I know. The Sopranos? The Sopranos??? Good grief. Two fine seasons then a pale imitation of itself at best.
The few shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show that really did go out on top are very rare.
The Wire, for one. Arguably, the 5th season was not as strong as 1, 3 or 4. While I liked parts of 2, the whole port scene was kind of limp. season 5 was in a hurry to wrap up McNultys story arc, with a reduced number of episodes, so not as strong. The arc concerning the newspaper reporter was clumsy and cartoonish in places. Best David Simon ended it after 5 seasons.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know season 7 has its detractors but I loved seeing the Scoobies turn out as they did and there are some super moments. Besides, who can argue with Nathan Fillion as the big bad?
Dead Like Me ran two seasons. It wrapped up the last episode with the series in a pretty good place: George came to terms with her afterlife, accepted it, and looked forward to her future. Many shows which lasted longer fared much worse.
It could have been worse than you imagined - I read one story where the plan was for Dobie’s mother to become pregnant, and the season would be filled with stories about how jealous Dobie became of the new baby.
Do you have a cite for that? I’m not trying to be a dick or anything, just really curious. I thought Rome was some of the best TV ever done, and would like to read more about the production costs-- I do remember reading that cost was one of the main reasons they killed it, but it’s hard to believe the cost was THAT high.
In the first season, you notice that the camera angles are almost always very narrow, so you’re not seeing the spectacular wide scenes you might expect would be very pricey. The battle scene is just a blur.
I checked before I wrote that and saw $10 mil. Most “cites” are clickbait style lists and I’m seeing a lot of $9mil although my point remains the same – it was well more expensive than Game of Thrones.
This site says $10mil and was possibly my source last time (I honestly don’t recall)
Another better cite for $10mil
This site says $9mil
This one says the same
Same again
The first link says “lack of viewers” which goes against other articles on it although it could just be “lack of viewers in relation to cost” despite it being one of HBO’s better rated programs.
This site gives a little more detail in the costs:
Supposedly, the ratings and awards buzz generated by the second season made HBO start to regret their decision but, by then, the writers and principle actors were already getting signed onto other projects.
I can’t find anything online, but as far as The Dick Van Dyke Show, I remember reading several times that Carl Reiner had always planned for five seasons and no more. Even though the show was still popular, he refused to reconsider because he wanted to be free to pursue other projects, and wanted the show to go out on top. If I find anything online to confirm this I’ll post a link but haven’t had much time to research it.
When ER was cancelled, most everyone I knew didn’t realize it was still on. They held on far too long.
The last episode of MASH was the highest-rated episode in TV history, and it was still a top-ten show. Hell, I just watched Season 11 a couple months ago and it still holds up IMHO.
On page 70 in The Dick Van Dyke Show: Anatomy of a Classic - Ginny Weissman, Coyne Steven Sanders - Google Books Reiner is quoted as saying
Of course, a lot of viewers like more of the same.
Has anyone mentioned Spaced yet? Only 2 series of 7 shows each. Hilarious, every singe one.
Something I’ve always wondered is WHY “Rome” cost so much. The cast wasn’t that high-dollar; Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker, Tobias Menzies, James Purifoy, Allen Leech and Ciaran Hinds aren’t that prominent even now, and that’s AFTER the show sort of catapulted them into semi-stardom. Was Cinecitta that expensive to work from?
It seems that GoT has more filming locations spread across Europe, and a cast that was no more well known than Rome’s, at least when it started.
I thought you were kidding, and then I looked at wikipedia. Oh my!
Thinking of Jekyll and Hyde, is there one out there where they switch brains? Because “the episode where the mad scientist switches their brains all around is de facto the best episode of the series.”
I guess we’re not counting the stunningly, gut-wrenchingly awful postscript movie as not part of the show, then? 
No. 
If you’re looking for a show that was still turning out good stuff and pulled the plug on itself (rather than being canceled), look no further than The Muppet Show. Jim Henson lived for being creative and hated to be stuck in a rut, and apparently from the beginning he said he’d do only five seasons (if by some miracle it lasted that long, which it did).
If you remember it as a kid’s show, go back and watch some of them again. It was safe for kids but made for adults.
Largely true, except for Peter Dinklage and (to a lesser extent) Lena Headey. Plus Sean Bean, but he doesn’t really count. At this point I think of him as having had a guest spot on the show.
I think it was the episode where he made a formula in Dr Imogene Burkhalt’s chemistryclass. At least I think she was a chem prof that week. One week she was a home economics prof, other weeks a math prof. S Peter Pryor college got good mileage out of their faculty.
Exactly what I came on to say! There were all kinds of tie-ins to that show too. Everything from comic books to novels to bubblegum cards were to be found. I still have all the books as a matter of fact. There were even a couple of movies which came out around the time he show ended. The later remakes and the Johnny Depp movie were fun, but just not the same.