TV seasons that shouldn't have existed

I quit watching Friday Night Lights during the Season 2 Tyra/Landry murder-the-almost-rapist story arc.

 

Not the entire seasons, but the Joey-Rachel arc from "Friends."

 

I would have ended ER with Greene dying, tho I know there were still a lot of good moments over years of not-nearly-as-good-as-before. As far as L&O, I would have kept the final three years with Anderson/Sisto/Roache/De la Garza, and McCoy as DA! It had gotten its mojo back. The 3-4 seasons before that (the Farina years) could have easily been excised. Along with the Serena comes out episode.

 

The original 90210, after they graduated high school, or maybe after the first year of college. I know the show was hugely popular at that point, but it just started dragging like crazy, except when Rebecca Gayheart (mmmm, Rebecca Gayheart) was killed by her dad's thugs.

Growing Pains: After Mike and Carol became adults, ZZZzzzz.

Lost: Seasons 5 and 6. Dragged on way too long, did too much bullshit mythology crap that nobody except the most hardcore can could remember. They'd show some random character they had presented three seasons before and I'm supposed to remember or care who the hell they were? Should have wrapped it up with one year of flash-forwards and ended the the thing.

 

Bad as that was, they did rally from it. Season Two is by far the weakest.

The answer to the question is the final two seasons of Roseanne.

 

That was going to be my answer. To be fair, I think FNL was really struggling with ratings and was trying to find a way to stay on the air before the whole NBC/DirecTV 101 deal came along. So they tried some stupid shit. Thankfully that show redeemed itself.

 

I understand why they did it, but the season of News Radio after Phil Hartman died was a sad attempt at humor, and you could just about tell every cast member agreed.

 

Season 2 of FNL was my first thought upon reading the thread title. It has some great moments, but it's mostly a clusterfuck.

 

The pointless 'we won the lottery' season of Roseanne was my first thought.

The Andy Griffith Show, which dragged on for several years after Don Knotts left, probably shouldn't have.

Similarly, All in the Family probably should have ended when Rob Reiner & Sally Struthers left.

 

The Coy and Vance Duke season of "Dukes of Hazzard"

Seems like the original Battlestar Galactica did the same thing one year, too. That one I've repressed.

And when Earl was in prison in "My Name is Earl"

 

From watching some of the bonus segments on the DVD set, it appears NBC forced the whole Tyra-Landry murder arc on them as a ratings grab. Then the end of the season was cut short by the writers' strike. A season to forget, and, yes, it recovered well, but if any series ever deserved a better hand than it was dealt overall, it's FNL.

 

That was my first thought. I like Jon Lovitz, I actually paid money to see him live about six months ago, but he just doesn't hold a candel to Hartman, especially on News Radio.