What were some series that ran for a while, but never quite recaptured the same cultural presence or acclaim the earlier seasons did? Or did very well initially but quickly faded from the public eye?

What were some series that ran for a while, but never quite recaptured the same cultural presence or acclaim the earlier seasons did? Or did very well initially but quickly faded from the public eye?

The Drew Carey Show

After 6 seasons the audience disappeared, ABC got stuck with three seasons(7-9) and a viewer exodus that has rarely be seen.

House

Not a comedy, but this series suddenly lost steam and the reruns (which seemed to be on almost around the clock on the USA network) disappeared as well.

Happy Days were good when Ron Howard was a regular but it wasn't the same after he left in 1980.

family matters after steve urkel went on family matters it just became the steve urkel show!!! !! now i liked sevarl seaons but once then he started going back in time & cloning him self!! I just didn;t liked it any more!!

Two and Half Men - up Up UP Down down very down

ER. It was a HUGE, explosive cultural phenomenon to the point where every magazine and newspaper had a feature story about it. Plus, Julianna Margulies and George Clooney were pushed as THE power couple to beat all power couples, even more than Luke and Laura of General Hospital.

It did remain reasonable popular for the duration of the series but I do think it peaked the season Kellie Martin joined the cast. Then it was just another medical show, not this smash hit that everyone was gushing was such a groundbreaking series.

“Bewitched” and “Petticoat Junction” were the highest rated during their respective first seasons.

“Bewitched” and “Petticoat Junction” were the highest rated during their respective first seasons.

I'm for the 1st time seeing PJ - the writing / acting / plots are better than I ever thought - and that dog is SO Smart and cute (as well as the 3 girls)

I'm for the 1st time seeing PJ - the writing / acting / plots are better than I ever thought - and that dog is SO Smart and cute (as well as the 3 girls)

The first three seasons are very well done (even season 3 after two of the three girls are recast). It starts to head downhill in season 4 with a change of producers, plus another daughter recast, plus the growing absence (and eventual departure) of Kate.

Twin Peaks.....lol.

I don't know how we all forgot this, but Batman is the poster series in this category. The show burst on the scene in January 1966, and immediately becomes a top 10 smash, on both nights it was on. It was a national phenomenon, merchandising, cover of TV Guide, bat-mania, even a stadium show. That was season 1, what a time. By the close of season 2, the show was sinking faster than the Titanic. The twice a week top 10 hit of just a year earlier, was number 37 one night and number 58 the other. The audience just vanished. The series lasted only 1 more season, and had to radically adjust the format, down weekly from two episodes to one the two part format ended. The character of Bat Girl was added and the character of Aunt Harriet was seldom seen.

That’s true about the Drew Carey Show. Many people (who were once fans) probably didn’t even know the later seasons even existed.

Same is true with That 70s Show. Few people talked about it anymore, but it kept airing new episodes.

Dharma & Greg. It had pretty decent ratings for its first two seasons and peaked in season three. Its final two seasons saw ratings collapse in huge ways.

NYPD Blue, a solid hit for a number of years, it reached a point where it was just no longer the hot show it once was. Too many characters left and it stayed on the air too long.

Not a sitcom, but Miami Vice fits the bill. Almost unknown the first season, then shot up into the top 10 during the 2nd, then dropped to the 26th spot for season 3. For seasons 4 and 5, it failed to get back into the top 30. You can't blame NBC for moving it around, it largely stayed on Friday nights, but people weren't staying home on Friday nights.

ER. It was a HUGE, explosive cultural phenomenon to the point where every magazine and newspaper had a feature story about it. Plus, Julianna Margulies and George Clooney were pushed as THE power couple to beat all power couples, even more than Luke and Laura of General Hospital.

It did remain reasonable popular for the duration of the series but I do think it peaked the season Kellie Martin joined the cast. Then it was just another medical show, not this smash hit that everyone was gushing was such a groundbreaking series.

If I were to guess, I think what happened (https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/arts/television/22cart.html) with ER (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/the-end-of-er-this-time-its-terminal-1688488.html) is that depending on who you ask (https://notporn.com/why-er-is-the-forgotten-greatest-show-in-television-history-fb4a27e3ae4c), the show (https://web.archive.org/web/20140401074114/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3116836-er/?view=getnewpost) really started to nose-dive (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SeasonalRot/LiveActionTV) in quality (https://www.reddit.com/r/ershow/comments/boa4u5/worst_season_of_er/?ref=readnext) around Season 8 (https://moviechat.org/tt0108757/ER/5b7305f5e24c460014753037/Season-8-is-where-I-think-it-really-lost-it-for-good), which was around the time that Anthony Edwards and Eriq LaSalle left. It was by this point (https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/has-er-jumped-the-shark/), where it's arguable that the show really on relationships and romantic drama than on medicine, the ER and the lives of the patients. It didn't help that some of the latter episodes were over-reaching for shock scenes that were all too over-the-top.

It was also one of those shows (https://forums.primetimer.com/forum/1435-er/) that when it premiered, it was considered innovative and daring (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SeinfeldIsUnfunny/LiveActionTV). I've heard one commenter say that ER was conceived as a medical show if it were an action movie. But since that time, we've had a flood of medical shows (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/er-michael-crichton-george-clooney-noah-wyle-jurassic-park-a8851041.html) like House, Grey's Anatomy, Code Black, Chicago Med, The Good Doctor, The Resident, etc.

Another thing that probably hurt ER is that it to the best of my knowledge, it isn't on any streaming services like Netflix. The fact that it was serialized also made it harder to follow in syndication (even though Pop currently airs it every weekday).

After MASH.

Definitely Joan of Arcadia. That was a wonderful show in it's first season and I'll never understand why it changed so much in the second. They should have left it the way it was, maybe it woudl have lasted longer.