It’s one thing to set up the main characters and themes at the beginning of a TV show; however, the true test for its creators lies in developing them and keeping the audience invested and entertained.

Reddit user SourceOfAnger decided to live up to their nickname and stir up some drama, so they made a post on the platform, asking everyone, “Which TV show started out promising, but turned out to be garbage?”

It struck a chord with disappointed fans and they immediately started naming series that let them down.

#1

I think most people will tell you Game of Thrones was great until the last season.

CaptainRedBeardd:

Directors literally saw what people wanted from the ending and said Nah we don’t want to be predictable. Ruined the series for me.

Image credits: AlexandriaRealtor

#2

The Walking Dead. It had the potential to be such a good show, but I finally gave up like season 5 or 6, which was probably a lot more than I should have given it.

ilyazrey56t43ter43:

It started off as a great show and then just became a rinse and repeat of ‘Oh, there is another group of human survivors. We’ll clash and then kill each other.

Image credits: -eDgAR-

#3

Well, How I Met Your Mother was a fantastic show up until literally the very last episode. Talk about ruining something great.

Bigrobbo:

I actually got angry at this… I mean literally the build up was perfect they meet and we’ve seen all the love they have shared and then… HA, she died Ted’s gonna go hook up with Robin again… WHAT!

Image credits: AlexandriaRealtor

#4

Grey’s Anatomy. The first few seasons were interesting and it went downhill after a few seasons. Kept watching in the hopes it would get better… It didn’t.

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#5

The Big Bang Theory.

It actually started out as a show with a lot of nerdy in-jokes.

Over the seasons, it has morphed into literally a mockery of its former self.

A typical joke punchline used to be a callback to some obscure comic fact.

Now the joke punchline is that the character reads comics.

Image credits: The_Law_of_Pizza

#6

Once Upon a Time. I can’t get over the fact that characters kept switching sides, as though all the work they’d done to build trust and establish relationships was suddenly meaningless, or suddenly the betrayal that the character made a few episodes before didn’t matter, they were redeemed by virtue of the fact that they simply wanted to come back to the good guys again.

That level of relationship fluidity was so unrealistic that it broke the immersion of the show for me… a show about fairy tale characters come to life…

Image credits: NovusMagister

#7

For me, personally, it has to be Stranger Things… I loved the first season, but I could not get into the second season at all… After the first 4 episodes, I just gave up disappointed. I’ll get my share of downvotes for this opinion, I’m sure.

headcoatee:

I thought I was alone on this! I totally agree. That first season was pitch-perfect. Once season 1 ended, I remember thinking the Duffer Bros had the cred to do just about anything they wanted to, and couldn’t wait to see what new thing they would do…and then they just proceeded to rehash Stranger Things for two more seasons.

Image credits: Doji_Coin

#8

Showing my age a bit, but *The X Files.*

At first, it was a cool “Monster of the Week” show, and then it started going more into a “Vast Alien Conspiracy” plot, which was also really interesting. Then, after a few seasons of watching to see how things played out, you started to realize that the writers didn’t have any idea where they were going with the plot, and everything just fell apart.

#9

Heroes. Season 1 was amazing but it went downhill fast after that.

GavinBelsonsAlexa:

The writer’s strike ruined a lot of shows at the time. I didn’t hate seasons 2 & 3, but I am comfortable never watching them again for the rest of my life.

Image credits: EeJoannaGee

#10

The Blacklist. The concept is amazing but it quickly falls into a repetition of the same episode plots over and over, just like every other network cop/crime show.

Image credits: Mr_Good_Taste

#11

True Blood. First two seasons were good but something happened where it just became an absolute dumpster fire.

LizLemonKnope:

The first two seasons stayed pretty close to the books, then as the show went on, strayed from the source material. I think that’s why it went downhill.

Image credits: napping_insomniac

#12

Lost. It’s clear that the fandom guessed what the island was by the first season and instead of leaning into it they kept adding mystery upon mystery to keep the audience guessing. At the end what the hell was it about? Some smoke monster thats acutally a guy or the devil or whatever and island magic. It’s the reason why I refuse to watch anything by Abrams or Lindeloff.

Image credits: RingarrTheBarbarian

#13

Riverdale. That s**t went absolute bonkers.

LiterallyANun:

I enjoyed it for how utterly absurd it was. A show about teenagers growing up in small town America.

Except there’s gang turfwars, Mafiosi, suicide pacts, people faking their death, illegal fight clubs, serial killers, legitimate business ownership, children with way more money and influence than they should realistically have, secret societies, underground bunkers, and Dungeons and Dragons.

Every episode you’re surprised with something new that still somehow manages to be even more moronic than what came before.

Image credits: deltaretrovirus

#14

Orange Is The New Black just kind of… fell off.

PineappleDifferent80:

After Poussey died, they should have just ended it. Depressing ending, but also very fitting since it’s about an American prison.

IBeatUpLiamNeeson:

Once I got to the season where they kind of over run the prison, and they started making the really cheesy jokes, I just stopped watching. Like every single scene was ending on a joke you feel you should here the trombone hitting the wahhh wahhhhhhhhh with.

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#15

The Handmaid’s Tale. Season One was possibly the best drama show on TV at the time. Now, it’s literally a s**t show.

calibancreed;

I think a lot of that is because the first season (mostly) followed the plot of the book and ended exactly where the book did (minus the epilogue in the book) and that ambiguity is so perfect for the world. Subsequent seasons were definitely far worse off for it.

Image credits: jwelshuk

#16

Supernatural. The first 2 seasons are great, the 3rd-5th seasons are really good and expand on the first 2 seasons. Then the 6th through 15th seasons are just bland and uninspired and not even campy. The first third of the series is great, but the other two-thirds turned out to be garbage. I didn’t even finish watching the final season, I just read the synopsis and wasn’t surprised at how dumb it ended.

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#17

Misfits… Nathan Leaving started the decline, and when the last of the original 5 went it was dead in the water.

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#18

Almost every cw superhero show. Flash and Arrow had amazing first seasons. Then they slowly got worse and worse until they were complete garbage.

Image credits: Jaycro123

#19

Pretty Little Liars. It started as a fun concept and fun show to watch. The writing and plot line went downhill within the first few seasons, it because repetitive and all over the place, I still refuse to watch the last season because the writing became terrible.

And can we all agree that the Aria/Ezra plot line was so gross, unneeded, and inappropriate?!

Image credits: olive_us_here

#20

Vikings.

Awesome stroryline, great characters, touched on old religious and philosophical themes, great battle sequences etc. Great show.

But after season 3 something happened with the writing. Season 4 was split into two parts through the year. That was weird. 4B came out and it was clear the show was slipping. After that it just fell apart with story, character arcs, motives….it just sank.

Image credits: FreudianFloydian

#21

Dexter is my absolute favorite show of all time but good god season 8 was s**t. The revival has been so much better.

BAHatesToFly:

Dexter introduced me to the concept of hate-watching. I loved the first two seasons, but Season 3 fell way off, then season 4 was great, then seasons 5 and 6 were dogs**t and I started hate-watching. The old AV Club used to do episode recaps and the comments section was so funny ripping apart the episodes.

Season 7 had some good moments but dropped off, then season 8 was an utter abomination.

Image credits: Drillucidator

#22

American Gods.

It started out amazing and really kept me invested for the first 2 seasons! But it fell way off after Orlando left and then I just kept hearing terrible things about how it was behind the scenes. The show had a lot of potential and they got screwed horribly.

Image credits: bellaswine

#23

Westworld

Season 1 was perfect, an amalgamation of mystery, action, drama, twists and turns, exceptional writing, and the perfect amount of existentialism.

Season 2 was good as well but not nearly as good. Much like season 1, they repeated a ton of scenes which makes sense in the story but by that point it was becoming tiring.

Season 3, I didn’t even finish cause of how boring it was. Continually rehashed old plot points, leaned WAY too much into the idea of “what is consciousness,” and hardly took place in Westworld.

There are leaks of season 4 and they’re STILL repeating scenes from SEASON 1!!

#24

Shameless, the first 4 seasons were good but then all of the characters just started to self sabotage and it made the show repetitive and annoying.

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#25

How to Get Away with Murder. So much potential initially, but it all dissolved into nonsense and elongating the series for absolutely no reason. Such a shame.

evenge_of_the_Khaki:

It was very clearly a show with a formula that they stuck with WAY too hard. It’s one thing to have a similar plot, it’s another thing to literally copy/paste every plot point at the same point in each season 5 times in a row.

Image credits: thisisavailablee

#26

Modern Family It just got very formulaic and the characters have no development.

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#27

True Detective. Season 1 was best. Top of the class. But subsequent seasons were average.

NoGoodIDNames:

IIRC the first season was a project the writer had worked on and slowly perfected for years, and then once it came out and was a huge hit they expected him to do the same thing again in a fraction of the time.
So he tried a completely new storyline for 2 which bombed, then went back and recycled a lot of 1’s stuff for 3, which did better but still wasn’t as good as 1.

Image credits: IR-x86

#28

Stitchers.

Imagine this: a device is invented to see into the last memories of dead people, and an organization uses this tech to solve murders. The woman who has to relive the murders is the daughter of the inventor, whom she is estranged from and (I believe) thought was dead. So this chick is solving murders and trying to track down her genius dad. Makes for some gritty drama, right? Wrong. It’s a Freeform show so it just devolves into a love triangle between the woman and her male coworkers. I came here for sci-fi crime-solving, dammit!

Image credits: poachels

#29

Altered Carbon. Loved the first season but really didn’t enjoy season 2.

trumpelstiltzkin:

“Our main character is almost TOO good. Let’s swap out for a different one!”

#30

That 70’s show
The earliest seasons were so great but with each new season the show just went downhill. Especially the final season, god i hated the writers and the director for ruining the show

#31

Honestly Downton Abbey. The first two and a half seasons are fantastic, then it gets really silly really fast. How many times can Mr. Bates possibly get arrested???

#32

Glee.

sayhellotojenn:

Yes! The pilot was actually excellent and hinted at a much more grounded show with hints of melancholy. Then it went off the rails, with only hints of the show we saw in the pilot coming back later.

Mr. Schue of the pilot was BLEAK. You really got the feeling that this man is one mouthy teenager away from a nervous breakdown so ok, no wonder you want to cling to the last time you were happy (which, it’s sad enough that this happens to be his high school glee club championships). His wife is clearly an asshole from the beginning, though she later shows herself to be a special kind of psychotic. He’s constantly being dragged by Sue. He’s not a particularly great teacher. Life is depressing.

And it’s depressing for the kids too, at least the ones that aren’t cheerleaders or football players. Constantly being thrown in trash cans or locked in porta-potties or having slushies thrown at them. And then somewhere along the line, all these assholes get too cocky. Schue loses any sense of boundaries with his students. And instead of this show about a small town in Ohio where realistically most of the students will never leave and work mediocre jobs for the rest of their lives, like half of the Glee club moves to New York and gets famous and Quinn goes to an Ivy League school and Demi Lovato shows up for whatever reason and it just becomes more unrealistic the longer you watch.

I still can’t believe I watched this show all the way until the end. I’ve since given up on the concept of “well I made it this far, now I’ve got to see it through to the end!”.

#33

The Simpsons.

How the hell is that show still on.

#34

The Fairly OddParents it was an amazing kids show at one point even beating spongebob in viewers but it dropped the ball after puff was introduced then when they added the dog and the annoying girl and ruined it.

#35

Sleepy Hollow, first season was fantastic, absolutely made sense that they got renewed only two or three episodes in. The whole premise was highly engaging and enjoyable, Icabod dealing with the 21st century, the monsters, the whole overreaching plot hooked you from the start.

Then… Second season was a little rough, but still enjoyable.

I didn’t even finish the third season, and once I heard that Abbie was killed, fourth season had no interest. The whole point was them being fated to be partners against the coming apocalypse!!! You can’t just kill off one of them and then just hand wave in another partner and act like that’s all fine and dandy when instead you established in the first couple episodes that it can only be them.

I’ve yet to rewatch the first season because I just remember how disappointed I was seeing where it went and how it ultimately ended.

#36

Dracula.

It only has 3 episodes but the first is amazing. I was really blown away by it. Then episode 2 came with a story line so far below i could hardly believe it…. they really hit rock bottom…. somehow they managed to create a final episode which dug so far below rock bottom its best to just fill the hole and forget it ever existed.

#37

Vampire Diaries. I mean, i guess it never was a masterpiece to begin with but it had many things I typically enjoy; vampires and supernatural beings, some love triangles and drama. I liked the characters (crushed so hard on Damon) and the story. But I still felt that the 5th or 6th season (cant remember which) had a really good ending that tied up most loose ends the show had and gave a satisfying end to the show. I was dissapointed till learn that they were making more seasons and stopped watching.

Also, on a similar note:
Grimm. I was so excited and was hooked after I saw the pilot but I dont even think I finished the first season. For me it just fell flat. I feel like Supernatural did whatever Grimm tried to do but better (even though Supernatural also is an honorable mentions, but I’ve already seen others listing it)

#38

Under the dome, the first few episodes were pretty good but eventually it got less interesting/more stupid.

#39

Suits.

BlackKlopp:

Yep, the first 3 seasons were fantastic imo, then from Season 4, it becomes personal drama, then when Mike and Rachel leave, it just becomes a caricature of itself. Such a decline.

#40

The 100 was cheesy garbage, got really good, then ended as garbage. What a ride.

IrrelevantPuppy:

The 100 is one of my most confusing consuming experiences. First season: “god this teen drama s**t is so trash. Why would anyone watch this?… why am I still watching this?” Later seasons: “did… did this actually get good?” But then kinda hit a soft barrier where things just got steadily more tired, boring, dramatic and I just forgot about it.

I’ve never gone from hate watching to unironically enjoying before.

Image credits: thelyfeaquatic

#41

Revolution – an interesting premise, our world and electricity couldn’t be used anymore, but man by the last episode it was…something else entirely.

oil_can_guster:

Man I was so into the first half-season of that show. By the end of season 1 I was already exhausted. I think its biggest problem is that it was written for standard-length seasons when it should’ve been a one-season show or miniseries.

Image credits: ILikeLenexa

#42

Kim’s Convenience.

I wouldn’t say the last season was total *garbage*, but it was full-on Flandersization of most of the characters, dropped important storylines, and left everyone hanging at the end. They did their cast dirty on that show, and it has started off so, so good.

#43

Manifest. Interesting concept and potentially room for some cool sci-fi narratives but god it took like 3 episodes to become such a huge disappointment.

#44

House of cards after season 2.

level 2Inle-rah:

I came for this one. Started off brilliantly. Should have just ended it when they found out you know who did you know what.

#45

Prison break. First season was unreal and then it got much worse every season.

Dafuzz:

When the whole show revolves around the titular prison break, you can only forestall showing it for so long, and then once you do have the prison break there isn’t a clear path how to keep the show related to the title. So back to prison it is.

Image credits: Brettley821

#46

Spongebob Squarepants. The first three seasons were legendary. But starting at season 4, it became a different show. The charm, creativity, and memorable jokes were all gone.

#47

MTV’s Teen Wolf. It was pretty decent, didn’t pretend to be anything it wasn’t. It was cheeky and fun and had a rabid fan base. But sometime around season three, the actors and producers/directors got a little excited with their new career prospects being on a rapidly growing show, acted dumb, and the show f*****g TANKED. Stopped watching after season 3 or something, and it ended somewhat unceremoniously after season 6. The show did give us Dylan O’Brien though.

#48

Wayward Pines was excellent the first season and dogshit the following season. Season 1 is based on the books, and season 2 just couldn’t replicate the greatness of the first season. They should have just made it a one season thing.

#49

YOU. Watched it with my girlfriend and was enjoying it. Reached season 3 and it felt so repetitive and annoying.

#50

Billions.

First two seasons had amazing writing. Then they decided to change up the dynamics and s**t got so stale and boring.

It actually started to pick back up again last season, but then the main actor (and most interesting character) decides to leave the show.

So, yeah. Billions is done, in my opinion.

#51

Sons of Anarchy. Drops of considerably after Taras death.

#52

13 Reasons Why.

imthenanny:

I agree should have stopped it at season one. Just do the book adaptation and be done with it.

#53

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

I loved everyone in it (Aunt Hilda has my heart), but then it just started getting bad. Almost like Riverdale. It could’ve been a lot better. I stopped watching halfway through season 2 but I saw clips of later episodes on social media.

#54

Superstore.

My GF convinced me to watch it because she wanted something light and funny.

We were actually laughing out loud many times – one time even leading to a laugh cramp (as we call it in austria).

Very soon I noticed that the jokes got flatter and somehow the actors seemed less convincing.

Kinda sad.

#55

You could tell Arrow was meant to only be a few seasons but then just kinda snowballed.

GavinBelsonsAlexa:

I watched the whole series, because I’m an idiot, but as soon as they introduced sci-fi and fantasy elements, the show was going off the rails. The first two seasons were a gritty, “realistic” take that drew inspiration in equal measure from the Dark Knight trilogy and Mike Grell’s run at the character in the ’80s and ’90s: no magic, no gadgets, just a mean guy with a bow. They they introduced the Flash and the Lazarus Pits and Damien Dahrk, and it just kept getting worse and worse.

#56

The first three seasons of Arrested development was great.

_AreWeHavingFunYet_:

Original run of AD is arguably the greatest sitcom ever. So densely packed with jokes. I liked the original release of Season 4 (Season 4 re-cut is bad), but it was clearly a level below 1-3 and it took a while for some the jokes to pay off. Season 5 was a f**king mess and I couldn’t even finish it.

#57

Ohhhh, Weeds, [screw] that [nonsense] programme.

stealthc4:

It’s a great concept to have a suburban soccer mom selling weed but I didn’t sign up for a cartel show and, after that, it never found a good storyline again.

#58

Last man on earth…the first three episodes were absolute gold, genuinely some of the funniest tv ever made…..literally everything after that was trash (sorry will forte)

#59

Kinda obscure, but Reaper.

First episode was amazing, by the mid-point of the 1st season, I checked out…not sure how many seasons it had, but it was such a good premise, and just ….fail.

#60

I’m going to say Good Girls. The plot was interesting. Acting was good, I love Retta and Christina Hendricks. It just got ridiculous and no way in real life would these ladies get away with what they did.

#61

Promised Neverland ? Season one was SO good. Why’d they do that to us all.

mmitchell9:

No one can convince me s2 happened. It was just a nightmare.

#62

Zoo. Read the book and loved the concept of man’s effect of animal life through technology. First episode of the tv series stretches that concept a little bit which I was fine with, it’s a tv adaption after all. But then it just went full sci Fi chanel-esque and right off the deep end.

#63

La casa de papel. Halfway through season 2 el profesor starts doing s**t he couldn’t possible foresee. But according to the series he did, so that is where I decided to stop watching.

#64

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Started out great. The last season was horrible. So sad.

#65

Gotham. The villains like the penguin, the riddler, Jerome, and scarecrow. I’m watching season 5 now and I’m not really liking it. 

Crater_Raider:

Gotham had high highs and low lows. You could tell some writers were just waaaaay better than others. Some episodes would knock it out of the park so hard. Ed’s initial Riddler descent was great. Freezes origin. Jerome got better every time (Gordon punching his face off is still a highlight for me)

But then there was a ton of dropped storylines, contradictions, and characters were constantly being rewritten from the ground up- Barbra was someone new every season. Poison Ivy was literally 3 different people, and Riddler ends up being inconsistent in the end too.

#66

The Morning Show

First season isn’t perfect but its poignant premise and killer performances by Jennifer Aniston and Billy Crudup really worked in its favor.

However the recent second season flew off the rails with too many subplots about too many hot button issues spread across too many characters. It was aimless and inconsistent and while I would imagine Apple will pick it up for a third season (what else do they have going on?) there would need to be some serious changes.

#67

Designated Survivor. The original version had a great premise but I think it was too trapped by the constraints of cable TV formatting. Ended up being more of a soap opera that went nowhere and said little.

The Korean version
is much better, because a) it had to finish the story in 16 episodes (per K-drama format, and because an interim president is constitutionally required to hold new elections within 60 days) so it’s more succinct, and b) the stakes felt real since South Korea’s military dictatorship is still in recent memory and there’s North Korea over the horizon. I’d recommend the Korean version instead.

#68

Marcella. It was great, but the season finales left more questions than answers and some parts of the plot were never mentioned again and forgotten. Way too many loose ends for my taste.

#69

Sword Art Online. It was a great premise, and started what looked like it was going to be a wild story arc where the MC made himself out to be a bad guy to keep the other players from infighting.

Then it abandoned that arc for no reason, and the people trapped in a crazy fantasy world settled down to raise a kid in a log cabin somewhere, and the writers abandoned all semblance of plot AND believability.

#70

The League. The last two seasons became pure product placement for daily fantasy football sites.

#71

Smallville.

The first few seasons are pretty good, but they lose both Lana and Lex after S6. Tess and Green Arrow were garbage, and then there was that whole sex slave cult with Allison Mack. I can’t watch it ever again now that’s stuck in my head.

#72

The Seven Deadly Sins did not stick to the landing.

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