How to break up with a TV show gone bad

By BBC Newsbeat

Like any relationship, it starts out so well.

You find someone new and you can’t get enough of them. They’re the highlight of your week.

You stick together, possibly for years. And then the magic fades away.

Suddenly the things you used to find charming are just plain irritating – but you’ve been through so much together, can you honestly just walk away?

We’re talking TV shows that you end up hate-watching.

Die-hard fans still love The Walking Dead, but some reviewers have been critical recently.

Viewing figures have been falling during the second half of series seven.

This week’s show was watched by 10.16 million viewers in the US, the lowest since an episode in series three in 2012.

But The Walking Dead isn’t the first TV show to disappoint its viewers.Fans have had issues with some seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Orange Is The New Black, Homeland, Girls, Prison Break, Lost and Dexter.

So what’s a frustrated viewer to do?

TV psychologist Emma Kenny (she loves Girls, hates Game of Thrones and feels let down by Billions) has some advice for viewers caught in a destructive relationship with their favourite TV show.

“When our favourite TV shows let us down the reason it’s painful is because it’s reflective of real life,” she tells Newsbeat.

“Unfortunately, things are not gift-wrapped and situations don’t always work out how we plan.”

And while it sucks when a great TV show goes bad, Emma says it can be a positive experience for us emotionally.

“It’s actually quite good for us because in some ways it helps us deal with our resilience levels, just because we want something our way doesn’t mean we get it our way.”

Emma says that humans are naturally loyal creatures, which explains why so many of us resentfully carry on with TV shows we’re no longer enjoying.

“We’ll stick with a programme even when it takes them on a journey they’re unfamiliar or unhappy with because they remember nostalgically other times when it worked in the very opposite,” she says.

So what should you do if your favourite TV show has let you down time and time again? Give it the boot and get a younger, fitter model – of course.

“The best tip for breaking up with a TV that you feel is no longer giving you what you desire, is to try and find something that you know other people are talking about having the variables that will make you inspired,” Emma says.

“No matter how sad and depressed you are with one television show, you will certainly find something else that reflects your enjoyment more and hopefully will re-engage you with that process.”