From "First to Worst"-When good TV shows go bad.*

Sorry, didn't mean to come on too strong, or anything. I did interpret the thread to be more for universal choices, but maybe that's just because universal ones have been chosen so far. I also feel my initial reply to you may not have come off as light as I wanted. SNL is just notorious for sparking different reactions from people throughout its run. I was kinda joking about that, not trying to outright slam your choice.

 

Another vote for Seinfeld going down the tubes when Larry David left and Elaine changed her 'do. It pretty much abandoned the "show about nothing" concept and any idea of character continuity and got more "sitcommy" and self-consciously wacky.

Also another vote for The Simpsons going downhill around season 10-11 - when the show got more dependent on easy references and guest appearances, Homer got too stupid, and Lisa became a more explicit conduit for the writers to indulge their socio-political opinions.

 

Some of my favorite "Seinfeld" episodes are from the last few seasons. "The Van Buren Boys" is my favorite episode of the show. I dislike the finale as much as the next guy but I think the show maintained its greatness.

And being shallow, I love Elaine's straight hair.

 

Modern Family is the first show I thought of.
The first 2 or 3 seasons were great. It jumped the shark for me when they aired the iPad advertisement episode.
They lost me by the end of that season. I remember I had the whole next season on my DVR waiting for me to watch. I never had the urge to watch it again. Ended up deleting off of my DVR without watching any of them.

 

I certainly wouldn't put Seinfeld in "bad" territory, I just think it lost some spark after Larry David left. There were still fantastic moments but it seemed like more blah moments, like the Susan Foundation and the episode that runs backwards. I don't blame anyone, it's just after 8 years how much more can you make these characters do new every week?

 

Funny, I was going to say that George changed when David left. He became a constantly screaming, annoying person that nobody in their right mind would have spent any time with.

 

He changed too, as did they all to some degree, but not as much - Elaine did a 180° from a somewhat bohemian type with a highbrow disposition to a harder bitch type with a lowbrow disposition. It was the change in hair and wardrobe wot done it, I'm sure.

 

This season sucked.

 

Seasons 3, 4, and 5 were some of the greatest television ever produced. To me, Season 4 was the absolute peak - everything clicked, from the cast (strongest of any season), story line, villain (Habib Marwan was the villain to end all villains), and the greatest ending, with jack walking into the sunrise as Tony and Michelle watched him. Just perfect all the way around, and an impossible standard to maintain.

I agree with you, it got away from them in the first half of Season 6, as it seemed the writing, for the first time, caved in to political correctness. It recovered in the second half, and Seasons 7 and 8 were back in form. I'm not a big TV watcher (I watched this series exclusively on DVD, as I refuse to sit through commercials), but 24 was remarkable, riveting television.

 

Homeland: after season 3.
One snooze fest.
One episode was named Better Call Saul, indeed.

 

Oh I dunno- with a four year old in the house I've seen probably every episode of Spongebob multiple times ("Squidsville" from Season 2 is probably my favourite) and the quality throughout all ten seasons seems about the same to me, even if some of the premises got a little "cookie cutter" (i.e. Plankton's numerous schemes to steal the Krabby Patty formula etc). I don't think Spongebob has declined as badly as The Simpsons, let's put it that way. Mind ya, I don't think there are many TV shows that have declined as badly as The Simpsons...

 

Some newer episodes I've seen have been dreadful and totally devoid of comedy. I remember finding season 4 and 5 kinda annoying at the time, too.

 

Mork and Mindy:
The first season was one of the funniest sitcoms ever, but ABC couldn't leave well enough alone, and each season became progressively worse until by season 4, the show was mercifully killed off.

American Idol:
It was never the same after Simon Cowell left to focus on shows he actually owned (X Factor, America's/Britain's Got Talent). Also, as time went on, the producers showed fewer really bad singers. Finally, the actual winners, though still talented, seemed more generic and therefore less likely to inspire the general public to buy their music.

 

24's co-creator, Joel Surnow, was showrunner for Days 1-4 and handed over the reins to head writer Howard Gordon for Day 5 onward, so there could be something in that with regards the brilliance of those first four seasons... but the fifth season is considered by most (myself included) to be the best season overall, and very possibly one of the best seasons of television ever produced.

With regards to Day 6, there simply isn't enough space to list the (voluminous) problems with that season in any detail... they literally held all the winning cards going into that season and how they fluffed it so badly should be a case study for future and aspiring producers in future. I have my own theories as to why that happened - considering it never happened before or after on that show in such a manner again - but it's all academic now and they largely regained their form for the following season(s), although it was never again as brilliant as Days 1-5, alas... although the latter 13 episodes of Day 8 came damned close, it has to be said!!!

 

I remember the change in writers having a deleterious effect on the show at the beginning of Season 6 - for the first time, a conscious effort was made to do something that 24 had heretofore managed to avoid - pandering to political correctness. They completely lost focus of what made the show great - 24 never needed to go there, as it always did a brilliant job of dancing that fine line while concentrating on riveting storytelling.

I'll always see Day 4 as the peak, even after watching each of the seasons 3-4 times, but Day 5 was a very close second to me. I agree, the lead up and finale of Day 8 was absolutely breathtaking, and the conclusion shattering, which was what 24 was all about, right?

 

You may want to tune into last season as the "good" characters are starting to get the upper hand.

 

Oh God, forgot about that. It was ok to get rid of the bald guy and the old woman, but then we got two younger 'hip' characters that looked they were mimes without whiteface. Jonathan Winters overstayed his welcome. He was excellent in small doses. Then they get married, oboy, I was gone by then. And I used to watch bad episodes just cause Pam Dawber was such a cutie.

 

How 'bout when bad shows turn good? Like Newhart after season 2 -improved cast, stronger writing and a classic run to the last episode (a satisfying series finale for a change).

 

Anyone remember Moonlighting?

aka The Long Goodbye.

It limped along for way too long with sporadic moments of inspiration (Claymation, the Billy Joel ep, the Temptations guest shot) and had way too many eps with Curtis Armstrong (aka Harry's #1 fan) and the girl. Funny, I remember the second to last episode or so was great--just like the old days. It was a detective case, lots of snappy banter. It really made you realize what it could have been if both of them didn't have warehouse sized egos.

 

Truthfully, I just don't buy the assertion from some (mainly on the Right) that 24 went politically-correct in it's latter seasons any more than I buy the assertion from others (mainly on the Left) that 24 was both a dangerous neo-con fantasy run amok and a glorification of torture... neither hold up, in my opinion.

With regards to Day 6, there was no change in writers between that season and it's predecessor that I'm aware of... begging the question as to what exactly happened, and honestly, I couldn't tell you... I don't think the writers could either if asked. The first four episodes were largely terrific (they were mapped out in advance, so go figure), but once the nuke was set off, they ran out of gas and seemingly didn't know how to follow through on it, further compounding the situation with some seriously wrongheaded decisions, like making Graem from Day 5 be Jack's brother in Day 6, and concentrating for several episodes on the Bauer family psychodrama... a decision that not only destroyed that season - and Howard Gordon himself admitted that some years later - but very nearly destroyed the entire series.

But thank God for the 2007-08 Writer's Guild strike, which essentially saved 24... and nothing short of it, they were on the rocks until that industrial action gave them a nice, unexpected three-month holiday to recharge their creative batteries, and another year to get the show back on track before that season was broadcast, which they did (for the most part) thankfully.

 

Moonlighting is a good call. It went way downhill after Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd stopped talking, and they focused on supporting characters.

 

Agreed, and that was my point about them 'dancing the fine line' in Seasons 1-5. They were able to show the good and bad in both sides while keeping the show focused on the plot and characters.

It got away from them in the first half of Day 6, but they rallied in the latter part of that season, and came back strong in Days 7-8.

 

The Simpsons and Seinfeld would work here as well. Both were fairly limp in their first seasons and found their grooves partway through the second.

 

Huh. Season four is my favorite. I thought it was a huge return to form. Or at least a return to what I wanted the show to be when I first started watching it.

 

Don't most shows go off the air because people stop watching them? Meaning that nearly every show that was ever popular went from good to bad, hence the low ratings and cancellation.

Very few shows wrap it up while still popular. MASH, Seinfeld and Soprano's are about the only ones I can think of that stayed good through the final season.