# 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:** 9
**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 4, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/161 "2016-02-04T22:53:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The “Theme” for Masterpiece Theater was the _Fanfare and Rondeau_ by Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738). I have a Nonesuch recording of it. Even the original Masterpiece Theater never played the whole thing, but I agree that it’s a crime to abridge it the way they do now. From _Symphonies and Fanfares for the King’s Supper_. I had it on a record album by Quintessance. Never did get a digital recording of it. Apparently one of the most common inquiries WGBH gets is “What’s that music? I want to use it for my wedding.” ---
**Author:** ![pieceoftheuniverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@pieceoftheuniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pieceoftheuniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/162 "2016-02-04T23:03:24Z")
I’ll second _Gilmore Girls_. Seasons 1-4 are pretty good, but then they changed lead writers in Season 5. The new writers decided they needed to shake things up, so they put the one dynamic people watched the show for in peril - they engineered a stupid fight between the titular girls. That proceeded to last a season and a half. By the time the old writers got control back in season 7, they had a huge amount of work ahead of them to patch things up, get the storyline back more or less where they wanted it, and win back the fans. It almost (almost!) makes up for the two seasons before it. A very similar story happened with _West Wing_. When Aaron Sorkin left to go into (much-needed) rehab after the end of Season 4, the writers flailed quite a bit with the formula they were given. Sorkin did his best to make it work when he came back for Season 7, but a lot of the characters were radically different from how he left them, and two were put on a bus outright. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/163 "2016-02-04T23:12:16Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > The last season is somewhat OK. If you don’t have the first season to compare it too it could even honestly be called good. Season 2 is ok. Season 3… not so much. The last season is dreadful, the worst of the worst, that whole stupid circus… ugh… Season 2 (and really then entire rest of the show, seeing as it never recovered) was utterly gutted and massacred by the writers strike at the time. They had all these really complex plans (including a spinoff series) and it all just got shot to hell. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/164 "2016-02-06T05:46:07Z")
> [@pieceoftheuniverse](#): > > I’ll second _Gilmore Girls_. Seasons 1-4 are pretty good, but then they changed lead writers in Season 5. The new writers decided they needed to shake things up, so they put the one dynamic people watched the show for in peril - they engineered a stupid fight between the titular girls. That proceeded to last a season and a half. > > By the time the old writers got control back in season 7, they had a huge amount of work ahead of them to patch things up, get the storyline back more or less where they wanted it, and win back the fans. It almost (almost!) makes up for the two seasons before it. Then hopefully they’ll pull an X-Files with the revival. Which reminds me of Full House, which did deteriorate, but it never was all that great to begin with, really. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/165 "2016-02-06T11:22:38Z")
Ooh, I just remembered another one - **Cybill**. That sort of had te same problem as **Andromeda** , being sabotaged by the star’s ego; Shephard demanded all sorts of changes when Christine Baranski got accolades playing her best friend while she got nada. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/166 "2016-02-08T02:46:56Z")
> [@pieceoftheuniverse](#): > > I’ll second _Gilmore Girls_. Seasons 1-4 are pretty good, but then they changed lead writers in Season 5. The new writers decided they needed to shake things up, so they put the one dynamic people watched the show for in peril - they engineered a stupid fight between the titular girls. That proceeded to last a season and a half. > > By the time the old writers got control back in season 7, they had a huge amount of work ahead of them to patch things up, get the storyline back more or less where they wanted it, and win back the fans. It almost (almost!) makes up for the two seasons before it. I don’t believe this is accurate – seasons 1-6 were all handled by Amy Sherman and Daniel Palladino. The “Rory and Lorelei don’t talk” arc was all under their watch. I think they always struggled to make Rory’s college years interesting after her freshman year. Season 7 is the odd man out lousy season. It was a new showrunner, and the show took on a soap-ier tone and rushed pacing and didn’t quite gel with the earlier seasons. Amy Sherman-Palladino is going to be running the revival, so hopefully it captures the original vibe better. ---
**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 8, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/167 "2016-02-08T03:48:28Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > How about season 5 on Babylon 5? > There was a reason – JMS wasn’t sure of a 5th season so he jammed the ending into the 4th. Season 5 was pretty much filler (minus Sleeping in Light) > > Brian It’s almost the most over-stated show decay. The 5th season has a few stinkers, but it isn’t that bad. The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari is an excellent episode and it isn’t the only one. It’s a decline(for the reasons you stated), but hardly a gigantic one. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/168 "2016-02-09T10:43:04Z")
> [@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 definitely remember this, and the reruns are pretty lame. If you want to check it all out, you’ll see that Andy rarely smiled on any of the ones without Barney, as opposed to the ones with him. Andy went around with a stick up his ass for the remainder of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/169 "2016-02-09T18:50:28Z")
_House MD_ \*CSI \*(the original one) _Big Bang Theory_ …all for essentially the same reason. They lost track of what they were originally supposed to be and focused more on interpersonal relationships between the characters. CSI, especially, should never have been about who’s shtupping whom–it was supposed to be about the twisty, weird cases and the characters solving them. I never quit watching any of these, and I certainly don’t/didn’t hate any of them even when they started going downhill, but I don’t think any of them are nearly as good in their later seasons. My other vote is for _Mork and Mindy_. The first season was magic, but it was all downhill after that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/170 "2016-02-09T18:56:05Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > **Downton Abbey**. I really liked the first two seasons, but it went sharply downhill in the third season and I stopped watching after that. > > . Very true. The showrunners obvious hatred for Anna and Bates, plus his love for the evil Underbutler ruined the show. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/171 "2016-02-09T18:57:45Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Watched all of it. Better than seasons 2-the end. Still, really bad TV. Sad. Not\* really\* bad. Just sadly mediocre. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/172 "2016-02-09T18:58:59Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > **Dead Like Me**. The show was smart, inventive, and interesting as long as Bryan Fuller was on board. But it went downhill quickly after he left. It was always good, even the Movie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/173 "2016-02-09T19:04:19Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Erin Gray as a sexy fellow officer in skintight spandex,. ah… the skintight spandex. Which of all the sexy costumes they have shown for SCiFi woman, made more sense than any. ---
**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 9, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/174 "2016-02-09T19:54:43Z")
I agree with CSI: Las Vegas. As soon as Grissom left it went straight down the crapper. I’m finally forced to admit that The Simpsons has tanked. The episode where Homer & Marge go to the marriage counsellor and Homer dreams that they got divorced did it for me. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/175 "2016-02-09T20:08:32Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > I don’t believe this is accurate – seasons 1-6 were all handled by Amy Sherman and Daniel Palladino. The “Rory and Lorelei don’t talk” arc was all under their watch. I think they always struggled to make Rory’s college years interesting after her freshman year. > > Season 7 is the odd man out lousy season. It was a new showrunner, and the show took on a soap-ier tone and rushed pacing and didn’t quite gel with the earlier seasons. > > Amy Sherman-Palladino is going to be running the revival, so hopefully it captures the original vibe better. Yeah, what was posted above was not accurate. The Palladinos had actually lost touch with the show by the end of their time. Watch episodes they actually wrote in the final season before they left, they don’t make sense. Everyone acts like they did in season 1–meaning years of character growth and interaction were forgotten for those episodes. The show definitely showed its age by the end but it was not a case of creator leaving and it going to shit. ---
**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 9, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/176 "2016-02-09T20:21:48Z")
_ **Hell’s Kitchen.** _ Same old crap, year after year. I can’t believe it’s still on! ---
**Author:** ![pieceoftheuniverse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@pieceoftheuniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pieceoftheuniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/177 "2016-02-09T23:00:54Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Yeah, what was posted above was not accurate. The Palladinos had actually lost touch with the show by the end of their time. Watch episodes they actually wrote in the final season before they left, they don’t make sense. Everyone acts like they did in season 1–meaning years of character growth and interaction were forgotten for those episodes. > > The show definitely showed its age by the end but it was not a case of creator leaving and it going to shit. Yup, looks like I made a mistake. Palladino was with the show all the way from 2000 - 2006: [IMDB link](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0792371/?ref_=tt_ov_wr#producer) So it was just the writers sliding into mediocrity. I do like the seventh season for its return to what made the first few seasons as good as they were, but upon rewatching it does seem a little displaced. Another show I tried rewatching recently was MacGyver. Great concept of science (and a good right hook) beating the bad guys that got heavily weighed down in later seasons. I’m still kinda looking forward to seeing what the remake has in store, whether it’s a TV series or a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/178 "2016-02-10T01:14:38Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > I think I’m pretty forgiving for most TV shows and I’ll almost always stick with something I once loved until the bitter end. > > Shows that I fully gave up on (as in, deleted from “Series Record” on the trusty ol’ DVR): > _You’re The Worst_ Now that’s an interesting one. I think that is a show that has consistently gotten better and better to date. I’m worried they won’t be able to maintain it, but so far it has been some brilliant tight-rope walking. Each to their own of course, but I really think more people should be watching if only so it doesn’t get cancelled on me before its time :D. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/179 "2016-02-11T13:49:08Z")
The Avengers: the Linda Thorson era. She did have a very touching remembrance of Patrick Macnee on her website after his death. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002/180 "2016-02-11T16:05:55Z")
The League and Portlandia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-tv-show-decay-youve-seen/745002.md?page=10)