The original post: /r/television by /u/HiTork on 2025-01-03 18:43:32.
I made a post sometime ago about shows that peaked in the first season but never seemed to reach the heights of the inaugural season (Westworld was mentioned a lot), with some people saying they felt this was the norm. However, I feel there are a lot of shows that were the opposite, they didn’t really catch on initially or were even down right bad, but managed to improve within a few seasons, some of them being well regarded and talked about today still.
“Growing the Beard” is a reference to Star Trek: The Next Generarion facing this phenomenon. The first two seasons weren’t that great, but things picked up in the third season and today, some fans believe it is the peak of Star Trek TV shows. Coincidentally, it was in the third season actor Jonathan Frakes was seen with a beard on screen with his character William Riker who was previously clean shaven, so people associate the beard with the improvement of quality. Frakes has rarely been seen without his beard since that moment for that matter.