I gave up on The 70’s Show when they started the cliche of daytime soap operas and had everyone dating someone else from the original cast.
I gave up on Frasier when the dad got better but they wanted Moon to stay, and he got into a “psychosomatic” fall to keep her.
I gave up on Becker when the creep became the building super.
(How come the people you LIKE never get a bigger part, only the “ones you love to hate”? Note to TV execs: When I hate a character I want less of him, I do not want more of him.)
What good shows have been set in a school, that didn’t resort to an “Improbable Disaster of the Week” formula? Sadly, despite watching a lot of TV, I can only think of 4:
Room 222
Welcome Back, Kotter
The White Shadow
The Paper Chase
“Fame” didn’t follow that formula. It deal with realistic issues, like Doris being jealous of Coco, Lori Singer playing hard to get with the retarded guy who had a crush on her, and a butch-looking Janet Jackson singing about dream streets. You know, REAL problems.
If “Fame” had been a David E. Kelly creation, he would have made Coco having sexual relations with Mr. Shikovsky, Leroy would be a gang-banger, Doris would be a fat lesbian, and Bruno would be a psycho nutcase who’s killed his mama, Ms. Grant, AND Ms. Sherwood. In other words, it would have sucked just like BP does now.
Head of the Class never turned into a disaster-of-the-week show, though it was usually a disaster of a show every week.
I also gave up on Voyager, The X-Files, South Park. I haven’t given up on them, but I don’t care if I miss Enterprise or ER.
Though to reference other shows listed here: I like this past season of Buffy. I think, ten years from now, it will play a lot better than it does today. I only wish it could have been an 18-episode season somehow… I liked taking the characters as low as you could to bring them back up in the end… but in truth they only had about 3/4 of a season’s worth of that stuff. They spent six episodes or so treading water, that’s what really bothered me. And I don’t mind dark, and depressing, but it is possible to be dark, depressing and funny from time to time.
I gave up on the X-Files at the end of the 5th season; I’ve watched a few episodes since then, but none at all this last season. I didn’t see the finale.
I stopped watching Voyager half-way through the 3rd season and never went back.
I still watch and enjoy Simpsons reruns, but haven’t seen a new show in 2 or 3 years.
I gave up on South Park right after the movie : didn’t think they were gonna be able to top that.
Thanks to the wonder of the net I’ve been watching some recent episodes and they’ve been surprisingly good. The episode where Kenny died for good was hilarious because they treated it like a very special episode… never mind that it was a character that’s only managed to live through 2 episodes.
When it began a few years back, this was a great show. Unlike most sci-fi series, where there are clearly good guys and bad guys, this was much more complex. The Taelons couldn’t be absolutely trusted, but they were helpful to humanity. Most humans working for the Taelons honestly believed in their cause. The resistance, supposedly fighting for humanity, were often violent reactionaries. Doors was sometimes motivated by principle, sometimes money. Ditto for Auger. And even with Sandoval, who really did seem to be the bad guy, you couldn’t be sure when he was acting on behalf of the Taelons and when he was acting for himself. All the major characters had to walk a tightrope between two conflicting interests, to avoid tipping their hands.
Fast forward a few years. All the original cast are gone, except Sandoval. The subtly political Taelons are gone, replaced by overacting Atavus, who are pretty much evil embodied. Our heroes are a couple of one-dimensional women who must single-handedly fight them, because the powers that be don’t believe these screaming women that the threat is real. Yawn. Haven’t seen it since the beginning of this season, but it was really sad how far such a promising series had fallen.
I gave up on X Files a few years ago. I can’t even pinpoint when it happened, but it just gradually became less and less important to tune in every week. Now, Law and Order: Criminal Intent fills my Sunday at 8.
I gave up on Smallville a few weeks ago. I really did try to love it, but alas, it’s not working. The characters, except Lex, who does rules, don’t interest me and the ‘plots’ leave a whole lot to be desired. Shame. I might check back when season 2 starts to see if it’s improved. It’s got potential.
When we found out the Cancer Man was still alive for the third time, the X-Files just got too damn improbable and complex for me. I like how in the final episode
They killed him off with a missle, even though I wouldn’t be surprised if that guy was a clone, alien shapeshifter, twin or droid or if he had developed some sort of missile proofing. On that show nobody’s ever dead.
Ditto Boston Public. Why can’t it just be teenagers running around and having sex? That’s what people want to see, not some self-important crap on the n-word.
The past seasons of Buffy and Angel have been horrid, no doubt, but I will at least give them a chance next season. For a few episodes, anyway.
Most of the series I’ve given up on have been Star Trek. I gave up on TNG in season one, but then I went back in season three and stayed with it until the end. I gave up on DS9 in the third season, and stayed away after that. I gave up on Voyager after the pilot episode, on Enterprise after about a half dozen. This is all very painful for an old time trekkie like me to say, but there it is.
Other than that, I stopped watching Friends this season. No reason I could put my finger on, it just ceased to interest me.
Gave up on KNOTS LANDING when Sid died.
Gave up on COSBY after Rudy started growing up.
Gave up on THE X-FILES when I realized I didn’t have a clue what was happening.
Gave up on ER after Dr. Green’s inability to recover from being mugged.
Gave up on ALLY MCBEAL after Calista Flockheart got so thin I couldn’t stand to look at her and got so stupid I couldn’t believe she could possibly be an attorney.
Gave up on THE PRACTICE after the attorneys got into more trouble than the crooks.
Gave up on LAW & ORDER when I realized the show was putting me to sleep. . . before we even got to ORDER.
Gave up on NYPD BLUE after Jimmy Smits left. What else was there to watch?
Never got into: FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, THE WEST WING.
NYPD BLUE when Sipowitz’s wife died. Got tired of them killing characters when they couldn’t think of anything else to do.
SEINFELD about four weeks into its regular run. The first episodes (as a summer replacement) were promising, but once they started focusing on George, the show became unwatchable. The man was a moron, and completely unfunny. Jason Alexander is the antistar – he can make anything he appears in stink.
Star Trek (in all incarnations) after the first half season of VOYAGER.
I will say that I think both Buffy and Angel are as good today as ever. The three nerds were a bad idea, but other than that, this season was pretty damn good.
Using only shows I watched and liked (or wanted to like), as opposed to “one episode and gone” or never purposely watched:
Dark Angel: They should have kept the two apart.
The X Files: The truth was out there, but I didn’t care anymore.
Anything Emeril: After going Live!, he became a charicarture of the things that made him popular.
Friends: Thought it was a cute concept in season one. By season two, I was growing tired of it. How it lasted this long, I don’t know.
And now, brethren, please turn to Hymn 384 in your hymn books as we sing “Let Us Gather at the Pile-On.”
When did Cris Carter decide it would be a good idea if nobody knew what the heck was going on with X-Files? I can pinpoint the exact moment I stopped watching: The follow-up to the season-ending cliffhanger that had Mulder trapped in a railroad tanker car in the desert, surrounded by alien bodies. The tanker explodes, presumably with Mulder in it. The first episode of the next season, we get some weird metaphysical crap with Mulder talking to an Indian and (if memory serves) his dead father. No attempt whatsoever to reconcile the previous cliffhanger. At that point I said “I’m outta here.”
Strangely, if I’m understanding the rankings correctly, some idjit on CNN or MSNBC identified that series of episodes as the best X-Files story. I do not understand this at all.
I almost gave up on Buffy in season four. I am mystified by those who hated this past season. I thought it was more compelling than ever, though deeply disturbing. Riley was the showstopper, I don’t believe television has ever created a less compelling character. I only hope he never returns.
