Let’s talk about TV shows where season 2 stands out. And it stands out as being the worst season. Or, in the case of a show that ran for 5 or more seasons, season 2 is at best the second worst season.
What show(s) do you nominate as being terrible season 2?
Wait, you obviously have one in mind, so you go first!
The thing is, there are a LOT of different reasons a season can suck. New writers trying different things, cast leaving, budget cuts, and on and on and on. Two shows I enjoyed season 1 of and disliked (for very different reasons) the second (and last) seasons of.
Dark Angel (2000) was a dystopian police state of future America, after an EMP dropped out tech into ‘has-been’ status, with genetically engineered super-soldiers in hiding and a heroic underground reporter trying to make things just a little bit better, and getting the truth out there. The supporting cast was fun, if overblown, but didn’t detract from the story. Not perfect, but fun.
Season two dropped 80-90% of the first seasons storylines and much better developed villain (who is a villain but not utterly irrational) to replace it all with an ancient cult and monster (bio-engineered) of the week episodes. The supporting cast were introduced hurriedly and it felt like you were being ‘told’ to like them, rather than feel like they were likeable. And suddenly, the majority of the governmental distrust was shifted to the cult, which, well, just didn’t work. (see the dates for likely reasons).
Jericho (2006) - was a drama based on the scenario of the modern US hit by a wide ranging series of presumably terrorist related nuclear detonations in many (23) major cities and the fallout, both literal and figurative thereof in a small Kansas town. There’s small town drama, interfamily drama, survival drama with deep undercurrents of a huge conspiracy behind the events. Again, not a perfect show, in that it (IMHO) spread itself too thin between a huge cast and TOO much drama and internal conflict, but I enjoyed it.
Season two only came about because of a massive write in campaign, as it was cancelled after the first 22 episode season, and was giving a total of 7 episodes, during which they were a lot more focused on the underlying story (based on a deep state fracturing of the government for increased autocratic/plutocratic control) and the conflicts between the town and the newly established militaristic state.
The focus was a good idea, but it was an abrupt near 180 from the direction of season one, and just jarring. And 7 episodes was never going to be enough to get past that point especially with the major changes - sure if it had been amazingly successful it could have spawned another mini-season or other continuation but no one honestly expected it. Or they could have tried to wrap up the story in said 7 episodes instead of trying to fix everything and maybe get renewed or picked up by another network. It’s one of those shows where I almost wish they just hadn’t bothered, and left the story as it was at the end of season one instead of having the mutated post script that was season 2.
( and yes, I’m aware that there was a comic based continuation/completion of the storyline but at that point I no longer cared, it was all about finishing [poorly] the conspiracy story, which I only cared about in CONJUNCTION with the personal stories )
Actually I don’t. The question was inspired by the hope that season 2 of Outlander and Locke & Key turn out to be the worst of each but I haven’t seen beyond season 2 either of them yet.
Harry’s Law
The show had its charm that stood it apart from most other shows of its kind, and a decent first season. Then at least half of the cast left, the location changed, and most all of the things that made it charming were gone. It was like the creators/writers hadn’t watched the first season, and started over, using a few of the names and a sprinkling of generic law show references.
Heroes.
End of thread.
I don’t know if they divided up the Netflix series the same places that the books ended and started — we binge-watched long after the fact — but Outlander book two, hence season two if they did it that way, the whole “Claire is in modern times 20 years later with a daughter, things were kinda shitty with Frank” plus “we gotta stop Bonnie Prince Charlie from bringing the wrath of England down on Scotland”.
For a long time I thought season two of The Wire sucked, but when I watched it a second time I was impressed with how much of it tied across the other seasons, and I had more sympathy for most of the characters.
Mr. Mercedes
I don’t quit a lot of shows, but they massively messed up this show and it had a really solid first season. Hate, hate, hated the direction the show went after season 1.
Friday Night Lights.
I think it is one of the most underrated shows this century. It had one of the great first seasons, instantly engaging, and one of the great final episodes. But, much as I loved it, I nearly gave up on season 2. Glad I didn’t though.
Under the Dome, adapted from one of Stephen King’s better late period novels, was supposed to be a ‘one season and done’ Summer miniseries. But it drew unexpectedly good ratings and got picked up for another season.
And the writers, having to extend the story, had no clue what to do and went totally off the rails in S2. There was no plot, just a series of crazy events. Now the dome is magnetic, and people are getting crushed by cars flying toward the inside of the dome! Now the dome is raining something that looks like blood and burns like acid! Now the dome is shrinking!
S2 wasn’t just merely bad, it was fascinatingly, mesmerisingly bad. Seldom does a production of the size and budget that this show must have had go so ridiculously wrong. Yes, plenty of big budget shows and movies turn out badly, but not in such ludicrous fashion. S2 was must-see TV for Mrs. solost and me.
It made it to S3, and I heard they got a new showrunner for that season. After that they managed to cobble out a still silly but halfway coherent plot to wrap things up, and the show became merely bad and therefore boring.
Yes, that’s how the show is divided up too. (I’ve never gotten through the second book, either)
Walking Dead
I didn’t see the other shows mentioned in the thread up to this point but Heroes absolutely fills the bill. WTF happened? Did any of the writers even watch the first season? There have been plenty of other bad 2nd seasons of TV shows, usually ending the series, but the 1st seasons weren’t that great either in that case. This one had a fantastic 1st season followed by a monumental crash.
There have been a lot of shows that suffer what I awkwardly term “second-season-itis.” A show does fair the first season, so the Suits decide they need to shake things up. Make it BETTER!! They’ll change the setting, the characters, retool the basic premise. Sometimes the shows survive, most of the time they don’t.
One I was thinking of is Tour Of Duty, a show that ran three seasons, inspired by a popular movie, about a Platoon of grunts in Viet Nam, circa 1967. The first season had a large cast of grunts and officers, and anyone could die. No one was guaranteed to survive the season, So don’t get to liking someone, because they might not be around very long.
In the second season, about half the platoon was dumped, written out with barely a fare-thee-well, and the regular Army grunts now magically became MACV-SOG, basically, special forces. I’m not a military expert, but that’s not a lateral transition. And pretty much everyone alive in season 2 finished out the show.
As for the OP premise, Season 2 didn’t really suck, but it was such a switch from season 1 that it was practically a different show.
There was a 1970s TV version of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, starring GIl Gerard and Erin Gray. The first season was passably good cheesy sci-fi. For the 2nd season, the producers rebooted the show completely, from defending Earth against aliens to traveling the galaxy like Star Trek, and the quality went down the tubes. They pulled the plug about half way through and cancelled the remaining episodes.
Killing Eve. Season1 was a great tracking-down-the-ninja-assassin thriller. Season 2 was about the quasi-erotic enabling relationship between the assassin and her erstwhile opponent.
Well I was glad not to have Princess Ardala camping it up, lusting breathily after BDBDBuck every week. But I’m not sure Dr Theawfulest was any better or worse than Crichton.
All in all, I preferred season 2. But it was basically a different show. Altogether.
Prison Break
Having escaped, quite a lot of the dynamics of the show became broken. For example, they had to keep finding excuses to keep the main characters together, when previously they saw each other every day because they had to.
(I will say though, that season 2 is disproportionately the best season for most shows. It’s where they’ve ironed out early issues, have a stable budget, and still have plenty of good ideas in the bag. I’m not threadshitting, just thought someone should note that the OP is the exceptional case).
Speaking of military shows (at least, I was) Baa Baa Black Sheep. In season 1 it tried to be somewhat based on reality (don’t laugh so hard!) but in season 2, they renamed it Black Sheep Squadron, and added a whole cast of cute nurses to the island. I guess they wanted more soap opera, more reason to have women in swimsuits or something.
The quality didn’t significantly drop in season 2, mostly because it wasn’t all that high in season 1, but again, it was a different show. And it was the last season.