When You Finally Gave Up On A Long-Running TV Series

I gave up on Homeland after they made Rupert Friend brain damaged.

I watched the U.S. version of "Shameless" for seven seasons before throwing in the towel. It became to repetitive. One season Fiona will be the screw up while Lip the responsible one, then Lip will be the screw up and Fiona the responsible one, and on an on.

Not very long running, but: Glee. Completely gave up sometime during season 3 because it became that bad. Never saw the another ep or the finale.

I'm always slow to get the hint that a show is no longer entertaining. I'm very much a habitual TV watcher so I'll stick with a show even after most people have given up on it. At some point I finally clued in that I was no longer entertained by The Simpsons or Family Guy and stopped watching them. But there wasn't any particular episode or moment for either.

When Anthony Anderson became a regular on Law and Order.

The HBO series [italic]Weeds[/italic] , up until the episode in which they tortured the sheriff's(?) partner with power tools.

"Shameless". Somewhere after S5 or S6. It became a white trash soap opera instead of the no-holds-barred dark comedy.

Vampire Diaries

I gave up on Shameless after Fiona's character lost everything that she had been building. It was too much and I was done. I gave up on One Tree Hill after the time jump. I've given up on all the DC shows on The CW. They all were just ruined for me. I gave up on Blackish when it became too preachy.

I have watched Greys Anatomy since season 1 and for some reason I stopped watching this year and I don’t really miss it

Blue Bloods has become a little unbelievable lately. I could see myself giving up on it maybe but I still like it.

I immediately stopped watching [italic] The Blacklist [/italic] after they killed off Tom Keene. Quite disappointed I was at the time. I do love me some Ryan Eggold

A recent one was Riverdale. The plots were so bizarre and I couldn’t understand what was happening. Another one was Legends of Tomorrow. It got so silly it became unwatchable. Usually, if I have invested a lot of time in a series I’ll keep watching, like Supernatural.

Totally agree about The Walking Dead. I continued to watch several episodes after the killed Glen and Abraham (SPOILER!) and then just couldn't anymore. They had D list characters and a revolving door of people getting killed.

I also hung in there for a while with Fear the Walking Dead, I was ready to go for a while but when they blew up that dam and most of them survived it, that was the final straw. Just too ridiculous.

I watched The Simpsons from the very beginning, but I gave up a few years ago. It had lost its sharpness and then the SJW crowd started attacking Apu character.

I stopped watching Modern Family after four seasons. Found it exhausting to watch.

I quit "Desperate Housewives" when the heterosexual character of Dana Delany suddenly decided and made choice to be a Lesbian.

Oh yeah, I forgot Riverdale. After season 2, I was out. I gave up on Fear the Walking Dead after they retooled it. I thought that was so unfair.

I gave up on "Law and Order: SVU" when Olivia adopted the kid.

R3, agreed.

I loved both Grey's Anatomy and Scandal but stopped watching both. For Grey's it was the plane crash - it just became tragedy porn and I've watched maybe 2-3 episodes since.

For Scandal, it was around late season 4. They just took everything anyone liked about the show and turned it into some kind of "Alias" clone.

Never watched "Scandal" for the anti-gay bi-shit there.

This is going back a ways, but I gave up on 24 after the second (?) season, when it turned into the perils of Pauline with Jack Bauer's stupid daughter.

r9 made me remember I gave up Desperate Housewives after the time jump. I don't remember what season that was or if Dana Delaney was on at that point. But the show had been bad for awhile even before that.

The Walking Dead after they killed off Glen and Abraham. Homeland when they killed off Quinn. Elementary when they brought in the English chick. NCIS once Tony left. I did stick it out watching Bones in it's entirety even though it went downhill once Bones and Booth got married. The early seasons were great and the show had the best corpses on tv.

Gilmore girls..got a new writing team during a strike I think. The actors were the same but wasn’t good at all.

The Office: After Michael left and they brought in James Spader. I did, however, tune in for the final season which I thought was pretty decent.

E.R. officially jumped the shark when the crashing helicopter fell on Romano in Season 10, but I continued watching it for Abby and Luca until they left in Season 15. Way before then the series had turned to shit (for many reasons) but I kept watching because I love Maura Tierney and her seemingly effortless acting.

Funny, Desperate Housewives was one show I watched to the very end. But honestly, that was probably more that it was on TV on Sundays than anything else.

I wasn't mad at Katherine falling for the blond chick. I *was* mad that they suddenly wrote them off without explanation.

I think I stopped watching Entourage around the end of season 3. It occurred to me that every episode was basically the same, and the guys were becoming more & more boring - and more stupid.

I got turned off to Guiding Light after I tuned in one day and thought I was watching Santa Barbara with Pamela Capwell, Eden, and Keith in the cast. Plus others.

I came back and then turned off again after they killed off Phillip. I swear they were trying to cancel the show.

I tried with ATWT but after Doug Marland died it was impossible.

I hate GH after Lesley was killed off.

Y&R. Dear God in heaven; I've broken up with the show plenty of times.

Dana Delaney's character WASN'T a dyke. They warped her character to make her a cunt-muncher.

R27 Funny you mention that. I vowed to stop watching ER when Julianne Margulies left, but a few episodes previous they introduced Maura as Abby, so having loved her in Newsradio, felt I should give her a few more episodes and hung on to the end. I also followed her to The Affair - worth mentioning on this thread - as it completely fell apart Season 3 with the introduction of that French character. I gave up completely at that point, but later on a friend who had stayed thru the end said it improved immensely in season 4 and ended well - (giving away no spoilers) - so after it finished it's run, I was able to get Showtime free for a week and barreled thru seasons 4 and 5. It was worth it!

Lots of sharks...

I quit 'Guiding Light' when Olivia turned gay because she had a straight man's heart.

Then the rest of Springfield suddenly was Lesbian.

Ugh.

R2 R7 R9 Another vote for Shameless. The slow burn of the Mickey & Ian story was fucking amazing and probably my favourite depiction of a gay relationship on tv, ever. But it seems clear that the show was never expected to run 11 years and the writers are absolutely at a loss to formulate a cohesive story at this stage. A true pity.

When Michael left the Office and they added all those weird non sensical characters. If they wanted to branch out from Jim, Pam, Dwight and Michael they should have focused more on the supporting cast, who were all pretty talented comedic actors. Or alternatively just end the fucking show.

Law & Order: SVU somewhere around S9. I could only take so much of Michaela McManus, Adam Beach, Christine Lahti, horrible, schlocky scripts, shoehorning guest stars (Ann Margret, Leslie Caron, Carol Burnett, Jeremy Irons, Isabelle Huppert, etc) into them and basically making us feel embarrassed for them, Mickey from Shameless as a murderous lab assistant... Awful.

I wish I had stopped watching Westworld after the first season. I did stop this year

When Edie commited suicide on DH.

One thing I think is kind of funny/ironic about SVU is how they'll give wonderful long-standing actors over-the-top scene-chewing roles to demonstrate they can be just as awful as anybody else. I can think of three actors I love who gave truly dreadful performances: Ann-Margret, Cynthia Nixon and Ray Liotta. The irony is that A-M and Nixon won Emmys, (and maybe Liotta?)

The British version of Shameless also ran on way longer than it should have. After awhile, the father doing stupid stuff got boring.

Law and Order:SVU went to shit after Chris Meloni left. I stopped watching a season or two after that. I recently tried to watch a rerun of a later season episode and it was awful-bad soap opera dreck. I can't believe this show is still on the air.

Homeland - It was going downhill for me in the 3rd season, but I couldn't take Carrie saving the world every season, while she also battling crippling bi-polar issues. Claire Danes crazy face was finally too much to stomach.

The Strain - Every episode had that German vampire minion guy being confronted by the vampire hunters, then he'd somehow get away. Every week... that foolishness became stupid.

Lost - When Jacob and that other guy who were battling "brothers" became the focus of the show, my brain gave up on trying to keep track of the bullshit. Oh, and when they found that giant steering wheel that moved the island through time. Bye!

I gave up on Ray Donovan this season. When Mickey survived the bus explosion, I knew it was time to get out. That show had a great premise. White trash makes it big as a Hollywood fixer. Then it became a big budget version of Ryan's Hope. They should have never left LA.

I have to admit Westworld confused me and I watched one season and just didn't come back.

R44.

I dropped "The Flash" after last season when they brought in the daughter from the future. She was such a colossal pain in the ass and just dragged the show down in my opinion, so after a while I had just had enough and dropped it. I know she's no longer on it but I just don't care anymore and have no desire to go back to watching, though I did love the show the first few seasons.

Westworld after season 2 The Strains after season 2 General Hospital

Stopped watching Lost after the first two seasons. I just stopped caring what happened to the characters. Same with Glee. I just stopped caring after the first two seasons.

R48 I never watched [italic] Glee [/italic] , but couldn't agree more about [italic] Lost [/italic]. That was a trippy trip I just couldn't carry on with!

I give up on TV series far more often than I stick with them. Almost all run out of steam after a season or two.

I gave up the original CSI after William Peterson left although it had been kind of a chore for a couple seasons even before that. I don't know if the cast got along or not but after awhile they all came off like they were miserable making the show.

R39 she accidentally drove her car into a telephone pole, but yes, it was very abrupt. Although I liked the subsequent episode where she took over as the narrator.

Going back a while, but I gave up on Smallville after Lex Luthor left the show. I watched it for the "hoyay" factor and no Lex meant no more UST between Clark and the bald millionaire. I didn't watch for the sappy Lana or Chloe mooning after Clark, so I dropped it.

R52 Didn't they kill off Edie because Nicolette Sheridan had some falling out with Marc Cherry? I think that's why she died abruptly in a gruesome way.

I got sick of Lost when they ended the episodes on a cliffhanger and then you had to wait a couple of weeks, sometimes more, for the show to come back on. I don't know why they did that but it happened several times and I got sick of the fuckery and realized I didn't care enough to tune in anymore.

I quit Law & Order: SVU after Chris Meloni left as well, but I think I was getting sick of the plotlines anyway, so it wasn't that big a deal to switch off.

I watched CSI after William Peterson left, because I really liked the show and wanted to give Laurence Fishburne a chance, but he was so boring I gave up after his first season and never cared to watch it again. He ruined it.

I quit Criminal Minds because the storylines were getting more and more disturbing and violent. I just didn't need that level of creepy in my life at that time. I also got sick of the large girl with glasses and funky hair who just seemed so manufactured and fake... I just found her really annoying.

Yes, r54. Apparently Cherry hit Nicolette on set, and she sued him for wrongful dismissal.

I watched True Blood until 1/3 of the way into the final season. I don't even remember why I even stopped. In hindsight it was such a dumb show. Wasn't good after the 3rd season.

I gave up on Game of Thrones a few minutes into the final season's premiere episode. I realized I didn't care anymore, and turned it off.

Gave up on Nurse Jackie after the British doctor left. Not sure what season that was.

Stopped with Glee around the time some characters moved to NYC and new characters were introduced back at the highschool. Horrible show.

Westworld wasn't interesting anymore in Season 2. I probably watched 1 episode.

Community also lost me towards the final couple seasons.

Stranger Things was a cute show, but 1 season was enough for me. No interest in the further adventures of this kids.

Did Abby and Luca end up together on ER? I quit watching somewhere around 2001, but I always liked them.

R55 So agree with you on Lost. You're sppot-on about Criminal Minds. Especially how content devolved so... I couldn't watch another introduction showing a family with young children burning to death, trapped in their home, or equally gruesome things. I'm not sure if gory is the right word or not, but it seemed to become too depraved to enjoy anymore.

I generally last three seasons for every show and then stop watching. There’s too much out there to follow everything. I will admit I keep watching Shameless, no idea why.

R58

Yes, Abby and Luca ended up together. They had a child, Joe, and moved to Boston.

I don't know when exactly I gave up on The Simpsons. Maybe because the humor was getting so nasty and mean-spirited. It reminded me of Family Guy, that nasty fart boy humor.

The Walking Dead after Negan showed up. I could deal with Abraham and Glenn dying (sucked, but I could handle that), but I hated Negan right off, and the cliffhanger at the end of that season really pissed me off. Like, it really made me mad that we didn’t know who got Lucilled.

Actually, I watched the premiere in the fall, but haven’t seen an episode since.

I quit true blood after season four I think. Whenever it was that sookie disappeared. The first season was great.

I should’ve quit Dexter before the last season. That was horrendous.

Frankie And Grace. I don’t know what season it was. I was already bored but plugging along because I love Lily Tomlin when they started hinting around about getting Frankie and Grace together. As in together. I have no idea what happened because i never watched again. Way to wreck two great characters. Bummer because I loved that show first season.

Another vote for Shameless. The show lost the plot after Mickey left. Ian was someone I didn't even recognize as a character anymore.

Let me ask any people who watched Homeland to the end? I guess I've been hate watching it since season 2 or 3, and sometimes it would get better. Most shows I have no trouble quitting. Anyway, I've watch the first 3 episodes of the last season of Homeland and the rest of it is sitting there in the DVR waiting. Should I bother?

Another show that I subscribed to HBO through Amazon just to watch is "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Somebody (me or Larry David--not sure who) has lost their spark. I think I've watched the first 3 episodes of this show too--the last season of Curb. Should I go back and finish it. I was a big fan for a long time, partly because I live in Santa Monica and I recognize a lot of the places I see on screen, but also because I think the Larry character and especially Susie are extremely funny (or were). Maybe I will watch this--I'm talking myself into it. I want to see Susie again.

Mad Men near the beginning of the penultimate season. I just could no longer stand to watch Don Draper drapin' everything up again and again and again. Suddenly had it up to here with him and the show.

The Office after Steve Carrel left. Later, I went back and watched those episodes on Netflix and while they weren't totally worthless, the spark was gone.

R26 worth watching the James Spader season. One of the best seasons of television ever. It would be wrong to even compare it to the Steve Carell seasons because the Spader season Drops a gleefully menacing character into a show firing on all cylinders. Shows usually hit their peak around season seven because the actors know their characters, as do the writers, and they can afford to bring in the best writers.

Unfortunately I watched every season of Lost. I believed the writers/producers when they said everything would be explained/tied up in the last season. What I learned is that they made it all up as they went along and there was no grand plan or storyline. It was all bullshit. F U Lost for wasting 6 years of my tv watching life!

R65 The show is called Grace and Frankie and no, they never "got them together." It was sort of a joke to underscore that Frankie has issues with boundaries, and also that she does love Grace.

Scandal sometime in season 3. It had become exhausting, between the outrageous plots and Kerry Washington's minimal acting talent. The other actors could ham it up enough to make it fun, but Washington just got loud and annoying.

I seem to have given up on the Blacklist. In the beginning, I never missed it. Now I can't be bothered to finish the episodes.

Criminal Minds sometime after Aaron Hotchner's character disappeared. I watch it in syndication sometimes though.

I gave up on the Walking Dead after season 2. That was enough.

One of the lady TV critics, I think Margaret Lyons of the NYT, calls this "getting show divorced."

She asks on Twitter every so often who divorced what show.

I loved SVU for a long time, but like the above poster said it went downhill after Meloni left. I hung on for two more seasons but the new cast members just weren't as interesting and the plots were really getting repetitive. You could figure out how the episode was going to end by the first commercial break. I haven't been a regular viewer for years now, but I'll still catch the odd episode and it's just not the same.

Shameless was never supposed to run as long as it has, but it got a new life on Netflix so Showtime kept greenlighting season. I stopped after Ian started fucking that hideous transman. I was totally done with the show when that happened. Frank's antics were also getting so repetitive, it was stale.

Walking Dead for the same reason many said. Glen and Abraham's deaths was too brutal and was a turning point in the show. It wasn't surviving zombies anymore it was just Negan sadistically brutalizing and murdering people.

"24"

"Mad Men"

"Sex and the City"

"Smallville"

"Arrow"

Mad Men. Not long after reading about Jon Hamm beating up a fraternity pledge.

SVU. When Stabler left. I picked it up again a few years later, but it's not as good. I wish Meloni had stayed.

Homicide: Life on the Street. I never actually stopped watching it, but the quality of the great show it had been was critically diminished by the introduction of the douchiest character in the history of dramatic television, Paul Falsone, played by Jon Seda.

Shameless. After Frank showed up at Fiona's wedding. They should have killed him off between seasons. I just couldn't. And I didn't.

As the World Turns / Another World. Around 1996, when P&G brought in the idiot plotters.

I stopped Shameless after the episode where Mickey returns and Ian gets in the car to go to Mexico with him. Seemed like a perfect stopping point since I knew they weren't going to give me what I wanted (although I've heard they did get them back together permanently but without Fiona...meh)

SVU I stopped after Meloni left.

Smallville I stopped after season 5. I think Lex/Lana was the final straw, but my interest had been waning since the end of season 3.

I stopped Supernatural during season 6, too much Castiel and the main storyline of the show had finished.

Up through Season 4, Sons of Anarchy was soapy, man candy, silly fun; after that, it was clear that Sutter ran out of ideas, but no one wanted to give up the paycheck. By the end, it was just embarrassing

I watched the last season of The Wire, but I just didn't care about the story; again, Simon appeared to run out of ideas but wanted 1 more season to wrap things up.

A lot of reality shows on Bravo like Vanderpump Rules have long since run their course & need to be replaced; Shahs is appalling

I gave up on the show in the White House when that guy from the Apprentice became the lead. It’s so bizarre ... not very believable. Hope that it gets cancelled next season

Orphan Black. The first season was great, the next two were good, but then it just got confusing and so convoluted in the 4th season. I never watched the final season and I’ve never wondered what happened.

Agree with Walking Dead. With Negan it became violence porn. I stopped watching—plus I felt like I was getting jerked off with the ridiculous storylines that went nowhere—and usually ended in some stupid cliffhanger.

Lost reminds me of the Trump presidency—random bullshit made up on the fly and sold to public as coherent leadership.

True Blood was good at first but stopped watching when they started with the fairy storyline. So dumb.

I gave up on Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black. The latter was trying way too hard to stretch out a tired story and the former was just into gooey crap and stupid teenagers.

Oh, yes ... Grace and Frankie should have ended long before now. I love Lily Tomlin, but her clown clothes, calculated wackiness, and constantly slipping dentures just really bothered me. And Jane Fonda marrying that guy who looks like his face was split in two and put together crooked, then shellacked, was beyond belief.

Negan on Walking Dead for me as well. I hated the character and the actor. I held on, thinking he would be killed off at the end of the season but no he was back for the next season and like others said it was just violence porn and Negan talking and talking and talking about what a badass he is. DONE. I haven't watched a single episode since, have no idea what's happening on the show now.

I was also getting tired of them just walking around the woods over and over again. They never seemed to travel more than 25 miles in any direction.

I forgot about OITNB—after that season with the unending prison riot I was done. Never went back. I didn’t care anymore.

After Meloni left, you realized that he was the glue that held SVU together. Never liked Kelli Giddish's character and all of her white trash family drama. None of the DA's they had after Stephanie March and Diane Neal were as good as those two. Diane Neal may be a crazy bitch IRL, but she was damn good on that show.

We gave up on The Walking Dead after they killed Glen and the Ginger Bear.

Watched M*A*S*H from the beginning (yes, I was home on Saturday nights), but gave up toward the end when it became the Alan Alda show. Never watched the grand finale, even when it was shown recently as a rerun.

I remember giving up on Frasier for a while. It was when Felicity Huffman became a regular. But I came back to the show once she left.

Cheers, after Shelley left

That's a good one. I used to love everything on Bravo, but after awhile I just got tired of it. RHOA and RHOBH were great, but they stopped being fun or maybe I just aged out of that nonsense.

American Idol. After Adam Lambert lost.

R93 I'm also losing interest in those shows. Except Potomac and Melbourne.

I watched Coronation Street for about four years. The last episode I watched was when Lloyd was the MC at quiz The Rovers. For some strange reason I could never make it through another show. When I heard about the weird plots after that I was glad I quit when I did.

The Good Wife when they killed off Will Gardner (Josh Charles).

The first season was titled Frankie and Grace. Second season was called Grace and Frankie. I think they switched off every year after that.

Too true about American Idol and Adam Lambert. Shitty homophobia. The guy who won has rightly disappeared into the country fair circuit. I never watched it after that night.

Dropped Homeland after season 2, Walking Dead after season 2. Just stopped watching the jaw droppingly stupid & repetitive Ozark about 2 episodes into season 2. Missed the first few seasons of Silicon Valley, started watching somewhere in the middle of its run, then stopped watching after the formula became unbearable.

Episode starts, everyone’s doing their usual thing. Erlich is causing trouble, he’s fighting with Chinese guy; Guilfoyle makes racist remarks to Pakistani guy who plays world’s most gullible person; Gavin learns about something Pied Piper is doing, sets out to get them. Something bad happens: We are fucked! We are so fucked! Pied Piper is FUCKED. Something happens at the last minute & their fortunes are restored. Big Head gets a great job offer. Gavin is foiled again.

I gave up on Curb Your Enthusiasm - I don’t even know which season. It was the season after the Michael J Fox episode. Larry became a menacing troublemaker instead of a guy who’s a victim of crazy circumstances. And Leon’s “fucking fuck that fucking shit, man” became one too many fucking shits.

Isn't that true of all AI winners except Kelly Clarkson R98?

East Enders after we found out Den was the father of Michelle’s baby.

Lamber is worth 25 million. Hardly country fair. Seems he's doing okay.

I quit watching the Walking Dead after Rick left. Andrew Lincoln was the only reason I'd stuck with it past the awful Lucille cliffhanger. I loved Homeland until the Germany season. I tried a few shows each season after that, but it was pretty bad. I am going to try this last season, though. I'm hoping it's good. I stuck with True Blood to the bitter end because I just found it crazy, stupid dumb fun. I lost interest in Blacklist after the first season, and I'm not really sure why. If anyone thinks I should pick it up again let me know.

What happened to Rick R103?

What happened to Rick R103?

Spoiler:

I wasn't paying super close attention but he was injured, everyone thinks he's dead, but that junkyard lady called for a helicopter to come take him away to .. somewhere.

I also read Lincoln had signed to do 3 Rick Grimes movies for AMC.

Janis the trash lady called her people and they flew him away in a helicopter. We don’t know where. We don’t know who they are or what they want him for.

He fell on some rebar earlier and was gravely injured, then blew up a bridge to save his people from walkers. . Michonne, Daryl, carol, et al all think he’s dead from the explosion.

I think like five years has passed in their world since he’s been gone. It’s gonna be a heck of a shock when/if he ever comes back.

I was the exact same wit The Walking Dead, OP. Ran into a brick wall after 2.5 seasons. Held no more appeal. Black-ish I lost interest after 3.5 seasons. I'm definitely not a "I have to stick it out" type.

South Park (this year was the first time I didn't laugh once)

Shameless (I left when Emmy Rossum did, was hatewatching for years beforehand)

Smallville (I left after Dr. Quinn and the Witchy Moon Rocks)

Greys (I left with Dempsey, his death scene was too close to home, I consider Sandra Oh's exit the finale)

SVU (left with Meloni)

Glee (dropped it sometime after Season 3, watched the Monteith tribute)

I WISH I stopped because god they died slow creative deaths: True Blood

Gossip Girl

Brothers & Sisters

More I'm sure....

A lot of the reality shows became meta, i.e., self-referential, mentioning each other's Twitter posts, being insulted b/c of each other's Twitter posts. The only reason these people have a Twitter following is from being on reality TV. Hence, meta.

I quit watching Queer as Folk when they made the father of the Hal Sparks character a famous drag queen. It was already pretty bad, but that was just corny soap opera level bad.

X-files, when Duchovny's character learned that his sister was not abducted by a UFO. (I know, a long time ago, but that episode pissed me off so badly.)

The whole alien plot through that show was boring R112. I much prefer the supernatural or creepy monster episodes.

[quote] The first season was titled Frankie and Grace. Second season was called Grace and Frankie. I think they switched off every year after that.

No, bitch, no.

It has always - ALWAYS - been called Grace and Frankie.

I gave up on The Office around the Amy Pietz episode. The show changed for the worst around season four. It went from being a sly, witty show about people working for an incompetent boss to an idiotic sitcom about how cRaZy all the people who work in this office was.

I find it surprising what a big hit it is for Netflix. I thought the steep quality drop so early in the show would keep it from classic TV status.

Speaking of steep drops, Parks and Rec is another one with an unfairly lauded reputation. The first three seasons were great until Leslie Knope got public office. Then it just became a weird douchebag parade of one-note scumbags like Jamm, the perfume guy, The Douche, Jean Ralphio, and his sister. It’s like they decided to add eight more Aziz Ansaris when one was more than enough.

I don’t know why people give Ryan Murphy such shit while kissing Mike Schur’s ass when they have the same problem. Both create shows that hit big in their initial seasons, but never live up to their early promise. Ryan’s plots tend to peter out when Schur’s shows become paint by numbers plotting and fill in the blank jokes.

Donna’s here? Gotta make a Benz joke. Ron’s here? Gotta make a manly man joke. Tahani’s here? She has to drop a famous name. And so on and so on.

I never watch any series past the third season as they will all go down the shitter thereafter. Maybe Law & Order which I did follow a tad longer.

I tend to be one of those people who sticks with things to the bitter end. Two exceptions:

I watched season one of The Leftovers, but when season two came around, I decided against continuing. (Strangely, a few years later, I binged the last two seasons which I think are absolute masterpieces.)

I forced myself to get to the end of season one of Westworld, which I found to be maddeningly pretentious and irritating. Friends kept raving, so when season two came around, I made the decision to watch. I made it about fifteen minutes into the first episode of season two before I audibly screamed. Life’s too short and that show is too far up it’s own ass.

I was ready to ditch American Horror Story after the Roanoke season when some cultists were messing with people living in the country. OMG was I bored. I tried to get into the Hotel season and even peeked into the one with Cody Fern as the Antichrist but I finally couldn't take the foolishness any more. That last season at the camp put the nail in the coffin.

R112 reminded me that I also dropped X-Files after loving it for the first 7 seasons. I tried keeping interested after Duchovny left, but Annabeth Gish and Robert Patrick were poor substitutes, maybe even less animated than Mulder and Scully.

Vikings. It’s just too long.

Goliath (Billy Bob Thornton, Amazon Prime, 3 seasons so far). I loved the first season, mostly because it took place in Santa Monica, and featured more of it per square minute than any show I'd ever seen. The next season they went to Mexico, and I wasn't nearly as interested. I haven't seen the third season.

Ozark after S1 - too gruesome.

Man In The High Castle after S1 - too confusing.

Lucifer after a couple of seasons - too absurd.

I stayed with the X Files until the bitter end, but should've stopped when Duchovny left. The last season (or was it two seasons) were running on fumes without him.

BTW, why did Duchovny leave? It was so long ago I can't remember. Did he think he was going to be a big movie star, like so many others who left a hit tv show and their careers went down the shitter?

Everwood after Treat Williams started the affair with Anne Heche at the end of season 3, I think it was. It was predictable, stupid and I was just over it. This was right after he paid his son's pregnant girlfriend to go away, which was also dumb and old hat.

Rick and Morty now. I haven't seen season 4 and I won't. I just don't care anymore, 3 seasons was enough.

This thread just proves Bea Arthur, John Cleese and Kim Cattrall are right. Don't run something into the ground, you just go on fumes, get more out there in story lines or stay repetitive, and just ultimately bore everybody at the end.

When Laverne and Shirley moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California.

When Adriana was killed on the Sopranos. It was just too much. I felt like I wasn't getting enough out of the series at that point and bailed.

Usually I dip out when they add extra characters or kids. Remember Nancy—Nellie 2.0 on Little House on the Prairie?

I think audiences are getting more savvy about shows and they don’t feel compelled to keep watching when they start to suck.

Grace and Frankie when I discovered the hinting about Grace and Frankie getting together was cruel queerbaiting. Fuck them!

I easily abandon series when I lose interest and the magic is gone. Life is too short.

I also stop eating food that doesn't please me.

I agree with the above comments on Grace and Frankie. I love Lily Tomlin, but Frankie's nuttiness is too much. In a normal world, anyone that acted that way would be put in a home. I think I bailed after she was stuffing tree branches down the garbage disposal. Also, most of their kids are just stupid and unfunny. I still like Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen though, they should just spin them off onto their own show, but it would probably suck too.

I gave up on the final season of Gossip Girl and when I found out who Gossip Girl was, I'm glad that I gave up on it.

I watched The Good Place until the very end, but I never really understood why it was such a cult hit. I used to read all of these think pieces about the show being so great and meaningful. I guess it all went over my head. I was kind of relieved when it was over.

I love the comedy Superstore, but I have to admit that this past season wasn't its best season. I'm not sure if it is because the original writers left or not, but I will continue to watch.

Maybe America Ferrera leaving will give Superstore a boost. I'm not normally a network sitcom person, but that show is often hilarious.

I thought House jumped the shark toward the end of season 3 with the police detective. I made it through part of season 4, which was House hiring a new squad and mistreating all of the contestants. His meanness was no longer amusing and I quit.

I quit TWD when Noah was killed. Glad I didn't stick around to see Glenn, my favorite character, killed.

Quit "Lost" midway through season 2 when Mr. Echo came on and the show started getting religious.

I fell behind watching "Mad Men" and never caught up. I still want to finish it.

I quit watching "Bones" after Zack was revealed as the Gormogon's apprentice and was written off the show. Started watching again later but quit again when Vincent Nigel-Murray was killed. Started again but stopped when Sweets was killed.

Vikings - After Ragnar died. The sons don't interest me at all. I still liked Lagertha, Rollo and Floki, but the focus shifted to the sons, so, bye bye, Vikings.

Stopped watching Greys Anatomy when they fired Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew. The show had been shitty for years, but the contempt for the audience from new show runner Krista Vernoff, a truly vile twat, was what did me in

I mostly agree with you about P&R R115, though I thought Jean RalphJio, and his sister were hilarious - ridiculous in the context of the show - but hilarious. Once Chris Pratt became a "movie stahhh" instead of the big doughy guy he was before, he was no longer funny. I get the sense that the actress that played April couldn't stand him at that point either.

Travis Fimmel is no one's idea of a great thespian, but you realized how good he was once Vikings killed him off; the actors who played the sons were not that interesting and Ivar "making vikings great again" was not interesting & bordered on torture porn

I gave up on Sesame Street after the first season.

Ugly Betty, but I forgot what made me tune out. Some time in the second season.

Ugly Etsy lost it’s mojo after the writer’s strike. Then, Lindsay Lohan was added and the series went off course.

Ugly Betty!!! Christ. Not Etsy. That’s a different thread!

Several months ago I gave up on Manifest. I was a big fan of Max von Sydow and I love the concept of the the plane vanishing and returning years later but I got really tired of the "callings" from the ugly boy and the soap opera lady detective. It was becoming too obvious it's a repeat of Lost in the producers having no clue where they are going.

Similarly there was a sci fi show called Flashforwad. They had a riviting start but again they had no clue where they were going. Things got so confused they took it off the schedule for several months for retooling. By the time the revised show went back on the air everybody had lost interest.

It's been interesting reading all of the posts. It goes to show that there can be a difference in a show "jumping the shark" (when something so ridiculous happens that it is all downhill from there) and when an individual reaches their own personal breaking point. Usually a show jumps-the-shark before you finally give up on it, but sometimes simply losing a favorite actor (either in a real life firing or being written off in a particularly offensive way) can be the trigger for many people.

Speaking of Manifest, there is a show on Netflix called Into the Night about a plane that has to stay ahead of the sun after some kind of disaster wipes out the planet. Subtitles though. I saw the first episode but haven't tuned in since.

Downton Abbey, when paralyzed Dan Stevens started walking again. I quit the show, and I think he quit it too.

I gave up when Negan was about to come around as well, OP. Really the show hasn’t been watchable since season 2, though.

Reality TV: the Amazing Race when teams started giving away clue answers to other teams. Almost giving up on Survivor. Can't stand the whispering at tribal council, the seemingly endless supply of immunity idols, and the idea that even after 'the tribe has spoken' a player can get back into the game. Watched to the bitter end and hated myself for doing it: Lost, and motherfucking Dexter.

When Mike & Gloria left All in the Family I was DONE

R27 I actually quit ER for the first time soon after Abby appeared - couldn’t stand her perpetually sour face and thought Goran Visnjic was totally wasted on her. Then at some point I tuned back briefly, then quit it for good when Carter started dating Susan.

CSI after Gil Grissom left. Although I loved Catherine Willows the show lost its core.

I agree with the person who said when O'Hara left Nurse Jackie. She was the straight talking friend and actually intelligent when all the other characters were naive and stupid. Plus they did that thing where she just left one day to move back to England. If you're going to get rid of a popular character at least give them a memorable exit that leaves a mark, not just "oh I'm off, bye!" with two minutes to go in the season.

I pulled out of Desperate Housewives when they started bringing in all those new families to the street and the storylines became quite twisted and dark. I don't know how long you can keep a show like that going well for more than a few seasons, there's only so many events that can happen before it jumps the shark completely.

I loved "American Gods" when it first started but by the 3rd season, it was getting more muddled and not making sense. When Gillian Anderson and Bryan Fuller left, the magic left with it. So did I.

Bryan Fuller always abandons his shows leaving them floundering.

I was awarded divorce from "Endeavour" after the lovely Black nurse and Endeavour Morse's seemingly committed relationship just disappeared into thin air as though she never existed. I suspect the BBC pulled the plug on the idea of main character in an interracial romance. Pity. I miss Shaun Evans's cheekbones.

In which season did James Spader join "The Office?" I never watched the show but am a big Spader fan.

TIA

[quote]I suspect the BBC pulled the plug on the idea of main character in an interracial romance.

Why would they do that?

[quote] I suspect the BBC pulled the plug on the idea of main character in an interracial romance.

Has to be some other reason. The BBC exists today only to push "diversity".

BBC didn't make Morse, Lewis or Endeavour, its ITV. And the actress seemed to appear in 2017 so maybe they did explain why they broke up?

I got so tired of keeping up with current shows that would be off for over a year between seasons, or which had split final season or other such nonsense, that I almost never watch anything new anymore, it has to have at least one season in the can already or else I'm not starting it. Spent so much time with shows that started great and then kept me hanging for ages until they returned, only to be complete shit, that I was just done. Think the last show I watched in real time was "30 Rock" which I gave up on early in season six.

The problem with Endeavour is its success. It got greenlit because Morse was so popular and they could drop in allusions and references to Morse to please fans but now Morse is strangling Endeavour. The show already dispensed with Morse's great love in the first series. The ongoing dilemma is why Thursday was never mentioned on Morse. For a while it looked like they were going to make him bent (so out of character! shameful!) as the reason Morse would never refer to him but they seem to have backed away from that plan. Since I love Endeavour and never got into Morse, I'll keep watching.

This is a no-brainer, but I gave up on "Under the Dome" in the middle of season 2 when the show became even MORE silly, which is very hard to believe.

Breaking Bad is the one really popular show I could never get into. I tried several of the original episodes in first season, then gave up. Then I read (maybe on DL) that the show really got going in Season 2, so I started with Season 2 and skipped most of Season 1. I went into Season 3 and then I just was forcing myself, so I quit...I could never stand any of the characters (actually I liked the brother-in-law DEA agent the best). I did watch an episode or two at the beginning of Better Call Saul, and didn't continue, but I have a feeling I would probably like that show much more.

On the other hand there are shows that take a while, but once you like them...you love them. Justified is a show that had an okay but not great first season, but then I think in the second season, Margo Martindale showed up as an evil drug dealer granny, and Walton Goggins' role as Boyd Crowder got better and better--and from then I was hooked. That show got BETTER every season. What a terrific show!

Did we ever find out what the dome was?

The mini dome within the dome was the fucking last straw.

Margo Martindale is always fabulous in everything she does.

I read the book, but never watched the show so I can’t say how/if they explained it r163

**Spoiler** But in the book the dome was placed over the town by an alien child playing a game. Kind of like how kids put a magnifying glass over ants to watch them burn. It’s cruel, but to their immature brains, it’s fun. The alien kid wanted to see what would happen if she put a dome over the town and left it there. Somehow the main guy got in contact with her and begged her to take it away, and she did.

I should reread that book, it was interesting.

Didn't the show get cancelled before they got around to explaining how the dome arrived?

Alexander Koch was the only reason to watch Under the Dome. I always wondered if he was one of [italic]those[/italic] Kochs.

Will & Grace (after the s4 finale, then s10-11)

Alias after their Superbowl episode

Parks & Rec after Ann & Chris left

Dynasty reboot after they killed off Nicolette Sheridan and replaced her with long-lost son.

I gave up on Melrose Place after season 5 when they killed off both Kimberly and Sydney and both Allison and Jake left. Half the original cast was gone and they had dialed the camp factor down to nothing so it had stopped being entertaining for awhile. I tuned in for the series finale because there was a rumor Kimberley was going to come back but it didn't happen and I had no idea who most of the characters were so it was pretty boring.

Relatively quite soon into its run, actually..

I gave up on "The Handmaid's Tale" after June returned to the Commander and his wife yet AGAIN, and they said to her yet AGAIN, "We'll give you just one more chance..."

I quit watching a series when after 2 or 3 seasons all the characters start fucking each other. It ruined The Office (Angela and Dwight??) It turned ER into a soap, as well as Parks & Rec. Glee was the worst! Everybody's fucking! Everybody's GAY! Its the laziest form of script writing and usually means the end is near.

I am in the same boat as OP.

When Negan arrived, I realized Walking Dead was just repeating itself with “tyrannical gangs vs. Rick’s group.”

Negan was just another Governor or Cannibal Town mayor.

I don’t know why Robert Kirkman is so cynical he can’t search for a cure or “ Good Guy Nation” with military power. He’s a one-trick pony and it’s gotten old for me.

Glee has a lot of potential it's first season; Season 2 it really came into it's own and was terrific, (my favorite character was the Hispanic lesbian who in real life was dating the guy who ended up being a child molester and committed suicide). By season 4, it was unwatchable.

One of those shows, however, where the real-life stories of the actors could really be a show of it's own. Far more tragic than anything that happened on the show itself.

I just barely made it through season 3 of Westworld, because season one was fascinating, 2 terrible, and surely 3 would be a step up. Nope. Plus I hate that french actor. I'm out.

I watched 9 recorded episodes of Grays in about 3 hours a couple weeks ago. These characters are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over and never learn anything. Probably done.

Brooklyn Nine Nine is starting to feel less clever and more silly, like a dumb SNL sketch that's been played to death, only for 22 minutes. I'm not sure if it's coming back anyway.

I stopped watching Project Runway the season after husky Ashley won. She definitely wasn’t the best of her season.

I should have left SVU with Meloni, but stuck around for a few more years. I think I finally gave up when they brought back Pablo Shreiber/William Lewis for the 19th time. He was entertaining the first time. It got old real fast.

SVU was never the same without Meloni. I held on for a couple more seasons, but then gave up. And I watched SVU religiously for years.

Will and Grace - when they decided to have a baby together. UGH. Think that was around season 4 or 5.

Criminal Minds - can't remember the exact moment, but at some point I just quit because the cases got so implausible. There was one where a woman would kidnap other women to turn them into dolls. WTF? When did that ever happen in real life?

Law and Order: SVU - see the Criminal Minds entry. It started out as a crime show with relatively plausible cases, then got just plain silly. There was one where a woman decided to get revenge on guys who raped her, like, 20 years ago....so she tracks them down one by one and rapes them with game board pieces. Uh huh.

Fear the Walking Dead was getting crappy when they ended up living in that baseball diamond. After Nick got killed I saw it turning into the Alicia Show and I don't like her that much/don't think she's strong enough to carry it. I also wasn't crazy about the new people brought in to fill in the cracks: John Dory, wheelchair dude, trucker Mo Collins, teen girl, Dwight, those new other groups. I bailed after that foolishness with Strand in a hot air balloon.

I stopped watching SVU when Olivia went ballistic on a lawyer or some higher up and I thought it was stupid and that no way would she be allowed to act that way. I can’t remember what year, but it was definitely after Stabler left.

NCIS was a travesty because of how DiNozzo left. I was SUPER pissed that they made him go be with that fucking cunt, Ziva.

Smallville was stopped after Rosie left. Started watching again after Kreuk left for good. I think the ratings improved, lol.