# TV series where people start to lose interests, only to fall in love with it again.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 26, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365 "2009-04-26T00:31:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/1 "2009-04-26T00:31:55Z")
I’m generally looking for rejuvenated interests in TV series that had waned in interest and/or quality, and/or viewer ship to the masses as a whole, but personal stories are welcome too.
I think **South Park** is the only one I can think of now. There was a time where a lot of people I knew lost interest. With episodes like “Fun With Weapons”, and “Imagination Land”, the show crept out of a hole. How big the hole was, I’m not sure.
My interest in \*\*The Office \*\*was taking a little dip, until about four weaks ago, with a story arc of Michael quiting and starting his own paper company.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/2 "2009-04-26T00:46:12Z")
The fourth season of \*\*Angel \*\*was not only its worst season, it was the worst in the extended universe that includes **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**. However, its very next season was its best, and better than most of Buffy’s seasons as well.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/3 "2009-04-26T01:16:25Z")
The OC’s third season was its worst, but the fourth was the second best. Unfortunately, by the time I and a lot of other viewers feel back in love with it, it was being cancelled.
The fourth season of BTVS has a couple of excellent episodes (“Pangs”, “Something Blue” and because most other people liked it a lot more than I did, I’ll include “Hush” too), and virtually every other sucked until the next season. Although I hear that there actually some fans of the Riley/Adam subplot, I never found any in the wild.
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### Author:  [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/4 "2009-04-26T04:57:41Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> The OC’s third season was its worst, but the fourth was the second best. Unfortunately, by the time I and a lot of other viewers feel back in love with it, it was being cancelled.
>
> The fourth season of BTVS has a couple of excellent episodes (“Pangs”, “Something Blue” and because most other people liked it a lot more than I did, I’ll include “Hush” too), and virtually every other sucked until the next season. Although I hear that there actually some fans of the Riley/Adam subplot, I never found any in the wild.
I thought Adam was lame but the idea of governmental interest in the demon world just seemed reasonable-you’ve got giant snakes eating their way through graduation ceremonies, mounting a defence force to deal with that kind of thing just seemed like the sensible thing to do. And Riley was a perfectly nice chap, and Buffy needed to have a normal human romantic relationship- hell, that’s just part of growing up. He also nicely illustrated that the slayer would always have a very hard time having romantic relationships with regular guys- although I though Robin could have been great for her.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/5 "2009-04-26T05:07:57Z")
> [@Aesiron](#):
>
> The fourth season of \*\*Angel \*\*was not only its worst season, it was the worst in the extended universe that includes **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**.
See, I know that’s the accepted wisdom, but I just don’t see it. Angel S4 may have started out slow, but it built up to a terrific dramatic arc and a stunning conclusion. I’d say it’s my second-favorite Angel season (after S3), and better than any season of Buffy past the third.
Angel S5, incidentally, only turned great after the midway point. Remember those “standalone” episodes they had at the beginning? Blechh.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/6 "2009-04-26T16:42:11Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> See, I know that’s the accepted wisdom, but I just don’t see it. Angel S4 may have started out slow, but it built up to a terrific dramatic arc and a stunning conclusion.
I think season 4 was my favorite, actually. I’d stopped watching partway through season 1, and picked it back up for I forget why at the beginning of season 4. Only then did I discover that the show got more interesting just after I stopped watching.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/7 "2009-04-26T16:46:14Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> I think season 4 was my favorite, actually. I’d stopped watching partway through season 1, and picked it back up for I forget why at the beginning of season 4. Only then did I discover that the show got more interesting just after I stopped watching.
I agree, mostly.
I’d say Angel worked like this:
Season One: Meh…it’s OK.
Season Two: OK, it’s getting a bit better.
Season Three: I’m losing interest.
Season Four: Best season of Buffy or Angel combined.
Season Five: Excellent, excellent, season as well.
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### Author:  [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/8 "2009-04-26T17:07:45Z")
Lost started out great but began to meander. Thi season has been a lot better. Setting a deadline for finishing the show made a difference.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/9 "2009-04-26T17:28:05Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> See, I know that’s the accepted wisdom, but I just don’t see it. Angel S4 may have started out slow, but it built up to a terrific dramatic arc and a stunning conclusion. I’d say it’s my second-favorite Angel season (after S3), and better than any season of Buffy past the third.
>
> Angel S5, incidentally, only turned great after the midway point. Remember those “standalone” episodes they had at the beginning? Blechh.
It’s accepted that AS4 is worse than BS6 & 7 within the wider community? That’s not been my experience.
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/10 "2009-04-26T18:40:02Z")
ER sort of worked like this, didn’t it? I know that I didn’t pay attention to the show for a few years before it started wrapping up its run. I know they did all those “There are only SIX EPISODES LEFT!” commercials.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/11 "2009-04-26T19:06:39Z")
> [@Aesiron](#):
>
> It’s accepted that AS4 is worse than BS6 & 7 within the wider community? That’s not been my experience.
Well no, maybe not that. But it’s still thought of as a bad season, for reasons I cannot quite grasp.
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/12 "2009-04-26T19:11:40Z")
Apparently _24_ has been really good this year, after at least one truly awful season.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/13 "2009-04-26T20:35:10Z")
The West Wing went into a slump when Aaron Sorkin left after the fourth season. There were two mediocre sasons, and it was announced that season 7 would be the last one. Season 7 was a great year and up to the caliber of the first four.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/14 "2009-04-26T21:23:33Z")
I thought the last season (4) of Enterprise was MUCH better than the previous two.
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/15 "2009-04-26T22:36:38Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#):
>
> Apparently _24_ has been really good this year, after at least one truly awful season.
I don’t know about that. It’s been as silly as it usually is, combined with the fact that too many of the Best Characters of Seasons Lost only make cameos, or just show up to die.
-Joe
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/16 "2009-04-26T23:24:24Z")
The show **Ed** comes to mind.
Season One: Fantastic.
Season Two: Eh? Are the characters _supposed_ to be insane?
Season Three: Fantastic.
Season Four: The show’s gas tank is obviously on E.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/17 "2009-04-26T23:52:16Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#):
>
> The West Wing went into a slump when Aaron Sorkin left after the fourth season. There were two mediocre sasons, and it was announced that season 7 would be the last one. Season 7 was a great year and up to the caliber of the first four.
This.
I had almost given up on it. But season 7 was so good I hoped it would continue.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/18 "2009-04-27T01:48:59Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Well no, maybe not that. But it’s still thought of as a bad season, for reasons I cannot quite grasp.
I honestly can’t think of a single episode I really liked between Connor’s abduction in Season 3 and the beginning of Season 5 except maybe the Season 4 opener, and I liked most of the standalones in Season 5. It had the energy of early Buffy to me.
For what it’s worth, I’m one of dozen people that liked the last two seasons of Buffy, one of maybe three people that genuinely liked Riley and thought he was the best guy for Buffy, and I didn’t really mind Dawn on the whole so my tastes aren’t really lockstep with the greater community.
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### Author:  [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-where-people-start-to-lose-interests-only-to-fall-in-love-with-it-again/494365/19 "2009-04-27T04:25:53Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#):
>
> The West Wing went into a slump when Aaron Sorkin left after the fourth season. There were two mediocre sasons, and it was announced that season 7 would be the last one. Season 7 was a great year and up to the caliber of the first four.
Of course, sadly, one of the things that made that last season so captivating was the sad event of the real life loss of John Spencer, and wanting to see how the show handled that. But it was a very well done season and wrapped up most of the outstanding relationship questions (Josh & Donna, CJ & Danny, Charlie & Zoe) nicely, to boot.