No Such Thing as "Overrated"

Recently with fans of big-time shows like Lost, Grey's Anatomy and 24, there has been a lot of talk about which one's better and which are overrated. I think this is mainly due to the ratings of all the shows. I for one don't believe that ratings relate at all to the quality of the shows. In fact, I can say that is the truth because they don't. Some people like a show and others don't. The quality of a show is based on it's content, and that's it.

So, why has there been all of this fighting amongst fans of these shows? Well, the ratings have gone down for them recently, and also recently gone by up. And some fans are asking, are these shows overrated? Just to be clear, I HATE, HATE, HATE the word "overrated". Liking a show all depends on opinions. Using the word overrated is lazy criticism. Instead of saying why you like or dislike something by actually critiquing it, you just say it's overrated and roll your eyes. It's cynical and lazy.

Everyone's a critic these days and unfortunately everyone in this country has become extremely lazy and cynical. They can look up close at the Mona Lisa and say "eh" because it's cool to not care about anything. It's cool to be apathetic. The apathy toward art and literature in this country infuriates me. People cannot sit in silence anymore and watch something beautiful without trying to find a flaw in it.

What makes a television show worthy to watch certainly has nothing to do with ratings or awards. There is no mix of those things with what actually makes a show good. It will always have and has always had to do with the characters, the writing, the actors, the storylines, and the production itself. That's it, nothing else. Whether people like the show or not is irrelevant to the quality of the show. Arrested Development, one of the greatest television shows ever to be wrought, was taken off the air because of bad ratings. But the real problem was bad promotion. The advertising team didn't do enough to promote the show and it failed after a few seasons.

There are certain movies that win Oscars that some people hate and some movies that deserve Oscars that hardly anyone has seen. There is no denying that some things are just spectacularly done but people today get so caught up in hype and cynicism that they forget to just look at the basic components of music, art, motion pictures and television to judge by the content alone, not anything else.

I think of it this way. If you lived in Antarctica and had access to anything else but the DVD's of the aforementioned television shows, no commercials, no newspapers, no reviews, no internet, no talking to other people online, would they be good shows? They would all have their different qualities to me but I would still love them just the same as I do now. I think that's because, unlike so many other fans, I try not to read reviews or listen to people who bash the show. I'm not one to jump on the hate bandwagon just because everyone else is there. If it's a masterpiece, it's a masterpiece and that's it. Ratings up, ratings down, someone bashing in some other article, doesn't make a difference.