Shows That "Collapsed" Right At The End

[LKellerIII]

I'm surprised no one mentioned "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In". Once Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, and some others left and were replaced by the likes of Richard Dawson, Sarah Kennedy, Donna Jean Young, etc. the show was not quite the same. In retrospect it ended up just like any other comedy-variety show.

In other words, just like Saturday Night Live, which has run on fumes for many years!

Agreed about SNL. There are occasional flashes of brilliance. For example, the opening bit last weekend with Tina Fey returning to play Sarah Palin, along with Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton - was very funny, I thought.


But for the most part, the show is dead in the water. A number of the cast members are very talented, but the writing has been inferior for years. Many of the skit concepts are not funny from inception, and some that could be brilliant are over-written and tend to drag on far too long, then end abruptly or just kind of peter out aimlessly...like the writers just got bored, got too tired to continue, or their cocaine buzz wore off.

Come to think of it, the show was much better in the 70s and 80s when the entire cast and writing staff were reportedly a bunch of drug addicts. :'(

 

[STF]

I thought McGinley was fantastic on Married...with Children personally.

Agreed, and how many seasons was he on? ???

Enough to break the "Jump the Shark" curse IMHO

From IMDB.com.

(165 episodes, 1989-1997)

So yeah he was on there a good long while.

 

[Mark Giardina]

"Lois and Clark" fell apart at the end when the couple discovered a baby in their house.
There was never an explanation about the child; where did she/he come from and what role the baby would play in the show.

I read that the actors and producers believed that ABC was going to renew the series for another year, but at the last minute were informed the show was going to be canceled.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

"Lois and Clark" fell apart at the end when the couple discovered a baby in their house.
There was never an explanation about the child; where did she/he come from and what role the baby would play in the show.
I read that the actors and producers believed that ABC was going to renew the series for another year, but at the last minute were informed the show was going to be canceled.

IMHO "Lois and Clark" fell apart when Deborah J. Levine was let go after season one as Executive Producer.
From season two until its cancellation, "Lois and Clark" went downhill, especially when it came to scripts. (Something similar to Smallville, which is another subject altogether).
You are correct that the final episode did include the Kents finding a baby in their apartment. The pretext was to explain the reason for the child next season. But there was no next season since ABC executives decided to cancel the series do to low ratings.

 

[nightfly61]

Here's one that's been crumbling since the heart attack & it's a shame since it used to be decent back in the 80's...Letterman. He should just hang it up.

Dukes of Hazzard-Enos left & got his own show, Cletus replaced him & wasn't that funny, (James Best) Rosco had wore out his "googyoogieoogie", the dog Flash got too much airtime being lazy & I believe Cletus had another dumb deputy sidekick...after the episode with cousins Coy & Vance...it was ready to crash & burn like many a Dodge stunt car! The last episode was really corny with all of them traveling to Hollywood to sell music to raise money for a hospital. One of those episodes where Rosco decides to get along with the Dukes. : I'll still never get tired of looking at Catherine Bach though

 

[FreddyE1977]

One show I haven't seen mentioned is "Seinfeld", based on the almost universally reviled final episode. ( I liked it, so I'm in the minority.)

I absolutely HATED that last episode when it came out, and was quite angry at NBC. (my subsequent furor over the Sopranos finale
years later has far eclipsed that though). However, when I see the final Seinfeld now in reruns, I more and more appreciate the
point they were trying to make by having these four narcissistic, self-centered characters sent off to jail over their lack of regard
for their fellow man. But it was not something that my brain was prepared to process when I sat down to watch it initially.

I suspect that the cast may actually have preferred to serve jail time, rather than to be fated with the Curse of Seinfeld. (the latest commercials for Microsoft being the ultimate example).

 

[Legend City]

Two shows that died of the same disease, whiney preachy crap.

Northern Exposure, got so dull and when Anthony Edwards joined as the environmentalist guy who had to be away from all the toxins...zzzzz. Boring whiney garbage.


Six Feet Under, I swear, Alan Ball had to try to insert a gay storyline into every single character arc, then it became such an exercise in PC by the end.

 

[nightfly61]

8 Simple Rules...depressing to see James Garner playing an old man & I can't stand David Spade(even though he was semi-a "good guy" on the show. It just divebombed after John ritter died.

Tom & Jerry! After they became "FRIENDS"in their last years...THAT's no fun!!!
The New Adventures of Scooby Doo-Thelma & Scrappy Doo? Flip!

The last season of Alice was annoying with her new hairdo, Flo gone & Tommy a teenager.
same with Taxi.

One that's still on that's a zombie (show is like the walking dead I wish would drop over)...Carson Daly!!!

 

[gr8oldies]

No one could splat better than Tom in the old version.

"Tool Time" once the kids got older and became more of a focus.

 

[nightfly61]

No one could splat better than Tom in the old version.

"Tool Time" once the kids got older and became more of a focus.

and after Pamela Anderson left.

 

[Jeff_Davis]

RE: Dukes of Hazzard....The last episode was not the Hollywood episode. I think that episode was in the last season, but in the last episode Boss Hogg gets kidnapped, and in the end the entire cast gets together on a stage at The Boar's Nest where Rosco had been perfecting a magic act. Go to You Tube and look for the Dukes "Entertainment Tongith" wrap report. You hear John Schneider say, "That's a wrap! On 7 years!"

The best Dukes epsiodes are the first five that were shot in Covington, Georgia (or Sparta, Mississippi to "In the Heat of the Night" fans). You can see what Gy Waldron really wanted the show to be. The first season episodes shot in Burbank are also good. The second is good and the third season starts to show the decline.

The worst epsiode of all (beside anything with Coy & Vance) is the one where an alien visits Hazzard County in that dreadful last season. Just awful.

 

[nightfly61]

One Day At A Time got pretty bad after while. It had to be rough working with McKenzie Phillips after she came back after detox. I wonder how many times she was wired on the set. By 1980 when Barbera & Julie & BOTH husbands lived together in the same place...kiss the show goodbye.

 

[azumanga]

By 1980 when Barbera & Julie & BOTH husbands lived together in the same place [on "One Day at a Time"]...kiss the show goodbye.

Shortly afterward, NBC tried this with "The Brady Brides", where Marcia and Jan lived together with their husbands -- that didn't work, either.

 

[nightfly61]

After the Kotters had (was it twins or triplets?) either way they started running out of material. Travolta was getting a big head about Sat. Night Fever & it was just too unreal. Juan Epstien's character was about the most believeble for mid-70's Brooklyn. I always thought the other kids in the class got shortchanged because they never got to participate, except Bobarino's girlfriend occasionally.
Something you'd never see now on t.v...on the WBK Open there were girls standing around on the street laughing & smoking & giving each other "five".
...as a kid I always thought the guy on the unicycle at the closing credits was Horschack. I liked it when they'd let it trail out all the way 'til he (the unicycler) was around the corner & out of sight. It was kinda like a bonus extended version of John B. Sebastian you didn't hear every day.
I hate to say it but Conan O Brien's starting to get a little lame near it's end. Hopefully he doesn't take "The Interruptor" to L.A with him :

 

[mleach]

I'm surprised no one mentioned "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In". Once Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, and some others left and were replaced by the likes of Richard Dawson, Sarah Kennedy, Donna Jean Young, etc. the show was not quite the same. In retrospect it ended up just like any other comedy-variety show.

In other words, just like Saturday Night Live, which has run on fumes for many years!

Agreed about SNL. There are occasional flashes of brilliance. For example, the opening bit last weekend with Tina Fey returning to play Sarah Palin, along with Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton - was very funny, I thought.


But for the most part, the show is dead in the water. A number of the cast members are very talented, but the writing has been inferior for years. Many of the skit concepts are not funny from inception, and some that could be brilliant are over-written and tend to drag on far too long, then end abruptly or just kind of peter out aimlessly...like the writers just got bored, got too tired to continue, or their cocaine buzz wore off.

Come to think of it, the show was much better in the 70s and 80s when the entire cast and writing staff were reportedly a bunch of drug addicts. :'(

Speaking of SNL....awhile back I remember hearing that SNL was one of a handful shows where no matter who bad the ratings/quality of the show is..the show can NOT be cancelled !! I heard it was dittos with NBC's Today show, Meet The Press and interesting a number of cartoon shows as well like The Simpsons, Southpark and Family Guy. For example if Comedy Central wanted to cancel South Park then per Trey Parker and Matt Stone..Comedy Central must find a new home for it unless of course Parker & Stone decides to end the show..on their own. In the case of SNL..part of some deal with Lorne Michaels if NBC wanted to get rid of SNL then they must "find a new home" even if it means moving to a whole different network or else SNL ( good or bad ) is required to remain on NBC...forever !! Wonder if any of this is true?

 

[ShawnHill1]

I thought McGinley was fantastic on Married...with Children personally.

Agreed, and how many seasons was he on? ???

Enough to break the "Jump the Shark" curse IMHO

From IMDB.com.

(165 episodes, 1989-1997)

So yeah he was on there a good long while.

Actually, McGinley joined the cast offfically in 1991 (in the middle of season five), however in 1989-90 (season four), he did appear in that year's two-part Christmas episode spoofing It's a Wonderful Life. That two-parter featured the late Sam Kinison as Al Bundy's guardian angel.

 

[KyDXIn]

RE: Dukes of Hazzard....The last episode was not the Hollywood episode. I think that episode was in the last season, but in the last episode Boss Hogg gets kidnapped, and in the end the entire cast gets together on a stage at The Boar's Nest where Rosco had been perfecting a magic act. Go to You Tube and look for the Dukes "Entertainment Tongith" wrap report. You hear John Schneider say, "That's a wrap! On 7 years!"

The worst epsiode of all (beside anything with Coy & Vance) is the one where an alien visits Hazzard County in that dreadful last season. Just awful.

The last episode of the Dukes was called, "Opening night at the Boar's Nest" if my memory serves me right.

Agreed, the worse episode of the Dukes of Hazzard was the alien episode "Strange visitor to Hazzard". One of the better episodes in my opinion was when Rosco inherits millions of dollars from a rich uncle "10 million dollar Sheriff". That really got Boss' goat! I also enjoyed the episode where a thief undergoes plastic surgery to look like Rosco. That involved kidnapping, missing and presumed dead characters, and grand theft of a gold shipment. James Best aka Rosco played dual parts, and showed his range of acting ability. He is really a great actor, and I'm proud to say he is from my hometown of Corydon, Indiana. Check out imdb.com to see the hundreds of shows Jimmy has been in over the years. Any similarities between Corydon and Hazzard might be a coincidence. Come to think of it, there were a rash of UFO sightings around Corydon at the time of the alien show on the Dukes. http://www.ufocasebook.com/corydon1987.html

As a viewer of the show, I must say that the cast have always been a top-notch quality group of people. I guess that's why Dukesfest attracts tens of thousands of fans each year. Tom has done so well on Broadway, John helped start the Children's Miracle Network and continued to act in good productions, Ben served the country in Congress, and Jimmy has educated more actors and directors at his school in Florida.

 

[gr8oldies]

Do they even show that "Coy and Vance" season in reruns?

 

[KyDXIn]

Do they even show that "Coy and Vance" season in reruns?

I know CMT reran the Coy and Vance episodes, and according to IMDB there were only 19 C & V episodes out of 146.

 

[nightfly61]

Do they even show that "Coy and Vance" season in reruns?

I know CMT reran the Coy and Vance episodes, and according to IMDB there were only 19 C & V episodes out of 146.

that's 19 too many.
Huey Hogg was another I had forgotten about with the Volkswagon Bug with the bullhorns on front. I always wondered what happened to Sonny Shroyner after Enos ended & also wonder if Enos is available on DVD.

Going off topic here, Daisy's original car, the yellow 72 Dodge Roadrunner , was that hit by a train & then the crash scene used in the intro of every episode of "Fall Guy"...or was that the crash scene from "Dirty Mary Carzy Larry"?