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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not watch 'The Wire' or 'Breaking Bad' mainly because DH will not stop badgering me!?

53 replies

bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/02/2015 21:11

I will get round to watching them IF and WHEN I feel like it.

I started watching both of them and was put off because though they were well scripted and directed they were just about men and drugs and crime and just ... not what I wanted to watch. To be honest I don't think I need to justify myself.

But dh cannot stfu - if he just stated - these are great programmes you should really watch them as they are brilliant etc. that would be fine. But it feels like he is judging me for not watching them... gah! It is watching TV not frickin' voting! Gives me the rage. Honestly dh should know me better than that really. I am very stubborn so if I feel I am being pressured I am prone to being less likely to do something just out of sheer arsey-ness (a bit like dh!)

So when I am watching netflix on my tablet while in the kitchen, cooking, washing up hiding from the children and if I want to watch 'The Good Wife' (even if I have seen it before) - I bloody well should be able to without dh tsking - [stamps foot petulantly] Angry

I think it is partly because I like programmes where women are the central character and I am willing to watch slightly less coherent well written drama for that. Also I like something I can watch in the kitchen with children milling around without fear of traumatising them Hmm

What is wrong with not watching something? I don't force dh to watch things or judge his choices - but despite warnings he can't let it lie!

OP posts:
Original poster
bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/02/2015 21:11

I feel better now - some times a rant is necessary!

OP posts:
ShatnersBassoon · 10/02/2015 21:12

YABU. The Wire is excellent. Watch it now! Grin

OwlinaTree · 10/02/2015 21:14

Does he want to sit and watch it with you? So you can share the experience?

I remember getting a bit like this when my then bf kept trying to get me to watch the matrix!

AnotherManicMonday · 10/02/2015 21:15

Don't bother with breaking bad I forced myself to watch five episodes and they were shit, such a waste of time

Moresproutsplease · 10/02/2015 21:21

Breaking Bad is the best series I've ever seen, so well written and brilliantly acted. I was quite devastated when it finished.

I loved the wire too but found it harder going.

happyhats · 10/02/2015 21:23

I like the wire too! Breaking bad I got fed up with by series 3!
Watch them when you're good and ready! YANBU!

FindoGask · 10/02/2015 21:26

I avoided The Wire for many years for this very reason. Eventually succumbed last year and I'm glad I did. Your husband is right, I'm afraid! (Loved Breaking Bad too but slightly less so)

skinnerbelle · 10/02/2015 21:26

YANBU. Be stubborn. But ... The Wire is excellent and should be on the list for one day. Breaking Bad I'm only just getting into it at series 2.

FindoGask · 10/02/2015 21:26

(he's not right to be judging you, btw, just right about it being amazing telly)

LuisSuarezTeeth · 10/02/2015 21:27

Just watch what you want and stick a bun in his mouth.

LetticeKnollys · 10/02/2015 21:27

YANBU re The Wire, pshh. Breaking Bad is very very good though, and although I am as much a feminist as the next woman I have to admit it.

I recently finished House of Cards, that is a good Netflix show with strong female characters (though admittedly still male centred).

RiverTam · 10/02/2015 21:32

Loved The Wire, watched the first 2 seasons of BB then gave up, it was too relentlessly downbeat.

I don't think I could watch the Wire now, my stomach for that kind of thing has kind of disappeared in recent years.

I do find it awkward when DH and I don't want to watch the same things, which is pretty much all the time these days Sad.

HowCanIMissYouIfYouWontGoAway · 10/02/2015 21:32

That would drive me potty.
In similar circumstances (someone banging on about how i MUST do some unimportant thing) i tend to break in the end and demand to know how they are affected one way or the other.
People who bang on and on and on about something and act like you HAVE to do/like/see something because they liked it are bores.

plus3 · 10/02/2015 21:35

I haven't watched either of them - for much the same reasons, can't bear being told I HAVE to watch something.... Also I am so behind the times now, that even if I do watch, I can't really go on an on and on about how good they are. shame.

Original poster
bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/02/2015 21:36

I have had a long conversation with my dear sis about this subject. She also has a weakness for lesser quality TV with strong female leads - so we loved Buffy, The Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars - because though the story lines were sometimes inconsistent and varied greatly in quality from episode to episode and god the characters made some incomprehensible decisions ... we still ate it up. I think it all started with Juliet Bravo! Wink

TBH if I watch BB or TW I will feel so irritated about having to admit their worth I think I would choke on the words. Grin

OP posts:
WineCowboy · 10/02/2015 21:36

YABU! They are awesome and there are strong female characters in both (although not straight away in the Wire). They are better watched together, actually they are properly epic and I still miss the Wire five (ish) years later.

Littlecaf · 10/02/2015 21:36

YABU. The Wire is not about drugs. It's about society, corruption, public sector cuts, power, politics, race, religion, morals, family..... Oh and Jamesons & Listerine.

WineCowboy · 10/02/2015 21:36

You could pretend you hate them but secretly love them and revel in your sneakiness!!!!!?

ashtrayheart · 10/02/2015 21:38

Try Orange is the new black and make him watch it (it's brilliant and even dp liked it in the end)

Original poster
bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/02/2015 21:39

I am greatly looking forward to watching the new series of Game of Thrones with dh. And wouldn't it be awful if I accidentally dropped spoilers during episodes (I have read all the books) I have been saintly up to now but maybe I will threaten DH with that if he mentions Breaking Bad once more!

OP posts:
Original poster
bigmouthstrikesagain · 10/02/2015 21:41

I have watched Orange is the new black - I like that. DH and I really enjoyed watching 'True Detective' as well.

OP posts:
Thymeout · 10/02/2015 21:44

I don't have the same problem with gender specific programmes. And was once v annoyed to be told that we shouldn't be reading Lord of the Flies with girls because there are no women/girls in the book at all.

But BB has an interesting female character in the protagonist's wife and her reaction to her husband's moral decline.

I think both BB and The Wire are outstanding. But different. Which is good.

Do sympathise with being nagged into watching stuff, tho' be careful you're not cutting your nose off to spite your face!

Bettercallsaul1 · 10/02/2015 21:48

I am guilty of this in reverse, OP! I love BB and pestered my husband to watch it with me until he finally gave in and ended up loving it too! I kept on at him because I felt he was missing something great and I wanted him to enjoy it too! But I know that relentlessly persuading someone does have the opposite effect - the other person sets up a perfectly understandable resistance to being persuaded, making it twice as difficult!

You must watch BB though - it's a masterpiece! The Wire is excellent too but took a bit more getting into, I thought.

ApocalypseThen · 10/02/2015 22:14

I think it's quite sweet that he's so determined to share the things he has enjoyed with you!

Fabulassie · 10/02/2015 22:26

I pestered my DH to watch BB and he dragged his feet about it - I think he watched two or three episodes and didn't get into it. I dropped it because I knew he would just be stubborn about it. Then he mentioned one day that some show or other had ended and he wished there were something else to watch so I brought BB up again and he watched it... and ended up binge watching it. Totally agreed with me that it's an incredible show that never has a slack period or goes "off."

So, we're now very happy about being able to watch Better Call Saul together! :D