# Shows which went on too long **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151 "2010-11-28T05:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/41 "2010-11-28T20:54:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Not really. I think Battlestar Galactica and a few other shows, like Babylon 5, ended on their own terms… BSG should never have been brought back after the Writers’ Strike. ---
**Author:** ![FallingLeaves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@FallingLeaves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallingLeaves)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/42 "2010-11-28T20:55:15Z")
It is one of my all time favorites, even with the final few seasons, but Gilmore Girls was terrific until Rory’s sophomore/junior year in college. Then she became a totally different person and they had few ways to mesh the two storylines since they weren’t together enough. They wrapped it up very nicely in the end, but Rory was never the party girl she became. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/43 "2010-11-28T20:58:06Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > And alas, even when Steve Carell leaves they will keep trying to milk it. $5 says it gets better when he goes. -Joe, betting on a non-shit replacement ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/44 "2010-11-28T21:28:14Z")
Even though it was still occasionally pretty good during it’s last couple of seasons, Fraiser had mostly run out of any really funny ideas in the final few years… I guess Kelsey Grammer needed the money to continue meeting his various alimony obligations so he could keep fucking/impregnating a new 20-year old every couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/45 "2010-11-28T21:39:03Z")
American Idol ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/46 "2010-11-28T21:48:22Z")
Scrubs lasted a season past when it should have died. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/47 "2010-11-28T22:09:13Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Star Trek - shouldn’t have continued without Roddenberry. We got some real turds like “Spock’s Brain” and “The Way to Eden”, which are ok on a camp level. 😕 I believe that Roddenberry was the producer or executive producer for the entire run of the original series, which includes the stinker episodes you mention. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/48 "2010-11-28T22:39:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 😕 I believe that Roddenberry was the producer or executive producer for the entire run of the original series, which includes the stinker episodes you mention. Although Roddenberry was credited as executive producer for the entire run he withdrew from active involvement in production during the 3rd season. He wasn’t happy with the Friday night death slot or budget cuts. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/49 "2010-11-28T22:48:04Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > How about West Wing? They should have wrapped it up after Sorkin left the show. The magic in the show was always in the writing. I manage to enjoy seasons 5 - 7 by pretending it’s a different show. There are still some very good episodes in those seasons (mostly in 6 and 7 - 5 is painful and must simply be gotten through for some continuity’s sake), and it’s still a better show than most of what’s on TV in those seasons. It’s just not up to the quality of the seasons 1 - 4, against which MANY shows strive in vain. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/50 "2010-11-29T01:33:30Z")
_Happy Days_ stayed on way too long. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/51 "2010-11-29T01:45:12Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Heroes should have ended after the first season. I disagree with this because I think the show belongs in a different category - shows that had great ideas that ended up poorly executed. I’d say “Heroes” was more stillborn than went on too long. > [@wonderlust](#): > > \ > I hate to say this, but I think House has seen better days. The new med student is awesome, so I’m hoping she’ll save the show. I’ve been having trouble catching “House” this year, and finally caught a couple of episodes, and I’m a little underwhelmed, after loving the show from Day One. It could just be that I caught a really weak episode - the one with the smallpox/cat scratch fever. My votes for this are “X Files” (like everyone else) and “Lois and Clark.” I enjoyed both shows tremendously, and just didn’t bother watching the last one or two seasons - I don’t even remember why now. I imagine I just lost interest. Oh yeah, “Beauty and the Beast” was another show like that for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/52 "2010-11-29T02:05:03Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Scrubs lasted a season past when it should have died. Yeah, but that was really a spin-off called Scrubs Med. It should not have carried the Scrubs name. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I disagree with this because I think the show belongs in a different category - shows that had great ideas that ended up poorly executed. I’d say “Heroes” was more stillborn than went on too long. Exactly. This is what I was saying. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/53 "2010-11-29T02:51:39Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > At the latest, I thought MASH should’ve hung it up sometime around when Radar left. Long before. Long, long before. ---
**Author:** ![equinoxi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@equinoxi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/equinoxi)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/54 "2010-11-29T03:12:14Z")
desperate housewives and chuck, they are not that great to begin with but they seems to be rehashing the old plot these days. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/55 "2010-11-29T03:22:56Z")
Northern Exposure. After Rob Morrow left, the new couple who showed up were just irritating. Didn’t fit in well. Andromeda, yes! The last season they didn’t expect to be back, so there was no money. Lexa Doig was out on pregnancy leave. The last season was set in a bar, apparently in a desert ghost town - ridiculous! The only reason I watched was to see if they ever managed to start up the Andromeda and get out of there; and the Penthouse Pet in the pink jumpsuit was kind of cute. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/56 "2010-11-29T03:29:57Z")
Another vote for ER. It started going downhill after George Clooney left in season 5, and it really should have ended, as others said, with Dr. Greene’s death. It went over a cliff when Dr. Carter, the last original character, left in season 11. I thought Noah Wyle was a really talented actor (cute, too) and was willing to watch just for his character, but after he left it was full of too many random people to keep track of. I developed a mild connection to Luka Kovac but didn’t give a crap about the rest of the characters and then even he left and they _still_ didn’t end it. The original CSI sucks without Gil Grissom and should have been canceled at that point. I’ve stopped watching House but if they had a show that consisted of a solid hour of nothing but Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard sniping at each other, I’d gladly watch it. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/57 "2010-11-29T04:02:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > _ER_: Should have ended when Dr. Green died. _ER_ ended for me when Dr. Romano died & everyone had a larf pissing on his memory. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/58 "2010-11-29T04:11:31Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > _ER_ ended for me when Dr. Romano died & everyone had a larf pissing on his memory. I never watched much, but that’s the guy who got his arm cut off by a helicopter and then was later killed by a helicopter crashing on top of his head, right? Cuz I saw about 4 episodes of the show over 15 years and those were two of them. As someone who didn’t have any emotional attachment to the character I thought it was hilarious. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/59 "2010-11-29T05:29:02Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > I never watched much, but that’s the guy who got his arm cut off by a helicopter and then was later killed by a helicopter crashing on top of his head, right? > > Cuz I saw about 4 episodes of the show over 15 years and those were two of them. As someone who didn’t have any emotional attachment to the character I thought it was hilarious. > > -Joe Me, too. I hated Dr. Romano. I think the scene where he had all the med students practicing procedures on a live comatose patient (before Carter came in and stopped it) pushed me over the edge into hoping he met a really unpleasant, wacky demise. And then it actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shows-which-went-on-too-long/562151/60 "2010-11-29T05:40:07Z")
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