NYPD Blue - after Sipowicz had tragedy number eight. (Son died? New wife? Jimmy Smits? Can’t remember exactly). Then I started making fun of it, and once I did that, I realized that they all talked in this odd loopy way that made no sense. “You’re saying that you’re the guy that’s gonna make me want to have a problem with you being the guy that says that!”
Kyle XY - When season 2 started and they introduced chick XX and the Dad went to work for the most hilariously unrealistic software company ever.
Northern Exposure - after the “Shelly can’t stop singing” episode. Blech.
I stopped watching Desparate Housewives early in Season 2. Susan’s character got more irritating, the others got more unlikeable & that guy in the neighbour’s basement was just silly.
Friends when they started looking too old for the parts (about the time of the Joey/Rachel romance)
I was just about to stop watching NZ soap Shortland St but they have finally developed a decent storyline - & brought back one of their best ever villains!
I probably won’t watch the next series of Americas Next Top Model They never become a top model - & we have a NZ version now anyway.
Mad About You - After the almost-break up at the end of the 3rd season. I watched it because it was funny and even sweet. I didn’t need that shit, or the semi-present baby.
MASH - About 1 season after Radar left, when it completely lost it’s comedy punch and the actors started phoning in their parts. I did watch the finale, of course. Hated it.
Yeah, it didn’t help that the replacement for Hartman was a thoroughly loathsome character played by an unlikable actor (yes, I know he was a good friend of Mr. Hartman, but still). I’ll admit I kept watching anyway, but it wasn’t anywhere close to the same.
Wow, I stopped watching a few episodes into the second season, where it seemed painfully obvious that the writers were pulling it out of their asses as they went along.
For me, I really enjoyed the first few seasons of Buffy. It started to go downhill, but I stayed with it until the episode where her mom died. That was the worst hour of television I have ever seen, the most horribly manipulative and just plain badly written piece of trash I’ve ever watched. Yes, I know that true fans of Whedon-god think it was the greatest thing ever, and that’s something I’ll go to my grave never understanding. In my opinion, that episode brought such new meaning to the word “sucked” that the word oughta be retired.
Whoa, I just thought of something that I’d forgotten all about, that infuriated me at the time, and that is the episodes of Seinfeld when they were in California and Kramer was suspected of being a serial killer. Right in the middle of the wacky humor, there’s police cars and a dead body, and I found that so repellent. (Not that the equally repellent Kramer wouldn’t make an excellent criminal). NOT FUNNY! … I never felt the same about Seinfeld after that, though I did watch the Grand Finale and hoped it was an allegory that they died in a plane crash and were doomed to spend eternity together in a jail cell.
Season one of Supernatural was terrible. It had no plot twists, no tension, weak characters, and Jared Padalecki acted about as well as a kid in a high school play. It got better. It got much, much better. When I rec Supernatural to anyone, I give them a basic outline of the begining, then tell to start watching at “Shadow”. Despite hating it for a full year (I stuck around for a friend), I now consider it the most entertaining show on television.
The writing is good now. And Jared’s actually giving some quality performances.
I concur with those who stopped watching News Radio after Phil Hartman’s death. He made that show.
I stopped watching Millenium after the first episode of season three, when they went chicken-shit and copped out on the ramifications of the end of season two.
“Shadow” is a good starting point. Actually, I think the pilot is pretty good, I could see watching that and then skipping ahead to the end of the season. Incredibly, there are people in Fandom Secrets (which I completely love for its total insanity) whining about how they love S1 and hate the mytharc and want to go back to all MOTW episodes and also Sammy’s emo bangs. Jesus christ. I sentence these people to watch “Route 666.” Repeatedly.