The obvious examples for me are Altered Carbon, The Terror (although its anthological and a third is in production) and Westworld.
What are some examples of series that only have a good first season, and should be dropped after that?
Submitted 5 weeks ago by Skavau@lemm.ee to Television@lemm.ee
Comments
Skavau@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
adhocfungus@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
The Terror had a second season!? I really liked the first season and had no idea it was going to continue as an anthology. I take it the second season doesn’t measure up to the first?
Skavau@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
It’s considered bad. I haven’t watched it. It’s set in a Japanese internment camp during WW2.
vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
altered carbon. Season 2 was so cheap in comparison
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Joel Kinnaman. Accept no substitute.
InverseParallax@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m sure there could have been a replacement that worked.
But in no possible universe could it have been Anthony Mackie.
JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
First season stayed close enough to the books, second season strayed too far after coping with first season changes and deviating from the actual plot
ShawiniganHandshake@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Heroes. The first season wrapped up its story beautifully. The second season was an aimless disaster.
I’ve read online that the original plan was for each season to tell a stand-alone story with a different set of heroes but the network was insistent on keeping the popular characters from season one on for season two. Peter Petrelli’s power is universe-breaking after he learns to control it, so the show ended up tying itself into a pretzel to explain why the answer to every problem isn’t “get Peter to snap his fingers and fix it”. There was also a writer’s strike in the middle of the season, which didn’t help.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
The writer’s strike shielded the show from so much criticism, because people figured the shite pacing and jumble of characters were caused by the studio plowing ahead without proper scripts. Nope! Executives just demanded the dumbest shit imaginable, and the original creators did their level best, until they were told to stop work and join the picket line.
Ledericas@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
it got wierd after sylar went good, and then it just went in a different direction.
Okokimup@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Jessica Jones
wiccan2@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Prison Break The Rig
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I actually think season 2 of Prison Break was a perfectly natural and well done (for the intended tone) continuation of the story. I know people snarkily point out the title doesn’t strictly apply anymore, but I think convicts on the run from a manhunt fits. The show was from the beginning always a political conspiracy thrilled baked inside of a prison story anyway.
The following seasons get increasingly absurd, but they are enjoyable in a silly way.
MimicJar@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Strong agree. I think Prison Break slowly goes off the rails with more spies and conspiracy. It’s not out of nowhere given Lincoln’s original crime is murdering the Vice President (allegedly), but it does eventually just get ridiculous.
I still like the later seasons for the characters, but it is wildly different from where they started.
chase_what_matters@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I couldn’t get past the first episode of The Rig because it seemed cheaply made.
insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
You’re not wrong, it was watchable but barely.
Gerudo@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Altered Carbon
THB@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Gonna go with Handmaid’s Tale, gets progressively worse with each season
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
There’s a really whackadoo cult member in there. I can’t watch it.
spicyspaceelephant@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Firefly. After the first season everything that made the show great is just missing.
morphballganon@lemmynsfw.com 5 weeks ago
The movie was enjoyable
wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
He said what he said.
SteposVenzny@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
This but unironically. I hated that movie.
JillyB@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
I only watched a bit of True Detective season 2 but I could tell it was not going to be nearly as good as the phenomenal first season
Hubi@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
TD Season 2 has to be one of the biggest falls from grace I’ve ever seen in a TV show.
jbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
As weird as it sounds, I liked season 2 TD a lot and on some level I think it’s even better than season 1.
I initially watched season 1, then season 4 (skipped 2 because of the seemingly bad feedback) and then watched season 2.
I really liked that season 2 was more down to earth and had more of a realistic-gritty vibe. I really liked the ending as well. It felt real.
Season 1 was great, but in comparison to season 2 it was more about style. I liked the setup of season 4 (and it was cool to see Jodie Foster), but I didn’t like the ending.
But yes, I do think season 2 of true detective was better than season 1.
driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 5 weeks ago
I enjoyed seasons 2 to 4 of True Detective, but they’re not even close to the level of season 1.
theblips@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
To be fair, it was the highest possible bar to clear. True Detective season 1 is arguably the best TV has ever gotten, it was just perfect from story to pacing to acting and cinematography
blindsight@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
Heroes was great at the start, but that didn’t even last a whole season. The “Save the cheerleader, save the world” arc might be the best superhero TV ever made (10 or 11 episodes, I think?) then it rapidly went downhill to mediocre then terrible.
Wazowski@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Lost
glimse@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
You can hate on the end all you want but don’t pretend like it stopped being good after the first season
FMT99@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Before you all kill me, this is just like my unpopular opinion man, but Futurama… The first season, well maybe the first two, were amazing, clever scifi parody but the premise wore thin and it became schmaltzy and unfunny. It became more about the characters and less about the world and it suffered for it.
I mean “should have been dropped” might be a bit strong.
edgemaster72@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Found the Fox executive /j
Oka@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
That is an unpopular opinion, but valid. I still haven’t finished the Hulu run yet. It doesn’t hit the same.
jbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
While I enjoy the later seasons, I can broadly agree with your point.
Etterra@discuss.online 5 weeks ago
HEROES. It died an ugly death because of a writer’s strike. It’s unfortunate, but I support the writers.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Weeds
teamevil@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Weeds was okay up to season 3
NauticalNoodle@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
Kevin Nealon was the glue that held that together.
scytale@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Squid Game. The Mandalorian maybe?
setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Whole season 2 of The Mandalorian had the distinct flavor of introducing executive producer mandated spin-off hooks, I still found it quite good overall. The finale was the perfect ending to the Mando and child storyline.
The perfect ending. We didn’t need anymore after that ending.
Everything Mando related after that has gone totally off the rails by undoing that ending, and the show has become a parody of itself.
Oka@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
We won’t know on Squid Game until Season 3 comes out. 1 was more iconic than 2, but still good.
A7thStone@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
If you are counting anime, Sword Art Online.
boaratio@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m going to get downvoted to oblivion, but Stranger Things. Season 1 was perfect, and in my opinion the rest have sort of been all over the place.
1hitsong@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
A.P. Bio. They slowly tied to normalize it and it lost all its edge.
Welcome To Flatch. Season 1 was awesome! Season 2 they tried to make it a “normal” show and it was awful.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Thank you for mentioning AP Bio - I half-remembered some show with a trailer that had been color-graded within an inch of its life. No colors left besides peach and teal. But whenever I tried finding it again, it ended something like “Abbot Elementary doesn’t look like that.”
RatzChatsubo@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
That crossover episode pisses me off because I wanted the crew in the AP bio universe. Imagine if Dennis was living a double live there?
Ledericas@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
glenn howertons show, no wonder he went back to ISAIP, couldnt hack it outside the show.
teamevil@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Goliath…the show with Billy Bob Thornton. Season 1 had dynamics and interesting characters plus the ending resolved all the loose ends.
Next attempts at seasons were beyond lame.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I just came here to say: The one scene with the crosswalk was insane. I all but spat my drink. If you know, you know.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Bleach.
Season one, an otherworldly intruder accidentally ropes some kid and his friends into fighting monsters, in a grounded modern setting with a distinct sense of comedic realism.
Season two, they went to Namek.
theblips@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Hard disagree. Bleach was advertised as a dumb battle shonen when it’s main achievement is the lore and art. There’s still plenty of good stuff after the first season, and basically none of the worldbuilding is done by that point
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
The who-is-stronger exposition dumps are the problem. I don’t give a shit about Soul Society - that’s not the show I was enjoying. That’s just what it became, for endless repetitive nonsense, after the formulaic-but-distinct first season made a ton of money.
If there was no first season - if it actually had been advertised on what’s in the second season onward - I would not have finished a single episode. Total apathy. But because I cared about what it was, and hoped we might get more of that, I still feel betrayed.
SteposVenzny@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
Cobra Kai
Every successive season forgets harder and harder that grown men having karate feuds is embarrassingly juvenile.
kandoh@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
Replacing the bigger black girl with the hot babe did it for me.
blitzen@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Friday Night Lights
kandoh@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
The US version of The Killing.
Ledericas@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
i heard walking dead, and lost. most animes are pretty bad after the 2-4 seasons. hence why some japanese ones only go through 2 seasons max.
qwestjest78@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Westworld comes to mind for me
Speculater@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The ending of season 1 was perfect. Anything after that is an excuse for nudity and gore.
Pronell@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Agreed. I like the following seasons okay but the first season is nearly perfect on its own.
MimicJar@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Season 2 was rough, but I think season 3 was a good soft reboot. After that it’s all downhill again, but it almost righted itself.
InverseParallax@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Kiksuya.