How far

[mrissa]

We were talking at lunch about Buffy fans, into which category none of us falls. And some of them quite reasonably recognize that Buffy is a matter of individual taste, that some people like it and some do not, but others insist on knowing which episodes one watched and then protesting (no matter what episodes are up for discussion) that that wasn't one of the really good ones.

So it makes me wonder: how far would you go to get at a good show or a good book or even a good fragment of stuff?

I think that most of us will read past a bad first sentence, paragraph, or even chapter if someone we trust has given us reason to believe that the book will be a good one and worth our time. I think, on the other hand, that anyone who wants me to read the ninth Robert Jordan book, on the theory that it will get "really good" very soon and I just read the first bad eight, is smoking crack.

But where's your personal middle ground? A mediocre episode of a television show your friends swear is great? A boring first book of a trilogy that's supposed to be really fascinating in books two and three? How far will you go to get to "the good stuff" before your internal critic decides that the payoff can't possibly be worthwhile? Say for a TV show or a book: when does the off switch get used or the book get sent back to the library? And is it different if you paid to rent a movie/buy a book/get into a movie in the theatre? Is it different for music? How much of your time is worth waiting for the big payoff without little payoffs in the middle?

Well?

Comments

[careswen.livejournal.com]

With books, I'll go half-way. If by the time I'm half-way into the book, I don't see what's so gosh-darned special, I stop. Last time, I made the friend-who-loaned-it-to-me tell me what happens in the second half of the book, and then I was even more glad that I had stopped reading!

With a TV show, I'll give it 3 consecutive episodes. That way, I've had a chance to get a sense of context, which is often important for full appreciation. Perhaps this is what your well-intentioned Buffy-harassers mean when they assure you that you haven't seen any of "the good ones" -- Buffy's individual episodes are much better in context. Folks just aren't getting that you already gave it an honest chance.

With a movie at home or at a friend's, I'll usually sit through the whole thing, but if I'm getting bored, I might pick up something else to amuse myself, like a book. At the theater, I'm pretty picky about which movies I'll pay to see at those prices, so I'm rarely disappointed enough to give up.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, we boycotted the MPAA a few years back. Then we decided it didn't have much of a point. Then we realized that there just weren't that many movies we wanted to pay to see (especially at California prices). So now we're done with the boycott, out of the habit, and perfectly happy.

I read through movies and TV shows I enjoy, so that's not always an indicator for me.