THE WIRE (2002-2008)

The Wire is perhaps the most overrated television show in history. Ooooh, did you feel that collective recoil? Look, I’m not saying it’s a bad show, just overrated. It’s a perfectly serviceable crime drama that features good-but-not-amazing performances (Michael K. Williams aside), mildly-interesting-but-disjointed storylines and character arcs across its five seasons, and incredibly slow pacing. When I watched it during COVID, it was my second attempt because I couldn’t even get through the first season when I tried years earlier (circa 2013). Upon finishing it, I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t feel like I had been on a journey with characters I cared about. I didn’t feel like I learned anything new. I just didn’t get it. It was fine, but forgettable — and I say that as someone who has literally worked counternarcotics alongside DEA, so I had something of a personal connection. Great shows shouldn’t leave you feeling so shruggy and empty. Maybe watching it so many hype-bombarding years after it aired affected my opinion, but I think most Wire lovers experienced it that way since the series had terrible ratings when it aired on HBO. It’s also worth noting that it was largely ignored by awards shows during its run. However, when people talk about The Wire, they discuss it in almost biblically revered tones. Various publications have called it the “most ambitious” show on television while ranking it at or near the top of lists highlighting television’s all-time best dramas, all-time best crime dramas, all-time best written shows, and all-time best cult shows, among others. Several outlets, including Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and BBC, have ranked it as the first- or second-best television series of all-time. Me, though? I didn’t get it as a captive viewer during lockdown when literally every little thing that could bring joy did bring joy, and I don’t get it today.

HEREDITARY (2018)

I’ll concede that this one, like The Wire, can possibly be attributed to overhype. When I saw Hereditary on opening night in 2018, it had already premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Reports out of Sundance were, literally, that it was “the scariest movie ever,” even causing people to pass out because it was so scary. Friends, this movie is not scary. Is it good? Sure. Creepy? Of course. Unsettling? Without a doubt. But scary? Nah. Make-you-pass-out scary? Hell nah. Obviously, fear is subjective, which makes my stance a tricky one, but Hereditary is near the top of almost every “Scariest Movie” ranking I’ve seen, which is wild to me. To clarify, I’m not talking about “Best Horror Movie” lists, where it also ranks pretty high usually, but “Scariest Movie.” The Guardian, Rotten Tomatoes, Collider, Us Weekly, Time Out, Fangoria, and Screen Rant, just to name a few, have all named it amongst the scariest movies of all time. Even we, Bitesize Breakdown, ranked it number one despite it getting zero votes from me, Ru, or former writer Joseph (read “Bitesize Top Five: Scariest Movies” HERE). In 2023, Broadband Choices conducted an experiment to gauge the scariest movies of all time based on viewers’ heart rates. Hereditary finished sixth. Please tell me, what is everyone so scared of?

THE OFFICE (2005-2013)

I generally do not like cringe humor or mockumentaries, which is why The Office never really worked for me. That said, I understand that aspect about myself, and I can’t fault people who do enjoy that kind of humor for liking The Office. I’ve even seen some hilarious clips and memes from the show, so I can see the appeal. It’s not a bad show at all; it’s just not for me. The thing I don’t get is how this fairly generic sitcom has grown to the point where people make it their entire personality. Why not arguably better sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine or 30 Rock? I suppose you could say it’s for the same reasons that people dig into the IP fandoms I mentioned in the intro, but some of those have been around for nearly a century. Plus, they are grand, escapist mythologies about wizards, gods, superheroes, and other fantastical beings in far-off and interesting worlds. The Office is just a workplace comedy about a bland 9-5 life in Pennsylvania that, I think, a lot of real-life people actually hate living. But I’ve met people that only watch The Office. They’ll finish all 201 episodes, then start over at the beginning. Since it’s the only series they watch, it’s the only show they ever want to talk about. It’s the only pop culture thing they know how to reference. “Do you watch The Office?” is a common introductory phrase. They write things like “looking for the Jim to my Pam” on dating profiles. They still think “that’s what she said” is the highest form of joke-making (which, okay, fair). I once worked with a guy that asked people to call him The Big Tuna. The Office is not a generational piece of groundbreaking media that has been passed down over the years, from our great grandparents in the 1930s to today’s youth, worthy of such high levels of adulation and, dare I say, idolatry. It’s just an NBC sitcom that ran for nine seasons, and a remade one at that.

MOVIE 43 (2013)

In the intro, I said I came up with three titles that seem to be loved by almost everyone but me. To show that crazy pills can go both ways, I decided to add a fourth bonus title that seems to be hated by almost everyone but me. If you haven’t seen Movie 43, it’s an anthology comedy movie featuring 14 different skits, each from a different director, including Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, Brett Ratner, James Gunn, and Bob Odenkirk. The sprawling, A-list ensemble cast includes Banks, Odenkirk, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pratt, Liev Schreiber, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, Jeremy Allen White, Kate Winslet, and Julianne Moore, among many other well-known stars. However, despite all that talent, it is considered one of the worst movies ever made. It has a 5 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated for five Razzies, including Worst Screen Combo for “the entire cast,” winning Worst Picture, Worst Director (for all 14 directors), and Worst Screenplay. Vue Weekly called it “death-of-laughter by committee.” Richard Roeper called it “the Citizen Kane of awful.” Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News said, "as a film critic, I've seen nearly 4,000 movies over the last fifteen years. Right now, I can't think of one worse than Movie 43." With such an esteemed pedigree, how is that even possible? I know every time I see Davis’ (Jackman) neck testicles (yes, you read that right)… or think about the Millers (Schreiber and Watts) homeschooling their son (Jeremy Allen White) with the “real high school experience”… or hear Coach Jackson’s (Howard) pep talk to his all-black basketball team about to play an all-white basketball team in the segregation era, I crack up. Anything with moments as funny as those, from well-respected people that talented, can’t truly be as hated and critically panned as people make it out to be. I’m not saying it’s the best movie ever, but as a comedy, it more than does its job, even if sporadically, meaning any talk of “worst movie ever” is flat out ridiculous. Who knows? Maybe I am the one on crazy pills.