# What is the worst TV show decay you've seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002 "2016-02-02T23:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/201 "2016-02-12T11:04:40Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Season 9 of Scrubs was intended(and kind of is) a spin-off. It’s called Scrubs Med School or something. They wouldn’t let the creator call it a spin-off, but he did get the subtitle in the opening anyway. > > It’s better than you might expect. Dave Franco is hilarious on it. I liked the whole cast. It was essentially the first big break for both Kerry Bishe (Halt & Catch Fire) and Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings), and also Nicky Whelon (Hall Pass) but she never really went anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/202 "2016-02-12T15:20:57Z")
I thought the first season of **Hannibal** was fantastic but it went down the shitter hard in the subsequent seasons. The trippy background music drowned out the dialogue (it was LOUD) and Bedelia’s monotone voice actually hurt my ears. We only finished watching it just to see how they’d wrap up the story. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/203 "2016-02-12T15:55:44Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > _ **Quincy** _: beautifully original spin on a police procedural for the first couple of seasons, then it progressed to a disease of the week mini-movie, and finally to Jack Klugman’s weekly sermon (see “Quincy Punk\*”). You could even call TV decay “Quincification.” > > Kinda sad, because they introduced Anita Gillette as his girlfriend/wife in the last season, and her talent was squandered. Makes me watch the last season, though. > \*Actually, “Next Stop, Nowhere,” or whatever the punk rock episode is called is **hilarious** , but in a \*Plan 9 \*way. _MacGyver_ did the same thing off and on late in the run (I think it started with the fourth season). You can’t blame Richard Dean Anderson for this, though, or Jack Klugman for _Quincy_: they were only doing what the writers wrote for them to do. I’m guessing that Richard Dean Anderson probably complained to Paramount Television and ABC, and said something to the effect of, “I thought I was on here to come up with creative solutions to the problems I was faced with every week from a rogues’ gallery of villains. Why am I doing all this Very Special Episode social stuff now?” (Again, that’s just a guess on my part.) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/204 "2016-02-12T16:04:18Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > You can very clearly and visibly see the decay in the [IMDB graph](http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt1480684), including the godawful “Sophia is dead” episode which was an outlier even in the abysmal final season. Thanks for making me aware of this fascinating website! I wonder how a thread devoted to such clever software would be received. I can’t even think of a good title for such a thread, but I suspect there are others who find such subject matter intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/205 "2016-02-12T16:41:07Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > I don’t think any other show comes close to The Andy Griffith Show after Don Knotts left. He was the heart and soul of that show. I think there may have been only one half-decent episode after he left. That show was dead on its feet for like 3 seasons after he left. I could never understand how they would continue to make such terrible, terrible episodes season after season. I thought it started to deteriorate even before that, when they traded cute, smart pharmacist Ellie for that clenched harpy Helen. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/206 "2016-02-12T16:52:33Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Supernatural_ was a good show in its prime but has lasted twice again too long. Plots are ridiculous, nobody ever stays dead, and everything associated with the show just seems tired. Are you watching the current season? I agree that the couple of seasons after Lucifer got put back in the cage weren’t that great but the current one is. It has The Darkness who is Gods older sister. God tricked her and locked her away to make the universe but now she if free and she is looking for a showdown with him. She has a special bond with Dean. God is nowhere to be found. And Lucifer is free from the cage again and has taken back reign of Hell from Crowley. > [@DrDeth](#): > > The missing word is “showrunners” or perhaps 'writers".:smack: The missing word is “you’re wrong”. > [@](#): > > Time travel always shits up any scenario. You’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/207 "2016-02-12T17:08:20Z")
Supernatural has lasted long enough to go through its decay and rise back out of the ashes to be a cool show again. The season with Dick Roman and the Leviathan is the worst season of the show. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/208 "2016-02-12T18:09:26Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I thought the first season of **Hannibal** was fantastic but it went down the shitter hard in the subsequent seasons. The trippy background music drowned out the dialogue (it was LOUD) and Bedelia’s monotone voice actually hurt my ears. We only finished watching it just to see how they’d wrap up the story. Hannibal really suffered from never being able to decide whether the tone was supposed to be serious, surreal, or silly. The cartoonish and ghastly horror elements made it hard to take the more serious and grounded moment seriously. By the time they started retelling Red Dragon, it made no sense because the Red Dragon himself wasn’t even in the top 5 horrifying killers Will Graham had already taken down. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/209 "2016-02-12T19:08:11Z")
I vote for Glee, because while other shows may have gone downhill just as fast, Glee has the unique failing of becoming the show it started out parodying. It would be like MASH suddenly becoming an unfunny but pro-war show with Hawkeye joining the special forces. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/210 "2016-02-12T20:08:15Z")
I stopped Downton Abbey when they had a second grandchild whose parent died in childbirth and it wasn’t even the mother. The third sibling was right to do the Jazz Age equivalent of exposing hers at birth and letting shepherds raise it. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/211 "2016-02-12T20:14:47Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Are you watching the current season? I agree that the couple of seasons after Lucifer got put back in the cage weren’t that great but the current one is. It has The Darkness who is Gods older sister. God tricked her and locked her away to make the universe but now she if free and she is looking for a showdown with him. She has a special bond with Dean. God is nowhere to be found. And Lucifer is free from the cage again and has taken back reign of Hell from Crowley. > > The missing word is “you’re wrong”. > > You’re wrong. Seriously, did you WATCH the show? Hiro, the time-traveler, was incredibly overpowered. He could fix ANYTHING. He was essentially superman, or a minor god. The only way to make it so every problem wasn’t fixed in 2 minutes by Hiro was to make everyone dumb as rocks. Then Peter could copy any power, so he could do the same thing. This is the problem with unlimited time-travel at the speed of thought. Still, season one, when they were still learning about their powers, was a lot of fun. I suggest anyone watching Heroes simply stop after season one. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/212 "2016-02-13T03:08:55Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Thanks for making me aware of this fascinating website! I wonder how a thread devoted to such clever software would be received. I can’t even think of a good title for such a thread, but I suspect there are others who find such subject matter intriguing. Indeed a fascinating website. I teach web development and this is going on my list of innovative sites that you need to know about. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/213 "2016-02-13T04:29:07Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I vote for Glee, because while other shows may have gone downhill just as fast, Glee has the unique failing of becoming the show it started out parodying. What show would that be? IMDb doesn’t list it as parodying anything. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/214 "2016-02-13T16:03:37Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Hated that stupid robot. Erin Gray was the only reason I watched! Nope, too much clothing. I think you meant [Pamela Hensley.](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pp53uOyLGuk/T8AINpb7eUI/AAAAAAAAC7Y/UqFR1SI8O10/s1600/Buck6.jpg) Love that photo because Tim O’Connor is checking out her crotch. Erin Gray [swam well](http://cdn.yourepeat.com/media/gif/001/361/811/96bde2506710c54e175fb00a9d8b8112.gif), though. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/215 "2016-02-13T16:46:06Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I stopped Downton Abbey when they had a second grandchild whose parent died in childbirth and it wasn’t even the mother. The third sibling was right to do the Jazz Age equivalent of exposing hers at birth and letting shepherds raise it. That was the point when I gave up, too. It was too painful, and lazy writing. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/216 "2016-02-14T00:29:25Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Oh, I see. But Sheldon would know that Doctor Who is the name of the show, not the character. > > The others would then start arguing about _The War Machines_, and Bessie’s vanity plates. _Actually_, Sheldon would know that Doctor Who was the name of the character in the very beginning but he was never referred to as such within the show. If you don’t believe me, check the credits at the end of the first episode: [https://youtu.be/t5igAaTxflw?t=365](https://youtu.be/t5igAaTxflw?t=365) It has already been mentioned, but I’d like to second/third/whatever How I Met Your Mother. That reached a weird sort of level that I was semi convinced it was a form of performance art, trying to see how bad they can make a show and still have people watch it. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/217 "2016-02-14T00:43:03Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > _Actually_, Sheldon would know that Doctor Who was the name of the character in the very beginning but he was never referred to as such within the show. If you don’t believe me, check the credits at the end of the first episode: [https://youtu.be/t5igAaTxflw?t=365](https://youtu.be/t5igAaTxflw?t=365) Sheldon would also know that at the production crew’s first brainstorming session, they decided they wanted a “Doctor” who traveled through space and time in a Police Box, and then started casting around for a name: “Let’s see … ‘Doctor,’ ‘Doctor’ … ‘Doctor’ who?” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/218 "2016-02-14T00:45:09Z")
The British show **WPC 56** went from bad to unwatchable in the 30 minutes I watched it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/219 "2016-02-15T06:45:19Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Are you watching the current season? I agree that the couple of seasons after Lucifer got put back in the cage weren’t that great but the current one is. It has The Darkness who is Gods older sister. God tricked her and locked her away to make the universe but now she if free and she is looking for a showdown with him. She has a special bond with Dean. God is nowhere to be found. And Lucifer is free from the cage again and has taken back reign of Hell from Crowley. Hmm. That does sound better. Is the Winchesters younger half-brother is free? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/220 "2016-02-15T06:47:03Z")
WALKING DEAD is beginning to get very repetitive which is a sign that decay is spreading from the walkers to the series. Every season seems to be “we found a place where finally we can be safe and have hope again/oops, overrun by evil people and zombies/lose a black male and blonde female regular/hit the road again/ maybe this place will be safe and we can start to rebuild again/oops!” I think we’re past the end of the beginning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=12)