Series/Box-sets that disappoint on rewatching

Heroes and 24

Loved them both on first watch (well, the first series of Heroes and the first few of 24), not so much second time around.

I have a box set of Friday Night Lights that I’m terrified to watch for this reason. 😂

I suspect this would happen if I tried to watch Lost again.

Heroes and 24

I'd completely and utterly forgotten about Heroes. After this experience with Prison Break, I daren't watch 24 again.

I suspect this would happen if I tried to watch Lost again.

Enjoying 'Lost' kind of relies on no prior knowledge of the ending, however much of a cop-out it may have been?

I see its makers are going down the same route with 'From', currently on Sky. So much so that they had the characters explicitly rule out the 'Lost' ending (for the benefit of jaded viewers) early in season one...

Enjoying ‘Lost’ kind of relies on no prior knowledge of the ending

For the life of me I cannot remember the ending of Lost. It's not making me want to rewatch it though as it really went downhill after the first series anyway.

Just found this hilarious Charlie Brooker review on Prison Break...

I’d completely and utterly forgotten about Heroes.

I remember enjoying the initial premise for Heroes, but then getting fed up and giving up when they resurrected the villain after some apparently permanent death (stabbed through the eye if memory serves) and it became obvious that they would never follow through on any plot decision that might actually make things interesting.

Not a problem GoT had in its first few seasons that's for sure.

Lost goes straight to the top of this list. I mean it was barely watchable the first time around (only finished it becasue of the time invested) and even then the ending was a total cop-out. I don't think I could bring myself to do it again.

I think Heros could've been good, but the writers strike and creating a character like Sylar, while clearly not really thinking through what that actually meant kinda ruined it

Battlestar Galatica, There's probs individual eps I could stand to watch, but again seemingly random decisions by the producers for no real story other than the immediate impact (death of Starbuck for instance) and again the ending - which was clearly either pulled out of someone's butt at the last minute, or they just got bored with the whole thing  really killed it for me.

I have a box set of Friday Night Lights that I’m terrified to watch for this reason.

I think that would hold up pretty well.

Most of the shows being mentioned here were ones I couldn't get into at the time.

Anyone re-watched Rome? Loved that at the time. Wonder how it holds up, post-GOT?

I didn't watch Heroes when it was first out (there was a fella at work obsessed with it, and I couldn't stand him).

It was repeated fairly recently on BBC2 I think, so I watched a few. It was just about hot women wasn't it? The acting was awful, but that one who had a second persona who killed people... I mean, there wasn't a lot else worth watching it for. And the cheerleader. That's why my dickhead colleague was obsessed wasn't it?

I tried rewatching Hill Street Blues about 10 years ago. It has not aged well. 40 years ago, it was groundbreaking but the things it pioneered are routine today and shows like Southland do the same thing, but with much better production values. Still, the germ of a great show was there, it's just that the quality of TV shows has lifted massively, in part because HSB pioneered the way back then.

We re/watched Battlestar and agree the ending was terrible, other than that though it was good up to the 4th season.

Prison Break first season was the best but that's not saying much.

Walking Dead is on a never rewatch. Don't feel the need to remind myself of a lot of forgettable characters. Ending was utter trash as well. And the middle. Well, the vast majority actually.

Loved The Crow Road when it came out. I think of it's time it was excellent and I remember being gripped.

Watched it again a while back on Youtube and it was very dated and I didn't think much happened particularly 😊

the first few of 24

Game of Thrones. Driven mainly by the knowledge of the car crash last few episodes which tarnished the whole thing

I have a box set of Friday Night Lights that I’m terrified to watch for this reason. 😂

Having only ever seen the first episode, this just prompted me to purchase said box set 😁

Heroes

Caveat, I haven't rewatched it.

I loved the first season when it aired. It was my favourite thing for a while. The second season was garbage, I stopped watching. It felt like they'd written a show with an actual ending, but it was so popular that it was recommissioned and they were like "oh crap, now what do we do?" And this is how we end up with things like Highlander II.

And this is how we end up with things like Highlander II.

Highlander literally had a strapline that warned against that kind of thing.

Highlander literally had a strapline that warned against that kind of thing.

There shouldn't have even been one.

I found box set of The A Team that i thought would amuse my then primary school age kids.

They have, quite rightly, never watched anything on my recommendation since.

I suspect Cardiac Arrest hasn't aged well, but it's maybe better to remember it how I remember it?

There shouldn’t have even been one.

I found box set of The A Team that i thought would amuse my then primary school age kids.

They have, quite rightly, never watched anything on my recommendation since.

kayak23Full Member
Loved The Crow Road when it came out. I think of it’s time it was excellent and I remember being gripped.

Watched it again a while back on Youtube and it was very dated and I didn’t think much happened particularly 😊

There's a particular style to it that grates on me, and I can't really describe it. I'm not sure if it's the slow, slightly twee pace, or the concerned, patronising tone on everybody when talking to the main character. ('oh Prentice...', head angled in a worried manner.). Maybe just that Prentice is a bit useless, gormless. Or maybe it's just that after reading 100s of pages, or spending hours watching TV and expecting some interesting outcome, it turns out that Peter Capaldi just crashed into a loch.

I've watched a few old episodes of Blakes Seven recently - I was absolutely obsessed with it when it came out, adored it. You should never go back - it's terrible! And I now feel bad for putting my parents through it...

There shouldn’t have even been one.
the original is brilliant! Although much of that is down to the general concept, and the soundtrack of course. I will admit the film itself is a bit shonky, though it has it’s moments!

I think it's a proper teenagers' film. Or rather a teenage boy film. If you don't watch it at a particular point in your life then you'll never get it. I still enjoy watching it for 20 minutes if it's on TV. However, my teenaged daughters have laughed at how bad it is!

[I’ve watched a few old episodes of Blakes Seven recently – I was absolutely obsessed with it when it came out, adored it. You should never go back – it’s terrible! And I now feel bad for putting my parents through it…/quote]

Agreed. I tried watching it all from the first episode and it was really poor, even by the standards of the time. After maybe a series and a half I skipped to the last episode, thinking that there'd be a reason to watch the ones in the middle, but the last one was just as bad.

I think it’s a proper teenagers’ film. Or rather a teenage boy film. If you don’t watch it at a particular point in your life then you’ll never get it. I still enjoy watching it for 20 minutes if it’s on TV. However, my teenaged daughters have laughed at how bad it is!

I was a teenage boy when it came out (19) and a massive Queen fan too, yet I think I have only seen it once – it just never appealed to me for some reason, I don't know why as I like the genre.

Blakes Seven is still awesome as is Hill Street Blues!

Pathfinders however is dreadful.

I rewatched Battlestar Galactica a year or two ago and enjoyed it.

I loved the Goonies as a young person. Rewatched it at an "ironic" hotub cinema showing in Shoreditch and realised that it's a pile of poo.

For the avoidance of doubt, I was referring to Highlander the film. I don't think I ever watched any of the TV show.

It's one of my favourite films, it's deliciously bonkers and full of zingy one-liners. But it ends. So when they announced a sequel I was like "how?" and as it turned out the answer was "really badly." But H2 was a deeply troubled movie regardless of any plot issues.

chakaping
Free Member

Anyone re-watched Rome? Loved that at the time. Wonder how it holds up, post-GOT?

It has some budget-constraint bits which feel really odd, just because they couldn't do large numbers, but that was the case when it came out, I thought it felt aged but then I realised it's just that I'd forgotten what it was like when it was new. The main story stands up great.

I thought Crow Road aged really well, it had that overstuffed couch feel in the first place and half the point is that nothing actually happens and it's mostly about Prentice realising he's a dick and should stop being a dick. But on the subject of aging well, it's almost 30 years old and Joe Mcfadden hasn't changed a bit. Bill Paterson and Peter Capaldi were sort of prematurely aged but they've barely changed too (Peter Capaldi looks a little bit like he might have died, but not aged) Valerie Edmond got younger for a bit.

Watched the first series of Lost a while back, that was really good stuff, still is. But I was happy to stop where I did. Dipped into some random Battlestar episodes and I'd say the same, it was always a bit up and down but when it was good it's still bloody brilliant

In a fit of nostalgia I bought a box set of Laurel and Hardy DVDs some years ago - not as funny as I remembered as a child in the 1970s!

Sopranos, I bought the box set a few years ago (is it still a box set when you buy it on itunes?) and only managed a few episodes.

Not sure if it was because it is now dated or because I basically know the character arcs, but it certainly didn't have the impact of the first time around and wished I had saved my money.

Anyone re-watched Rome? Loved that at the time. Wonder how it holds up, post-GOT?

Sopranos, I bought the box set a few years ago (is it still a box set when you buy it on itunes?) and only managed a few episodes.

Sopranos, I bought the box set a few years ago (is it still a box set when you buy it on itunes?) and only managed a few episodes.

Not sure if it was because it is now dated or because I basically know the character arcs, but it certainly didn’t have the impact of the first time around and wished I had saved my money.

Interesting. We watched it for the first time about ten years ago, thought it was incredible, and then rewatched it maybe four years ago and it was still brilliant. In fact I'm rather partial to watching random clips from it on YouTube.

I'd like to watch The Wire and mad men again but MrsIHN isn't that bothered (even though she loved them the first time)

Monkey magic loved it as a kid but tried to show my kids it and my god it was awful

I’ve never watched the Sopranos!

The Wire is still great.

I’ve never watched the Sopranos!

If you have never watched it, it is probably well worth watching.  First time around, the quality of the writing, production and acting for a TV drama was unmatched. IMO it did bring in a new era of television, where it was realised that "hollywood" budgets given a longer format could tell a more complex story and give the characters more room to breath and develop. But it isn't unique in that now as it was then.

I rewatched Battlestar Galactica a year or two ago and enjoyed it.

I caught an episode of Benedict and Hatch era BSG the other day. My god it was dire. I used to love it as a kid.

I expect a lot of prime-time shows from that era have aged badly. The A-Team was the same plot every week, Hannibal's in disguise at the start, they have to rescue the girl or do the morally right thing to save an underdog, something about planes and milk, they get caught and thrown into a cell full of welding gear, no-one dies. Knight Rider was Checkov's Gun writ large, we've installed this new button which will conveniently be needed at the end of the show and then never be mentioned again. The Incredible Hulk hulks out precisely twice every episode and then leaves town.

... I probably should watch The Wire at some point, shouldn't I. People keep telling me how great it is.

I’m currently watching all of Grange Hill on YouTube and quite liking it for the nostalgia.

I think Blake’s seven had a few good episodes but tbh like a lot of the 70s tv stuff suffers from dire special effects and low budgets.

Alien always amazes me how well it’s aged other than that I think a lot of stuff is just waaaay past its sell by date as the world has moved on.

I watched a love they neighbour and couldn’t believe they did 8 seasons of it.

I’m not sure I could sit through Battlestar Galactica again but I didn’t hate the ending, bizarre / maybe a bit of a cop out that it was. Without something random like that I can’t really see how they could have resolved it really.