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

Andy Griffith himself was very displeased with Warren's character and insisted that he leave the show, according to a book I have somewhere about the show.

After Barney Fife left, the emphasis turned to the characters of Howard Sprague, Emmett, and Goober--who were not as good as Barney Fife. The post-Barney years were not without good moments, or even good episodes, but it was not quite the same.

 

Game of Thrones got a little long in the tooth a while back. Hopefully this new season regains some interest. Gotta say the last season had one epic battle scene that was outstanding though.

 

It lost me after the so-called "red wedding". I need to be invested in the characters more than the show permitted (especially the good guys, so to speak). In the span of a very few shows, most of them were killed off, leaving the others roaming around aimlessly while the bad guys kept on going. I'm not much on the "love to hate" school of TV watching. I watched a few more episodes but lost interest. I might try again at some point.

 

Totally agree, great assessment.

 

Really liked season 1 of the show "Dirt" starring Courtney Cox. Season 2 was a letdown. Then it disappeared.

 

I would say the last few years

 

The Avengers after Diana Rigg left.

 

I kind of feel sorry for Jack Burns:



It wasn't his fault the character was so bad. Maybe the only character from the show that NOBODY likes.
At least, he's got to be the most hated character in the show's history. I don't even have a problem with Mayor Stoner, even though he gave Andy such a hard time.

There is the spaghetti episode. I have always been fond of that one. Of course, I'm a big oregano fan, anyway.

Don Knotts said one time, that he left the show because he thought Andy was going to leave the show.
I don't know how you replace a character like Barney Fife. Maybe they could have maybe Earnest T. Bass a regular character.

 

Yeah that's very sad. Think I stopped watching it around Season 12 or 13 (that lucky number). Probably saw some newer episodes by accident but they can't be compared with the earlier classic ones.
Don't know which number is the latest season. 5,327 maybe?^^

I just watched that one because of hot Penny.^^

 

I generally agree, but would add that Elaine became a less amusing character for me when she changed her appearance. I'm not sure why her appearance changed (plastic surgery, weight loss, natural aging process, etc.) but she simultaneously seemed to shift from the generally nice (occasionally naive) Elaine trying to do the right thing (a good foil for the scheming George and indifferent Jerry) to a character more in line with her self-centered friends.

 

I think she only looked different because her style changed. She had a more flowery/hippie/frumpy type dress early on and it morphed into more business-y and black clothes.
I read that, at some point, Jerry realized that the fashions of the time would make the show look very dated in syndication, so he eventually called for costumes to be as neutral and timeless as possible. I think that's why Jerry and Elaine, especially, look so different when you compare their early outfits to the later ones. I will say it worked about as much as it possibly could. The early outfits are much more dated than the later ones.
Definitely agree on Elaine becoming harder.

 

Jamey Foxx show, when he got the gal, the film was done, the whole premise of the series was about him scoring, so it flopped. I love Sanford and Son, but after Lamont left the show flopped. Mad tv, good at the beginning flopped at the end. Married with critters funny at the beginning, the writers changed and it flopped big time. I notice sometimes when a nice series changes writers or they become political, the really stink!

 

I recently got season four, which is when the show picked up for me. I recall it being good for a couple/few more seasons, but I cannot recall if/when it fizzled out. I didn't think the first three seasons were that good.

 

I hear you bro, but to me it lost its funny flair during the final season.<<<<<that's funny!

 

That reminds me. I should have added SNL to my list.

 

Arrested Development - I found Season 4 to be a massive disappointment. The episodes were longer (cool) but they spent too much of that extra time recapping events. It's like they forgot that it was only going to be on Netflix, where people binge watch, which makes recaps a waste of time.

 

That's way too convoluted of a choice. No one will agree on a particular drop point (or two, or four).

SpongeBob SquarePants after season 3 (or more accurately, towards the end of season 3, IMO). Keeping a Nick theme, Fairly OddParents seems to have gone off the deepend from all accounts I've heard, but I never really loved that show to begin with.

 

I would agree if the standard was whether or not there was or could be a consensus on the selections. My intention was to add it to my own list.

Also, I did not realize a "particular drop point" had to be identified. As some of the discussion above indicates, that can be hard for many shows. For example, many would agree that Seinfeld dropped off, but there would not be a consensus even among those about what the "particular drop point" was.

I thought SNL was quite good at the beginning and, after a lull for a couple of years, became very entertaining again when Crystal, Guest, Shearer. etc. joined the cast. After that, I found the ensembles lacking (though individuals, like Eddie Murphy, provided many amusing moments) and the skits drawn out and not very funny. I think it was Eric Idle who joked "what's the difference between life and a Saturday Night Live skit?" Answer: "Life doesn't go on forever."

 

I've shyed away from SNL since 1992 because of all of the lame never ending one joke skits but they have seemed to at long last learned their lesson recently. The last season has been solid (with exception of a remarkably weak lineup of musical guests).

 

Thing is, there are also people who think the show is currently good-great. SNL is just too unique in that every generation has its own era/cast that it loves. When I said two or four drop points, I was trying to get a across that it always gets back on its feet (at least to those who stay on and join the ride), so it's just too hard to get a consensus that it has indeed gone bad, permanently. Even with a long running show like The Simpsons, I think it's near-universally agreed that it's not as good as it used to be. The opinion is nowhere near universal for SNL.

 

I forget that season even exists.

 

modern family

a shell of its former self.

manny grew-up

and i am sure who, sofia vagara or the dolt who plays phil dumdfy, is the worst actor, it is very close.

 

Doctor Who (The Fourth Doctor's Run) - Since it is essentially a new show each time The Doctor regenerates, I will treat each Doctor's run as a separate show.

IMHO, The Fourth Doctor's run began to go bad after the Key Of Time Sequence. For me, the companions, stories, and Tom Baker's performance as The Doctor weren't as good after that point. While there were some interesting stories, I think that Tom Baker may have stayed a year or two too long.

 

I see. Universally thought to be good then universally thought to be bad. I misunderstood the premise of the thread. I thought the idea was to elicit the views of individual members on what shows they thought were great then became bad. I didn't realize there could be wrong choices.

Speaking of starting out great then becoming bad, I think it's time for me to leave this thread.

 

We couldn't even finish it. The tone felt totally off from the rest of the series.