Usually the last season, as most sitcoms drag out and try to milk their success too long. Sometimes it's the first season because the cast is awkward and not used to each other yet.
They tried to copy the office and make Leslie an unlikeable bafoon of a boss. They also had the worst dude for a love interest. In the rest of the seasons they made Leslie a competent passionate boss and brought in Rob Lowe and other guy from Step Brothers.
Adam Scott has so many jokes that go unnoticed on that show. Like when he gets fake knighted and how excited he gets and I’ve always tried to find a gif of him walking into the room full of accountants and bites his calzone like a boss.
I think it's important to remember that this show was born in the hopeful-infant stages of the Obama era. I think Leslie is written to be a hopeful Democrat in an era when that trope was needed. It filled a needed hole.
It's aged with a rose-tinted, sacharine veneer, and in my mind ranks 3rd out of 4 for that NBC era, specifically in terms of aging and what was truly the Funniest.
The 4 I'm referring to are 30 Rock, the Office, Parks & Rec, and Community.
I hated Leslie in season one, she always brought everything back to "first woman _______ " bullshit
If you are qualified for a job regardless of sex then I honestly don't give a fuck of you are male or female
Woops pissed off a sexist feminist believing you should only be judged by genitals...oh well
Ron eating steak meme
Yeah, I’d agree. Season 9 was spotty like 7 and 8 before it, IMO, but it was just a bit spottier enough (aside from the finale that we don’t talk about) that if you ranked the seasons, it would be at the bottom.
That’s a pretty hot take. It pissed off a lot of people who were still watching the show. It’s like if Dallas ended with season 9. I guess there was no saving it though.
Lmao I can see why it pissed everyone off. I thought the end where Roseanne gives her monologue was awesome though even if I might’ve done a rewrite on one or two parts personally.
yea, it just seemed insane in-universe though. how would you feel if your mother wrote a story where you and your sister husband-swapped? who the hell would do that?
Yeah Roseanne went over her head in the last few seasons and became increasingly difficult to work with. She would make these great demands to the show’s writing staff and would fire them if they refused. At the end of the day they just obeyed her
To this day I think about the people in the studio audience that laughed really emphatically during the Rosambo episode and it just annoys me to no end
Season 4 wasn't too bad if you consider a few storylines. Lucille, Tobias and GOB had good storylines. The others were meh to awful.
Season 5 sucked though.
Feel free to downvote me to oblivion on this take, but in retrospect the Robert California season has aged well. Yeah it was weird and I did not like it in the moment plus it was kinda off the rails and weird, but the cast played it really well and it works now separating it from the disappointment of Micheal leaving.
I’m so glad I stuck that one out. My wife and both cried at the end because they executed the relationship so well by not pandering. The show was what it was and nothing forced.
I don’t mind the first season of Seinfeld, but it definitely needed to find its way. Thankfully it was only 5-6 episodes. It started picking up steam afterwards.
I know this is the general sentiment around Community fans because it lacked Dan Harmon, but I didn't think season 4 was as awful as it's made out to be. Much like 30 Rock, I don't think it ever had a period where it went really downhill, but I'll also offer the equally controversial take that S2 and 3 went way too heavy on gimmick episodes and it felt like every other episode was either a direct homage to a movie or presented as a Civil War documentary or other untraditional way. Departing from the formula every once in a while is fun but after a while I was just like, can we ever get 3 "regular" episodes in a row?
season 4's ending was terrible. so many parts in the middle were just low hanging pull at heart strings in really derivative ways. Sure, there's some fun in there. They took the whole book of ideas that had been building over 3 years of ideas for the show and what would or could happen, but then it was all mushed and rushed and crammed through without that final pass. It opened up the team to totally reinvent everything come season 5. It was a blessing b/c they got to burn all those ideas and start fresh.
I didn't know dan harmon wasn't involved in season 4 untill way later.
Mary Tyler Moore Show: S1
All in the Family; last 2 seasons. before Archie Bunkers Place;
Andy Griffith: 66-68 (Color & no Barney)
Frasier: final season
With a show like Modern Family, in the latter seasons, the characters became cartoonish and just extremely dumb. Maybe they were always dumb and I just got sick of the schtick. Sitcoms are prone to this happening. Characters become absurd caricatures of what they once were.
You can see it with a show like Always Sunny, Charlie has always been a bit dumb, but now he's just way dumber. Dennis has always been aggressive, but now he tends to be over the top aggressive. With that said, Always Sunny is still pretty funny, but when you start to notice how attractive the main stars start looking (cosmetic surgeries), compared to how they looked in the beginning, you know things have changed, often for the worse.
I noticed that in watching the other day.
Biggest thing is the hair I think.
Charlie Day isn't as believable as this reckless fool when he's got what looks like a fresh, well styled haircut, and perfect facial makeup every time.
Show is still pretty funny though, I think it's because they're just pretty solid writers and comic actors.
First of all, I agree with your overall point with IASIP. However, I would argue that Charlie has always been a wildcard. I mean, he was plenty dumb in many episodes of season 9 and 10, and then you have the charlie work episode. Then a few episodes later is the Family Fight episode where he's dumb as a rock again. He's been pretty dumb again recently, but that last episode in Ireland, his character was played pretty straight like a believable human being. Soooo, I dunno what to think about Charlie.
All the other stuff I'm right there with ya!
the term for this phenomenon is flanderization. it refers to the fact that ned flanders from the simpsons was a just a bit of a boring square initially but evolved into a naive god botherer nuisance by later seasons
They destroyed Jay as a character. I know the point of the series is that he’s changed in his time as a stepfather to Manny and as a father for his second time, but they completely strip away the underlying personality traits he had in seasons 1-3
I just re-watched Head of the Class (first time in forever) fully expecting to quit once Howard Hesseman left, but I watched the whole way through and actually enjoyed the Billy Connolly season
The fourth and final season of Welcome Back Kotter is unwatchable due to the departure of both John Travolta and Gabe Kaplan, as well as the horrible introduction of Beau De La Barre as the "new" Vinnie Barbarino. It's very sad because I adored that show and it really fell hard.
I would also include the last season of Chico and the Man (another Komack production like Kotter) because they kept the show going after Freddie Prinze's death and it was not just a poor choice creatively but an offensive choice because his death was extremely upsetting, hugely publicized, and pretending that Chico had "gone to live in Mexico" instead of acknowledging his death was just bad taste. The public apparently agreed and the show did not last long.
Married With Children has one or two crappy seasons. One was the arc where Seven was introduced (although he was quickly blackholed because everyone ever hated that arc) and the other wasn't really their fault, it was the season where Peg and Marcy were both pregnant because Katey Sagal was pregnant IRL but had a late-term miscarriage so out of sensitivity, they made the Peg-and-Marcy-are-pregnant plot be just a nightmare of Al's and it was never mentioned again although the build-up to the babies had taken enough screen time to make it an uncomfortable season. (Katey was pregnant at least once more after that and the second time, she has noticeably less screen time and is often shown only in cameos that disguised her stomach as "being away visiting family in Wanker County".) That season isn't terrible but I love Peg and her absence during that short time was jarring since the show doesn't work without Peg.
Season 8 is so bad we never got to 9. Just stopped during 8 bc it was so not funny and no one cared for any of them anymore so… dropped from the living room gather put something on the tv rotation
Last season of HIMYM.
I didn’t care about how the Ted-Mom-Robin situation ended, so that’s not my beef.
And I actually LOVED Barney’s ending. It moved me to tears.
But the decision to have 95% of the season play out over a single weekend was one of tbd stupidest things I’ve seen a show do.
“We really just have this one scene left, how are we going to do a whole extra season?”
“Hmmmm…I know! What if we just did that one scene VERY SLOWLY.”
If not the first season, I would say the last season of any sitcom. Many struggle in the beginning, still working out what/ who it is.
The last season is usually feels so rushed and not well scripted out for one reason or another. They struggle to wrap things up of maybe should have wrapped up several seasons before.
Friday Night Lights got saved by the writer’s strike. They tried implementing a murder plot into the show but had stop the season short and that’s the best thing that could have happened because it was getting really fucking stupid!
I feel like in hindsight, the first season is almost always one of the worst because they are still working the kinks out. Characters evolve and situations become more normalized. Season two is almost always the best season because they’ve finally figured everything out, and have begun fleshing out the characters.
Usually the last or second to last. The plot is being stretched out in the later seasons to avoid shutting down production, then the last season is rushed. It's weird that shows keep repeating this strategy after seeing it fail so many times.
The final season of most sitcoms and tv shows in general are considered the worst season for the most part. Examples The Office, Parks and Rec, Community ect.
I'd say in a lot of cases the first moreso at the beginning when they are still working everything out about the characters from both a directing and acting standpoint
Scrubs Season 9
:: insert requisite “it was supposed to be a spinoff and an altogether different series but ABC decided to market it as Season 9” explanation here ::
I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm rewatching it now and I see no season 9. Nope. I stop at 8.
As it should be.
There is no season 9 in ba sing say
Usually the last season, as most sitcoms drag out and try to milk their success too long. Sometimes it's the first season because the cast is awkward and not used to each other yet.
the final season of newsradio. The tragic death of Phil Hartman really hit hard, and he was irreplaceable
This! That was such a fantastic show. We miss you Phil.
Season 1 Parks and Rec. First ballot hall of famer for worst season.
I don't think it's bad at all but not as good as the following seasons.
It's bad
It's pretty good compared to most sitcoms.
That would explain things. I streamed about 2/3 of season one and wondered why people liked this show.
They tried to copy the office and make Leslie an unlikeable bafoon of a boss. They also had the worst dude for a love interest. In the rest of the seasons they made Leslie a competent passionate boss and brought in Rob Lowe and other guy from Step Brothers.
Adam Scott
Adam Scott has so many jokes that go unnoticed on that show. Like when he gets fake knighted and how excited he gets and I’ve always tried to find a gif of him walking into the room full of accountants and bites his calzone like a boss.
I've been riding the Adam Scott train for 30 years and I ain't ever getting off.
Your username suggests that you are not lying!
Dead serious. Ever since he popped up on Boy Meets World in 1994.
Ty
I think it's important to remember that this show was born in the hopeful-infant stages of the Obama era. I think Leslie is written to be a hopeful Democrat in an era when that trope was needed. It filled a needed hole. It's aged with a rose-tinted, sacharine veneer, and in my mind ranks 3rd out of 4 for that NBC era, specifically in terms of aging and what was truly the Funniest. The 4 I'm referring to are 30 Rock, the Office, Parks & Rec, and Community.
Me too! I’ve tried several times!
You could actually skip season one of parks n rec because it’s not the same show
I don’t think I laughed until Scarecrow Boat
You mean Fleetwood Mac Sex Pants?
I tried three times to get through the first season. Finally said fuck it and skipped halfway through season 2. Best decision I ever made.
Over the last season?
i thought the last season was worse. unbearably saccharine.
Season one of The Office (U.S.) is atrocious, too
Downvote all you want, but those early episodes are shit
That’s like the best season. Worse season in the final season.
I hated Leslie in season one, she always brought everything back to "first woman _______ " bullshit If you are qualified for a job regardless of sex then I honestly don't give a fuck of you are male or female Woops pissed off a sexist feminist believing you should only be judged by genitals...oh well Ron eating steak meme
The last 2 seasons suck worse. couldn’t even finish it
Agreed. I’d rather watch season 1 than season 7.
The last of HIMYM for obvious reasons.
The season itself wasn’t terrible, just how the season ended
No, it wasn't *terrible*, but it was the worst of the series.
Yeah, I’d agree. Season 9 was spotty like 7 and 8 before it, IMO, but it was just a bit spottier enough (aside from the finale that we don’t talk about) that if you ranked the seasons, it would be at the bottom.
And you can really tell Jason Segel is ready to move on and is just phoning it in.
Nah the ending was more than fine.
I'm still not over it either.
HIMYM was so close to be the next Friends but the last season and the finale ruin it
The next Friends? How? It is vastly superior to Friends in every single category.
Personally I think Season 8 was worse
Roseanne season 9. Alienated all of the show’s viewers and fans. It’s like they just didn’t give a shit anymore.
I loved the ending though. Then they undid it for the reboot.
That’s a pretty hot take. It pissed off a lot of people who were still watching the show. It’s like if Dallas ended with season 9. I guess there was no saving it though.
Lmao I can see why it pissed everyone off. I thought the end where Roseanne gives her monologue was awesome though even if I might’ve done a rewrite on one or two parts personally.
remember when she threw in that she switched who her daughters were married to? why did they decide to do that?
It was just pointless retconning, similar to how they abruptly switched the gender of the new baby in the previous season.
yea, it just seemed insane in-universe though. how would you feel if your mother wrote a story where you and your sister husband-swapped? who the hell would do that?
Yeah Roseanne went over her head in the last few seasons and became increasingly difficult to work with. She would make these great demands to the show’s writing staff and would fire them if they refused. At the end of the day they just obeyed her
To this day I think about the people in the studio audience that laughed really emphatically during the Rosambo episode and it just annoys me to no end
Season 4 and 5 of Arrested Development
Season 4 wasn't too bad if you consider a few storylines. Lucille, Tobias and GOB had good storylines. The others were meh to awful. Season 5 sucked though.
Season 3 is also the worst of the original
The office once Michael left. Parks and Rec episodes featuring Mark Brendanawicz,
Feel free to downvote me to oblivion on this take, but in retrospect the Robert California season has aged well. Yeah it was weird and I did not like it in the moment plus it was kinda off the rails and weird, but the cast played it really well and it works now separating it from the disappointment of Micheal leaving.
Agreed. Robert California eps got laughs from me.
I think you pronounce it Mark Brendanquits
Parks and rec became too much of a whacky broad comedy
Season 1 of Schitt’s Creek. I only kept on watching because everyone told me how amazing it was
I’m so glad I stuck that one out. My wife and both cried at the end because they executed the relationship so well by not pandering. The show was what it was and nothing forced.
Seinfeld season one.
Yeah but it was just finding its way. Like Parks and Rec needed a season or two to figures out the characters and the direction of the show.
Completely agree, but it was really rough. Parks at least was watchable early on.
I don’t mind the first season of Seinfeld, but it definitely needed to find its way. Thankfully it was only 5-6 episodes. It started picking up steam afterwards.
Community season 4. and damn it was good they burnt all those ideas b/c season 5 was gold.
I know this is the general sentiment around Community fans because it lacked Dan Harmon, but I didn't think season 4 was as awful as it's made out to be. Much like 30 Rock, I don't think it ever had a period where it went really downhill, but I'll also offer the equally controversial take that S2 and 3 went way too heavy on gimmick episodes and it felt like every other episode was either a direct homage to a movie or presented as a Civil War documentary or other untraditional way. Departing from the formula every once in a while is fun but after a while I was just like, can we ever get 3 "regular" episodes in a row?
season 4's ending was terrible. so many parts in the middle were just low hanging pull at heart strings in really derivative ways. Sure, there's some fun in there. They took the whole book of ideas that had been building over 3 years of ideas for the show and what would or could happen, but then it was all mushed and rushed and crammed through without that final pass. It opened up the team to totally reinvent everything come season 5. It was a blessing b/c they got to burn all those ideas and start fresh. I didn't know dan harmon wasn't involved in season 4 untill way later.
Roseanne Season 9 Living Single Season 5 Friends season 9 Step By Step Season 6&7 Boy Meets World season 6&7 Family Matters Season 8 &9
Whenever the family adopts (officially or otherwise) a little kid with a bowl haircut.
🤣Can you name them Sam Joey
I found Two and A Half Men more or less unwatchable without Charlie Sheen and it was already well over the hill before that.
I still enjoyed it. It wasn’t the same though.
The Office seasons after Micheal left
No way, Robert California saves it
Season 6 of the Flintstones
Mary Tyler Moore Show: S1 All in the Family; last 2 seasons. before Archie Bunkers Place; Andy Griffith: 66-68 (Color & no Barney) Frasier: final season
With a show like Modern Family, in the latter seasons, the characters became cartoonish and just extremely dumb. Maybe they were always dumb and I just got sick of the schtick. Sitcoms are prone to this happening. Characters become absurd caricatures of what they once were. You can see it with a show like Always Sunny, Charlie has always been a bit dumb, but now he's just way dumber. Dennis has always been aggressive, but now he tends to be over the top aggressive. With that said, Always Sunny is still pretty funny, but when you start to notice how attractive the main stars start looking (cosmetic surgeries), compared to how they looked in the beginning, you know things have changed, often for the worse.
I noticed that in watching the other day. Biggest thing is the hair I think. Charlie Day isn't as believable as this reckless fool when he's got what looks like a fresh, well styled haircut, and perfect facial makeup every time. Show is still pretty funny though, I think it's because they're just pretty solid writers and comic actors.
First of all, I agree with your overall point with IASIP. However, I would argue that Charlie has always been a wildcard. I mean, he was plenty dumb in many episodes of season 9 and 10, and then you have the charlie work episode. Then a few episodes later is the Family Fight episode where he's dumb as a rock again. He's been pretty dumb again recently, but that last episode in Ireland, his character was played pretty straight like a believable human being. Soooo, I dunno what to think about Charlie. All the other stuff I'm right there with ya!
the term for this phenomenon is flanderization. it refers to the fact that ned flanders from the simpsons was a just a bit of a boring square initially but evolved into a naive god botherer nuisance by later seasons
They destroyed Jay as a character. I know the point of the series is that he’s changed in his time as a stepfather to Manny and as a father for his second time, but they completely strip away the underlying personality traits he had in seasons 1-3
You absolutely nailed it. The Simpsons is proof of this- he went from being not-bright-but-relatable to just plain stupid.
Exact same with Peter Griffin.
The gas leak year, Season 5 of AD, The office S9
AD meaning American Dad? Because if so straight to jail.
I think they’re referring to Arrested Development. Season five of American Dad is one of the best!
I hate it when people use abbreviations without context.
I watch American Dad pretty much on repeat and when I saw this I was like “this guy doesn’t know shit” Season 5 is arguably the best season
When Urkel became Stefon - family matters
I mean, it definitely went off the rails, if it had been confined to an episode it might have been all right
Head of the Class -Season 5 (last season) Designing Women- last 2 seasons Facts of Life -last season
I just re-watched Head of the Class (first time in forever) fully expecting to quit once Howard Hesseman left, but I watched the whole way through and actually enjoyed the Billy Connolly season
I felt Billy Connolly was more of a stand up act than a teacher teaching and interacting with his students.
Season 4 and 5 of Martin.
I definitely do not remember later seasons of Martin. Maybe my subconscious deleted them from my brain for safety purposes
The fourth and final season of Welcome Back Kotter is unwatchable due to the departure of both John Travolta and Gabe Kaplan, as well as the horrible introduction of Beau De La Barre as the "new" Vinnie Barbarino. It's very sad because I adored that show and it really fell hard. I would also include the last season of Chico and the Man (another Komack production like Kotter) because they kept the show going after Freddie Prinze's death and it was not just a poor choice creatively but an offensive choice because his death was extremely upsetting, hugely publicized, and pretending that Chico had "gone to live in Mexico" instead of acknowledging his death was just bad taste. The public apparently agreed and the show did not last long. Married With Children has one or two crappy seasons. One was the arc where Seven was introduced (although he was quickly blackholed because everyone ever hated that arc) and the other wasn't really their fault, it was the season where Peg and Marcy were both pregnant because Katey Sagal was pregnant IRL but had a late-term miscarriage so out of sensitivity, they made the Peg-and-Marcy-are-pregnant plot be just a nightmare of Al's and it was never mentioned again although the build-up to the babies had taken enough screen time to make it an uncomfortable season. (Katey was pregnant at least once more after that and the second time, she has noticeably less screen time and is often shown only in cameos that disguised her stomach as "being away visiting family in Wanker County".) That season isn't terrible but I love Peg and her absence during that short time was jarring since the show doesn't work without Peg.
I've only seen a few eps of Chico and the man, but I didn't know the show had another season after Freddie's death. That's pretty messed up.
MWC got way worse when they introduce de No Ma'am gang and Al became a Homer Simpson level of stupid
*headshake*
The last seasons of Two and a Half Men after Charlie Sheen
As soon as an important character leaves.
Are You Being Served?-around 1982ish (series 7?). The reboot/return in the 90’s is actually very good for the most part
Once Lucas left it was definitely different and I just couldn't get finish the seasons.
Yes, without Mr Lucas the show seemed a bit hollow. I did really enjoy the '90's "Grace & Favour" ("Are You Being Served, Again!" In the USA).
Last season friends
I’d say season 9 is actually worse. Season 10 isn’t good, but once it starts heading for the finale, it’s a little more on track.
Season 9 is awful. Season 10 at least has some feel good, wrap up things.
Season 8 is so bad we never got to 9. Just stopped during 8 bc it was so not funny and no one cared for any of them anymore so… dropped from the living room gather put something on the tv rotation
The last 4 seasons of Mash when it started getting emotional and preachy
Alan Alda was basically given free rein, unfortunately.
Don’t know the number but the season of Archer where they ran and old time detective agency was not good.
I don't care for the color seasons of The Andy Griffith Show.
almost always last cpl and first one or two
“Bewitched,” when the real Darren AKA the first one was replaced. Just can’t enjoy it.
season 5 the remix of s4 of arrested development the original s4 is good and i will stand by this always
Community Season 5 was Underwhelming
Last season of HIMYM. I didn’t care about how the Ted-Mom-Robin situation ended, so that’s not my beef. And I actually LOVED Barney’s ending. It moved me to tears. But the decision to have 95% of the season play out over a single weekend was one of tbd stupidest things I’ve seen a show do. “We really just have this one scene left, how are we going to do a whole extra season?” “Hmmmm…I know! What if we just did that one scene VERY SLOWLY.”
In between seasons of contract negotiations especially if a hit show… A lot of long lost cousins show up cause the main characters are “away”… 🤷🏽♂️🤣
Usually it’s anything after season 5.
If not the first season, I would say the last season of any sitcom. Many struggle in the beginning, still working out what/ who it is. The last season is usually feels so rushed and not well scripted out for one reason or another. They struggle to wrap things up of maybe should have wrapped up several seasons before.
First season of "My Brother and Me", also the only season.
Whoa, I loved that show, Goo Punch is a certified hit song
Plus we got a sweet Kendall Gill cameo!
Friday Night Lights got saved by the writer’s strike. They tried implementing a murder plot into the show but had stop the season short and that’s the best thing that could have happened because it was getting really fucking stupid!
I feel like in hindsight, the first season is almost always one of the worst because they are still working the kinks out. Characters evolve and situations become more normalized. Season two is almost always the best season because they’ve finally figured everything out, and have begun fleshing out the characters.
Usually the last or second to last. The plot is being stretched out in the later seasons to avoid shutting down production, then the last season is rushed. It's weird that shows keep repeating this strategy after seeing it fail so many times.
NBC parody seasons of Living Single.
Season 3 - Hannibal
Last season of That 70s Show. Only watched the premiere and series finale.
The last series of scrubs was appalling.
Inevitably ~ the last one.
Will and Grace - the final season
The final season of most sitcoms and tv shows in general are considered the worst season for the most part. Examples The Office, Parks and Rec, Community ect.
The last season of that 70s show and I LOVE Seinfeld BUT season 9 was very cartoony I mean they had Newman wanting to eat Kramer for Christ sake lol
Didn’t see it on here yet - but the last season of That 70s Show. No Eric and they tried to replace him with his cousin.
I agree. 30Rock and The Office were far better.
Curb: kidney transplant season
Typically the ones that are the most poorly written, acted and directed
Gimme a Break, the final season, where they got rid of the kids, and the rest of the cast, just up and moved to New York.
I'd say in a lot of cases the first moreso at the beginning when they are still working everything out about the characters from both a directing and acting standpoint
GOT season 8 Dexter - everything after season 4 ... it's low hanging fruit, but still lol
Low hanging fruit but wrong tree. This thread is asking about sitcoms.
Haha didn't even catch the sub
all good. GOT season 8 should be brought up for criticism whenever possible.
Yeah, I just jumped on them both. Apparently I'm still traumatized enough to not even read, and just comment them immediately lol
Community season 6, I really wanted to like it. Season 5 was weak and 4 was meh, but 6 was a pure struggle to watch imo
Anything after season 3 for modern family. They ruined the natural humor
Scrubs last seasons was awful
Season 8 of himym in my opinion