Characters that people care about are an odd thing; it's no less subjective than any other aspect of fiction, yet people treat it otherwise. I've watched shows with the most uninteresting characters that get universal praise for their characters. I've found interest in characters people seem to hate. Here's the thing about House of Cards: it's fun to watch Frank be a slithering bastard and get away with it. He's good at it, and the show's well-written enough to really let you see how he works and how he succeeds. If you're not rooting for the bad guy, you're not rooting for anyone. I can understand not liking it, but I don't understand why you think it's garbage.
To pick on another Spacey movie, I compare it to the Usual Suspects. I would argue that movie is also garbage, despite the near universal praise it gets. Why? Because it's not at all interesting to watch an actor be nothing but manipulative on screen. Acting by nature is manipulative. Acting is pretending, so when you see an actor doing nothing but pretending to be someone else, its not extraordinary--it's just acting. In the Usual Suspects, we're supposed to be blown away that Verbal was making it all up, but it's a prewritten script so who cares? It is terrible by virtue of what it is, not by any fault of the actor. Lying is interesting in movies and TV when the lying isn't the point, but the underlying reason for the lie is. Being an unredeemable, manuipulative, vengeful jerk isn't motivation; its just lazy, uninspired writing. Walter White is a bad guy, but is the antithesis of Frank Underwood. He fundamentally cares about people, but also is sick of being pushed around. We can tell that he's either a bad guy who's been pretending to be good his whole life or vice versa. He's complicated. Frank is as simple as they come, and so is everyone else in that show. As far as I can tell, none of the characters has any depth beyond the makeup they're wearing. It's not about liking; it's about caring. There's a huge difference.