What series do you think kept their quality all the way through?

[SJNeal]

SO many shows that I loved either had a weak season somewhere in the middle ("Angel", "Buffy") or wasn't able to stick the landing.(too many to list - that could be its own thread)

Hard agree on Buffy and Angel! For me it was both shows 4th seasons that saw that dip.

[K7P5V]

Definitely, another favorite would be...

Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot

[numberthirty]

Setting aside the incredibly disappointing degree to which it left the source material behind?

Preacher

It was straight up "C Minus..." garbage for each of it's seasons.

[Mark Trail]

Big Bang Theory. It was just as funny at the end as it was at the beginning.

That is to say, not very.

30 Rock. I've been watching reruns and it was solid throughout.

I'm inclined to agree, though I think the "Jack's wife in N Korea" arc came close to scuttling the last season.

Futurama was pretty consistent.

I'm not going to lie: After "Jurassic Bark," I never watched another episode. It upset me just that much. I'm talking "Old Yeller" levels of trauma so that I just can't watch a single episode of that show again without getting depressed.

[sunofdarkchild]

Most DCAU shows.

Netflix's Daredevil

Avatar the Last Airbender

[Valentis]

Breaking Bad
Friends

[useridgoeshere]

I'm not going to lie: After "Jurassic Bark," I never watched another episode. It upset me just that much. I'm talking "Old Yeller" levels of trauma so that I just can't watch a single episode of that show again without getting depressed.

Agreed. That's one episode I cannot watch again.

[Robotech Master]

I'm not going to lie: After "Jurassic Bark," I never watched another episode. It upset me just that much. I'm talking "Old Yeller" levels of trauma so that I just can't watch a single episode of that show again without getting depressed.

This was such a common sentiment that time travel shenanigans were actually used to retcon the dog's fate slightly by expanding on the life it lived up until the fossilization.

[Mark Trail]

Friends

You can leave now.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Hard agree on Buffy and Angel! For me it was both shows 4th seasons that saw that dip.

Better Call Saul was the same way for me. Season 4 is fine but it feels like it dipped compared to the previous 3.

[James Cameron]

I'm adding:
Babylon 5
Millennium
LOST
Continuum (until the last episode)
Quantum Leap (until the last episode)

You can leave now.

they're not wrong? Friends was goated for all the years it was on TV. and consistently funny despite its blatant corniness.

[Kirby101]

I'm adding:
Babylon 5
Millennium
LOST
Continuum (until the last episode)
Quantum Leap (until the last episode)

LOST? LOST? It turned into utter crap after the second season. Even the writers didn't now what was going on.
The only show that got worse than LOST was Heroes.

[James Cameron]

LOST? LOST? It turned into utter crap after the second season. Even the writers didn't now what was going on.
The only show that got worse than LOST was Heroes.

Nah I'm the opposite. LOST is so good. It's all about the characters. I think it has some of the best characters in television. A show is good to me when viewers can really form relationships with the characters through watching them and relating to their experiences or empathizing with them, or hating them, or liking them and feeling conflicted when they do something you wouldn't agree with, it's hard to describe and I'm not trying to seem creepy, but it's like having friends. I think at the time I first watched Lost I was pretty lonely and I had never watched a show where I could connect with so many characters who were all so developed in different ways. At least not in the same way Lost did it. And the second or third time I watched it all the way through was during lockdown, so I had a similar experience. That was a lot, basically to say I understand why a lot of people don't like it, but I see it as an achievement in television nonetheless.

[frankiedetroit]

Nah I'm the opposite. LOST is so good. It's all about the characters. I think it has some of the best characters in television. A show is good to me when viewers can really form relationships with the characters through watching them and relating to their experiences or empathizing with them, or hating them, or liking them and feeling conflicted when they do something you wouldn't agree with, it's hard to describe and I'm not trying to seem creepy, but it's like having friends. I think at the time I first watched Lost I was pretty lonely and I had never watched a show where I could connect with so many characters who were all so developed in different ways. At least not in the same way Lost did it. And the second or third time I watched it all the way through was during lockdown, so I had a similar experience. That was a lot, basically to say I understand why a lot of people don't like it, but I see it as an achievement in television nonetheless.

I loved Lost as well, pretty much from beginning to end. The first half of Season 3 tested my patience, but it roared back so strong all was forgiven.

Also giving up votes for 30 Rock and The Good Place, which was pitch perfect.

[Guy_McNichts]

No show that gets cancelled on a cliffhanger, gets brought back thirty years later and gets cancelled on another cliffhanger can be said to have kept its quality all the way through

Twin Peaks wasn't cancelled a second time. Lynch & Frost told the story they wanted to tell and ended it. It wasn't intended to continue.