Interesting. I think the consensus, which I agree with, is that it was excellent throughout the entire run. Apparently the first season is the lowest rated on RT and metacritic.
Agree on 24.
I also like S3 & 5. 4 is the only week one, IMHO.
Oh gawd yes.
I only liked season 2. S1 was too impossible.
Well, but Robin Williams Robin-Williamsing was the only reason to watch the show.
I liked the show as a kid, so I went back and watched a few episodes (from season 1) as an adult, and I found that I enjoyed Robin Williams’s shtick, but any time Williams wasn’t on screen, it was a mediocre, conventional, forgettable sitcom.
Yes, it was. It didn’t have to be, though. Compare it to 3rd Rock from the Sun, which is essentially the same premise, but 3rd Rock had tighter scripts, better directors, and a great ensemble cast. No one in production thought it was a good idea to put all their eggs in Robin Williams’ basket.
Williams isn’t everybody’s taste-- he’s not mine-- and no one else on the show could ever get a moment in the sun.
I just watched an episode of mork and Mindy to see how it holds up and…not well. I think I smiled at one joke, no actual laughs.
Still, as dated as the humour was, I could see how talented robin was, and indeed when he’s not on screen I was just waiting for him to come back.
When I first saw the Mork episode of Happy Days, with no warning of what was going to happen, I was so impressed that I said “ya gotta give this guy his own show!” Unfortunately, they listened.
I didn’t understand coke and it’s usage back then. I lived on a farm. I thought he was just naturally funny.
The first season was definitely the best one. And it told a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end.
Bones
I’m still watching, but season 1 was fantastic.
Season 2 they invent a romance between two characters on the team. There’s zero chemistry between the two actors.
They turn a very likeable character into a serial killer in season 3. WTH? That’s a betrayal of everything this criminal forensics team represents. Thankfully, he’s gone.
I did like the season 2 story about Bones’ evil father.
Just started season 4. It’ll be interesting what the writers throw at us next.
It’s been a long time, so my memory might not be completely accurate, but I think the sci-fi show Sliders would fit the bill. It was about a young amateur scientist who discovers a way to go to alternate universes. Something goes wrong, and he and a motley assortment of acquaintances are accidentally sucked into the dimensional portal thingy and have to randomly go to different universes at certain times or get trapped permanently in their current universe. Each episode was an adventure in a different alternate universe.
It was far from hard sci-fi, but at first, it was a fun show, and the alternate universes were mostly interesting and believable. For example, in a season one ep they land in a universe where the British won the Revolutionary War, and America was part of the still-existing British Empire. One of the characters finds a history book and reads that Washington had been hanged as a traitor to Great Britain.
But after season one the plot lines got increasingly ridiculous and unbelievable, probably in an effort to gin up ratings. For example, an alternate universe in which magic existed. That’s probably a mild example of how stupid the show became.
Most certainly, with a lot of character derailment and Wade and the (real, then the fake) Professor Arturo being put on a bus or killed off, with new characters brought in which didn’t mesh well with the remaining ones, along with the issues you raised. The entrance of the Kromaggs represents the approximate point where it jumped the shark. Ample helpings of Executive Meddling, IOW.
I remember enjoying season 1 of Sliders. Then it got confusing and I lost interest.
Having recently rewatched both, I think the lesser-known The Neighbors was even better-written than 3RftS.
I was intrigued by Snowpiercer when it started, but then it turned into a never-ending series of conflicts between the characters in the front and the back of the train. Season 2 started with more of the same, so I stopped watching. As implausible the concept is, I thought they’d have a decent explanation of how the hell they kept that train from getting derailed by a blizzard. At least the movie had an ending.
I’m afraid Silo will turn out the same, but I find it more believable somehow.
I thought about mentioning Snowpiercer, but (a) I wouldn’t call the first season “great” and (b) I didn’t think the second season was that bad. (The third season kind of sucked and I haven’t watched the fourth season.)