# TV Shows that Got Stale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575 "2001-10-10T14:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/21 "2001-11-06T18:47:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinty \* > \*\*Who was it said “always leave the audience wanting more”? > > Another British one: Red Dwarf was great for around 6 series and then lost it in the same subtle way as other shows mentioned above (the same characters saying similar lines, but it just didn’t work). The last series was virtually unwatchable.\*\* That had more to do with half of the writing duo and show creators deciding to call it a day at the end of the previous series. The last series consequently sucked mightily. Never underestimate the advantages of having a co-writer to bounce ideas off, especially in comedy. > [@](#): > > \*\*And just to counteract these (slight hijack?): Blackadder ended at exactly the right moment, on one of the best bits of comedic pathos I’ve ever seen. My heart wishes there had been a fifth series, but my head knows that would have been a Bad Thing. \*\* If only they had quit there! They came back to do the all-star-one-off-special ‘Back & Forth’. One watch of that and you felt like someone had soiled a precious memory. It was bad in every way possible. Not funny, rushed plot, overbearing guest appearances, lazy characterization, tedious use of stereotypes, lame conclusion. Worse still, you very much got the idea that the actors knew how bad it was, were going through the actions and picking up the pay cheque. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/22 "2001-11-06T20:18:49Z")
**Ally McBeal** is horrible this year. Of course it was going stale earlier, but revived itself with Robert Downey Junior’s appearance. Now that he’s gone, it seems to be right back where it was before he came, and heading south. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/23 "2001-11-06T21:01:45Z")
My vote of shame definitely goes to the X-Files. I’d say that the show went south about the same time that…well…the show went south. Call it a home-town bias, but the show never seemed the same after shifting production from Vancouver to California. The crappy BC weather gave the show just the right gloomy atmosphere, I thought. Plus, after watching Chris Carter revise the central conspiracy plot one time too many, hearing Scully continue being a disbeliever after 5 years of evidence in Mulder’s favor, and having the _shapeshifting alien bounty hunter_ gimmick played one too many times, I pronounced the show dead, and moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/24 "2001-11-06T21:32:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by jinty \* > > \*\*Who was it said “always leave the audience wanting more”? > > > > Another British one: Red Dwarf was great for around 6 series and then lost it in the same subtle way as other shows mentioned above (the same characters saying similar lines, but it just didn’t work). The last series was virtually unwatchable.\*\* > > That had more to do with half of the writing duo and show creators deciding to call it a day at the end of the previous series. The last series consequently sucked mightily. Never underestimate the advantages of having a co-writer to bounce ideas off, especially in comedy.\*\* I also think that Series 7 isn’t nearly as funny as the others, but I still watch anyway. Hopfully Naylor will recapture some of the old magic with the movie. BTW: Wasn’t the gap between 6 and 7 caused by one of the imprisonment of one of the leads? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/25 "2001-11-06T21:32:52Z")
I agree about the Simpsons, but at least you have to hand it to them: they put in jokes about how stale they’ve become. I am surprised no one has listed “Mad About You”, it went from nearly top form to tripe over one summer break. (First rule of sitcoms: If Lucy did it, you don’t do it. Ergo, don’t have a baby.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575/26 "2001-11-06T22:30:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by javaman_ > How about the flared Levis they were putting Fonzie in sometimes, in what was supposed to be around 1960? Am I being hypercritical here? Or is it important to get small details right? No, I think you have the right idea. The details that helped to set the time seemed to be less and less important as the series progressed. If it had continued according to a direct correspondence in time–a show set in 1956 that started in 1974–then by the series ending in 1984, the show should have been set in 1966. Even allowing for a little leeway on the year, men’s hair in the 1960s did not reach the 1970s/80s coiffures that Ted McGinley and Scott Baio sported by the end of the series. It’s this kind of lack of detail–as well as your observation of flares on Fonzie–that helped to bring down Happy Days, IMHO. It would have been much better if they had the small details right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-stale/86575.md?page=1)