It feels more common particularly when a show is getting to the end of its run, the writing is subpar and the actors are just collecting their paychecks, but can anyone give examples where the decline was just painful to watch?

Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush. It got so bad that their roles were whittled down to about one line per season.

Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush. It got so bad that their roles were whittled down to about one line per season.

I deffintly agree with this.

Also, Alan Alda on MASH, Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains, the actors who play Luke, Manny, and Lilly on Modern Family, and Taran Noah Smith on Home Improvement just to name a few.

Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush. It got so bad that their roles were whittled down to about one line per season.
who are they?:confused:

who are they?:confused:

They played Carrie Ingalls the youngest Ingalls daughter on Little House On The Prairie.

Ed.

Demond Wilson on Sanford & Son. By season six it was clear that he was phoning it in.

kaley coco she has been phoning it in on the big bang theory for about a season and a half now

The entire regular cast of Seinfeld except for Jason Alexander.

Andy Griffith when The Andy Griffith Show went to color.

They played Carrie Ingalls the youngest Ingalls daughter on Little House On The Prairie.

Ed.

Well, technically, Grace Ingalls was the youngest daughter. And I think the fictitious Cassandra Cooper-Ingalls was also supposed to be younger, too.

Demond Wilson on Sanford & Son. By season six it was clear that he was phoning it in.

This is absolutely true. He started wearing dark glasses a lot and barely knew his lines and his delivery was off. I think maybe he was on drugs. In fact after Redd Foxx returned from his holdout he dialed his performance back quite a bit himself.

There is one episode where they have to say "discretion of the judge" and they continually say "dis-creee-shun". I have no idea how they all forgot or id one of them could not pronounce it and the others had to say it the same way.

kaley coco she has been phoning it in on the big bang theory for about a season and a half now

I think they have all gotten settled in that they would make big money and the show was nearing the end. I notice her performance seems about the same but probably because nobody else is really hitting it out of the park either.

I think most of the cast of Roseanne got worse during the shows last couple years. Only John Goodman I think stayed consistently good until the very end, and even he wasn't in all the episodes towards the end.

The cast of Married With Children especially Ed O'Neal.

Watching Bonanza from the first season to season 6 I noticed that Michael Landon went from being a promising young actor who did emotions really well to an actor who does these "cute" little facial expressions and passes that off as "acting" a lot of the time. It's like he decided he was the "cute" one and that was going to be how he expressed himself. As the years went by it became very noticeable and distracting.

I think most of the cast of Roseanne got worse during the shows last couple years. Only John Goodman I think stayed consistently good until the very end, and even he wasn't in all the episodes towards the end.

I agree with this. WTF happened with Jackie's character?!

I deffintly agree with this.

Also, Alan Alda on MASH, Kirk Cameron on Growing Pains, the actors who play Luke, Manny, and Lilly on Modern Family, and Taran Noah Smith on Home Improvement just to name a few.
Alan Alda's role becoming so central on MASH ruined the show for me.

Jerry Mathers, Leave it to Beaver.
Stana Katic - Castle