What are some shows you tried to watch but:

I still like it, but watching this latest "X-Files" mini-season is making me realize more than ever just how nonsensical the overarching conspiracy stuff can get. It's almost like they'll retcon that gobbledygook a few times over the course of an episode now.

And what happened to explaining the big cliffhanger from the last mini-season? I thought UFOs were over the D.C. skies and people were being abducted? They showed a moment of that in the "previously on the X-Files" thing before the first episode, but then they seemed to just say, "Nah, screw that. We're going to ignore that we went there." Maybe they'll explain in the next few episodes, but I don't know.

The last episode, 11.2--the stuff with the AI/computer simulation Langly--seemed to want to both ignore and acknowledge what happened in 11.1 at the same time . . . at first I thought it must have been set some random time earlier, before the stuff in 11.1 happened, because all of a sudden there's nothing about Scully having seizures or being the hospital and they seem to have zero concern with finding their son, etc. but then it seemed like it was definitely supposed to be after episode 11.1 in the timeline.

The overarching mythology stuff was interesting in a way, but the "make it up as we go along and don't worry about what we said before" approach is fairly absurd at this point (noting that I enjoy absurdism). In any event, I was always glad they broke it up with the standalone "monster of the week" episodes. I wish they'd do full seasons again so they could go back to that.

The Mist
Stranger Things
Downton Abbey
Under the Dome
Legion
American Horror Story
Fear the Walking Dead
Star Trek: Discovery
Mr. Robot

Is it the longest-running sci-fi show in the world? I’ve heard that “old Who” and “new Who” are not, in fact, the same show, which I didn’t know until I asked about it. 

Believe it or not, I still haven’t seen “old Who,” but I do want to watch an episode or two one of these days, as it was written by the same people who did what is probably my favorite television program, The Avengers (the British television series, of course, not the superhero team). Some of the plots and concepts, moreover, seem right up my alley; “The Dæmons” (S8:E5), “Horror of Fang Rock” (S15:E1), “The Talons of Weng-Chiang” (S14:E6), “Ghost Light” (S26:E2) seems particularly intriguing. 

I have, unfortunately, seen “new Who,” and I think it’s atrocious (at least—of what I’ve seen). I was shocked at how bad the acting was, how phony the sets and special effects looked, how contrived the stories were… It doesn’t help that I’m not a fan of showrunner Steven Moffat, I suppose, but I simply disliked what I saw. The actor playing Dr. Who himself was so goddam annoying that I almost thought I couldn’t bear it. When I read this essay on it, too, which an acquaintance of mine wrote (it’s here, archived, but you’ll have to scroll down—“The Age of the Sex Olympics IV” is the heading), I was turned off the modern show for good. (May I be persuaded to give it another chance? Sure, maybe one day, but not any time soon.)

Oh, dear. That’s all much ado about nothing, probably… 

What other show? Please remind me. But honestly, in my opinion, AHS hasn't been good for the past two or three seasons. 
Penny Dreadful is (was) a tour de force of what television should be, again, in my opinion. The acting was superb, as was the writing.

I had to force myself to finish the first season of American Horror Story. It wasn't scary, the characters were uninteresting, and the story was completely nonsensical. I didn't watch any further seasons. 

You are mistaken. I have never said anything other than how much I loved PD. I loved it from the first episode, and through to the (for me, very sad) last episode. But, as you said, to each his own.