Shows That Got BETTER Over the Seasons

[SFK]

I love Valerie Harper, but I think The Hogan Family got better and better. Whenever I watch reruns, I actually miss those characters, and though it's unpopular to champion such things these days, I would love to see them reunited.

[Vee]

Star Trek: Discovery has massively improved this season. I've been very surprised and pleased.

[Khan]

I can't believe I started this thread FIVE YEARS AGO, lol.

[Soapsuds]

Mama's Family.....the Sonya and Buzz seasons were zzzzz even though Buzz was a hot stud. The Bubba and Iola years were much better and funnier. 

It's a shame this is not on DVD yet. I loved both versions.

[KMan101]

 

I like both "versions" of Mama's Family. Buzz

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  and Bubba too  

 

I liked that the first two seasons made more of an effort to be more in line with the Family sketches. I liked Vint better when he became dumber. But I liked Naomi a bit better when she was allowed to fight back and not be a ditz and get a one-liner in. I liked the house felt full and Eunice and Ellen and Ed were all showing up. Of course Burnett/Lawrence had their tiff ... and Betty joined "The Girls" ... but I've since come to really appreciate and love the Iola and Bubba years. Some really great episodes. Season 3 stradled the fence more between the first two seasons and the later seasons. Seasons 3 and 4 are probably my favorite. It hit it's stride.

 

I SO agree about The Hogan Family. I love Valerie Harper but my favorite seasons are the later years without her. The only good part about the Valerie years was the chemistry between Valerie Harper and Jason Bateman and how good they both were.

[Soapsuds]

And Josh Taylor was actually ummm....Hot.....LOL

[KMan101]

 

I'm dead. I actually tried to edit the post to talk about and I quote "Mumbles Taylor back when he was charismatic and we could understand him" but I was having internet issues and it wouldn't save my edit. Great minds think alike

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And I also mentioned it was Harper basically playing Rhoda with kids. Not a knock, just the truth, lol

[All My Shadows]

I grew up on the later seasons of Mama's Family. Ours was one of the markets where they continued to air reruns of the syndicated episodes in their original Saturday timeslot for at least 10 years after the show was cancelled, and all of the cousins would watch it with our grandma. Good times. I didn't start to appreciate the early years until after I saw more of the sketches on Carol Burnett.

The original One Day at a Time got better once the girls grew up a little and they got rid of the random neighbors. I get why they tried to make the neighbor characters work, but ultimately, the show was about the ladies, their boyfriends, and Schneider, with healthy dashes of Grandma Kate and Francine thrown in.

[Soapsuds]

The first 2 years of ODAAT with David were a snooze fest. The show got better once he left. I actually loved the later seasons with Max and Mark but I loathed Alex...ugh...

[KMan101]

 

Again, great minds. I agree. The first two years were a snooze. I liked Max and Mark eventually grew on me. I didn't really enjoy the Brady Brides thing once they stopped being able to use Julie. I didn't really like Mark and Barbara initially and I think Barbara suffered as a character at times. There was slight misogyny in the writing, IMO.

 

Ugh. Alex. No thanks.

 

I think it went on a season too long.

 

I liked the ladies without their boyfriends most of the time, LOL, they seemed to often bow to the men and I didn't really like that, but I'm probably making it too deep. But I agree.

 

You know what I've oddly realized, over time? Most shows, almost any show, really hit their stride and peak during Seasons 3-5 ... I always think about certain shows and I tend to lean towards the middle years when they really hit their stride and figure out everything. There's been a few exceptions that just nailed it from the start.

[DRW50]

 

I used to hear people say season 2 of a show is often the best. I'm not sure about that, although sometimes I agree. 

 

As for Mama's Family, I can't really watch anything from the syndication years for too long without cringing, mostly thanks to the shocking writing for Vint and Naomi. 

[All My Shadows]

I can agree with this. All of the growing pains have subsided, but everything is still fresh. I mentioned it when this thread originally hit, but seasons 3-5 were the heyday of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Little House on the Prairie also peaked in those seasons. I'd say Three's Company did the same. It just goes on and on and on.

The exception might be shows that didn't live past season 5, but even in that case, I'll mention it for the third time here that The Brady Bunch was at its best in the last three seasons. God bless those writers for knowing how to grow the stories up as the kids grew up.

[Soaplovers]

 

Except Cindy

[amybrickwallace]

The Middle - I miss it, though it was time for it to end. They went out while the going was still good.

[All My Shadows]

True. One of the few times I liked Cindy, ever, was in an episode that MeTV played last weekend, Bobby’s first kiss with Melissa Sue Anderson. Right after the kiss, Bobby makes Millicent promise not to tell a single soul about it, and she does, but then we pan to Cindy hiding in the door way with the most delicious grin on her face. Then she proceeded to ruin it because she’s Cindy.