The GoT Effect: Once Great Shows That Got So Bad They Sent You Into A Rage Spiral

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Laina said:

This is the show I meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(2016_TV_series)

Yes, after I realized Family didn't breakdown 5 episodes in and would be an extremely random choice in 2018, I remembered The Family.

Edited January 21, 2018 by biakbiak

[Laina]

In the hands of much better writer's than the one's the show had, it could've been great. But alas, those writer's were just another set of douchebag's that didn't have a clue what to do with what could've been a gem of a show.

[Lady Calypso]

I can easily agree with Glee being an example of a genuinely good show that just...deteriorated at some point. 

For me, I can pinpoint the exact moment where I went "wow, this show is so bad. How dare they do that?" I may not have stopped watching at that point, but it really opened my eyes, and that was sometime in season 4, with Ryder's secret about being molested as a kid being turned into a joke by two of the other characters. The thing is that I think Ryan Murphy was just trying to show all sides to these important issues, but it really came off as incredibly offensive, especially throwing two male characters under the bus. Then I realized that this show tended to do it anyway, and it only got worse from there, to have characters act off just to fit the story, especially when said characters make no attempt to apologize for their behaviour. I know Murphy had been doing it even before season 4, but it was only then when I realized how bad it was. 

They liked throwing Quinn's character under the bus a lot, starting in season 2. Where, when Dianna Agron became fed up with it and stopped being as polite in interviews, I couldn't blame her. The actress wasn't even invited back for the Finn memorial episode in season 5. 

Another character they assassinated quite quickly was Tina, when she became randomly obsessed with Blaine, a gay character, and went to extreme lengths with her crush, basically resulting in sexual assault. And then they also kept focusing on the odd Blaine/Sam/Tina trio, and it really cemented my hate for all three of them when together. Sam was a character they ruined when they threw him together with the dumbest character on the show, resulting in him becoming the dumbest character next to her, and they only managed to turn that around, but a while after I stopped watching. 

Another moment that really made me furious was the way they treated a female character's body issues with a male character's. The character of Marley was suspended from Glee Club for not wanting to dress provocatively for an assignment, despite the fact that she established that she didn't feel comfortable with her body and didn't want to dress like Katy Perry. But when a male character, Sam, expresses his own body issues, all the boys, including the damn Glee Club teacher, banded together to tell him how he should accept himself for who he is and that he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to and blahblahblah. 

Also, the fact that I ended up loathing Klaine sometime in early season 4 when Blaine cheated on Kurt and then Kurt was treated like the bad guy. It's a real shame since I love Darren Criss, but hated Blaine from season 4 onward. And I was never a fan of Santana and never got why she became friends with Rachel, when she treated Rachel horribly. But the real moment that actually got me to officially stop watching was when they had Rachel do a 180 and decide she wanted to be a television actress instead of going for Broadway. Rachel Berry would never ever become anything but a Broadway star. The fact that they had her go "oh, well, I don't want to be on Broadway right now. I want to be on a television show" was just a complete head-scratcher.

I never watched the last season. I skimmed the series finale, and I haven't even bothered to try to watch the final season in its entirety. 

[Raja]

13 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I seriously thought you meant Family from the 1970s starring James Broderick, Sada Thompson, and Kristy McNichol and even though I watched it in the 80s in syndication I know feel old!

I too was trying to think back at what happened to draw the mention? Kristy McNicol's Buddy grew into a young teen but no new infant was introduced to the house as was done from The Brady Bunch though The Cosby Show and even Married With Children, or did her big sister move back home?

[festivus]

You guys made it farther with Glee than I did. I binge watched the first two seasons because I got them really cheap in one of those Black Friday deals and because a girl I worked with told me I should watch it. I'm like yeah I like this so I bought the 3rd season.  I don't remember how many episodes I watched(not many) when I was like, WTF happened to this show? I quit right then and I stuck the DVD in a yard sale. I still haven't sold it. I have no idea what happened on the show after that and I don't care. I did keep the first two seasons though and I probably will watch them again someday.

[roamyn]

Quote

Queer as Folk (US) In 2007 I started watching QAF. By 2009, my DVD's were in the trash. By the time I got to season 2 of the show, I was in a rage spiral. There was so much wrong with the show, I don't know here to begin.  Michael and Lindsay wouldn't let Brian grow up. They always called him an asshole, and talked down to him. Debbie and Justin, too. Lindsay and Michael were selfish assholes who didn't want to share Brian with anyone else even though they were both in committed relationships with other people.

I didn't mind Melanie, except for that part - her constant put down of Brian.  But then again, I didn't think Lindsay (or the actress) was actually a lesbian.

For the most part I liked Debbie, but I HATED HATED HATED the way she treated Brian when her brother died.  Brian (not knowing yet he had cancer), didn't say anything terribly mean.  She just went off on him, and then she ignored him constantly, until he told her about his diagnosis.

I also hated that they made Ted a drug addict.  But I loved Ted & Blake, and how they relationship maybe was getting started again at the end.

I also thought Emmett & Ted were a terrible idea, but for the most part Emmett was the only REAL part of the show, IMO.  Even though he could be over the top, he was also grounded.

[giovannif7]

4 hours ago, Raja said:

I too was trying to think back at what happened to draw the mention? Kristy McNicol's Buddy grew into a young teen but no new infant was introduced to the house as was done from The Brady Bunch though The Cosby Show and even Married With Children, or did her big sister move back home?

IIRC, while there was no new infant added to Family, the show did add a new character, played by "Goodbye Girl" scene stealer Quinn Cummings. She joined the cast in Season 4 as newly-orphaned pre-teen Annie Cooper who came to live with the Lawrences. It wasn't as jarring an addition as Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch, but caused noticeable "is Kristy McNichol not long for the show?" speculation.

[blueray]

On 1/15/2018 at 11:51 PM, aradia22 said:

And on an even lesser scale, shows that I will still watch but stop at the bad place: Misfits (I tend to only watch the first two seasons with the original cast and only one or two S3 episodes

I wasn't exactly mad when I found out that most of the cast left after the third season, this maybe because the show was already over when I watched it. I was however disappointed. I watched the first three seasons, which were very good. Then I started reading reviews for the later seasons, to find out that the only character left was Curtis, who was my least favorite and he dies a few episodes in to the fourth season. I still haven't watched the last two seasons and don't plan too.

On 1/16/2018 at 7:04 PM, Lugal said:

Pretty much how I feel.  I think the showrunners saw how much we liked seeing them all come together to the big climax at the end of the season 1, and then thought.  They liked that, let's do it again in season two, hence the separation and new characters.  By the time they realized they were wrong, the writers' strike hit and they couldn't course-correct and they lost us (and most of the other viewers), but somehow managed to limp on for a few more seasons.

I actually made it to season 3. But got way to confused by the different timelines. I think that the only new character in season 2 that was good was the cousin who could mimic anything she sees. The rest of the new characters were just annoying.

Edited January 22, 2018 by blueray

[aradia22]

Re: Glee 

I watched to the very end. Part of it was that I'd loved the show so much and I was going to go down with that ship as long as Rachel/Lea Michele was still on the show. Part of it was that there were podcasts keeping me interested and invested. Part of it was the show was able to train me to keep resetting. Like, 'oh, OK, this is the show now.' I can see how much it changed from season 1 but I felt like my expectations were constantly being managed. That isn't to say that there weren't some tedious episodes, especially at the end.

I think like many shows, they just had an unexpected success. I know what the show was supposed to be in season 1. Finn was supposed to end up with Rachel. But putting aside Cory's tragic passing, things had already gone off the rails with that. I also think that (minus Mercedes and Tina... and possibly Artie... I'm not saying this show didn't have problems, notably with tokenism) the characters were all supposed to be richer than they ended up being. I think you can see that very clearly with Will. There was so much going on with Terry and him having his own mini Glee club. But the show struggled to adapt to an episodic format and letting the characters accomplish goals (competitions) while exploring the characters and reckoning with all the drama (so much baby stuff). As much as I like Kurt and Rachel, I do think the writers let their fascination with those characters run away with the show and then it was too late to turn around and develop everyone else in a satisfying way without some shenanigans and retconning. It's also tough because they're all in high school (and high school relationships aren't known for going the distance) but there was also a lot of shipping and switching partners which makes more sense on a show like Gossip Girl (though after a while even GG figured out that it was better to stick to their OTP's).

I gave up on Empire. It could be great. But I think they just burned through their plots way too quickly until it became a mess. I dropped it after he got that commercial. I forgot it was coming back and honestly, my life isn't worse for it.

[festivus]

13 hours ago, roamyn said:

I didn't mind Melanie, except for that part - her constant put down of Brian.  But then again, I didn't think Lindsay (or the actress) was actually a lesbian.

For the most part I liked Debbie, but I HATED HATED HATED the way she treated Brian when her brother died.  Brian (not knowing yet he had cancer), didn't say anything terribly mean.  She just went off on him, and then she ignored him constantly, until he told her about his diagnosis.

I also hated that they made Ted a drug addict.  But I loved Ted & Blake, and how they relationship maybe was getting started again at the end.

I also thought Emmett & Ted were a terrible idea, but for the most part Emmett was the only REAL part of the show, IMO.  Even though he could be over the top, he was also grounded.

It's been a long time since I watched the show, but I agree with all of this. I hated the Ted the drug addict plotline and I also hated Brian and Justin. I'm glad they didn't get together at the end. I don't think QaF was a great show but I don't think it was a dumpster fire either. It definitely could have been better than it was, and I do think Emmett was the very best part of the show and like you said, the only part or person that seemed real.

[Chaos Theory]

Scandal was actually a pretty good show for maybe three seasons but somewhere it went from fun nonsense to off the rails stupidity.  

Edited January 23, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[topanga]

11 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Scandal was actually a pretty good show for maybe three seasons but somewhere it went from fun nonsense to off the rails stupidity.  

Yes. The first three seasons of Scandal were must-see TV for me. 

[Chaos Theory]

8 hours ago, topanga said:

Yes. The first three seasons of Scandal were must-see TV for me. 

I think one of my favorite Storylines was Quinn’s downward spiral.  @topanga you have “liked” enough of my posts to know my affinity for a good spiral.  However bad writing and dumbass true love stories like Olivia and Fitz that always seemed to make me want to pull my hair out.  The bad overtook the good and Even though I do enjoy final seasons of shows I have no interest in watching Scandal crash and burn to its firey end.

[DearEvette]

22 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Scandal was actually a pretty good show for maybe three seasons but somewhere it went from fun nonsense to off the rails stupidity.  

Yup.  The first three seasons were good.  When they introduced BR-what-the-hell-ever and made everyone a damned assassin/double agent that it when it went to hell.  It should have stayed a story about a bad ass fixer, her doomed love for the Prez, his scheming wife, and their dysfunctional friends all mixed up with dirty politics.  There was a lot of story to be mined in just that without all the kidnappings, torture,  murders, and spy vs. spy shit.

[Proclone]

On 1/10/2018 at 1:09 AM, tennisgurl said:

Oh how I used to love Once Upon a Time. Sure it was a clear cash grab for the Disney company, but it was so much fun, and the characters were so likable, and it was such an enjoyable mash up of fairy tales and stories and magic and mayhem, that I had to love it. It had the entirety of Disney to play in, and they enjoyed it. And then...things went down hill. 

Suddenly, the writers grew bored of the heroes, and started obsessing over the villains and started white washing their evil deeds with sob stories (My mom was mean! That makes my countless acts of torture, rape, and mass murder alright!) and rewriting all of the characters to prop up their beloved pet characters. The huge universe they set up (all of fiction!( shrunk down to be about the drama between, like, 8 people who were all secretly related or connected in some stupid way. The once epic story was now riddled with retcons, shoddy characterization, a disturbing amount of magic rape, and some of the worst world building you'll ever see. I could go on and on about why this show has turned to crap on more specific terms (and I have elsewhere) but I am still watching (I've committed this far, I feel the need to see this through till the end) but the show is now a shadow of its former self, filled with dull, lifeless characters to replace old favorites, boring settings, and an utterly nonsensical plot. While it was always a Disney cash grab, at least it used to actually TRY to be actual entertainment. Now its just sad to witness, and see all that potential go down the drain. Or anger inducing. I go back and forth. 

I quit OUT quite a while ago (and this weird soft re-boot that is season 7 seems really bizarre to me) but I really loved the first season. I thought that it was actually a genuinely good show with surprisingly mature themes for a show filled with Disney princesses, cheesy special effects notwithstanding. I really liked Emma as a character on her own (and I think Jennifer Morrison is an underrated actress) and like her interactions with other characters, especially her growing friendship with Mary Margaret.  I also liked her growing relationship with Henry and her learning to be a mom, and that her "true love" at the end of the season wasn't a romantic partner but rather her son.  The second season didn't start that bad but it never really paid off any of the things it raised at the end of the first.  How do you now relate to a woman your own age who was your best friend and now is your mom?  How do you deal with the dude who broke that same best friend's heart, but now you find out he's your dad? What do those relationships look like?  Not paying off those things were really only the start of the decline, then came the "redemption" of Regina. 

One of the themes of the first season seemed to be that while villains aren't born they are made, people are still responsible for their own actions and decisions.  This seemed to be completely thrown out the window and we were expected to forgive Regina for all her sins simply because she said she wasn't evil anymore.  She never actually did a single thing I can remember to try and even apologize for the horrible things she did.  Even worse the show insisted in later seasons in treating Regina and the Evil Queen as two different people, as if Regina wasn't completely aware of every evil deed she ever did and wasn't responsible for those actions. And you were expected to be on her side and feel bad for her if the other characters didn't instantly forgive or were even skeptical of her.  Then some of the hero's actions are treated as just as bad if not worse than Regina's and that's was when I peaced out for the most part.  I get that Regina was a fun character.  She did have some great lines.  I also get that the kid who played Henry was really attached to Lana Parilla who played Regina and the writers decided to use their relationship dynamics in the show.  But they ignored the fact that it was completely at odds about what the show was about and the only real way to continue the show was to keep Regina as a villain or kill her off and bring in a new big bad.  

Honestly, I think OUT would have made a really good miniseries or one season limited series.  I'm not sure the initial premise had the legs to last more than one season, it certainly didn't have it to last seven freaking seasons.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Proclone
to make sense

[Jack Shaftoe]

Quote

This seemed to be completely thrown out the window and we were expected to forgive Regina for all her sins simply because she said she wasn't evil anymore.  She never actually did a single thing I can remember to try and even apologize for the horrible things she did.  Even worse the show insisted in later seasons in treating Regina and the Evil Queen as two different people, as if Regina wasn't completely aware of every evil deed she ever did and wasn't responsible for those actions.

Sounds like the Joss Whedon school of villain "redemption". Also known as a quick way of ruining a show.

 

Quote

Then some of the hero's actions are treated as just as bad if not worse than Regina's and that's was when I peaced out for the most part. 

I hate this trope. The protagonist not being perfect doesn't mean he or she is just as bad as the mass murdering villain, period.

[andromeda331]

On ‎1‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 8:08 AM, DearEvette said:

Yup.  The first three seasons were good.  When they introduced BR-what-the-hell-ever and made everyone a damned assassin/double agent that it when it went to hell.  It should have stayed a story about a bad ass fixer, her doomed love for the Prez, his scheming wife, and their dysfunctional friends all mixed up with dirty politics.  There was a lot of story to be mined in just that without all the kidnappings, torture,  murders, and spy vs. spy shit.

I really don't understand why shows do this. They create shows that have so much to work with, so many storylines to mine, only to throw that away. Do writers or producers not see what they have? Not realize the potential in their shows or how much there really is there? Ratings are good, stories are good, and then they throw it all away. 

[OtterMommy]

9 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

I really don't understand why shows do this. They create shows that have so much to work with, so many storylines to mine, only to throw that away. Do writers or producers not see what they have? Not realize the potential in their shows or how much there really is there? Ratings are good, stories are good, and then they throw it all away. 

I think part of it is that creators/writers are given a go ahead with a premise, but they don't always have an actual story to back it up.   Or, they have a story that can go a season or two or three, but then the show lasts past that and they aren't sure how to either extend the existing story or come up with a new one.

I also believe that this is a reason that shows, especially dramatic ones, are faring better on streaming platforms and premium cable than on broadcast.  Those shows seem to be thought of more as a complete story--with a beginning, middle, and end--in a season, or even a complete run.  On broadcast, sometimes the only thing that determines how long a show runs is ratings.  

[aradia22]

@OtterMommy All of that so much. There are things that make TV great but having to struggle to tell a complete story is a big downside. Putting aside shows that just don't know how to cash out their premises because of lack of skill/creativity or no actual answers for their big mysteries, etc. so many shows floundered with too much time or not enough time. The writers/showrunners don't know how to pace themselves so they either race through plots or they pace things out slowly and never get to a resolution. And then you add that to all the other unexpected complications like an actor getting another job or dropping someone because they're asking for too much money or someone getting pregnant or a writers' strike. Shows like Chuck which seemed to be constantly on the bubble had no stability. And shows like HIMYM lasted past their expiration date. And then you also have to balance between being episodic vs. serialized. In some ways a really episodic show can last longer (Law & Order, House, etc.) but with a few exceptions (OG Law & Order, old school detective shows, etc.) that inhibits character growth and things can get stale or frustrating when you have to keep resetting (basically all the old USA shows... Burn Notice, Monk, Psych... though I think they dealt with it to varying degrees of success). 

[ratgirlagogo]

On 1/21/2018 at 11:05 PM, aradia22 said:

Re: Glee 

I watched to the very end. Part of it was that I'd loved the show so much and I was going to go down with that ship as long as Rachel/Lea Michele was still on the show. Part of it was that there were podcasts keeping me interested and invested. Part of it was the show was able to train me to keep resetting. Like, 'oh, OK, this is the show now.' I can see how much it changed from season 1 but I felt like my expectations were constantly being managed. That isn't to say that there weren't some tedious episodes, especially at the end.

I enjoyed the first season for the most part, but I couldn't deal with the whiplash shifts in tone and characterization - I was unable to keep resetting, as you put it, which I suppose was my basic problem.    I was all ready to settle in with the show - that scene in episode one with the rival show choir doing "Rehab" of all things is still to this day one of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV.  Initially the characters were written at the level of ludicrously extreme satire, like the characters on 30 Rock or Arrested Development - then we start having all these Emotional Real-Life Problem After-School Special Learning Moments and I couldn't take any of it seriously - especially since the very next week it would be as though we had never discovered that Mercedes had a great voice and should be featured more, or that Sue Sylvester's small heart grew three sizes that day, or whatever.   And I had pretty much the same reaction to the Dave Karofsky suicide episode that Tom and Lorenzo did:

https://tomandlorenzo.com/2012/02/glee-on-my-way/

"Ugh. We can’t with this show anymore. If that’s not the reaction you expected us to have, well….

Look, we’ll go quietly. An episode like last night’s certainly had nothing but the best of intentions and we’re going to try not to shit all over that – especially if people reading this were emotionally affected by it all. If it’s still your show, go right on loving it. As for us, we’ll just exit quietly through this side door, the bloated self-importance and treacly glurge finally having done us in."

[K42]

Buffy The Vampire Slayer. What the hell was season 7? It was kinda.. awful. It really bothers me how they never really dealt with Buffy's money issues. I mean, her friends leeched off her and used up all her money.

90210 (The new one). The first two seasons were great but then it went to shit. I don't even know what happened there. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by KatsDivision

[Enero]

On 1/24/2018 at 10:43 PM, OtterMommy said:

I think part of it is that creators/writers are given a go ahead with a premise, but they don't always have an actual story to back it up.   Or, they have a story that can go a season or two or three, but then the show lasts past that and they aren't sure how to either extend the existing story or come up with a new one.

I also believe that this is a reason that shows, especially dramatic ones, are faring better on streaming platforms and premium cable than on broadcast.  Those shows seem to be thought of more as a complete story--with a beginning, middle, and end--in a season, or even a complete run.  On broadcast, sometimes the only thing that determines how long a show runs is ratings.  

I completely agree on both points. Also, I think once a show airs the writers (sometimes due to the networks interference) will change the focus of the show to characters/actors who they believe have become more popular to the audience than expected. This can oftentimes be to the detriment of the show. 

 Homeland and Heroes seemed to follow this path. I thought the first season of both were excellent, but with Homeland they made the mistake of keeping Brody for two additional seasons past his expiration date. My understanding was he was supposed to die at the end of Season One, but the writers loved him so much (as did the audience) they kept him on for two more seasons. I’ll admit I enjoyed the character too, but he should’ve died as originally plan. The show went off the rails during his extended stay and never fully recovered IMO. 

With Heroes, the first season’s focus was on an ensemble cast, but then the writers strike happened, they got a second season and the dynamic of the show changed. It became all about Claire and Silas. I enjoyed both characters but in small doses. As a result, the show lost what made it exciting in the first place and with it I (and I think many others) lost interest and it was cancelled.

[Anna Yolei]

On 1/23/2018 at 7:08 AM, DearEvette said:

Yup.  The first three seasons were good.  When they introduced BR-what-the-hell-ever and made everyone a damned assassin/double agent that it when it went to hell.  It should have stayed a story about a bad ass fixer, her doomed love for the Prez, his scheming wife, and their dysfunctional friends all mixed up with dirty politics.  There was a lot of story to be mined in just that without all the kidnappings, torture,  murders, and spy vs. spy shit.

B613 should have never entirely overshadowed the show like it did. The first two seasons we're guilty fun. Season three was like a chore to get through. I watched season 4 long enough to see Mellie chew Fitz out for being the spineless louse he always was and then left without looking back.

I did see one episode recently, where Quinn is pregnant (!!!) and she's now the fixer as Olivia is now President Mellie's aide and  they're both pretty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about Fitz. I....I just don't even know how they're ending that shitshow.

[HunterHunted]

On 3/18/2018 at 10:38 AM, Anna Yolei said:

I....I just don't even know how they're ending that shitshow.

It turns out that everything we've watched was an elaborate "what if" scenario run by Olivia as she's contemplating sleeping with Fitz for the first time during the campaign. She ultimately decides it isn't worth it and actually goes into her room and closes the door like Fitz told her to.

Clearly this is my preferred ending because not only is this show off the rails, but the later calamities have actually made it hard for me to watch the earlier seasons knowing what kind of catastrophes would befall the show. It's akin to fondly remembering one of those cruises where everyone gets norovirus. The first half of the cruise might have been fun, but the last half was so horrible that it overwrites any good memories. That's Scandal for me. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by HunterHunted

[StaceyNotStacie]

Once Upon a Time is becoming unwatchable. I was enjoying the first half of the new season, but it has gotten worse since it came back from hiatus. I’m only watching for the core characters (Henry/Jacinda and Lucy, Regina, Hook, Rumple) and to see how this thing ends. I was open to the reboot, but the show has become background noise the past few weeks. If it wasn’t ending, I’d probably give it up. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Olivia is now President Mellie's aide

Nope, Mellie fired Olivia after Olivia had Mellie's boyfriend (the exiled president of a Middle Eastern country) and his daughter killed. Olivia is now on a slow but sure redemption arc but it would seem unlikely that she'd end up back in The Oval by the series' finale unless Mellie leaves the presidency for some reason.

Law & Order SVU has gone from a decent ensemble law/police procedural to The Olivia Benson Hour. The ION channel runs back-to-back syndicated episodes of SVU on the weekends and they're so hard to watch now. You can clearly see what a drastic change the show has undergone as all the original members of the ensemble except Ice-T's character left/got dropped and Olivia was pushed up to become the head of the SVU squad. The remaining detectives pretty much seem to serve to prop Olivia and it's looking like she's going to have the new ADA under her thumb too.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Joimiaroxeu

[Joe]

1 hour ago, Stacey1014 said:

Once Upon a Time is becoming unwatchable. I was enjoying the first half of the new season, but it has gotten worse since it came back from hiatus. I’m only watching for the core characters (Henry/Jacinda and Lucy, Regina, Hook, Rumple) and to see how this thing ends. I was open to the reboot, but the show has become background noise the past few weeks. If it wasn’t ending, I’d probably give it up. 

I've never watched it, but people have been talking about its terribleness for years. Different people have different thresholds for these things, I suppose.

[AntiBeeSpray]

X Files again. Holy cow has this second half of eps been meh. >_<

[Spartan Girl]

Family Guy. I love edgy humor and everything, but I don't think it's even TRYING to be funny anymore. I barely even crack a grin while watching it anymore, it just leaves me feel disgusted and disturbed.

[CaffeinatedAunt79]

The Office...it should have ended when Michael Scott left.  The Robert California era was terrible and Andy, Dwight and even Jim and Pam were more annoying than fun to watch, at least for me, as the series neared its end.

[Tanichka]

Seinfeld, after Larry David.  

[amaranta]

Silicon Valley.  And it's not that I miss Erlich; I never liked TJ Miller all that much anyway.  IMO, it's now gross, predictable and just plain unfunny.

[Guest]

iZombie. 

I just shut it off in disgust.  They do not do subtle anymore.  Everything is a caricature. An unfunny one trying too hard to be funny.

[AntiBeeSpray]

On 3/18/2018 at 8:46 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Nope, Mellie fired Olivia after Olivia had Mellie's boyfriend (the exiled president of a Middle Eastern country) and his daughter killed. Olivia is now on a slow but sure redemption arc but it would seem unlikely that she'd end up back in The Oval by the series' finale unless Mellie leaves the presidency for some reason.

Law & Order SVU has gone from a decent ensemble law/police procedural to The Olivia Benson Hour. The ION channel runs back-to-back syndicated episodes of SVU on the weekends and they're so hard to watch now. You can clearly see what a drastic change the show has undergone as all the original members of the ensemble except Ice-T's character left/got dropped and Olivia was pushed up to become the head of the SVU squad. The remaining detectives pretty much seem to serve to prop Olivia and it's looking like she's going to have the new ADA under her thumb too.

Word. It's gotten so bad that my mom has about had it with the show. We were both long time fans and I haven't really watched it in a while, apart from the episode with Jack McCoy in it recently. Olivia leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Minneapple]

On 4/30/2018 at 9:26 PM, ParadoxLost said:

iZombie. 

I just shut it off in disgust.  They do not do subtle anymore.  Everything is a caricature. An unfunny one trying too hard to be funny.

For two seasons this was one of my faves. Then the beginning of season three became weighted down with the moronic Peyton/Blaine/Ravi love triangle. I quit and it made me sad because it was such a cute show. But really. The love triangle was unwatchable. 

[HunterHunted]

11 hours ago, Minneapple said:

For two seasons this was one of my faves. Then the beginning of season three became weighted down with the moronic Peyton/Blaine/Ravi love triangle. I quit and it made me sad because it was such a cute show. But really. The love triangle was unwatchable. 

The love triangle was no great shakes, but Liv now annoys me just as much as the triangle ever did. Plus the entire logistics of New Seattle seems so poorly thought out that I'm retroactively shocked that Fillmore Graves decided to go forward with Z-Day without a decent understanding of the supply chain and black market issues of brain acquisition and zombifying. When Z-Day happened, I assumed Fillmore Graves had figured that out only for season 4 to happen and be told "nope; they hadn't." What kind of dumb lunatics perpetrate the largest single bioterrorism event, by turning hundreds of thousands of people into zombies, but don't know if there are enough brains to keep the zombie population satiated and not rampaging? Fillmore Graves. The real problem is that the show didn't want to pivot and make the political and Fillmore Graves story the A story of the show when it should have been.

[PepSinger]

Brothers & Sisters became unwatchable after they made Rebecca a non-walker in season three.

Gossip Girl became unwatchable in season four when Blair married a prince. WTF?

Scandal went off the rails after the Olivia kidnapping plot line and never recovered.

[HunterHunted]

16 hours ago, PepSinger said:

Gossip Girl became unwatchable in season four when Blair married a prince. WTF?

The thing that was always so hilarious about this storyline was that Blair was running herself ragged in order to adhere to the etiquette standards of the House of Grimaldi, which is laughable. The House of Grimaldi rules Monaco. Prince Rainier's mother, from whom he inherited the throne, was illegitimate and the product of an affair with a lounge singer. Her adoption and legitimization may not have been legally binding. Her marriage to Rainier's father was unhappy because her husband was gay and she had a ton of affairs. Her husband was banished from Monaco at some point. She'd live out her days with her lover, a former jewel thief. Rainier's sister had 3 kids out of wedlock and at one point tried to depose her brother from the throne. Rainier married Grace Kelly, but their kids were not strangers to scandals either. Prince Albert has 2 children out of wedlock and was rumored to have kept his future wife captive in the days and weeks before the wedding because she wanted to break it off. His sisters, especially Stephanie, have had a scandals too.

All of this to say that, Gossip Girl couldn't have picked a royal family with a worse reputation in order to have Blair and the show go in a grander more international area and resulting storyline was such a poorly thought out anemic bust.

Edited June 4, 2018 by HunterHunted

[roamyn]

I really don’t believe that abt P Albert & Ps Charlene.  Albert’s eldest kids were long before he & Charlene became an item.  

[HunterHunted]

Regardless, any Grimaldi, fictional or not, who thinks that Blair Waldorf cannot live up to the high standards of the Grimaldi family and is not fit for the Monegasque throne is delusional. That family is trashy as fuq.

TPTB also started to do their Dan/Blair pivot in the middle of Blair's Prince Louis Grimaldi arc, which is a pretty clear sign that they knew Blair and Louis did not work.

[scarynikki12]

The worst part of the "Blair marries royalty" story is how low-rent the wedding was.  Even if we remove the royal angle, no way would Blair Waldorf ever have THAT for her wedding.  The GG people weren't even trying at that point.

[catlover79]

SVU. Do I really need to say more?

[CletusMusashi]

Once upon a time, there was an amazingly clever show called She Spies. It was a brilliant parody of action movie cliches, tough-girl-character cliches, silly high concept TV show premises, and really just delighted in trope-bustingly hilarious plots and banter while making full use of a very talented cast. For exactly one season. And then the network fired the comedic head writers, told the others to quit trying to be funny, and made season 2 exactly the kind of show that season 1 had been poking fun at.

[kieyra]

Shameless and The Magicians are two shows that have aggravated me so much that I won’t rewatch their earlier, “good” seasons on paid streaming services because it feels like rewarding bad behavior. It’s fine if you get bored and want to move on, but don’t leave the show’s reanimated corpse running for five more seasons, just let it die (Shameless); and don’t be edgy for the sake of edgy and cut your own legs off at the knees (Magicians). 

[methodwriter85]

It still baffles me how badly Sleepy Hollow blew it. It was a case of Bait and Switch, though. I signed up for a buddy cop show with paranormal elements. I did not sign up for This is The Cranes.

Edited July 23, 2020 by methodwriter85

[Apathy]

I totally forgot about this topic until now, or else I would've brought it up earlier: Voltron: Legendary Defender, a show that crashed and burned so hard in so many ways by the final season that fans on Twitter are still in a rage spiral two years after the fact. I know because I'm one of them. IT COULD'VE BEEN GREAT!!!

[Ohiopirate02]

On 7/23/2020 at 1:19 AM, methodwriter85 said:

It still baffles me how badly Sleepy Hollow blew it. It was a case of Bait and Switch, though. I signed up for a buddy cop show with paranormal elements. I did not sign up for This is The Cranes.

I think the only people who liked Katrina (and the actress who played her) were the showrunners.  Not only was she the weakest actor,  her costumes were only designed to show off her assets.  When I saw Katrina's 21st century wardrobe was going to permanently be a corset and skinny jeans with her hair always worn long and a shit ton of makeup, I stopped watching the show.  She was someone's fantasy brought to life.  I knew that the show I enjoyed and that filmed 45 minutes away from me was never going to be the same. 

[biakbiak]

This tweet reminded me of this thread, another reason to hate HIMYM

 

[Shannon L.]

Rage spiral is too strong of a word for what I feel--disappointment is much better--but, my God, Hannibal.  We've been watching it for a few weeks now and I loved the first two season, but season 3? We're four episodes in and what the hell?  The wonderful slow, creepy effects that were really good and powerful in the first two seasons seem to be taking over in Season 3.  There are so many now, that it makes every episode feel like a weird dream-I seriously can't tell if what I'm watching is real or not. Then, there's the skipping back and forth on the timelines and not revealing certain things in a timely manner that's driving me crazy.  Normally, I don't mind the occasional time skip (I prefer it with dates/days/months, but it's not a deal breaker for me), but I'm so confused now, that I find myself disinterested.  I'll keep watching until the end because I want to see how it all wraps up, but I don't particularly care for how it's being played out now.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Community started as a show about a group of lost souls trying to turn their lives around and forming an unlikely surrogate family. By season 3 they had turned into a clique of narcissistic bullies who ruined the lives of everyone they came into contact with. The wacky teacher character became criminally insane but no one really did anything about it in the long-term.