Jump The Shark🦈: TV Programs That Weren't Cancelled Soon Enough 📺

[Floyd R. Turbo]

[AzureCrest]

1. Cop Rock?

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. What a disaster!

[byronius]

28. Okay, made me look. Holy #%#$%. What is that. What is that.

How.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

36. I know!

[earthshine]

3. LA Law ...

ran about four seasons too many. I stopped after four or five.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

4. You got that right!

[Hortensis]

19. I loved it. CA liberal law show without radical silliness.

Born and raised in CA here. We're dating ourselves, though, and surprised to see it even mentioned. Is it even rentable anywhere?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

47. Didn't they start having problems actually completing episodes on time after the first couple years?

Or am I thinking of Moonlighting?

[TheDebbieDee]

53. That was definitely Moonlighting!

[Coventina]

5. Not sure about cancellations, but here is my list of shows that went off the rails:

1. Twin Peaks (the first one)
2. X-Files (again, the first one)
3. Heroes (I didn't even bother with the reboot)
4. The Simpsons (yes, once in a while they still come up with a decent episode, but that's the exception, not the rule).
5. All the Seth McFarland shows.
6. Charmed

I'm sure I'll think of more, later.....

[Floyd R. Turbo]

9. Good list!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

38. I stopped actively watching Simpsons around S12-13

Agree with you about all of the Seth McFarlane shows. Is Family Guy STILL running?

What happened with Charmed? I'm on S3 and generally enjoy the show. When does it JTS?

[Coventina]

39. *caution* *spoiler* (you haven't seen this yet)

For me, it was when they killed off Prue and brought in Rose McGowan.

Also, from that point on, they kept changing the backstory.
They would reference something in the past, and I'd be like, "That's not how it happened."

[Proud Liberal Dem]

40. I've seen bits and pieces of Charmed post-S3 so I know about Prue/RMG

n/t

[Coventina]

41. OK, good. I'm glad I didn't ruin anything for you.

Believe me, I was a HUGE fan of the show up to that point.

But, it gradually came all unraveled and didn't stick to its own mythology. That drove me crazy.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

42. I think that sort of thing ruins most shows

Internal consistency is necessary to tell a good story IMHO. OTOH sometimes the writers have to deal with unexpected situations with actors coming or going and sometimes they write themselves into corners they can't escape. In S2, the sisters find out that there mother had been with a Whitelighter. Was that supposed to have been the origin of RMG's character (though she wasn't hinted at at the time)? I don't think that Doherty's departure was necessarily planned. I feel like I heard that there had been some conflict between her and management?

The main writer/creator for one of my favorite shows, Babylon 5, purposely wrote "escape hatches" and other ways to handle the unexpected loss or absence of a particular character, which he turned out to have to use more than once during the run of the show.

[Coventina]

43. Yeah, I think Doherty basically got "fired" from the show.

I think it could have been possible to kill her character off and resume with RMG's in a way that would have made more sense.

Of course, I'm trying to remember shows I haven't watched for a long time, but the way I remember it, the cliffhanger that ends S3 was not at all resolved except to say "Prue's dead! Oh no!" and didn't at all explain how they got out of the mess they were in, except that Prue died in the process, but they came through just fine, somehow.


I actually enjoyed RMG's character, but then they just kept changing the past timeline. I don't know if new writers just didn't bother watching the first season or what, but the inaccuracies and inconsistencies just drove me crazy and I had to quit watching.

It bummed me out because, like I said, I had really loved the show the first 3 seasons.

[hurple]

56. Heroes

Heroes was ruined by the truncated season caused by the writer's strike. They had to scrap over half tje season and never picked up that story again.

They also had the problem of "meh" resolutions to their biggest plots.

And Sylar got so popular they felt they had to "rehabilitate" him.

And the carnival.

[Va Lefty]

6. Wow I can think of a few although very few shows go out at the top of their game

Bewitched-- Dick York/Dick Sargent nuff said

Beverly Hillbillies--B/W episodes were great color not so much

Good Times--After John Amos was fired it went downhill fast limped along for 3 more years

The Waltons--Show was declining but Will Geer's death really hurt.

All in The Family--it was already trending down but Mike and Gloria moving west accelerated the demise

Laverne and Shirley--moving west in an attempt to pump new blood into show failed

MASH--Huge fan but they set the bar very high in the early years and many of the later shows could not meet it

Hill Street Blues--first 4 seasons were great, groundbreaking for a police show. Don't know if they changed writers but show very different after S4

Dallas--Bobby's Death/dream season; really?

Cheers--even though ratings remained strong and some very good episodes, the last 2 years were not "up to par" from previous years

[Floyd R. Turbo]

10. Excellent!

[Warpy]

55. "Laugh In" Season one was fresh, irreverent, and very new

By the end of season two, it was starting to get formulaic. Subsequent seasons were painful to watch, but friends always watched it every single week. I didn't have a TV, thank goodness.

"My Mother the Car" shouldn't have made it through the pilot.

[hurple]

57. Completley disagree about MASH

[Coventina]

7. I want to add "Big Bang Theory" to my list.

The show no longer works for me with babies and Sheldon sex.

It remains super popular, though, so what do I know?

[Floyd R. Turbo]

11. Admittedly, I've never watched it!

[Coventina]

13. The first 6 seasons are GREAT.

(If you like nerdy stuff like sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, academia, and can relate to social awkwardness).

The seventh season is so-so, worth watching overall.

After that, meh.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

14. Thanks!

[rurallib]

23. you are not alone, believe me.

I am beginning to think that 5 to 6 years is about it for a TV show.

[Jake Stern]

8. The Wonder Years

One episode was too many.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

12. Including the pilot! 😏

[TlalocW]

15. Most soap operas

In college, I worked one summer for the physical plant painting dorm rooms. We would take our lunch breaks in the dorm lounges and watch TV, but all that was on were soap operas, and while we could follow the basic plot, there would sometimes be a surprise return of a character that was supposed to mean something that we didn't get. I found out from a soap opera aficionado that sometimes these characters hadn't appeared on the show for years - even decades, which I thought was ridiculous.

The Mexicans do it right with their telenovelas - have them end.

TlalocW

[Floyd R. Turbo]

17. Totally agree!

[EL34x4]

16. Married With Children

The last couple of seasons it was clear everyone involved was phoning it in. The jokes were stale and recycled and they were pretty much relying on the T&A factor, writing in as many scenes featuring models in bikinis that they could get away with.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

18. Absolutely!

[spooky3]

26. Agree--this was a much funnier and more clever

Series than the critics gave them credit for. But toward the end it was weak -- except for the last two episodes!

[Ron Obvious]

20. Magnum PI and Remington Steele

They were fine up until their final seasons, which were terrible. Magnum should have died in the cliffhanger episode as was the original intent and boy, did Pierce Brosnan so obviously not want to be there for that final season of Remington Steele, since he had to pass up the opportunity to play James Bond.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

21. Good ones!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

22. My Mother, the Car & Knight Rider

Basically, anything with a talking car in it.

[rurallib]

24. Roseanne and Home Improvement

Roseanne kind of got crappy fairly early, limped for a couple years and then went to the bottom.

As the kids got older on Home Improvement it went down fast.

[dembotoz]

25. Bones couldn't really watch the last season

[spooky3]

27. Frasier n/t

[Hokie]

29. Barnaby Jones

Buddy Ebsen was Jed Clampett period.

The last few seasons of Gilligan's Island. How many times could they almost get off the island?

Every episode of Airwolf for god sakes.

[madaboutharry]

30. Once Upon A Time

I stopped watching after season 4 when it became The Disney Show. Maybe it got back on track, but it lost its way.

The Good Wife, zero chemistry the last two years.

[freddyvh]

31. a few

2 and a half men. first few years were funny when the kid was young. it got old and stale later.

CSI. seemed to go downhill after william petersen left

american idol. only a couple of the winners did anything after the show

99% of the crap on MTV, including what I hear is a Jersey shore reboot

duck dynasty. how did that crap even make it on air?

[Docreed2003]

32. No one is going to mention "Grey's Anatomy"???

Pretty sure the shark they jumped is now retired, toothless, and living a comfortable life off Cape Cod!!

[Initech]

33. Dexter

The fourth season was one of the best ever - John Lithgow was an amazing villain and an intriguing character. And that season can be watched over and over. And it had that massive twist of an ending. It went from that to one of the worst series finale in TV history.

[Leith]

34. I'm Surprised Nobody Mentioned These

Lost

Survivor

[EllieBC]

44. Lost should have ended around season 5.

I'm worried about Westworld for this reason. It's the same people and if they get all crazy it'll get just as lame.

[aquamarina]

35. Dexter

The last two seasons were just awful. And the series end should go down as one of the all time worst.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

37. This may be a controversial choice

Last edited Tue Jul 18, 2017, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

but I thought that Buffy The Vampire Slayer could/should have ended with S3 (or at least after S5 if you want to be charitable). Being in High School and dealing with High School was a significant part of the appeal of the show for me. Once the Scoobies graduated High School and the school itself, well, literally blew up, the show felt like it lost a part of it that made it special and there were too few episodes after S3 that I could really say I enjoyed. When I do a re-watch, I mostly only watch eps from Seasons 1-3 (or mostly, 2-3) and not pay attention to the rest.

[EllieBC]

45. Homicide.

I love that show. Love it with all my heart but the last season and goodbye film killed me.

[Yavin4]

46. John from Cincinnati

Terrible awful show.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

48. Bonanza

The first couple seasons without Adam were OK but things got crappy after that. Repetitive story lines, characters that didn't fit, 40 YO Joe and Hoss acting like they're 20, Hoss's weight getting way out of control, way too many of those cheesy zoom shots typical of the early 70's. A handful of episodes still came off OK but for the most part it just wasn't working any more.

[FSogol]

49. Northern Exposure and Heroes n/t

[Nac Mac Feegle]

50. I can't believe that no one has mentioned this one

The Apprentice.

It shouldn't even have had a second episode.

Actually it shouldn't have had ONE episode.

[lkinwi]

51. The Mary Tyler Moore Show when Rhoda left.

Rhoda (spinoff) when they broke up her marriage to Joe.

[mucifer]

52. I really believe shows can't last more than 5 seasons without jumping the shark

They run out of ideas. Either they repeat the same thing or they get ridiculous.

[hurple]

54. Starting next year

Once Upon A Time

[hurple]

58. The syfy Battlestar Galactica

They wrote to a PERFECT ending, finding Earth destroyed by a nuclear war...

And then went back out to space for another season of "eh?"