Oops. Cheerfully withdrawn.
I watched “Jericho” on Netflix last year - it really did get quite good. I’d say it had a serious amount of potential that was never realized.
The first season (series) of Fawlty Towers may have “The Germans”, but the second season has “Waldorf Salad”, “Basil the Rat”, and my personal favourite “Communication Problems”.
I’m just the opposite. I liked it earlier before the oldest girl started dating and became a snotty little mama and those dull twins tried to out-cute Michelle.
Yeah I have a child who is obsessed with Full House. :o
Checking the Graph TV site others have mentioned shows an interesting view of The Shield. People loved the first three seasons and loved the last three seasons. And hated the fourth season.
All of the episodes in first three and last three seasons were rated between 7.6 and 9.5 with the exception of one 5.9 episode. All of the fourth season episodes were rated between 5.0 and 5.3 with the exception of one 3.5 episode.
It just goes to show how much everyone hates Glenn Close.
As someone noted upthread, the Simpsons has been in a second renaissance, basically since around the time of the switch to HD.
Oooh. I thought season one was quite good, actually. It held my attention. Not I’m even more impatient for Netflix to pick up season two!
As for the OP, I think people are missing the question. MOST shows (that get renewed) are better after the first season; it’s very common for the first season to be a bit shaky with characterization, tone, writing, etc, and for all of those things to improve by season two.
What the OP asked for is examples of a TV show improving late in its run, rather than taking the usual, seemingly inevitable downturn. For me the poster show for that is definitely Deep Space Nine. Also Angel.