19 TV Shows That Had All The Potential In The World But Ended Up Dashing Our Hopes And Dreams

So. Much. Disappointment.

You know that feeling of absolute heartbreak when one of your favorite shows progressively gets worse and worse?

Sony

Well, Reddit user u/SourceOfAnger posed the question, "Which TV show started out promising, but turned out to be garbage?"

NBC

And there were so many great responses! Here are some of the top-voted answers:

1. Once Upon a Time

Jack Rowand / ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"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."

—u/NovusMagister

2. Revolution

Felicia Graham / NBC / courtesy Everett Collection

"An interesting premise: Our world and electricity couldn't be used anymore. But man, by the last episode, it was...something else entirely."

—u/ILikeLenexa

3. Pretty Little Liars

Eike Schroter / ABC Family / Courtesy: Everett Collection

"It started as a fun show to watch. The writing and plot went downhill within the first few seasons. It became 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 plotline was so gross, unneeded, and inappropriate?!"

—u/olive_us_here

4. Arrow

Dean Buscher / The CW Network / courtesy Everett Collection

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

—u/Fanon64

"I gave up on it after, like, Season 5 because it was just so bad."

—u/ICantHaveIt

5. How to Get Away With Murder

Mitchell Haaseth / ABC / courtesy Everett Collection

"So much potential initially, but it all dissolved into nonsense and elongating the series for absolutely no reason. Such a shame."

—u/thisisavailablee

"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 and paste every plot point in each season, five times in a row."

—u/Revenge_of_the_Khaki

6. The 100

Shane Harvey / The CW Network / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Season 1 was a bit of a teen drama, but Seasons 2 and 3 were really good. Then, the show turned really weird, despite having lots of potential."

—u/Significant-Sir-321

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

—u/thelyfeaquatic

7. Dexter

Showtime / courtesy Everett Collection

"Dexter is my absolute favorite show of all time, but good god, Season 8 was shit."

—u/Drillucidator

8. Under the Dome

Brownie Harris / CBS / courtesy Everett Collection

"The first few episodes were pretty good, but eventually it got less interesting / more stupid."

—u/stax_fira

"I enjoyed the book and gave the show a real shot right up until they introduced a new character who had 'just been in a basement' the whole time. Fuck you, writers."

—u/captainoftrips

9. The Walking Dead

AMC

"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.'"

—u/ilyazrey56t43ter43

10. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Diyah Pera / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

"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."

—u/TheRestIs_Confetti

11. American Gods

Starz / courtesy Everett Collection

"It started out amazing and really kept me invested for the first two 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 it got screwed horribly."

—u/bellaswine

12. Heroes

Dean Handler / NBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

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

—u/EeJoannaGee

13. Stitchers

Adam Rose / ABC Family / courtesy Everett Collection

"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. So this woman is solving murders and trying to track down her genius dad. Makes for some gritty drama, right? Wrong. It just devolves into a love triangle between the woman and her male coworkers. I came here for sci-fi crime-solving, dammit!"

—u/poachels

14. True Blood

HBO

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

—u/napping_insomniac

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

—u/LizLemonKnope

15. Weeds

Showtime

"Fuck that fucking show."

—u/scarebear__

"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."

—u/stealthc4

16. Designated Survivor

Ben Mark Holzberg / ABC / courtesy Everett Collection

"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."

—u/Sodarn-Hinsane

17. Misfits

E4

"Nathan leaving started the decline. And when the last of the original five went, it was dead in the water."

—u/LondonDude123

18. Orange Is the New Black

JoJo Whilden / Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection

"It just kind of…fell off."

—u/yeniza

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

—u/PineappleDifferent80

19. And finally, Riverdale

Jack Rowand / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection

"A show about teenagers growing up in small-town America. Except, there's gang turf wars, mafia, suicide pacts, people faking their deaths, illegal fight clubs, serial killers, 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."

—u/LiterallyANun

"That shit went absolute bonkers."

—u/deltaretrovirus

Which show did you love until it turned into total garbage? LMK in the comments below!

Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.