TV Show With the Biggest Decline?

[Erik20]

Prison Break. Great first season, then it just became silly. The tattoo removal was probably the worst thing they did, it basically erased Michael's sacrifice for his brother. ("ruining" his body just for a map) After season 1 it turned into this weird conspiracy show... Also having to break out of another prison again

I couldn't even finish that final season they did a while back, it felt "dated," and supposedly a new season is coming up...

 

[Persona]

Of what I've seen, it's The X-Files. 100%.

To go from one of the best TV shows ever in seasons 3 and 4 to where it ended up in its last few seasons. I mean, ugh. That is one steep decline.

And let's not talk about the second movie. Let's never talk about that.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Of what I've seen, it's The X-Files. 100%.

To go from one of the best TV shows ever in seasons 3 and 4 to where it ended up in its last few seasons. I mean, ugh. That is one steep decline.

And let's not talk about the second movie. Let's never talk about that.

Every time I think about “My Struggle IV” I just want to strangle Chris Carter.

 

[Prison Mike]

Glee. I think I only enjoyed the first season but every character became pretty much unbearable after that. They also started up storylines and then dropped them for no reason. Ryan Murphy has this habit with every series he’s involved with. A strong first season or two and then crap for the rest of the series.

As others have mentioned before, these are the shows where the quality dropped significantly and I stopped watching half way through:

Arrow
Heroes
HIMYM
Once Upon A Time
The Walking Dead (I stopped watching after Rick left)
Glee

And these are the shows where I agree that the quality dropped significantly but I stuck with them through the end:

Smallville
Nip/Tuck
Revenge
Dexter
The Office

 

[Mani-Man]

Oh man, i completely forgot about a few of the shows.
Completely forgot about Nip/Tuck, which shows how bad the show gotten.

GOT i think is a no brainer, Heroes for sure lost it hard and fast.
HIMYM fell apart on the final lap so badly that i might never be able to watch it again sadly.
Dexter, Glee, Prison Break.

I would say NCIS personally declined, despite having great ratings still.
To me it fell apart after Ziva left, until then the show was really good...most has to do with the fantastic chemistry Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo had.
They dragged out the will they/wont they so long that the whole thing crashed and burned sadly when Cote de Pablo left.
After that, the show never was the same.

Once Upon a time is one of my favorite shows, but yeah it declined pretty hard.
When they decided to do those half season storylines, it started to go downhill.

The Blacklist is a show too that became pretty bad, personally i stopped watching after season 2 and still dont miss the show.

And i would add Supernatural too.
I loved the early seasons where they hunted your "typical" monsters and demons etc.
When they added angels and all, they lost me.

 

[Prison Mike]

Oh yeah I forgot about Supernatural. I watched the first 6 seasons but dropped it after that. Since it’s ending, I’ve a seen few episodes here and there but none of it so far has matched the quality of seasons 1-5.

 

[Draganmac]

Heroes is the answer. It might be the biggest example of something completely squandering its potential of anything I've ever seen, television or otherwise.

You stole my thunder, HEROES immediately came to mind...so good at first...

 

[chamber-music]

Misftits. When most of the maincast left the showwent downhill fast.

 

[LoganPool]

This may shock a lot of people, but for me, The Big Bang Theory is the biggest declining show. I think it's after season 5 that I just couldn't get into it anymore. Seasons 10-12 are unwatchable.

Arrow is another one. I was done after season 3.

Going old school, Cheers declined hard after Shelley Long left.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Anything with 20+ ep a season that last more than 4/6 seasons.
By anything I mean shows that I started watching such as The Flash, Arrow, Supernatural, X-Files(stopped soon after the first movie).

 

[TheVileOne]

Jessica Jones took a pretty hard dive in Season 2.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

If one show suffered the most from the writers strike it was Heroes. GOT & HIMYM fell apart on the last season. However in GOT case it was the last episode rather than the season. Smallville fell apart during the forth season and Supergirl fell during it's second season.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I know Simpsons gets brought up a lot, but can we at least admire the fact that it had 8 perfect seasons? How many shows can claim that? Seinfeld maybe. It’s probably only on one hand.

 

[kguillou]

The 100 was excellent for 5 seasons and should have ended there. It completely lost its way after that.

 

[Lobo]

Happy Days. I mean it literally jumped the shark. I know that's long before most posters here time but it needs to be mentioned.

 

[kguillou]

Happy Days. I mean it literally jumped the shark. I know that's long before most posters here time but it needs to be mentioned.

I love Happy Days! I havent seen it since i was a kid watching it on Nick at Nite so i dont recall the quality declining but it definitely got more...over the top lol

 

[MadVillainy]

Glee. I think I only enjoyed the first season but every character became pretty much unbearable after that. They also started up storylines and then dropped them for no reason. Ryan Murphy has this habit with every series he’s involved with. A strong first season or two and then crap for the rest of the series.

Yeah I remember Glee was MASSIVE those first 1-2 seasons. The songs were being played on the radio, everyone in my HS was talking about it on Facebook. I remember of few people being more open or straight coming out with their sexuality after the show's popularity which was cool

But it really fizzled to the point I don't think the finale was talked about that much. At least not on my timeline.

Unfortunately I think it's becoming more famous for it's curse and some of the star's misbehavior

 

[Batmannerism]

Oh yeah I forgot about Supernatural. I watched the first 6 seasons but dropped it after that. Since it’s ending, I’ve a seen few episodes here and there but none of it so far has matched the quality of seasons 1-5.

I heard that Erik Kripke intended Supernatural end with season 5 - and the finale of that season would have been a great way to wrap it up.

Instead they milked the cow for 10 more seasons getting more and more outlandish while Sam and Dean remain the same old knuckleheads. Now God is the bad guy ? On the face of it that's ridiculous, and even more ridiculous that armed with little more than some plot armour and family angst the boys are going to take him down.

Still, try saying that to a serious fan and you'll get an earful of abuse.

I did watch a bit of season 6-7 but once they killed off Bobby there was no reason to watch it anymore.

I feel like there's a golden rule that a show shouldn't go beyond 7 seasons. Here's a rundown of some of my faves:

Justified had 6 seasons and wrapped everything beautifully.

Star Trek:
TOS: Well, when they stole Spock's brain you know they had run out of ideas.

TNG , by the time it hit 7 seasons was recycling plots ( usually around holodeck malfunctions), the characters made it fun, but it was time to go. Interestingly it's pretty lame in series 1 and 2, but season 3 is outstanding ( probably because Roddenberry wasn't involved anymore) and 4,5 and 6 have lots of amazing episodes.

DS9: really hits its stride in season 4, once the war begins, but you find the odd filler episode in season 5 and 6. Season 7 is pretty good all around.

Voyager: again, hits stride in season 3 and once 7of 9 joins the crew things amp up a lot. I mean the Kazon as primary antagonists ( season 1 and 2) are pretty lame compared to the Borg. It probably could have finished in 6, but 7 seasons was enough without being too much.


Enterprise: Who cares ? Scott Bakula in charge of a starship is asking for trouble.


Fringe had 2 near perfect seasons , season 3 had some great episodes but a completely nonsensical finale- the first half of season 4 was filler, and season 5 was almost a different show entirely, but made sense in a strange way and had a great finale ( although it doesn't really make sense, the way that JJ Abrams take on time travel never makes sense).

LOST could have ended much earlier, seasons 4 and 5 felt very drawn out. The season 2 premiere was just magic.

I loved NUMB3RS but it probably only needed 5 seasons, season 6 is a mess.


Big Bang Theory, was still funny in season 6 but after 7 a lot of episodes felt like filler while they slowly resolved all the characters' issues - I reckon they could have done it in season 8 and wrapped, but hey, money ! 12 seasons was way too long. Good ending with the Nobel, but a pretty torturous route to get there. I was tired of Sheldon's bull **** by season 6.


Arrow could have ended with season 6, the season 5 finale is great, but all of season 6 and 7 feel like pointless filler, and season 8 WTF ( or maybe WOT for " waste of time") ? Crisis on Infinite Earths was always going to be a tough story to adapt, but making Green Arrow the central character, and having him die, come back to life, die again, I mean really?

Person of Interest: I loved that show. Seasons 1,2 are amazing and the first half of season 3 is magic. After that the show morphed from a Big Brother is watching show to a war between AIs, and it lost sight of the characters who made it so enjoyable. It got 2 more seasons, and season 4 had some good episodes but could have closed out the show. A hit and miss finale.

Hawaii Five 0. When it first came out it was so enjoyable. But when Chin and Kono left, they should have wrapped it up ( and they never should have killed off Wo Fat, until the very end). Seven seasons was enough.

Smallville: yeah 5 seasons would have been plenty.

My wife used to enjoy NCIS, until about season 5 or 6 but man has that ****er dragged on and on, are they afraid Mark Harmon will drop dead if they finish it off ?

While were talking about procedurals, I feel BONES dragged on too long, although it didn't jump the shark because it was preposterous from the start.

David E Kelley time....

Ally McBeal, really needed to end after season 3. Billy has a brain tumour ? WTF ?


Boston Legal. Okay, this show was ridiculous from day 1, so no shark jumping, it was waving bye bye to the shark tank from ep1. 5 seasons was definitely long enough. It quit while it was ahead, a good way to go.


Last but not least Chicago Hope, started off with a roar but when Mandy Patinkin bailed it was time to leave. I kept watching for a season or 2 and regretted it.


Wow, this really turned into an essay ! Oops.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

True Blood is another show that fell off bad. It reached its peak that season when it had Fiona Shaw as the witch Marnie, after that it was downhill from there.

 

[MadVillainy]

I heard that Erik Kripke intended Supernatural end with season 5 - and the finale of that season would have been a great way to wrap it up.

Instead they milked the cow for 10 more seasons getting more and more outlandish while Sam and Dean remain the same old knuckleheads. Now God is the bad guy ? On the face of it that's ridiculous, and even more ridiculous that armed with little more than some plot armour and family angst the boys are going to take him down.

Still, try saying that to a serious fan and you'll get an earful of abuse.

I did watch a bit of season 6-7 but once they killed off Bobby there was no reason to watch it anymore.

I feel like there's a golden rule that a show shouldn't go beyond 7 seasons. Here's a rundown of some of my faves:

Hawaii Five 0. When it first came out it was so enjoyable. But when Chin and Kono left, they should have wrapped it up ( and they never should have killed off Wo Fat, until the very end). Seven seasons was enough.

Smallville: yeah 5 seasons would have been plenty.

My wife used to enjoy NCIS, until about season 5 or 6 but man has that ****er dragged on and on, are they afraid Mark Harmon will drop dead if they finish it off ?

While were talking about procedurals, I feel BONES dragged on too long, although it didn't jump the shark because it was preposterous from the start.

I'm not up to date on Supernatural, but I think those first 5 seasons are legitimate great TV. I watched season 6, but then I jumped ship after season 7. Season 5 just felt like a finale. The stake were never higher, the show pretty much wrapped all storylines and it actually was a good ending and one that felt true to the show...but yeah they kept it going.

I don't think it necessarily got bad or had a huge decline. It was just for me the stakes after season 5 were just kinda boring. I mean the show is fighting mythological evil. After Satan/Lucifer... there's really nowhere to go. Everything else feels like a downgrade. I was talking to my friend about this post season 5 and said the only other enemy they could face is God. But I didn't know until your post that that's what they're doing. That's just kinda stupid.

But I like Ackles a lot and to a lesser extent Padelecki so good fo them for continuing the work, but yeah I checked out I think after the season 6 finale. There is a 20 min recap of seasons 6-13 that I will watch before the penultimate ep and then I'll watch that and the finale. Just to see how it ends.


On the topic of when shows should end I think 6 or 7 is even pushing it. 5 seasons or 100 eps for the 22-30 min shows. I feel that's more than enough time to say whatever you need to say about any number of characters or concepts. And it seems to me that most shows dip or start to dip by then.

Procedurals can go on for long as they want. I never found any procedural, unless the whole cast shifted to get that worse as they go on. They just become boring and stale after a while because all the episodes kinda just blend together. All the episodes are pretty similar to the point of not being interesting enough to watch religiously.

 

[Batmannerism]

I'm not up to date on Supernatural, but I think those first 5 seasons are legitimate great TV. I watched season 6, but then I jumped ship after season 7. Season 5 just felt like a finale. The stake were never higher, the show pretty much wrapped all storylines and it actually was a good ending and one that felt true to the show...but yeah they kept it going.

I don't think it necessarily got bad or had a huge decline. It was just for me the stakes after season 5 were just kinda boring. I mean the show is fighting mythological evil. After Satan/Lucifer... there's really nowhere to go. Everything else feels like a downgrade. I was talking to my friend about this post season 5 and said the only other enemy they could face is God. But I didn't know until your post that that's what they're doing. That's just kinda stupid.

But I like Ackles a lot and to a lesser extent Padelecki so good fo them for continuing the work, but yeah I checked out I think after the season 6 finale. There is a 20 min recap of seasons 6-13 that I will watch before the penultimate ep and then I'll watch that and the finale. Just to see how it ends.


On the topic of when shows should end I think 6 or 7 is even pushing it. 5 seasons or 100 eps for the 22-30 min shows. I feel that's more than enough time to say whatever you need to say about any number of characters or concepts. And it seems to me that most shows dip or start to dip by then.

Procedurals can go on for long as they want. I never found any procedural, unless the whole cast shifted to get that worse as they go on. They just become boring and stale after a while because all the episodes kinda just blend together. All the episodes are pretty similar to the point of not being interesting enough to watch religiously.

Wow. I pretty much agree with all of that !
Especially the Supernatural comments - Ackles is the better actor and Dean is a funnier character, but in 15 years he seems to have the same issues, the writers don't seem to have any arc for him or have him evolve ( although I lost track of series 9-14, so who knows ? Hey, when you watch that recap you'll need to see seasons 14 and 15 too....talk about going on too long !)

What does happen to procedurals is that cast changes can either really help or harm them. Sometimes a new cast member breathes life into a stale show- but conversely too many changes and viewers lose interest because they miss old favorites or can't be bothered building a connection with the new cast.

I suppose 100 episodes is enough really, maybe even less. Justified wasted very little screen time with filler, it had 6 seasons of 10 episodes each.
Black Sails was very similar.

I'm a big fan of the 10-13 episode format, that we so often see with Netflx shows.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Most of you guys have named all the good ones already, but I'm surprised more people don't talk about just how off the rails Vikings goes after Season 2. Season 5 was even worse than Season 8 of GOT IMO and while I enjoyed the first half of Season 6 its just not as good as it once was, especially after certain characters were killed off.

The most recent seasons of X-Files were complete trash too though. Seasons 1-5 are my favorite and I can even get some enjoyment out of the later seasons, but my god was that revival a disaster. Somebody at Fox really needed to give Chris Carter a good talking to.

Tales from the Crypt is another one I feel goes down the drain in its later seasons. When they moved to London I just couldn't finish it and its sad because that use to be one of my favorite shows when I was younger.

 

[Wheels]

I know Simpsons gets brought up a lot, but can we at least admire the fact that it had 8 perfect seasons? How many shows can claim that? Seinfeld maybe. It’s probably only on one hand.

I guess so considering I would argue The Simpsons' first 8 seasons is the greatest comedy series to exist on this planet and is the defining show of the 1990s in hindsight. Especially when you factor in internet geeks were complaining about the show at the time while an entire generation was being shaped by it under the nose of the writing staff.

 

[MadVillainy]

Wow. I pretty much agree with all of that !
Especially the Supernatural comments - Ackles is the better actor and Dean is a funnier character, but in 15 years he seems to have the same issues, the writers don't seem to have any arc for him or have him evolve ( although I lost track of series 9-14, so who knows ? Hey, when you watch that recap you'll need to see seasons 14 and 15 too....talk about going on too long !)

Yeah the recap includes all the post season 5 seasons. I just got the number of seasons mixed up

And yeah I'm not saying 100 eps for everything. Only those 20-30 min shows
Cable or hour long dramas are more than likely good for 5 seasons

 

[Batmannerism]

Yeah the recap includes all the post season 5 seasons. I just got the number of seasons mixed up

And yeah I'm not saying 100 eps for everything. Only those 20-30 min shows
Cable or hour long dramas are more than likely good for 5 seasons

Actually mate, I reckon 5-7 seasons with 10-13 episodes is more than enough for even one hour shows.

Check out Sherlock, each season has 3 x90 minute episodes and that's perfect.