the premiere of S7.

I think that was the last time I tried to stick with a show for as long as that even if I wasn't happy with the direction it was going in. After that, if I'm not getting enjoyment from it (or even from the fandom) I just stop and distance myself, and perhaps some day in the future when it's all finished I can revisit it, if it still interests me.

In general, if a show captures my interest I'll continue watching it, and I'll always give something a try if the story intrigues me enough. But if it starts slagging off I'll either skip around or look for spoilers to see what's in store for the story and whether it's worth my time investing with it or not.

[mfirefly10]

It honestly depends on my level of investment in the characters. I've dropped some shows after a few episodes whereas I've finished shows despite not enjoying the last season(s) just because there were characters I loved enough to want to know how their stories ended.

I think The Walking Dead is the one I stuck it out with the longest. I watched regularly until Danai Gurira left in s10. Then I watched the last few episodes of s11 to see how it wrapped up, only to realize it didn't lol. The series finale was mostly just set up for the 3 different spinoff shows they launched. Only one of which I watched.

[naushika]

Over 111 for me, I lost interest in The X-Files quickly after Mulder left, which was the end of season 7. I think that's the longest I ever made it.

[benbenberi]

There have been a bunch of long-running network shows that I watched regularly for years, and then lost interest and totally dropped. X-Files, House, and NCIS come to mind. I actually stuck with NCIS for nearly 15 seasons, then I just stopped caring and walked away.

At the other end, there are a lot of shows I've sampled and enjoyed one or two episodes of enough to say, I want to see the rest of this. And then I just forget to go back and watch any more. I'm pretty sure there are 5 pr 6 like that on Disney/Hulu, and I know there are at least that many in my Amazon continue watching. But somehow I keep re-watching old favorites instead of new stuff. Bad brain, no cookies.

[yourlibrarian]

I find the "continue watching" very handy since I use several streamers and it's easy to forget what I'm watching where. However I also wish it was easier to get stuff OFF the list. I can't figure out how to delete them on Paramount+ and I have this long list of things I watched for less than an episode or just a few that are still hanging around in there!

[tarlanx]

I managed to keep going on NCIS until around season 19/20 then decided to quit as I was really not enjoying it any longer, just tuning in out of habit.

Same with X-Files... I stopped after Mulder left.

[queer_scribbling]

I didn't start watching NCIS at the very beginning with my family, but I'm pretty sure it was the longest running show we abandoned. Within a week or two of Gibbs leaving in season 19 (I'm pretty sure it was 19), our tv provider stopped carrying the channel it was on due to negotiations over paying for something falling through. It was around October when most shows had barely come back for the current season, and we didn't get the channel back until February, I think. It wasn't an insurmountable gap, but it was just really easy to treat Gibbs leaving as our end of the show instead of trying to catch up.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, like naushika said above re: X-Files, when the show has become mostly about certain people and they leave, that's a big departure point for viewers.

[dancesontrains]

I have a habit of dropping (US) shows in the second season after not enjoying various choices? Desperate Housewives, Lost, MLP:FiM, probably more I've forgotten.

Longest recentish watching before dropping was Flash CW in s5. I also used to watch various soaps that are/were popular in the UK a few decades ago - Neighbours (which I think has just been cancelled again), daytime soap Doctors (recently ended) and Coronation Street (currently ongoing) were my faves.

[yourlibrarian]

Soaps are definitely in their own category when it comes to number of episodes! I've never seen Coronation Street but wow, just keeps on going.

[tablesaw]

I know there are lots of shows that I kind of drifted away from after five or more seasons, but I can say definitively that I gave up on Supernatural in the middle of episode 152.

[yourlibrarian]

This made me laugh as I have definitely hit episodes that made me throw in the towel. That said it was just increasing discontent for me when it came to SPN, and had I not been so involved in the fandom I'd probably have quit it 2 seasons earlier.

[feurioo]

As a soap opera watcher, I've easily watched 1.000 episodes of several shows I never finished. XD If we go with regular shows: I have watched six seasons of The Good Wife but abandoned it when the show lost its spark for me. (I was huge on Alicia/Finn. When that didn't pan out and I found one particular episode super tone-deaf, I simply jumped ship.)

[tinny]

LOL I had to laugh at so many people saying over 111. I personally wouldn't have considered it giving up on a show when I've already watched five seasons, although of course I have indeed done that, too! I just... very rarely watch any shows until the very end (I have a problem with endings), even if I love them. So I wouldn't in my head call that "giving up". But it's a fun distinction to think about.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah there's deliberate "I've had it with this show" as well as the slow ebb of never getting back to something.