# 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:** 5
**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 3, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/81 "2016-02-03T16:17:03Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well Samantha and Darren were married starting with the first episode, so according to you it was never any good. Married _with_ children, meaning the **Prof.** thought it was okay until Tabitha came along. ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/82 "2016-02-03T16:20:45Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The original _Doctor Who_. It went from great to bad at the exact moment Peter Davison left. **[VOICE OF SHELDON COOPER]:** “Original”? Really?!? \*\* “Original”?!? \*\* :dubious: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/83 "2016-02-03T16:21:29Z")
\*Saint Elsewhere \*was great until … let’s see, they threw in a serial killer, a couple of personality meltdowns, etc. ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/84 "2016-02-03T16:22:03Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Married _with_ children, meaning the **Prof.** thought it was okay until Tabitha came along. It was okay until Dick York left. After that, it sucked noogies. ☹ ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/85 "2016-02-03T16:24:27Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Not sure where it happened but the smug preachiness on MASH got dialed way up at some point and Alan Alda’s character especially, become almost insufferable. It happened when Alda became the show’s “Creative Consultant.” :mad: ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/86 "2016-02-03T16:29:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ll second this. Twin Peaks started decaying almost at once, but the pace accelerated as the show progressed, and by the end it was pretty awful. After the first season wrapped, the story was over. There was no need to continue. ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/87 "2016-02-03T16:32:58Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’m one of the people who hadn’t watched Happy Days for years, but tuned in to find out where Fonzie, who supposedly lived in Milwaukee, had learned to water-ski. Uhmmm … Lake Michigan? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/88 "2016-02-03T16:35:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Uhmmm … Lake Michigan? :dubious: 😕 Or more likely one of many inland lakes that Wisconsin has, since the waves will be much more manageable. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/89 "2016-02-03T16:35:33Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Last season of Star Trek TOS > Brain! Brain! Brain! What is brain? > > Roddenberry didn’t care anymore and I assume the budget was cut Remember how everyone compared Star Trek with the classic sci-fi movie _Forbidden Planet_? > [@](#): > > **Adams:** What is the Id? > **Morbius:** [frustrated] Id, Id, Id, Id, Id! [calming down] It’s a… It’s an obsolete term. I’m afraid once used to describe the elementary basis of the subconscious mind. > **Adams:** [to himself] Monsters from the Id… > **Morbius:** Huh? ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/90 "2016-02-03T16:36:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > \*Saint Elsewhere \*was great until … let’s see, they threw in a serial killer, a couple of personality meltdowns, etc. Don’t forget the serial rapist and the psychotic killer nurse! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/91 "2016-02-03T16:37:46Z")
After reading this thread, it seems to me that we have one of three things happening with TV shows that decline significantly. 1. Good old decay. The show just gradually gets worse- writing gets sloppy, key cast members leave or reduce their presence, and it just sort of coasts along in general, raking in cash, until it’s eventually euthanized. Most shows tend to follow this trajectory in reality- it’s just that some shows have it set in early, or were so good early on, that the slope of the decline is much more steep than with other shows. 2. Something or someone whacks the show in the head with a bat, leaving it seriously brain damaged, and it staggers/shambles off in some random direction with blood coming out of its nose, and saying almost-coherent nonsense, all the while having a big dent in the side of its head. I tend to think of shows like \*Andromeda \* as shining examples- went from a sort of “let’s rebuild civilization in this really dark future” to something incoherent in the second season that was very tenuously related to the first season. 3. Shows are born with what amount to congenital diseases or birth defects. BSG is probably my favorite example of this. I have a feeling that the show runners had a plan, and in broad strokes resembled what we ended up with- they probably did have the whole idea that the Cylons were going to interbreed with humans and be our progenitors, for example, and that the Galactica would ultimately prevail. But the whole concept was kind of dumb from the beginning, and as a result, they started having to make other stuff up on the fly. ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/92 "2016-02-03T16:40:23Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Or more likely one of many inland lakes that Wisconsin has, since the waves will be much more manageable. Hey, he was\*\* the Fonz! \*\* The Fonz and Lake Michigan would be like Moses and the Red Sea! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/93 "2016-02-03T16:46:45Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Not sure where it happened but the smug preachiness on MASH got dialed way up at some point and Alan Alda’s character especially, become almost insufferable. The show started out being ostensibly about the Korean War, but really about Vietnam. When Vietnam ended, it started searching for a purpose. When it was in the process, it was actually more interesting than when it “found” it, because it seemed to decide to be an anvil a week, while the searching phase contained some interesting character growth (particularly MAJ Houlihan), and the transition from farce to dramady, something shows usually can’t pull off, but the show actually managed. But yeah, I agree that Hawkeye because insufferable. Particularly since he was such an unrepentant womanizer, and yet was supposed to be all-virtuous. Women were really objectified on that show. > [@terentii](#): > > Uhmmm … Lake Michigan? :dubious: 😕 I live in Indiana. Lake Michigan is freezing most of the time, and isn’t water-skiing really expensive? My point was that the show had become the “Fonzie is magic” show, and strained credulity, especially for people who had seen it from the beginning (which technically I hadn’t because I was too young, but I watched afternoon reruns and caught up with it before the “Fonzie is magic” phase). ---
**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 3, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/94 "2016-02-03T16:52:34Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I live in Indiana. Lake Michigan is freezing most of the time, and isn’t water-skiing really expensive? And I once lived in Milwaukee. One of the few things I liked about the place was its beachfront. If you owned a boat, wouldn’t you take the Fonz water-skiing? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/95 "2016-02-03T16:54:42Z")
**Sons of Anarchy**. Despite the horrible people they were, the first several seasons had most folks rooting for them as little more than rascally underdogs. They were lighthearted moments and plenty of laughs to be found. It truly was must see TV in our household. And season four was the cherry on top, with me thinking Gemma would get an Emmy nod for her rape scene. Great stuff. But then came season five with them in Ireland and everything ground to a halt, never to recover. All the good parts slowly slipped away and then you were just watching a show about monsters on Harleys. By the time it ended, it was a drudgery to watch and I hated every single character on it. When Jax did his thing (there’s not enough roll-eyes in the world to convey my disgust at how that was handled), no one gave a shit, nor were they impressed. Like what was said about **Lost** , it left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. I now almost can’t look back and appreciate how good it was for so long without acknowledging just how much Sutter screwed it up. Gah. ---
**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 3, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/96 "2016-02-03T17:16:51Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > My point was that the show had become the “Fonzie is magic” show, and strained credulity, especially for people who had seen it from the beginning (which technically I hadn’t because I was too young, but I watched afternoon reruns and caught up with it before the “Fonzie is magic” phase). I’m old enough to have seen the original run after the second season. Caught a sixth season episode on MeTV last month and couldn’t believe how silly it was! ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/97 "2016-02-03T17:43:31Z")
I liked **Due South** when Fraser was basically a hyper-observent Sherlock Holmes type genius using skills learned from an outdoor life in Canada but always being underestimated because colleagues mistook his exaggerated politeness for stupidity. By the time the original Ray Vecchio was dropped the show was in trouble. By the end of the show Fraser could ‘listen’ to radio by chewing on a wire and the show was doing fart jokes. The shame. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/98 "2016-02-03T17:51:05Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > _Farscape_ lost its way after “the big blue bitch” left the show and didn’t find it again until the wrap-up TV movie. > > _Get Smart_ and _Bewitched_ were never as good once the principles were married with children. Each to their own. I enjoyed all the regular seasons of **Farscape** although it was a shame Zhaan had to drop out - allergic reaction to the blue make up. I recently watched the two TV movies and thought they stunk. “The Big Blue Bitch” seems a harsh appellation for Zhaan. Other than the early episode where she willingly joined in the forced amputation of limbs from a non-consenting Pilot, she was basically presented as a sympathetic “Earth Mother / New Age Hippy / Spiritual Healer” type. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/99 "2016-02-03T17:56:24Z")
_ **Lost** _ is the poster child for this, IMO. It started off intriguing, became confusing, progressed to annoying, and then fell apart. Every time I tried to watch an episode, it was “why are you bringing in more plotlines when you haven’t even begun to resolve the previous twenty?” I thought _M_A_S_H\* started off OK, got much better, and then collapsed in the final season. If they had done the finale when they still had the creative energy to do the POV episode or the one with the timer or even the dream one, it could have been a finale to rival _The Bob Newhart Show_. As it was, it was just recycled stale gags and overblown drama. My current is _The Good Wife_. I only watched a bit of this the last season, but all the freshness was gone. I am currently binge-watching _CSI:NY_, and I am worried that it might be taking a dash towards the shark. A sci-fi episode about time travel, a Halloween one about zombies, Mac’s mysterious phone calls at 3:33am - where are we going with this? I want intriguingly far-fetched murder mysteries, implausible technical gadgets that do ten-minute DNA analyses, and watching Anna Belknap and Carmine Giovinazzo getting it on. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 3, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/100 "2016-02-03T18:01:52Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > By the time the original Ray Vecchio was dropped the show was in trouble. By the end of the show Fraser could ‘listen’ to radio by chewing on a wire and the show was doing fart jokes. The shame. They wanted the original Ray back when they decided to do a third season, but he didn’t like the money they were offering. The scenario they came up with to explain his disappearance was just … plain … stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=6)