What Shows Overstayed Their Welcome?

[Mark Giardina]

Archie Bunker's Place. (Which was an extension of "All in the Family" minus Edith & the Meathead)

Sanford Arms ( A spin off of Sanford & Son) which I guess isn't the same show but did feature some former cast members of Sanford & Son ( Grady and Esther).

Happy Days.

Law & Order (after Jerry Orbach died so did the series, IMHO)

McHale's Navy (After crew moved from the Pacific theatre of war to Italy. Whose dumb idea what that anyways? )




Please add to the list.

 

[MikeyBos]

Correction: Gloria and Mike had already left "All in the Family" prior to the end of that show. Edith remained as a recurring character, although not seen in every episode, through the first season of "Archie Bunker's Place." She died between the first and second seasons and the first episode of the second season dealt with her death. Gloria and Mike came back for one last episode altogether during the first season in which viewers learned that they were on the brink of divorce. Gloria would be divorced by the time the spin-off, "Gloria," premiered.

According to the ratings, it had not overstayed its welcome at all. Per Wikipedia, it remained between #11-13 in the Nielsen ratings during its first three seasons and only dropped to #23 in its fourth season. There are plenty of multi-season shows that never even attained #23 in the ratings.

Archie Bunker's Place. (Which was an extension of "All in the Family" minus Edith & the Meathead)

 

[RBW]

Bewitched; Those later seasons w/Dick Sargent got repetitive and dopey.

Love Boat; It was always too good for its own good... but didn't the last season try to be too much "Las Vegas review" and get terrible ratings?

 

[KeithE4]

The Andy Griffith Show should have died when Don Knotts left the series.

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was a product of the late '60s - an anachronism by 1971.

The Simpsons has been on about 10 years too long.

 

[firepoint525]

Three's a Crowd, basically the "last" season of Three's Company.

But you can add American Idol to the current list, what with their problem of keeping judges on that trainwreck of a show! :

And Dancing with the "Stars" for even considering putting Kate Gosselin on that show, much less actually doing so! :

 

[Mark Giardina]

Correction: Gloria and Mike had already left "All in the Family" prior to the end of that show. Edith remained as a recurring character, although not seen in every episode, through the first season of "Archie Bunker's Place." She died between the first and second seasons and the first episode of the second season dealt with her death. Gloria and Mike came back for one last episode altogether during the first season in which viewers learned that they were on the brink of divorce. Gloria would be divorced by the time the spin-off, "Gloria," premiered.

According to the ratings, it had not overstayed its welcome at all. Per Wikipedia, it remained between #11-13 in the Nielsen ratings during its first three seasons and only dropped to #23 in its fourth season. There are plenty of multi-season shows that never even attained #23 in the ratings.

I stand corrected regarding the apperance of Edith, Mike, and Gloria. But I still think that once "All in the Family" had its run, "Archie Bunker's Place should have never happened.

O'Connor was also good as the police chief in "The Heat of the Night." But that show too was getting long in the tooth, especially when the Chief became the Sheriff and Carl Weathers signed on board.

 

[71dude]

Diff'rent Strokes
Facts of Life
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
Three's Company
M*A*S*H
Night Court
Alice
The Jeffersons
One Day at a Time
Little House on the Prairie
L.A. Law
Roseanne
Who's the Boss?

I think it would be easier to list the shows that didn't overstay.

 

[jwk1979]

The Beverly Hillibillies (or any other "Fish-Out-Of-Water" sitcom) stayed around for a couple of seasons longer than they should have. Instead of stand alone episodes like they had done the first 5 or 6 seasons (with a few episodes that were 2/3 parters), they relied on too many episodes that were strung together and carry on for as many as 10 to 12 episodes and too many NEW Characters like Shorty Kellums, Elverna Bradshaw and Mark Templeton. Plus, after 5 or 6 years in Beverly Hills, why were the Clampetts unaware of so many things that were pretty commonplace in the rest of the Country?

Any show that Lucille Ball appeared in after "I Love Lucy". She basically was playing the same character in both "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" that she played as Lucy Ricardo, yet without a husband and with Gale Gordon replacing both Desi Arnez and William Frawley. And by the time "The Lucy Show" became "Here's Lucy", she was too long in the tooth to be playing characters put into the situation she was always be placed in (i.e., the episode where she is MISTAKENLY Drafted into the Marines as Lou C. Carmichael instead of Lucille Carmichael. She was already in her mid 50's by then).

 

[jwk1979]

Correction: Gloria and Mike had already left "All in the Family" prior to the end of that show. Edith remained as a recurring character, although not seen in every episode, through the first season of "Archie Bunker's Place." She died between the first and second seasons and the first episode of the second season dealt with her death. Gloria and Mike came back for one last episode altogether during the first season in which viewers learned that they were on the brink of divorce. Gloria would be divorced by the time the spin-off, "Gloria," premiered.

Mike and Gloria appeared in an episode of "All in the Family" during its last season in which they were on the brink of divorce. Archie, Edith and Stephanie had gone to California for Thanksgiving with the Stivics when they learned of Mike and Gloria's marriage problems. I don't think Mike (Meathead) every appeared in an episode of "Archie Bunker's Place".

 

[LKellerIII]

Absolutely the best example in this category: According to Jim.

How did a show universally reviled by critics, with never better than adequate ratings - manage to last 8 seasons??

 

[Corky Marlowe]

How about "America's Funniest Home Videos"? From what I can tell, the weekly prize nominees are about the only new videos being submitted anymore.

 

[jwk1979]

M*A*S*H

I agree with you about M*A*S*H. The Korean War lasted all of 3 years, yet M*A*S*H stayed on for 12 seasons, which means that every season the equivilant of 3 months, so both Trapper John and Col. Blake only served a total of 9 months in Korea. And war must have been hell because both Hawkeye and HotLips looked liked they aged 12 years during Korean Conflict.

 

[Braves2005]

M*A*S*H

I agree with you about M*A*S*H. The Korean War lasted all of 3 years, yet M*A*S*H stayed on for 12 seasons, which means that every season the equivilant of 3 months, so both Trapper John and Col. Blake only served a total of 9 months in Korea. And war must have been hell because both Hawkeye and HotLips looked liked they aged 12 years during Korean Conflict.

Not to mention that everyone looked like they were in the modern day era that the series aired in in the later years rather than in the early 1950's. The earlier shows from about 1972-1977 depicted more of what the characters wore and dressed like in the 1950's. Mike Farrell with a mustache and everyone with longer hair as an example would have been a no-no in the military back in the 1940's and 1950's.

 

[bpatrick]

"Full House" and (especially) "Family Matters." Jaleel White
was having to fake the Urkel voice by the end of the latter
show's run.

I also think "The Andy Griffith Show" should have ended when
Don Knotts left, and from what I've read it almost did. Andy
was ready to hang it up but, according to him, CBS offered him
too much money to keep going.

"Bewitched," too, should have ended when Dick York left. I
never thought Dick Sargent was as good a foil for the antics
of Samantha and her relatives; also, I think the episodes became
increasingly childish in those last three seasons.

 

[visaman]

M*A*S*H

I agree with you about M*A*S*H. The Korean War lasted all of 3 years, yet M*A*S*H stayed on for 12 seasons, which means that every season the equivilant of 3 months, so both Trapper John and Col. Blake only served a total of 9 months in Korea. And war must have been hell because both Hawkeye and HotLips looked liked they aged 12 years during Korean Conflict.

Not to pick nits but in an episode it was stated that Col. Henry Blake was at the 4077 before anybody else was.

 

[dave73]

One show that comes to mind is Beverly Hills 90210. It was fine when they were in school, but once everyone that was in the cast left college, I lost interest in the show. It got even more boring once Jason Priestly, Gabrielle Carteris, & Luke Perry left (he returned in season 9, but I stopped watching the show before he returned). I would have liked to seen Shannon Doherty's character Brenda Walsh to return on occasion.

 

[1st of 5]

What about "That 70s Show"? It was fairly entertaining at first, when the cast was larger and actual historical events were written into the show, but in its later seasons, even before high school graduation, it became predictable and dull. After graduation, it was terrible. How long did they attend high school? The show began with a time reference of 1976 and they graduated in 1979? Shouldn't they have started high school in 1975 or do high schools in Wisconsin start at the 10th grade instead of the 9th?

 

[gregg75]

Hey....I was going to add That 70's Show to the list.....but you already have. You hit
the nail on the head. It was entertaining at first and then it turned into a never ending
dream of the worst kind.

The Simpsons. It's like they've run out of ideas. The show is nothing near what it once was.
At first I would never miss an episode, now I rarely watch.

 

[visaman]

What about "That 70s Show"?

The show began with a time reference of 1976 and they graduated in 1979? Shouldn't they have started high school in 1975 or do high schools in Wisconsin start at the 10th grade instead of the 9th?

That's interesting, I never watched more than half an episode, but I graduated in 1982, if they graduated in 1979, they would be 49 now.

I would have thought that if it was called the 70's show, then it would have started in 1970? Making them at least 55 in 2010.

 

[cd637299]

The Flintstones (had to change their core audience because more tykes were watching, and had to resort to the character the Great Gazoo, a shark-jump if ever there was)
&
The Cosby Show....first episodes were based on his hilarious stand-up routines....then they found out they had a hit on their hands, and had to improvise somewhat!

cd