http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=457217&page=1

I think most of us familiar with the term "jump the shark" (http://www.bonethefish.com), and that most shows have had a moment where they began to show they were in decline. Well, what about shows that just fell off a cliff. These are shows that didn't gradually decline, but just abruptly imploded for one reason or another.

Probably Petticoat Junction qualifies due to the death of its star, Bea Benaderet -- though personally I still enjoy the later work done, in trying to go on without her.

The Andy Garcia comedies, My Name is Earl and Raising Hope.

I own the series My Name is Earl, but basically only enjoy the first two seasons when the format was Earl finding the people on the list that he screwed over in the past and making amends with the interesting difficulties that sometimes entailed.

Then they put Earl in jail. The prison episodes were UNWATCHABLE, and basically I think this is what killed the show and the ratings showed that. The last season was decent again, because they returned basically to the format.
But too many viewers bailed on it by then. Don't mess with a winning formula.

I quit watching Raising Hope because the storylines are way too stupid. I do like all the actors in this show, but it went to dreck, especially in the last season. I do not think I have watched a single full episode of Season Three outside the one where the girlfriend's grandmother died and mama stole her dress from the casket.

The characters are just too dumb and cartoonish to me, and I like to see a bit of realism with the humor, much like Roseanne or the much raunchier Shameless for example.

This is the description of Raising Hope's last episode..........

When the annual Angry Bowel Syndrome (ABS) 1K walk comes to Natesville, the Chance family decides to band together and support the cause that Jimmy suffered from as a child.

Pass. On another note, Kate Miccuci, I love you and you are one of the few in the Universe I would cheat on my wife for.....

I think Welcome Back, Kotter qualifies here. After Travolta and Kaplan left, it was pretty much unwatchable. Even Season 3 wasn't awful, but with Season 4 it just went straight into darkness.

227 after jackee left the show became really boring

I would put The O.C. is this category. I remember a lot of hype for the show and it did very well in Season 1. When it came back for Season 2 and for the rest of the series, the ratings just were not there.