Sitcoms that Lasted Exactly As Long as They Should Have

[Retro4Life]

Most popular sitcoms fall into one of two categories; either they lasted a bit too long and kind of outstayed their welcome (I'd put Frasier in this category), or they ended too soon and left a lot of good stories untold (I'd put WKRP here).

But which ones ended just when they should have? I think for the sake of brevity we shouldn't list a thousand horrible sitcoms that ended quickly, reasoning "yep, they were horrible and they ended just when they should have!"

Let's set a 3 year minimum run time for this thread, OK?

I'll start off with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

:)

[Tubehead]

Mine wouldbe
famiy matter it just became urkle show then they did cloning and went back in time. didn't hardly show the kids in any rbarley showedharritedon it.


boy mets world. they made erice stupid. i didn't like the ones were after they got marrid. iactully thought they runied their wedding epsidoe. it wasn't even theire real name. they usedfakes names. i think it went down hill.

[Adamantium]

Well, of course, this is an opinion. But I have to say "Taxi." It was on for five seasons and I think that was perfect for that show. It never "jumped the shark", nor did it drag on for many years past it's prime. The only thing upsetting about the show was no series finale. But the length of the show was just great.

Also, "The Odd Couple." It was another five season sitcom. It even had a nice ending to it's run. I don't think there was a whole lot more to do with Oscar and Felix, other than let them move on in their lives, which is exactly what happens at the end of the fifth year.

[Marvo301]

Another five season show that I think ended at the right moment is "The Dick Van Dyke Show". They were still on top of their game and had a great concluding episode that brought the story full circle. Absolutey perfect.

[Schmoopie]

As much as I hated to see it end, I'm going to say Seinfeld. Jerry was right when he said that to do another season would be making a great thing seem mediocre. I think the cast probably felt that it was the right time to end it and it had a wonderful 9 year run. That's pretty good for a sitcom that started out as a mid-season replacement, and whose first season is only four episodes. Jerry was offered millions of dollars to keep the show going for at least another season and he turned it down. Now that's a classy guy! I know he didn't need the money at all but I'm sure a lot of these shows ran their course way before the show had acutally ended; and I think a lot of that has to do with money. I'm glad that Jerry wanted the show to end in a positive way, instead of making it just another sitcom.

[Schmoopie]

I'm going to add another one here and say "Felicity". Now honestly, I only watched the first season so my post may not really be "valid", but they purposely made that series to last four years, which was the length that Felicity (Keri Russell) was in college. Most shows dealing with school keep going after graduation (ie: Saved By The Bell) and it ruins the feel of the show. I don't know about shows like "Welcome Back Kotter". I haven't watched it in so long that I'm not sure if that show ended after graduation or not.

[rebafan1]

Reba deffinitly ended on a high point without jumping the shark.

[clj2]

I Love Lucy and The Golden Girls both had nice, long runs and ended at appropriate times.

[benjamoon]

I agree with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "I Love Lucy" and I would also add "The Dick Van Dyke Show"

[DSfan]

I think Home Improvement ended at a good time. If it had another season it probably would have overstayed its welcome. Some may say it already was doing that, maybe a little bit, but I think it was a good time for it to end.

Now, this may be a little controversial, but I think Wonder Years ended at a good time. Although it would've been nice to see them graduate high school, I think some of those season 6 episodes were starting to go downhill with Fred Savage become more mature and it just seemed a bit like he was ready to move on. Also, considering it was called the Wonder Years, after high school it really wouldn't have necessarily been Kevin Arnold's Wonder Years much longer. Can we say we would've liked to see them all in college together? I think that would be too big a change or they all go separate ways so no matter what I think that show was over but they definitely should've done a graduation episode as the last or a scene of the last episode.

[comedyfreak]

I think What's happening ended at the right time it went 3 seasons and ended with Raj and Rerun in college living on campus.

[Torgo]

I think Leave It To Beaver ended at a good time. They could have gone on and had Beaver go into high school, but they may have ended up repeating storylines already used for Wally.

[Retro4Life]

I think Leave It To Beaver ended at a good time. They could have gone on and had Beaver go into high school, but they may have ended up repeating storylines already used for Wally.

Yeah, that's a good one. The show was about Beaver being a "kid" and though technically he still was when it ended (I believe he was 14), at that point the dynamics of the show would have radically changed. Wally would have been off to college and it wouldn't have made sense to have him hanging around as much, and Beaver's own stories would, as you point out, probably have copied Wally's teen stories.

I'd also like to add "Barney Miller" to the mix. Some saw a decline in quality the last year or so, but I didn't. I just saw the characters growing and the squad room kind of winding down, the way things do in real life. It was still fresh and funny up to the end. If it had gone on, I think, again, there would have been a temptation to repeat themselves as they'd more or less exhausted most of the relevant story lines for the characters.

[megamanj2004]

I thought that Soap ended when it did after 4 seasons. Any longer and this show would've really ended up sillier than what it was in its last season or two.

Family Ties ended at the right time after 7 seasons with Alex graduationg from school.

Most of Carsey-Werner's shows fall under the trap of overstaying its welcome i.e., The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That '70s Show, etc.

[OOliver]

All In The Family, Good Times, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley - all went on too long.

Phyllis, Rhoda, Designing Women, could have stayed longer IF they got new writers who knew what to do with the characters.

[Miss Lisa]

I thought that Soap ended when it did after 4 seasons. Any longer and this show would've really ended up sillier than what it was in its last season or two.

Family Ties ended at the right time after 7 seasons with Alex graduationg from school.

Most of Carsey-Werner's shows fall under the trap of overstaying its welcome i.e., The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That '70s Show, etc.

I agree with Soap. Even though it never actually ended, I would have almost hated to see what they would have done with a fifth season. the first two seasons at least tried to stay a bit down to earth, well, as cloase as Soap would get to it at least, but after the whole Corrine and Tim wedding was when things really started getting goofy, like the possessed baby and the whole real Burt and alien Burt thing. I loved the possessed baby, but it tipped off the unraveling of the show.

[James]

Although it would've been nice to see them [the cast of "The Wonder Years"] graduate high school, I think some of those season 6 episodes were starting to go downhill with Fred Savage become more mature and it just seemed a bit like he was ready to move on.

You're not the only one that noticed he was more rebellious in his high school years. I thought that was the result of Neal Marlens and Carol Black cutting and running from the show. If I recall, Marlens and Black did that Roseanne spinoff called The Jackie Thomas Show which only lasted one season--ending in 1993 just like TWY at that! They could have come back to TWY and turned Kevin back into the lovable kid he was! It's too bad the folks at ABC (and Revlon, whose pulling of sponsorship was a major factor according to Dan Lauria/Jack Arnold in an interview) lacked vision and prevented this from happening.


Also, considering it was called the Wonder Years, after high school it really wouldn't have necessarily been Kevin Arnold's Wonder Years much longer. Can we say we would've liked to see them all in college together? I think that would be too big a change or they all go separate ways so no matter what I think that show was over but they definitely should've done a graduation episode as the last or a scene of the last episode.

I think they could have gone to college together. I remember quite a few of my high school friends went with me to college; I was not ready to "let go". Heck, I'll take it a step further and say I could see them all living together in the same apartment complex after college! (Oh, and the writers on Laverne and Shirley went yet another step further and had Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, Squiggy, and Carmine move from Milwaukee to California! Do you REALLY think going to college together--let alone the Golden State--wouldn't work?)

[DSfan]

You're not the only one that noticed he was more rebellious in his high school years. I thought that was the result of Neal Marlens and Carol Black cutting and running from the show. If I recall, Marlens and Black did that Roseanne spinoff called The Jackie Thomas Show which only lasted one season--ending in 1993 just like TWY at that! They could have come back to TWY and turned Kevin back into the lovable kid he was! It's too bad the folks at ABC (and Revlon, whose pulling of sponsorship was a major factor according to Dan Lauria/Jack Arnold in an interview) lacked vision and prevented this from happening.




I think they could have gone to college together. I remember quite a few of my high school friends went with me to college; I was not ready to "let go". Heck, I'll take it a step further and say I could see them all living together in the same apartment complex after college! (Oh, and the writers on Laverne and Shirley went yet another step further and had Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, Squiggy, and Carmine move from Milwaukee to California! Do you REALLY think going to college together--let alone the Golden State--wouldn't work?)

It's not that I couldn't SEE them going to the same college but then you wouldn't have Kevin's parents and it would've needed to be a spinoff like Saved by the Bell did - we all know that, while it wasn't terrible, was not a success and did not retain the same feel that the original one had because the show was too different because as they got older the real world started to matter and I think that the Wonder Years was all about the time in life BEFORE the so-called real world and that could have destroyed the innocence of the show. If they did the whole college thing, then we'd all be on here saying why didn't they just end it when it was truly ended.

[James]

... I think that the Wonder Years was all about the time in life BEFORE the so-called real world and that could have destroyed the innocence of the show. If they did the whole college thing, then we'd all be on here saying why didn't they just end it when it was truly ended.

How would the "innocence" of the show have been "destroyed", DSFan? I don't quite understand. Kevin would be in college to study, which is innocent.

[DSfan]

How would the "innocence" of the show have been "destroyed", DSFan? I don't quite understand. Kevin would be in college to study, which is innocent.

Yeah, maybe I didn't use quite the proper wording there. I just wouldn't have liked the idea of college, or actually let's say I can't see them doing college episodes. Maybe you can explain me how you would have continued the series from where it was. I feel like maybe I'm just biased from being disappointed by Saved by the Bell the College Years. I just want to make clear that I'm not dissing the show in any way - it is, in my opinion, the most well-written show of all-time and probably my favorite show EVER!

Please tell me, if you were producer let's say or whatever, how would you have continued the series from the episode before it finished technically. I am interested in seeing your opinion because I would forsure love to imagine a better ending or another way for the show to continue.

[James]

Please tell me, if you were producer let's say or whatever, how would you have continued the series from the episode before it finished technically. I am interested in seeing your opinion because I would forsure love to imagine a better ending or another way for the show to continue.

OK, DSfan. Here I go!

I posted the following on January 7, 2001, the day I registered at SitcomsOnline.com:

For current events I would have loved to have seen Watergate (and the rise of Gerald Ford after the resignation of Richard Nixon), the end of the Vietnam War, America's bicentennial, the 1975-76 Big Red Machine, Happy Days (and Mork & Mindy, Laverne and Shirley, and Joanie Loves Chachi), The Waltons, WKRP in Cincinnati, Taxi, Diff'rent Strokes, The Brady Bunch (the original show, the '77 variety hour, and the movie and series about Marcia and Jan's double wedding), the Dukes of Hazzard, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, The Urban Cowboy, the Atari (heck, I'll even throw in Pong!), President Jimmy Carter, Star Wars (both the movie and Reagan's missile defense system), the Iranian hostage crisis of 79-'81, oil shortages (and 15 mpg clunker cars--ahhgh! when you consider gas was $1.30 a gallon), double-digit inflation, disco, USA Olympic Hockey's 4-3 win over Russia in Lake Placid, Mt. St. Helens' eruption in Washington State, the Space Shuttle Columbia (remember they talked about space in the series!), the 1981 baseball strike, the 1982 NFL strike, the Reagan Administration (and his assassination attempt), the deaths of Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Karen Carpenter; E. T., Sally Ride (the first US female astronaut), and the Tylenol cyanide scare.

For music I would have loved to have seen the music of The Commodores (and Lionel Richie's solo career), Air Supply, The Oak Ridge Boys, Dolly Parton, Sheena Easton, Blondie, Ray Parker, Jr., the Captain & Tennille, Dan Fogelberg, The Little River Band, Queen, Abba, Kansas, Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, The Pretenders, .38 Special, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Christopher Cross, Alabama, Juice Newton, Olivia Newton-John, Al Jarreau, Loverboy, and Huey Lewis and the News featured in the show.

I don't know about the rest of you, but without the music and events TWY would just have been another show. With those elements TWY was one of a kind.

With that, besides graduation (and preparation for college) the following season could have had a multi-part episode in which the Arnolds travel to Alaska to visit Karen and Michael. (David Schwimmer would have remained on the show and NOT gone to Friends--take that, NBC! :D) If I were producing I would have gotten rid of Bonnie (Wayne's live-in girlfriend ... with son David) and given Kevin's brother more time--then again, I kind of liked Wayne! I probably would have gotten one of Kevin's friends from junior high who disappeared in 1971 (Becky Slater, Doug Porter, or Randy Mitchell) for a guest appearance. Would Paul have been class valedictorian like he was in ninth grade?

As for after graduation, they could have created a spinoff called Kevin for his college years, and then Kevin Arnold's Place for his apartment after graduation. Just keep the franchise going. If they can keep The Simpsons on so long ...:rolleyes:

One person making "fanfics" for the show (not at SitcomsOnline.com, by the way) imagined Kevin joining the ROTC during college (although this time Jack and Norma don't go ape like they did when Wayne joined the Army), but I thought that would have been a lame plot, causing the series to "jump the shark" worse than Laverne and Shirley did when the bottlecappers moved to California. I thought the change was too much, and Kevin's ROTC duty would have dominated the plots and left out his time with friends (in which they ONLY engage in clean activities) in college.

Oh, and you can link to my original post (and the resulting thread) at http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=16258.

[DSfan]

I like some of those historical events that you mentioned. They could have made for some good symbolism in the episode that the show was classic for.

Hmm, I'm thinking Wonder Years also would've been good to set in the 80s. It was made in the 80s so I guess they wanted to go further back. But now, they should make one about a kid living in the 80s and use all the stuff you said. Imagine Kevin and Winnie going to see ET and being on their bicycles late at night wow!!! Or, playing this song in a certain episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgT_mJXbvCQ

I think it would be cool if they got the cast togehter again and did their lives now (or in say 1985 or whatever it would have been in the show)

[James]

I like some of those historical events that you mentioned. They could have made for some good symbolism in the episode that the show was classic for.

Thank you!

Hmm, I'm thinking Wonder Years also would've been good to set in the 80s. It was made in the 80s so I guess they wanted to go further back. But now, they should make one about a kid living in the 80s and use all the stuff you said. Imagine Kevin and Winnie going to see ET and being on their bicycles late at night wow!!! Or, playing this song in a certain episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgT_mJXbvCQ

Setting it in the 80s sounds good, although if they "make one about a kid living in the 80s and use all the stuff said" they should just simply continue [i]The Wonder Years with the same characters and not start a new show from scratch like they did with Everybody Hates Chris.

I think it would be cool if they got the cast togehter again and did their lives now (or in say 1985 or whatever it would have been in the show)

Hey, let's call it The Arnolds like they did with The Bradys (an updated and dramatic version of The Brady Bunch)! If they were still running it now, they would be in the year 1990, but I probably would have quit watching after they entered 1987 (in 2007) because everything from then on was just boring and uninteresting (save for a certain TV show!).

[DSfan]

It's totally ridiculous that they aren't releasing it on DVD! So, I made my own DVD's of it. I need to finish seasons 4, 5, and 6 and then they'll be ready, yay!

It doesn't air on any TV channel in the US or in Canada.
In Canada, just this past August it was airing on both Dejaview and BBC Kids.
Now, it is nowhere!

It's the most requested show to be put on DVD so they don't think the music licensing would get cancelled out by the fact that there's probably many millions waiting to buy all 5 seasons (season 1 was only 6 episodes haha)

[treky]

"SIENFELD"
"FRASIER"
"CHEERS"
"THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW"