Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching.

[Aragorn]

Seems like there are some shows on here that people have watched out of obligation (like Voyager and Enterprise simply because they were Star Trek, or Smallville because you watched several seasons already and figured you might as well see how it ends). To some degree that's how I felt about 12 seasons of NYPD Blue (especially since their cases got to be pretty repetitive) but I still was interested in the character journey of Sipowicz.

What are some long-running shows you started watching from the beginning, then just decided to stop cold turkey despite having already invested in the first few to several seasons?

The first two shows that immediately came to mind for me were Star Trek: Voyager and Smallville simply because of how terrible they were. I think I knew Smallville was doomed from the second episode where we got the Kryptonite freak football coach, but I kept watching for a few more years until it simply became an unbearable waste of time.

But then I also realized I stopped watching Frasier and Two and a Half Men for really no reason whatsoever. I still enjoyed the shows, but just lost interest, and now sitcoms are completely out of my television viewing rotation.

Also lost interest in Simpsons and Family Guy at about the same time.

Thought about saying Law & Order: SVU and CSI: NY, but I was never really that invested in them to begin with.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

Criminal Minds, Survivor (if that counts), Castle, Greys Anatomy come to mind immediately for me, I could probably think of lots more. I'm not that clingy in general, life's too short to waste on tv you don't enjoy. Watching tv shouldn't be a chore.

 

[od0_ital]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

I started to give up on ER after Mark Greene died, but really stopped watchin' when they killed Romano with a helicopter.

I stopped watchin' Frasier for awhile after Niles & Daphne finally got together, but tuned back in for the finally.

I stopped watchin' Criminal Intent when Jeff Goldblum took over. Tryin' to watch reruns now on Bravo, and I just can't get into it because of his character.

Gave up on SVU after the Robert Patrick episode.

Didn't care much for what turned out to be the final season of Law & Order - still haven't seen that series finale.

Gave up on CSI midway through the pilot episode, tuned back in for the Wil Wheaton episode, started watchin' again, but seemed like everything was tied to sexual perverts after awhile, so gave up again. Caught a Laurence Fishburne rerun on Spike TV, and really didn't care for the new group dynamic, so I'm done with that show, again.

I gave up on Voyager, too, for about a season & a half, but tuned back in for last few episodes of the final season, hopin' for something awesome like DS9's Final Chapter. Ah, well...

Gave up on Smallville in the second or third season, caught back up via DVD for the first six seasons, tried tunin' in for the seventh season, and waitin' a week for each episode sucked after watchin' four a day, so I haven't seen anything of it for the last few seasons.

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure there's others...

 

[Jetfire]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

The Simpsons...like 8 years ago.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

Er after they killed Romano, and the Simpsons.
X files after the BBC moved it around so much I did not know when it was on.
Eastenders, Just got too stupid.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

Even when I give up on watching a show regularly, I'll still watch the occasional clips or even a whole episode if I like what I see in clips. I do this with Smallville (gave up in season 9 but just watched most of the recent episode) and did it with 24 (part way into the last season, but I watched Jack's final scene with Chloe).

The only one I can think of off the top of my head that I haven't gone back to is House, but I think I may be waiting on my sister to buy the dvds before I do.

 

[Sparky]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

ER. Watched until Romano was squished. Saw no reason to continue watching after they killed off the best character.

All of the CSI shows. I still catch some in reruns and they are fun to watch for mindless entertainment. I see no reason to keep up week by week though.

X-Files. I can't remember when I stopped watching. It was before the first movie though. I just got bored with it.

Heroes. I almost dropped it after the abortion that was the 1st season finale. I watched until the end of the shortened second season. Never went back.

Smallville. I think I watched until the end of the 2nd or 3rd season. Haven seen anything since.

 

[Starkers]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

The X-Files after Mulder vanished, I didn't mind Doggat but it didn't seem the same show.

CSI Miami after about 4 episodes, just didn't grab me.

CSI NY after the first year. Didn't really hate it but didn't see anything it was giving me that CSI was, and I liked the CSI team a lot better.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

Awesome thread idea...

-ER, 24, House, Bones, The Simpsons, Law and Order: SVU, Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock (this mostly to with a lack of cable), South Park (again to do with a lack of cable) and yes I know I can watch them online, Entourage, Ghost Whisperer (after the second season I think), Law and Order, can't think of anything else right now.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

The Bill

I faithfully watched what I considered to be the best police drama ever from 1984 until I finally gave up on it in 2003 and its was in its 19th season. I started to get annoyed at the direction it was heading in about 2000 when it started to turn into being more of a soap opera than a police drama. The last episode I ever watch was the one in which Matthew Boyden died.

A couple of years later people were telling me it had started to improve but it was too late for me. I just wasn't interested in it any more.

 

[Cicero]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

There have been a few shows, but I don't watch much first-run television:

• Charmed (I skipped the final season)
• House (for some reason, I stopped watching after House's father's funeral; I don't know why)
• JAG (I never stopped liking the show, but it moved to an inconvenient time)
• Scientific American Frontiers (I never figured out when it was on in Chicago)
• The Simpsons (roughly a decade ago)
• Smallville (halfway through season 8, after the show's quality dropped precipitously; I've seen a handful of episodes since)
• Survivor (I watched the first two years, the last episode of Survivor: Africa and the first episode of the pirate-themed season)

 

[USS Triumphant]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

CSI: Miami - watched from the beginning up until two seasons ago. The Horatio Caine character was always ridiculous, but to begin with, he was the right amount of ridiculous for it to be kinda cool in a funny way. It just kept getting worse and worse, though, until ultimately watching an episode consisted of being bored while wondering when Horatio was just going to fly up to the bad guy, use his xray vision to produce evidence, and then have a heart-to-heart with the young child of either the victim or the bad guy.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

The Bill

I faithfully watched what I considered to be the best police drama ever from 1984 until I finally gave up on it in 2003 and its was in its 19th season. I started to get annoyed at the direction it was heading in about 2000 when it started to turn into being more of a soap opera than a police drama. The last episode I ever watch was the one in which Matthew Boyden died.

A couple of years later people were telling me it had started to improve but it was too late for me. I just wasn't interested in it any more.

Has the last ever ep aired in OZ yet?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

I think the last episode aired about a month ago but I didn't watch it.

When I gave up watching it I did miss Reg, and June, and Jim etc for a while but then I went out and bought some of the early seasons on DVD and was able to see them again.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

I think the last episode aired about a month ago but I didn't watch it.

When I gave up watching it I did miss Reg, and June, and Jim etc for a while.

I stopped watching it years ago but I remember Reggi baby.
When we got cable I started watching SG1 instead of neighbours.

 

[Mr Light]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

X-Files was my all time favorite show back in the 90s but I didn't watch the final season in favor of Alias Season One.

I stopped watching CSI when Grissom left.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

Most of the long-running TV shows I got into have since been canceled, but Family Guy would definitely be something I just don't care to follow anymore. I'll watch (and on rarer occasions even enjoy) the odd episode here and there, but by and large the shtick got old to me really fast.

I still follow and love The Simpsons. You don't get much more long-running than that.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

House is definitely one. I'd say Law and Order, but I only watched reruns anyway. My viewing of X-Files got more sporadic after Molder left, but I was still there until the end. That might really be it. Simpsons and Family Guy might count, but I simply stopped watching Sunday night TV shows, so it's not like I replaced them with anything. I stuck with Heroes to the end, though, so my tolerance level for crap is pretty high.

 

[The Evil Dead]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

I haven't seen the majority of season 6 or 8 of 24 (The return of Tony Almeida got me to watch season 7)

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching

The only one I quit watching that I never went back to is Smallville. I just found it got to be incredibly stupid. The Lana Lang thing was just over the top. The showrunners were just too afraid to move forward and I lost interest around Season 5. I wouldn't mind going back and watching the whole thing though... or maybe just the important episodes.

After season 6, I stopped watching CSI, however, I'm all caught back up now. I gave up on CSI: Miami in Season 4 and CSI: NY in Season 3 when both of their tones changed dramatically. However, I've been catching up on these too. This season of CSI:NY has been the best since the 1st.

Criminal Minds is losing my attention. The cases this year have been very boring.