Re: Long-running TV shows you invested seasons in but stopped watching
ER.. 1-2 seasons after George Clooney was written out
Lost.. somewhere season 3. I was just sick of all the flashbacks and the convoluted storylines. When i caught up on the storyline via Wikipedia i realized it was the right decision (at least for me).
SG1.. saw the first season premiere when it aired orginally but the wonky time slots in Germany some time later killed all interest in me after a while. Returned somewhere in season 7 i think and stayed with the universe since for good or bad (and boy were some episodes bad!)
House.. watched part of the first season and while i adored the humor of House and this character and am a huge Hugh Laurie fan i realized that every episode followed the same formula.. intriguing medical mystery, much happens in the middle that solves little and House has an epiphany 5-10 minutes before the end and solves the whole thing. Boring after a while.
Desperate Housewives.. i know, soap opera and all that but the first season was a soap opera with a cool mystery murder storyline and you never knew the whole truth until the finale.. plus it had awesome humor. Season 2 tried to repeat that formula, failed spectacularly at it and by season 3 it has devolved in unbearable kitch soap opera with huge production values.. i left
The Simpsons.. i watched it religiously as a kid (am 35 now) but somewhere in my 20s i saw a whole season and never once laughed and barely chuckled. I realized that the Simpsons were gone as i knew them and left too (the movie though was good.. had a few nice laughs with it).
Edit:
@Enterprise and Manny Coto
While season 4 was way better than much of what came before (Space Nazis? Really?) i don't believe Coto would have saved the show if he were in charge from the beginning. While season 4 was ok it basically was fanfic come to TV.. that season was basically a nod to the fans solving some continuity issues such as reconciling TOS Klingons with movie/modern Trek Klingons and such. For a SF show to be successfull it needs non-fans to watch it too and i doubt that Enterprise would have worked if it were to be done in Season 4 style.
As always a Trek show started with a great premise and works for the first few episodes but then quickly falls apart when the writers and producers run out of ideas and return to familiar ground. I loved the situation Voyager has found itself in with an untrustworty additional and hostile crew but halfway through 1st season they're best buddies. Same with Enterprise.. i loved the humanities' first steps out into the galaxy exploration angle but they fucked that up too very fast.
ER.. 1-2 seasons after George Clooney was written out
Lost.. somewhere season 3. I was just sick of all the flashbacks and the convoluted storylines. When i caught up on the storyline via Wikipedia i realized it was the right decision (at least for me).
SG1.. saw the first season premiere when it aired orginally but the wonky time slots in Germany some time later killed all interest in me after a while. Returned somewhere in season 7 i think and stayed with the universe since for good or bad (and boy were some episodes bad!)
House.. watched part of the first season and while i adored the humor of House and this character and am a huge Hugh Laurie fan i realized that every episode followed the same formula.. intriguing medical mystery, much happens in the middle that solves little and House has an epiphany 5-10 minutes before the end and solves the whole thing. Boring after a while.
Desperate Housewives.. i know, soap opera and all that but the first season was a soap opera with a cool mystery murder storyline and you never knew the whole truth until the finale.. plus it had awesome humor. Season 2 tried to repeat that formula, failed spectacularly at it and by season 3 it has devolved in unbearable kitch soap opera with huge production values.. i left
The Simpsons.. i watched it religiously as a kid (am 35 now) but somewhere in my 20s i saw a whole season and never once laughed and barely chuckled. I realized that the Simpsons were gone as i knew them and left too (the movie though was good.. had a few nice laughs with it).
Edit:
@Enterprise and Manny Coto
While season 4 was way better than much of what came before (Space Nazis? Really?) i don't believe Coto would have saved the show if he were in charge from the beginning. While season 4 was ok it basically was fanfic come to TV.. that season was basically a nod to the fans solving some continuity issues such as reconciling TOS Klingons with movie/modern Trek Klingons and such. For a SF show to be successfull it needs non-fans to watch it too and i doubt that Enterprise would have worked if it were to be done in Season 4 style.
As always a Trek show started with a great premise and works for the first few episodes but then quickly falls apart when the writers and producers run out of ideas and return to familiar ground. I loved the situation Voyager has found itself in with an untrustworty additional and hostile crew but halfway through 1st season they're best buddies. Same with Enterprise.. i loved the humanities' first steps out into the galaxy exploration angle but they fucked that up too very fast.
