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- True Detective
- HBO
15 TV Shows That Only Had One Good Season Then Fell Off A Cliff
Come on, admit it: everyone has a favorite show that, deep down, they know should have ended after one season. While shows like The Office and Parks & Recreation managed to rebound after bad first seasons, other series struggle to recreate the magic after hitting the ground running from the beginning.
Some shows (cough, cough, Riverdale) just get too bonkers for their own good, while other shows, like 13 Reasons Why, run out of source material to draw from. In other cases, shows move on from an undeniable storyline in the first season only to find mediocrity waiting for them. For whatever reason, these shows could not reignite the spark that made them great in the first place.
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Before superhero stories became the blockbuster juggernauts that dominate Hollywood today, the first season of Heroes was an unexpected phenomenon for NBC in 2007. "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" turned into an inescapable tagline, and the show was consistent appointment viewing for every week of the first season as Heroes wove a comic book-inspired storyline that had viewers hooked.
The show never found a storyline that had the same draw as the apocalyptic stakes of the first season. It takes one glance at the show's Rotten Tomatoes page to comprehend the series' rapid fall from grace. Both the second and third seasons garnered a 50% rating while the fourth and final only managed to scrounge together a 29%. By the time it was all said and done, only the most dedicated fans stuck around to see how it ended.
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The CW's Riverdale took an idea that never should have worked (Archie Comics + Twin Peaks) and turned it into one of the most surprising television hits of 2017. Riverdale reimagined the classic and wholesome teens that have been around for nearly a century and turned them into teen soap stars. For the first season, Riverdale was a perfect mix of high school soap opera, neon-lit neo-noir, and old-school comic book throwback. Then, things got weird.
Seriously, some of the things that appear in Riverdale read like something Bill Hader would say as Stefon on Saturday Night Live. It's got bear attacks, it's got an underground prison boxing ring, it's got cults, it's got a musical episode based on Carrie. Riverdale makes its sister show The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a dark horror-comedy about a half-witch, half-mortal, seem tame in comparison.
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In one of the purest examples of a show that should've ended after one season, 13 Reasons Why was a mostly well-received adaptation of the YA novel of the same name back when the first season landed in 2017 on Netflix. The three seasons after that were all critically reviled in a way that makes you wonder why they kept going in the first place.
When the source material dried up, the series seemingly ran out of ideas that lived up to the core story of the first season. And while the first run of episodes certainly courted its share of controversy at the time, no one was questioning why it existed at all. By the time the second season came out, the controversy was back but the show was far from the hit it once was.
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The first season of Westworld was the kind of prestige television HBO is known for: huge budget, big-name actors, and quality writing. The debut of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's dystopian sci-fi mystery/drama was a slow burn that rewarded engaged viewers with a twisty storyline that fueled internet speculation in the way shows like Lost had done in the past.
The second and third seasons played even more into the puzzle-box elements that seemed to drive so much of the first season's success, but with immediately diminishing returns. When later seasons inspired articles like "Why Westworld Season 2 Isn't Really Working," "Westworld's finale was bad, but its empty cynicism was outright obnoxious," and "Westworld Isn’t Really Westworld Anymore, And That’s A Shame," you know things went awry.
Fell off a cliff?- 5
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Way back in the halcyon days of 2009, Glee was unlike anything seen on pre-streaming American television. Filled to the brim with engaging characters, catchy songs, and genuine drama, Ryan Murphy's first mainstream hit was seemingly inescapable at the time. On top of the viewers who turned in every week, the show's soundtrack routinely topped iTunes charts when singles or compilations were released. But Glee would ultimately end up being undone by its own success.
The first season ended up being the best-received as the popularity of the show's numerous songs became the clear focus in order to juice digital sales and unearned melodrama became the norm. Later seasons would redeem the series somewhat after the creative dearth of the middle seasons, but the first 22 episodes will always be beloved by true "Gleeks."
Fell off a cliff?The Best Episodes Of 'Glee,' RankedSee all
- 1Nationals825 Votes
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With a show like Prison Break, it seems pretty clear that the premise can only last for so long. Centering around a brother planning a prison escape to get his innocent sibling out of the joint, Prison Break ran into trouble in later seasons because, well, you can only escape prison so many times without diminishing returns. Some people would argue you can only really do that once.
Funnily enough, the creator of the show, Paul T. Scheuring, even admitted that his original idea for the show was to only do a single season but the network wanted more. "The initial idea was to escape halfway through that 22‑episode run and then wrap it all up at the end of 22," he told Digital Spy in 2017. "But I said, 'I can double that. I can have them escape at the end of season 1 and wrap it up at the end of season 2.'" It didn't end with the second season, either, as it ran for five seasons.
Fell off a cliff?All Five Seasons Of 'Prison Break,' RankedSee all- 1Prison Break - Season 1461 Votes
- 2Prison Break - Season 2350 Votes
- 3Prison Break - Season 3285 Votes
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True Detective is a perfect example of when it's best for a show to just cut their money and run. The dark and stylish first season of True Detective was a hit for HBO that racked up numerous Emmy award nominations and wins and reminded everyone that Matthew McConaughey can really act when he feels like trying.
Alas, HBO wasn't going to let all that success go to waste and a second season was put into production. And with a star-studded cast that included Rachel McAdams, Colin Farrell, and Vince Vaughn, the second season of True Detective was highly anticipated. By the time the second season was over, it was considered one of the worst television shows of the year. While the third season starring Mahershala Ali and the fourth starring Jodie Foster were definite improvements, they still didn't capture the lightning in a bottle of Season 1.
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House of Cards combined with Orange Is the New Black to prove Netflix could be a major player when it comes to television production. The first streaming show to earn major Emmy nominations, House of Cards was based on the BBC miniseries of the same name, and while the original lasted a scant four episodes, its American counterpart would go on to produce a stretched-out 73.
Eventually, critics would go back and re-appraise the series, wondering if it was all that good to begin with. The Washington Post's Emily Yahr looked back at earlier seasons after the fourth season debuted and wondered if everyone had been duped by fantastic production values and Hollywood A-listers: "While the first season tried to at least wink and nod at the viewer with its outlandish plots... the second season went off the rails and abandoned all pretenses of self-awareness while doubling down on the crazy."
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Based on the Israeli series Prisoners of War, Showtime's Homeland premiered in 2011 to universal acclaim on its way to a surprising six Emmy awards for its debut season. Focusing on CIA officer Carrie Mathison, played by Claire Danes, Homeland brought Showtime the kind of prestige recognition that is usually reserved for premium-cable competitor HBO.
The show was built on an unsustainable premise since so much of the drama was built around whether sleeper agent Nicholas Brody would successfully carry out a terrorist strike against his home country. When the show tried to draw out his story and even turn him into a sort of tragic hero, fans and critics both turned on it. Homeland would go on to become a favorite whipping-boy for entertainment journalists everywhere. Seriously, with articles titled "Has any show ever wet the bed quite as hard as Homeland," "How Homeland went from startling TV to one giant shrug," and "Homeland is the definition of bad TV," it seems pretty clear that the tense drama eventually lost everything that made it great.
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An unflinching adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale became a sensation for Hulu back in 2017. It was an immediate critical darling and made its way to numerous Emmy wins. The show's success signaled Hulu's arrival as a significant player in the original content area.
While the first season shone by sticking to the arc of the source material, the production team behind the show struggled to expand the 311-page novel into a series that could last dozens of episodes. In her review of the season three finale, The A.V. Club's Allison Shoemaker highlighted how the show meandered the longer it went on. "Imagine a trail map that’s maybe been folded too often, or was torn or damaged," Shoemaker wrote. "The starting point is clear. The [endpoint] is clear. A few points in the middle are more or less clear. But it’s not a straight line, so you have to kind of wander around and hope you spot a landmark."
Fell off a cliff?- 11
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Buoyed by strong performances from Ray Wise, Bret Harrison, and Tyler Labine as well as a fantastic genre premise, Reaper was the kind of show you couldn't help but root for in its first season. Following a man who has to become a demon bounty hunter after his parents promised him to the Devil in order to save him from an early end as a child, Reaper was a delightfully dark comedy that critics loved.
While the first season was met with rave reviews, the second season only elicited shoulder shrugs. And even though the magic was gone from the series during that second season, it also ended without wrapping the show's storylines up, leaving fans without a sense of closure.
Fell off a cliff? - 12
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As far as television gimmicks go, 24's "real-time" method of storytelling and narration is one of the greatest in the history of the medium. Having top-notch acting and serious talent behind the camera turned that gimmick into an award-winning action/drama. And though the series never truly "jumped the shark," that gimmick did end up being its worst enemy.
24 had the same problem every serialized form of media has, just turned up to 11: how do you keep wringing drama out of the same characters without things getting stale? In 24's case, this was enhanced by the need to adhere to the "real-time" storytelling that kept Jack Bauer finding himself in increasingly dire situations that played out over 24-hour sequences that became harder and harder to believe over time.
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- 224 (season 4)398 Votes
- 324 (season 2)390 Votes
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When you have a lead as magnetic and talented as Idris Elba, you want to get as much of their star power as possible. And unlike American television shows which have lengthy production cycles that can result in dozens of episodes, British television is much more deliberate and restrained. The BBC's Luther lasted five series and only released a mere 20 episodes over nine long years.
Yet even with relatively few episodes, Luther's quality waned over time. The Guardian's start Heritage put it best in his 2019 farewell to the series. "It took huge, bizarre leaps of logic," he wrote. "It routinely sacrificed story for momentum. And, by god, when it was bad it absolutely sucked." Not exactly the kind of eulogy that makes you want to binge the series on a rainy long weekend.
Fell off a cliff? - 14
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- Silo
The first season of Silo, a dystopian drama originally led by actors Rashida Jones and Daniel Oyelowo, was well-received by critics and audiences alike. Based on the Silo btrilogy by Hugh Howey, Richard Roeper from The Chicago Sun-Times called Silo a show that “holds our interest with intriguing characters and effective twists and turns.” Lucy Mangan from The Guardian praised it as the story, calling it “thrilling, and, as the plot thickens with almost every scene and does not stop even at the very last moment.”
By the end of season one, Silo had lost numerous cast members (as part of the aforementioned story) but was led by Common, Tim Robbins, and Rebecca Ferguson in what looked to be an engaging second season.
Season two, however, didn't deliver with the same gusto. The season two premiere offered a bit of promise, but the introduction of new characters only bogged down the story. The mysteries and secrets of Juliette Nichols' exploration of the other silo she found while trying to get back to her own proved only slightly even more interesting than Bernard Holland's (Robbins) efforts to control political threats and maintain order. Instead of moving forward, Silo simply went in circles during subsequent episodes.
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The family sitcom as a genre was in need of a revival when Modern Family came roaring out of the gates in 2009, and the ABC series managed that feat and then some. Modern Family was nothing if not a bonafide commercial and critical smash, garnering near-universal acclaim at the time, five straight Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy wins and a host of nominations, as well as amazing ratings for the Disney-owned network.
Though the series would have numerous highs and lows throughout the next decade over its 250-episode run, none of its seasons reached the peak of the first one. The first season subverted sitcom tropes with memorable characters, while ensuing years saw the show quickly revert to rote stories that other shows had run into the ground and hammer home the same repetitive character beats. Maintaining the kind of excellence Modern Family was known for at the beginning for 11 seasons is nigh-impossible, and the fact that a network sitcom managed to keep most of its audience for over a decade in the midst of a streaming service boom is nothing to scoff at.
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- 3Jay Pritchett1,999 Votes
