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Non-Road Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: roadman65 on February 05, 2019, 10:22:26 PM

Title: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 05, 2019, 10:22:26 PM
I was going through some old Dallas stuff on the internet and started watching old 3rd season episodes particularly A House Divided (the season finale where JR pulled that one big swindle causing all of Dallas to hate him and one to actually shoot him created the biggest whodunit ever for a soap opera) as it had Jim Davis on it playing the Ewing Matriarch along with other great story lines and character connections.  Dallas was at its prime and had the best story lines the first four seasons.

Many say it was Patrick Duffy leaving in the 1985 season that killed the show as the ratings never returned even when Duffy appeared that one season finale in Pam's shower to stay on until the saga ended in 2012.  I say it went dead after the incident when JR and Bobby both had the contest given to them to see who gets Jock's inherritence.  That and with Barbara Bel Geddes appearing in fewer episodes in the latter seasons as her health was bad caused the show to lose out.

Then when JR went to prison in the Hillbilly State (although writers never specified which state it was, we all can guess clearly which one it was)  just for sleeping with that girl Calle (whom he later married) was real bogus. I mean he did not even do anything mistameanor and it was just an act people do every day, and yet he went to prison without even a proper trial and reprensentation. Despite there are some ultra conservative cops and counties in our nation, that still was real dumb even for TV writers of a bizarre drama show.   Then JR busted out and forced to be a slave like it was the old old old south, even for a criminal like JR that was way too much.

All In The Family was another that was better in the first five seasons than those following.  When Mike and Gloria moved out the show, although still all right, was not the same as when they all lived together under one roof.

Hunter, was one where once actress Stefanie Kramer left, the show took a nose dive, which maybe why it lasted only one season after her departure.

The A Team, was even a big disappointment in its final season after the CIA caught them and forced them into doing spy work in other countries over the show's original premise of being mercinaries helping typical folks with problems the cops could not handle.  That was the worst turning that show around the way they did as it was best when they were working for just plain people fighting domestic crime.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 05, 2019, 11:02:19 PM
Family Matters went off the rails after awhile (very much NSFW)
https://youtu.be/A5Zdp1RfoyI
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Big John on February 05, 2019, 11:06:16 PM
Scooby Doo was good until they added Scrappy.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 05:41:16 AM
Quote from: Big John on February 05, 2019, 11:06:16 PM
Scooby Doo was good until they added Scrappy.

Nah I disagree with that, I loved Scrappy as a kid.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Max Rockatansky on February 06, 2019, 08:11:44 AM
The Real Ghostbusters when it became about Slimer. 
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: 1995hoo on February 06, 2019, 09:13:56 AM
Scrubs fell apart completely in its final season on a different network at a different hospital with a largely different cast. I think I watched three episodes that season and then stopped watching. I had liked the original show.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 09:21:47 AM
Changed totally for better or worse?

Weeds took a nosedive after the season where they burned down Agrestic and got steadily worse after that.

A number of shows got worse once one character got really popular and became the focus of the show (the aforementioned Family Matters, Good Times, Welcome Back Kotter).  The TV show I'm Dying Up Here explored this phenomenon in its second (and, unfortunately, final) season.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: hbelkins on February 06, 2019, 11:45:23 AM
I'd love to go back and watch some of the old "Dallas" episodes to reacquaint myself with the franchise. I didn't start watching it when it was in its first run until the series was well into its tenure. I missed the whole "Who shot JR?" drama. I was thrilled to see the TNT reboot and had hoped it would continue, even after Larry Hagman's death. Are they all on YouTube somewhere (copyright, what copyright?) or would I have to go out and buy a bunch of DVD box sets? (Wish I could find the sets I bought for the original "Star Trek" and also "24.")

"Falcon Crest" was another show I got into well into its run. It and "Dallas" ran back-to-back.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 11:48:13 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 06, 2019, 11:45:23 AMAre they all on YouTube somewhere (copyright, what copyright?) or would I have to go out and buy a bunch of DVD box sets?
Looks like you can acquire them legally from iTunes or Google Play, although I'd wager buying DVDs would be much cheaper (looks like iTunes wants $20/season).
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: hbelkins on February 06, 2019, 12:04:48 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 11:48:13 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 06, 2019, 11:45:23 AMAre they all on YouTube somewhere (copyright, what copyright?) or would I have to go out and buy a bunch of DVD box sets?
Looks like you can acquire them legally from iTunes or Google Play, although I'd wager buying DVDs would be much cheaper (looks like iTunes wants $20/season).

I prefer physical media anyway.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 06, 2019, 12:18:23 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.
But the final episode had the famous "chicken on the bus" scene.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 12:20:27 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.
I found the show to be insufferably preachy even prior to S6 and I'm surprised to see so many people that don't agree with Alda's politics were nevertheless fans of the show.  I understand the author of the novel was a hawk and didn't care for the fact that the movie was anti-war, he must have been apoplectic at the TV show.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 01:32:10 PM
Those that I can think of at the moment:

Sabrina, The Teenage Witch-It went downhill after Season 4 and even then, S4 was bordeline. Seasons 5, 6, & 7 sucked, especially S7. The ending is the only saving grace in S7. The first three seasons were the best.

Two and a Half Men-It went to shit after Charlie Sheen got fired during Season 8.

Star Trek: The Next Generation-The reverse happened here. The first two seasons were shit, but was great from Season 3 onwards.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on February 06, 2019, 02:23:26 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 01:32:10 PM
Star Trek: The Next Generation-The reverse happened here. The first two seasons were shit, but was great from Season 3 onwards.

Season 2's problem was that the great episodes ("Q Who" , "Measure of a Man" , "Peak performance" ) were great, but the shitty episodes were beyond horrendous.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 02:36:11 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Roseanne.  Originally a part of that era's trend of making a show out of a stand up comic's act (Drew Carey, Tim Allen, etc) it devolved into a strident outlet for political invective.
The show was always "Roseanne demolishes poorly-constructed strawmen."  Go back and watch the pilot if you don't believe me.

Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM(BTW, NYC last voted Republican in 1928, Queens in 1908, so where exactly was this Bunker character to be found? )
Seriously?  All over the Outer Boroughs.  They were crawling with Archie Bunkers when I lived there from 2006 to 2008, I have no trouble at all believing they were there 25-30 years ago.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 02:38:19 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Big Bang Theory.  Originally about a group of socially awkward geniuses and a dumb blonde girl who helps them in the "real world", it devolved into just another Friends replica, about getting each character into a sexual combination.

I can barely tolerate that show now, especially since the writers turned Bernadette into a total bitch. She's easily the most dislikeable character on the show these days. The first 3 seasons were definitely the best.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 02:55:10 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 01:32:10 PMStar Trek: The Next Generation-The reverse happened here. The first two seasons were shit, but was great from Season 3 onwards.
Yeah, my wife and I were going to re-watch the series a few years ago, but we started watching Encounter at Farpoint and went "holy hell this is terrible."  The show is just so damned nineties in its aesthetics, it's hard to see beyond that (in fairness, I feel the same about TOS and its sixties aesthetics).
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:17:03 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 02:55:10 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 01:32:10 PMStar Trek: The Next Generation-The reverse happened here. The first two seasons were shit, but was great from Season 3 onwards.
Yeah, my wife and I were going to re-watch the series a few years ago, but we started watching Encounter at Farpoint and went "holy hell this is terrible."  The show is just so damned nineties in its aesthetics, it's hard to see beyond that (in fairness, I feel the same about TOS and its sixties aesthetics).

TNG is actually more like both 80s and 90s in its aesthetics.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: nexus73 on February 06, 2019, 03:19:19 PM
"The Last Ship" got me roped in for three seasons.  After that it seemed to be less of a story with an end and more of a fictional world to explore.

"Gotham" began with enough canon and style to keep in watching but as more non-canonical stuff like the Owls became prominent, I gave up on them.

ST:TNG got the first two seasons criticized by some posts here.  There were episodes of value that I enjoyed.  "The Neutral Zone" in Season 1 sets the table for the revelation of the Borg in Season 2's "Q Who".  Season 1 offered another arc that was never developed but it had promise when the episode "Conspiracy" came out. 

"Sliders" went from one kind of focus to another when the Kromaggs were introduced and the broadcasts were shifted from Fox to the Sci-Fi Channel as I recall.  Killing off the Professor did the series no favor in my eyes.  I liked the earlier episodes better.  YMMV.

Rick
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 03:34:47 PM
Quote from: nexus73 on February 06, 2019, 03:19:19 PM"The Neutral Zone" in Season 1 sets the table for the revelation of the Borg in Season 2's "Q Who".  Season 1 offered another arc that was never developed but it had promise when the episode "Conspiracy" came out.
S1 also included an ep where the ship's crew were infected by a virus that made them want to have sex with each other.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:37:11 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 02:38:19 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Big Bang Theory.  Originally about a group of socially awkward geniuses and a dumb blonde girl who helps them in the "real world", it devolved into just another Friends replica, about getting each character into a sexual combination.

I can barely tolerate that show now, especially since the writers turned Bernadette into a total bitch. She's easily the most dislikeable character on the show these days. The first 3 seasons were definitely the best.

I'm glad that the show is finally coming to an end this year (Jim Parsons would agree as he initiated the show's sudden cancellation due to not wanting a pay raise as part of a new contract), but we are all wondering what would replace the show on Thursday nights at 8:00 P.M. ET. It used to air at 9:30 P.M. ET on Monday nights after Two and a Half Men but that didn't last long after only three consecutive seasons.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 03:39:51 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:37:11 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 02:38:19 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Big Bang Theory.  Originally about a group of socially awkward geniuses and a dumb blonde girl who helps them in the "real world", it devolved into just another Friends replica, about getting each character into a sexual combination.

I can barely tolerate that show now, especially since the writers turned Bernadette into a total bitch. She's easily the most dislikeable character on the show these days. The first 3 seasons were definitely the best.

I'm glad that the show is finally coming to an end this year (Jim Parsons would agree as he initiated the show's sudden cancellation due to not wanting a pay raise as part of a new contract), but we are all wondering what would replace the show on Thursday nights at 8:00 P.M. ET. It used to air at 9:30 P.M. ET on Monday nights after Two and a Half Men but that didn't last long after only three consecutive seasons.
Either Young Sheldon or that new Cedric the Entertainer show, maybe something new?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:52:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 03:39:51 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:37:11 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 02:38:19 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Big Bang Theory.  Originally about a group of socially awkward geniuses and a dumb blonde girl who helps them in the "real world", it devolved into just another Friends replica, about getting each character into a sexual combination.

I can barely tolerate that show now, especially since the writers turned Bernadette into a total bitch. She's easily the most dislikeable character on the show these days. The first 3 seasons were definitely the best.

I'm glad that the show is finally coming to an end this year (Jim Parsons would agree as he initiated the show's sudden cancellation due to not wanting a pay raise as part of a new contract), but we are all wondering what would replace the show on Thursday nights at 8:00 P.M. ET. It used to air at 9:30 P.M. ET on Monday nights after Two and a Half Men but that didn't last long after only three consecutive seasons.
Either Young Sheldon or that new Cedric the Entertainer show, maybe something new?

We will have to wait until the next fall schedule is published by CBS.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 05:32:17 PM
Spin City jumped the shark when Michael J. Fox had to leave due to his Parkinson's Disease.  Unfortunately, they replaced him with Charlie Sheen and the show went downhill from there.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 06, 2019, 06:38:48 PM
Quote from: LM117 on February 06, 2019, 01:32:10 PM
Those that I can think of at the moment:

Sabrina, The Teenage Witch-It went downhill after Season 4 and even then, S4 was bordeline. Seasons 5, 6, & 7 sucked, especially S7. The ending is the only saving grace in S7. The first three seasons were the best.


I think also the network switch from ABC to the WB didn't helped things either.

I can also add Sesame Street to the list. Some blame it on the theme song redone in the early 1990s or the big focus on Elmo while others point to the death of actor Will Lee who performed the role of Mr. Hopper and more recently the switch from PBS to HBO.

The case of the 1967-70 Spider-man cartoon is a bit special, some hated the later seasons supervised by Ralph Bakshi because it was less close to the comics and we got episodes like "Cold Storage" along with "Phantom from the Depths of time", "Revolt in the Fifth Dimension" who used footage from the cartoon Rocket Robin Hood! But others liked it with the musical soundtrack and the psychedelic background used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGdK-Fc4ZHk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TsQl_-WhnQ
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: lepidopteran on February 06, 2019, 08:38:49 PM
The Flintstones changed in the latter part of the third season with the birth of Pebbles, then continuing with the adoption of Bamm-Bamm a season later.  At first, the show was a prehistoric take on The Honeymooners and was more popular with adults.  Then, there were more family-based storylines, making it popular with younger people.  Different, but not necessarily for the worse; it all depends on what you like.

Even the sponsor noted this shift.  The show's primary sponsor was Winston cigarettes when it was all adults.  I think it was when Wilma became pregnant with Pebbles (they never said the word, and it didn't "show" much) the sponsor shifted to Welch's jelly.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: vdeane on February 06, 2019, 09:17:28 PM
Once Upon a Time - it started as a show about fairytale characters trapped in our world with no memories of who they were, but with season 2 onwards when they regain their memories and magic is brought over, the show developed a kudzu plot and just got weirder as time went on.  Exactly where it becomes bad varies by person.  At least every season ender (except season 2) could easily function as a series finale with a few minor scene deletions/edits, making ignoring the rest fortunately easy.  This is particularly pronounced with season 6, where the last episode clearly acts as a series finale save for a couple of scenes setting up season 7 which aren't even remotely related to the entire rest of the plot.  Season 7 is basically a soft reboot, and the actual season finale (which looks like it was intended to be an 8th season, compressed down to an hour) turns the weirdness up to 11.

Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM
- Star Trek:Enterprise.  Originally just a solid reboot of the original ST, more or less, it went off on a 9/11 themed tangent and never recovered.
Interesting... most fans don't like seasons 1-2 (which tried to be retro version of TNG), are divided about season 3 (the 9/11 tangent), and love season 4.

Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:37:11 PM
I'm glad that the show is finally coming to an end this year (Jim Parsons would agree as he initiated the show's sudden cancellation due to not wanting a pay raise as part of a new contract), but we are all wondering what would replace the show on Thursday nights at 8:00 P.M. ET. It used to air at 9:30 P.M. ET on Monday nights after Two and a Half Men but that didn't last long after only three consecutive seasons.
I'm guessing Young Sheldon, assuming that's continuing on.  Interestingly, they had a Fam double feature a couple weeks ago, which makes me wonder if they're testing it out for a potential move to 8:30 next year.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 10:26:38 PM
Quote from: vdeane on February 06, 2019, 09:17:28 PM
Once Upon a Time - it started as a show about fairytale characters trapped in our world with no memories of who they were, but with season 2 onwards when they regain their memories and magic is brought over, the show developed a kudzu plot and just got weirder as time went on.  Exactly where it becomes bad varies by person.  At least every season ender (except season 2) could easily function as a series finale with a few minor scene deletions/edits, making ignoring the rest fortunately easy.  This is particularly pronounced with season 6, where the last episode clearly acts as a series finale save for a couple of scenes setting up season 7 which aren't even remotely related to the entire rest of the plot.  Season 7 is basically a soft reboot, and the actual season finale (which looks like it was intended to be an 8th season, compressed down to an hour) turns the weirdness up to 11.

Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM
- Star Trek:Enterprise.  Originally just a solid reboot of the original ST, more or less, it went off on a 9/11 themed tangent and never recovered.
Interesting... most fans don't like seasons 1-2 (which tried to be retro version of TNG), are divided about season 3 (the 9/11 tangent), and love season 4.

Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 06, 2019, 03:37:11 PM
I'm glad that the show is finally coming to an end this year (Jim Parsons would agree as he initiated the show's sudden cancellation due to not wanting a pay raise as part of a new contract), but we are all wondering what would replace the show on Thursday nights at 8:00 P.M. ET. It used to air at 9:30 P.M. ET on Monday nights after Two and a Half Men but that didn't last long after only three consecutive seasons.
I'm guessing Young Sheldon, assuming that's continuing on.  Interestingly, they had a Fam double feature a couple weeks ago, which makes me wonder if they're testing it out for a potential move to 8:30 next year.

Again we will have to wait until the next fall schedule is published by CBS. That's actually what might happen, though.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: jp the roadgeek on February 07, 2019, 02:31:44 AM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 05:32:17 PM
Spin City jumped the shark when Michael J. Fox had to leave due to his Parkinson's Disease.  Unfortunately, they replaced him with Charlie Sheen and the show went downhill from there.


And speaking of Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men went to hell in a handbasket when he had his breakdown and had to be replaced by Ashton Kutcher.

And in keeping with the original Jump the Shark, Happy Days changed over the years.  The show started by focusing on the friendship of Richie and Potsie.  During the first season, Fonzie was a bit character, and Henry Winkler wasn't even included in the opening credits.  After the first couple of seasons, Fonzie became the breakout character, and Potsie was relegated to a minor character often paired with Ralph Malph.  Once Ron Howard left, Fonzie became the main character. 
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 09:34:48 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 07, 2019, 02:31:44 AMAnd in keeping with the original Jump the Shark, Happy Days changed over the years.  The show started by focusing on the friendship of Richie and Potsie.  During the first season, Fonzie was a bit character, and Henry Winkler wasn't even included in the opening credits.  After the first couple of seasons, Fonzie became the breakout character, and Potsie was relegated to a minor character often paired with Ralph Malph.  Once Ron Howard left, Fonzie became the main character.
Also, at some point, they stopped bothering with the fact that it was supposed to be set in the 50s (maybe 60s towards the end?) - Ted McGinley in particular was sporting some pretty 70s hair during his tenure on the show.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: SP Cook on February 07, 2019, 11:18:48 AM
Happy Days - I actually met one of the writers of the "Jump The Shark" episode at a part in Miami a couple of months ago.  He is now probably in his late 70s and is a pretty good Jewish comic.

I agree that the show pretty quickly gave up on the whole 50s theme, other than some background cars and music, it was done as current day show.  Same with Laverne & Shirley. 

The show is probably the epitome of one that held on way too long, as the "Jump The Shark" was the first part of season 5 and it ran for 11 seasons, the first 9 still getting good ratings, it transformed to an "against type" show.  Where the main character, Fonzie, would do things that were against his character's nature.  Problem is you can only do that so many times before the character's nature is no longer what it was.  Which is why I am glad to see BBT come to an end, because it is becoming the same thing, with the lead character breaking down and going against what he was established to be.

Two & a Half Men - It is really two different shows.  CBS had a popular show whose main character had a public meltdown and just reworked a new show with the same support characters and set, but with a totally different subject.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 11:45:36 AM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 07, 2019, 11:18:48 AMI agree that the show pretty quickly gave up on the whole 50s theme, other than some background cars and music, it was done as current day show.  Same with Laverne & Shirley.
Same with That 70s Show, as some of its actors became stars.  I believe L&S went so far as to have a spinoff (I believe it was Carmine's) that was inexplicably set in the present day, but without the character (or actor) having aged a day.

Quote from: SP Cook on February 07, 2019, 11:18:48 AMWhere the main character, Fonzie, would do things that were against his character's nature.  Problem is you can only do that so many times before the character's nature is no longer what it was.
Sometimes sitcoms do character growth over the life of the show well, sometimes not. I understand M*A*S*H* did character growth well.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 07, 2019, 12:05:53 PM
I dunno.  That 70s Show still stuck to the 1970s setting and themes even in its later seasons.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 12:13:04 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 07, 2019, 12:05:53 PMI dunno.  That 70s Show still stuck to the 1970s setting and themes even in its later seasons.
Maybe it was the use of verbal anachronisms, then.  I don't remember, I wasn't a regular viewer.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 07, 2019, 01:57:21 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM
- Drew Carey.  Another stand up comic show, with Carey as a low level functionary in a store's back office with some quirky friends, it went way off, turning into an group of people making beer in their basement, having fantastic story lines, and Carey dating a woman 40 years older than him.

The Drew Carey Show went completely off the rails in Seasons 8 and 9, when Christa Miller left to join the cast of Scrubs (her husband's show).  Cynthia Watros had no chemistry with the rest of the cast whatsoever, plus the change in work environment (same building, different store) was a turn-off. 

Carey knew the show was done, and didn't want to do Season 9, but ABC held him to his contract.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 02:34:34 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 07, 2019, 01:57:21 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM
- Drew Carey.  Another stand up comic show, with Carey as a low level functionary in a store's back office with some quirky friends, it went way off, turning into an group of people making beer in their basement, having fantastic story lines, and Carey dating a woman 40 years older than him.

The Drew Carey Show went completely off the rails in Seasons 8 and 9, when Christa Miller left to join the cast of Scrubs (her husband's show).  Cynthia Watros had no chemistry with the rest of the cast whatsoever, plus the change in work environment (same building, different store) was a turn-off. 

Carey knew the show was done, and didn't want to do Season 9, but ABC held him to his contract.
I think I quit watching the show around when Oswald and Lewis were both dating Diane Farr for some reason.  Then I learned Winfred-Lauder went out of business and a dot-com took over the space, but they hired Drew for some reason, and I lost interest in tuning back in.  Although maybe it would have been worth it for a pre-It's Always Sunny Kaitlin Olson, who knows.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: PHLBOS on February 07, 2019, 02:58:22 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 07, 2019, 11:18:48 AMI agree that the show pretty quickly gave up on the whole 50s theme, other than some background cars and music, it was done as current day show.  Same with Laverne & Shirley.
Regarding Laverne & Shirley; by the show's fourth season (1978-1979), many of the outdoor scenes aside from their building & the Pizza Bowl were showing late 60s/early 70s vintage cars.  One Season 5 (1979-1980) episode showed a '70 Buick Skylark parked next to a building.  Given that the series setting was still the early 60s and cars changed style styles more often back then; showing a 1970 vintage car for a 1962-63 setting indeed sticks out like a sore thumb.

Personally, moving the show's setting & cast from Milwaukee to Burbank in Season 6 (1980-1981) was when I stopped watching the show.  It lost it's original feel/flavoring.

One show that my now-late-mother & I thought that started out good but went south in later years was Person of Interest.  In the early years, the show focused on four or five main characters.  In later seasons, the show's theme, plots & related-additional characters were all-over-the-map making such hard to follow; especially if one missed an episode or two.

it took a major ratings hit in Season 5 (1979-1980)for me it was when everybody moved from Milwaukee to California
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 03:16:22 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on February 07, 2019, 02:58:22 PMPersonally, moving the show's setting & cast from Milwaukee to Burbank in Season 6 (1980-1981) was when I stopped watching the show.  It lost it's original feel/flavoring.
Did that and Cindy Williams' departure happen at the same time?  I remember a version of the opening credits where some girls did the chant while Penny Marshall looked on and smiled, set in California?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Big John on February 07, 2019, 03:30:49 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 07, 2019, 03:16:22 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on February 07, 2019, 02:58:22 PMPersonally, moving the show's setting & cast from Milwaukee to Burbank in Season 6 (1980-1981) was when I stopped watching the show.  It lost it's original feel/flavoring.
Did that and Cindy Williams' departure happen at the same time?  I remember a version of the opening credits where some girls did the chant while Penny Marshall looked on and smiled, set in California?
They were in Burbank for the final 3 years, and Shirley left early in the last year.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: SP Cook on February 07, 2019, 03:54:12 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on December 31, 1969, 11:18:15 PM
Regarding Laverne & Shirley; by the show's fourth season (1978-1979), many of the outdoor scenes aside from their building & the Pizza Bowl were showing late 60s/early 70s vintage cars.  One Season 5 (1979-1980) episode showed a '70 Buick Skylark parked next to a building.

You can make a huge list of out of time things in TV and movies.  Which brings up the 1970s Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show.  The first season was set during WWII, which was when the Wonder Woman comic was at its height.  It did OK, but the costs of all the 1940s costumes, cars, and sets were too high, so for the next two years they moved it to the present, saying that Wonder Woman did not age and everybody else were the children of the previous season's characters, and turned her into an agent of a CIA like agency.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: MantyMadTown on February 07, 2019, 06:03:37 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on February 06, 2019, 06:38:48 PM
I can also add Sesame Street to the list. Some blame it on the theme song redone in the early 1990s or the big focus on Elmo while others point to the death of actor Will Lee who performed the role of Mr. Hopper and more recently the switch from PBS to HBO.

They stopping doing that one in 1998. I remember watching Sesame Street with a more classic-sounding version of the theme song that they did from 1998 to around 2007 when they changed everything up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXqMzmFSX_4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-2U3i35WBI

I can't remember which version I watched but I think I watched the second version, because I was around 5-6 when I watched it at the time. Honestly those versions are my favorite. The 2007 one sounds much worse than the one I watched as well as the 90s calypso version from before I started watching Sesame Street. I consider myself lucky, because 90s and early 2000s kids seem to have grown up in a good era of kids shows.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Ben114 on February 07, 2019, 09:03:52 PM
Us early 2000s kids got lucky with these shows. I remember sitting there daily watching the Nick cartoons, like the good ones, SpongeBob (still on air after almost 20 years), The Fairly OddParents (anyone remember that, I believe they took a break making that and then they reintroduced it with this weird girl to make the show 20 times worse), and that's all I remember right now.

Today's kids shows are definitely changed from 10-15 years ago.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:39:14 PM
Somehow I knew 'Sesame Street' was going to be mentioned.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Scott5114 on February 07, 2019, 10:42:35 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:39:14 PM
Somehow I knew 'Sesame Street' was going to be mentioned.

I did, too, but I expected you to be the first one to mention it.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PMThat was about the dumbest moment in TV history
Only until it was surpassed by the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:58:08 AM
Quote from: Ben114 on February 07, 2019, 09:03:52 PM
Us early 2000s kids got lucky with these shows. I remember sitting there daily watching the Nick cartoons, like the good ones, SpongeBob (still on air after almost 20 years), The Fairly OddParents (anyone remember that, I believe they took a break making that and then they reintroduced it with this weird girl to make the show 20 times worse), and that's all I remember right now.

Today's kids shows are definitely changed from 10-15 years ago.
Actually, I consider today's kids unlucky without Mister Rogers.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:04:03 AM
I don't understand why 'Mister Rogers' and 'Electric Company' reruns aren't still being shown. I also don't understand why old 'Sesame Street' sketches aren't still being shown.

I remember an old 'Sesame Street' sketch that shows scenes of kids playing, followed by adults working in a similar occupation or career. It was accompanied by a catchy music bed with horns. I forgot about it until I found it on YouTube recently. I don't know why 'Sesame Street' doesn't still show it.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: 1995hoo on February 08, 2019, 09:05:25 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.

That's what he's talking about. I assume it's not a spoiler to describe: Duffy left the show and they killed off his character, Bobby. Ratings weren't as good, so the producers negotiated to bring Duffy back to the show. At the end of the season, Pam wakes up to see him saying "good morning" as he dries off after a shower. That was the "cliffhanger ending" for that season. The following fall, she learns that the whole previous season, including Bobby's death, was a dream.

Apparently that whole thing made for some serious challenges in filming the show because everything else that happened during the "Dream Season" had to be walked back–so, for example, Sue Ellen Ewing had sobered up, but now she had to be an alcoholic again because her sobriety was a dream. Still, the "Dream Season" probably remains one of the most ridiculed stunts ever.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 09:05:41 AM
Never understood the lack of reruns for The Electric Company, either.

Watched them with my kids since some are available on the Internet.

Still, the association with Bill Cosby has probably hurt it.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:08:20 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.

His character died, but then a year later, his wife woke up one morning to find him in the bathroom taking a shower. He said, "Good morning," as if nothing had happened. That was the big cliffhanger around 1986. When the new season started, he explained to his wife that the entire year including his death was just a bad dream.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 09:17:00 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:08:20 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.

His character died, but then a year later, his wife woke up one morning to find him in the bathroom taking a shower. He said, "Good morning," as if nothing had happened. That was the big cliffhanger around 1986. When the new season started, he explained to his wife that the entire year including his death was just a bad dream.

I just remember seeing that shower nonsense when I was a kid when it aired. :D
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:22:00 AM
Also, I loved 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' in my day, but one of the last episodes was about a space alien visiting Hazzard. This would be fine for a sci-fi, but 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' wasn't supposed to be a sci-fi.

By that time, I had stopped regularly watching, for some reason. But I did see it in reruns.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 09:23:36 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:58:08 AM
Quote from: Ben114 on February 07, 2019, 09:03:52 PM
Us early 2000s kids got lucky with these shows. I remember sitting there daily watching the Nick cartoons, like the good ones, SpongeBob (still on air after almost 20 years), The Fairly OddParents (anyone remember that, I believe they took a break making that and then they reintroduced it with this weird girl to make the show 20 times worse), and that's all I remember right now.

Today's kids shows are definitely changed from 10-15 years ago.
Actually, I consider today's kids unlucky without Mister Rogers.
I can't follow that double negative.  Do you think it's a good thing that Mister Rogers is no longer broadcast, or a bad thing?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 09:51:01 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PMThat was about the dumbest moment in TV history
Only until it was surpassed by the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/901/005/948.jpg)
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 10:07:08 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 09:23:36 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:58:08 AM
Quote from: Ben114 on February 07, 2019, 09:03:52 PM
Us early 2000s kids got lucky with these shows. I remember sitting there daily watching the Nick cartoons, like the good ones, SpongeBob (still on air after almost 20 years), The Fairly OddParents (anyone remember that, I believe they took a break making that and then they reintroduced it with this weird girl to make the show 20 times worse), and that's all I remember right now.

Today's kids shows are definitely changed from 10-15 years ago.
Actually, I consider today's kids unlucky without Mister Rogers.
I can't follow that double negative.  Do you think it's a good thing that Mister Rogers is no longer broadcast, or a bad thing?

I think it's a bad thing that kids are without no Mister Rogers. :D
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 11:13:54 AM
Quote from: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 09:51:01 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PMThat was about the dumbest moment in TV history
Only until it was surpassed by the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/901/005/948.jpg)
I really can't think of a single reason why stuffing Tracy in the fridge was necessary if Ted was just gonna end up with Robin.  Did the writers start with "Ted rushes over to Robin's apartment with that goddamned blue French horn" and work backwards from there?

Also, the ending meant that, the whole time, the kids were rolling their eyes at their dad telling them the story of how he met their dead mom.  WTF?

Also, far less troubling, Ted's son looks exactly like Ted, but Ted's daughter doesn't look like either of her parents.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Henry on February 08, 2019, 11:14:15 AM
Mike & Molly was pretty much shot to hell when Peggy dated Paddy (Mike's boss)...and the breakup of Carl and Victoria just made it worse, even though they resolved their differences in the series finale.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 12:24:46 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 11:13:54 AM
Quote from: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 09:51:01 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PMThat was about the dumbest moment in TV history
Only until it was surpassed by the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/901/005/948.jpg)
I really can't think of a single reason why stuffing Tracy in the fridge was necessary if Ted was just gonna end up with Robin.  Did the writers start with "Ted rushes over to Robin's apartment with that goddamned blue French horn" and work backwards from there?

Also, the ending meant that, the whole time, the kids were rolling their eyes at their dad telling them the story of how he met their dead mom.  WTF?

Also, far less troubling, Ted's son looks exactly like Ted, but Ted's daughter doesn't look like either of her parents.
I saw the story more as Ted trying to justify dating Robin again, who was his favorite girlfriend before he met the mother. But I'm also an emotionally damaged person, so what do I know.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
The series was set in Georgia...although it looked an awful like California... :D
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 12:58:51 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
The series was set in Georgia...although it looked an awful like California... :D
The movie was a lot more explicit about Hazzard County being in GA than the show was.

The movie was also a steaming pile.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 01:00:10 PM
Quote from: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 12:24:46 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 11:13:54 AM
Quote from: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 09:51:01 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PMThat was about the dumbest moment in TV history
Only until it was surpassed by the finale of How I Met Your Mother.
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/901/005/948.jpg)
I really can't think of a single reason why stuffing Tracy in the fridge was necessary if Ted was just gonna end up with Robin.  Did the writers start with "Ted rushes over to Robin's apartment with that goddamned blue French horn" and work backwards from there?

Also, the ending meant that, the whole time, the kids were rolling their eyes at their dad telling them the story of how he met their dead mom.  WTF?

Also, far less troubling, Ted's son looks exactly like Ted, but Ted's daughter doesn't look like either of her parents.
I saw the story more as Ted trying to justify dating Robin again, who was his favorite girlfriend before he met the mother. But I'm also an emotionally damaged person, so what do I know.
I guess my question is "why did they bother introducing The Mother/Tracy if they were just gonna kill her off by the end of the season?  Why not just have Ted marry Robin after she and Barney got a divorce?"
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 01:00:50 PM
And, more importantly, "who carries a torch for someone this long?  Move on."
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Brandon on February 08, 2019, 01:12:37 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:08:20 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.

His character died, but then a year later, his wife woke up one morning to find him in the bathroom taking a shower. He said, "Good morning," as if nothing had happened. That was the big cliffhanger around 1986. When the new season started, he explained to his wife that the entire year including his death was just a bad dream.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AllJustADream/LiveActionTV
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 01:26:03 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 12:58:51 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
The series was set in Georgia...although it looked an awful like California... :D
The movie was a lot more explicit about Hazzard County being in GA than the show was.

The movie was also a steaming pile.
In regards to the movie, on that we all can agree.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 08, 2019, 01:27:48 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 01:00:50 PM
And, more importantly, "who carries a torch for someone this long?  Move on."
Sure, let me just go out to the girlfriend tree in my backyard and pluck one I like off of there.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: PHLBOS on February 08, 2019, 01:41:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 09:22:00 AM
Also, I loved 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' in my day, but one of the last episodes was about a space alien visiting Hazzard. This would be fine for a sci-fi, but 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' wasn't supposed to be a sci-fi.

By that time, I had stopped regularly watching, for some reason. But I did see it in reruns.
I watched the show fairly regularly for the first three seasons when it originally aired Friday nights on CBS.  My frequency of watching the show went down when I got my driver's license and started going out more on Friday nights.  Personally, that show went downhill when Bo & Luke were replaced... even though such wound up being only temporary.  The show never fully recovered after that.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: sparker on February 08, 2019, 04:34:51 PM
OK, this is going to seriously date me -- but the first season of Man from Uncle (1964-65) was by far superior to the 2.5 seasons that followed for several reasons:  they started out with a novel premise:  explore the stories of "civilians" caught up in espionage/terrorist intrigue, and how the professional agents played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum interacted with them.  Decent storylines (for the era) and generally good performances (fine acting by the regulars and thoughtful casting of guests).  Even the theme music, by Jerry Goldsmith, was outstanding --a fully orchestrated blues riff!  But -- the Bond craze was in full bloom then (Goldfinger was released during that first Uncle season), so during the 2nd season, the original premise was dropped and the show became a routine spy saga; even the theme was scaled back in scope.  By the middle of the 4th season, it was no longer a novelty, and was cancelled in early '68.  Curiously, show reruns crop up occasionally on cable -- but almost always the post-'65 seasons -- largely because (gasp!) the first season was still in black & white!, it wasn't filmed in color until the 2nd season.  Worth seeking out in DVD -- as long as it contains that first season!
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 08, 2019, 05:45:28 PM
Quote from: sparker on February 08, 2019, 04:34:51 PM
OK, this is going to seriously date me -- but the first season of Man from Uncle (1964-65) was by far superior to the 2.5 seasons that followed for several reasons:  they started out with a novel premise:  explore the stories of "civilians" caught up in espionage/terrorist intrigue, and how the professional agents played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum interacted with them.  Decent storylines (for the era) and generally good performances (fine acting by the regulars and thoughtful casting of guests).  Even the theme music, by Jerry Goldsmith, was outstanding --a fully orchestrated blues riff!  But -- the Bond craze was in full bloom then (Goldfinger was released during that first Uncle season), so during the 2nd season, the original premise was dropped and the show became a routine spy saga; even the theme was scaled back in scope.  By the middle of the 4th season, it was no longer a novelty, and was cancelled in early '68.  Curiously, show reruns crop up occasionally on cable -- but almost always the post-'65 seasons -- largely because (gasp!) the first season was still in black & white!, it wasn't filmed in color until the 2nd season.  Worth seeking out in DVD -- as long as it contains that first season!

A copy of the defunct Jumptheshark website on the Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20050302235832fw_/http://www.jumptheshark.com/m/manfromuncle.htm have a good list of reasons explaining the decline of Men from U.N.C.L.E.   

Men from Uncle wasn't the only one who suffered from some campy plotlines. "Lost in Space" suffered of the same thing as well.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 05:46:40 PM
Another show that has declined a lot is '60 Minutes'. It's a shadow of what it once was.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: MantyMadTown on February 08, 2019, 06:48:18 PM
Quote from: Ben114 on February 07, 2019, 09:03:52 PM
Us early 2000s kids got lucky with these shows. I remember sitting there daily watching the Nick cartoons, like the good ones, SpongeBob (still on air after almost 20 years), The Fairly OddParents (anyone remember that, I believe they took a break making that and then they reintroduced it with this weird girl to make the show 20 times worse), and that's all I remember right now.

Today's kids shows are definitely changed from 10-15 years ago.

Yeah I remember those. The early 2000s Nick shows were the best!
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 08, 2019, 07:42:00 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 05:46:40 PM
Another show that has declined a lot is '60 Minutes'. It's a shadow of what it once was.

The same could be said about SNL (Saturday Night Live), it's also a shadow of its former self.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on February 08, 2019, 08:57:29 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

What I hear is notable is how the show went from #1 to cancelled in about two years.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 08:59:18 PM
'The Simpsons' was great for its first 27 years or so. Now it's nothing.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on February 08, 2019, 07:42:00 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 05:46:40 PM
Another show that has declined a lot is '60 Minutes'. It's a shadow of what it once was.

The same could be said about SNL (Saturday Night Live), it's also a shadow of its former self.

SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1990s.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:17:19 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1990s.

I read that in one of the first episodes of SNL, their guest host got upset about something and she walked off the stage and into the dressing room. According to the article, this is a "lost" episode, and whoever has the rights to SNL has not allowed it to be rerun ever since. But I swear I saw a rerun of it maybe 10 or 15 years ago. (I wasn't old enough for it when it first aired.)
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:32:06 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:17:19 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1990s.

I read that in one of the first episodes of SNL, their guest host got upset about something and she walked off the stage and into the dressing room. According to the article, this is a "lost" episode, and whoever has the rights to SNL has not allowed it to be rerun ever since. But I swear I saw a rerun of it maybe 10 or 15 years ago. (I wasn't old enough for it when it first aired.)

The show that had Richard Pryor as its host (12/13/75) ran on a 5-second delay because of Pryor's "colorful" language.  Two words (not specified) were bleeped before getting on the air.  AFAIK, Pryor did not walk off the set, nor did anyone else during the early days.  I wouldn't be shocked if that episode was kept out of reruns, though.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Big John on February 08, 2019, 11:33:49 PM
Or another svene not allowed to be rerun: 1992 Sinead O'Connor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCOIQOGXOg0
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:39:06 PM
Quote from: Big John on February 08, 2019, 11:33:49 PM
Or another svene not allowed to be rerun: 1992 Sinead O'Connor

Who?  Her career fizzled for quite awhile after that episode.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 08, 2019, 11:44:33 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on February 07, 2019, 02:31:44 AM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 05:32:17 PM
Spin City jumped the shark when Michael J. Fox had to leave due to his Parkinson's Disease.  Unfortunately, they replaced him with Charlie Sheen and the show went downhill from there.


And speaking of Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men went to hell in a handbasket when he had his breakdown and had to be replaced by Ashton Kutcher.

And in keeping with the original Jump the Shark, Happy Days changed over the years.  The show started by focusing on the friendship of Richie and Potsie.  During the first season, Fonzie was a bit character, and Henry Winkler wasn't even included in the opening credits.  After the first couple of seasons, Fonzie became the breakout character, and Potsie was relegated to a minor character often paired with Ralph Malph.  Once Ron Howard left, Fonzie became the main character. 

Also to note that they had no storylines for Potsie once both Richie and Ralph left.  As he was supporting Richie and never had a good relationship with the other cast members. In fact Fonzie hated Potsie's guts and did everything to to keep away from him in all the years. If anything they exagerrated his stupidity for him to fit in with the others.

Its Spin off Laverne and Shirley got bad in the last season when Shirley left, and also you also saw less of Lenny and Squiggy as well.  In fact Michael McKean was not even in the opening credits of the last season as he left the show to produce a movie.  So Squiggy was solo in the few episodes he was in.  Even the last episode was a back door pilot for a show the networks did not pick up, which is why Carmine got a job in a Broadway play and never came back to Hollywood.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:44:45 PM
I swear there was one time when someone used the f-word on SNL. I was only maybe 7 or 8, but I was in the room when my parents were watching it. I burst out laughing and my parents got real mad.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 09, 2019, 12:10:07 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 08, 2019, 09:05:25 AM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 08:59:36 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 07, 2019, 10:38:07 PM
My mom used to watch 'Dallas' all the time. I was in the room when my mom watched the episode where Patrick Duffy said, "It was a dream, a horrible dream." That was about the dumbest moment in TV history, and I think my mom stopped watching 'Dallas' after that.
I thought there was one season where his character died and the woman he was sleeping with woke up in the first episode of the next season to see him in the shower.

That's what he's talking about. I assume it's not a spoiler to describe: Duffy left the show and they killed off his character, Bobby. Ratings weren't as good, so the producers negotiated to bring Duffy back to the show. At the end of the season, Pam wakes up to see him saying "good morning" as he dries off after a shower. That was the "cliffhanger ending" for that season. The following fall, she learns that the whole previous season, including Bobby's death, was a dream.

Apparently that whole thing made for some serious challenges in filming the show because everything else that happened during the "Dream Season" had to be walked back–so, for example, Sue Ellen Ewing had sobered up, but now she had to be an alcoholic again because her sobriety was a dream. Still, the "Dream Season" probably remains one of the most ridiculed stunts ever.
Also to note they could not continue that story line of the Downs Syndrome child that Ray and Donna had as he was adopted in the dream.  Also Ray and Donna had to go back to being separated as they were when Bobby died.

Then Jack, who was accepted by the Ewing family in the dream, had to go back to being the conman he was when he first came, as his character developed as he became a love interest for Jenna Wade during that season.   

Also the mystery of who framed Jenna never got solved nor mentioned as well as who was in the Far East clinic in the previous season that Pam was chasing after.  The clinic scene where Pam went across the world was the preamble to Mark Graison returning in the dream season.  Being Mark never returned we will never know who sent Pam to the Orient.

The only constant they kept was the fake Jock story as Steve Forest did return in the post Duffy return season to continue that storyline.


Then onto Knots Landing, with Bobby back alive that means that show was in Pam's dream as they did feature Bobby's death on that show as well due to it being a spin off and set in the same universe.  Gary took the death on the parent show hard and even his son was named after his brother in honor of him too.  However, writers did well there by not mentioning the Ewing family on that show after Duffy's return.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: sparker on February 09, 2019, 01:40:24 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:44:45 PM
I swear there was one time when someone used the f-word on SNL. I was only maybe 7 or 8, but I was in the room when my parents were watching it. I burst out laughing and my parents got real mad.

That would have been the late Charles Rocket, who was on the show for one season -- the ill-fated "transition" in 1980-81, after Aykroyd and Belushi left; he did the news segment, and adlibbed "fuck", which got on the air on the East Coast (but was deleted from the feed to the westerly time zones).  The only saving grace from that year was the mid-season introduction of Eddie Murphy, whose presence for the next 3 years brought the show back from the edge of cancellation (also, the importation of a number of reasonably competent Second City players in the '81-'82 season didn't hurt the cause).  Rocket never had much of a career after that, bouncing from B-movies to TV guest shots -- but apparently, like so many other entertainers, was clinically depressed -- he committed suicide in 2005 at 56. 
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: hbelkins on February 09, 2019, 02:45:33 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1980s.

FIFY.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:49:00 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:17:19 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1990s.

I read that in one of the first episodes of SNL, their guest host got upset about something and she walked off the stage and into the dressing room. According to the article, this is a "lost" episode, and whoever has the rights to SNL has not allowed it to be rerun ever since. But I swear I saw a rerun of it maybe 10 or 15 years ago. (I wasn't old enough for it when it first aired.)
I think you're thinking of the Louise Lasser ep, and I think the "walking off the stage"  part was scripted, but she was apparently a pain in the ass off-camera.

There was a time when SNL was available online, first through Netflix and then through Hulu, and every episode from the first five seasons was available in its entirety, but after that, they would only show maybe 30-45 minutes of each ep, some not at all, and they even did this during the "good"  seasons. I don't know why that was the case.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:49:50 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 05, 2019, 10:22:26 PM
I was going through some old Dallas stuff on the internet and started watching old 3rd season episodes particularly A House Divided (the season finale where JR pulled that one big swindle causing all of Dallas to hate him and one to actually shoot him created the biggest whodunit ever for a soap opera) as it had Jim Davis on it playing the Ewing Matriarch along with other great story lines and character connections.  Dallas was at its prime and had the best story lines the first four seasons.

Many say it was Patrick Duffy leaving in the 1985 season that killed the show as the ratings never returned even when Duffy appeared that one season finale in Pam's shower to stay on until the saga ended in 2012.  I say it went dead after the incident when JR and Bobby both had the contest given to them to see who gets Jock's inherritence.  That and with Barbara Bel Geddes appearing in fewer episodes in the latter seasons as her health was bad caused the show to lose out.

Then when JR went to prison in the Hillbilly State (although writers never specified which state it was, we all can guess clearly which one it was)  just for sleeping with that girl Calle (whom he later married) was real bogus. I mean he did not even do anything mistameanor and it was just an act people do every day, and yet he went to prison without even a proper trial and reprensentation. Despite there are some ultra conservative cops and counties in our nation, that still was real dumb even for TV writers of a bizarre drama show.   Then JR busted out and forced to be a slave like it was the old old old south, even for a criminal like JR that was way too much.

All In The Family was another that was better in the first five seasons than those following.  When Mike and Gloria moved out the show, although still all right, was not the same as when they all lived together under one roof.

The A Team, was even a big disappointment in its final season after the CIA caught them and forced them into doing spy work in other countries over the show's original premise of being mercinaries helping typical folks with problems the cops could not handle.  That was the worst turning that show around the way they did as it was best when they were working for just plain people fighting domestic crime.

Mike & Gloria were in season 6 & 7 but yeah once they had that baby in season 6 there was a steep decline.  Jeffersons were gone too.  Agree on the A Team.  Gimme a Break once they got rid of the girls.  Facts of Life was so much better in season 1.  90210 was a fun show especially season 1.  After season 4 when Brenda left it declined.  try watching season 4 then season 10, truly awful at the end.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: nexus73 on February 09, 2019, 03:21:09 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 09, 2019, 02:45:33 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1980s.

FIFY.

For me, once the original cast was gone, I was done with the show.  Haven't watched it since.

Rick
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 03:46:37 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 12:58:51 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
The series was set in Georgia...although it looked an awful like California... :D
The movie was a lot more explicit about Hazzard County being in GA than the show was.

The movie was also a steaming pile.

The movie was awesome....and check out the first 6 episodes of Dukes, it's a completely different show and hilarious.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on February 09, 2019, 05:12:06 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 03:46:37 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 08, 2019, 12:58:51 PM
Quote from: Rothman on February 08, 2019, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 08, 2019, 12:40:46 PM
People have a hard time realizing that "Dukes of Hazzard" was set in a fictional Hazzard County somewhere in the south, not the city of Hazard in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. However, the city embraced the confusion. The highest ceremonial honor they can bestow on someone -- think "give them a key to the city" -- is to name them a Duke of Hazard.
The series was set in Georgia...although it looked an awful like California... :D
The movie was a lot more explicit about Hazzard County being in GA than the show was.

The movie was also a steaming pile.

The movie was awesome....and check out the first 6 episodes of Dukes, it's a completely different show and hilarious.
Wrong.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 05:57:18 PM
I'm not sure which was the bigger disappointment: The Dukes of Hazzard movie, or the Shaft remake with Samuel L. Jackson.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on February 09, 2019, 08:15:44 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 05:57:18 PM
I'm not sure which was the bigger disappointment: The Dukes of Hazzard movie, or the Shaft remake with Samuel L. Jackson.

Speaking of bad remakes, how about the 2005 regurgitation of Kojak with Ving Rhames on USA Network?  The only thing that Rhames had in common with Telly Savalas was his lack of hair.  Fortunately for Rhames, his career was saved when he found out that Arbys has the MEATS!!!!  :)
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 09:27:11 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 09, 2019, 08:15:44 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 05:57:18 PM
I'm not sure which was the bigger disappointment: The Dukes of Hazzard movie, or the Shaft remake with Samuel L. Jackson.

Speaking of bad remakes, how about the 2005 regurgitation of Kojak with Ving Rhames on USA Network?  The only thing that Rhames had with Telly Savalas was his lack of hair.  Fortunately for Rhames, his career was saved when he found out that Arbys has the MEATS!!!!  :)
Ving Rhames was awesome in Pulp Fiction and Out Of Sight, he can do whatever he wants.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: sparker on February 10, 2019, 02:07:32 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 09, 2019, 02:45:33 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1980s.

FIFY.

Beg to differ -- exhibit #1A:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/close-encounter/2949239

and its equally funny followup, exhibit #1B:

https://archive.org/details/AnotherCloseEncounterSNL

Ryan Gosling not keeping it together is in itself almost worth the price of admission; Kate McKinnon is the best thing to happen to that show since Eddie Murphy!
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Scott5114 on February 10, 2019, 02:53:14 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:49:00 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 11:17:19 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 08, 2019, 11:12:53 PM
SNL hasn't been funny since the mid 1990s.

I read that in one of the first episodes of SNL, their guest host got upset about something and she walked off the stage and into the dressing room. According to the article, this is a "lost" episode, and whoever has the rights to SNL has not allowed it to be rerun ever since. But I swear I saw a rerun of it maybe 10 or 15 years ago. (I wasn't old enough for it when it first aired.)
I think you're thinking of the Louise Lasser ep, and I think the "walking off the stage"  part was scripted, but she was apparently a pain in the ass off-camera.

There was a time when SNL was available online, first through Netflix and then through Hulu, and every episode from the first five seasons was available in its entirety, but after that, they would only show maybe 30-45 minutes of each ep, some not at all, and they even did this during the "good"  seasons. I don't know why that was the case.

I don't know for sure, but my random guess would be complications having to do with licensing from and royalties paid to the guest hosts. People who appear in TV shows hold considerable power over how their face can be redistributed long after the show aired. For example, there are episodes of The Price is Right that Bob Barker has blocked from being rerun, because they gave away fur clothing, which runs counter to his reputation as an animal-rights advocate (he hadn't yet adopted the issue, and probably didn't have so much clout, in the early years of the show).
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Throckmorton on February 10, 2019, 06:46:03 AM
   
I recently watched the inaugural episode of SNL and it pretty much sucked.   
   
George Carlin was the host and it's not that he wasn't funny that night but they just had him do some of his regular material (that which was safe for television) at three points during the show and then he would introduce the musical act.    
   
Carlin wasn't in any of the sketches, most of which were pretty lame anyway.      
   
It took them a few episodes to hit their stride.   
   
Pretty early on they changed the set and started including the guest host in the sketches. The Muppets Land of Gorch segment was dropped after the first season. Too bad. It was usually the best part of the show.   
   
   
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 10, 2019, 07:07:52 AM
Yeah, the pilot is as representative an ep as Dr. No is a representative James Bond film.

The Muppets sketches really dragged down the pacing of the show.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 10, 2019, 07:25:28 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 10, 2019, 02:53:14 AMFor example, there are episodes of The Price is Right that Bob Barker has blocked from being rerun, because they gave away fur clothing, which runs counter to his reputation as an animal-rights advocate (he hadn't yet adopted the issue, and probably didn't have so much clout, in the early years of the show).
And yet he has no trouble at all with them rerunning the eps where he would make female contestants reach into his trousers pocket for the $50 they won for making a perfect bid.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 10:14:37 AM
Whenever I've seen old SNL footage from the early years that people say was so funny, I always question their sense of humor because most of it never seems all that hilarious. Worthy of a mild chuckle, maybe, but certainly not side-splittingly funny. I've come to suspect it's one of those things where you had to be there because the material was a product of its time. That is, SNL tries to be funny by either skewering current events or pushing the boundaries of what's allowed on TV so as to be edgy. Thing is, what's "edgy" in 1977 is bound to be totally different from what's "edgy" in 2019. I remember sometime back in the late 1980s or early 1990s when the FCC decided it was OK for them to say the word "penis" on the air, so of course SNL immediately tried to work it in wherever possible that week. At the time that sort of thing was shocking or surprising, but nowadays its no big deal. Stuff that depends on being edgy in order to be funny isn't likely to seem as funny when it's no longer edgy.

I suppose a similar analogy might be the Supreme Court case from 1971 or so where a guy had been prosecuted for obscenity for wearing a jacket that said "Fuck the draft." The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on First Amendment grounds. When my constitutional law class discussed that case in 1996, the professor noted how to people of my and my classmates' age that word probably seems "ordinary" and a "standard part of everyday conversation," such that the prosecution would seem bizarre, whereas in 1971 it was scandalous and "THE vilest curse word" such that a lot of people were upset at the Supreme Court's ruling.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 10, 2019, 12:14:37 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 10:14:37 AM
Whenever I've seen old SNL footage from the early years that people say was so funny, I always question their sense of humor because most of it never seems all that hilarious. Worthy of a mild chuckle, maybe, but certainly not side-splittingly funny. I've come to suspect it's one of those things where you had to be there because the material was a product of its time. That is, SNL tries to be funny by either skewering current events or pushing the boundaries of what's allowed on TV so as to be edgy. Thing is, what's "edgy" in 1977 is bound to be totally different from what's "edgy" in 2019. I remember sometime back in the late 1980s or early 1990s when the FCC decided it was OK for them to say the word "penis" on the air, so of course SNL immediately tried to work it in wherever possible that week. At the time that sort of thing was shocking or surprising, but nowadays its no big deal. Stuff that depends on being edgy in order to be funny isn't likely to seem as funny when it's no longer edgy.


I guess it'll be a while before they do a skit similar to the one featuring Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9TS1pRmajU
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 12:21:57 PM
^^^^

You sure that's Chevy Chase and not a Virginia politician? :bigass:
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 10, 2019, 03:48:36 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 12:21:57 PM
You sure that's Chevy Chase and not a Virginia politician? :bigass:
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/dfzdcp70vlga82zlk9ck.gif)
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 11, 2019, 11:03:14 PM
Hazel, starring Shirley Booth, was great until it moved from ABC to NBC. Apparently NBC did not like Don Defore and Whitney Blake so they had the producers fire them and brought in replacements.   The show got its attraction from the way Hazel and Mr. B got along as they had a love hate relationship (mainly with Mr. B as Hazel was easy going) as Hazel would always do something that at first Mr. Baxter disliked, but then Mr. Baxter would then see that it was all for the good.  Without the Baxters the show lost its appeal.

Welcome Back Kotter in the last season was not the same without Mr. Kotter. In real life Gabe Kaplan had issues with the producers and that is why the Sweathogs were solo a lot and became self contained as in the first two seasons Kotter always solved the issues that were created.  Also to note John Travolta became a recurring star in the last season due to him making it big on screen particularly with Saturday Night Fever at the time.  So the show lost two of its leads, but I must say even with the other Sweathogs they did pull it off.

The only reason why Welcome Back Kotter got cancelled was because the actors in real life were going into their 30's and all thought they were too old.  However, James Komack did get Horshack married in the penultimate episode to Mary Johnson so that the series finale could be a back door pilot for a spin off of the show featuring the lives of Horshack and Mary working in her uncle's business. Apparently, ABC did not pick it up so it ended with them just married and the two working together and nothing about the lives of the rest of the gang.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:28:18 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 10:14:37 AM
Whenever I've seen old SNL footage from the early years that people say was so funny, I always question their sense of humor because most of it never seems all that hilarious. Worthy of a mild chuckle, maybe, but certainly not side-splittingly funny. I've come to suspect it's one of those things where you had to be there because the material was a product of its time. That is, SNL tries to be funny by either skewering current events or pushing the boundaries of what's allowed on TV so as to be edgy. Thing is, what's "edgy" in 1977 is bound to be totally different from what's "edgy" in 2019. I remember sometime back in the late 1980s or early 1990s when the FCC decided it was OK for them to say the word "penis" on the air, so of course SNL immediately tried to work it in wherever possible that week. At the time that sort of thing was shocking or surprising, but nowadays its no big deal. Stuff that depends on being edgy in order to be funny isn't likely to seem as funny when it's no longer edgy.

I suppose a similar analogy might be the Supreme Court case from 1971 or so where a guy had been prosecuted for obscenity for wearing a jacket that said "Fuck the draft." The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on First Amendment grounds. When my constitutional law class discussed that case in 1996, the professor noted how to people of my and my classmates' age that word probably seems "ordinary" and a "standard part of everyday conversation," such that the prosecution would seem bizarre, whereas in 1971 it was scandalous and "THE vilest curse word" such that a lot of people were upset at the Supreme Court's ruling.

agreed, which the early cast was funny at the time it was pretty dated.  I much prefer the early 90s cast, so talented, and everything pretty much has sucked since then.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:33:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.

Including his career
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: english si on February 12, 2019, 06:18:38 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 02:36:11 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Roseanne.  Originally a part of that era's trend of making a show out of a stand up comic's act (Drew Carey, Tim Allen, etc) it devolved into a strident outlet for political invective.
The show was always "Roseanne demolishes poorly-constructed strawmen."  Go back and watch the pilot if you don't believe me.
That said, the show did decline as years went on. And then fell off a cliff with the final season (pre-reboot, and with the exception of maybe the first 2 episodes, and the last 4, where they did ground stuff in what came before) as they do random unwatchable "Roseanne and Jackie play dress-up" idea of the week - sort of like when a band becomes experimental, but seeing the experiments that didn't work as well - which was all of them in this case!

It was saying 'please stop us making this show'* - I think they wanted to give up, but then had to do one more year for contractual reasons, so they decided to simply have fun on set, and not care about whether it made good TV.

*Like Family Guy for about 7 or 8 years now...
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 12, 2019, 09:04:22 AM
Quote from: english si on February 12, 2019, 06:18:38 AM

It was saying 'please stop us making this show'* - I think they wanted to give up, but then had to do one more year for contractual reasons, so they decided to simply have fun on set, and not care about whether it made good TV.

*Like Family Guy for about 7 or 8 years now...

Add the Simpsons to the list who have overstayed their journey.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 12, 2019, 09:18:25 AM
Quote from: english si on February 12, 2019, 06:18:38 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 06, 2019, 02:36:11 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on February 06, 2019, 01:41:47 PM- Roseanne.  Originally a part of that era's trend of making a show out of a stand up comic's act (Drew Carey, Tim Allen, etc) it devolved into a strident outlet for political invective.
The show was always "Roseanne demolishes poorly-constructed strawmen."  Go back and watch the pilot if you don't believe me.
That said, the show did decline as years went on. And then fell off a cliff with the final season (pre-reboot, and with the exception of maybe the first 2 episodes, and the last 4, where they did ground stuff in what came before) as they do random unwatchable "Roseanne and Jackie play dress-up" idea of the week - sort of like when a band becomes experimental, but seeing the experiments that didn't work as well - which was all of them in this case!

It was saying 'please stop us making this show'* - I think they wanted to give up, but then had to do one more year for contractual reasons, so they decided to simply have fun on set, and not care about whether it made good TV.

*Like Family Guy for about 7 or 8 years now...
Oh yes, the last season was awful.  TV Land was running some eps from the "Roseanne, Jackie, Leon, and Sandra Bernhard own and run the Lunch Box/Jackie is pregnant with Fred's baby" season, and that one was pretty bad too.  I bet the show started declining around the time Dan's bike shop went bankrupt.

I'm really enjoying The Connors, never bothered to watch the first season of the reboot and never will.  They stopped discussing Trump openly pretty early, since Jackie doesn't have an obvious foil without Roseanne.  I like that they found a way to cast both actors that played Becky (Sarah Chalke plays a different character).
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 12, 2019, 09:37:45 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:33:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.

Including his career
No McClean Stevenson made a comeback on a sitcom called Hello Larry where he co starred with Kim Richards and Donna Wilkes and Monte Hall's daughter Joanna Gleason.  It lasted 3 seasons and aired on NBC Friday's following Diffrent Strokes in the early 80's.

He played a radio talk show host (before they got political and when Rush Limbaugh was an unknown local host I believe in Sacramento) in a radio station in Portland.  He was a divorced dad who got custody of his two teenage daughters and the show focused on a single dad working and raising his two teenage daughters.  It had scenes in both his radio station and at home.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: PHLBOS on February 13, 2019, 09:35:23 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 12, 2019, 09:37:45 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:33:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.

Including his career
No McClean Stevenson made a comeback on a sitcom called Hello Larry where he co starred with Kim Richards and Donna Wilkes and Monte Hall's daughter Joanna Gleason.  It lasted 3 seasons and aired on NBC Friday's following Diffrent Strokes in the early 80's.
Nope!  Hello Larry lasted only one season, 1979-1980 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078623/).  And it's McLean BTW, not McClean.

To my knowledge, the only ex-M*A*S*H actor (one that left the series years prior to its ending) that went on to a later sitcom that lasted close to/almost as long as their stint on M*A*S*H was Wayne Rogers; who played Dr. Charley Michaels on the sitcom House Calls.  It aired in-between M*A*S*H & Lou Grant on CBS.  That show ran for three seasons (1979-1982) but went downhill mid-way through the third season when co-star Lynn Redgrave (Ann Anderson) was fired from the show & was replaced by Sharon Gless (Jane Jeffries).  The character chemistry between Michaels & Jeffries wasn't the same as it was with Michaels & Anderson in the earlier episodes & seasons.  CBS ultimately cancelled the show.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 13, 2019, 10:45:59 AM
I believe McLean Stevenson was also in the TV adaptation of Dirty Dancing, which was even more short-lived than Hello, Larry!  He was no Jerry Orbach.

Were there any members of the cast of M*A*S*H* that had successful careers after the show, besides Alan Alda?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on February 13, 2019, 11:01:00 AM
IMO, Bonanza all but died with the passing of Dan Blocker.  It survived losing Pernell Roberts, it survived Guy Williams, but losing Hoss was pretty much the end, though looking at the ratings, maybe it was already suffering.



Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: bandit957 on February 13, 2019, 11:05:20 AM
I burst out laughing when I read the Jump the Shark page for '60 Minutes'! Someone said '60 Minutes' jumped the shark when Steve Kroft blew a bubble with bubble gum, and I remember him doing this! He was interviewing someone (I think it was Jon Stewart), and he bubbled a big green bubble!
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 13, 2019, 11:23:46 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 12, 2019, 09:37:45 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:33:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.

Including his career
No McClean Stevenson made a comeback on a sitcom called Hello Larry where he co starred with Kim Richards and Donna Wilkes and Monte Hall's daughter Joanna Gleason.  It lasted 3 seasons and aired on NBC Friday's following Diffrent Strokes in the early 80's.

He played a radio talk show host (before they got political and when Rush Limbaugh was an unknown local host I believe in Sacramento) in a radio station in Portland.  He was a divorced dad who got custody of his two teenage daughters and the show focused on a single dad working and raising his two teenage daughters.  It had scenes in both his radio station and at home.

I loved that show but it was a long time joke about how he gave up Mash for Hello Larry.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: texaskdog on February 13, 2019, 11:25:07 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 13, 2019, 11:05:20 AM
I burst out laughing when I read the Jump the Shark page for '60 Minutes'! Someone said '60 Minutes' jumped the shark when Steve Kroft blew a bubble with bubble gum, and I remember him doing this! He was interviewing someone (I think it was Jon Stewart), and he bubbled a big green bubble!

That site was so great. Then TV guide bought it and folded it.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Takumi on February 13, 2019, 12:47:25 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 13, 2019, 10:45:59 AM
Were there any members of the cast of M*A*S*H* that had successful careers after the show, besides Alan Alda?
Wayne Rogers made a lot of investments and appeared on some stock analysis shows, but that's about it. Jamie Farr also sponsored a women's golf tournament for awhile.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: thenetwork on February 13, 2019, 05:29:04 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 08, 2019, 08:57:29 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

What I hear is notable is how the show went from #1 to cancelled in about two years.

What I heard was NBC wanted to pick up Batman  for a 4th season, but 20th Century Fox had already destroyed much of the Batman sets after hearing of the ABC cancellation.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 14, 2019, 07:36:57 AM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 13, 2019, 11:25:07 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 13, 2019, 11:05:20 AM
I burst out laughing when I read the Jump the Shark page for '60 Minutes'! Someone said '60 Minutes' jumped the shark when Steve Kroft blew a bubble with bubble gum, and I remember him doing this! He was interviewing someone (I think it was Jon Stewart), and he bubbled a big green bubble!

That site was so great. Then TV guide bought it and folded it.

Some folks had attempted to recreate the concept of Jumptheshark.com with "Bone the fish". http://bonethefish.com. And the movie counterpart of "Jump the shark" is "Nuke the fridge" thanks to Indiana Jones using a flying fridge to escape a nuclear test site. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nuke%20the%20fridge
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on February 14, 2019, 08:41:56 AM
Quote from: thenetwork on February 13, 2019, 05:29:04 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 08, 2019, 08:57:29 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

What I hear is notable is how the show went from #1 to cancelled in about two years.

What I heard was NBC wanted to pick up Batman  for a 4th season, but 20th Century Fox had already destroyed much of the Batman sets after hearing of the ABC cancellation.

That's my understanding, as well.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 14, 2019, 09:01:34 AM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 13, 2019, 11:25:07 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 13, 2019, 11:05:20 AM
I burst out laughing when I read the Jump the Shark page for '60 Minutes'! Someone said '60 Minutes' jumped the shark when Steve Kroft blew a bubble with bubble gum, and I remember him doing this! He was interviewing someone (I think it was Jon Stewart), and he bubbled a big green bubble!

That site was so great. Then TV guide bought it and folded it.
Television without Pity was a good site too, but it disappeared for reasons that are unclear.

Quote from: US71 on February 14, 2019, 08:41:56 AM
Quote from: thenetwork on February 13, 2019, 05:29:04 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 08, 2019, 08:57:29 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

What I hear is notable is how the show went from #1 to cancelled in about two years.

What I heard was NBC wanted to pick up Batman  for a 4th season, but 20th Century Fox had already destroyed much of the Batman sets after hearing of the ABC cancellation.

That's my understanding, as well.
Mine too.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Life in Paradise on February 14, 2019, 01:22:41 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 13, 2019, 11:23:46 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 12, 2019, 09:37:45 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 11, 2019, 11:33:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 09, 2019, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on February 09, 2019, 02:50:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on February 06, 2019, 12:11:07 PM
M*A*S*H went downhill after about Season 6, when it became The Alan Alda Show for all intents and purposes.  Were it not for Harry Morgan's great performance as Col. Potter, I really don't think it would have lasted more than another year or two.  He was the somewhat poltiically-incorrect anchor that held it together.

The first 3 with McLean were pretty good.
And then his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spiraled in. There were no survivors.

Including his career
No McClean Stevenson made a comeback on a sitcom called Hello Larry where he co starred with Kim Richards and Donna Wilkes and Monte Hall's daughter Joanna Gleason.  It lasted 3 seasons and aired on NBC Friday's following Diffrent Strokes in the early 80's.

He played a radio talk show host (before they got political and when Rush Limbaugh was an unknown local host I believe in Sacramento) in a radio station in Portland.  He was a divorced dad who got custody of his two teenage daughters and the show focused on a single dad working and raising his two teenage daughters.  It had scenes in both his radio station and at home.

I loved that show but it was a long time joke about how he gave up Mash for Hello Larry.
Hello Larry, was even worse than that.  It only lasted one and a half seasons.  That was his high point after his three years on MASH.  He had a slew of shows that lasted 13 episodes.  You could say that McClean Stevenson "jumped the shark".
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 14, 2019, 01:36:20 PM
It's a little-known fact that McLean Stevenson once portrayed Mr. Clean in a series of TV commercials.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: inkyatari on February 14, 2019, 03:20:59 PM
I hate to say it, but Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Not a Joel vs. Mike thing, it's a Comedy Central vs. SyFy thing.  When the show was on Comedy Central, they pretty much had free reign to do whatever, but on SyFy, they wanted the show to have an ongoing narrative, and this I think, was nowhere near as funny as the skits they did previously.  The movie portions were still fine.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 14, 2019, 03:27:38 PM
Quote from: inkyatari on February 14, 2019, 03:20:59 PMNot a Jole vs. Mike thing,it's a Comedy Central vs. SyFy thing.
I think it's both, and as far as SyFy goes, I think that what made it was worse was either (a) SyFy wanted them to use movies they already owned the rights to or (b) they only wanted them to use sci-fi movies, I don't remember which was the case.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on February 15, 2019, 09:49:55 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 14, 2019, 01:36:20 PM
It's a little-known fact that McLean Stevenson once portrayed Mr. Clean in a series of TV commercials.

His biggest flop was in 1978's "In the Beginning" which only lasted a month.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US 81 on February 16, 2019, 10:52:14 AM
Anyone remember Buck Rogers? The 1970's TV incarnation, starring Gil Gerard? Earth-based military space force --- until suddenly we're far from Earth in an exploratory spaceship...  They kept revamping the setting/format until it didn't make sense....
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Life in Paradise on February 16, 2019, 05:39:39 PM
Quote from: US 81 on February 16, 2019, 10:52:14 AM
Anyone remember Buck Rogers? The 1970's TV incarnation, starring Gil Gerard? Earth-based military space force --- until suddenly we're far from Earth in an exploratory spaceship...  They kept revamping the setting/format until it didn't make sense....
It didn't help that Gil Gerard was behind some of the changes during the period that he was a coke head (he admits it himself).  And Wilma's "uniform" on the exploratory spaceship?  Totally embarrassing to the worst degree.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: MantyMadTown on February 16, 2019, 09:36:27 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.

And what's up with them bringing it back? It's not like we needed any more singing shows after having the X Factor, the Voice, and the first run of American Idol already running around.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 11:12:58 PM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 16, 2019, 09:36:27 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.

And what's up with them bringing it back? It's not like we needed any more singing shows after having the X Factor, the Voice, and the first run of American Idol already running around.
Fremantle wants money.  There's four shows that it owns 100% that air in the US.  They are:

American Idol (ABC)
Family Feud (Syn., "Celebrity" version on ABC)*
Let's Make A Deal (CBS)*
The Price Is Right (CBS)*
*Purchased with acquisition of Pearson Television/All-American Television

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on February 17, 2019, 09:11:36 PM
Lost in Space was better during its first season, but the network thought it was too serious so it basically became the Dr Smith/Will Robinson hour.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Scott5114 on February 18, 2019, 02:57:56 AM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 11:12:58 PM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 16, 2019, 09:36:27 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.

And what's up with them bringing it back? It's not like we needed any more singing shows after having the X Factor, the Voice, and the first run of American Idol already running around.
Fremantle wants money.  There's four shows that it owns 100% that air in the US.  They are:

American Idol (ABC)
Family Feud (Syn., "Celebrity" version on ABC)*
Let's Make A Deal (CBS)*
The Price Is Right (CBS)*
*Purchased with acquisition of Pearson Television/All-American Television

It owns a whole lot more than that, since they have rights to the entire Mark Goodson library of game shows. They own Match Game as well, for example. Granted, they're not making new episodes of most of the Goodson library, but GSN reruns a lot of them.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US 81 on February 18, 2019, 03:38:54 PM
Quote from: US71 on February 17, 2019, 09:11:36 PM
Lost in Space was better during its first season, but the network thought it was too serious so it basically became the Dr Smith/Will Robinson hour.

Lost in Space aired simultaneously (ie, competed for ratings) with Batman. Seems like must have been part of the drive to the camp & silliness that Lost in Space became.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: MantyMadTown on February 19, 2019, 07:30:52 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.

See I thought it started in America with American Idol. Before all these other versions came to be. Was Simon Cowell involved in this one as well before starting the X Factor?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: SP Cook on February 20, 2019, 10:23:34 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 10, 2019, 10:14:37 AM
Whenever I've seen old SNL footage from the early years that people say was so funny, I always question their sense of humor because most of it never seems all that hilarious. Worthy of a mild chuckle, maybe, but certainly not side-splittingly funny. I've come to suspect it's one of those things where you had to be there because the material was a product of its time. That is, SNL tries to be funny by either skewering current events or pushing the boundaries of what's allowed on TV so as to be edgy. Thing is, what's "edgy" in 1977 is bound to be totally different from what's "edgy" in 2019.

Obviously SNL is very dependent on current events and is never going to age as well as a regular sit com or crime drama.  One thing you have to remember is what TV was when SNL first came out.  Most people got between 3 and 6 channels, of which only 3 had new content.  TV was highly self-censored as most advertisers feared touching anything "political" or "sexual".  NBC tossed up SNL in what was really dead time, it really did not care.  Compared to what else was on, it was groundbreaking.

However, the show certainly belongs at the top of any list covering this thread's title.  The first five seasons were pure gold (and another reason you may not find it as funny today is that the most common rerun is a series that edited down material to a 30 minute show and which drew heavily from the 5th season, the worst of the five, because it was the least out of date).  The 6th season was a train wreck about which there are several books.  The following crew which mostly lasted into season 10 was OK and had some solid work.  The following crews were just not that funny and this has been followed, since at least the turn of the century or just before it, by unfunny condecending lefties who just want to cover their political views over and over and over.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 19, 2019, 07:30:52 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.

See I thought it started in America with American Idol. Before all these other versions came to be. Was Simon Cowell involved in this one as well before starting the X Factor?

Many of FOX's reality-type shows have European roots, which is why the main host/figure is British.  Simon Cowell has been involved since Day 1, and is actually still involved as an Executive Producer.

Gordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 10:58:28 AM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 19, 2019, 07:30:52 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.

See I thought it started in America with American Idol. Before all these other versions came to be. Was Simon Cowell involved in this one as well before starting the X Factor?
I'm pretty sure X Factor got its start in Britain too.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Right, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: 1995hoo on February 20, 2019, 11:12:13 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Right, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.

The British version of that show was much better. You actually learned something about the restaurant business. I wonder to what extent the American version airing on FOX might have contributed to the focus on arguing and swearing.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 20, 2019, 11:48:21 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 10:58:28 AM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 19, 2019, 07:30:52 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.

See I thought it started in America with American Idol. Before all these other versions came to be. Was Simon Cowell involved in this one as well before starting the X Factor?
I'm pretty sure X Factor got its start in Britain too.

Yes, which is the point MMT was trying to make in his posted reply.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:51:38 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on February 20, 2019, 11:12:13 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Right, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.

The British version of that show was much better. You actually learned something about the restaurant business. I wonder to what extent the American version airing on FOX might have contributed to the focus on arguing and swearing.
Good question.  The Ramsey we see on MasterChef is closer to the one that was on British television (less shouting and actually helpful on occasion), and that show also airs on FOX.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: kevinb1994 on February 20, 2019, 11:52:30 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 19, 2019, 07:30:52 PM
Quote from: kevinb1994 on February 18, 2019, 07:01:19 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 18, 2019, 06:46:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 18, 2019, 04:53:43 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.
It never should have started to begin with.  Nor any reality show where the appeal is in the host(s) berating and humiliating the contestants.

I think later in the FOX Idol they shifted away from the laughably bad contestants (who I guarantee by this point, if not from the beginning were being bad intentionally for laughs/a better chance at getting on air). A lot of fans were disappointed by this.

Another reason why the format was bad to begin with. Blame the British for starting Pop Idol.

See I thought it started in America with American Idol. Before all these other versions came to be. Was Simon Cowell involved in this one as well before starting the X Factor?

Many of FOX's reality-type shows have European roots, which is why the main host/figure is British.  Simon Cowell has been involved since Day 1, and is actually still involved as an Executive Producer.

Gordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.

I forgot about Simon Cowell still being an executive producer of the since-rebooted-and-revamped American Idol series.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: thenetwork on February 22, 2019, 02:30:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Right, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.

The same could be said with The Weakest Link.  Anne Robinson was not as scolding as she was on her version in the UK.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 22, 2019, 03:23:07 PM
Quote from: thenetwork on February 22, 2019, 02:30:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
Right, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.

The same could be said with The Weakest Link.  Anne Robinson was not as scolding as she was on her version in the UK.
That's what I heard, and I did see an ep of the British version where she sneered "Oh, a trolley dolly?" at a woman that said she was employed as a flight attendant.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 22, 2019, 11:29:21 PM
Threes Company after the Ropers left, and then after Suzanne Sommers left really changed.  When Priscilla Barnes joined the show she could not only fill the shoes of Sommers, but appeared more like a supporting actress rather than main.  Both Jack and Janet held the weight together as they alone were able to keep it all a float by themselves.

Its a shame they nixed Cindy Snow, even as a supporting character she did fine. Then axing everyone from the show in the end except for John Ritter was a dumb idea.  Even fans thought so as Threes A Crowd only lasted the one season as many preferred Threes Company's cast.  Heck, I would have loved to see Jack and Janet get married and had the show Threes A Crowd focus on that.  I bet it would have lasted longer than with Mary Cadorette and Robert Mandan as viewers would have appreciated that scenario a whole lot better as both Jack and Janet after Chrissy was written out did behave like a married couple more despite sleeping in separate bedrooms.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 24, 2019, 09:05:55 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 22, 2019, 11:29:21 PM
Threes Company after the Ropers left, and then after Suzanne Sommers left really changed.  When Priscilla Barnes joined the show she could not only fill the shoes of Sommers, but appeared more like a supporting actress rather than main.  Both Jack and Janet held the weight together as they alone were able to keep it all a float by themselves.

Its a shame they nixed Cindy Snow, even as a supporting character she did fine. Then axing everyone from the show in the end except for John Ritter was a dumb idea.  Even fans thought so as Threes A Crowd only lasted the one season as many preferred Threes Company's cast.  Heck, I would have loved to see Jack and Janet get married and had the show Threes A Crowd focus on that.  I bet it would have lasted longer than with Mary Cadorette and Robert Mandan as viewers would have appreciated that scenario a whole lot better as both Jack and Janet after Chrissy was written out did behave like a married couple more despite sleeping in separate bedrooms.

A more or less similar change happened when All in the Family became Archie Bunker's place beside Gloria and Mike "Meathead" Stivic moving in their own house mentionned earlier and later to California. When they focused more on the bar instead of the Bunker's house along with Jean Stapelton departure (resulting in Edith Bunker's death).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2_QhV1xcw
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: english si on February 24, 2019, 01:49:30 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
It's not really heavier. I guess that, because the kids have a posher, and more London-y, accent than their dad (who has a pretty generic Southern English accent - if he can pass for American based on his voice, then I probably could too!), and posh London accents are one of the most-heard English accents in America, then I can see why you'd think 'heavier'.

Also, the kids enunciate more on screen as they are a bit more formal and nervous with cameras around than their dad (though when he does voice-overs, he does get more formal - cf the pronunciation of 't' sounds as an example) - and it feels a bit more put on, which weighs it down. When they are relaxed, that softens and they sound more like their dad (though still with a slightly different accent, though perhaps not particularly distinguishable if you aren't immersed in it).
Quote from: thenetwork on February 22, 2019, 02:30:19 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 20, 2019, 11:00:14 AMRight, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was originally a British show.  However, in the British version, he actually seemed interested in helping the owners, managers, and staff of the restaurants he visited, as opposed to the American version, where he was mainly interested in driving them to commit suicide.
The same could be said with The Weakest Link.  Anne Robinson was not as scolding as she was on her version in the UK.
Is that not the opposite - Ramsay is nicer in the UK than the US, but Robinson is nicer in the US than the UK (which isn't hard)?

And I'm not convinced there's two different Ramsays in UK and US Kitchen Nightmares - this article (https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/television/how-gordon-ramsay-went-from-being-crusty-but-lovable-in-the-u-k-to-a-fuming-madman-in-the-u-s) suggests that the beeping on US TV makes it sound aggressive, whereas without it in the UK shows that its normally exasperated. Add in that the UK vs US editing - the UK network seeks the tension in the livelihoods and money at stake, the US network seeks the tension in interpersonal relationships and so the arguments take centre-stage. Gordon doing the voiceover in the UK version also helps, whereas the US has someone else do it, and it lacks that pathos that you telling a story you were in brings.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on February 25, 2019, 11:11:22 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on February 24, 2019, 09:05:55 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 22, 2019, 11:29:21 PM
Threes Company after the Ropers left, and then after Suzanne Sommers left really changed.  When Priscilla Barnes joined the show she could not only fill the shoes of Sommers, but appeared more like a supporting actress rather than main.  Both Jack and Janet held the weight together as they alone were able to keep it all a float by themselves.

Its a shame they nixed Cindy Snow, even as a supporting character she did fine. Then axing everyone from the show in the end except for John Ritter was a dumb idea.  Even fans thought so as Threes A Crowd only lasted the one season as many preferred Threes Company's cast.  Heck, I would have loved to see Jack and Janet get married and had the show Threes A Crowd focus on that.  I bet it would have lasted longer than with Mary Cadorette and Robert Mandan as viewers would have appreciated that scenario a whole lot better as both Jack and Janet after Chrissy was written out did behave like a married couple more despite sleeping in separate bedrooms.

A more or less similar change happened when All in the Family became Archie Bunker's place beside Gloria and Mike "Meathead" Stivic moving in their own house mentionned earlier and later to California. When they focused more on the bar instead of the Bunker's house along with Jean Stapelton departure (resulting in Edith Bunker's death).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2_QhV1xcw

John Rich, one of the many producers of All In The Family, said in an interview, that if he still produced the fifth and sixth seasons respectively, he would have not moved the Stivics into their own home and found a way to keep everyone under one roof like in the first four seasons.  Apparently Rich left the show and was replaced by the trio of Don Nichol, Michael Ross, and Bernie West (later producing Three's Company) who originally were writers for the first four seasons.

Actually toward the end of the show after Martin Balsam left it went back to the Bunker Home.  He was replaced by Denise Miller, and when she moved in to Archie's house, at home story lines could be made with the 3 characters in the same house.

It sucked when they made Barney Heffner unemployed after being laid off, as he just hung around the bar sulking and full of self pity.  Of course his wife Blanche left him again to add to his misery as usual she left him for a repairman.  It was the running gag that she first left with a TV repairman, then came back to him to later leave him again for a plumber who came to fix the pipes, and for the final time after she came home left again with the exterminator who came to spray for bugs.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 26, 2019, 11:30:14 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 25, 2019, 11:11:22 PM
John Rich, one of the many producers of All In The Family, said in an interview, that if he still produced the fifth and sixth seasons respectively, he would have not moved the Stivics into their own home and found a way to keep everyone under one roof like in the first four seasons.  Apparently Rich left the show and was replaced by the trio of Don Nichol, Michael Ross, and Bernie West (later producing Three's Company) who originally were writers for the first four seasons.

Actually toward the end of the show after Martin Balsam left it went back to the Bunker Home.  He was replaced by Denise Miller, and when she moved in to Archie's house, at home story lines could be made with the 3 characters in the same house.

It sucked when they made Barney Heffner unemployed after being laid off, as he just hung around the bar sulking and full of self pity.  Of course his wife Blanche left him again to add to his misery as usual she left him for a repairman.  It was the running gag that she first left with a TV repairman, then came back to him to later leave him again for a plumber who came to fix the pipes, and for the final time after she came home left again with the exterminator who came to spray for bugs.


Also, they tried to give Gloria (who came back in the last season, after divorced from Mike) her own spin-off like the Jeffersons but Carroll O'Connor was pleased with this idea.
https://all-in-the-family-tv-show.fandom.com/wiki/Gloria
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: PHLBOS on February 26, 2019, 12:00:18 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on February 26, 2019, 11:30:14 AM
Also, they tried to give Gloria (who came back in the last season, after divorced from Mike) her own spin-off like the Jeffersons but Carroll O'Connor was not pleased with this idea.
https://all-in-the-family-tv-show.fandom.com/wiki/Gloria
FTFY.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 26, 2019, 12:22:04 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 22, 2019, 11:29:21 PM
Threes Company after the Ropers left, and then after Suzanne Sommers left really changed.  When Priscilla Barnes joined the show she could not only fill the shoes of Sommers, but appeared more like a supporting actress rather than main.  Both Jack and Janet held the weight together as they alone were able to keep it all a float by themselves.

Its a shame they nixed Cindy Snow, even as a supporting character she did fine. Then axing everyone from the show in the end except for John Ritter was a dumb idea.  Even fans thought so as Threes A Crowd only lasted the one season as many preferred Threes Company's cast.  Heck, I would have loved to see Jack and Janet get married and had the show Threes A Crowd focus on that.  I bet it would have lasted longer than with Mary Cadorette and Robert Mandan as viewers would have appreciated that scenario a whole lot better as both Jack and Janet after Chrissy was written out did behave like a married couple more despite sleeping in separate bedrooms.
The Three's Company spinoffs didn't really deviate from the Man About The House [the UK series Three's Company was based on] spinoffs for whatever reason, with The Ropers/George and Mildred and Three's A Crowd/Robin's Nest.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on February 26, 2019, 12:23:27 PM
Quote from: english si on February 24, 2019, 01:49:30 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 20, 2019, 10:44:15 AMGordon Ramsey is another person who's shows originally started in Europe before coming to America.  He can easily pass for an American based on his voice (although not his vocabulary).  His kids, semi-frequent guests on his show, have a much-heavier British accent.
It's not really heavier. I guess that, because the kids have a posher, and more London-y, accent than their dad (who has a pretty generic Southern English accent - if he can pass for American based on his voice, then I probably could too!), and posh London accents are one of the most-heard English accents in America, then I can see why you'd think 'heavier'.
I think perhaps jeffandnicole meant his volume and tone and general belligerence, not his accent.  In terms of the former, he's basically the character from Fawlty Towers demanding a Waldorf salad.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on February 26, 2019, 04:03:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 26, 2019, 12:22:04 PM
The Three's Company spinoffs didn't really deviate from the Man About The House [the UK series Three's Company was based on] spinoffs for whatever reason, with The Ropers/George and Mildred and Three's A Crowd/Robin's Nest.

Speaking of UK series, we could mention Space 1999 where they did some big cast changes in season 2. In season 1, Barry Morse was part of the cast but his role was deleted in season 2, only Martin Landau et Barbara Bain stayed for season 2. 

Doctor Who, a very popular UK series, got lots of changes,  in casting where some companions of the Doctor left and others arrive and also the idea of regeneration came when it was needed to replace the original Doctor Who, William Hartnell who was ill at the time and the show was popular in the UK.
https://youtu.be/V-VE7t_Qnu4
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: wanderer2575 on March 15, 2019, 09:46:35 PM
I Love Lucy totally changed when the setting moved from the New York apartment building to Hollywood.  The show became nothing more than Lucy's character fawning over the guest star of the week (playing him/herself).

After Rod Serling and producer Buck Houghton left The Twilight Zone after its third season, the show mostly changed from good storytelling and social commentary/moral lesson/giving the underdog a second chance to just "weird stuff happens."  There was still a handful of really good episodes, but they were fewer and farther between.  Serling was still host and wrote the majority of the scripts, but his attention was largely elsewhere.  The show's final producer in its last season, William Froug, had no clue of Serling's original vision or what made a good TZ episode.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on March 16, 2019, 09:57:47 AM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on February 26, 2019, 04:03:47 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on February 26, 2019, 12:22:04 PM
The Three's Company spinoffs didn't really deviate from the Man About The House [the UK series Three's Company was based on] spinoffs for whatever reason, with The Ropers/George and Mildred and Three's A Crowd/Robin's Nest.

Speaking of UK series, we could mention Space 1999 where they did some big cast changes in season 2. In season 1, Barry Morse was part of the cast but his role was deleted in season 2, only Martin Landau et Barbara Bain stayed for season 2. 

Doctor Who, a very popular UK series, got lots of changes,  in casting where some companions of the Doctor left and others arrive and also the idea of regeneration came when it was needed to replace the original Doctor Who, William Hartnell who was ill at the time and the show was popular in the UK.
https://youtu.be/V-VE7t_Qnu4


It's become a joke among fans that the series has been ruined by the new Doctor which eventually evolves into "he can't leave"
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: vdeane on March 16, 2019, 09:51:00 PM
The same thing happens with the people who produce the show.  Everyone hated Russell T Davies until Steven Moffat came along, and everyone hated Steven Moffat until Chris Chibnall became showrunner.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman65 on March 16, 2019, 10:42:39 PM
Dallas changed dramatically after the dream season.  First of all where did Ray get his two story house that was not seen before the dream?  How come the fake Jock story was allowed to stay the same even after Pam woke up?  That was the only constant of it all as the rest of the storylines faded, but that one.

Basically Dallas changed big when Jim Davis died, but it got worse when the dream ended.  Then it got to be so boring the last season, and why did they ever have Jenna give birth to Bobby's baby to only have Ray become its father.  I know that they never got Ray and Donna together again cause of show cutbacks as Susan Howard got let go after that season, however Victoria Principal left the same time, so producers could ofhad her take her place.  Then Steve Kanaly was let go (hence him and Jenna getting together),  Linda Gray got the ax too, and then that whole thing having JR have another son was a dumb idea as well as him going to prison in Arkansas just for sleeping with that girl Cally as the Sheriff was a kangaroo peace officer with a very unconstitutional court system that does not even report infractions to the system that records crimes, so JR did not even get a record for his time spent).  Oh and that sheriff did not put two and two together when JR tied the not with Cally and was recorded in his town's hall of records.  That had to be one dumb sheriff if he could not find the wanted JR in his own jurisdiction with info leading to him right there.

That show went downhill fast in the end.  The reunion movies were good I must say.  The TNT series was just a reboot of an alternate reality of the show, though good story lines.  Making Cliff a sociopath was a little hard to believe as he was too dumb in the original series to pull that one off, plus in the end after Pam left Cliff Barnes made peace with the Ewings except JR (for obvious reasons) so his vendetta did not even belong.  They should have continued the story from the two CBS made for TV movies, but being it was TNT show they wanted it to be a different reality than the original. CBS if they had picked it up again, would have not allowed most of the stuff on the reboot and insist they continue from where the original show left off.  If I am correct, the TNT reboot did not address what happened in the final scene of the original series when JR pulled the trigger and Bobby walked in to say "Oh my God!"  He was just alive in a nursing home and no mention of how he survived that bullet or what happened when Bobby walked in.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on March 16, 2019, 11:29:40 PM
Quote from: vdeane on March 16, 2019, 09:51:00 PM
The same thing happens with the people who produce the show.  Everyone hated Russell T Davies until Steven Moffat came along, and everyone hated Steven Moffat until Chris Chibnall became showrunner.
No.  Steven Moffat made everyone wish for Russel Davies.  Then, Steven Moffat stuck around for way too long and his ego went through the roof due to Sherlock.  Jury is still out on Chibnall (series was quite erratic in quality) and I find most of the harsh criticism of Jodie Whittaker to be based in sexism more than anything else (i.e., The Doctor must always be a dude).  I don't find much objectionable about Jodie, myself, but the juvenile nature of a couple of the episodes make me worried about Chibnall.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: KeithE4Phx on March 17, 2019, 02:42:02 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 11, 2019, 11:03:14 PM
Hazel, starring Shirley Booth, was great until it moved from ABC to NBC. Apparently NBC did not like Don Defore and Whitney Blake so they had the producers fire them and brought in replacements.   The show got its attraction from the way Hazel and Mr. B got along as they had a love hate relationship (mainly with Mr. B as Hazel was easy going) as Hazel would always do something that at first Mr. Baxter disliked, but then Mr. Baxter would then see that it was all for the good.  Without the Baxters the show lost its appeal.

Close.  The first four seasons (1961-65) were on NBC, while the last one (1965-66, after Don DeFore and Whitney Blake were fired) was on CBS.  It was a lame-brained attempt to "get younger."  They still had Baxters, just different Baxters.  Maybe they should have cast then-7 year old Ted McGinley as Harold's best friend.  :)
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: hbelkins on March 17, 2019, 04:14:41 PM
The idea behind the "Dallas" reboot was that the crown had passed from JR to John Ross, and from Bobby to Christopher.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: vdeane on March 17, 2019, 09:51:29 PM
Quote from: Rothman on March 16, 2019, 11:29:40 PM
Quote from: vdeane on March 16, 2019, 09:51:00 PM
The same thing happens with the people who produce the show.  Everyone hated Russell T Davies until Steven Moffat came along, and everyone hated Steven Moffat until Chris Chibnall became showrunner.
No.  Steven Moffat made everyone wish for Russel Davies.  Then, Steven Moffat stuck around for way too long and his ego went through the roof due to Sherlock.  Jury is still out on Chibnall (series was quite erratic in quality) and I find most of the harsh criticism of Jodie Whittaker to be based in sexism more than anything else (i.e., The Doctor must always be a dude).  I don't find much objectionable about Jodie, myself, but the juvenile nature of a couple of the episodes make me worried about Chibnall.
I'm pretty sure there were people complaining even earlier in his run.  Incidentally, Series 9 was supposed to be his last, so even he wasn't looking to be around as long as he was.

I like Jodie; I just wish she had better material to be in.  Though maybe I'm just missing Murray Gold; someone replaced the background music for the scene where she confronts Tzim Sha with 12's theme and it sounded a LOT more epic.  Alas, I can't seem to find that version right now, but I was able to dig up the original, for reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X05oCNxgKPE
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Rothman on March 17, 2019, 10:07:50 PM
Heh.  The new theme is really lame (muffled dubstep nonsense).
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on March 18, 2019, 08:34:24 AM
Quote from: Rothman on March 17, 2019, 10:07:50 PM
Heh.  The new theme is really lame (muffled dubstep nonsense).

Well, no one can replace Delia Derbyshire & Ron Grainer.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman on March 18, 2019, 09:19:20 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 06, 2019, 11:45:23 AM
Are they all on YouTube somewhere (copyright, what copyright?)

Actually, YouTube is very aggressive in dealing with copyright violations.  They routinely (and almost immediately) drop postings when they receive complaints of potential copyright infringement.  I've had times where a posting shows up on the "recommended for you" list, only to get the "Removed for copyright reasons" when I click on it.  Which raises a question.  If the posting has been removed, why is it on my recommended list?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman on March 18, 2019, 09:24:18 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on February 08, 2019, 08:59:18 PM
'The Simpsons' was great for its first 27 12 years or so. Now it's nothing.

FIFY
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman on March 18, 2019, 01:10:57 PM
Quote from: MantyMadTown on February 16, 2019, 09:36:27 PM
Quote from: RobbieL2415 on February 16, 2019, 09:25:53 PM
American Idol should have stopped after season six.

And what's up with them bringing it back? It's not like we needed any more singing shows after having the X Factor, the Voice, and the first run of American Idol already running around.
The Voice is another show that has long overstayed its welcome.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

I'm sure many of us didn't appreciate it when we watched it as kids, but Batman vs The Penguin for the mayor of Gotham City was a great commentary on how outlandish some aspects of our political system are.  And this was in 1968 - things have only gotten worse since then.  To me, the decline of Batman really began when they introduced Batgirl, and accelerated when they dropped the two-episodes per plot (and the inevitable cliffhanger ending of episode 1) in favor of the single episode format.

Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: US71 on March 19, 2019, 10:40:46 AM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

I'm sure many of us didn't appreciate it when we watched it as kids, but Batman vs The Penguin for the mayor of Gotham City was a great commentary on how outlandish some aspects of our political system are.  And this was in 1968 - things have only gotten worse since then.  To me, the decline of Batman really began when they introduced Batgirl, and accelerated when they dropped the two-episodes per plot (and the inevitable cliffhanger ending of episode 1) in favor of the single episode format.



Batgirl was brought in, in part, because ratings were slipping. 
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: PHLBOS on March 19, 2019, 01:24:42 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

I'm sure many of us didn't appreciate it when we watched it as kids, but Batman vs The Penguin for the mayor of Gotham City was a great commentary on how outlandish some aspects of our political system are.  And this was in 1968 - things have only gotten worse since then.
Never mind 1968, the 1939 movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington with Jimmy Stewart showed such as well.  When that movie was released, it was heavily criticized by many politicians at the time.  I guess the story-line & its elements touched a few nerves.

Edit: it was not my intention to steer this thread off-topic.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on March 19, 2019, 02:47:27 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on March 19, 2019, 01:24:42 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
Quote from: kphoger on February 08, 2019, 06:12:24 PM
Batman got pretty lame, and it really didn't take all that long.  In the second season, Batman ran for city mayor and encouraged people to vote.  Not exactly superhero escapades.

I'm sure many of us didn't appreciate it when we watched it as kids, but Batman vs The Penguin for the mayor of Gotham City was a great commentary on how outlandish some aspects of our political system are.  And this was in 1968 - things have only gotten worse since then.
Never mind 1968, the 1939 movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington with Jimmy Stewart showed such as well.  When that movie was released, it was heavily criticized by many politicians at the time.  I guess the story-line & its elements touched a few nerves.
I started reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 2016 and was struck by how little had changed.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: lepidopteran on March 19, 2019, 03:02:01 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
...when they dropped the two-episodes per plot (and the inevitable cliffhanger ending of episode 1) in favor of the single episode format.
Amazing how I still hear the catchphrase "Same bat-time, same bat-channel" decades later, in reference to a recurring event or such.  I even use the line myself sometimes.

Wasn't there at least one cliffhanger that the dynamic duo had no real way of getting out of?  And when they returned the next day, they already had escaped, with one of them beginning with something like "Can't believe how we got out of that one, Batman!"
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: abefroman329 on March 19, 2019, 03:23:48 PM
Quote from: lepidopteran on March 19, 2019, 03:02:01 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
...when they dropped the two-episodes per plot (and the inevitable cliffhanger ending of episode 1) in favor of the single episode format.
Amazing how I still hear the catchphrase "Same bat-time, same bat-channel" decades later, in reference to a recurring event or such.  I even use the line myself sometimes.

Wasn't there at least one cliffhanger that the dynamic duo had no real way of getting out of?  And when they returned the next day, they already had escaped, with one of them beginning with something like "Can't believe how we got out of that one, Batman!"
I thought they still used the "same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!" sign off even when the ep wasn't a cliffhanger.  And yes, I remember an ep like the one where you described, where they didn't show the escape.
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: Stephane Dumas on March 20, 2019, 07:19:45 AM
Quote from: lepidopteran on March 19, 2019, 03:02:01 PM
Quote from: roadman on March 18, 2019, 05:09:53 PM
...when they dropped the two-episodes per plot (and the inevitable cliffhanger ending of episode 1) in favor of the single episode format.
Amazing how I still hear the catchphrase "Same bat-time, same bat-channel" decades later, in reference to a recurring event or such.  I even use the line myself sometimes.

Wasn't there at least one cliffhanger that the dynamic duo had no real way of getting out of?  And when they returned the next day, they already had escaped, with one of them beginning with something like "Can't believe how we got out of that one, Batman!"

I wonder what if instead of airing back then the 2nd part of the Bat-episode the following day, they aired it the following week?
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: davewiecking on March 20, 2019, 08:39:16 AM
There were some episodes that were 3 parters, which did extend into the next bat-week...
Title: Re: TV Shows that started out good and toward the end it changed totally
Post by: roadman on March 21, 2019, 11:33:12 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 19, 2019, 03:23:48 PM
I thought they still used the "same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!" sign off even when the ep wasn't a cliffhanger.  And yes, I remember an ep like the one where you described, where they didn't show the escape.
Years ago, The Simpsons did a parody of that.  Bart and Adam West are trapped in a situation they can't get out of, and Adam says "Don't worry Bart.  Any minute now, the director will yell "Cut", and we can just climb down from here."