"save the cheerleader, save the world" it was such a good show to begin with, I had such high hopes.

As soon as they killed off Joel Kinnaman as Kovacs at the end of the first season, it did go down hill because his chemistry on screen with Poe was hilarious and well done. Granted I did give Anthony Mackie some props for trying, but nothing comes close to the performance Joel did in the first season.

"Prison Break" is probably the classic example of this. It's hard to believe that the showrunner turned down the miniseries idea. Maybe it was because they didn't think they'd get enough money out of a miniseries? Seriously: How do you expect a show like "Prison Break" to make any sense once the titular prison break is over? I really think Prison Break deserves to be at #1 because the whole idea of having a season 2 of that show is f***ing bonkers.

Altered Carbon had sooo much potential. First season was amazing.

Figured Heroes was on this list, but it's bittersweet to see it at #1. I was a diehard Heroes fan as a kid, and despite the drop in quality it's still one of my favorite shows of all time because of how impactful it was to me back then. Despite how bad it got I'll still remember it fondly.

This entire video illustrates the biggest failing in Western television studio show design. Every show is designed with one season in mind, but simultaneously hoping for enough success to turn it into a long-term, multi-season project. This results in a story that, well, doesn't really have a story. There isn't an over-arching plot line with a defined end point. The shows almost inevitably (with very few exceptions) go on long after the fans have started losing interest, and typically limp to an unsatisfying ending, assuming they even manage to have an actual defined ending at all. From a quality of product standpoint, it would be far better if they designed shows to have a single coherent story, start to finish, and then left it as a completed product at the end. But, the studios perceive there is more money by continuing a successful story, so they would rather tell a worse story that drags on interminably.

Season 1 of Altered Carbon was so so SOOOOOO goddamn amazing. I've personally watched it thrice. Season 2 was good, not great, but still good! Joel Kinnamen definitely carried that first season. Replacing him was a major reason for season 2 falling off so hard.

Sleepy Hollow had a great first season. Ichabod Crane from the Washington Irving story wakes up 250 years later in modern times and teams up with a female cop as the Biblically ordained Witnesses to battle the Headless Horseman - who is one of the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse - and the powerful Bid Bad named Molloch who is trying to end the world. Sounds like an awesome set-up, right? But halfway through Season 2, they easily kill off Molloch with the all-killing Sword Of MacGuffin, I mean Methuselah - which the heroes promptly lose off-screen without any explanation other than the plot requires it because having a sword that can kill ANYTHING would turn every future enemy on the show into a non-threat. It was all downhill from there, as the show would throw its own lore down the drain by killing off Ichabod's Witness partner, giving him a new partner, and I stopped caring enough to keep watching to find out what else happened before the show was cancelled. You just got the sense that the show had no real direction after the first season, and they just started to make random changes and throw anything at the wall to see what would stick.

Revenge. It was a decent soap style drama in the first season and Emily/Amanda was picking off people one by one, all the people who helped frame her father, leading to his death. The second season was atrocious. She suddenly decides she can't kill the richest, most powerful people who framed her father, dancing around them. They added in some nonsense backstory of martial arts training to take down a syndicate, no one was who they said they were, and they kept digging in. And in the end, her father wasn't even dead, invalidating the entire reason for the show!

If Heroes had gotten canceled due to the Writer's Strike after the first season, it would have a cult following like Firefly. The first season is so good.

Westworld's first season is one of my favorites of any show, ever. Season 2 seemed to have no idea where it was going, though, and while it had some great episodes focusing on specific characters ("Kiksuya" is the best single episode of the show so far), the story as a whole became a melodramatic mess by the end. Season 3 lost me entirely, and it's going to take something truly special for S4 to turn it back around.

Once Upon a Time took place in Storybrooke (Maine) not Storyville.

Jessica Jones made the mistake of killing off Kilgrave who was a phenomenal villain.

Once Upon A Time’s main current day setting was actually in Storybrooke. Also I’d say the series was still good after season 1 but after season 4 it started going downhill. Didn’t even watch past the 3rd episode of season 7 as it just felt like a repeat of season 1 with a grown up Henry having to be the new Emma. Also I loved Revolution 😢

Surprised True Blood wasn't on the list. I've never seen a TV show implode like TB did. Absolutely loved season one and then I couldn't watch the final season. It was unrecognizable. It should have stayed closer to the novels. How you mess that up is beyond me.

Heroes is the perfect example, and it did suffer from the writers strike. Season 2 of Heroes was not as good as season 1. Another show which suffered from the writers strike that same time was Pushing Daisies. An excellent first season, and a mediocre second season.

One big one that could be added to this list is "SeaQuest: DSV" First season was a gripping show backed up with hard science and a firm grip on a reality in the near future that felt possible (give or take a ghost ship or two lol), but they threw it all out the windows with season 2 which ended up being a terrible shlocky sci-fi monster of the week crapfest with storylines that alternated between 'meh' and 'The Asylum Film Studios' level bad. S3 did try to reverse it, and it wasn't that terrible, just too little, too late.

The phenomena isn't new. Usually to get made, a creator has to have one Pilot made, but the more scripts which are written helps get them sold. Since the show isn't in production at the time, the writers have a nearly unlimited time to tweak those first season scripts based on the original concept. However, once sold, the showrunners have to figure out what the subsequent seasons will be about, and now they are on a clock, and usually they are so busy finishing the first season that they don't put much thought into where the show will go afterwards until the first season is done and then often they are waiting to see if the show gets picked up for another season. Because of that, you have to have a strong concept and a phenomenal writers room to carry the show forward and maintain quality.

As a mental health professional, I cannot support any of 13 Reasons Why. Time and time again writers put depictions of suicide attempts thinking that it is raising awareness. What it is actually doing is increasing the likelihood of attempts by those with suicidal ideation. I cannot count the number of times clients have talked to me about shows or movies like this that made them feel worse and that their experience was being glossed over for the sake of shock value. There should absolutely be more media openly discussing depression, anxiety, trauma, and other mental health concerns and the effects that these people feel, but showing self-harm and suicide attempts/completed suicides will never be the way to do it.

Sliders! The first few seasons were good, but once the professor was killed off, it spun out of control. The show went from an interesting alternate universe idea to a sci fi (heavy on the fiction) story about an alien sort of invasion. I watched the whole series, but the final few seasons were a chore to get through.

I've never seen an episode of Riverdale, but it's hardly the first time Archie has ventured into more mature waters - Sabrina the Teenage Witch (who began her existence as an Archie character) starred in a genuine bona fide electrified six-car horror comic a few years back and Archie has had crossovers with both the Punisher and the Predator, of all characters. Admittedly the crossovers were fairly bloodless, but still.

Heroes makes me so sad, thinking back to how epic the first season was ☹️.

I loved every season of Jessica Jones. It’s only problem was that Kilgrave was the absolute best freakin thing ever. If somehow they had brought him in at season 3 they would be singing JJ’s praises to this day.

Misfits, but S1 and 2 were great. As soon as they lost the main cast members it kinda went downhill for me.

Season 2 of Altered Carbon felt like a bad trip. First sin was wasting the talents of Michael Shanks. Then I mourned the loss of the awesome storytelling from season 1. And what the absolute hell was that alien storyline?

"Storyville?" The town in Once Upon a Time is called Storybrooke.

Heroes still hurts, they F'ed up so much that it completely ruined it for me. Not even break ups left me that heart broken.

To say that the Writer's Strike didn't completely impact Heroes is ridiculous and flat out wrong, especially since they had to change the entire arc of the story just so there was some sort of conclusion because no one knew how long the show would be off the air. It also derailed the future plans they had for the show's subsequent seasons like having "one-shot" episodes to introduce new characters that would be folded into the storyline, and Season 4 of Heroes is actually really good.

The case of the Netflix series Zoo comes to mind. The first season did a good job of showing the threat (a virus that makes every animal on Earth want to kill humans) as believable. But in the second season they lost the north completely. Important characters died or just disappeared and the plot seemed to change every chapter. It seemed like the writers who lost faith in their original concept and started things still bizarre for the established world, like mutated animals, humans turned into monsters and secret cults. The third season made a jump in time becoming a completely different series, a mix between Children of Man and Resident Evil without forgetting to follow one of the rare family dramas I've seen.

Desperate Housewives had a really great 1st season and was so important for Pop Culture that Spawn all "The Real Housewives" phenomenon but the series never was as good as its first season

The fact that they called Storybrooke "Storyville" just shows whoever wrote this has never even seen Once Upon a Time which only really sucked during its final season, otherwise the show had a very positive reception despite season 1 being so different from what follows.

I was sure “True Detective” was going to be on this list. Season one is more than amazing. Season two had its moments but With too many protagonists It was hard to really get behind any of them. Season three is good though maybe that’s why it’s not on the list.

Glitch, also known as The Glitch in some countries. It's an Australian show that wasn't really hyped here in the USA but it was on Netflix. First season was intriguing, with a dozen people coming back to life after being dead for a year or even 100 years. Then oh my god it just went insane with risen assassins and conspiracies and in the end there were so many unanswered questions! A massive waste of potential.

Was fully expecting to see Lost on this list. I have to disagree about Once Upon A Time though. While it wasn't always good, it was enjoyable to watch.

Along with the mentioned budget and worldbuilding issues with Altered Carbon S2 I think I big misstep was ditching the mystery/detective premise. S1 kept the noir feel throughout, and even though S2 set up a mystery in the first episode they wrapped it up by the second episode and the rest of the season floundered looking for a hook.

I totally agree with all of these. I watch almost all of these shows and loved the first seasons but I just lost interest in the second seasons. Altered Carbon was especially disappointing because I adored the first season. It was like a futuristic film noir mystery. The world in the second season felt more like generic sci-fi and he just didn’t seem like the same character in a different body.

The first season of Revolution was very imaginative and well done. My wife and I never missed it. We lasted maybe three episodes into season two before moving on. Too bad, it had promise. Riverdale was a terrible idea right out of the gate and it was all down hill from there. Didn't even make it through season one. Haven't seen Westworld but I highly recommend the 70's movie it's based on, it's excellent.

At least Heroes’ endrun allowed us to get Zachary Quinto as Spock in the reboot movies.

I fell in love with Season One of WestWorld, but Season 2 I felt was intentionally confusing and obtuse. Like the writers got together and said, "Let's make something so complex, no one will be able to guess what happens next; or even knows what's going on!"

Earth: Final Conflict was MUST WATCH LIVE viewing during its first season, with "Sandoval's Run" remaining to this day one of my top two favorite episodes of a s-f show, ever. After they gave the main character a unique psychic gift near the end of the season - essentially "Chekhov's Gift" - they established that character as uniquely required for the story to track to the aliens' eventual defeat. At which point contract disputes with the actor arose, resulting in him being fired from the show and killed off in the season finale. At the time, I figured they would bring him back in the premiere. After all, what was done to him in the psychic episode was clearly a one-time thing that was necessary to defeat the enemy. But no, the writers opted for a "mysterious infant born at the beginning of the episode grows up instantly and is the new main character before the closing credits roll" solution. From then on, the show became an exercise in bastardizing the characters so much that the only question was which of the cast was going to quit next. By the final season, only one original cast member remained, and his character had gone from one of the best, most original, and freshest character concepts to one of the most trite, cookie cutter one-note villains.

Hit it on the head with Altered Carbon. Season 2 just lacked the character Joel Kinman put behind the current timeline Takeshi. Anthony Mackie just didn't play the character well. Killed the show for me.

Heroes has to be number one on the list

Here's another, anyone remember "Unforgettable" with Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh (aired in the US on CBS)? The whole "who killed Carrie's sister" was what ran Season 1. It was the one thing she couldn't remember. The show's whole premise was Poppy Montgomery's character was a cop with hyperthymesia, a ultra rare condition that allows the person to remember literally everything. In Season 2, they ditched 3 of the main people who came with the series (Michael Gaston, Kevin Rankin, and Daya Vaidya), picked up three others (Dallas Roberts, James Hiroyuki Liao, and Tawny Cypress), but they did keep Jane Curtin though...and they moved them to better, more high-tech digs. The entire purpose of the series was trashed, it was a crime-of-the-week series and what Carrie remembered. CBS cancelled and uncancelled it for a Season 3, then officially cancelled it. A&E picked it up for Season 4, which went completely off the rails at the end there, apparently killing off Dylan Walsh's character in the last episode. A&E cancelled it. But CBS, the writers, someone trashed a great concept and just went off the rails with it. It lost it's purpose.

I disagree about Picard. Season 2 made some odd choices but it plays out as if it were based on a novel. It’s an elaborate and grounded story that is very personal. It also delves into a forgotten tragedy. It’s not for everyone but it worked for me.

A show that didn’t even make it that far was “The Lone Gunmen” an offshoot of The X Files. It was supposed to be about three ordinary paranoid guys investigating mysteries. The network did not trust the show and added two characters and it was immediately “the exotic woman and big dumb guy show” and that was the end of that.

Designated Survior with Kiefer Sutherland was awful after the first season. It was a totally different show

Another Netflix show that suffered for the same exact reason as 13 Reasons Why is Bloodline. An excellent first season with a self contained story that wrapped up perfectly at the end of its last episode. The story they wanted to tell was told, but because of the strong ratings they continued it. While not as absurd as 13 Reasons why, it was none the less completely unnecessary. And yes, the original Heroes absolutely deserves to be #1 on this list.

Dropped the ball with mentioning "The Following." 1st season was phenomenal. After that, not so much.

Also in riverdale season 5 Archie, Betty and Jughead have superpowers. Nope I’m not exaggerating.

My personal head cannon with the Borg queen was that she is the embodiment of the collective mind . She is the sum total of all thought in the collective and the apex of what their biology and technology can be

Just an FYI, Jessica Jones was not the first marvel series to have a female lead. There was Agent Carter from earlier in 2015 at least. I guess that you could argue Agents of SHIELD, if Sky/Daisy is the lead, but it is more of an ensemble. And they both tie in more officially with the MCU, if I'm not mistaken.

I love the First season of Earth Final Conflict (1998). I have no idea what they were thinking at the beginning of the second. It's like some said replace the main character and make the show more flashy.

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. By any means, the second season didn't terribly suck, but it wasn't as perfect as the first one. After one of the big things in season 1 ended (sad as hell, yet beautifully done), they just didn't know where to go. Jumpling from plot to plot, with new characters introduced for a few episodes before being discarted just because they weren't working properly with the show. A lot of the stuff about season 2 really work, but for most of the season it felt like a trainwrek.

True Detective should be on here.

I would add 'The O.C." which a great send up of teen dramas started taking itself too seriously. But it did stick the ending.

Once Upon A Time was good for a few seasons (to me) until it just went no where… Plus a ton of main characters left the show and it was just done. Very sad because I loved the concept.

What's worse; A good show that only lasted 1 season, or a show with only a great 1st season/the 1st season is the best by comparison?

Hey now! Heroes Season 3 wasn’t… you know, strictly terrible. And Season 2 was largely the victim of the writer’s strike that year. (I make no apologies for Season 4 or Heroes: Reborn however.)

100% right on Heroes. Season 1 was so good, then it really fell off I would say midway through Season 2.

Whoever can get the first season of FORTITUDE off Amazon prime, I highly recommend that too; the first season was so insane, and well written and established in itself, and so *good*

I have a suggestion for a top ten list, I was thinking maybe do a top ten of shows that ended without solid resolution and one show that I would suggest is 2007’s Jericho with Skeet Ulrich

I absolutely agree.....Season 1 of Riverdale was one of my all-time favorites! Lost interest somewhere in Season 2, felt more like a telenovela than how it originally started

La casa de papel was a mini series, that had like 30 episodes, almost like a short telenovela length. Netflix bought it, divided into parts, and when it became a big hit in South america/Europe/North america, they extended the plotlines into 3 more seasons.... I love it, watched it all, but it should have ended at the season 2, ending with them running away, cutting off the plot of stealing the National spain bank and the hustlers becoming national stars😒😒😒😒 Lets see how South Korea adapts the tvshow....will they keep it kdrama style(12-16 chapters) or will repeat netflix mistake?

I mostly agree. Then we also have Firefly where the second season was disappointingly short 😟 Basis for list: 8 Miniseries that you missed but really should see: Roots (1977) Marco Polo (1982) The Thorn Birds (1983) John Adams (2008) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015) Good Omens (2019) Catch 22 (2019) I Know This Much Is True (2020)

Picard? What the actual heck? Picard season 1 was alien to Trek fans. It had little to no magic to it, save for the few easter eggs here and there and Data's final send off at the end of the season. and THAT copy/paste ship scene in the finale was awful, Season 2 gave us much more familiar Trek, with more recognisable settings and ships, and a better Picard story. The Q and Borg Queen arcs took the characters places nobody thought they'd ever go. Whoever wrote this article clearly didn't watch it or understand it.

All that heroes had to do was to let Siler look at peters brain when he had the Clare healing ability. Then you have a show with two occasionally intertwining leads a hero and an antihero going forward into the world. Instead they just kept recycling the same story line over and over and over.

True Detective is the first thing that came to mind

You didn't mention "Timeless". Starts out in season one with some very interesting and important historical events. Season two fell into poor writing, cliches, and soap opera-ish love triangles. If season two had followed season one's story telling more closely I have no doubt it would still be running.

Had actually only seen 4 of these. But yeah, Westworld and Altered Carbon season 1 were AMAZING. Never did get around to Heroes season 2 but remember season one quite fondly, as for Picard... ambivalent at best.

Prison break was brilliant all the way up until season 4 and so I don’t think it’s that fair to say it sucked after season 1

"Zoo" started off and I thought it was going to be good, it honestly kept me engaged for a good while, then they just started getting farther and farther from the action and what I wanted to see, then got pulled all together.

Seasons 1 & 2 of Prison break were AMAZING! yes, I can admit that season 1 was the best but season 2 was also a top tier season of any shows. It started going downhill with season 3 which was absolute dog shit. Season 4 was remarkably average but still enjoyable.

The Following on Fox. A brilliant cast of incredible characters with an amazing arc.

I still love all of Jessica Jones, Altered Carbon, Picard, but yeah… things need some improvement. I’m most frustrated about Altered Carbon, because season one is just amazing… and Poe is such a satisfying character. Westworld… I still haven’t finished season 2. And then Heroes - I loved that mess, but could barely stomach the reboot.

Lost's first season was it's best I reckon, never really got better after that. Really expected to see that here

True Detective Season 1 was the best show on HBO and the highest ratings for the network ever, with around 5-6 million watching per week in each new episode to see what happens next. Then the show went on a slow, terrible tread, falling down the stairs rapidly as the storylines got weaker and weaker, going from your standard everyday crime show with a thriller mystery twist that kept normal viewers on the edge of their seats, to a long, boring sci-fi romp that didn't feel engaging at all. Stories got more stretched out over multiple episodes and it more and more hard to keep up with. It just didn't seem like the type of show that could handle such a change in format from the previous one, with the type plot it has.

I find it so interesting that this pattern of: "First season great, then fall off the cliff" is a fairly new phenomenon, beginning in the early 2000s. In the past, it was usually a case of the first and second season of a show (think Star Trek: TNG, as an example) trying to get its feet under it, then to find its footing, with its best episodes coming midpoint of the series' run. Sometimes a fall-off in quality may happen toward the end of the show's run, but sometimes managing to maintain great writing, compelling narrative arcs, and wonderfully rendered performances by actors who have grown into their characters.

Take a shot every time Riverdale changes it’s genre!

"Evil" (CBS). Season 1 was interesting. After covid interrupted filming, I thought it was cancelled. Season 2 arrived, but it seemed to lack a definitive plot or direction. They opted for shock value over coherence and it was disappointing.

I’m surprised “The Killing” didn’t make this list(the American version at least). After the initial mystery of who killed Rosie was pretty much resolved it kind of overstayed it’s welcome and fell off hard.

I fully realise I’m in the minority but I loved Heroes pretty much the whole way through! At least until after the carnival stuff. But yeah, most of it. I see and understand a lot of its detractions though. And the remake was balls.

Designated Survivor, Good first season, then a cheap West Wing knock-off after that

Suggestion for the opposite list: Great TV Shows That Only Got One Season. My nominee include: Kolchak: The Night Stalker - Darren McGavin at his best. Nightmare Café - Wes Craven's show about a supernatural diner. RoboCop: The Series - A great take on the world built by the movies. MTV's Death Valley - Cops meets Kolchak.

The alter carbon book series also went in a completely different direction the second season felt like a mashup of the next two books .... the surfer ageless rebels did feel totally different from the first book though

I totally agree with Heroes. We stopped watching after the 2nd season. It really went in a horrible direction when the Heroes became hunted.

I'm pretty sure it's "StoryBROOK' not "Storyville"?

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. Season 1 was phenomenal. A study of death and grief and acceptance, plus wild musical numbers and engaging characters. Season 2 was a total dumpster fire. Suddenly it went woke and had "worthy" storylines and was a confusing muddled mess. Where season 1 actually had a plot and a throughline, season 2 had no idea what it wanted to be or where it wanted to go. Characters we fell in love with in season 1 suddenly changed depending on the message of the week and weren't consistent. Even Zoey herself went from being really engaging to a quite horrible person with no consistent personality. Moral one episode, to b*tch the next. The only high spot was Alex Newell cast as always as the sassy gay best friend. Unfortunately the talented Alex only highlighted the lack of talent of a lot of the supporting cast.

I was a fan of Revolutions. When we first see the pendant allow a computer to work early on, it was easy to predict that the loss of electricity was either "alien artifact" or "nanotech gone wrong". So the nanotech reveal wasn't disappointing, and I guess because I was ready for that ride, some of the other far fetched concepts seemed easy, once you've integrated microscopic swarm-think, self-aware, self-replicating robots.

I hate that Westworld went downhill so fast. Season 1 was so well written and the plot twist was amazing! Season 2 was a complete mess that is nowhere as good as 1 and Season 3 is like some cheap rip off of Fight Club

helix was good until the last third of the first season and then it was a huge shot in the foot

Not a long running one, but Breaking In. First season was an interesting workplace comedy with a case of the week dynamic using their intelligence to break into places. Funny and intelligent. Second season, the network noted it to death, brought in Megan Mullally and her ever suffering secretary and it became a run of the mill workplace comedy about a quirky boss that everyone else did their best to handle. It went from interesting to focus group produced "wacky" from one season to the next.

I was so disappointed with Alter Carbon. They did such a great job porting the first book onto the screen, despite some unnecessary story changes here and there. I couldn't believe how awful season 2 was or how it was even related to the source material. It was if the writers at Netflix just decided to make up their own fan fiction set in the same universe.

Prison break was still good and memorable past season 1 . Season 4 is where I started to get lost, enemies came friends, vice versa annoying.

Picard died on that roof in the first episode and the rest is a death dream.

Season one of "Heros" was WHOA. Season two was HMM. Season three was WUT? Missing from this list: Boardwalk Empire. First two seasons were stellar. Season 3 was wobbly. Season 4 crashed and burned. The fact that side characters Richard Harrow and Nelson Van Alden were maybe the most well-developed and sympathetic characters of the show is, to me, telling.

One might argue that the first season of Picard wasn't even good. I love star trek but that series jumped the shark by the 6th episode.

The great flaw in any series is not having a series Bible along with a beginning,middle & end set in a finite time. Two great examples of doing it right are Breaking Bad & Babylon 5.😀 We see the characters evolve as the story unfolds to it's ultimate series finale. Which is why you never buy any seasons until that critical series finale as we all know what it's like to be Lost while sitting on a melted Iron Throne😭

I gotta disagree with "Once Upon A Time" being on here. It was a really good show and ya the final season sucked, it was still pretty great for what it was.

How is Lost not on this list. The first season was phenomenal TV, but during the second season it was clear they had no idea where they wanted to take the show and it went from confusing but intriguing to confusing bullshit.

Andromeda had a good first 1.5 seasons, but after the networks forced a lot of shake-ups in the writing and characters it went downhill, in my opinion. They tried to make Trance sexier and dropped a lot of major plotlines. It's also a pretty stark change where you can see this happen and a bunch of major changes happen in the span of one episode.