# Which shows should be watched, but abandoned before the final season? - possible spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521 "2011-12-08T16:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/41 "2011-12-09T13:08:06Z")
I must be one of the few people out there who thinks M_A_S\*H improved after Radar left, what with Klinger getting more air time, Potter coming onto the show, and Hot Lips becoming a more likable person. I’ll agree with Married with Children sucking during the seasons with Seven. Simpsons has sucked since the movie came out. I’d watch it up to that point and quit. Skip any Treehouse of Horror episode after #7. Stop watching Supernatural once Sam jumps into the pit. I do have to admit season 7 of Buffy was my favorite, as was season 5 of Angel. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/42 "2011-12-09T13:14:58Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > Simpsons has sucked since the movie came out. I’d watch it up to that point and quit. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say this before; most people believe The Simpsons was at its worst well before the movie came out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/43 "2011-12-09T14:00:51Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I find this attitude a little perplexing. What sucks about Lost is that it was all meaningless - all just random red herrings to string you along set to seem like one day you’d get the big reveal - and then ends with no real attempt to explain much. If you cut off the final episodes, aren’t you just left with the same unsatisfying unresolved feeling? Not really. I would rather have the feeling that the story that was told was left up to my own imagination (or the conjecturing of dozens of web communities) to explain, instead of what they did, which was, ultimately, as you say, render it all meaningless. At least then I would have a reason to re-watch those DVDs, mystery (read interest) still intact. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/44 "2011-12-09T18:28:37Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > I must be one of the few people out there who thinks M_A_S\*H improved after Radar left, what with Klinger getting more air time, Potter coming onto the show, and Hot Lips becoming a more likable person. Personally, I think M_A_S\*H went down the toilet after Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould left. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/45 "2011-12-09T19:58:02Z")
Others may have a different point, but for me _Friends_ was well and truly over when Chandler and Monica got married. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/46 "2011-12-09T21:17:43Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > _La Femme Nikita_. I don’t recall exactly when it went wrong but it was good for maybe two or three seasons. Agreed. It was never the greatest show on TV and it always had problems, but it was entertaining. Then it was cancelled. And the fans went nuts and it was brought back for a final final season and the writers decided to punish fans for asking for more episodes. The last season is awful. It destroys all of the characters and history and everything that made the show even remotely worthwhile. West Wing after season 4. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/47 "2011-12-09T21:34:37Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > This is just one man’s opinion and I know that a lot of people will disagree, but I still think \*\*The Wire \*\* is better if you pretend that they never made a fifth season. Here’s the spoilery reason why I disagree: Omar gets killed by the little boy, Kenard. It’s super important to show this: Omar is not a super hero, super heroes don’t exist, and Kenard is just a little boy and he will be a murderer forever, maybe a gangster forever too. The circle will never end. Sure they could have done this in any season but they didn’t. It happened in season 5 and it’s the main reason why season 5 must exist. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/48 "2011-12-09T21:48:33Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Here’s the spoilery reason why I disagree: > > Omar gets killed by the little boy, Kenard. It’s super important to show this: Omar is not a super hero, super heroes don’t exist, and Kenard is just a little boy and he will be a murderer forever, maybe a gangster forever too. The circle will never end. > > Sure they could have done this in any season but they didn’t. It happened in season 5 and it’s the main reason why season 5 must exist. As I’m thinking about it here, most of what goes on with “ancillary” characters in season 5 of The Wire is up to the standards of seasons 1 through 4. It’s just a shame we have to sit through all of the so-called “A-plot” of cops and newsies to get to it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/49 "2011-12-09T21:49:46Z")
I think **NYPD Blue** was one of the greatest shows on television, and i watched the whole thing. I do think, though, that it was never as good after Rick Schroeder left. I don’t think it was Schroeder himself, but the fact that the storylines, especially the personal ones involving the detectives, got less interesting and less believable. Andy Sipowicz with ADA Costas was believable, despite the fact that she was far more attractive than him; Andy Sipowicz with Connie McDowell was not. There were still some good episodes, but it wasn’t the riveting show that it had been for the first 7 or 8 seasons. I think seasons 2-6, with Jimmy Smits, were the best. ER also went downhill a bit after George Clooney’s departure, a bit more after Lucy’s murder, and then it really bit the dust after the death of Dr. Mark Green. The whole helicopter falling on Romano thing was ridiculous, and the some of the stuff in the later seasons (the dangerous escapades to tropical rainforests, etc.) looked incredibly stupid. > [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > This is just one man’s opinion and I know that a lot of people will disagree, but I still think \*\*The Wire \*\* is better if you pretend that they never made a fifth season. I do think it was inferior to the other 4 seasons, but i still think it was better than 95% of what is on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/50 "2011-12-09T21:59:00Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Is it worth watching the last, Phil Hartmanless season of **NewsRadio**? I kinda liked it, and think Jon Lovitz could have grown into the role. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/51 "2011-12-09T22:17:48Z")
**Gilmore Girls**. I’d stop watching sometime during Season Four if I were doing it all over again. About that time it became apparent that the writers were just having Lorelei do dumb self-destructive things so they could keep the show going. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521/52 "2011-12-09T22:37:16Z")
I recommend not watching the last season of _Alias_ and, as many others have mentioned, only watching the first season of _Heroes_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-shows-should-be-watched-but-abandoned-before-the-final-season-possible-spoilers/605521.md?page=2)