Classic TV Shows w/ "Bad" Final Seasons - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 01-27-2011, 03:06 AM

The Adam West Batman TV series instantly comes to mind for example:
*Shoehorning Batgirl in a desperate attempt to perk up dwindling interest

*The absence of Julie Newmar's Catwoman

*Madge Blake's (Aunt Harriet) severely limited appearances because of her declining health

*Cheap looking sets (i.e. the villains' hideouts) due to budget cuts

*The elimination of the two-part episode, cliffhanger format

*The campiness being more "bad" (as if they were exclusively trying to appeal to little kids) than good. By this point, the producers were focusing more and more on satirizing whatever was "in" at that particular point (e.g. flower children, beach blanket movies, "Swinging London", etc.), thus making the third season episodes feel seriously dated.

benjamoon · 01-27-2011, 05:02 PM

Roseanne - that final season was weird and terrible

Rhoda - it completely lost its way

Happy Days and Bewitched both had bad ends to their run but I actually think their final season was better than their next-to-last season

MickeyMac · 01-27-2011, 11:22 PM

Bewitched-way too many episodes that were remakes of previous episodes.

Dallas-what a big fall after being so great for several seasons.

Adamantium · 01-27-2011, 11:51 PM

That '70s Show - No Eric and hardly any Kelso (he appeared in 5 episodes). The writing got sloppy and lazy. Fans don't seem to like the new character, Randy (played by Josh Meyers). The show ran out of steam.

Laverne & Shirley - Um, no Shirley. No, thanks.

Chico and the Man - The death of star Freddie Prinze forced the producers to bring in a replacement character. They chose a 12-year-old boy named Raul.

Welcome Back, Kotter - Barely any Kotter or Barbarino. A new, southern Sweathog named Beau joined. The writing for this show sucked that final season. It was a disaster.

JamesG · 01-28-2011, 12:45 AM

From what I remember of it, I never liked the final season of "The Facts of Life" when Cloris Leachmen replaced Charlotte Rae.

Marvo301 · 01-28-2011, 12:55 AM

The Cosby Show - the addition of cousin Pam and her "ghetto" friends in the final season steered this show way off course from it's original premise. It also meant we saw less of the rest of the Huxtable family.

treky · 01-28-2011, 02:48 AM

"ROSEANNE"-that last season

"DALLAS"-pretty much the same as ""ROSEANNE". J.R. did things and got in situations that he would NEVER do in previeous seasons, for instance when he was put in that asilum. In preveious seasons he would NEVER, EVER, EVER have allowed that to happen to him. Also, when he was forced into marrying Callie that time.

comedyfreak · 01-28-2011, 06:46 AM

Bosom Buddies: Their identities were discovered thus no more dressing like women plus they got their own advertising agency reducing Holland Taylor's role.

According To Jim: Courtney Thorn Smith's absence due to her real life pregnancy and her tv sister Dana leaving the show.

Family Matters: Switched to CBS for it's 10th and final season without Jo Marie as Harriet Winslow, it wasn't the same without her.

MickeyMac · 01-28-2011, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by treky

"ROSEANNE"-that last season

"DALLAS"-pretty much the same as ""ROSEANNE". J.R. did things and got in situations that he would NEVER do in previeous seasons, for instance when he was put in that asilum. In preveious seasons he would NEVER, EVER, EVER have allowed that to happen to him. Also, when he was forced into marrying Callie that time.

You are so right about Dallas, I am surprised Larry Hagman went along with that.

MickeyMac · 01-28-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adamantium

That '70s Show - No Eric and hardly any Kelso (he appeared in 5 episodes). The writing got sloppy and lazy. Fans don't seem to like the new character, Randy (played by Josh Meyers). The show ran out of steam.

Laverne & Shirley - Um, no Shirley. No, thanks.

Chico and the Man - The death of star Freddie Prinze forced the producers to bring in a replacement character. They chose a 12-year-old boy named Raul.

Welcome Back, Kotter - Barely any Kotter or Barbarino. A new, southern Sweathog named Beau joined. The writing for this show sucked that final season. It was a disaster.

Forgot about Kotter, man did that show hit rock bottom the last season.

Retro4Life · 01-28-2011, 02:04 PM

I think you'd be hard pressed to find shows that didn't see a marked slip in quality during their final seasons. Most of it is due to the greed of the execs in their foolish quests to soldier on after major characters had left and/or the potential pool of interesting stories had run dry.

All of these are good examples. I'd add All in the Family, The X-Files, Lost, Seinfeld and Frasier (well, to be fair those two lost their mojo three years or more before the end), Blake's 7 (from the U.K.), Babylon 5, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street.

old grouch · 01-28-2011, 02:13 PM

'My Three Sons': with only two sons who they hardly ever showed and a lookalike cousin for Steve

'The Beverly Hillbillies': just plain silly and awful

James · 01-29-2011, 02:48 PM

The Waltons: I'm starting to think CBS kept this on a little too long. Without Olivia the show just, well, sucked. CBS could have saved some money without having the Burton family from Baltimore (aka the 3-headed Cousin Oliver!) replace Olivia and Esther. There should just have been two less people in the cast. (Somewhere I read that CBS made cuts to the last season, so they dropped John the father from some episodes by having him go out to Arizona to visit Olivia.) I recently finished Season 8 (the second-to-last; there were 9) on DVD, which I found boring enough. I have no plans to buy Season 9.

The Wonder Years: ABC stuck with the Greg Beeman experiment, with episodes that made Kevin a bad guy. Plus, there was no closure! ABC could have avoided this nightmare had they brought back the original writers, who were free after The Jackie Thomas Show was axed, for another season to wrap things up!

biffbronson · 01-29-2011, 03:08 PM

The Courtship of Eddie's Father: The third and final season was just not as good as the first two. The concept of the father actually having romances was abandoned in large part, and the season was simply not as enjoyable. Guests also for the most part were sub-par in comparison to the stellar ones from earlier.

YoliUSA · 01-29-2011, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by treky

"DALLAS"-pretty much the same as ""ROSEANNE". J.R. did things and got in situations that he would NEVER do in previeous seasons, for instance when he was put in that asilum. In preveious seasons he would NEVER, EVER, EVER have allowed that to happen to him. Also, when he was forced into marrying Callie that time.

"Happy Days"- The episodes weren't that funny and the storylines were kind of meh (except for the finale).

01-27-2011, 03:06 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 125,458	Classic TV Shows w/ "Bad" Final Seasons The Adam West Batman TV series instantly comes to mind for example: Shoehorning Batgirl in a desperate attempt to perk up dwindling interest The absence of Julie Newmar's Catwoman Madge Blake's (Aunt Harriet) severely limited appearances because of her declining health Cheap looking sets (i.e. the villains' hideouts) due to budget cuts The elimination of the two-part episode, cliffhanger format The campiness being more "bad" (as if they were exclusively trying to appeal to little kids) than good. By this point, the producers were focusing more and more on satirizing whatever was "in" at that particular point (e.g. flower children, beach blanket movies, "Swinging London", etc.), thus making the third season episodes feel seriously dated.

01-27-2011, 05:02 PM	#2
benjamoon Bewitched Senior Member Join Date: Jun 15, 2000 Location: New York Posts: 1,450	Roseanne - that final season was weird and terrible Rhoda - it completely lost its way Happy Days and Bewitched both had bad ends to their run but I actually think their final season was better than their next-to-last season
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01-28-2011, 12:55 AM	#6
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,452	The Cosby Show - the addition of cousin Pam and her "ghetto" friends in the final season steered this show way off course from it's original premise. It also meant we saw less of the rest of the Huxtable family.
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01-28-2011, 02:48 AM	#7
treky star trek fan Eternal Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Feb 25, 2002 Location: Conshohocken, pennsylvania Posts: 14,490	"ROSEANNE"-that last season "DALLAS"-pretty much the same as ""ROSEANNE". J.R. did things and got in situations that he would NEVER do in previeous seasons, for instance when he was put in that asilum. In preveious seasons he would NEVER, EVER, EVER have allowed that to happen to him. Also, when he was forced into marrying Callie that time.
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01-28-2011, 06:46 AM	#8
comedyfreak Cheers! Forum Fanatic Join Date: Dec 14, 2005 Location: Sunny California Posts: 11,058	Bosom Buddies: Their identities were discovered thus no more dressing like women plus they got their own advertising agency reducing Holland Taylor's role. According To Jim: Courtney Thorn Smith's absence due to her real life pregnancy and her tv sister Dana leaving the show. Family Matters: Switched to CBS for it's 10th and final season without Jo Marie as Harriet Winslow, it wasn't the same without her.
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01-27-2011, 11:22 PM	#3
MickeyMac Member Forum Star Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan Posts: 19,004	Bewitched-way too many episodes that were remakes of previous episodes. Dallas-what a big fall after being so great for several seasons.

01-27-2011, 11:51 PM	#4
Adamantium TVAdam No More Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 11, 2002 Location: Springfield, Ohio Posts: 7,825	That '70s Show - No Eric and hardly any Kelso (he appeared in 5 episodes). The writing got sloppy and lazy. Fans don't seem to like the new character, Randy (played by Josh Meyers). The show ran out of steam. Laverne & Shirley - Um, no Shirley. No, thanks. Chico and the Man - The death of star Freddie Prinze forced the producers to bring in a replacement character. They chose a 12-year-old boy named Raul. Welcome Back, Kotter - Barely any Kotter or Barbarino. A new, southern Sweathog named Beau joined. The writing for this show sucked that final season. It was a disaster.

01-28-2011, 12:45 AM	#5
JamesG Freakshow Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 01, 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 57,045	From what I remember of it, I never liked the final season of "The Facts of Life" when Cloris Leachmen replaced Charlotte Rae.

01-28-2011, 02:04 PM	#11
Retro4Life Accept No Substitutes Forum Veteran Join Date: Feb 04, 2009 Location: IL Posts: 6,708	I think you'd be hard pressed to find shows that didn't see a marked slip in quality during their final seasons. Most of it is due to the greed of the execs in their foolish quests to soldier on after major characters had left and/or the potential pool of interesting stories had run dry. All of these are good examples. I'd add All in the Family, The X-Files, Lost, Seinfeld and Frasier (well, to be fair those two lost their mojo three years or more before the end), Blake's 7 (from the U.K.), Babylon 5, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street.
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01-28-2011, 02:13 PM	#12
old grouch Member Senior Member Join Date: May 13, 2010 Location: montana Posts: 1,877	'My Three Sons': with only two sons who they hardly ever showed and a lookalike cousin for Steve 'The Beverly Hillbillies': just plain silly and awful

01-29-2011, 02:48 PM	#13
James Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jan 07, 2001 Location: Dayton, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,370	The Waltons: I'm starting to think CBS kept this on a little too long. Without Olivia the show just, well, sucked. CBS could have saved some money without having the Burton family from Baltimore (aka the 3-headed Cousin Oliver!) replace Olivia and Esther. There should just have been two less people in the cast. (Somewhere I read that CBS made cuts to the last season, so they dropped John the father from some episodes by having him go out to Arizona to visit Olivia.) I recently finished Season 8 (the second-to-last; there were 9) on DVD, which I found boring enough. I have no plans to buy Season 9. The Wonder Years: ABC stuck with the Greg Beeman experiment, with episodes that made Kevin a bad guy. Plus, there was no closure! ABC could have avoided this nightmare had they brought back the original writers, who were free after The Jackie Thomas Show was axed, for another season to wrap things up!

01-29-2011, 03:08 PM	#14
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,409	The Courtship of Eddie's Father: The third and final season was just not as good as the first two. The concept of the father actually having romances was abandoned in large part, and the season was simply not as enjoyable. Guests also for the most part were sub-par in comparison to the stellar ones from earlier.
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