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Is it just me or do Showtime shows suck?

Carnby

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,236
I saw the commercial for Good Lord Bird and thought "oh this could be good." And then it ended with the Showtime logo and I thought "why bother?"

Every Showtime show I've watched or heard about took a nose dive in quality only a couple season in. Weeds, Dexter, and Shameless all come to mind. So why bother getting invested in a show that will most likely suck around season 3 or 4.

Is it just me or do Showtime shows suck? What say you Era?
 
RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
Absolutely not -

Patrick Melrose (best show of 2018)
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
Homeland (a rock solid spy thriller outside of seasons 2 and 3, which were messy)
Masters of Sex
Penny Dreadful (2 1/2 seasons of it anyway)
Kidding
SMILF
United States of Tara
Web Therapy
Escape at Dannemora
The Borgias

Also, The Good Lord Bird is reviewing well.
 
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carlos

carlos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
429
That jim carrey show was pretty good. The title was forgettable, apparently.
 
vypek

vypek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,532
I tend to enjoy them. Shameless got weaker but I still mostly enjoy it. Weeds got real bad l, I'll give you that. Last season was good but several of them sucked. I ditched Dexter after season 3 cause I was bored. Things like House of Lies or Episodes I enjoyed for the entire thing or even more as time went on

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot I'm currently watching Kidding which I'm enjoying as well
 
SeroTyler

SeroTyler

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,140
Who Is America was fun, and I've always WANTED to watch The Circus. Twin Peaks is the GOAT but basically doesn't count lol.
 
5taquitos

5taquitos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,865
OR
Party Down is a GOAT comedy, but it's also ancient at this point.

It's also only two seasons, so curse avoided.

Edit: welp nevermind
 

rude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,812
I was about to say Black Sails, Spartacus and Season 1 of American Gods were good then I realized those are all starz and I've never seen a showtime show
 
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OP
Carnby

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,236
Huh... I'm gonna be honest, I haven't heard of any of the shows you all mentioned, except for Twin Peaks. But I thought that was an network show in the 90s.

I guess my point is Showtime shows don't hold quality. So your saying all of these held up?
 
Aarglefarg

Aarglefarg

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,066
I really liked that first episode of the Comey mini-series (I haven't seen the second episode yet).
 

Deleted member 5876

Big Seller
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,559
Billions is really good. And the only reason the very last season kind of sucks is because COVID happened right in the middle of the season and they had to wrap it.
 
BackwoodsAltar

BackwoodsAltar

Member
Oct 30, 2017
830
South Coast, UK
Twin Peaks: the Return is among the most audacious seasons of tv ever made, and is my personal favourite piece of media ever. I'm not sure how the rest of their shows are outside of Desus and Mero, which I love, but they deserve props alone for letting David Lynch go wild.
 
FreezePeach

FreezePeach

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,811
So the inspiration for this thread is seeing a commercial for a show that is getting great reviews and called one of Hawkes best and concluding, why bother? Ok then.
 
MinusTydus

MinusTydus

The Fallen
Jul 28, 2018
8,195
Carnby said:
This is literally my point though. Why get invested in a Showtime show when it's just going to end up sucking.
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It wasn't so much that season 3 was terrible, it just had a rushed ending since one of the actors decided to quit. The same thing happened to the BBC version of Being Human. First three seasons, great. Season four and beyond? A mess.

You just have to treat the season finale as a series finale. It still is very much worth watching, just stop early knowing that going ALL the way to the "end" isn't worth your time.
 
RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
Sex and the City
Entourage
True Blood
Game of Thrones
Veep
Silicon Valley
True Detective

Why get invested in an HBO show when it's just going to end up sucking
 
James3D

James3D

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,000
I have Showtime for Desus & Mero and it's worth it to me for them. There's also the chance/hope of another season of Twin Peaks.
 
Natiko

Natiko

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,263
Carnby said:
Huh... I'm gonna be honest, I haven't heard of any of the shows you all mentioned, except for Twin Peaks. But I thought that was an network show in the 90s.

I guess my point is Showtime shows don't hold quality. So your saying all of these held up?
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I mean, it sounds like you haven't watched many of their shows at all. You could pluck out three shows from any network and make this same argument.
 
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Carnby

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,236
RatskyWatsky said:
Sex and the City
Entourage
True Blood
Game of Thrones
Veep
Silicon Valley
True Detective

Why get invested in an HBO show when it's just going to end up sucking
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Click to shrink...

I guess I'm way more selective on what I watched. I never watched those shows because I could tell they'd stink. But the HBO shows I have watched are excellent. Every Showtime show I've watched has not. Of course it's all anecdotal.

Natiko said:
I mean, it sounds like you haven't watched many of their shows at all. You could pluck out three shows from any network and make this same argument.
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This is true.
 
sugar bear

sugar bear

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,634
I don't care for ShiteTime shows such as Dexter - lame "prestige TV" which is just network programming with cussing and nudity.
 
RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
FreezePeach said:
So the inspiration for this thread is seeing a commercial for a show that is getting great reviews and called one of Hawkes best and concluding, why bother? Ok then.
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HBO's "It's not TV, it's HBO" marketing scheme was genius - they managed to convince people that even when a show on another network is critically acclaimed, they would still be better off watching HBO instead.
 
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Carnby

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,236
RatskyWatsky said:
HBO's "It's not TV, it's HBO" marketing scheme was genius - they managed to convince people that even when a show on another network is critically acclaimed, they should still be watching HBO instead.
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Well there was a time (especially when that slogan was made) when HBO had hit after hit.
 
subpar spatula

subpar spatula

Refuses to Wash his Ass
Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,080
RatskyWatsky said:
Sex and the City
Entourage
True Blood
Game of Thrones
Veep
Silicon Valley
True Detective

Why get invested in an HBO show when it's just going to end up sucking
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's not really a good argument, though. When HBO does nail it they nail it hard. Showtime just goes, "Yeah, you did OK, here's a little applause" type thing. I have yet to see anything from Showtime that is lauded by the masses, enjoyed by critics, and generally entered the cultural zeitgeist. Like, Showtime cannot even convince me or others to sit down and watch their shows. I don't even feel any movement from any kind of formed mass to entice me to watch their shows either.
 
KyleP29

KyleP29

Member
Oct 25, 2017
127
I wouldn't say they suck. Some amazing shows listed by others in this thread.

However, I would agree that Showtime does often run their shows well past their end date. But that doesn't make the shows bad or even mean they don't deliver a spectacular season.
 
Terrell

Terrell

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,624
Canada
Showtime definitely has a hit-or-miss reputation. It's basically CBS trying to have more than primetime basic cable supremacy, they want a piece of the prestige television pie. But they'll never put as much effort into it as HBO does, for reasons that remain obvious, and it shows.
 
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