While TV is supposed to be escapism, some shows completely escape reality on a regular basis. We expect craziness on Heroes, Fringe and Lost since they're fantasy shows, but with series that pretend to take place in our world, we hope for a modicum of plausibility -- if only for the sake of internal logic. It's not that we don't like most of these shows, but it is hard to buy into some of the plots that they've been selling lately.
10. Cougar Town
Sure she's cute and attractive, but we're supposed to believe that she has a mostly amicable relationship with her husband, a functional relationship with her surprisingly talkative teenager and has a young, hot boyfriend who is willing to wait ten dates for sex? And that the sex was awkward the first time, and yet he still stuck around? What a bizarrely charmed life this supposed over-the-hill loser is living.
9. 90210
Most of the plots on this show are preposterous to begin with, but we had a really hard time swallowing the idea that any woman in her right mind could look at baby-faced Dixon and believe that he was in his mid-to-late 20s. The boy doesn't look a day over 15 (and yes, I know that Tristan Wilds is actually 20), and when he opens his mouth, he talks like a teenager, not a savvy music producer or skeevy porn king.
8. How I Met Your Mother
While we're not thrilled with the whole Barney/Robin thing, it does make some sense that the two relationship-phobic characters would hook up. However, we're honestly surprised that Lily and Marshall never tried to "couple friend" Robin when she was dating Ted. If they were so desperate, wouldn't Marshall's best pal have been their first target? Oh, and we're not buying Ted as a professor either, though we do believe that this oft-dopey character would have been so full of himself that he taught the wrong class for ten minutes.
7. Private Practice
We're willing to dive into a lot of the soapy drama on this show, but it's more than a little insane to think that Sheldon and Pete, who both tried to stake claim on Violet's kid, would have waited an entire month before even considering a paternity test. Yes, Violet was all shaken up, but she barely touched the kid. Pete had plenty of time to do that little swab test. Also, Violet just handed over her kid to Pete, who may or may not be the father? We get that she's not all there, but that's both irresponsible and implausible.
6. The City
Technically this show is "reality," but we all know that it's anything but unscripted, so it deserves its spot on this list for its totally insane second-season storyline. In an effort to make the show more interesting, the focus is now more on Olivia, who has landed herself a job as some sort of assistant accessories editor at Elle. And apparently, someone just starting out in magazine industry gets to report right to the creative director and the PR director (with the latter sitting in a lowly cubicle behind Olivia instead of her own office). Um, no. That's not how publishing works. Have the "writers" of this show never seen The Devil Wears Prada?
5. Dollhouse
For a supposedly top-secret organization, it sure is easy to get into this place. Last week they brought in a serial killer who had been hit buy a car for some medical treatment -- are they moonlighting as an emergency room now? Also, if Paul can find his way in, or even learn that it exists, it's not super-secure, because he ain't an especially great investigator.
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4. The Big Bang Theory
Leonard definitely has a unique nerdish appeal, but we're not entirely sold on the fact that Penny appreciates him for his mind. He's a nice enough guy, but Penny's used to beefy men; why would she suddenly decide to date this geek? And how did they immediately go from having awkward sex, to basically having her sleeping over constantly? Did Leonard win the cosmic lottery when we weren't looking?
3. Glee
Will's not the brightest bulb in the shed, but even he should be able to touch his wife's stomach and realize that she's not actually having his baby. And the fact that Terri is so interested in Quinn's pregnant state should have made him at least slightly suspicious. Either he's the most oblivious man in the world, or he just chooses to be blind. Either way, it's preposterous. And that's saying a lot on this nutty show.
2. Nip/Tuck
We were going to pick one storyline, but then we realized that the most ridiculous thing about this show is that it is still on the air so long after its prime. They can't even find new ways to shock us because they've pretty much already done it all.
1. Castle
How/why is Castle still working alongside Beckett while she does her day job? Really, we were game to believe that TPTB would let him tag along with her for a few cases while he was writing his book, but he's already published it and he's got more than enough character material to last him for an entire trilogy. There's only so much pull he can have to stay on before they really need to make him take some courses in detecting. Also, how can he solve crimes that no one who gets paid to do that for a living can solve? Just saying.
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