TV Goodness Talks Turkey: 6 Shows/Storylines We Are Not Enjoying (Right Now) 

We love that Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate traditions with the ones you love. Now that we’ve given thanks for the good things in our lives, we feel like we need to spend just a little time on things in the world of TV that we’re not really enjoying. We’ve already talked about the shows we’re loving right now. Now it’s time to talk about some shows and storylines that we are not.

Cortney: Charlotte’s All Over the Place on Revenge

Charlotte from Revenge has bugged me from the beginning. She’s whiny, melodramatic and makes really dumb decisions. But this season has brought her to a whole new level. As far as I’m concerned, the last episode of Revenge was fantastic for many reasons, one of them being that she wasn’t in it. Her wishy-washy attitude and actions have been giving me whiplash. She wants to expose Victoria, then she wants to keep her secret. She hates Emily and tries to kill her, then she calls her for help. She won’t speak to Jack, “kidnaps” his son to scare him and tries to burn down his bar and then she shows up at his door. She just can’t make up her mind and she’s so all over the map that it drives me mad. It’s like her opinions are based on the moment without consideration for all the things she’s learned or experienced in the past.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t envy what she’s been through, but she can’t see past herself and her own immediate situation. She should KNOW by now not to trust Victoria and for a split second, it seems like she gets that, but then one misleading word from Victoria and she’s back under mommy’s wing. And if she is so dedicated to her real father and wants to forge a relationship with him, telling him the truth is the right move, which she clearly knows but can’t seem to actually do. How many times does she have to witness the fallout from her mother’s crazy manipulation and lies before she it finally clicks for good? Victoria is the worst. We know it. Daniel knows it. Emily, Jack and everyone else (besides David, but I’m hoping he’ll get on board soon) know it. And truly I believe that Charlotte knows it, especially after learning that she killed Aiden, but she needs to accept it and stop being such a pushover.

Lastly, I get why she was mad at Emily, but I don’t get why she’s STILL mad at her. Emily has repeatedly come to Charlotte’s rescue, trusted her enough to tell her the truth and tried to repeatedly connect with her, but Charlotte is too stubborn to see past herself. Unless she needs help, then she’ll call Emily. Honestly, if I was Emily and Charlotte had just tried to kill me, I don’t know that I would have shown up to help, but that’s just me. I get that she is dealing with some issues and am grateful that’s she’s gone to rehab, even if she did appear to out Emily to Daniel before she left (the girl just can’t stop sticking her nose in other people’s business!), but I’m still having trouble with her childlike behavior.

That being said, I do appreciate what she said to Victoria on her way out. She DOES need to go away to get away from Victoria and Emily’s cycle of hate. And Victoria IS keeping the secret from David not to protect him but to hurt Emily. Hopefully this is a new beginning for a wiser, more realistic Charlotte. One where she can learn to think for herself and stop making such ridiculously horrible and impulsively stupid decisions. But in the meantime, I’m hoping she’ll be in rehab for a while. I need a break.

Kara: What Happened to Coach on New Girl?

New Girl is all over the place for me. One minute I love it, another minute and I’m over it. I still love the concept of Jess being the “new girl” in the loft and a bunch of guys taking care of her and helping her get over a horrible relationship. Of course, we’ve moved way past that. Damon Wayans Jr.’s Coach was in the pilot and then went to work on Happy Endings, were he was amazing. Sigh. I loved (and still miss) that show. When he came back, I guess some stuff happened with him and Cece (I was on a break from the show at the time, so I don’t know details). When I tuned in to the season 4 premiere, excited to finally reconnect with all these characters I’d loved at one point, I was mightily disappointed. When the heck did Coach become a douche? I guess a bad breakup sent him into a douche-spiral? He slept with a lot of women and didn’t treat any of them right. This is not the Coach I remember from the pilot, although that’s not saying much is it? Maybe it’s more accurate to say this isn’t the Coach I thought we were introduced to – a guy wasn’t very good at talking to women and, who along with Nick and Schmidt go to a bar to cheer Jess on as she tries to rebound. I kind of want that Coach back and I think we actually might get him. Coach is taking his job much more seriously now that he realizes what an awesome responsibility he has to those kids (thanks, in part, to that amazing guest star turn by Lisa Bonet in “Teachers.”). And he brought Ryan to Bangsgiving because even though Jess had deemed her crush off-limits, Coach knows she has feelings for him. That’s the Coach I know and love. Now maybe it’s tie for him to meet someone, get serious about her and realize just what an ass he was to all those other women.

Tobes: Sons of Anarchy‘s Torture Porn

This season of Sons of Anarchy has been particularly brutal. On-screen, club president Jax Teller’s wife has been horribly murdered, so he is on a rampage of bloody vengeance that has the bodies stacking up like cordwood all over the town Charming. Off-screen, it’s the FX drama’s last season, and it’s pretty obvious creator Kurt Sutter wants his show to go out with a bang. Over the past seven seasons, Sons of Anarchy has been delivering some of the best entertainment on television, with deeply layered plot-lines and an understanding that the violence indulged in by the club was a necessary evil, just a part of doing business, no more/no less. Until this season. All that has gone to crap.

There’s none of the carefully layered textured television we’ve enjoyed for the previous six seasons; there’s just plenty of television-friendly torture porn and a blasé attitude to go along with it that I find equal parts disturbing and aggravating. Independent of Jax’s actions to avenge his wife’s deaths, which are pretty heinous, there’s the slaughter of a brothel full of innocent women, the accidental shooting of three people (which was then shrugged off in kind of an, “Oh, well. Whatcha gonna do?” manner I found unnerving. You just killed three innocent people. What is this for you? Just a Tuesday?); Jax murdered innocent muscle he’d hired to help out on a job, just so he could frame another gang for the killing; groups of gang members just getting mowed down. It goes on and on. Look, I’ve been watching this show from the beginning, and it’s violent. I get that. It’s always been an integral part of the series. That’s the thing; it was part of the series. But now it feels like it’s all that the series is about, and the show was always so much better than that.

Ashley: Grey’s Anatomy‘s Tired Storylines

I love Grey’s Anatomy. I’ll always love Grey’s Anatomy. But the show has become tired, and it’s running out of storylines. I wish it would have quit while it was ahead. Meredith has now had two sisters who she didn’t know she had start working with her at the hospital. She’s been mean to both of them while they each try to reach out, wanting Meredith to like them. And that’s just one glaring example. The show could have had a perfect finale when Meredith and her peers took their board exams, or even again once they bought the hospital. But now the show drags on, and on, and on, forcing Derek to leave Meredith, so the original love driving the show can have some sort of drama. That, at least is a good thing. And I think having these two separate will make for an interesting season ahead. I’m also happy that the show is returning to its core with a focus on Meredith. It’s time to see some change, there. No matter what happens, though, I’ll keep watching. Even if it lasts for ten more seasons.

Tobes: Scandal Goes Off the Rails

Remember, back in the day, when Scandal first started as a mid-season replacement and it was awesome? Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) was amazing and could do no wrong and she didn’t take crap from anyone. The cases of the week were intriguing and, sure, that constant “We are gladiators!” and “Put on your white hat,” schtick got old quickly (there’s only so many times the same thing can be repeated before it gets eye-rollingly annoying) but hey, it was a small annoyance. And then, I don’t know what happened, but some dam broke and the show became just ridiculous. Liv’s lip started to quiver every episode; her once steely resolve crumbled at every turn and that relationship with President Grant (Tony Goldwyn) which was never healthy to begin with, took a dark, stalker-y and creepy turn (who tells someone’s dad that he can tell him how his daughter tastes? You are gross, President Grant. Just gross) and, just like that, Scandal turned into Mom Porn, like a watered-down, sub-par, TV-friendly version of 50 Shades of Grey (and that’s saying a lot, ’cause 50SoG is awful). Even getting a new boyfriend didn’t save Liv (or us) from the freaky, unhealthy, gross and inappropriate relationship she should have jettisoned a long time ago, as evidenced by the fact that Jake (Scott Foley) feels compelled to imply to the leader of the free world that he has the bigger penis of the two (real mature) and Liv is still whining about not having that house in Vermont, filled with the soccer-playing children Grant promised her. Even in the recent season 4 mid-season finale she told Jake she wanted Vermont with Fitz and life on a beach with Jake. Run away, Jake. Get out while you can. This is not romantic, people. This is not love, and you, Olivia, you are not acting like a gladiator. I am neither Team Fitz nor Team Jake. I am Team Get Yourself Some Therapy and Work Your Issues Out. Please.

Tina: Supernatural Cures Demon Dean too Quickly

My storyline isn’t so much a turkey. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. The turkey part of the equation comes in to play because the exciting storyline that I loved loved loved ended before I wanted it to end. The show is Supernatural. The storyline is Dean Winchester dies and becomes Demon Dean and then gets cured in three episodes. Boo.

The tenth season of Supernatural began with Sam looking for his brother. Dean was with Crowley at the tail end of their howl at the moon phase. In “Black,” we didn’t really get as much of Demon Dean that I wanted. In “Reichenbach,” Demon Dean faced Sam and a new character named Cole. This was the Demon Dean I was waiting for. He was badass. And cold. And uncaring. And drinking whiskey (or scotch). And hilariously sarcastic. And have I mentioned badass? In my recap for the episode I went on and on about how the final ten minutes of “Reichenbach” were beyond incredible. Then “Soul Survivor” happened. The Demon Dean vs. Sam Winchester cat-and-mouse game was great. Yet by the end of the hour, Sam (with help from Cas) was able to cure Dean. Just like that. It was so ridiculously easy. And ever since Dean was cured, we’ve gotten a little bit of angst here and there and a smidgen of the effects of the Mark of Cain. And not much else. After getting Soulless and Gadreel Sam for roughly half a season, I had high hopes we’d get a lengthy run of Demon Dean. I never for a second thought it would last until the mid-season finale. But I did think it would be more than three episodes. At least the Mark of Cain is still in play. They better give the Mark its due. I really enjoyed Jensen Ackles as Demon Dean. And as much as I worship the OG Dean Winchester, I really wanted to see more DD. A lot more DD. Hopefully we’ll continue to see Darker Dean flare ups as the season continues. Because this is supposed to be the Year of the Deanmon. I want the Year of the Deanmon.

Are there any shows and/or storylines that have been disappointing you lately? Feel free to share.