TV Show Whose Decline Saddens You the Most

[I Am A Swede]

I had almost managed to forget the whole alien Burt story......

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Soap was a rather schizofrenic show. Some stories worked great, while others were cringeworthy. I personally preferred the Tates over the Campbells. Mary was the only Campbell I really liked. But for me Katherine Helmond was the true star of that show. She excelled at both comedic and dramatic moments.

[All My Shadows]

I never have the heart to watch any Laverne & Shirley from past 1980, and forget about the final season. It's just hard to watch the majority of the cast sleepwalk through every scene, including Penny Marshall sleepwalking through physical comedy.

[DRW50]

 

I loved Jessica. She's one of the best TV characters of all time. I agree that I preferred the Tates, mainly due to Chester and Corinne. Eunice was insufferable (especially as the years passed) and Billy was...there. The Campbells were dragged down by Jodie (a character who should have been written out after season 1) and Burt. I did like Danny, and Chuck and Bob were amusing sometimes. Mary was the real star. Cathryn Damon was a superb actress. She died so young that she doesn't get the credit she deserves. I loved loved loved loved her work in Mary's stories in the last season (like her alcoholism, and her estrangement from Jessica - wasn't that the last season).

[I Am A Swede]

 

I agree with everything. I can appreciate that Jodie was a groundbreaking character, but he was sooo boring, which is of course a cardinal sin for a sitcom character. And Richard Mulligan was better on Empty Nest, even though he was overshadowed by Park, Dinah and Kristy.

[DRW50]

 

I grew up watching Empty Nest and I did like him so I wasn't expecting to hate Burt, but let's just say that I wasn't too unhappy that the cliffhanger for the show was Burt probably getting beaten to death. 

 

Jodie went from a bad stereotype to something close to a real person to being turned straight - that exhausted the character very fast. And they didn't commit to the last part, yet they also wouldn't call him bisexual. It was just a mess. They clearly had no plans for the character long-term. I think my "favorite" Jodie story was with the lesbian, mostly just because I liked the actress and thought she worked well with Billy Crystal. By the last season he wasn't even playing Jodie anymore! He was just doing standup. That kind of says it all.

[Roman]

I gave up on L&S when Cindy left and after the move to LA. they JTS when that happened. 

[Khan]

"Soap" started off great, but the demonic possession (of Tim and Corinne's baby) nonsense killed its' momentum.

 

 

Ironically, the ratings for the last, Cindy/Shirley-less season were strong enough for ABC to consider renewing the show for another season.  However, ABC balked at Penny Marshall's insistence that they relocate production to NYC.

[Roman]

PM really thought she ran ABC didn't she? I would have said 'hell no!" as well. NYC?! 

[Khan]

 

I suspect Susan Harris had intended for Jodie to go through with gender-reassignment surgery in the first season, but couldn't due to the skittish network execs.

[Soaplovers]

Soap... I think when Corrine left at the start of the final season.. that really signaled that season 4 would not be a good season.

[EricMontreal22]

B&S suffered from a lot of what daytime suffers from--network interference.  John Robin Baitz created it but had never done TV before despite being a well regarded playwright and he was blunt in his blog that by midway through season one he was out--he said ABC would send him production notes that literally said things like "this show needs a young, attractive *blonde* woman STAT".  (OK maybe not quite literally but they did tell him it could use a pretty young blond).  Add to that that afterwards it went into constant showrunner turnaround so there was no stability.  I actually think I watched every single episode--it never really offended me or anything, I liked the actors, etc, but there are full years of the show I would not be able to tell you offhand any of the storylines...

See I don't think I remember the finale at all.  WHat was the Wonder Years treatment?

[EricMontreal22]

I never watched Popular, but it SHOCKS me that a Ryan Murphy show, even before he teamed up with partner-in-crime Brad Falchuk, had a good first season and then fell off the rails!  *SHOCKS ME*

I was a teen when OC was on and I remember my dad of all people--a guy who would never be caught dead watching a "soap" was a big fan as well.  SOmewhere in the second half of the story with that stalker character (was his name Oliver?) it started to really seem to lose it--and he just stopped watching.  By Season 2 I had stopped as well..

[Franko]

If I remember correctly, Chester and Jessica went into marriage counseling for a few episodes, he cheated again and then it was into the Jessica's illness storyline.

 

I try not to get worked up over awards, but I firmly believe Ruth Gordon stole Katherine's Emmy for 1978-79.

 

It was. I wasn't a huge fan of that story, but Damon, Helmond and Robert Mandan sold it pretty well.

 

Burt definitely became a darker character in Season Four. I'm reminded of one episode ending where he's spilling his guts to a priest, who ends up dying. He ends up looking up to God and I think it's implied that Burt understands he's more or less alone in the world.

 

Randee Heller should have hung around. Either that, or Diana Canova. There's a nice, proto-Will & Grace (sorta) scene in Season Three where Jodie and Corrine trade notes on parenthood. Agreed with you on the Julius bit, though. It was a dry run for Billy's work on SNL and in Princess Bride.

[EricMontreal22]

I thought True Blood was such an obvious example that it wasn't worthy of bringing it up I also agree with your take on the show--season 5 was a mess but that's where Alan Ball wanted to end it.  He was burnt out but I thought HBO of all places would have realized that the show would not improve under a new showrunner and without his involvement (he retained an EP credit), but no instead it limped through two more seasons under Brian Buckner (who shockingly has not been allowed to lead a show since--though he writes for, yuck, Fear the Walking Dead).  I watched loyally till the end but seriously can not remember a thing from the last two seasons except for a bit about the very ending (a dinner party after burying Bill or... something?)

With primetime shows I'd be curious to know just how many examples there are of a show succeeding after its original showrunner/creator leaves it?  (Obviously this is harder to judge with older shows that didn't usually have that position).  I mean I was NEVER a fan but I suppose Sex and the City counts--I think Darren Star left after season 2 and what most fans seem to love is really Michael Patrick King's Sex and the City not Star's.  And of course with primetime soaps like daytime soaps this is less of an issue.

[Gray Bunny]

 

When they filmed The Wonder Years finale, they didn’t know if they’d return another year and so they filmed it in such a way where Kevin’s voiceover could either be the usual sum-up of the episode or it could provide closure and explain what happened in the future. Since they ended up canceling the series, the voiceover explained what became of Kevin, Winnie, the family (the father apparently died two years later) etc. and gave closure. 

 

With B&S, unfortunately they didn’t know if they’d be cancelled even when Sally Field recorded the voiceover (I think the cancellation was actually announced like a week before the finale aired) and so her voiceover provided wisdom and reflection, but didn’t necessarily provide the final closure that Wonder Years had.