Series that have run their course

[josbd]

I am thinking of series which used to be great, but have been on for so long that they have become hackneyed. There are a number of these, but I am particularly thinking of Grey's Anatomy. This used to be a top class series, but some time ago lost it's gloss, becoming toe curlingly trite and dull to the extent that it would not be out of place on the Hallmark Channel. IMO it should have been put to bed about five series back. Why are some originally fine series allowed to become parodies of themselves?

@midsomermurderess oh God yes. I was SO excited when I heard they were doing the pilot. Even though the characters weren’t anything like the books, it was still watchable. I think I’ve still got two of the last series left unwatched as I found them so disappointing.

Quite surprised no one's said heroes yet, although that went downhill from season 2.

The Walking Dad was excellent...until Negan. That character made the show unwatchable. On and on it went, him and his dreary monologues. Totally killed it.

@IdblowJonSnow

Downton was always silly! Still loved it though. Really enjoyed the film. Did anyone see Dickensian on Netflix? I thought that was so cleverly done. Such a shame it ended after only one series. Most series seem to share the trend with season 1 setting the scene etc, seasons 2 and 3 the characters and storylines developing. These tend to be the best. Then the following series when it gets wrapped up is when it goes pear shaped for most of. Game of Thrones being a classic example.

I watched Dickensian on BBC when it first came out and was gutted it didn’t get another run.

Ditto The Cazalets.

Does anyone else watch "When calls the Heart". I want to know if it is worth watching the new season. Mounty Jack is dead now, I don't think there is a better love match than him 🤷‍♀️

@glumyGloomer Heroes was one of the sadest victims of the writers strike. That does not explain the terrible reboot though.

@SuddenArborealStop good point re writers strike, I always feel sorry for Peter's Irish girlfriend standed in an alternate virus ridden future by a discontinued plot. Season 3 was total bonkers though.

The Handmaid's Tale should have stopped at the point when Atwood's novel did. When the scriptwriters came up with their own storylines, it got a bit silly and was really pushing the whole concept of Gilead, which was intended as a metaphor, not a real-life country.

Also agree re Killing Eve. Series Two of Broadchurch was crap too. Same with Doctor Foster. Seems if a series is succesful, TV execs can't resist making another series or 3.

Oh, and also the 5th series of Poldark was crap! Another example of what happens when scriptwriters move beyond the source material, similar to The Handmaid's Tale.

Call The Midwife - either 'soap tragedy but all comes good in the end' or annoying. Too much teal, bloody angst faced doctor saves the day all the time. I didn't watch the last series.

Supernatural - used to love it but it became formulaic dross.

The Simpson's. Same old, same old.

Agree Dexter should have stopped after the Trinity Killer.

Season 4 of Line of Duty was so full of plot holes it was like a colander. It's like they'd told the advisers they didn't need them anymore. I was 'WFT?!' at most of it.

All soaps.

Stopped watching The Walking Dead when gurning, rocking panto baddie Negan turned up.

Modern Family went on for at least two series past its expiry date. The first few series are amazing and can be watched over and over again.
I was thrilled when season 8 came up on Netflix but hate it! All innuendo and very few of the puns and physical comedy. Plus it was the one thing we watched at night when ds12 stayed up but can't because everything's about sex. (If anyone has any recs for a good family comedy show- he likes Only Fools and Modern Family and The Middle, hated outnumbered)

The Simpsons for sure. It's on season 30 now and I gave up watching regularly about 20 seasons ago. Once they'd done all the classic sitcom storylines, they just started doing lots of wacky, zany stuff with the celeb du jour, and even episodes from a couple of years ago are completely dated now. The older ones from the 90s, I could watch over and over!

I feel like with British TV shows, they either fall into two camps. Either they run for three seasons with six episodes each and are killed off prematurely, or they run and run with too many tedious specials etc. I really like Red Dwarf, but would be happy to never see a new episode of that again. Doctor Who is also shockingly bad now, and it's not because she's a woman, the scripts are reptitive and dull.

My Family. The first couple of series were really good - they came at a time when British sitcoms had really lost their way, and it had a great cast. But of course they have to keep milking the cash cow, introducing really silly new characters from the extended family, lost Kris Marshall. Eleven series was at least 4 series too many.

Modern Family is definitely on the list. The first few seasons, were so funny, it’s one of my favourite shows. I didn’t even watch the last 2 seasons.

Prison Break should have ended after season 2. It was so good to start with then just got more and more ridiculous. Especially the season with Whistler and his bloody bird book.

I disagree with the poster who thought the Sopranos went on too long, the last series in particular was excellent and finished everything off well. Looking forward to the prequel The Many Saints of Newark. I loved the Borgias and one more series would have rounded it off nicely

I thought Parks and Rec was two seasons too long.
Same with third season of The Good Life - although the last ep was 💔💔💔💔

Lots of these I totally agree. Currently I am so disappointed with new series of Billions, I am up to ep4 and it is ridiculous.

Wow Jeannette was amazing there.

Er wrong thread.

Was coming on to say Greys
Watched it from start been going downhill for years but we now have around 32 episodes to get through - just don’t care enough to prioritise catching up
I’m hoping this is the last year tbh

Modern family and Big Bang theory went on far too long

@woodhill

I really liked that ghost story that was on BBC a couple of years ago which could have gone on, they found a car from now in the 1890s then in went into the 20s briefly. Can't remember name

I also liked Sea of souls and Happy Valley

Was it called the living and the dead? Strangely I was only thinking of this the other day and how I wish there had been another series, it was very good.

Things which were rooted in history like Downtown or Call the Midwife, don't work the nearer they get to the present day.
Quit while you're ahead.

Strictly....burnt out around Series 6.

@SinkGirl

Making a Murderer.

Whaaaat? S2 was amazing, I want to be Kathleen Zellner when I grow up.

Personally I didn’t like a lot of these shows to begin with, but Dexter is the ultimate shark jumper. S4 was so brilliant, but yikes. The reboot should be... interesting.

Arrested Development - S1 and 2 are perfect. I wish they’d stopped there.

Lost, obviously.

Then you have shows like Carnivale which was cancelled way too soon.

The only series I can think of which was the perfect length would be The Shield - ended when it should have done, and so brilliantly.

There's a reboot of Dexter??!???

@TiptopJ

Thank you

It was so good and they set it up to look like there would be another series