7 TV shows I just don't get

You can call me a lot of things, but when it comes to my tv watching habits, "discerning" would not be an appropriate word. I will watch just about anything. House Hunters? Yes, please. The Real Housewives? Any day, any time. Teen Mom? Oh heck yes. Top Chef? A double helping of that one, if you don't mind.

But believe it or not, there are some shows that I simply can't get into. Some shows have even received my concerted effort, but to no avail. See below.

1. Dancing With the Stars - This one is a total anomaly. I should LOVE this show. It has everything I normally enjoy in a reality show: "celebrities", competition and the chance to judge others' performance in a field of which I know absolutely nothing. And yet, without fail, I find myself totally bored 5 or 10 minutes into any given episode. I initially tried to get into DWTS last season when Kate Gosselin was competing.

I tried to watch one episode live, but the producers at the show were smart and kept Kate's performance till last because they knew everyone was tuning in to watch her fall on her face and to see if we could pick up on any of the much-rumored drama between her and her dancing pro. It didn't take me long to realize that nothing in the world was worth sitting through the entire show to wait for her performance.

I tried again this season because my mom likes the show and I figured that it would be something we could get into and watch together. We already both watch Project Runway, but this season is almost over and I wanted to have something waiting in the wings. Even with my mom fast forwarding through most of the show (except the actual dancing and judging), I had my laptop out in like 8 minutes because I was so bored. I'm pretty sure it was the first time since L was born that I have been able to use the word "bored" to describe myself, and I didn't like it because it wasn't even the fun "bored" like when you have the whole day with nothing scheduled and no ideas as to what to do. And these days, that qualifies as heaven instead of bored in my book.

2. The Bachelor/Bachelorette - I watched the entire last season of The Bachelorette because my BFF Barb (who lives in another state) asked me to so we could watch it apart then text about it the next day. And the warm, fuzzy feelings I have for her were just about the only things that got me through to the end. Call me old-fashioned, but I still have a really hard time not seeing a girl who makes out with and/or sleeps with different guys every single day as a slut. The same would go for The Bachelor with his harem of women, except then he'd be a douche and a skeeze.

Plus, I like to watch competition shows where I actually believe that the people competing are there because they desperately want the end reward. On Top Chef, these people really love cooking and are mostly there to further their cooking careers. But I just couldn't believe that the dudes on Bachelorette were really there to find true love. It would be more realistic if it was a show about who could be the first to give Ali an STD.

3. Seinfeld - It's not really fair of me to add this show to my list since it's not around anymore to defend itself. But this is like the all-time pinnacle of shows I just don't get. I know TONS of people who totally dig Seinfeld, and when I ask why they are like, "It's funny!" I am either way over-thinking this show or I'm too stupid and it all goes over my head. But since so many people I know feel so passionately about this show, I don't want to offend them by dissecting why I hate it so much. So I'll just say that I don't like it and we'll leave it at that.

4. Mad Men - D and I had heard so much hype about this show that we decided to Netflix the 1st season and watch it together. This was before our current favorite shows (Parenthood and Sons of Anarchy) had come around, so we were looking for something we could both enjoy. We had pretty high hopes, I'll admit, which usually leads to disappointment. Like finally going to see that movie that everyone said is the funniest movie they've ever seen, only to walk out going "Did I miss the funny when I got up to go to the bathroom?"

This one had such potential. It takes place in a time period that I'm very interested in, I love the clothes the characters wear, and it seemed to have story lines that were complex enough to keep you on the edge of your seat and made you want to watch 4 episodes in a row. Sadly, no dice. Quite the opposite. I still love the era and the clothes, but the story lines were mostly snoozers. D got bored before I did, but soon even I couldn't bring myself to finish the season.

5. Entourage - Pretty much the same as Mad Men. Too much hype, not enough substance to keep me interested past the first episode.

6. Lost - I confess, I've never actually watched an episode of this show. So this isn't a fair evaluation. But I get the distinct impression that I would not understand 75% of the story lines in this show. I also have gathered that the series finale was extremely unsatisfying, which seals the deal for me. I don't want to invest a ton of time and interest into a show that doesn't even explain everything in the end. If a show is going to confuse me, it better deliver all the explanations in the end so I can be like, "Best show ever!" and feel really super smart after watching it, even though I was telling myself that I hated it and was confused the entire time I was watching.

7. Any show about little people (aka half of TLC) - I am currently at a loss for what the name of that one show is about the family who have dwarfs as parents and one dwarf and two average-sized children, and I'm too lazy to google it. But I hate that show. Maybe it's the actual family that is the problem, since the mom seems like a real biznatch and the dad is pretty much a buffoon. So blame it on them that I am completely turned off to any show about little people.

I'm sure I could probably find a lot more shows that I don't like or get, but 7 seems like a great place to stop for now. So without further ado, I'm going to end this post abruptly.