When a baby or new kid is introduced, and even more when the baby ages rapidly between seasons with no reason given

They marry off the main character and/or bring in some wacky relative. The classic is a late in life pregnancy.

They "borrow" ideas from other shows.

When they recycle scripts from earlier seasons or from other shows. The Miller-Boyett shows of the late 80's-early 90's did this alot.

A classic example of a TV show running out of ideas is "Green Acres".In the last two seasons(1969-1970 and 1970-1971)they DID run out of ideas,when they did shows that had the EXACT same plots of other earlier shows.Can you name any other shows BESIDES "Green Acres" and "Bewitched" (1969-1972)with Dick Sargent as Darrin, where they have run out of ideas?

when they keep having constant cast changes or killing off beloved characters for shock value. For example, on the Commish, they changed detectives like underwear. You could basically tell by the detective on an episode what point you were at in the series.

"A very SPECIAL episode of........"

The main character gets a new business partner/ job

"Granma is coming to live with us!"

The show gets a new set ( especially game shows )

Ted McGinley joins the cast as.....

Fonzie jumps a shark! ;)

The plots start becoming lame and obsured. Like they're trying too hard to be funny or dramatic.

When they move to another city/state.

When famous guest stars appear every week

Having two characters that previously hated each other get together

Musicals and/or dream sequences on shows that never had them before

Weddings.

One Day At A Time was a good example of that. In its 8th season it seemed the whole season was dedicated to Mark and Barbara getting married, adjusting to married and having to move back with Ann. Then Max and Julie had their baby, Max quits his job to become a writer, moved back home with Ann and Grandma Katherine comes to the rescue by taking in Max and Julie. Then Ann meets Mark's father, he spends the night the first date, proposes to Ann (especially when Ann stated she was not interested in marriage), marrying Sam and go on a honeymoon. Then Barbara and Julie, along with their husbands, share a house together and ready to kill each other the first week there. The episodes that season was dealing with change and transition. The plug should had been pulled the 8th season. The 9th and final season was painful to watch because they were out of ideas.

Weddings.

One Day At A Time was a good example of that. In its 8th season it seemed the whole season was dedicated to Mark and Barbara getting married, adjusting to married and having to move back with Ann. Then Max and Julie had their baby, Max quits his job to become a writer, moved back home with Ann and Grandma Katherine comes to the rescue by taking in Max and Julie. Then Ann meets Mark's father, he spends the night the first date, proposes to Ann (especially when Ann stated she was not interested in marriage), marrying Sam and go on a honeymoon. Then Barbara and Julie, along with their husbands, share a house together and ready to kill each other the first week there. The episodes that season was dealing with change and transition. The plug should had been pulled the 8th season. The 9th and final season was painful to watch because they were out of ideas.
Wow...that sounds so twisted.....Id already given up on the show by that time, so I never saw any of that...never mind season 9 :lol:

when they start bringing in big-name guest stars.
when 2 characters hook up (and the show "jumps the shark". FRASIER comes painfully to mind)
"A very special episode of...."
when characters start doing things out of character.

"The REAL Gilligan's Island"

"When pets attack"

Any new show starring Suzanne Sommers :lol:

When characters sing.

;)

When characters sing.

;)
Especially Police officers...remember THAt show? ( WTH was THAT??? :lol: )

Especially Police officers...remember THAt show? ( WTH was THAT??? :lol: )

Yes, Cop Rock was a bad idea before the writers of that show had a chance to run out of ideas.

;)

Yes, Cop Rock was a bad idea before the writers of that show had a chance to run out of ideas. ;)
:rofl: You can say that again!

When characters sing.

;)
There were some instances that the characters singing was enjoyable. For example, Nancy Dussault, Too Close for Comfort, when her character, Muriel Rush, got to sing. Nancy Dussault got a powerful voice and it was nice that there were some episodes when she got to sing. If it was every episode or every other than it would be a problem.

The musical episode of 7th Heaven was the worse. The only who could sing was Stephen Collins. But the others were horrible especially the actor who played Lucy's husband.

When they go to Disneyland...and it ends up a two-parter no less. :crazy:

Flashback shows.

When they go to Disneyland...and it ends up a two-parter no less. :crazy:
Same thing goes when they go to Hawaii.....unless they make it a TV movie, instead :rolleyes:

On "Matlock",the ABC episode "The Verdict",a supposed pilot for a spinoff series, was an exact duplicate of the NBC episode "The Best Friend".

when the bulk of Married with Children episodes revolved around Al's "No Ma'am" club

Or Full House episodes dealt with Michelle.

The musical episode of 7th Heaven was the worse. The only who could sing was Stephen Collins. But the others were horrible especially the actor who played Lucy's husband.

OMG, don't even remind me of that! *Shudders* I remember turning to my mom after it was over and saying, "What WAS that?!" 7th Heaven got really bad in its last couple seasons.

- Kristen

when they do a "clip show"

when they do a "clip show"
yes, but, thats more like the writers being just plain lazy! :lol:

I know everyone will disagree with me because the episodes are so beloved on Sitcoms Online, but Night Court really declined in quality in the last two seasons. I pinpoint the downfall when the gang were quarintined in the courtroom for two episodes where they swapped stories. It got increasingly worse when Phil died and Dan had to run The Phil Foundation.

When they hit the lottery
When the main couple that has never thought of cheating finally goes astray