Storylines that you could've done without on the shows you love

[Frontier]

The Team Arrow Civil War in the first half of Arrow season 6.

Heck, the whole Cayden James plot wasn't all that memorable.

[SiegePerilous02]

Can't believe I forgot to mention the infamous James/Evelyn plot from Twin Peaks.

Jesus Christ.

[TriggerWarning]

Have to throw out the boxing episodes in Battlestar Galactica. Soooooooo bad and such a waste of time especially since half the second episode was just replaying the exact same scenes from the first episode.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Switching to primetime soaps for a second:

DALLAS - of course, the dream season (DVD Season 9). Even if Bobby had not died, the Angelica Nero character and storyline was idiotic and a failed attempt to bring an Alexis-type character onto Dallas to match wits with JR. In later seasons, surfer dude Sasha Mitchell was all wrong for the part of JR's secret son. Cally as JR's child bride was never interesting. Killing off April right after she married Bobby was another nail in the coffin for this once-great show.

DYNASTY - as fans know, it wasn't the "Moldavian Massacre" that killed the show. That was great. It was the crappy follow up in Season 6 where ratings took a tumble and never recovered -- especially that long, boring, drawn out "Krystle's double" story with George Hamilton.

KNOTS LANDING - the first 3 seasons and the final 2 were generally boring. However, even in the series' best period, Seasons 4-12, there were some loser storylines like Empire Valley and Jean Hackney among others.

FALCON CREST - tons, including the stunt casting of Gina Lollobrigida and Apollonia. Lana Turner was good, though, as was Cesar Romero. Ultimately, the show never had a season where everything worked, but it lasted throughout the 80s thanks to having Dallas as its lead-in.

and...

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN - Season 7's introduction of Seven, another entry in the won't-they-ever-learn "let's introduce a kid from out of nowhere" syndrome. Eventually, they wised up, and Seven simply stopped appearing without explanation.

LOST - "We have to go back to the island!" Really, dude? Plus, "Whatever happened, happened" and the past can't be changed -- until it could. Just lots of padding (like flash-sideways) because the network didn't want to cancel the show.

[Chris Lang]

In no particular order:

The Dorne storyline on Game of Thrones Season 5. Didn't really do much other than fill time.

The whole 'Xena's child signals the end of the Greek Gods and the start of a pseudo-Christian religion' storyline in Season 5 of Xena. Required a LOT of Plot Induced Stupidity AND a super-powerup out of nowhere in order for Xena to win. In the previous seasons (even with controversial stuff like the Rift in Season 3), you can tell the creators still cared. But here, it was painfully obvious they were tired of the show.

The 'Ahriman' storyline in Highlander the Series, introducing an illusion-casting demon at the end of Season 5 when the existence of such a thing in the Highlander universe had not even been hinted at previously. This, and just about everything that happens as a result of it, was a sign that they were running out of ideas and were resorting to stuff that would have been laughed at and rejected a season or two ago.

The 'Terra' storyline in Battlestar Galactica Classic. What was the point of creating this world that's enough like 20th century Earth so that the audience thinks it IS Earth under another name, only to end the storyline in the last few minutes of an episode by having one of the mysterious guides tell Apollo "No, it's not Earth.", and then the Colonial Fleet just resumes its journey as if the whole multi-episode Terra storyline never happened? And it's never explained why it's so similar to 20th century Earth (up to and including its version of Cold War nuclear brinksmanship), or whether it, like Earth, was connected to the 13th tribe of Kobol.

[Sacred Knight]

LOST - "We have to go back to the island!" Really, dude? Plus, "Whatever happened, happened" and the past can't be changed -- until it could. Just lots of padding (like flash-sideways) because the network didn't want to cancel the show.

The future reveal reinvigorated the show, though. And the past couldn't be changed, that was never pushed back on. The time travel concept utilized in later seasons was a loop, everything happened the way it always did even via actions intended to try and institute change.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

The future reveal reinvigorated the show, though. And the past couldn't be changed, that was never pushed back on. The time travel concept utilized in later seasons was a loop, everything happened the way it always did even via actions intended to try and institute change.

I've only seen Lost once -- on DVD a few years ago -- but I remember the smart guy they introduced in Season 5, I think (the American guy with the 2 British parents), kept saying "whatever happened, happened," and then some episodes later said something to the effect of "I was wrong! We can change the past because we have free will!" Cliche-ridden bad writing all around.

And then he died, I think. If I remember correctly. I mean, it's Lost, most of the characters introduced ended up dead, but that's another story. I think 3 different characters died during the course of the series by walking backward into oncoming traffic.

[Sacred Knight]

In the end he was wrong, nothing could be changed. He developed a theory that it could be and it didn't work, it only was part of the loop. So that "whatever happened, happened" mantra stayed true and was never walked back on. I mean, obviously you're not a fan, I'm not trying to get you to like it or anything, I'm just saying they didn't contradict themselves on that particular message.

[ZeroBG82]

My answer to this thread is so easy to think of. The entire telepath commune plot in Babylon Season 5. Lose it. By far the weakest long form plot in the entire run of the show. And no offense to Pat Tallman, who did yeoman's work with crap material, but the acting of pretty much every character involved was terrible.

I'm willing to die on the hill that season 6 of Buffy was by far the best season of the show and its not even close. The musical episode and mental hospital episodes are two of the best episodes the show did. Loved Dark Willow storyline and the fact that it was Xander who saved the world by being a compassionate friend rather than having Buffy slay something. Even loved the Spike / Buffy storyline. Buffy was in mental hell and punishing herself so her throwing herself at Spike fit with where she was in her life at the time. Likewise Spike trying to rape her at the end fit because he was a demon with no soul no matter how much they tried to make him be a good guy.

I will never agree with your first sentence, because seasons 2 and 3 exist, and are borderline perfect. But the rest of your argument has weight. Season 6 gets a bad rap because the Trio sucked (fairly), and because the whole season was about Buffy's malaise and disconnection from her family and friends. Which was hard to watch, and sometimes not communicated as effectively as it could have been, but was fairly daring as a season plot with a character fans are attached to. And, as you noted, there is some amazing material in the season.

Now, I'm not a Spiffy fun, and I generally agree with a lot of of the comments on Spike between S4 and the end of S6. But, earned or not, the twist at the end of S6 where the demonic Spike recognizes his own failings and chooses to try and become a better man was really powerful. No, I don't think the show did nearly enough to call him to account for his actions, and his road to redemption was awfully easy given his crimes. But that doesn't take away from a brilliant turn of a character. And while I think S7 largely wasted the resouled Spike, the payoff in Angel S5 makes it all worthwhile for me. I'd have watched the Angel/Spike brotherly rivalry forever and probably never have gotten bored.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

In the end he was wrong, nothing could be changed. He developed a theory that it could be and it didn't work, it only was part of the loop. So that "whatever happened, happened" mantra stayed true and was never walked back on. I mean, obviously you're not a fan, I'm not trying to get you to like it or anything, I'm just saying they didn't contradict themselves on that particular message.

Well, I'm not a fan, but I'm not a hater of the show, either. However, I feel that when all was said and done, the show didn't stick the landing and ending up being a disappointment. The journey was often interesting and intriguing, but the destination left me with a "that's it?" feeling.

In fact, the finale of Lost inspired me to start a thread about disappointing series two years ago right after I finished binge-watching Lost. It was actually a fun thread as it ended up covering a lot of different series that people had strong opinions about.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...G-you-SPOILERS

EDIT: Just started rereading my old thread, and I see that you participated in it and said Lost was your favorite show of all time. Don't want to be a downer on something that means so much to you. There was definitely a lot to like about the show. I felt that way even when I created the thread.

[Sacred Knight]

Nah its cool. You don't have to spare my feelings or anything, I know it wasn't everyone's cup of tea. I feel your particular complaints, even if I didn't always share the same grievances.

[GozertheGozarian]

Everything about 13/Hadley's private live on House.

[Thezmage]

Everything about 13/Hadley's private live on House.

Oh, right, House. That corrupt cop storyline killed any interest I had in the show

[j9ac9k]

- Willow as a magic addict on "Buffy."
- Connor/Cordelia on "Angel."
- Aceveda's rape storyline on "The Shield."
- Lana/Lex on "Smallville."
- Almost everything that happened in the last season of "Battlestar Galactica." (the reboot one)

[Jack Dracula]

The 'Ahriman' storyline in Highlander the Series, introducing an illusion-casting demon at the end of Season 5 when the existence of such a thing in the Highlander universe had not even been hinted at previously. This, and just about everything that happens as a result of it, was a sign that they were running out of ideas and were resorting to stuff that would have been laughed at and rejected a season or two ago.

That's the point I stopped watching.

My answer to this thread is so easy to think of. The entire telepath commune plot in Babylon Season 5. Lose it. By far the weakest long form plot in the entire run of the show. And no offense to Pat Tallman, who did yeoman's work with crap material, but the acting of pretty much every character involved was terrible.

I agree with all of this.

On Batwoman, the Alice plotline should've been over way sooner than it was. Kate constantly letting her go did not make her look good.

I'm almost done watching the first season now and I'm sick to death of Alice.


For myself, I'll add the final season of the original British version of Being Human.
So very bad.