There're shounen shows I like and there're others I don't, just like for any other genre of anime. I personally really enjoy lots of anime of the genre though - I also love many shows that are slightly out of the ordinary for shounen, such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood with its very deep story and strong adult supporting cast or Gintama with its unconventional way of doing things and its adult protagonist. Another reason I like shounen is probably because of my more boyish tastes in anime, I'm a girl but shounen and seinen are pretty much the only genres that I watch regularly.
There's a reason why shounen's so popular, I guess. It's really appealing. It's conventional, but conventions are often comforting which is a part of why people still watch predictable shows. But I agree that it does annoy me that a lot of newer anime fans - or non-fans, even - seem to think shounen is all there is to anime. Shounen and Ghibli, actually
But as C.A. said, it's a huge genre with lots to uncover, IMO, so it's unfair to generalize.