I mean, does early (possibly mistaken) perceptions on subject matter turn people off to the point of not even giving it a shot even if the creator has made enjoyable stuff in the past?

I mostly decide whether to watch something new based on subject matter unless the creator is pointed out to me (here or in EW, basically. I don't seek out the information) - though once it's been pointed out, knowing that a new thing has so-and-so who also did Thing I Liked behind it is good for at least one watch.

That said, I'm less likely to be turned off by skeevy subject matter than to be just uninterested a premise. Dollhouse has an interesting premise.

I love BSG so Virtuality has me for at least 6 eps.

you're pretty generous. I give a new episode three tries. The pilot, if the premise still interests me at the end, because often things change between the pilot and the first ep. First ep, to see if they fixed the things that were wrong in the pilot. Second ep, because that's the most representative of how the rest of the season's going to go.

I think the first three eps are likely to be heavy on exposition, especially if the world of the show has rules that need to be explained (ie ghosts & monsters are real, inanimate objects talk, characters leap through time, etc). It the 4th or 5th episode before a show can just be what it is.

I agree with Vortex. By the third episode you can really get a sense for whether the show's going to be your cup of tea. If they haven't damped down the heavy exposition by the third hour 42 minutes, they probably have issues.

Occasionally, shows will fit in that gray zone where they aren't quite good enough, but I'm not ready to give up on them yet. Those shows will last a few episodes longer before I quit (e.g. Saving Grace), but if I let them linger too long I end up watching regularly albeit with morbid reluctance (e.g. Dirt).

Kristen, have there been strikes?

There was the one on House. There was the previously mentioned one on L&O, which BTW included a dramatic reenactment of Rene Balcer's real life picket line incident. There was at least one other but I seemed to have blocked it out now.

Supernatural had an episode that mentioned the actual writer's strike as part of the framing of the thing. Don't know if that counts, though.

I'll give Dollhouse a shot. Obviously, as I watch Supernatural weekly, I have a fairly high tolerance for skeevy gender issues.

I could only give The Wire two tries.

I am an extreme television viewer. I give almost all new scripted shows (except L&O or CSI like procedurals which I absolutely can't stand) 3 episodes. Shows with writers or actors who have worked on projects I have enjoyed in the past get 5 or 6 episodes before getting deleted from the DVR.

indeed. Ultimate Drew didn't join the staff until season 7, which seems hard to believe.

His first episode was "Selfless," which is interesting if you consider (Cloverfield spoiler) the heart-ripping out spiders in the frat house vs. the Ebola insects in the subway tunnels

The "House" strike episode had the strikers carrying signs that had the same color scheme/font as the writers' strike signs.

I'm looking askance at Dollhouse for subject matter and casting race issues, but giving it a shot. See Plei re: SPN, though my love for that show has dwindled to almost nothing.

I tend to be a much harder sell. Generally speaking, if the first episode I see of something doesn't grab me, I'm gone. Joss, Tim, and Bryan Fuller get a few extra episodes, though really Drive is the only series by those three that's needed them.