10 TV Shows That Pissed You Off Straight Away
3. The Sanitised Content - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
In the grand scheme of things, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is actually a fairly respectable entry into the beleaguered sci-fi franchise, despite the fact that it's no longer canon.
The show found its feet after a shaky start, though there was one major problem that presented itself from its rough pilot episode and never let up throughout - the "family-friendly" content rating.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles was aired on Fox, and as anyone who's seen an episode of 24 knows, the network has strict guidelines about the allowable amount of violence, nudity, and swearing.
That is to say, violence has to be mostly bloodless - or at least free of gory detail - nudity non-existent, and swearing rarely more than a "damn" or "s**t."
For a predominantly R-rated franchise like Terminator, then, that's a bit of a problem, and right from its very first episode it's painfully clear how frustratingly sanitised Fox made the series.
Today with adult-orientated mega-budget shows like Game of Thrones and Westworld, it feels like The Sarah Connor Chronicles perhaps came a few years too early, and would've fared much better airing on HBO, Showtime, AMC, or FX, all being varying degrees more permissive than Fox.
The storytelling got pretty solid by the first season's mid-point, but it was tough not to be distracted by the aggressive PG-13-ness, which isn't in the spirit of James Cameron's originals at all.