Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Kind of shocked by this. Breaking Bad is a low attention span normie's idea of the greatest TV show. It's good! ...But Better Call Saul is probably "better." And I'm not going to say that anything is wrong with liking "lower" brow entertainment that is faster paced or more superficially enjoyable (plenty of action shows and comedies are great!), but The Sopranos and The Wire are probably both consensus top three shows for nearly everyone credible and being out of the top five is probably grounds for not being a reliable rater.
I think it's okay to not like the classics, plenty of people complain about Shakespeare, but you have to understand why they are great and interrogate yourself on your likes, dislikes, and your relationship with art if you feel you have appropriate taste but don't like "the best."
In the case of The Wire it demands your attention and is often deliberately paced (although perhaps not truly slow) and at the same time it is truly literary, it's authentic, it says something, and it is beautiful constructed in ways that are often only noticeable in retrospect.
It is okay not to value these things but I think it's important to understand that they are there.
I've found this sort of examination at times helpful in making me enjoy things I wouldn't have otherwise. For instance I disliked Kpop because of the inauthenticity and somewhat disturbing process but managed to just embrace the fact that some of the songs are bangers and my life is richer for it.
For you taking the time to slowly watch some of those "greats" may bring that richness to your life. Maybe start with some of the British shows like Slow Horses which are a lower time commitment.
You misconstrue. While terms like "appropriate taste" chafe, I should (re)iterate that I have not said that I judge any of the shows I've mentioned as necessarily bad. (I reserve judgment at this point.) Nor am I averse to serialized dramas (I watched all of GoT, all of Andor, and at least three seasons of Slow Horses. With my wife I've watched various shows like The Mentalist and Burn Notice and even Stranger Things until SE3 when I just couldn't accept the bratty behavior of the kids who were supposedly in the 80s. Plus a few other culture warry bits.)
My point was rather that I haven't seen fit to make time for these shows, that they didn't grab me for whatever reason. Even with Shakespeare some plays speak to me more than others. I pass over some sonnets in my memorization project because they don't do it for me. That's not necessarily a reflection on the sonnet (or the tv show), at least in this case)--but no piece of art is necessarily fit for everyone at every point in life.
Sorry, I don't mean to imply that you have bad taste, and from my readings of your writings I suspect you have good taste.
At the same time I figure you should truly try those (sounds like you have!) and maybe also force it to see if you can extract the meaning and see if anything about your interests changes.
I am sure I will at some point. My wife as she has gotten older is drawn more toward Korean dramas and quirky love stories, so I'll probably have to find time to watch by myself.
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