I think it’s probably pretty clear by now that I watch a lot of TV. Hence my having my own dedicated blog. But, there are a multitude of consistent things used in TV shows which really annoy me. So, here is my list of my biggest pet peeves with examples from just a few shows. Hope you enjoy!

You can tell that they almost never fill coffee cups or mugs…

Just fill the coffee cup with water so it’s weighted correctly. That’s it. It is so obvious when the cup is empty cause they practically throw them around because it’s so light. It makes me so angry. Is that just me? It’s like they put the lid on a takeaway cup and think I can’t tell it’s empty.

Women wearing heels all the time!

For instance, women wearing stilettos to high school everyday. That is incredibly unrealistic. Even in superhero shows and crime shows the women have heels on. HEALS ARE NOT EASY TO RUN IN SO I DON’T BELIEVE YOU. Don’t bring young women up in a world which tells us we need to be wearing high heels everywhere to be successful and beautiful, or even just that we should be. I’m talking to you Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl.

I don’t know about you but; if I was in a role which I may need to chase someone (i.e. super hero, police officer, doctor) I don’t think my choice of shoe would be heeled. Maybe that’s just me…

Continuity problems:

For example, How I Met Your Mother didn’t decide that Robin was Canadian until the second season – then they decided she was a Canadian teen pop sensation but she still has issues with her dad having wanted a son in the later seasons and was apparently a tomboy.

Arrow: Now, I never caught up on Arrow so I haven’t finished it to see how they explain this but, Oliver Queen gets trapped on a deserted island, only he doesn’t because it isn’t deserted. But also, there is no one there 5 years later when he is rescued. But also, he goes back to Sterling City for a hot second, and he spends a lot of time in China trying to deal with a bio-weapon. And I’m sure a lot of other stuff. Before he somehow has to go back to the island, sit around there alone growing a beard and setting up his little signal fire, then finally get rescued to go back home. I recognise they probably explain this somehow but it really infuriated me to watch him do all these things not even on the island during the 5 years he was presumed dead. INCLUDING going back to Sterling City and seeing Thea!

Casting way out of the real age range:

We constantly see in Hollywood they cast way above the age they are portraying especially for teens and young adults. This really just skews children and teen’s ideas of how they are supposed to look at a certain age when most of the time those playing 15/16 year old kids are in their mid 20’s. Why can’t we just cast close to the age of the character?

Recasting:

I understand there can be a need to recast actors in the industry because actors choose not to come back or what not but it can be really jarring as a viewer. For example, after several seasons watching Jake T. Austin in ‘The Fosters’ (on Stan), they recast him with Noah Centineo. Jake played that character for years then they just put Noah in and hoped no one would care that much. Especially when it is hard to really play the character the exact same way a different actor did. This same thing happens in Pretty Little Liars where they recast Jason after he made several appearances. It may sometimes be unavoidable but it is still really jarring as a viewer.

We so often see people in shows having super private conversations which cannot be heard by others, happen in rooms full of people!

For instance, the Liars chat about ‘A’ constantly at school and parties and what not, do they really think they are being secretive. Aria constantly talks about Ezra at school when he is a teacher there. The Keating 5 just talk about murder all the time in front of so many people. Yes, none of these people are being spoken to but, people can hear your conversation even if they aren’t trying to listen. I just feel like you wouldn’t realistically talk about having murdered people in public.

Trying to be super sneaky and hidden whilst also shinning a torch everywhere telling everyone where you are…

This happens so often in horror and crime related shows. It really grinds my gears when people are trying to hide from something or corner them and they shine a flashlight down the entire hallway. I understand needing to see but it is really not hidden. If I was hiding from the Police in a dark house with the lights off, the Police shining their torch all around would signal me to where they are in order to continue hiding.

“Slow Burn”:

When a show doesn’t have and interesting beginning or they have to do heaps of exposition. For instance, I tried watching ‘The Witcher’ and only made it 1 episode in because, well, it was boring. Not much really happened in the first episode whilst at the same time they were trying to throw so much information at the audience to set the scene. I personally (and I know many won’t agree) would have preferred if they had done some sort of intro scene or narration to set up the world we are in, like in Avatar the Last Airbender or Vampire Academy, The 100, etc. Sometimes narrative exposition is annoying but if the show is going to throw lots of lore and information about supernatural beings and whatnot, I find it kind of annoying not to. I felt the same in The Haunting of Bly Manor and several other shows. Moral being, your pilot needs to be interesting and exciting but also easy to follow. I don’t want to struggle to understand and interpret what is going on because I won’t finish the show.

Changing your title song part way through the show:

I have seen many shows which have done this and just randomly switched songs or moved to a different version of the same song and I just cant stand it. By the time they change the song I’m already so used to the sound of it that every time after that, when I hear the different version of the song, it puts me off. So, thanks Veronica Mars specifically for this one.

Title sequences that don’t fit:

I feel like some shows make a title sequence before they really realize what the vibe of the show is going to be and the title scene just doesn’t fit. For instance, Pretty Little Liars, I love Pretty Little Liars but I will never understand why they made the title sequence as it was, the colouring wasn’t the same, the song didn’t feel like the right tone for the show, all of it feels off to me.

Similarly, Grey’s Anatomy; I also love Grey’s however, when you go back to the early seasons it is really off putting seeing the Grey’s title sequence as it, for me at least, doesn’t fit the show. The title sequence they put in makes Grey’s look like it is far more sexual than it is, yes there are a lot of relationships and drama in Grey’s but there is also a hell of a lot of medicine and the title scene, if I hadn’t seen the show first, would have made me not want to watch the show because of the message and vibe it gives off.

She’s the only girl who doesn’t throw herself at me, so I like her…

What a tired storyline which is really quite disgusting when you think about it. Let’s consider just recently, the entire premise of the Kissing Booth was he liked her because everyone else wanted him, gross! This also kind of perpetuates that most girls will just throw themselves at an attractive man which is just disrespectful. Complex characters please!

One best friend has always loved the other – then they date…

I really hate this one too. Just think of a better plot because if one friend has always loved the other, and the other never saw them that way then why do they deserve to suddenly realize how great their friend is, why didn’t they notice before.

And obviously we can’t forget;

Main Character syndrome…

But, I’ll spare y’all from hearing this one again, if you want to know more about this one check out my post here:

Now, I’m sure that isn’t all the pet peeves I have but it’s all I could think of for this post. Please comment yours down below and whether any of mine made it on to your list! I’d love if you checked out some or my other posts of my socials down below:

Biggest plot holes in ‘The woman in the house across the street from the girl in the window’…

by Ashley Green February 7, 2022

Worst Grey’s plot points

by Ashley Green July 24, 2021

Is the Conjuring franchise going on too long…

by Ashley Green July 17, 2021