Shows That Got BETTER Over the Seasons

[P.J.]

As long as we're going down NBC comedy memory lane...Night Court. While I loved both Selma Diamond and Florence Halop, the show really gelled when the cast turnover stabilized around season three when Markie Post and Marsha Warfield came on.

Definitely agree about NCIS (seasons three through eight---or whenever they forced Bellsario out---were the best) and TNG.

Iffy on Cheers. There was a point Rebecca really started grating on my nerves, but I'm not sure they weren't a stronger ensemble after Long left.

Completely disagree about MASH. It got really preachy once Alda threw his weight around and took over the show. I find the first couple of seasons completely enjoyable (up to the point McLean Stevenson left). I like the next period---until Radar leaves. After Radar leaves, it's completely unwatchable. Not that I felt that way at the time, but now I wonder how I sat through it.

[All My Shadows]

Little House on the Prairie. The early years are classic and heartwarming in their own way, but when I want Little House, I typically want the more melodramatic/Michael Landon has lost his everloving mind episodes from seasons 3-7. Once the cast stabilized as the Ingalls family, the Olesons, the Garveys, and "the town," the series was a perfect soapy Midwestern.

Degrassi: The Next Generation. Anyone will tell you that the first two seasons, while good, are child's play compared to the real teen drama of seasons 3-5.

[Mr. Vixen]

The good Wife

[Taoboi]

+ 1

[DRW50]

The Nanny

A Different World

Bob Newhart Show (the first episodes were...uneven)

Newhart (see above)

[amybrickwallace]

I couldn't agree more - especially about the latter.

Barney Miller was an ensemble show with extremely tight cast and crew, and seemed to get stronger as the years passed. Though the first two seasons will always be my personal favorites, because Sgt. Chano Amenguale was still on. Gregory Sierra = !!

As far as more current shows go, The Middle definitely fits that category. While it had its moments, the first season is pretty much take it or leave it. The second season was slightly better, but the show really didn't start to hit its stride until Season 3. No offense, but I don't think the dropping of Chris Kattan from the cast makes the improvement in quality of the show a coincidence.

Next?

[Khan]

Yep, it's true. For reasons I can't recall anymore, JoMarie Peyton (Harriet #1) was replaced on "Family Matters" with Judyann Elder. Needless to say, few, if anyone, appreciated the change.

[Taoboi]

OMG!!! How did I miss this? That was the same when I was a teenager in my house. When did this happen? I can only assume it was senior year in high school or maybe college for me for me to have missed that.

ETA: As for the post, is it safe to say Buffy AND Angel? Cuz those first seasons were hit and mess for the most part. But those Season 2s (barring Angel's leap into Pylea which I always pretend never happened for the most part and usually stop my viewing of Season 2 around the Harmony episode) were things of beauty with hardly a misstep.

[All My Shadows]

Someone said Melrose, but of course there's also Beverly Hills 90210. The first season was really good, but it wasn't the 90210 we really know and love until the second season. Of course, the "getting better" kinda halted once all the random newbies started popping up.

[Cheap21]

Angel

Pylea was brilliant, especially with Queen Cordelia taking her rightful place on a throne

[DRW50]

Late season 2 Angel was one of the main reasons I gave up the show. They had Angel kill a roomful of people and then...completely dropped it. And then they made all the other characters incompetent to force a reunion with Angel that the writing hadn't earned. Add in Fred, and i was done.

I kind of liked season 1 Buffy. Season 2 was better as a whole but was the start of all the sour angst they overdid.

[P.J.]

Oh, and Charmed. I liked it much better after Prue was killed off and Piper became the driving force behind the sisters.

[ellabelle]

The X-Files. It was Gillian Anderson's pregnancy and maternity leave in the very first season that forced Chris Carter to get creative and come up with a way to write her off for a short period of time, hence Scully's abduction and the stories it spanned. As a result, the X-Files became far more than just a show about monsters and creepy unexplained things.

[Khan]

IIRC, Peyton left halfway through the final season, after the show had moved (with "Step by Step") from ABC to CBS. That MIGHT be why you missed it, b/c I don't think anyone was watching FM still by that point.

[Khan]

Oh, that guy is just awful. To this day, I reflect on those "Mango" sketches on SNL and I cringe.