I’ll see your Oliver and raise you Seven Bundy.
Two from Chuck:
First - the Intersect 2.0, which was introduced at the very end of season 2.
I know many *Chuck *fans will disagree, but I think it was a big mistake to have the Intersect give Chuck instant kung fu (and other physical) skills. It really kind of undermined the whole concept of the show. Initially, Chuck was just a tech geek who couldn’t fight but was smart and a creative problem-solver. The Intersect 1.0 only gave him flashes of information, and the ability to make connections and predictions based on such information. Chuck used his head to find solutions, while Sarah and Casey were the muscle.
But with the Intersect 2.0, Chuck basically became superpowered. He started beating the bad guys with his fists and feet instead of his smarts. Sarah’s badass physical skills were now superfluous, and Casey was very much marginalized. The fun team dynamic was gone because Chuck was pretty much the whole team now.
It remained a fun show and I enjoyed it to the end, but I think it would have been much better if they hadn’t turned Chuck into Neo.
Second - Sarah’s memory loss at the end of the series
It was just such a tonally wrong way to end the series. The show was always–and especially in later seasons–just goofy, silly, fun. It should have ended with Chuck and Sarah dashing off together on a new adventure. Instead, we end on a down note. With reason for optimism, granted, but still not a fun ending.
Night Court had a lot of cast changes; they went through one court clerk, a couple defense attorneys, and two female bailiffs (both actresses died) before settling in to the lineup that’s most remembered.
Way less Speed after The Odd Couple’s first season. And especially no more fucking Pidgeon sisters after season one also! I made the Herculean adjustment when Felix’s g/f went from Dr. Nancy Cunningham to Miriam (the latter, btw, totally ruling, later, in “Get a Life”, as Chris’s smiley, cynical mom). (As a kid - one of my first crushes was on Felix’s ex - Gloria…she made my eyes pop out, if I remember correctly.)
The inestimable Albert Brooks appeared in two episodes in O.C.'s first season and it would have been nice to see his character fleshed out a bit more, as a short-sighted, slow-on-the-uptake hipster douchebag, who had all the hip phrases at the ready.
What about the frogurt?
Dawn-The kid sister from nowhere.
It’s also cursed, but you get your choice of toppings. Can I go now?
Star Trek: Voyager. The writers should have figured out all the ramifications of actually being lost in a different quadrant of the galaxy. That was supposed to be the show’s premise, wasn’t it?
Alas, so very, very true.
My vote: Man from U.N.C.L.E. got silly/campy. No! It was always best when serious or semi-serious. We already had Get Smart; we didn’t need another spy comedy.
(“This is KAOS! We do not spfpsptfpstf here!”)
In real life she’s Leif Garrett’s kid sister. Honestly.
Lost - the actress playing Ana Lucia kept getting fucked up and drove in Hawaii, the show had to let her go. The writers decided someone else had to die as well when her character was killed off to give the moment ‘impact’, they chose Hurley’s love interest, sweet Libby. Fuck them. That show was adrift in season 3 and then on, but worse it lacked charming redeeming characters. Lost wasn’t a sitcom, but god damn, did whinny bitching from selfish contemptible survivors get old.
Remember in the first season when everyone just said ‘fuck it, let’s go golfing’? How often did moments of levity like that happen in latter seasons?
Dr. Nancy was Oscar’s g/f. But Miriam rules. Janis Hansen=yum.
Oscar: Your name’s “Homer”?
Speed: What, do you think my mother named me “Speed”?
I would never have guessed when Topher Grace left “That '70s Show,” that it would founder so badly, and so rapidly. The cast (including Josh “Randy” Meyers) tried really hard, but Ka-BOOM! If you look in the dictionary under “linchpin,” you’ll see a pic of Eric Forman.
Miriam, in case you didn’t know, was the great character actress Elinor Donahue of “Father Knows Best” and “Andy Griffith” fame.
For me, it was Fontana and detective beauty queen.
Fortunately, they, too, left the show.
Dexter’s sister finding out about his hobby. It was supposed to be this hugely dramatic moment, and I suppose it was, but the problem is her actions and behavior after that got harder and harder to accept as realistic, and it seemed kind of hokey after that.
I also vote for having a baby or adding time travel. When those are introduced, the show’s essentially over.
Without the overriding mystery of Laura Palmer driving the show, the stories became silly and mostly uninteresting. Ben Horne’s Civil War reenactment? Deputy Andy and Lucy dealing with a possibly evil child? James Hurley’s affair with a femme fatale not even in Twin Peaks? All just awful and those are just three examples. The Windom Earle story was good but needed to be introduced and focused on MUCH sooner than it was.
Personally I think it would have been interesting to reveal Leland/BOB as the killer to the audience but leave the mystery open on the show. Maybe he sets Ben Horne up to take the fall for all the murders and disappears. That way the mystery is ‘solved’ but the audience is still anticipating BOB striking again and hoping Cooper can figure things out and capture BOB before he does. I just think completely wrapping up the Laura Palmer mystery left the show floundering.
But hindsight is 20/20 and who knows what network and other pressures were on the show. I’m looking forward to the new series to see what Lynch and Frost come up with.
Nancy was Oscar’s girlfriend. She was originally called in to treat Felix during one of his bouts of hypochondria, and then Oscar tried to trigger Felix’s allergies by putting mayonnaise on a tuna sandwich so he would have an excuse to call her back.
Most of Sleepy Hollow has been mired by bad decisions.
The introduction of Priya in Big Bang Theory. All of the characters are annoying, but in a very funny, comedic way, but Priya had a toxicity that made every episode with her unwatchable.