What do you hate to love?

[alias_sqbr]

I'm on a webcomics discussion community snarkoleptics. Every now and then you get someone posting about how much the latest storyline of PvP totally pissed them off, and they just can't stand it any more, and there'll be a chorus of people going "God, me too" and "I gave it up years ago"... but also "I know, I don't know why I keep reading it but I Just Can't Stop!" (plus of course people who think PvP is awesome and everyone else should shut up about it). I was in the "Why can't I stop reading this?" camp myself for ages, I only managed to stop reading it a few days ago.

So I was wondering: what are the continuing series (whether books/comics/shows etc) that you just can't let go? Not the ones you know are bad but enjoy anyway, or mostly enjoy but are occasionally pissed off at. I mean the ones that you don't enjoy, that pretty much always make you wish you hadn't read/watched it, but somehow make you come back for more. (I realise the line between "Mostly good but sometimes really annoying" and "Mostly annoying but sometimes really good" is pretty blurry)

And: what is it that draws you back? With PvP I think it's the fact that while I find the characters and plots really annoying, and am not generally that amused by the humour, Scott Kurtz has honed his craft to such a degree that everything else (the flow, the expressions etc) is just really well done and draws you in. Also webcomics are so convenient and free it's easy to stick to them out of inertia.

Would people agree that people often get disproportionately angry at the authors of these sorts of irresistibly-crap works, since they cause more extended pain than repulsively-crap stuff? In my experience you get a lot of fannish entitlement: "You are a bad person for not writing the sort of story I would enjoy more".

One of my achilles heels is hating not knowing how something ends. I've gotten pretty ruthless about just skipping to the ends of annoying books, and am refusing to even look at the new Obernewtyn book, but it still pains me.

And then of course there's movie adaptations of beloved books/comics. I tend to refuse to watch them unless I've heard they're good, but I know a lot of people are drawn like a moth to a flame and then are inevitably, painfully burned.

Important note: I realise that by it's nature this sort of question calls for a lot of negativity, but please try to avoid any "This sucks and so does the author and everyone who likes it" "No, it's awesome, and YOU suck!" "No, YOU SUCK" etc. Enjoyability is not an objective measure that makes any sense to argue about.

EDIT: Also, this is what you hate to love, try to avoid assigning motives to other people you've seen criticising something you like, since from the outside it's hard to tell the difference between genuine hate and "I criticise because I love". That said, I am reminded of Star Wars Fans Hate Star Wars :)

(n.b. This is the only post I wrote while sick which I think is up to being posted without serious revision, so I'm posting it to make myself feel better about not posting the others)

Comments

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

I see similar stuff on the site I snag new Doctor Who from. The same 5 people keep complaining about how crap it is and it's even worse than last week and they hope next week will be better.

(Incidentally, the same 5 people seem to love every episode of Torchwood, which I didn't bother watching the second season of).

[alias_sqbr]

Something like Dr Who is a bit of a special case, though, since it's so variable that you can easily hate one season and love the next..and then hate the one after that, but keep hoping you'll like it again.

Also, you've reminded me to add a note asking people not to complain about other people complaining, just because in my experience people (including me) love to complain about other people complaining, and it could derail the conversation. Also to add a link to Star Wars Fans Hate Star Wars :)

*enjoys the irony of complaining about people complaining about people complaining*

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

Ah, gotcha.

As for the question you asked in the OP: none really.

[alias_sqbr]

Lucky you :)

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

After the third or fourth crap episode/issue/etc in a row, I go "well it's not good anymore" and leave it at that.

Or maybe I have no taste.

[alias_sqbr]

No, clearly you have no commitment :)

I have to say, I respect your restraint in not complaining about me complaining about you complaining about that guy complaining about Dr Who.

[elaran.livejournal.com]

ahahahah that article is awesome. :D

Hmm, Star Wars EU probably is one of those series' for me [that said, I kinda refused to read NJO, I'm not sure why BUT I REFUSE TO, I DON'T WANNA READ ABOUT THE KIDS GROWING UP OKAY!

I wasn't into Obernewtyn enough for it to become like that - I first read it in, uh... Year 5? 6? and I read up to Ashling and then kinda forgot about it until now when book 5 came out. [I did also skim through the Legendsong books but er, they weren't interesting enough - but that was a while ago, so I've been reading them slowly in UniSFA].

I felt like that about HP when HBP came out.

Also about JAG when they had the Mick Brumby storyline ARGH [it got better though I think].

Um, can't think of anything else...

Actually I am fairly sure that I went through this phase with uh, BabySitters Club books when I was in Year 4[?] >.> I remember liking them a lot and then not being able to stand the later ones and yet feeling obliged to read them... does that count?

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

how could I have forgotten Harry Potter - I kept hoping that I would like the next book (I quite liked 1-4, and was keenly waiting for five, but from then on I was just bitter. I've *been* 15, I didn't need reminding of the homework, the angst, and, oh, the angst, in what I considered an escapist book). I would read each successive chapter with a grim determination, and hope that there would be more than flashes of fabulous story.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh god Harry Potter book 5, yeah I'd blocked it out too :) I actually quite enjoyed the film though.

[alias_sqbr]

ahahahah that article is awesome

As the spouse of a Star Wars nerd: yes, yes it is :)

I remember liking them a lot and then not being able to stand the later ones and yet feeling obliged to read them... does that count?

Definitely.

Yeah, Harry Potter was like that for me in parts, though it was mostly "I enjoy this on the whole, but by god a lot of it annoys me"

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

and yet, for me Torchwood would have to be pretty high on the list of train wrecks I can't tear myself away from. I just *know* I'm going to be disappointed before I watch an episode, and while I love bits of them, I'm left with that sort of empty feeling I get from eating too much cotton candy.

[alias_sqbr]

Torchwood is a "why am I enjoying this, it's terrible" for me :)

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

Alan Moore for me is the penultimate example of this phenomenon, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that he could be the penultimate example. I've read/watched enough to recognise the impending symptoms and exercise ruthless discarding practices. I've read, in chronological order, League book 1 (interesting), V for Vendetta (loved it), League book 2 (OMG, what images have I imported into my brain) and the first few chapters of Watchman (too repulsive to continue). Despite swearing off Alan Moore after LXG volume 2, I got persuaded to start Watchman against my better judgment - only to sit shivering in a corner of the couch for half an hour after I pried my fingers our of the cover. Perhaps I need to be more ruthless...

[alias_sqbr]

Penultimate? As in there's one more, and then it will never happen again? :)

So Watchman freaked you out? I do not recommend "From Hell" then! (It actually got banned here for a while due to excessive violence) I'm a huge Alan Moore fangirl, but I had a similar experience with 2000 AD, which I kept reading for quite a while anyway when I was stuck at Pav's with nothing to do. *has flashback to being seriously freaked 12 year old*

Thinking about it, I think "Not bad, but so scary/disturbing etc you regret reading anyway" is a separate category. I feel that way about good zombie stories, Sean of the Dead way freaked me out, and I'm not touching 28 Days Later with a ten foot pole, no matter how many people tell me it's awesome.

If you do ever feel like braving Alan Moore again, some of his stuff isn't as disturbing, like "Tom Strong".