19 Overrated TV Shows That Are, For Some Unknown Reason, Treated Like Masterpieces

"By god, is it a chore to watch."

You know that feeling when everyone is obsessed with a show, saying it's the best piece of television in the history of the universe, but you just...don't understand the hype?

The CW

Well, Reddit user u/Junkee69420 recently posed the question, "What show is overrated but is treated like a masterpiece?"

CBC

The thread quickly went viral, with over 34,000 comments! Here are some of the top-voted responses:

1. Breaking Bad

Ben Leuner / AMC / Courtesy Everett Collection

"It's good. Great, even! I enjoyed watching it and don't regret the time spent doing so. But if people didn't regularly reference and talk about it online, I wouldn't have thought about it much ever again. It was very entertaining and well made, but that's just not enough to make a lasting impression in my mind. It's not a masterpiece."

–u/bunch_of_hocus_pocus

2. This Is Us

Ron Batzdorff / NBC / courtesy Everett Collection

"It’s trauma porn — intense emotional sensations to get your weekly cry in — which is healthy, sure, but not the masterpiece everyone’s mom makes it out to be."

–u/Kimbahlee34

"Agree! It’s cheap emotional writing. My college writing professor called it 'dead dog writing.' Everyone gets sad when a good dog dies. As an author, your job is to make someone feel something without the dog dying, the kid getting cancer, etc."

–u/julgwill

3. How I Met Your Mother

Ricard Cartwright / CBS / courtesy Everett Collection

"Every episode glorifies Ted’s toxic behavior and makes it look romantic. I get so triggered watching that show."

–u/Several-Till1393

"The character I truly couldn't stand was Lily. The shit she pulled was infuriating to watch, made all the worse by the fact that I felt she wasn't meant to be viewed in that light."

–u/Conquestadore

"Really stupid what they did with that final season."

–u/Seredditor7

4. The Walking Dead

AMC Networks

"They had the same loop of storyline repeated in every season: They run, they find shelter, they go out for food, someone gets bitten, they get overrun, and they have to find somewhere new. Rinse and repeat for like 10 seasons."

–u/DanStFella

"The Walking Dead is basically a soap opera with zombies."

–u/aceh40

5. Friends

Warner Bros. / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"It’s not bad; it’s just bland and boring and unfunny."

–u/MannnOfHammm

6. Money Heist

Netflix/ Antena 3 / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"This show drives me wild. They want to set up an elaborate, long-term heist that requires everyone to work together and be professional...so they use a bunch of horny idiots with no impulse control."

–u/agentchuck

7. Naruto

Viz Media / courtesy Everett Collection

"This is coming from someone who loves anime and whose favorite show is Naruto...but it’s Naruto. That show is great, but 45% filler episodes. Do I need to say more?"

–u/qmrk346

8. Grey's Anatomy

ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection

"The story is soo thinned. Everything that could possibly happen to a group of people happened to them. It's like some Final Destination shit."

–u/babygotbrains

9. The Sopranos

Warner Bros.

"I've tried to watch it five or six times now, but I can't get past the third season. It absolutely bores me. I really want to like it, as I love mafia stuff, and it's the show that made all shows possible. But, by god, is it a chore to watch."

–u/KernSherm

10. Rick and Morty

Cartoon Network / Adult Swim / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"It gets waaaay too much credit for a show filled with nonsense and fart jokes."

–u/theyfoundmeomg

"From someone who really likes Rick and Morty, this is completely true. I like it because it's funny and cleverly written, but I'm sick of it being praised as some kind of new philosophy. Recent seasons even take the piss out of people who treat the show like that. It's not some ultra-smart new thing; it's just another adult comedy that's quite funny sometimes and nothing else."

–u/smellyredditor

11. Sons of Anarchy

Byron Cohen/FX / courtesy Everett Collection

"We are supposed to believe that their club is the most important thing to them all, and they would do anything for their 'brothers.' But they just kill each other. It almost never shows why someone would want to be in that life. We're supposed to root for the main character because everyone loves him, but all I could think was, 'Get those children away from this.'"

–u/ellajames88

12. Suits

Shane Mahood / USA Network / courtesy Everett Collection

"Most of the episodes consist of these high and mighty lawyers consistently running into 'dead ends,' not knowing what to do. But they will be having a side conversation, and the person they’re talking to makes one remark about something, AND THAT’S IT! They have found their answers. Onto the next episode to do the same exact thing! It’s cheap writing and office drama."

–u/SatisfiedHuman

13. Stranger Things

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The first season was good, and then...it just sort of stopped being as good. It’s still a fun watch but lost the fear it instilled."

–u/magicalgirlgraveyard

"A huge appeal of the first season was the mysterious allure of the Upside Down. And what little we did see of its monsters felt invincible. Now, all the mystery is mostly gone, and the monsters are a joke reduced to generic movie monster canon fodder. I don't understand how the writers dropped the ball so hard."

–u/zold5

14. Lost

Mario Perez / ABC / courtesy everett collection

"Lost was a masterpiece in repeatedly teasing and never delivering."

–u/BestOfTheBlurst

"It was 10/10 trolling."

–u/SmLnine

15. The Big Bang Theory

Cbs / CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

"It's thought of as a sitcom for nerds, but it isn't. It's a sitcom for people who think nerds saying something nerdy is a funny joke. The show doesn't invite the audience to laugh WITH the characters as they make clever jokes that nerds will relate to. It invites the audience to laugh AT the characters for making nerdy pop-culture references. There's nothing nerdy or clever about the show's 'jokes'. The mere fact that the characters are nerds at all IS the joke."

–u/The_Lawn_Ninja

16. Downton Abbey

Carnival Films for Masterpiece/PBS / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"Besides the bizarrely repetitive storylines of each character (accused of a murder they didn't commit, servants for no reason undermining and backstabbing each other, and love interests constantly dying), you have Mary. She is the most unlikable character on the show, always being horrible to everyone and doesn't really apologize. She is despicable. So frustrating that no one calls her on her bullshit. I actively rooted against her to the end. Not to mention the aristocratic apologism. I was hoping for a servant uprising since Episode 1."

–u/wwj

17. BoJack Horseman

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"People act like it’s some kind of masterful psychological deep dive. But it’s just another cheap adult comedy, animated show."

–u/heardbutnotseen2

18. Seinfeld

Castle Rock Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection

"It was a dumb show about self-centered jerks. Even with the rare quirky guest star, it wasn't funny. Nor interesting. Nor even entertaining. If not for Friends, it might have been my least favorite show of the '90s."

–u/Gwtheyrn

"An unfunny show about unlikable characters doing uninteresting things. I was a teenager in Seinfeld's heyday, and, to this day, I've never seen an episode that I consider funny."

–u/EarhornJones

19. And finally, Squid Game

Park Youngkyu / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"If no one else will say it, I will. Squid Game is WAY overhyped. I’ve seen people say it’s the best Netflix show or even the best Korean show. If people give other Asian media a chance, they’ll find way better than automatically assuming that the first Asian show they see on Netflix is the best thing ever."

–u/Savy_lang

Which show do you think is totally overrated? Sound off in the comments below!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.