TV Shows That Outstayed Their Welcome

Last week was a rollercoaster of emotions for comedy fans, when it was announced that 30 Rock, Community, and possibly Parks and Recreation would have abbreviated, final seasons.  Since, then, Parks and Rec now has a full season five order, but who knows what the peacock Channel has in store. It’s always a painful experience when our favorite shows end, but as Kurt Cobain noted in his suicide note, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” which is actually a Neil Young quote, which I interpret as “get out while it’s still good.”  Seinfeld took that advice, and left on a high note and it is now regarded as practically a religious deity among comedy sitcoms.

Some shows didn’t know when to call it quits:

Roseanne

We loved the Connors because although they were broke, they still had enough spirit to laugh about it. So, then, why complete turn everything upside down then making them win the lottery in the ninth season? Sure, in real life it may be interesting to see what a couple would do, but that’s not why we stuck with Roseanne for so long. And really, if they struck it big, wouldn’t they just buy a new house, instead of upgrading their house in Landford with gold fixtures. Side note: at the end, didn’t BOTH Jackie and her mother come out as lesbians? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but really? Both of them?

America’s Funniest Home  Videos

Believe it or not, this was just recently renewed for its 23rd season. Are you serious? Isn’t this just called “Youtube”?

Beverly Hills 90210

You are automatically setting yourself up for failure when you set a show in high school, because your students need to graduate. Aaron Spelling did his best to stretch out the series by making them repeat their junior year in some sort of weird space-time continuum, and also making summer episodes. Eventually  they graduated, and, predictably, all went to the same college and had the same drama with each other. Beyond that, the show still went on AFTER they graduated, leaving nothing to do with the characters than to turn them into successful fashion designers (right out of undergrad?) and rape victims. Jim and Cindy knew when it turned to crap and moved away before the last and tenth season. Luckily, Donna finally lost her virginity, but to this guy:

Married With Children

There’s just so many ways that Al Bundy could express how much he hated his wife, but somehow the writers managed to do so in eleven seasons. Once the Bundy kids were grown (although David Faustino literally didn’t grow), the writers pulled a “Cousin Oliver” and introduced Seven, a child abandoned by Peggy’s cousins. The fans were upset, and the show tried to fix the mistake by pretending that never happened, but the damage was done.  After eleven seasons, the show was put out of its misery.

TWO AND A HALF MEN

Who the hell even watches this? All nine seasons of it? I don’t understand.

The Real World

Back in 1992, I watched fanatically as Julie, Kevin , Heather, Eric, Norman and Andre tried to find their way through the world. A fight over phone use made big news. And they had fun with each other! Watching it, I thought “I can’t wait to be in my twenties!”

Now in its twenty-fourth season, the show attracts those who are depserate for attention, and are encouraged to act like selfish, shameless, trained monkeys to create drama for the producers. It doesn’t even matter what city they are in, the same tired antics always happen. Can’t we just let it go already? How many hot tubs need to be soiled for the show to stop?

Entourage

Entourage was never meant to be taken seriously. Vince and the gang aren’t people, they were characatures.. Granted, I’m not exactly the target demographic:  It’s also the hetero male’s ultimate wish fulfillment: Money, women, no consequences or no working. Early on, there was some dramatic conflict when Ari Gold, the only interesting and nuanced characters of the show, gets fired from his agency and starts a new one. After that, each season followed the same formula: Vince isn’t sure if he should take the part, he mulls over it by bedding several vacant women and doing drugs, he decides to do the film, the film’s production is in crisis, he ends up doing the film in between seasons and the season starts the with fallout. Eric is short. Turtle is dumb. Repeat. For eight seasons. Real movie stars can barely maintain a career for that long.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

CYE is for a very specific population: those who get off on other people completely embarrassing themselves. Which Larry David does very, very well. But isn’t enough enough? Hasn’t he made an ass of himself in front of every person in Los Angeles by now? The ninth season is currently in production. 

 Work It

Two epsodes were two episodes too many. – Robin Hardwick