TV shows that hung around a year too long

Enterprise. It was the Star Trek prequel no one asked for. They lost a lot of fans in the third season with a huge story arc about that temporal cold war crap, but when they tried to make up for that in the fourth season it was too little too late.

 

I have seen people say that Peep Show lasted two seasons too long. I disagree as it is my favorite show ever and the last episode was as good, if not better, than the first.

I think many American sitcoms went on too long. Certainly MASH would be included in that list. Many others as well: All in the Family, Happy Days, etc; too much of a tendency to milk a good thing and let it limp along when it really should have been put down like the blind, smelly, arthritic thing it was.

 

That '70s Show

As much as I like seasons six and seven, they lack the spark of the first five. Season eight was never going to work without Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace. They made the show. However, I'm thankful we got the finale. The last two minutes are perfect.

 

I don’t remember where the separation/divorce arc started but I always thought it was a combo of Neuwirth going to Broadway as you said and a set-up for the possible spinoff (which happened).

 

The Walking Dead is entering it's 10th season. I dropped out in the middle of the 7th. Just goes on and on. It's been two steps forward, two steps back. Major character deaths or departures is common place for shows like this and Game of Thrones. Nothing is shocking anymore. It takes it's time to go nowhere. It is time to go.

 

Coach

 

The Sopranos

 

Perry Mason had some dire stretches, like when they had the Kookie, lend me your comb character, but the last season was worth it for the last episode alone. Members of the crew got bit parts and

Spoiler

Dick Clark

was the murderer.

 

Silicone Valley....when Erlich left the show should've closed up shop (hate to say it.....but maybe they'll rebound when they come back in 2019?_

 

Simpsons has been running way too long.

 

A couple or two seasons too long:

The Andy Griffith Show

Home Improvement

The King Of Queens

Everybody Loves Raymond

 

LA Law had one disastrous season when producers who'd previously been in charge of St Elsewhere took over the show. They were fired and the next season got back on track in a lot of ways, but it was the last.

I think Law & Order SVU could actually be made good again if they deliberately wrote the character of Benson as she acts - a self-righteous grandstanding PITA who doesn't trust anyone else to do their job - and had other characters showing the dislike, resentment and covert mockery that she'd provoke in real life. Guessing Executive Producer Mariska Hargitay wouldn't go for it.

 

I thought the show was still funny. It was different but still good .many interesting characters not just michael.

 

At this point, though it isn’t 100% confirmed to be wrapping up, I’ll say Bob’s Burgers is likely to be a candidate. It stayed extremely consistent for an impressively long time, but the current 9th season is the first one where I’ve noticed a quality drop. It hasn’t gotten over-caricatured like you might expect though, it just feels more dull and uninspired, with a lower quantity of jokes. Still watchable, but not as entertaining.
There’s a tenth season confirmed and a movie due summer next year, and I very much hope that’s going to be the end and that Fox (Disney now) have the good sense to end it there, and signs seem to be pointing that way with the creator Loren Bouchard already having two new shows lined up, one at Fox (mainly created by two of the show’s most prominent writers but with him on board as well) and his own new series for Apple’s streaming service that looks quite similar but in a different setting

 

The final season of HIMYM ruined the entire show for me. Not only were all the actors clearly mailing in their performances for one last payday, but the whole "Mother" character was just sooooooooo boring and unfunny. She wasn't a good fit for Ted's personality at all.

 

Seriously, the last HIMYM episode made me feel I was being insulted by the show. What a piece of ****. Same with Two And A Half Men. I just hope Better Call Saul and Fargo won't jump the shark - BCS was close during the most recent season.

 

CSI. In the early seasons the episodes were based on actual cases. Towards the end they follow the formula - the most likely suspect didn’t do it and instead the real killer turned out to be aunt Betty.

 

I always liked the bit on Law & Order where one of the forensic people suggests what might have happened at a crime scene, and Briscoe murmurs "These guys! They think they're cops."

 

Weeds and Arrested Development spring to mind. Both should have ended after series 2 IMO

 

I've seen it said that the makers of Fringe weren't expecting to be renewed after the third season, and certainly the fifth and final season had a "well, we've got to do something with this" feel.

 

I don't necessarily agree, but given the way Season 5 ended (Johnny Sack getting arrested), I do think the show could have ended up in much more awesome fashion had Season 6 been just one final 13-episode run instead of the 6a and 6b nonsense. Even though I really liked the his dream sequence when in it, get rid of the Tony in a coma storyline, chuck the whole Vito thing, and focus on the FBI finally closing in on Tony once and for all, with the show getting a proper ending. Even though I appreciate the cleverness of the final scene, something more definitive, in the sense of actually seeing it on-screen, would have been more satisfying.

 

I used to agree about Arrested Development but after watching the newer seasons, season 3 wasn't so bad after all...

 

Moonlighting.

 

Supernatural.

 

Next year, Supernatural.