Shows that have lost their binge-worthiness

What streaming series that started strong - have possibly jumped the shark?

For me, I was expecting to breeze through the most recent season of Sneaky Pete and Mozart in the Jungle - but I only got in a couple episodes and lost interest.

Anyone else?


I am still enjoying Kimmy Schmidt but not as much as the first two seasons. I binged through those first two but now it's more of a lower level of excitement to see the next episode. 

We're still in season 3, and David Cross annoys me, so maybe that's it.


I’m still astounded at how Scorpion or Quantico made it past 3 episodes let alone seasons. 

However, I’m over Homeland. It’s just not feasible to stretch it any further. And I love Claire, she’s amazing.  


So it’s not just me for Mozart?? That’s a relief. I thought maybe I was missing something. 


I am done with Andy of Mayberry

What's next?


I think even good shows like Homeland and Breaking Bad peak around year 4 or 5.  After that the story lines start getting more and more bizarre and they start running on fumes. One show I'm still watching is almost there right now (Ray Donovan).  The next season might be the last one for me.


mostly true. I don’t think Breaking Bad had any fall off. I appreciated how it was planned from the start and how the arc played out. Still think it was the best series in TV history. 


conandrob240 said:
mostly true. I don’t think Breaking Bad had any fall off. I appreciated how it was planned from the start and how the arc played out. Still think it was the best series in TV history. 

I had to look it up, but that's a show that had 62 episodes.  So about the same as three seasons of a regular network show. And it played out over five years, so lots of time put in to crafting the show itself.  And as you say they created a story arc, stuck to it and finished it when it was done.  

Lots of successful network shows end up having to keep gasping along for years after a lot of natural stories play out so you get dumb stuff like on Friends with Joey and Rachel dating.  It's interesting how those shows keep getting rewarded with high ratings, though.

I also just found out that season 4 of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" will be the last.  Likewise "Trollhunters", an animated show we enjoy with our daughter (I might even watch it without her) is going to close out its main story line after the current season.  They're continuing some of the characters in a totally different series.  So I wonder if the whole concept of limiting a show's run to keep the quality high might catch on.


Greys Anatomy. Defies logic how long it has carried on. It was a great show, but it needs to wrap up. 


The Brits seem to understand this.  The original Brit version of The Office, which had more bite than the U.S. knock off, was I think 2 season.  Monty Python had 4 seasons. 

Yeah there's Dr. Who but it is effectively a new show every few years with a different Dr. etc.


ElizMcCord said:
Greys Anatomy. Defies logic how long it has carried on. It was a great show, but it needs to wrap up. 

Wow, I never watched it and didn't realize how long it has been running.  It was on season 5 when the first Iron Man movie hit the screen, and it will still be running when the fourth Avengers movie comes out.

It seems to keep generating ratings and money for ABC.  And the big networks are risk-averse so I'm not surprised.

Another interesting thread topic would be "are there shows you still watch out of habit?" 


I think part of the issue with some series is that you can overdose when watching too much as once.  I liked Jennifer Jones - then Daredevil - then Luke Cage came out - at this point it was just too many Marvel series at once - didn't make it through.  It becomes easier to breakdown the plot pattern.  I tried to get through season 2 of Jennifer Jones and had no interest, maybe I need to take a year or 2 off.


ElizMcCord said:
Greys Anatomy. Defies logic how long it has carried on. It was a great show, but it needs to wrap up. 

This one fits into a much different category. Many lose their mojo or aren’t as good as their peak years but this one defies logic. It’s been absolutely awful for years with ridiculous storylines and mostly all new cast. 


I liked Mozart for its romanticism but it's a bit shallow, and I think I only watched three or four episodes.


re Mozart: the humour also became more forced, less natural so the joy in each character just died.

Re Grey’s: somehow, it’s just representative of the entire medical sector - overworked, hanging on long past closing time, seeing the same old stuff with new faces and slightly jumbled, expensive case histories.

Re superhero series: I keep getting confused with what’s happening where and when, to whom because each new series seems to create a new rewrite in an old canon. *hanging my head in baffled shame*


I absolutely loved watching The Handmaid’s Tale...until last week. Now I can’t bring myself to watch another episode. Same thing happened with OITNB and Unbreakable. Sometimes it’s just enough already. 


totally agree on Handmaids Tale and I’ll add- Westwood- I wanted to love it but watching became a chore. 


Hell On Wheels.  I missed season 1.  Seasons 2-4 were good.  Season 5, meh.  Like when the Swede shows up, and instead of killing him, or handing him over to the authorities, Bohannon suddenly changes his mind and hands the Swede a shovel and says he hopes he knows how to work.  WTF  


We're currently on season 5 of Chips and Larry Wilcox is obviously phoning it in.  So many sharks have been jumped on that show that the Humane Society won't even go near it.  Yeah, I know, we're the only idiots actually watching this one.


Battlestar Galactica (2004, not the 1980 one), seasons 1-3 were good, then season 4 just got plain weird.  Like shrooms weird. 


I liked both Breaking Bad, and what I've seen so far of Better Call Saul, no complaints on either show.


Orphan Black got a little weird in the middle, but then reigned it in enough to keep me interested to the end. 



bub said:
The Brits seem to understand this.  The original Brit version of The Office, which had more bite than the U.S. knock off, was I think 2 season.  Monty Python had 4 seasons. 

Yeah there's Dr. Who but it is effectively a new show every few years with a different Dr. etc.

 A lot of British sitcom writers follow the Fawlty Towers model. 14 episodes and done. 2 series of 6 and a couple of holiday specials. Having said that, most Britcoms are written by 1 or 2 people, not a room full of writers. Also, we have plenty of shows that ran their joke thin by episode 2 but carried on for years, like that Mrs Bucket show that still gets shown on PBS here for some stupid reason.


That's BooKAY. 

I think that's the same risk aversion, just the way that PBS does it. They don't want to risk alienating there more (ahem) mature audience, the ones who contribute during the pledge drives. I know there's a ton of newer more interesting British TV they could tap into.

It seems to me that Downton Abbey, although a British show, fell into the American pattern of getting extended beyond its freshness date. I felt like the last couple of seasons with so many new characters and stretching some storylines out made that show less entertaining than it was in the first few years.

On the other hand Britain is home to Coronation Street and EastEnders, which I'm pretty sure started being written by Shakespeare in the 1600s. ( yes, I know those are soap operas. Just work with me here.)

I wonder also how much of this has to do with the network model we're after a few years of good ratings The stars can start demanding ridiculous amounts of money. I know some actors don't like to get stuck in one role for a long time, but if I am Jim Parsons for instance how can I walk away from the Millions and millions of dollars that CBS is willing to spend on me? On the other hand, I'm not sure that Netflix is going to be paying Ellie Kemper ridiculous sums of money to keep doing Kimmy Schmidt. Their financial model is different and income is not derived from Advertising based on ratings. I don't know what the model is with British shows, and if it is as ridiculously lucrative to try to work on a show that lasts for more than 5 or 6 years.


mrincredible said:
 I don't know what the model is with British shows, 

 To quote one of my favorite British shows:  THEY'RE NOTHING BUT A COUPLE OF REACTIONARY STEREOTYPES, CONFIRMING THE MYTH THAT EVERYONE IN BRITAIN IS A LOVABLE MIDDLE CLASS ECCENTRIC, AND I! HATE! THEM!

(I'm kidding, of course.  Not all British shows follow this model)


spontaneous said:


mrincredible said:
 I don't know what the model is with British shows, 
 To quote one of my favorite British shows:  THEY'RE NOTHING BUT A COUPLE OF REACTIONARY STEREOTYPES, CONFIRMING THE MYTH THAT EVERYONE IN BRITAIN IS A LOVABLE MIDDLE CLASS ECCENTRIC, AND I! HATE! THEM!
(I'm kidding, of course.  Not all British shows follow this model)

That was a highly articulate outburst, Vyvyan. I only hope they're not watching.


I watched about 4 episodes of Killing Eve on BBC America, with Sandra Oh but I just couldn't stick with it. Oh wasn't believable, as much as I like her. (I remember first seeing her on Arli$$. That was a great show.)


I couldn't get past episode 2 of Killing Eve for some reason too.  Love Sandra Oh otherwise.

Done with OITNB, too.  Just got sick of it.



I find that I tire of the characters and formula of a show after a few years, no matter how good. Exceptions were Breaking Bad and The Office, but I binged them. I think it might be harder to muster the excitement when you have to wait a week between episodes, or still find enthusiasm enough to rejoin them after the summer hiatus. Killing Eve started out cool, but it got stupid at the end. The actress playing opposite Sandra Oh was one of the best I've ever seen, and her languages were ON FIRE!


bklyngirl said:
I couldn't get past episode 2 of Killing Eve for some reason too.  Love Sandra Oh otherwise.
Done with OITNB, too.  Just got sick of it.


 I really liked OITNB for the first few seasons but the last one that all took place in one day? Or over the period of the strike or whatever? Bleech...  Bad story concept is you ask me.


I’m bingeing Killing Eve - have it saved for tomorrow, cheese pls, don’t ruin it for me!! (I found the entire premise a bit done-to-death anyway, having watched ep 1 late at night weeks ago, so I need to rewatch it)


I know this thread is about shows loosing their binge-worthiness, but I loved bingewatching Happy Valley, River, Home Fires, Marcella, Shetland.  All English series on Netflix.  Happy Valley being my favorite!


Thanks for the recommendations, @bklyngirl. We recently discovered Marcella and are enjoying it. I am watching one in a minute, as a matter of fact.


You're welcome! Then you will love happy valley and river, as well.


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