# TV shows that got worse as they became more popular **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305 "2025-04-21T13:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/121 "2025-06-24T18:18:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I may catch a lot of flak for this, but **Westworld**. The first season was very good. When the “twist” was revealed, that should have pretty much ended the series. It always felt to me as if they were trying to figure out where the hell the show was going after that point, and never did figure it out. You are totally correct, altho there were some parts of S2 which were good. S1 was great. > [@Gyrate](#): > > The second season started on a potentially promising note and then spiralled rapidly downward. Yep. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/122 "2025-06-24T18:37:27Z")
> [@Dingbang1](#): > > I suspect it was also because the stars didn’t want to be hauled out to the backlot on hot California days to shoot outside. Particularly when shooting winter scenes, with the requisite winter clothing. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > In later seasons, the plots started to mock him and turn him from a competent, sometimes brilliant, detective into some kind of oddball nutcase. There would be long scenes showing him checking and rechecking something, making fun of his OCD. I quit watching when they started playing up the OCD and only returned for the finale. Which, to me, seemed hastily cobbled together. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/123 "2025-06-24T18:57:24Z")
The finale made me furious ! I’m going to spoiler this just in case someone still hasn’t seen it. It turns out that the solution to Trudy’s murder was in the Christmas present that she had given Adrian right before she was killed and that **he never opened!** He spent the whole series trying to find her killer and the answer all along was in that wrapped box sitting on the shelf. 🤦🏽‍♂️ That was a cruel writer’s trick. Did they think viewers would admire the clever irony? I sure didn’t! 😠 ---
**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:** [June 24, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/124 "2025-06-24T19:20:17Z")
I had forgotten about that bit. Monk, both the show and the character, deserved much better. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/125 "2025-06-24T20:38:55Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Did they think viewers would admire the clever irony? The ghost of Trudy must have been furious! “I left you the solution! It’s right there! Goddammit!” Though Happy Birthday Mr Monk, Mr Monk and the Foreign Man, Mr Monk and Sharona were pretty good, and Mr Monk’s Favorite Show and Mr Monk and the Voodoo Curse were fun. The rest? meh. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/126 "2025-06-24T21:15:30Z")
One of the biggest problems with later Monk for me was the loss of Sharona and the addition of Natalie and her daughter, who were both awful. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/127 "2025-06-24T21:30:32Z")
Trudy wasn’t as pure as the driven snow like we were led to believe, was she? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/128 "2025-06-24T21:47:59Z")
I don’t remember that much, but your question is intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/129 "2025-06-24T23:18:57Z")
> [@Dingbang1](#): > > I suppose that was partly for cost savings, but I suspect it was also because the stars didn’t want to be hauled out to the backlot on hot California days to shoot outside. Trivia: The outdoor setting for MASH (I think it was Simi Valley??) later became a Paint Ball Battleground. Well, that’s what they told us. And, yes. I won. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/130 "2025-06-24T23:29:48Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Monk For me, if there’s a Monk episode on, I’ll watch. (On weekends, COZI TV is the Monk ‘n’ Columbo channel.) I agree about later Monk episodes, but now I’m wondering, which other shows are there, where the worst episodes are better than what’s currently on… Seinfeld (stayed strong… except the finale), Dick Van Dyke (if I can ignore the sexism and Ritchie, but those were always there). Oh, I’ve got a show to think about: Roseanne. I always loved her standup (“The day I do housework is the day Sears comes out with a riding vacuum cleaner.”), and the show started out as a great blue collar family. But near the end (HOW many dozens of seasons was that?) there were major changes/reboots, crazy ones!, and then the star got (rightfully) cancelled, and they soldiered on without her… ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/131 "2025-06-24T23:48:35Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The finale made me furious ! I’m going to spoiler this just in case someone still hasn’t seen it. I was a casual watcher but… As long as the item was established long before that episode (I don’t remember if it was)… I think that was a great resolution. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/132 "2025-06-25T00:05:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > but now I’m wondering, which other shows are there, where the worst episodes are better than what’s currently on There are a couple of recent threads which touch on this. > [@Old favorite TV show is holding up in rewatch](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-favorite-tv-show-is-holding-up-in-rewatch/1018997): > > If people haven’t guessed from references in “TV Binge-watch,” I have been rewatching one of my favorite shows from high school, and it is holding up really well. Cagney & Lacey Lacey’s work to maintain an egalitarian marriage, and Cagney’s attempts to balance being “One of the guys” without getting to the point of spouting any of their sexist rhetoric herself are surprisingly relevant. The main characters themselves are not dated, and the plots are not significantly so in that few of them hi… I see [you posted in the other one.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-television-shows/1017366) ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/133 "2025-06-25T01:40:09Z")
I dunno about Westworld. I think it got less popular as it went on, or at least that’s what the viewership numbers say. The ratings fell pretty significantly every season till the end when it was only retaining something like 20% of the first seasons viewers. That’s a pretty steep drop. I mean, I think nearly everyone agrees that Westworld is in the Mount Rushmore of tv shows that started out great and ended up terrible, but if we’re talking about shows getting worse as they become more popular, I’m not sure that applies to Westworld. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/134 "2025-06-25T03:37:17Z")
I preferred Natalie to Sharona. Natalie got Mr. Monk out of his shell more. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/135 "2025-06-25T03:54:19Z")
I don’t remember ever seeing “Square Pegs” but I certainly heard good things about it. By all accounts, the set was horribly infested with drugs, and that’s the real reason the show only lasted one season. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/136 "2025-06-25T10:43:18Z")
Square Pegs was great fun ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/137 "2025-06-25T10:46:51Z")
The Jefferesons is one of my favorite shows. However, at the end they got into a lot of fantasy sequences and outlandish situations. I prefer the earlier ones. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/138 "2025-06-25T14:45:10Z")
Fox Ranch, Malibu State Park ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/139 "2025-06-25T17:21:48Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Trivia: The outdoor setting for MASH (I think it was Simi Valley??) later became a Paint Ball Battleground. Nah, it was mostly Malibu canyon. I’ve hiked in the area, and you can recognize the location. > [@silenus](#): > > Fox Ranch, Malibu State Park Right. > [@Andy\_L](#): > > Square Pegs was great fun Very much so. I was surprised when a several years later Sarah Jessica Parker came out as a sexpot (in _LA Story_?). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305/140 "2025-06-25T19:01:09Z")
Good catch that I posted in the “TV Shows That Hold Up” thread. It was fun to see that I defended Monk there, too. > [@"Perfect" television shows](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect-television-shows/1017366/193): > > Monk. > > And to the poster who said “solving a mystery every week gets tedious”… > > a) No. > > b) That’s kind of the point of older detective shows. > > c) And I still get excited when Tony Shaloub says “Okay, here’s what happened…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-got-worse-as-they-became-more-popular/1017305.md?page=8)