What draws you to a TV show?

It just has to interest me and be good at something. I can accept shows with characters that are a bit weak if I'm interested in the story. Same for comedies, if it's actually funny then I'm happy to over look some ropey plot or character work.

Similar to @Anyanka Bunny Killer I don't have the longest attention span. If a show can't grab my interest pretty quickly I'm not really prepared to power through and hope it gets better.

The other thing for me is likability. If I don't like anyone I'm not going to watch even if it might be well written or whatever. House of Cards for example. Couple of episodes in and I realised I'd be quite happy if all the characters were hit by an asteroid.
 
There has to be an actor/character that has charisma and draws you into the story. If they're cardboard young Hollywood no talent, I'm not going to be interested. Like the new Dynasty, where I didn't even make it past the first commercial break. lol
 
Puppet said:
I've been contemplating watching Mom ever since it first came out and I saw promos for it, but I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually 🙂

And yeah, strong female characters are great, but I get just as excited by strong male characters (hence my undying love of Supernatural, which has both in spades). I also need my characters to be complex - which means flawed; no Mary Sues or Gary Stus for this girl! To that end, I agree completely on you with regards to Veronica Mars and Jessica Jones. As someone with a lot of trauma and PTSD to deal with, I was worried going into JJ at first, but the writers and Krysten Ritter just did an incredible job showing the reality of PTSD in a world where reality wasn't actually that real (superpowers and all that).

I don't know, but I think that's why I still haven't made myself watch Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead; I'm aware that both shows have decent character arcs, but both are almost equally (if not more so) focused on showing the audience this amazing world through visual effects. So intent on making their TV show seem like a mini-movie each week, I can't help but fear that they let their character writing fall a bit in the balance. I'm probably wrong, but it still keeps me from giving it a chance and instead I re-watch shows like Buffy and Supernatural, where I know I'll find exactly what I'm looking for and more.
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I think you should give Mom a try. It's a nice break from the really intense shows I watch, but still has enough seriousness too it that I can stay tuned in. Plus, it's nice to have a new comedy. I feel like I just keep watching Friends to the point I can tell you what they are going to say before they say it lol.

Yes, totally agree. I need complex characters. JJ was far better than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to just be your typical superhero show, but it was so much darker and deeper. I really enjoyed it. Krysten Ritter did an amazing job! It makes you wonder how she ever played Gia on Veronica Mars. Such different characters. That's a good actress right there.
Do you recommend Supernatural? I watched the first 3 episodes and they did not hook me at all. It's also a daunting task to start a show with 13 seasons. I need to really love it to commit to watching it.

I gave The Walking Dead 3 seasons and was honestly never hooked. I just watched it because "everyone" was watching. I thought maybe I was missing something and I was going to get to the good stuff, but it's just not my cup of tea. I don't really connect to the characters and even their plot got tired. It felt like I was watching the same thing every season. I do not recommend it lol.
I watched the first season of GoT and there was just too many divided storylines for me. The show lost me too early on. I found myself not caring about any of the characters, which I guess is a good thing because no one is safe from death on GoT lol.
 
BuffyBot22 said:
I think you should give Mom a try. It's a nice break from the really intense shows I watch, but still has enough seriousness too it that I can stay tuned in. Plus, it's nice to have a new comedy. I feel like I just keep watching Friends to the point I can tell you what they are going to say before they say it lol.

Yes, totally agree. I need complex characters. JJ was far better than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to just be your typical superhero show, but it was so much darker and deeper. I really enjoyed it. Krysten Ritter did an amazing job! It makes you wonder how she ever played Gia on Veronica Mars. Such different characters. That's a good actress right there.
Do you recommend Supernatural? I watched the first 3 episodes and they did not hook me at all. It's also a daunting task to start a show with 13 seasons. I need to really love it to commit to watching it.

I gave The Walking Dead 3 seasons and was honestly never hooked. I just watched it because "everyone" was watching. I thought maybe I was missing something and I was going to get to the good stuff, but it's just not my cup of tea. I don't really connect to the characters and even their plot got tired. It felt like I was watching the same thing every season. I do not recommend it lol.
I watched the first season of GoT and there was just too many divided storylines for me. The show lost me too early on. I found myself not caring about any of the characters, which I guess is a good thing because no one is safe from death on GoT lol.
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I will definitely check out Mom, I love a good sitcom. And yeah, at this point I can definitely speak along with almost every line in Friends, lol

Supernatural is, in my humble opinion, completely worth it. I get it, though, took me a bit to me hooked as well. Tell you what; keep watching until episode 9 entitled Home. If you're still not feeling it, then you probably never will. Home is just such an amazing episode, the best S1 has to offer and the episode that makes you realize that this show is about family as much as it is about monster hunting.
 
BuffyBot22
BuffyBot22
I'll have to give it another try then!
Interesting characters, at least some of whom have to be likeable if even in a comic way.

Originality.

Good dialogue. Not always necessarily quippy, like Joss, but clever and intelligent.

A plot that makes sense and has obviously been thought out beforehand. (Up until the ending of "Lost," I never would have believed that TV writers just made all of it up as they went along, hoping they could make sense of it in the end, and creating mysteries for which they had no answers. A good show already has its ending written before the pilot even airs, with enough wiggle room to change things a bit as the show evolves.)
 
What draws me to a tv show is the plot what I stay for are the characters. Even if the plot isn't great, having great characters can keep me interested. Firefly is a good example. I don't really care for the space western aspect of the show but I do enjoy watching the characters interact.
 
For me, genre is a huge draw card, I have watched many a less-quality show because I happen to adore the genre (supernaturally-themed shows in particular always pique my interest).

Characters and plot are pretty much equally important to me, especially since one always ends up affecting the other but I'd probably push plot out in front by a tiny margin. Good dialogue is also huge draw card.
 
If a show has great characters, I don't mind if the plot is weak. If it has a particularly good plot, I don't mind if there's isn't any character growth.
In my opinion, a few shows fit all the criteria. I would say that some of the shows that really nail it are BtVS, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Twin Peaks and Breaking Bad. They pretty much have everything : they're funny, scary at times, suuuuper creepy (Twin Peaks), have amazing characters who are flawed and complex, good and sometimes great story arcs... And as a bonus, they are masterpieces in the technical department : the sound/music is pretty much perfect in all five and there is great direction and acting.
Those shows transcend genre in my opinion. People can watch BtVS even if they don't like the supernatural aspect, Twin Peaks is totally watchable by someone who doesn't usually like crime shows, etc. Then there are masterpieces inside the different genres, but I think those wouldn't be objectively masterpieces because they rely on their respective genres and if one doesn't like that genre it becomes almost impossible to watch. For example in comedy my favourite series would be Community, 30 Rock, Archer, Arrested Development, Family Guy and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia but it's because I'm a sucker for anything meta in a TV show/movie (well, there isn't anything meta in Sunny but it's awesome). But someone easily annoyed by all the meta references would just write those off as stupid and maybe repetitive.
 
I find myself drawn to shows about family. Right now I'm watching Young Sheldon, about Sheldon Cooper's childhood, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm also into Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish, basically any show with a mom and a dad and kids and the funnies.
 
Any number of things. The new show might feature an actor that I liked from somewhere else, like Tom O'Loughlin in "Hawaii Five" a story line that intrigued me, like"Banshee," be based on a movie or novel that I liked, like "Lethal Weapon" or "Highlander," a particular format or setting, like "Alone," or "Forged In Fire," or even the fact that the show was shot on location in Georgia, like "The Walking Dead."

Generally, I'll give a new series one or two episodes to hook me, and if it does, then I will watch it on a fairly regular basis. Having so much stuff on the internet now makes it possible to watch pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want.
 
I've recently got into some TV shows with really great female lead characters; characters who I can relate to on different levels:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jane the Virgin
The Good Place

Al the leads are just so good. Currently I'm bingeing Jane the Virgin and Gina Rodriguez is such a breath of fresh air. The Good Place, well, because I honestly love Kristen Bell and CEG is unflinchingly raw and honest about mental health. I feel like I can relate to Jane, Rebecca & Eleanor in different ways.

I went into them not really knowing what they were about, just that they all had female leads and I'd heard great reviews. Obviously the fact they're all teetering around the comedy genre is also a factor, because I love to laugh, but I think as well because they're shows with optimism. I'm still only on JtV Season 2 but I'm waiting for the others to return to Netflix in a couple of weeks.
 
My attraction to great characters and character arcs has become more glaringly obvious now that I'm busy binging The Walking Dead for the first time. The amount of characters I start of hating or disliking or being meh about, to loving them, is out of this world. Very few times in the past have I seen character growth be quite this incredible and yet, at the same time, believable. And I'm only on S4 E4 😉
 
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