TV shows that ended up DISAPPOINTING you [SPOILERS]

[j9ac9k]

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (reboot) -- they really were just making it up as they went along. They even had extra time because of the writers' strike to at least *try* to think of something to tie it all together.... I can't even rewatch the good seasons it anymore, knowing what a limp noodle it became.

[Hellion]

I should add, a few years ago I may have said Supernatural. Show was very good for the first few seasons, then went downhill around season 7. The main villains were getting dumb and there would be idiotic standalone plots that would randomly appear just to placate the more obnoxious portions of the fanbase. I like monster of the week episodes and occasional funny episodes. But they have to make sense and they can't be cringey. Though it had been slowly climbing back up in quality and the last season was almost on par with the first few seasons.

I think it's probably harder to think of shows that didn't get worse in later seasons than those that maintain quality. Even I Love Lucy significantly dropped in quality when they moved to the house. Right now, the only show I can think of that didn't dip and maintained its quality until the end is Chuck. Maybe some animated shows because the lines between seasons with those are more blurred.

Commercialism and consumerism ruins all storytelling in the end. Supernatural should have ended after season 5. In five seasons, Eric Kripke told the entire story he wanted to tell and then he left the show. And it was a brilliant story. But the powers that be want to make their money, fans that unwisely value quantity over quality demand more seasons...and the story suffers because of it.

[Hellion]

Wow, since nobody else has said it...Game Of Thrones. The 5th and 7th seasons of the show have been complete crap, mostly because the writing therein sunk to appeal to the lowest common denominator or even became nonsensical, as with the Walker Hunt plot. At a certain point the show went from being unpredictable to simply too predictable regarding its core characters. My biggest gripe is keeping Ramsay and Cersei around far longer than necessary for the sake of having a good/convenient villain...whereas in the source material, Jon/Dany/Tyrion all have their own key flaws that make them antagonists from a certain point of view.

Smallville was disappointing. Even more disappointing was that it took me until Season 10 to realize this. I think a lot of the awful comes from a dramatically diminished budget that became apparent sometime after Season 6, to the point when in the final seasons, the "street set" of the corner outside the Daily Planet was like the only set piece in Vancouver the show had access to. Another source of disappointment was a flaw in the show's own premise: Smallville is set before Clark becomes Superman. And they had Clark putting off embracing the superhero lifestyle for 10 goddamn years. It truly came off as a show about how the decent young Lex Luthor is pushed into madness by the dickishness and betrayals of his best friend Clark Kent and everyone else in his personal life.

The Walking Dead is just a series of constantly rehashed moral arguments made by the characters so boring that death leaves them well enough alone. All the interesting characters are gone too soon.

Breaking Bad, until the final 8 episodes, was tedious. It took me forever to complete this series because every time the focus would shift to Walter's wife or anyone that wasn't him, Jesse or Hank, I seriously fell asleep. Then I'd wake up and have to backtrack.

Skins, after the first generation of characters had been written out. None of the other groups came close to being as compelling as the first bunch.

And finally, to leave this on a positive note...........a few shows that don't have a disappointing bone in their vibrant beings:

1. The Wire
2. Friday Night Lights
3. The Thick Of It
4. Hannibal

[numberthirty]

Commercialism and consumerism ruins all storytelling in the end. Supernatural should have ended after season 5. In five seasons, Eric Kripke told the entire story he wanted to tell and then he left the show. And it was a brilliant story. But the powers that be want to make their money, fans that unwisely value quantity over quality demand more seasons...and the story suffers because of it.

On this, what creators/networks do with a show shouldn't hinge on what fans want.

Take Netflix deciding to give The Killing a third season. It has nothing to do with that I haven't watched it, and that the show ended for me when AMC cancelled it.

[The Whovian]

Legion season 2. It's super unpopular opinion, but I did not like it at all. I couldn't even bother to watch the last two episodes.

You're not the only one. I absolutely loved the first season, but the second season was a bitter disappointment.

[Kirby101]

I was one of the few that did not like the first season enough to watch the second. I thought they were so interested in being cute and clever that it got in the way of the story.

[Starter Set]

Smallville was disappointing

Ah yes, Smallville.

Was fun enough for the first few seasons or so but man, the honeymoon sure went to the dogs fast. (for me at least)

[Miles To Go]

Ah yes, Smallville.

Was fun enough for the first few seasons or so but man, the honeymoon sure went to the dogs fast. (for me at least)

It got better when Lana left and they really began pushing the iconic Lois/Clark dynamic. Those last two seasons are worth it for that. I think it worked so well because they'd spent most of the series just having Lois be a friend who wasn't in the way of anyone, and then she blossomed.

[Alan2099]

I never understood the point of Smallville.

It's Superman before he was Superman .... except he's doing all the things Superman normally does, meeting all the people Superman meets, fighting crime, wearing a costume (not THE costume but a costume), and doing everything except calling himself Superman.

[stargazer01]

Supergirl

The Flash

Legends of Tomorrow

Arrow

The X-Files new seasons except Mulder and Scully's portrayal and chemistry, that was great, but dear god that finale sucked!

[JasonTodd428]

I've been binge watching a lot of stuff lately so here's my list.

Star Trek-TNG: The first season is just terrible and a chore to even get through. I wasn't even able to get through two episodes before quitting this time around.

Star Trek-Voyager. Has a decent premise and I pretty much enjoyed it but that ending was weak sauce. I also got tired of the repetitiveness of the "finding a way home only to have it not work out" scenario.

Speaking of weak sauce endings an older show I enjoy a lot is the hospital drama St. Elsewhere but the ending was a complete cop out.

Batman '66. As much as I love the show season three was a massive drop in quality even though the fighting choreography was much better.

Rurouni Kenshin ended up being full of too many unrelated filler episodes while they waited for the manga-ka to finish story arcs and the entire last arc of the manga, which was in my opinion the best story arc of the series, was never even animated for the actual show because people lost interest in the show because of the overabundance of filler. (Part of the story did get an OVA and there was a nod to the rest in a second OVA but that's not quite the same thing.)

Evanglion just ended up being a big disappointment to me because of the ending.

[comicscollector]

Stranger things I liked, but I do feel it was disappointing.

I keep hearing about it being some huge 80s tribute, but it never felt like it was an 80s movie to me. It was too polished and technical with too many modern sensibilities. It was basically just a modern show that happened to be set in the 80s rather than a real 80s show. The monster was kinda weak too.

Agreed.
I started to watch this television show because i read it was supposed to be similiar to the 80s movies of sci-fi and horror.
And it did not looked at all as being similiar to the 80s movies.I did just watched a few episodes,but the first episodes of the first Season were boring to me.

[Hellion]

Rurouni Kenshin ended up being full of too many unrelated filler episodes while they waited for the manga-ka to finish story arcs and the entire last arc of the manga, which was in my opinion the best story arc of the series, was never even animated for the actual show because people lost interest in the show because of the overabundance of filler. (Part of the story did get an OVA and there was a nod to the rest in a second OVA but that's not quite the same thing.)

OMG another Rurouni Kenshin fan! I agree with you, the show suffered from too much filler. But I'll always have a fondness for it because I discovered it (near the end of the Kyoto Arc) before the manga and it inspired me to then seek out and collect the manga. God, I miss Toonami...

[Kyer]

Should also add Doctor Who. I checked it out and thought it was okay and enjoyable enough to keep watching with Eccleston and Tennant. Then IMO, the Smith season dropped the ball dramatically. I don’t blame him and thought he was a pretty good Doctor, but it just didn’t hold my attention like the episodes that came before with the other guys. And things only good worse with Capaldi IMO. So, I gave up on it. And the new female Doctor series looks to be even worse, so I doubt I’ll be coming back to it any time soon.

(Apologies if this offends hardcore Who fans.)

Very hardcore Doctor Who fan since late 1970's and I agree. The new series started out great and then went all -stupid plots- when Smith took over. So far I loved all the Doctors and things like The Tardis despite lousy stories, but the new Doctor just is too much for me. It's not so much the sex change as the -why- they are doing it. So maybe it's not so much Doctor Who I've found lacking since 2010 as the BBC.

The Prisoner. It's been literal decades and I still don't truly understand the ending of what had been such a lovely mystery series/

Sherlock. Each season got a little worse than the previous until Season 4 really had me facepalming. A sister? Plot was like bad fanfic.

Forever Knight. Great first two seasons (if you overlook the sad special effects from a lousy budget.) However, I squarely place the blame on the lackluster third season on the show owners who went out of their way to remove what worked and seemed determined to kill the show.

SeaQuest. Pretty much see above. Replaced nearly all the older actors with young/pretty actors. Again, TPTB trying to fix what wasn't broken!

[Jim Kelly]

I think Doctor Who has lost its momentum. We had to wait between series before, but it's been a pretty long wait between the last few Capaldi runs. And the last one felt like they forgot how to write the show. It just got worse as it went along. The Tennant and Smith years might have been a mixed-bag, but there was the sense of Doctor Who as a British institution that would always continue, there will always be an England and a Doctor Who. When the series is off the air for so long, you realize you can live without the Doctor.