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

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by hbbfam, Jun 25, 2017.

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  1. sloaches

    sloaches Forum Resident

    I really liked the first couple seasons of Masters Of Sex. It was kind of sad to see it limp into cancellation.

    Then there was Sons of Anarchy. The first 3-4 seasons were appointment viewing, but I started to lose interest after Opie's death.
     
  2. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    Roseanne
    Rescue Me
    Smash
    All In The Family/Archie's Place
    Chico & the Man
    Curb Yr Enthusiasm
    Boston Legal
    ER
    Sex In The City
    Modern Family
    NYPD Blue
    Entourage
    American Horror Story

    ....all started off super strong but didn't end that way!
     
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  3. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    The last series of The Blacklist was actually the best. It answered questions (which The X Files never did), was much more character based (hardly any helicopter crashes and explosions). Previously it was like they were making it up as they went along, this series actually made a lot of sense.
     
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  4. R. Cat Conrad

    R. Cat Conrad Almost Famous

    Location:
    D/FW Metroplex
    Sons of Anarchy (pretentious writing wrapped in unsubtle allegory buried the final season, but the series was already circling the drain)
    Bloodline (third season flopped around on deck while the plots suffered from hypoxia; if there's a fourth I won't be booking passage, ...that boat has sailed)
    Lost (lost me after two and a half seasons stuck on a remote island inhabited by meandering storylines and slow cooked misdirection)

    :cheers:
    Cat
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2017
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  5. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Disagree here. Some of the best (infamous) episodes of the series occurred after Susan's death. Seasons 8 & 9 were strong (excluding The Finale of course, which rivals Dexter's finale as worst all time)

    The Package, The Fatigues, The Little Jerry, The Van Buren Boys, The Yada Yada, The Voice, The Frogger, etc.

    And of course... The Comeback ... they're running out of you.
     
  6. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    After Dr. Joel Fleischmann left to go back to New York, they should have ended the show.

    The most ridiculous episode in my opinion is when the new doctor finds out that in this tiny, very isolated Alaska town, there is a block of homes called Little Italy, with a hidden gourmet Italian restaurant in one of the basements. As soon as I saw it, I thought back to a very early episode in Season 1 in which Maurice had organized a regional fun festival, and it looked like less than 100 people showed up for it. Until the last few seasons, the humor of the show was often weird, but rooted in the reality of living in a very small town.
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2017
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  7. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    Yeah replacing Joel was silly. There's talk of a reunion...of sorts.
     
  8. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    It wasn't unfunny, but I've always felt the show got too silly and its tone changed. I definitely prefer the first seven seasons to the last two.
     
  9. redsmith7887

    redsmith7887 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    Off the top of my head I think the largest drop in quality was MASH. I recently went through the entire run on Netflix and those last two seasons were right up there with getting my wisdom teeth pulled at 40. I lot of shows run out of steam or falter but this went from one of the sharpest shows ever to complete and utter dreck.
     
  10. Sarah S. The Hendrix Nut

    Sarah S. The Hendrix Nut Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Indiana
    The Andy Griffith Show.
    When Don Knotts left, the show lost soooo much. Then they came up with the character Warren. Egads! That was horrible!
    They had some good episodes, but it really dropped off.
     
  11. Jeff Kent

    Jeff Kent Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Kisco, NY
    I've been watching a lot of MASH recently, always excellent.
     
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  12. Yep. The first 2 seasons were great...then season 3 and it crashed.
     
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  13. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    I liked the overall normalcy of the family life of the people of Six Feet Under but then when Nate's wife gets murdered followed by the near murder of his brother I felt that it veered away from being a realistic show to feeling scripted. It lost something in the process.
     
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  14. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch

    Growing Pains adding another girl named Chrissy Seaver
     
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  15. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    But the only good color episodes were the ones that involved a visit to or from Bernard P. Fife.

    Oh yeah, Warren was an atrocious character.
     
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  17. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Mission Impossible
    MASH
    Happy Days
    Seinfeld
    Big Bang Theory
    Monday Night Football
    Modern Family
    Game of Thrones

    I'm sure there are many more since the late 1960s.
     
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  18. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    I had forgotten about NYPD Blue. That show suffered from, what I call, Dennis Franz Syndrome. A popular character, who is one of several, becomes the focal point of the entire series and the show suffers irreparable damage.
     
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  19. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    I kind of agree, but I like the whole of Dick York's tenure. I call him the "Toon Darrin." Dick Sargent never did it for me.
     
  20. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    Hurts to say this, as I'm a huge fan of his, but to be fair, the root of the show's problem was writer/creator David Milch. His substance abuse problem which resulted in his leaving were the primary reasons for the shows drop in quality.
     
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  21. Yes he was splendid when present. Understated when the scene called for it, and moving too (when remorseful towards Samantha, etc.) Such a loss of an actor!
     
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  22. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I didn't think (a pre-teen at the time) that he looked the part. He and Samantha didn't seem like a couple. They didn't seem to have any chemistry at all (like other TV couples, Rob and Laura Petrie, for example). I think he was miscast in the role. He had more of a Matt Dillon quality than that of a comedic actor.
     
  23. I think on the contrary that he and Sam had all the "chemistry" that was allowed to be shown on prime time TV! :O)

    And strangely I find that his "ugly duckling" looks work, making him more of a "perfect imperfect mortal" to Sam's eyes to begin with, probably... They couldn't stop smooching in the first season... when not thinking about actually getting it on! lol
     
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  24. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I'd have to watch the show again as an adult, but my impression of the two together bugged me a lot as a kid (though I still watched and enjoyed the show). My opinion today might very well be different (now that I'm likely more used to shows that don't have cookie-cutter characters and relationships).
     
  25. Well I was a young kid in the 60s, and that aspect of the couple didn't register at all with me either. I only discovered it when I happened upon some reruns from that first season, as late as the late 90s/early 00s. But in fact I think that Bewitched's first season actually got censored out of the program schedule over here altogether! That is the French-dubbed version, which would have been the version French Canadians would have been watching in those days. My wife, who is about the same age as me and was too a kid fan of the show during the 60s, also had zero memories from those sexy episodes of the first season! And of none of the stories, etc. either... Hard to believe but the Catholic bureau of censorship still exerted a certain stranglehold over stuff that we saw on TV and at the movies in 1964/65! At least that's how I interpret this situation; we were TV nuts in those days, so nothing would have escaped us! ...Especially not a show on prime time as exciting as this one for its day!
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2017
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