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There’s nothing worse for avid TV fans then when their favorite shows go from being really good, to really bad. Most times, you’re already so invested into the program that you cannot stop watching now, because you remember how good it “used to be” and hope it comes back to that level.
Earlier TV shows before my time that encountered this problem were Happy Days, The Beverley Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith show. All had major characters leave, and then were just never the same. Some went from black and white, to color, also ruining the mystique. They just stopped being good.
In happy Days, Richie left for the Military with Ralph and the show never recovered. Beverley Hillbillies went from black and white to color and it just stopped being fun. Don Knotts played the iconic character Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show for the first five seasons before leaving. His character is one of the greatest in Television History. That show went on for 3 more seasons but wasn’t even close to being as good as it could have been.
And here’s the thing folks, some shows can more than survive, but also thrive when a major character leaves. Take Cheers for example, both “Coach” and Diane Chambers left the show, and the additions of Woody and Rebecca were iconic. The same could be said for the swap out of 75% of the cast of Friday Night Lights from season 3 to 5. The show remained fantastic.
Other ones however, never recovered and came to endings shortly after, like Michael Scott with The Office for example. But it goes beyond just a character leaving, sometimes it can be predictable storytelling or just storylines that go nowhere or touch far too close to home. You want to watch sitcoms that take you away from the realities of the everyday world, and give you a reason to escape.
Here are just a few that went from being great, to becoming unwatchable over the last few years, and for some, even decades ago, but still remain angering when you think about how far off the rails it went.
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