Hokeyboy

The X-Files is another great example. I was there Season 1, Episode 1, and couldn't get enough of it. By around Season 4 it started to get apparent that Chris Carter was basically making it up as he went along: setting up mysteries, never resolving them or resolving them in a half-assed manner while adding more and MORE mysteries to the storyline, then forgetting about some of them, and then just ignoring the rest while the show became less and less interesting to the point of absolute boredom. Frustrating and disappointing beyond words.

A lot of people say the show "jumped the shark" with the movie; I tend to agree with that. I'd say it did so right around the time they introduced the Black Oil [or whatever the hell that was]. Bleargh.

Quatermass

Smallville - quit after Season 5 - too repetitive
The Office - quit after Michael Scott left, but I had tapered off a year or two before that.
Person of Interest - dropped it towards the end of this season when it became "the magic robot show".
Alias - quit after season 4, I think.

I was already tired of both the Sopranos and Mad Men when they announced it was their last season, but I stuck it out for those (I still plan to watch the last 7 Mad Men episodes next year). I would have dropped them both.

andicus

Yeah, I forgot about X-files. I don't think I watched the last 2 seasons of that.

Same for Millennium. After a couple of the best episodes on TV (to that point), the two part season 2 finale, the opening episode of season 3 was one of the biggest letdowns I can recall. I think I only watched the first couple of episodes in the third season. We did buy it on DVD, so I'll watch it at some point, but I'd want to go through the whole series again, as it was quite good in the beginning.

bluetoast

It really depends. Cheers...yeah that's good for 22 eps a season. Oz was 8 a season and that worked for it.

davidh777

Yeah, I watched the first season on HD DVD and skipped the rest because everyone hated it so much.

I watched, but my life was in various transition phases at the time so I might have dropped things unintentionally. I know I stuck through the end of Cheers and Family Ties. I might have dumped Cosby when they kept introducing annoying cutesy kids. I think I lost track of Frasier and Night Court when they switched nights because we didn't have all the catch-up options that we do now.

Mad About You was my favorite show for a while but it got really bad.

RoyalTea

Well, to be fair, Cheers was probably one of the better written sitcoms in TV history.

Hokeyboy

Cheers, Newhart, and Family Ties could have had 40-episode seasons and I would have never complained

bluetoast

True I used probably the best example for that situation, a lot of times it doesn't work, but I don't think there's a perfect number, it depends on the show. Plus there are also absolute statements such as "all laugh tracks suck" but again, some shows benefit from it, so there are a number of possible ways to get a great show.

Quatermass

I have complained about that here several times in the past. I just pretend season 3 doesn't exist. I have S1 & S2 on DVD. The S2 finale works well as the series finale, which it should have been.

Mike86

I really enjoyed Mad Men until the end of season five. In my opinion season six was really hit and miss (more miss to me actually) and when season seven aired a few months ago I didn't even finish watching it yet. I intend on going back and watching the entire series before the final batch of episodes airs but I kind of agree that it lost something along the way.

fujishig

I'll stick with a show I'm losing interest in (like the Office) if it's something my wife likes, since we'll watch it together. It's also easier for me to stick with a 30 minute comedy that has gone downhill but still provides some amusement, than to go through a backlog of hour long episodes of a drama when I know it's going downhill. Since the advent of Tivo, the sheer momentum of backlog means that I'll give up on a show when it becomes too great, sometimes convincing myself I'll catch up to it on DVD or on demand but then other, better shows come up, and it's gone. Also, kids severely cut into how much tv we can keep up with...

Lost: I gave up midway through the last season. I will finish it up someday, maybe even rewatch all of it, but by the time I was ready to go through the backlog the extreme backlash was all over the place.

Agents of Shield: I'm a huge comic fan, but got to the episode where they're dealing with the fallout from the Thor movie, and I hadn't seen the Thor movie. I'm going back to it now, mainly because some have said that it gets better, but I suspect I'll have to see Captain America 2 first as well.

30 Rock: Seemingly went downhill fast, and my wife was never fond of it or Community, so I fell way behind on both.

Community: see above

Alias: Loved the first season and a half or so. After they tore everything apart multiple times, just lost interest sometime during the last season. Another one I'll probably watch all the way through sometime.

Simpsons: I'll throw it on every once in a while but it's not must see like it used to be. I also loved Futurama but gave up on it once it went off network tv.

Heroes: Again, made it to the last season, enduring some really awful stuff, but it got cancelled/put on hiatus and I never bothered with the end. I didn't really care much about the concentration camp and the carnival and all that anyway.

Reality shows like SYTYCD: I love the show, I'm just not going to have time to watch that much tv. For Idol, a show my wife used to love, we start each season but seemingly never finish it.

Stopped watching on TV and collecting Blu/DVDs but sitting in backlog:
Walking Dead
Once Upon a Time
Star Wars: Clone Wars

DJariya

So I guess no one in this forum is going to watch the new Heroes event series next summer huh?

For those complaining that network seasons are too long, you do remember that networks used to produced 30-35 episode seasons in the past? I recall there were a few seasons of Melrose Place and 90210 that were 30-32 episode seasons.

Hokeyboy

^You're kind of proving our point with those examples

DJariya

Back then in the early 90s, Fox started their TV season in August and they ran all the way until the mid June. They had to fill 10 months of programming instead of 7-8 months now.

So you're saying those long seasons back then were chores to get through?

I get that trying to follow 22-24 episode seasons for multiple shows over 8 months can be really difficult and horrendously time consuming. And that's probably one of the main reasons why a lot of you dropped shows you once liked. A lot of newer shows are adapting shorter orders like 13-16 episode seasons, but then again, the networks have to green light twice as many shows to fill time slots. I mean if you're having trouble following one 22-24 episode season, is it easier trying to follow two separate 13 episode shows in the same timeslot over the same time period?

devilshalo

Wilfred - mid-way into its second season. Now I have to catch up to see how it completes itself.

superdeluxe

Watched all nine seasons of House, but somewhere in the middle of final season, we lost interest, I think it was the extended Winter break, the episodes started to build on the DVR, and we just finally figured out that we watched almost out of obligation.

superdeluxe

Also the X-files.

I was religious about this show for the first 5 seasons I watched every episode, talked about it on IRC etc, but then something happened in season 6 and I started to drift. Came back for a few episodes in season 8 and 9. But missed most of Season 6 and 7.

davidh777

Damn, I forgot about 30 Rock. I used to watch each episode twice and toss catch phrases around with my coworkers the morning after. Then about season 6 or so, I started falling behind and just didn't care enough to catch up.

DJariya

House ran 8 seasons, not 9. I think it could have gone a little longer had Hugh Laurie's contract not expired and the show being produced by NBC, not Fox, which cost Fox more because of licensing costs. NBC actually had to reduce licensing costs for season 8 to get made.

uberjoe

Skimmed and totally read that as "rectum." That is all.

sleepyhead55

House--totally forgot about that one until someone brought it up; only watched the last few episodes to see how it would turn out. I stopped watching when House and Cuddy finally hooked up.

Law and Order--SVU--I quit watching after they brought on Adam Beach to the cast. That plus the cases stopped making sense for the most part

Burn Notice--can't remember when I stopped watching it. But I just got bored with it.

The Following--got bored a few episodes into the second season and never bothered to catch up.

fujishig

In some respects, those shows were like soap operas (or the male equivalent, wrestling), which run basically constantly.

But I think in those days, even though there were vcrs, we would rarely timeshift or tape shows... if something was interesting enough, I watched it, there was no catch up or backlog involved. There were less broadcast stations, and less original programming on cable, and tons of reruns. I dunno, there seemed to be less to keep up with.

nemein

I would recommend going back and watching the last two seasons. Very good IMHO.

Hokeyboy

I'd totally watch a 24-episode season focusing exclusively on Agent Coulson's secret rectum

Xiroteus

Sine seasons are shown at different times over an entire year I think I would not mind if almost every show was this long. I used to watch new episodes new every week of every show I watched. However that was back when I likely only had a small handful. These days I would rather have two different shows with twelve episodes each then two that are twenty four.

All of the summer shows I watch are like that and it works. Some shows can pull off the twenty two episode season better then others.