Have you ever had a good thing going but then suddenly realized you’re slowly running out of ideas? We’ve all been there. Heck, I’m there right now! But what’s worse, half of the media industry is in the rut. Think about it, how many times have you thought “they’re just milking the sequels”, or “this show should have ended when it was still watchable”? Sometimes “if you love it – let it go” is the right thing to do but there’s always this tiny, itty-bitty, almost microscopic issue of money.
However bad or good the film/TV show is, as long as it’s profitable for the studio and the higher-ups, they’ll keep making more sequels/episodes because people are weak and predictable. That’s how we got stuff like 12 seasons of Supernatural, which just kept going downhill after season 5, making up more and more ridiculous scenarios as the years went by. Or how about the Big Bang Theory? It went from “funny” to “dear lord, why am I watching this”.
So yeah, there have been plenty of shows what in my opinion overstayed their welcome, and here are just some of them.
1. Supernatural
Would you believe it if I told you that 5th season was supposed to be the last one? It’s true, Eric Kripke himself said that. But alas the show was just too popular at the time, and I truly understand it. I was part of the problem, but to think that the Winchester brothers will still be kicking angels and demons after 12 years is something truly “supernatural”.
2. CSI: Everything
I’d just put “procedural cop drama” here, but it would be a disservice to some great shows out there. So, it’s the year 2000, CSI, with its bull-patooty fake crime science comes along, makes the viewers think that dusting carpets for prints, and revealing the culprit’s identity from a reflection on some bald guy’s head is pretty easy! All you gotta do is enhance… Enhance! ENHANCE! 15 seasons of that malarkey. And of course, let’s not forget about all the spin-offs, which in total gave us 36 seasons of CSI: Whatever.
3. Heroes
Heroes started off with enough gusto to have everyone hooked right off the bat. But something went wrong in the following seasons. It’s like the creators had this one great idea but then in the middle of it they thought of something else that would be cool but it was too late to go back, so they changed a bunch of stuff, hoping that would work. In the end, just like my previous, the show went on for too long and wasn’t all that good after season one.
4. Family Guy
Sooner or later all cartoons with adult humor will either get canceled, have the last season, or go down the path of mediocrity for years to come. Seth MacFarlane’s “Family Guy” actually managed to check 2 boxes there: it got canceled and it’s still going (I think?). As long as there’s something or someone they can make fun of, the Griffins will keep doing it, no matter how rude or offensive they’re jokes are.
5. Two and a Half Men
Let’s get this out of the way: the only funny episodes in this sitcom were those that featured Charlie Sheen. And when they “killed” him in season 8 and replaced him with Ashton Kutcher, it was the saddest thing ever. Even with Sheen still on, the show was barely funny, but with Kutcher around, it was pure cringe. You could probably torture people with those last 4 seasons!
6. The Walking Dead
Remember how fascinating the first seasons of TWD felt? Things were fresh, the zombies were terrifying, the entire premise sucked you in… until you realized you’re watching a bunch of idiots doing stupidest things possible. I’ve stuck around for 3 seasons, ditching it on episode 7 or 8, simply because I could not care less about what happens to these characters. If you enjoy all the dumb little twists and one-dimensional writing – god bless you. I say it should’ve run for 3 seasons max.
7. The Simpsons
People often say “The Simpsons did it first!” about pretty much everything going on in the world, from predicting Superbowl winners to warning us about future US presidents. That’s cool and all, but in 30 years of coming up with funny stories you’re bound to scrape the bottom of the barrel a couple of times. Similarly to the Family Guy, the success of the Simpsons depends on clever writing but lately the episodes have been hit-or-miss, mostly miss, which is why it should’ve ended years ago.
8. The Big Bang Theory
When the Big Bang Theory, or TBBT for short, just started everyone was so excited about it, especially since the geeks and nerds finally got some mainstream representation on TV. The years went by, the writing got sloppy, the “young” actors got older… in short, the show started to suck. After 12 long years The Big Bang Theory has finally aired it finale, but not before giving us a spin-off called Young Sheldon. Don’t worry, it won’t last.
