Every now and then I'd tune into an episode of The X Files and it was universally grim.
I was brought up in a country where syndication was unheard of, so I only ever watch things from the start*: I don't dip in and out. In the UK, throughout my childhood, TV series were usually something like six episodes. This meant they were universally one episode "set-up", four and a half episodes of "journey", and the last half of an episode was "denouement". Nowadays the UK has followed the US lead in having a full season of 6-30 episodes ending on a cliff-hanger that will only be resolved if the series is renewed, so eventually there will be an unresolved cliffhanger (that normally has nothing to do with the series original premise, because of the twists and turns of each individual season). The X-Files is a classic of the form: it had monster of the week episodes (of varying quality) with an overarching arc that hooked viewers but never got resolved. After the first season it rapidly became "Bert & Doris investigate weird things" every week, and it lost the coherence of the story arc.
It took me a long time to break the habit of expecting the "traditional" form, but even now I still demand an ending a lá "The Fugitive" to be provided, that makes sense of the overarching story. If I don't get that, I can't abide the series (no matter how "good" the hook/ stories/ production values are.
... I watch TV independently of SWMBO (she is a soap opera addict), so fortunately I am not restricted to stuff she likes.
* the first time: thereafter I am happy to watch random episodes in any order, if I liked the show enough.