Most dramatic drop in quality of a TV series

TheIrishGrover · 11-05-2011 1:08pm #1

Having looked through the The King Of Moo's thread about people's favourite seasons on a particular show there was the general consensus that Heroes' Season 1 was everyone's favourite and that it dropped in quality SEVERELY after S1. I don't think anyone can argue with that. The drop in quality was simply stunning in my opinion. It went from must-watch-TV to absolute drivel from Season 2, Episode 1 and never redeemed itself ( To paraphrase The Iron Giant: Remember the scenes in Cork Hogarth? Uggghhhhhh I remember the scenes in Cork).

Anyway, my question is: What other shows do you think suffered such a MASSIVE drop in quality in such a short period?

For me one would be Babylon 5. Season 1-4 (and especially 2-4) were tight, coherent seasons with a story arc that they stuck rigidly to. Even the standalone episodes tended to have at least some reference to the overall arc. Of course what happened was that WB gave JM Strazinski only one more season at the end of S3 to finish his 5-year plan so he had to compress S4 and S5 into one season. THEN WB greenlit S5 and unfortunately JMS had pretty much tied everything he wished to tie by the end of S4 so he was left dangling by S5 and it shows. Pity really

Melion · 11-05-2011 1:09pm

The Simpsons
Lost from Series 2 which was great to 3 which was shíte

Tipsy McSwagger · 11-05-2011 1:12pm

Only Fools & Horses
Once the women were introduced it wasnt funny anymore.

Frank Black · 11-05-2011 1:15pm

X-Files went downhill a lot after Season 5.
I though Prison Break Season 1 was a lot better than Season 2.

Not sure if anything tops Heroes though

JustAddWater · 11-05-2011 1:18pm

CSI after season 9

Criminal minds this season was ****e

The King of Moo · 11-05-2011 1:18pm

Star Trek: TNG's final season for me. A very consistent programme from season 3 till season 6, but with season 7 everyone seemed tired and just going through the motions. It still had a few good episodes, and the two-part finale was excellent and a fitting end to the series. So even though I think it was a pretty mediocre season and a noticeably sharp drop in quality, I'd probably still prefer to keep it and the fantastic finale than end the series after six seasons without the finale.

Alias also, from season 2 to 3. It seems to have coincided with J.J Abrams taking a backseat and writing/directing fewer episodes (see also Lost, some debate whether he left after season 1 or the pilot). It didn't really become terrible in my opinion, but it did gradually get worse after that, with a few high points here and there, and it never managed the heights of the first two seasons.

sink · 11-05-2011 1:23pm

"The spear of destiny" Season 4 episode 13 of The Unit. What was an entertaining action show based on the delta force, took a turn for the surreal when it introduced crazy Christian mysticism and magic.

drBill · 11-05-2011 1:28pm

Killinascully. It really only had the makings of one good series.

gimmick · 11-05-2011 1:32pm

Scrubs went from being a fairly funny show to possibly the worst show on TV.

They made JD into such a compelte tool.

The King of Moo · 11-05-2011 1:33pm

The X-Files also. It's hard to pinpoint an exact spot, but I felt from season 5 on that the "mythology" episodes were getting too convoluted and the writers were treading water as they couldn't wrap up the storyline as it was too popular. The monster-of-the-week episodes were starting to feel stale and a bit formulaic as well. That's around when I dropped out of watching it religiously, and caught the odd episode here and there, though less and less frequently. It did seem to get worse as it went on, and if I'd watched regularly I'd probably point out the time when David Duchovny as an obvious sharp drop. But for me, I think in season 5 I felt like I could see the cracks appear and I never looked at the programme the same way again.

I should also point out that I did gain some renewed enthusiasm after the film came out and watched a few episodes, but the clear change in shooting locations from dark and damp British Columbia to bright and sunny L.A was quite jarring.

joe123 · 11-05-2011 2:34pm

Prison Break after the first season.

Lost after the 2nd season.

Dman001 · 11-05-2011 2:37pm

Heroes-Went from a brilliant first Season (but with a very dodgy Finale), to a terrible Season 2, to a below average Season 3 and 4.

Blazer · 11-05-2011 3:29pm

Agreed with Heroes...I've never seen a show with such a massive drop off in quality bar one...
The Unit- Once they started to focus on the women more than the men it became farcial...as in one episode the main guy gets addicted to heroin...and how his wife is struggling with it..next show he's all better again

Went rapidly downhill after that.

Smallville- Really enjoyed the first 4 seasons...sure there was some filler eps but the drop from S5 onwards to it's present day....absolutely shocking and on a par with Heroes if not worse.
By Season 8/9 it was like monkeys were writing the scripts....or at least they should have been...because you couldn't have make it any worse than it possibly is.

LOST- Loved it all the way to the final episode.:(
To this day nothing makes me more angry than thinking about the 5 years I spent watching and defending lost...and then they release that frakkin awful final episode...arty farty me bollix...it was the greatest copout of a episode ever...****in wánkers...
a word of warning- if you're ever introduced to me and you say "Hi, I used to write for LOST", I'm going to punch you in the face for ever..
Actually when you go to hell I'll be there to punch you in the face...forever..:mad:

pickarooney · 11-05-2011 3:38pm

The drop in quality of Alias in season 3 was only surpassed by the even sheerer drop in season 5. Overall the gulf between seasons 1 and 5 is probably the worst drop of any show.

Likewise Desperate Housewives' overall drop between seasons 1 and 7 has been incredible, with S2-S3 being the biggest fall-off in quality.

I'm not sure if there was a major season shift in the Simpsons but again the overall demise of the show is fairly tragic.

The US Office suffered a major dip after about season 3, although again I can't remember the exact moment.

enda1 · 11-05-2011 3:39pm

Prediction: Misfits

ixoy · 11-05-2011 4:22pm

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought "Heroes".

Another one: '24'. Massive drop from Season 5 (excellent) to Season 6 (I turned it off 8 episodes in and never went back).

JohnFalstaff · 11-05-2011 4:33pm

As soon as Laura Palmer's murder was solved Twin Peaks had nowhere to go. Although similar to King Moo's feeling on TNG I'm glad we got to see Agent Cooper's 'Where's Annie?' moment at the end of season 2...

I was also very disappointed with the most recent series of Breaking Bad,

specifically from the point Walt decides to bring Jesse back into the fold

. It felt like a serious misstep for a series that hadn't put a foot wrong up to that point. My interest waned in the series after that.

Posy · 11-05-2011 4:37pm

Nothing new to add, just to reiterate 'The Simpsons' and 'Scrubs.'

They really should have knocked Scrubs on the head when it was still funny- and The Simpsons should have been put out to pasture about 10 years ago.

JustAddWater · 11-05-2011 4:37pm

ixoy wrote: »

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought "Heroes".

Another one: '24'. Massive drop from Season 5 (excellent) to Season 6 (I turned it off 8 episodes in and never went back).

Oh man, you missed out. Season 7 was fawesome!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 11-05-2011 4:43pm

Lost: Season 6... Seasons 1-5 were quality, while season 6 was almost a chore to watch...

Prison Break: Season 4... Many people will say season 2, but to be fair, while they were nowhere near as good as season 1, seasons 2 and 3 were still must watch TV. The 4th season whoever was so ridiculously bad to the point I was merely watching it out of sheer loyalty.

Dexter: Season 5... Let's face it, they were never gonna top season 4, but it felt like they didn't even try.

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 11-05-2011 4:45pm

ixoy wrote: »

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought "Heroes".

Another one: '24'. Massive drop from Season 5 (excellent) to Season 6 (I turned it off 8 episodes in and never went back).

Really picked up again in season 7 and 8... You should probably consider revisiting it...

RolandIRL · 11-05-2011 4:49pm

Prison Break and Heroes had brilliant first seasons, but they just couldn't keep it up.

i always felt Lost was good, thought the 5th season was a bit dodgy, but loved the 6th season. i'm one of the strange people that loved the finale.

mayordenis · 11-05-2011 4:50pm

TV went downhill since Wire season 5.

Skerries · 11-05-2011 5:07pm

Happy Days when Fonzie jumped over a shark

Mr Freeze · 11-05-2011 5:13pm

ixoy wrote: »

Another one: '24'. Massive drop from Season 5 (excellent) to Season 6 (I turned it off 8 episodes in and never went back).

ok skip 6, but do yourself a favour and watch season 7, you wont be sorry.

11-05-2011 5:28pm

The Unit was for the first two seasons truly gripping television but it became clear early in in season 2 that the writers were giving the wives more and more screentime until it got to the point where numerous episodes were mire about the mundane lives of delta force wives than blowing things up. I watched season 1 and 2 over a week followed swiftly by the first few episodes of season 3 until there was one episode where the wives had far more screentime than the men and I never went back. Keep meaning to finish it off but can never find the time.

ixoy · 11-05-2011 9:50pm

JustAddWater wrote: »

Oh man, you missed out. Season 7 was fawesome!!

Mr Freeze wrote: »

ok skip 6, but do yourself a favour and watch season 7, you wont be sorry.

CaptainNegative wrote: »

Really picked up again in season 7 and 8... You should probably consider revisiting it...

Okay I might revisit it again with all this acclaim! I'm a completist though so I'll still have to wade my way through S6 to get to the good stuff.

Skerries · 11-05-2011 10:10pm

Deleted User wrote: »

The Unit was for the first two seasons truly gripping television Keep meaning to finish it off but can never find the time.

seriously don't bother as it went into the farcical when they went in search of the spear that pierced Christs side and is supposed to make the bearer unbeatable in war

:eek::rolleyes:

11-05-2011 10:31pm

Skerries wrote: »

seriously don't bother as it went into the farcical when they went in search of the spear that pierced Christs side and is supposed to make the bearer unbeatable in war :eek::rolleyes:

I remember reading about that and thinking just what the fuck were David Mamet and Shawn Ryan on when that was not only pitched but then greenlit and filmed.

mc3ac · 11-05-2011 10:40pm

ER - first couple of season's were ok, then anthony edwards and george clooney left and they relied on increasingly dramatic (and often sometimes silly) storylines to continue the show

xper · 11-05-2011 11:29pm

Scooby Doo when that little Scrappy Doo fecker appeared.

(For anyone under 30, yes, the appropriate response is 'Huh?')

Posy · 12-05-2011 1:16am

Skerries wrote: »

Happy Days when Fonzie jumped over a shark

I never knew that's where the phrase 'jumped the shark' came from until just now!!

Mindkiller · 12-05-2011 9:21am

Arrested Development when Fonzie jumped over a shark.

I kid.

I second the Breaking Bad nomination. Season 3 was like a whole different show.
The tone changed dramatically and I just wasn't rooting for Walt anymore. Only I would trace the shark-jumping to the series 2 finale.

briany · 13-05-2011 4:01pm

Definitely series 7 of Red Dwarf. The first six series had been very good. Imaginative, irreverent, chock full of laughs and plenty of good science fiction elements to tie it all together. With series 7 however, that all changed because one of the two principal writers left the show to persue other endevours. Chris Barrie who portrayed Rimmer left the show and was replaced by Chloe Antoinette who played Lister's love interest across space and time in Kristine Kochanski and her character was about as funny as an infant's funeral in my opinion.

The series also took on a more stylized serious tone attempting to mix the usual comedy with moments of pathos with not a gag in sight. I think this alienated a lot of Red Dwarf fans, at least I know it did for me. Also the change of look, going for a film type look did not work in my opinion. They never really got it back after this.

Sticky_Fingers · 13-05-2011 9:27pm

The show that really went off the rails for me was Millennium, Season 1 and 2 were fantastic while season 3 was complete drivel that crapped all over the previous series story arc. I was all excited for season 3 after the absolutely brilliant season 2 finale and the coming apocalypse just for them to deus ex machina the whole thing and carry on as if the supposed end of the world was just an isolated incident. I am still very very angry about that after all these years:mad:

irishh_bob · 13-05-2011 10:35pm

black francis wrote: »

X-Files went downhill a lot after Season 5.
I though Prison Break Season 1 was a lot better than Season 2.

Not sure if anything tops Heroes though

season 2 of prison break was excellent but season one was a classic , season three and four were dire

Cris Jones · 14-05-2011 12:42am

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Only Fools & Horses
Once the women were introduced it wasnt funny anymore.

Maybe you should have joined the cast! I would like to see what you would have contributed!:D

D-Generate · 14-05-2011 12:55am

Sons of Anarchy Season 3
I lost interest after 3/4 episodes. The show was never amazing but it was decent escapism and always had some action to keep it ticking over. Opening of Season 3 was boring and was far removed from the American biker gang show that it used to be.

In regards to Breaking Bad, I don't think you are supposed to be rooting for Walt anymore. The development of the character is referenced by the title of the show and I wouldn't be surprised if by the last season you are rooting for him to be caught/killed. Would take a decent amount of skill to write a show where you turn the hero to a villain and still keep the audience gripped.

jill_valentine · 14-05-2011 12:59am

Battlestar Galactica had one-and-a-half seasons of really gripping, tightly plotted intrigues and escapades. Then, after nearly two years of starting every show with the statement that the badguys had a plan, it became apparent that the writers hadn't the faintest idea of what it might be.

I've never bothered my arse watching the end of it.

Rick Deckard · 14-05-2011 1:09am

Top gear is crap now. Really frustrating watching them act out as if its all impromptu..

Also the last series of friends was basically 6 unfunny millionaires sitting around drinking coffee and moaning.

OpenYourEyes · 14-05-2011 1:12am

The Simpsons is the best example for me, and to a lesser extent the recent series of Family Guy and South Park.

The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother havnt been as strong this season, and as someone already pointed out I have a bad feeling about how the new series of Misfits is going to go..

RolandIRL · 14-05-2011 1:14am

jill_valentine wrote: »

Battlestar Galactica had one-and-a-half seasons of really gripping, tightly plotted intrigues and escapades. Then, after nearly two years of starting every show with the statement that the badguys had a plan, it became apparent that the writers hadn't the faintest idea of what it might be.

I've never bothered my arse watching the end of it.

the 3rd season was a bit weak, but it came back for a good 4th season. some people didn't like the ending, but i thought it was very good. i'd recommend going back to it, but leave out the Plan. doesn't add anything to the series.

JohnFalstaff · 14-05-2011 1:23am

D-Generate wrote: »

In regards to Breaking Bad, I don't think you are supposed to be rooting for Walt anymore. The development of the character is referenced by the title of the show and I wouldn't be surprised if by the last season you are rooting for him to be caught/killed. Would take a decent amount of skill to write a show where you turn the hero to a villain and still keep the audience gripped.

My problem with Breaking Bad is that in Season 3 the writing took a serious nose-dive. The characters and their motivations are no longer as razor sharp as they had been up to this point. I think it's another case of a show becoming more successful than anticipated and the writers changing their characters' arcs to accommodate further seasons. I felt that at least half of the material in Season 3 was just treading water.

Maybe Season 4 will mark a return to form, but I doubt it.

the whole year inn · 14-05-2011 1:24am

Prison Break Season was a classic and season 2 can stand on its own but it did get so **** on season 3 and season 4 forget about it.

How I Meet your Mother is starting to get so sh!t now,always trying for a message and Ted is so annoying looking fro the one,Jesus who goes on like that.
If it wasn't for Barney wouldn't give it a second look and even he is getting stale.

The Maverick · 14-05-2011 1:26am

As said before, it must be The Simpsons. The first few series aren't great but 4 until 12 are very funny. Though it's obvious from 10 on that they ran out of ideas, at least they could still write good jokes. After that it's just plain woeful. Random celebrity appearances and absolutley non-sensical and, more impotantly, unfunny plotlines. It's just money grabbing greed on the creators' part that it has kept going for so long.

djkeogh · 14-05-2011 10:27am

I'd agree with Sons of Anarchy. Never a great show but it had an interesting first season followed by a very strong 2nd season and then it just all turned to s*** with season 3. Boring storyline which took so long to get anywhere. I kept convincing myself that the pay off would be worth it. It wasn't.

Most dramatic drop in quality of a TV series

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