Thread: New TV shows- How many Episodes do you give it ???

Generally, I watch something once or twice. If something is really good, once is enough. If it is ok, 2 times is enough. If I am not convinced after the second time, that's it.

But I don't really mind missing episodes usually. I don't have the time to watch everything, so if I miss an episode, I don't get to see it. We don't even have a digicorder. Most of what I look is on late anyway so I usually get to see them. I love sopranos, but mainly I like things in a more historical setting, like Spartacus, Pillars of the earth, Borgia, etc.

The only time I got disappointed after the first episode was with walking dead. I thought the first episode was really strong. The second was already a lot less. And with the third episode it had just become a soap series with a background of 'Oooh Zombies'.

Prior to reading your post I was thinking 3 as well. Though some.programmes are so terrible I don't make one or two episodes.
My wife and I tend to get series on DVD and work our way through them, HBO do some really good stuff, we often find that thr stuff we like gets canned after a few seasons but before anything is really tied up, well except Lost, which was really disapointing at the end despite the fact that the writers played out he whole concept. I know that there was.going to be 9 seasons, and it got.condensed into 6 but the finale.would not really have changed much either way.
Jimbo, I just read your post after writing this, you saved yourself a lot of pain with lost, in case you were wondering, they were all dead and in limbo.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Generally, I watch something once or twice. If something is really good, once is enough. If it is ok, 2 times is enough. If I am not convinced after the second time, that's it.

But I don't really mind missing episodes usually. I don't have the time to watch everything, so if I miss an episode, I don't get to see it. We don't even have a digicorder. Most of what I look is on late anyway so I usually get to see them. I love sopranos, but mainly I like things in a more historical setting, like Spartacus, Pillars of the earth, Borgia, etc.

The only time I got disappointed after the first episode was with walking dead. I thought the first episode was really strong. The second was already a lot less. And with the third episode it had just become a soap series with a background of 'Oooh Zombies'.

I didn't mind spatacus, though I found Rome much better as in it had much mire of a plot, whereas Spartacus is far more formulaic.

I tend to agree with 3 as an average. Some however are just so obvious they get pitched after 1 or 2 at the most. As an aside it's nice to see a growing number of more traditionally produced entertainment versus the "reality" based slime. I hope that phase is finally on the way out.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

I didn't mind spatacus, though I found Rome much better as in it had much mire of a plot, whereas Spartacus is far more formulaic.

I found Spartacus a perfect sunday night tv show. Nice historical setting, sword fighting and lots of over the top bloodletting.
Although after Andy Whitfield died, the series lost its appeal to me. The Gods of the Arena prequel was also still very good.
But when Liam McIntyre took over for 'Spartacus Vengeance' I thought it fell apart. He just doesn't have what it takes to play the role that was cast by Andy.

For me 1 or 2 episodes are enough to decide is the serie worth watching. Haven't watched much telly at all lately. I guess the only serie i've watched this year was Swedish/Danish Bron. I found it interesting.

My wife got hooked on The Song of Fire and Ice; i watched few episodes and gave up. I've read all 5 books written this far and imho they were much better than telly.
Rome was a good serie back then. Lost was interesting although the end was a huge fail.

Which is 2. If it's really good (or really bad) 1 is enough. If the pilot is weak but not catastrophic (as in best described as “meh”) I'd give it up to 3. If it didn't pick up by then it most probably won't.
Latest series I got hooked on is Longmire, surprisingly fun ( BSG's Katee Sackhoff is in it, which was a nice surprise.)

Originally Posted by Sailor

My wife got hooked on The Song of Fire and Ice; i watched few episodes and gave up. I've read all 5 books written this far and imho they were much better than telly.
Rome was a good serie back then. Lost was interesting although the end was a huge fail.

Same here really. I've read them all, though there are 6 by now, not 5.
The tv show is horrible 1 dimensional compared to the books.
My wife is hooked on the tv series, which is funny because she doesn't like reading fantasy.

I have to admit, the actor playing King Joff does a terribly good job. And I really like how Tyrion is played. He looks just like I imagined him (only in my mind he has a beard). On the whole, I just watch the occasional bit (usually Tyrion or Arya) and just read a book while I answer the occasional questions from my wife. We don't watch every show, and I fill in the gaps in the storyline / explain why X is doing Y.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

...
Jimbo, I just read your post after writing this, you saved yourself a lot of pain with lost, in case you were wondering, they were all dead and in limbo.

Ah. I remember doing creative writing as a kid at school and whenever I ran out of ideas or just out of imagination I used to end the stories with something like "They woke up and it was all a dream". Maybe I could have gotten a job on the Lost writing team.

James.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Same here really. I've read them all, though there are 6 by now, not 5.
The tv show is horrible 1 dimensional compared to the books.
My wife is hooked on the tv series, which is funny because she doesn't like reading fantasy.

I have to admit, the actor playing King Joff does a terribly good job. And I really like how Tyrion is played. He looks just like I imagined him (only in my mind he has a beard). On the whole, I just watch the occasional bit (usually Tyrion or Arya) and just read a book while I answer the occasional questions from my wife. We don't watch every show, and I fill in the gaps in the storyline / explain why X is doing Y.

GOT wasn't/isn't the worst attempt to turn book into TV serie. The role of Tyrion is very well played as well lady Stark. However i do like to use my imagination while reading the books and with TV it is not possible.
I hope Martin will really want to write the rest of the stories before long. He's about to be aged.

I'm not very familiar with fantasy genre, i rather judge the books as readable and not so readable. But from that genre there are some fine books i've read (have no idea if they were ever made into movie or serie): GOT, Farseer saga by Robin Hobb, Earthsea (Le Guin), First Law trilogy (Abercrombie) and of course Tolkien.
I rather like books with hisory more, lately i've been reading Saxon stories by Cornwell and Crusades Trilogy by Guillou. It was also turned into tv-serie but i never watched.