What Shows Overstayed Their Welcome?

[visaman]

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It seems to me that if Blocker had not passed away, Bonanza would have made it through the 1972-73 season with a full 26 episodes..I also thought that the story line with Little Joe getting married then outlaws murdering his wife and burning down their house was way too much a downer..
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Yup, it seems to me that something like that would ruin one's day.

 

[ixnay]

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

I always thought, sadly, that "McHale's Navy" overstayed its welcome starting November 22, 1963.

ixnay

 

[ixnay]

Bonanza comes to mind. That show almost ran for 20 years. The program went off the air shortly after Dan Blocker died in 1972. No one could replace Blocker...

Dan Blocker died in May 1972 -- the series soldiered on for one more season, through 1973. By then, following Blocker's death and competition against CBS's "Maude" after moving to Tuesday nights, viewership dwindled.

I don't think Bonanza lasted the whole season following the death of Dan Blocker. I think it was cancelled in very early 1973 (maybe January) with the last episode being shown in early January or so.

According to Brooks and Marsh (2003 ed.), "Bonanza" rode into the sunset on January 16, 1973.

ixnay

 

[bpatrick]

"Bonanza" was in the middle of its 14th season when
it was canceled; "Gunsmoke" lasted 20 years (1955-75),
with "Law & Order" being the only other drama series to
last as long.

 

[Markxxx]

I will agree with the OP that Archie Bunkers Place was just too much. The show had deteriorated so much by the late 70's that this spin-off was generally a waste of time. However, All In The Family from 1971 to the 1975-76 season was simply genius. The combination of humor and social commentary was unmatched. TVLand recently has run the the series, but recently dropped it. Please bring it back.

I watch all it on ME-TV and I liked AITF and the continuation. The problem with AITF was it really stopped being AITF once Mike graduated and he and Gloria took up residence next door.

At that point it really changed from cutting edge to a typical sit-com with Mike and Gloria becoming the "wacky neighbors" previously provided by the Jeffersons and Irene Lorenzo. The conflict was gone and it changed into a typical domestic sit-com. It was still good, no question, but it lost the cutting edge.

 

[onairb]

How would 'AITF' be remembered today if it had ended after 5 or 6 seasons?
The show was pretty much forced to become less political and more 'domestic' after Nixon resigned, and the two biggest sources of conflict between Mike and Archie-the war and Watergate- were out of the news.
The disappearence of Frank Lorenzo/unavailability of Vincent Gardenia in '75 didn't help, either; together, Frank and Irene had potential; on her own, Irene wasn't as funny as, say, Maude or the Jeffersons had been when they insulted Archie. In fact, Irene's insults were a lot more subtle, rather than hilarious.

The real turn for the worse was when Teresa Betancourt was added in '76-not merely as a 'wacky neighbor', but a boarder the Bunkers took in. By then, Mike and Gloria' baby Joey, had already been born, in November of '75. Perhaps it would have been best to end the series at that point?

 

[mleach]

How would 'AITF' be remembered today if it had ended after 5 or 6 seasons?
The show was pretty much forced to become less political and more 'domestic' after Nixon resigned, and the two biggest sources of conflict between Mike and Archie-the war and Watergate- were out of the news.
The disappearence of Frank Lorenzo/unavailability of Vincent Gardenia in '75 didn't help, either; together, Frank and Irene had potential; on her own, Irene wasn't as funny as, say, Maude or the Jeffersons had been when they insulted Archie. In fact, Irene's insults were a lot more subtle, rather than hilarious.

The real turn for the worse was when Teresa Betancourt was added in '76-not merely as a 'wacky neighbor', but a boarder the Bunkers took in. By then, Mike and Gloria' baby Joey, had already been born, in November of '75. Perhaps it would have been best to end the series at that point?

Do you remember when the Baby Joey doll was available for a short time in toy stores such as Toys R US complete with a photo of Archie & Gloria on the box? Doll was somewhat famous/infamous has it was the first doll to have featured a penis.

Of course the Baby Joey doll wasn't a success but had it was I have wondered would that had meant a very "family friendly" All in the Family?

 

[The Voice of Reason]

"In the Heat of the Night" comes to mind as one show that overstayed its welcome.

Don't get me wrong, Carroll O'Connor did a fantastic job portraying the police chief.

For me the show changed when Howard Rollins was fired (because of his drug use) and replaced by Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed from Rocky). Then O'Connor's character became sheriff. That signaled to me at least, that the writers had ran out of ideas for scripts.