I get what you're saying, but I'm not always fully dedicating time to a show. I've watched plenty of mid shows while doing other things: cleaning, playing games, working, sending emails, etc. Don't really even want to watch anything that good when I'm doing those things. Else I'll be too distracted.

Counterpoint: there's also an ocean of garbage out there.

Maybe this'll get me some flack, but rn this post makes me think of Jujutsu Kaisen. It's fine. Some of the characters are fleshed out well, some of them are at least entertaining, but overall the plot is incredibly simple and the worldbuilding is surprisingly shallow. However, MAPPA is an undeniably talented studio and crucially, it's actively in the process of airing.

Not everything you watch has to be groundbreaking. Sometimes just being "on" and "good enough" is all you want.

I've found I'm a lot happier when I just take things as they come. It's not so much that I want to watch mid shows as it is that I don't want the stress that comes from trying to avoid them. I'm much happier just quickly picking something good enough than spending a bunch of time researching the best thing and then still wondering if I could've found something better.

I enjoyed watching shows most when I had 10 local TV channels to pick from and just watched whatever seemed good enough out of those options, so now I just purposefully limit my options to emulate that, and it's been pretty nice.

Another counterpoint on my end : good/popular shows tend to converge creatively. Mid content can have great ideas that you wouldn't find elsewhere.

It's great nourishment for the creative mind. For example I keep a bunch of old sci fi short story magazines cause they are full of ideas and characters that are thought provoking but not mature or polished enough for the mass market. Keeps my brain on its toes.