27 TV Shows That Became So Bad In Later Seasons, People Immediately Quit Watching Them

    Just when things were getting good, these shows dropped the ball.

    Mychal Thompson
    by Mychal Thompson

    BuzzFeed Staff

    As of spring 2022, there were over 800,000 TV shows in the US. I wish this was a gross exaggeration, but it's the facts. With numbers like this, we can't be investing our time in shows that will burn out after the first season.

    Thankfully, Reddit user u/Alive-Skirt295 asked people to spill the tea on why they quit watching popular TV shows in later seasons, and the reasons are very convincing.

    We thank them for their service providers and wasted hours of streaming content.

    It should go without saying that this list is nothing but SPOILERS.

    If you plan on finally watching that show in your queue after seven years — you have been warned.

    1. The Flash (2014)

    Warner Bros. Television

    "The Flash is a lot of the reason I hate live-action TV. They killed off an amazing supporting character with an interesting story and personality — just to save a love interest for no tangible reason, only for that character to get completely forgotten despite their sacrifice. At some point, I stop caring about the personal love lives of every character and just want unique interactions with characters, or maybe some ACTUAL ACTION for a 'superhero TV show'?"

    Instead, it was 45 minutes of constant flirting and/or arguments. Ironically, some of the show's most interesting and compelling characters were either single or old. Reverse Flash, Jay Garrick, Dr. Stein, Clock King, Harrison Wells, etc. The final straw was when random people got introduced specifically just for more love interests. Then it was, 'now we're pregnant!'. Nope, I was done."

    — u/Owlrus98

    2. The Blacklist

    NBCUniversal

    "It just got so-damn-slow. And the plot kinds jumped the shark when Agent Keen went rogue. She was the main character and Reddington's closest 'friend' in the task force. The show honestly started to suck long before that, though. I just have a hard time quitting after I've been hooked in real good. The beginning of the show is fabulous. It's fast but not too fast, with a large variety of cases/sequences and great character designs and developments. I feel like they kinda ran out of ideas around Season 5. I forget the continuity of it all at this point, but I'd say around there."

    — u/idkburneridkidk

    3. New Girl

    20th Television

    "Zooey Deschanel — at first she seemed quirky and fun. Then Zooey went on maternity leave, and instead of the show taking a break, they temporarily replaced her with Megan Fox. Big mistake.

    Megan Fox was great.

    When Zooey returned, it all fell apart. After that little palate cleanser, it became clear just how terrible Zooey's character was — insecure and narcissistic. Making everyone else's problems hers and making her problems everyone else's.

    I stuck with it for a while because most of the other characters were still OK, and I love Jake Johnson (Safety Not Guaranteed!). But her absence did her and the show no good."

    — u/Sufficient-Zombie437


    4. Pretty Little Liars (2010)

    Warner Bros.

    "I think I stopped around Season 6 when they did the 5-year jump. It was already pretty ridiculous at that point, so I can't believe I lasted that long. I ended up going back and finishing it after it was added to streaming services, and boy was I glad I didn't continue to watch it during its release — waiting every week for a new episode and then every few months for the next half-season would not have been worth the finale at all."

    — u/ThrowRAWRAw

    5. House of Cards

    Sony Pictures

    "House of Cards was so clever in the first few seasons when he was always a step ahead of everyone else. But after becoming president, it suddenly felt like everyone else was a step ahead of him, which was boring."

    — u/Miss_PentYouth

    "I never understood his ultimate motivation: The presidency can last eight years, and most former presidents aren't exactly power brokers and just spend the rest of their lives in retirement. What was his character's ultimate post-presidency goal?"

    — u/universaladaptoid

    6. Prison Break

    20th Television

    "I was thrilled for the first two seasons, but when Michael got into that prison in Panama (not sure if it was Panama), I just lost interest. I get that the show is called Prison Break, and they need a prison to break out of, but it just felt like a bad repetition of the first season. The fact that the same characters from the first prison ended up being in the same prison as Michael again, including the prison guard, didn't help. Just felt a bit too convenient for the plot."

    — u/Parabellum1611

    7. Sliders

    NBCUniversal Television

    "Sliders was a really good show with a simple premise — a college student opens a portal to different parallel Earths. He and his friends get lost and have to find their way home. Seasons 1 and 2 were pretty solid. Season 3 went off the rails, and a popular character got killed off in a shitty way. When they switched from Fox to SyFy in Season 4, the show's premise became crazy convoluted. All but one of the main cast left in Season 5, and the show became a mess. That's when I bailed."

    — u/MaxAmperage

    8. Family Guy

    20th Television

    "I stopped watching it after the 'Life of Brian' fiasco as it was clear that the episode was another jump-the-shark moment. A character that lost all likability years ago was killed off for a few episodes to generate sympathy and for the sake of publicity. I have no clue why I stopped watching it after that episode, but I just did. At this point, the show is just Ren & Stimpy on steroids, full to the brim with gross-out humor and disturbing content that nobody above 17 would find amusing."

    — u/TailsxCream4Eva

    9. Bones

    20th Television

    "Tried finishing it like ten times over the years, but by Season 4, the show becomes so boring and predictable, with the absolute [WORST] fucking injected drama. Lemme guess Bones will be out of touch with something that no living human could be that out of touch on, say something offensive, be confused about why her friends are upset, then come around by the end and apologize, only to learn nothing and do it next week. Angela will be all artsy fartsy and encourage her friends to do stupid, outlandish shit with no consideration for the consequences, like a fucking child.

    Booth will simultaneously be smart enough to be one of the best special agents in the FBI but also not know basic high school level science stuff cause 'ya just gotta have a simple folk to show how super smart your MAIN CHARACTER is.'"

    — u/FFSock

    10. The 100

    CBS Television

    "The initial premise is really cool. Humans launched the nukes, and the descendants of people on various national space stations came together to form a new society running out of resources and needed to return to the ground. The challenges they face on the ground are super interesting. The escalation gets a bit out of hand, but it was acceptable to me until I reached the part where every nuclear reactor on the planet is melting. I refuse to accept they can save themselves at this point. In my headcanon, the main character never tells everyone what she discovered and lets people live like normal until the Earth is finally finished."

    — u/SweatyExamination9

    11. King of the Hill

    20th Television

    "Season 7 starts the downward slide. After that, it's generally unwatchable. The humor in King of the Hill is so subtle and hilarious, then it devolves into cringe and stereotypes every single episode."

    — u/Tantra_Charbelcher

    12. The Wire

    Warner Bros.

    "I found it silly that a character like Stringer Bell would make dumbass decisions like the ones he did. Stopped watching at the end of Season 3. Would've continued if I hadn't switched to Better Call Saul -- vastly better written, and the character development is phenomenal."

    — u/_hein_

    13. The L Word

    Showtime Networks

    "I started watching it alone because there was no queer fiction on TV, and that was the only one. 1st season was good. My mom started watching it too, but it wasn't the same after some time. The characters were... too full of betrayals, too full of themselves, and unable to see their mistakes. Jenny was my least favorite character, and the ending confirmed it. My mom continued watching it until the end because she wanted to see how it ended but said the quality was getting worse season after season. The sequel wasn't that good either (her words, I refused to watch it), and even the characters were pretty homophobic and/or hostile to others instead of empowering each other. I had to explain some terms to my mom because the show made the word 'queer' seem like a slur."

    — u/NO4H

    14. The Umbrella Academy

    Netflix

    "The first season was already meh for me because I read the comics first. If you read them, you get some sort of backstory on WHY they have superpowers and how this old man knows about them. In the show, you don't. Besides that it just gets worse with each season, both script and plot-wise. I mean one of them is a cube. A FUCKING CUBE?"

    — u/in_deep_thoughts

    15. Vikings

    MGM Television

    "I stopped halfway through Season 5 because Alfred becomes King and kills Aethelred. I'm okay with fictional elements in historical dramas as long as they don't change actual history. I also told myself I'd see if the rest of the cast could hold it together after Ragnar's death."

    — u/icantthinkofaname940

    16. The Fairly OddParents

    Viacom Media Networks

    "Fairly OddParents used to be my favorite childhood show and it went to absolute crap over the years. They introduced way too many new characters to try and keep the ratings up, like Poof and Sparky, and Chloe. Heck, I think they even gave Crocker an annoying nephew at one point."

    — u/GreatXs

    17. Westworld

    Warner Bros.

    "I loved the first season. It's probably my favorite bit of TV from the past five years. I couldn't even make it a full episode into season 2. I have no idea how they lost my interest so entirely and immediately, but they did."

    — u/EarlyBirdsofBabylon

    "The Season 2 premiere feels like they just started making stuff up to make the plot more interesting, and it backfired. Fans saw through all of the nonsense."

    — u/daveymann

    18. Peaky Blinders

    BBC/Netflix

    "I gave up on Peaky Blinders because I found it kind of irritating, even though I loved certain aspects of it. Adrien Brody as Luca Changretta, for example. He was ace, and that whole denouement was brilliant. Also, I loved Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and the rest of the regular cast — they had great chemistry. I also liked the contrast between modern music and high-production values replicating the 1920s appearance. But something about the story made me weary, and I can't be arsed watching the last five or so episodes."

    — u/Signature_Sea

    19. The Magicians

    NBCUniversal

    "Really great start, an interesting plot, and pretty amazing, but they started getting weird with sex magic and making that one girl drink troll c*m because it would 'make her powers stronger.' Don't even get me started on the 'clever twist' with the pedo and the kid turning out to be the misunderstood villain. The show went from best to worst in an instant."

    — u/Galixsea

    20. American Gods

    Lionsgate Television

    "They fired the actor (Orlando Jones) who played Mr. Nancy. Apparently, he played his character too well. The showed went decidedly downhill after that..."

    — u/femsci-nerd

    "The showrunner for the first season is amazing but is the absolute worst to work with, so he left, and the show fell from there. I was bummed because the first season was great."

    — u/COSurfing

    21. Orange Is the New Black

    Lionsgate

    "It was really good for the first few seasons. Then it just got way out of control and unrealistic. In the later seasons where they have a riot and seize control of the entire prison...like, huh? How tf did the plot get to there?"

    —u/yghgjy

    22. Once Upon a Time

    Disney — ABC

    "Once Upon a Time. I loved it, I just got really pissed because Henry got tricked by Peter Pan, and I stopped watching for a bit, and then it got taken off of Netflix, and I don't wanna look for a website to watch it on soooo."

    — u/Recent_View6254

    23. Death Note (2006)

    Madhouse

    "I stopped watching Death Note when L died. I just didn’t like N and felt completely cheated out of an amazing character. It took me years to go back and actually finish it."

    — u/TRex_in_the_Vents

    24. Designated Survivor

    Disney — ABC

    "The first season was so good! The second season was meh until there was a huge cliffhanger climax type of event right before a 1-month break from the show... I never felt like picking it back up. Cliffhanger and all, it was just not worth watching anymore."

    — u/Rudbeckia29

    25. Castle

    Disney — ABC

    "I can tell you the exact instant I noped out. Mid-episode, they suddenly introduced the lead female character's ex-husband, and sure enough, they hadn't actually divorced. I declared at that point, that if he makes her do something shady before he will grant her a divorce, I'm done with this series. Sure enough ... switched off mid-episode and never watched another.

    Nathan Fillion deserved better from me, but I just couldn't take such an utterly obvious and weak plot development."

    — u/AnotherLeon

    26. American Horror Story

    20th Television

    "I always give a random season a chance because the theme interests me. But they never do a proper job with the concept. Even when they’re paying homage to classic horror tropes, they fuck up the season with weird plot twists and awkward sexual content based on something they learned on Reddit. I always give up halfway through a season, and when I don’t, I always regret wasting my time."

    — u/sketchysketchist

    27. The Walking Dead

    AMC Networks

    "I was getting tired of it, but Negan is what drove me off. Felt like a snuff flick."

    — u/RealisticDelusions77

    "Yes, once Negan was introduced, it was like, 'how are they ever gonna get out of this?' It just became too much gore and cruelty for me to take. After years of surviving zombies and all the other shit they went through, I still would’ve just noped out of life at that point. Did not see what anyone’s motivation for continuing on was by then."

    — u/hc945177

    "I stopped not long before that. When Glen fell off the dumpster and 'died,' I said that he wasn't dead, and it was just a bullshit ploy I had grown tired of. Sure enough, he was alive, and I stopped watching."

    — u/SafewordisJohnCandy

    Do you have shows that got so bad you had to quit after a certain point? Share them in the comments, and don't hold back!