No surprises in my list.
Heroes after season two (really, did ANYONE care about the Wonder Twins?).
24 in the middle of season two when they made the daughter Penelope Pitstop. Jesus, a mountain lion? Really?
ER when it became The Dead Babies Hour. Maybe it was just a phase, but it went on too long for me.
Desperate Housewives after a couple of episodes. Terri Hatcher bugs me.
Chuck and Scrubs. The Chuck/Sarah thing just go too annoying for me on the former, and the latter is an entirely different show, but I watched it hoping it would still be good, but it wasn’t.
First, great to see another IPS fan in here - loving Allison Janney and Mary going head to head.
Second, to answer the OP, it’s really really rare that I’d give up on a show. Generally, when I’m signing on, I’m in there for life so to speak. I watch a show because I like the premise, the actors, or all of the above. Generally that’s something that I want to stick with.
The Simpsons - had 8 great seasons, and then Matt Groening left to work on Futurama and the show tanked, and never recovered. I actually stuck with it until season 12, when I finally decided enough is enough. I occasionally check in on it, and no, it hasn’t recovered yet.
Heroes - stayed with it until halfway through the third season. I gave it more of a chance than most people (although I was so tempted to quit when they kept having that stupid crying central-American woman), but it just got more and more boring to watch.
House MD - I stopped watching once I realized that every episode was exactly the same
Original Law & Order - I watched this show for years, but once Jack became the new head lawyer and Brenda’s brother and Antwon became the new cops, it became dull very fast. I still watch SVU, but it’s mostly for hot-female-lawyer-love.
Grey’s Anatomy - yeah, I actually watched a season of it. I never liked it, but EVERY SINGLE WOMAN I KNEW was watching the show, so I tried to keep up with them for a while.
Criminal Minds - stopped watching when Gideon left. Fat Tony as a criminal profiler just didn’t work for me. I’m still being compared to Dr Reid on a regular basis.
CSI - I stopped watching when it stopped being about real science (which was right around when the show became #1 somehow)
Lost - I actually gave up on after that 7 episode mini-season where absolutely NOTHING happened. I finally came back after I kept hearing that the show finally got its shit back together, but as a policy I only watch a season at a time, so I haven’t seen any of the current season yet.
Amazing Race - used to be one of my favorite shows. But when they stopped having the teams solve puzzles and were just told where to go next, and when they started rigging it where no matter what, EVERYONE would be stuck at the airport in the end, it lost any remaining appeal.
The Apprentice - once the show became an hour long commercial of the week, I was done.
Family Guy - I still check in on this one now and then, but it was never the same after cancellation. Whatever happened to Stewie being a world-conquering villain?
SNL - I come and go with this show a lot. After Tina left the show, and it became the Amy & Kristen show (two actresses who are ALMOST, ALMOST as annoying as Molly Shannon) I was mostly gone. But goddamn, Tina dragged me back last night. Can’t she just host every week?
Prison Break - this excellent show only had 2 seasons, and everything got wrapped up perfectly. As far as I’m concerned, the last 5 minutes of the season finale, and any additional seasons or movies NEVER HAPPENED.
24 - after that horrific 6th season, where all they did was recycle themes from seasons 1-5, I was sick of it. The year long hiatus didn’t help either.
I’ve been rewatching Malcolm in the Middle over the last couple of days and now I remember why I stopped watching it - after having 4 HILARIOUS AND CLASSIC seasons, Malcolm becomes a bigger dick than Reese and only acts smart when it’s convenient to the plot. Plus, the baby shark jump.
The Office (US).
Family Guy (do not get the appeal of this Simpsons rip off at all).
Hey, me too! Actually, it’s been longer than that. I think I stopped watching regularly after season seven. I’ve seen almost all the Treehouse of Terror episodes, though. I abandoned the orginial Melrose Place and 90210 around the same time.
Of things still on the air, I used to watch but got bored of:
CSI: Miami
Sanctuary
2 and a Half Men
Then there’s shows I have no idea why I stopped watching them:
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Without a Trace
Malcolm in the Middle
House – 3 reasons.
It bugged the crap out of me that House was constantly being humbled by a new patient who would insightfully suss out what a miserable bastard he was and why, and the episode would close on his face looking stricken and chagrined…and the next episode would open with him being as miserable a bastard as ever.
In general, it bugs the crap out of me when patients- or suspects-of-the-week are oh-so-insightful about the main doctors or policemen or FBI agents, saying things that no one in their positions as patients or suspects would ever say, so that we the audience can gain some insight into the personalities of the main doctors or policemen. Lazy writing.
Completely serious: It gave me hypochondria.
Simpsons, for all the reasons people mentioned (they truly need to put it out to pasture, or at least finally let the kids age).
South Park, also been on long past its prime, got tired of all the strawmen and political soapboxing. Much better when it dispenses with all that and just focuses on the characters.
24 just jerked me around one too many times. For the last several seasons I’d watch the first few eps., but once something so very ridiculously contrived happened I’d swear it off for a month, come back again like the sucker that I am, getting pissed off again, and write off the season for good. Haven’t watched a single minute this year tho. Became all too clear that the format of the show just naturally leads to contrived situations and porks dramatic pace all to hell.
Angel after the puppet episode (again, willing suspension of disbelief blown to tiny bits), only came back for the finale. Probably good thing tho-Fred’s souldeath would have seriously turned me off in any event.
Stargate just spread itself too thin-there’s only so many compelling stories you can do in that universe.
“Desperate Housewives” was a lot like “Soap” in the 1970s. The first season was a lot of fun. But there is about a one year limit to what you can do with a farce comedy. In both I gave up early in the third season. Two months ago I decided to try to watch “DW” on DVDs and finish the third season. Got about four episodes and said no.
I watched “All my Children” for about 15 years but gave it up a decade ago because I decided I had to do something for the new century. I occasioanally catch bits on “soap Opera Network” to see what Susan Lucci looks like nowadays and see what toddlers a decade ago are now in their 20s.
I loved the first five episodes of “Modern Family” but nowadays I wait for DVDs and watch them at once.
Consider joining the 24 Club. It helps with that a lot.
It seems I am the first in the thread to have given up on Dexter. I loved the first season. The second was nearly as good, it had weaknesses but also really, really high points. It also tied up all loose ends, so 1 and 2 together would have made a perfect mini-series. Season 3 was awful and I pretend it doesn’t exist.
I have also given up on
Heroes (lasted one season and three or four episodes into the second)
the Simpsons (like many others, it used to be a must-watch, but I simply lost interest in it post-Futurama)
House (have gone on for too long, though the season opener at the psychiatric institution was interesting)
the Office (I wish they would have wrapped this show up in season 4 or 5)
I’ve given up on talk shows. I watch Conan O’Brien and Letterman but I haven’t done so much for years.
I still watch the Simpsons, partly because it’s a show that my kids will sometimes watch with me and partly just to keep up with a show I’ve watched since the beginning and still sometimes get a laugh. Unlike a lot of people there haven’t been any truly awful episodes for me, the kind where I’ll just stop watching in the middle of an episode.
I did give up on a lot of other animated shows-- American Dad, South Park, Futurama, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, Drawn Together. By “give up” I mean I don’t seek them out by recording, buying, or watching online like I used to. I’ll watch if one’s on during my lunch break, though.
I enjoyed the first season of the Sopranos but partway through the second I got bored. To watch I’d have to borrow it from the library or a friend or rent it from a shop or whatever. Too much hassle for what’s to me just another show. (No Hulu in Australia, if Hulu even has Sopranos.)
Thought about giving up on Big Bang Theory but the last episode I saw made me laugh-- probably because the focus was Sheldon and people dealing with Sheldon. So I’ll probably watch it again next week, and probably be disappointed again.
Another one for Heroes. I stuck it out through Season 2 but when a certain bedridden character appeared I actually yelled at the television “Doesn’t anyone die on this show?!?” After that it was just a matter of time.
I also quit watching Gray’s Anatomy when I realized that I hated everyone on the show. Sadly, it took me far too long to reach this point.