Don't like being preached at in TV shows

[NutellaEllaElla]

Is it just me? Has it always been this way? There seems to be a moral to every story. Try not to judge my TV watching habits but i'm thinking Grey's Anatomy, The Good Doctor, New Amsterdam. There's probably more i'm not thinking of right now. Was it always so heavy handed on social issues?

I’ve noticed this lately. I don’t always want to ‘feel’ about issues when watching a show. I just want escapism. I end up watching more sci-fi sometimes just to get away from real world based drama moral tales.

I don't watch much TV, yes, TVadverts and TV just like social media is full of cult like quazi religious people wanting to covert you to their various ideologies.

I’ve noticed this.

At least with South Park they did a, “You see, I’ve learned something today…”

Be hilarious if Meredith Grey broke the fourth wall at the end of each episode and did the same.

I don’t always want to ‘feel’ about issues when watching a show.

Lots of (not envy) type people all interested in feelings all the time with that faux concerned face. I find it very manipulative and I just want to avoid all that and them trying to remove thinking and pushing feelings thing some people do.

I've noticed this a lot in soaps!

This is where zombie flicks come into their own.

It's in everything

I don't know if it's true, I think the source of the problem is from financial services. I can't remember the name of the group, it is something similar to Moody who give businesses their credit scores. I was told if they don't do Environmental, social justice as this credit rating company demands then they can't borrow money and their credit rating does down.

EastEnders would do it all the time. No idea whether they still do because I haven't watched it in over 25 years. My friend worked for the Department of Health and they were always having meetings with scriptwriters to shoehorn in messages for the proles. It's patronising and boring.

Managed like 4 episodes of New Amsterdam🤢

The good doctor was really good though, but yes, I know what you mean!

Agree with pp about zombie flicks😂 I am alsso big fan of mockbusters and you can spread them into parts.

Wnchanted is good if you are looking for laugh

Get a grip, anything vaguely moral and decent seems to amount to preaching according to people like you.

Grey's Anatomy has definitely become more heavy handed. I think they have always been interested in provoking thought on social issues but it used to be more subtle. I think it's because of a) there have been a lot of compelling social issues over the past two years that they want to cover, and they want to cover them all immediately, so there's a lot of volume of social commentary, and b) the overall quality of the scriptwriting has declined substantially, so they can't let the stories speak for themselves and instead they have the characters lecture us.

@Demelza82

Get a grip, anything vaguely moral and decent seems to amount to preaching according to people like you.

People like me. Please be more specific.

I've always loved Grey's Anatomy, but you're absolutely right. Seasons 16 & 17 are especially rife with it. It's frustrating when I just want to watch some mindless tv tbh...

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

I’ve noticed this.

At least with South Park they did a, “You see, I’ve learned something today…”

Be hilarious if Meredith Grey broke the fourth wall at the end of each episode and did the same.

Agreed, South Park is one of handful of decent shows and it's still fresh after 25 years running!

Last winter I was watching Michael Palin travelling around on iPlayer and it was so refreshing to have things presented as they are with no moralising lectures.

There was one brief reference to global warming/ ozone hole and that was about it.

All the lecturing and moralising is now getting totally counterproductive.

I don't mind if it's done well. I've watched stuff, thought, "Oh, this has an agenda," but not minded because it's a good story and the agenda doesn't feel pushed. But if characters keep moralising in a way no one in real life does, it spoils the show for me. Even if I agree with the agenda, I'm not going to enjoy the show.

Falcon and Winter Soldier did it, I felt, and I did enjoy it less for that reason.

People mentioning sci fi and zombie films as an escape, which are both generally metaphors for society and its issues...

Apart from the storylines being so far from the original books that it’s like a different show, it’s the main reason I stopped watching ‘Call the Midwife’. In the early series, they did it but without hitting you over the head, like the storyline with the young, Irish runaway.

I hate when there is a program about wildlife that then goes into the rainforests being chopped down or rubbish in the ocean. Yes mention it, and I know it’s important but it’s not me doing it. Don’t preach at me. I’m not the one chopping down trees and throwing rubbish in the ocean.

Even in The Archers today there was a hideous clunky inserted nudge (more like brick in the face) about why pregnant women should get the covid vaccine. I'm so very pro vax but I absolutely cringed at such a painfully obvious moralistic insert.

Greys anatomy is a shondaland programme, to be fair with those you know what you are getting, strong black characters, particularly black women, usually tons of sex and some strong messages, if you don't like her programmes there are plenty of others to watch, personally I love them (although sometimes the sheer amount of sex is boring...) maybe you just aren't the target audience and should try something else?

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

I’ve noticed this.

At least with South Park they did a, “You see, I’ve learned something today…”

Be hilarious if Meredith Grey broke the fourth wall at the end of each episode and did the same.

I would love this so much

YANBU OP.
It's enraging, I just stop watching as soon as I spot this. Netflix and ads in general are particularly bad (the latter are causing businesses immense damage for taking ideological sides)

YANBU, I'm noticing a lot of my chick lit (sorry) has an increasingly Christian preachiness to it too.