Anecdotally, I didn't enjoy any of the shows you listed, and while I'm pretty sure it's a taste thing...
Well, yeah, it's taste --- and if you find you don't like the things the majority of people do enjoy, it'll decrease your options.
Some people want cozy mysteries with recipes --- if someone's tastes run that direction, they'll have less options in books and series and movies than those of us that love crime drama with violence and sex.
Both can have good writing, however, let's face it, the best writers are going to face a really strong temptation to forego thinking about writing the next Murder She Wrote with the Cleavers and Gillian when they could be writing the next Gone Girl meets Breaking Bad and the surviving Sopranos who want revenge.
- they were all just as derivative as Star Wars or anything else.
Sure, but also had originality in some form that made them attractive -- just like the things you mentioned.
The underlining story in Orphan Black was pretty standard cyberpunk with evil corporations and clones --- but how many series have you seen with the same actor playing like a dozen roles, often in the same scene with herself? It would have been impossible to pull off in the past, just like Jurassic Park and The Matrix, however, anything good has to be good for more than the effects, I think we'd agree on that...it needs writing to be great and acting and directing.
I guess if you like Mad Max better than Fury Road, then you're going to always be feeling disappointed in current trends.
And, to be fair, they could all have been made with way less sensationalism.
Well, maybe. This is a taste thing, of course. I mean, Jaws could have been made with less blood as well.
Watching it now, it's so damn cheesy, but seeing it as a child of ten, well, I was terrified the next day when my dad, with perhaps a sense of sick humor, took me to the ocean to swim.
Anyway, we'll have to agree a lot of this is taste (good or bad, I'm not saying my tastes are good tastes, maybe they suck, but if I'm entertained and spending money, well, I'll be catered too).
Not liking Breaking Bad? Really?
The writing in that is top notch, imho.