When a series of any kind starts to suck, it can be sudden (bad new writers/plotlines, slashed budget, etc.). The things that poison it just came out of nowhere.
However, sometimes there are signs that things are about to go bad. Signs you only see in retrospect.
I was watching the first two seasons of Nip/Tuck. I wanted to see if they were tainted by the disaster that show became. It turns out they hold up well. However, almost everything that made the show stupid and boring later is on full display in Season 2. An abundance of sex scenes and man ass which would get boring. The love triangle between Sean, Christian, and Julia. Wacky patients. Sean wanting a family structure at any cost. The carver’s identity being telegraphed from mile away. Matt being kind of a douche.
If I sound vague, it’s because detail isn’t really needed. The point is that everything that made Nip/Tuck suck in later seasons was right in front of me in the good times. It was just toned down enough to be tolerable (or even good). Is there any series like that for you guys?
Lost when it became apparent around the middle of Season 4 that we were NOT going to get most of the questions we wanted answered answered. When Walt just became non-relevant. Even more so than his dog.
I forgot two:
-Mortal Kombat. I’m talking the decade plus of bad 3-D games that came before MK9. Before those games, MK3 & UMK3 had goofy characters with bad outfits/stories as well as too much reliance on Dial-a-Kombos. These problems would exaggerate, making a sloppy engine for the 3-D games and leaving only a few characters from them worth caring about.
MK9 was a real relief to me, because I didn’t even think the MK team was capable of making a good game anymore.
-Metal Gear Online. I spew a lot of hate for MGO, but it’s the first one (an extension of PS2’s MGS3 Subsistence) that got me into online shooters. However, everything I hated about new MGO is in the old. It was just more tolerable. The preferred way to kill was to get headshots, but body shots actually did some damn damage. All the rooms where they did CQC only or some stupid shit like that were still there. Lag was definitely there. Still, it was way better than new MGO.
JLU season 2 (the season after the Cadmus arc, which, btw, was all one season).
When I used to have a left testicle, I felt a lump. It was cancer. I’m fine but no more left testicle. Named right testicle Logan Lonestar.
When you’re at a Subway and they open their bread ovens to clean them. Oh god the smell.
When AI didn’t end at like the three points it should have ended before Spielberg Spielberged it up.
Ben 10. First 2 seasons were mostly filler with some REALLY good eps. But the signs of shit were there, and season 3 onward, including the sequel series, have been balls awful.
Oz Season 6 - Don’t get me wrong, it was great and all, but them killing off major characters for no real reason or just like that kind of ruined any hype or whatever you had built up from the rivalries. Lots of unanswered questions and it didn’t really wrap up things too well with the final episode. So yeah, death of major characters and plot holes.
Mortal Kombat Legacy - The moment they showed that they were going to completely ignore the “Rebirth” trailer.
Spyro - Insomniac giving up the Spyro franchise.
Concept of DLC - Overpriced dlcs, unlock keys, etc. Basically, people eating that shit up is a sign that it will get worse soon.
I’m sure there’s some other ones that I can’t think of at the moment.
Abundance of Hollywood stars appearing in each episode, one lamer then the other, brining their ideals and changes to the series. Richard Gere promoting budhism, and in the same episode Lisa joining that faith, compared to earlier seasons where celebreties were made fun off. “What do you want in your hotdog Spock?”
Homer going from being a funny dimwit to a crybaby. Watch anything after season 6 and I guarantee you Homer will be crying atleast twice per episode when he doesn’t get something.
Jokes went from hilariously smart and hidden as hell (I would still watch old episodes today and laugh at some random shit that I did not notice before) to more durrrr in your face, not to mention repeated twice to make sure you get it. Just pay attention to how many of:
Homer: "I really want that burger"
Lisa: "BUT daaad that’s going to make you fat"
Homer: “I SAAAAAID I really want that burger!!!”
(Replace burger with any idea, setting or object)
That joke is being made in every newer episode, was only funny the first time but no, they keep shoving it down your throat asking you: Get it? GET IT??? HES REPEATING THE SAME THING TWICE!!! YOU GET IT??? LET ME SHOW IT TO YOU 5000 MORE TIMES SO YOU GET IT!!!
The Simpsons went downhill fast after season 7. Last good episode was the New York episode with a honorable mention to the Submarine episode that came out the next year I believe, everything else was shit.
The phenomena you are describing is called “jumping the shark”.
Continuing:
Xena–when they announced season six. Season Five was felt like the epic conclusion, but of course they went with one more, uninspired, shit filled season. And probably one of the worst series finales I’ve ever seen.
Battlestar Galactica–speaking of horrible series finales . . .i can’t place my finger on exactly when this show started failing, but i’d say it’s somewhere between the second half of season three and the series finale. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder, and unless there was some sort of magical phenomenon to explain it all, no solution would be plausible. O wait.
Mortal Kombat–umk3 may be considered the best out of the old mks, but damn it looks like a hot mess when compared to mk2. I’m talking about aesthetics. mk 1 and 2 had the whole mystical outworld vs earth thing, and then they started fucking it up with robo ninjas, bad character designs, and ugly presentation. It heralded the abominable 3-d mks, but fortunately mk9 returned to form.
so basically this thread is about jumping the shark?
WWE PG era
2009-on Capcom fighters
Post EA Bioware
Martin with no Gina
Need for Speed post Carbon
PlayStation 3
Having 2 Urkels
XMEN cartoon last season
XMEN Last Stand
Fresh Prince getting shot/changing Vivian actress
While I agree that the kind of shit that eventually sank the Simpsons started to creep in at around season 8, I don’t think it truly started its irrevocable slide until 10. The problem elements weren’t even really problematic yet.
9 begins with New York, ends with Natural Born Kissers, and has Joy of Sect and The Cartridge Family right in the middle. Brilliant eps compared to what was on the way.
Yeah, I know about the term jumping the shark. However, this thread is more about when something jumps the shark and later on you look back and say “I should have seen that coming.” Even when things were good. This is opposed to when things jump the shark out of nowhere (which happens). I know it’s a thin distinction, but I was intrigued by it watching Nip/Tuck.
Robot Chicken - slinging a dead corpse around and posing it as a living being can only be funny for so long.
TMNT Fast Forward - Wouldn’t have been so bad if the turtles didn’t have to wear those stupid future suits.
SSF4 - While the Vanilla roster had a fair share of veterans and newcomers, After Super, you knew the roster would turn into Street Fighter 3D MUGEN Edition.
American Idol - Not to say it was a good show, but the best part was the beginning, when all the bad/odd/goofy people auditioned. Simon left, and all the bad singers tried too hard to be bad, so it became 100% garbage.
Shrek the Third - Where were they going with this movie? Isn’t Shrek suppose to be the next king? Why is he going on a voyeur to get some kid to take his place? It’s like they slapped some stuff together just to milk the series. Haven’t seen the last one yet, but it didn’t look funny from what I saw.
Saw - I’ll said after the third movie shit just got ridiculous. When you make a movie and most of the plot is used to explain why the twist from the previous one you got some major problems. Not everything needs to be tied to each other.
Code Ceass - While the second series was very silly with Lelouch bullshit going to 11 and Suzaku becoming more unlike and receiving some very bad character development I still like it. Then they reveal that Lelouch’s mom was as apeshit as his dad and I just didn’t care anymore.
No…as Fast Forward was altogether, nothing could save it. You’d have to totally scrap that shit. The premise is retarded, and the execution sucks…don’t even get me started on the astronomical improbability of the turtles ending up with the ancestor of the product their friends’ bootycall. The Turtles 2k3 series started following the same damn trend the movies did:
Tmnt 1 + 2, 2k3 animated = Hell yeah
Tmnt III + Fast Forward = Kiddy, lame, and just plain insulting…unless you are a kid and that was your first exposure to tmnt
Fast Forward would have been better if it were the future world (Future Shark Trilogy and Cyber-turtle Saga) from the Archie’s TMNT Adventures comics, where everything was flooded, Leonardo was a ninjitsu instructor, Armagghon and Verminator-X were the current big bad, and Raph (one eye) ran a bar with his wife. You know…the future…but not all perfect and shit. The crew behind Fast Forward are even less hardcore than ARCHIE COMICS. How the fuck do you even accomplish that? That’s like beating Richard Simmons in an ambiguously gay competition.
@ Specs…