Shows that went on too long.

[RPS]

Will & Grace falls into that category of sitcoms shouldn't last longer than 5 seasons. By the end, it was just random celebrity cameos and nonsensical storylines.

Lost really has gone on too long. The premise of the show is lots of twists and turns... but when this goes on for so many seasons it becomes so confusing and drawn out that it becomes obnoxious. Should have ended it after season 3 and explained things...

[Marcos]

For me it's Frasier. Anything after Daphne and Niles getting together is almost painful to watch.

I would agree that the show took a bit of a hit in quality after the Daphne/Niles episode at the end of season seven. However, I don't agree that things went exceptionally bad and as you say "almost painful to watch". For me Frasier was one of the only shows which can have a bad season and then bounce back and be nearly as good as it was in the opening seasons. Frasier's bad season was season eight, however, that still featured some classic episodes, with "Cranes Unplugged" where Frasier, Martin and Frederick go on the camping trip, "Motor Skills" when Frasier and Niles take a mechanic class and "Docu. Drama" with Roz's space documentary, and Niles' kite.

However, after that season nine onwards was really good. Even thinking about the season ten episode where Frasier does Freddie's Bar Mitzvah and thinks he is doing it in Jewish, even though he's doing it in Klingon, and Martin's camera has the brightest flash ever, still makes me laugh.

[Skummy]

"Cranes Unplugged" where Frasier, Martin and Frederick go on the camping trip

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Is it just me or does every series of Frasier have a token "Cranes go camping/to cabin in the woods/somewhere equally secluded, and hilarity ensues" episode?

Edited July 12, 2009 by Skummy

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Will & Grace falls into that category of sitcoms shouldn't last longer than 5 seasons. By the end, it was just random celebrity cameos and nonsensical storylines.

Lost really has gone on too long. The premise of the show is lots of twists and turns... but when this goes on for so many seasons it becomes so confusing and drawn out that it becomes obnoxious. Should have ended it after season 3 and explained things...

Lost? Of all the programmes, that should be one of the last ones being mentioned here. No way has that gone on too long and with the next season being the last, I'd even argue it could of gone on longer. It's not like they're just continuing it for the sake of it, each season is slowly revealing certain things and there's actually a point to it all. I'm shocked anybody would think it's gone on too long. And I've always found the 'confusing' factor to be one of the best things about the show, helping it not be predictable like 90% of other programmes.

[Rich]

I will echo sentiments on ER, I am a massive fan of the early to mid seasons, but anything after Greene's death wasn't as good and once Carter left I lost a lot of interest, as Neela's constant wingeing and whining just got on my nerves and I never really got behind Luka and Abbey as main characters, Luka was not sympathetic enough despite the family deaths and the whole Croatian war thing, he had been too much of a playboy at times to really get behind and had been an ultra bellend at times. and Abbey was no where near as good once her problems weren't about here mum. However the shining light of the later series has to be the evolution of Dr Morris' character and to be treated like Dr Greenes replacement in the finale (if you are a nerd like me you will have noticed the symmetry of the pilot to the final episode with Dr Morris' day in the final episode mirror Dr Greene's in the pilot.) was a huge deal to me and showed me the writers could still pull things off.

Scrubs should end NOW. It may have gone on too long as well but no way, no way, no way should they be doing more from now on. Start a similar show under a different moniker for sure but Scrubs is about Zach Braff.

And to go on the flip side. Smallville has not gone on too long yet. I say yet because despite the fact I loved the most recent season (no. 8) I have to say that they are getting close. They have not completely made Clark Kent in to "Superman" or "Kal-El", whichever route they take they should make sure we see him complete, flights and tights for the last episode, or the last story arc, the should do it very soon at the risk of getting tedious. He is getting so close now I feel the next season with Zod should be the one that defines him and then end the show as really there is no one left for him to fight after Zod, with Brainaic, Lex and Doomsday gone (or at least supposedly gone) there are very few options left, unless they go down the avenue of the lost city of Kandor which I feel would be a step too far.

[GA!]

I actually think part of the reason the new Simpsons episodes aren't as good is because they continue to lose time to commercials per Fox's orders.

I wish I had time to extensively discuss this, but here's my short answer.....

I disagree. The writers' have blamed the commercial time before. Taking away a minute of a show is a really long time, but the later episodes of The Simpsons are poorly structured. If they hadn't the need to make the first act a completely different story in itself, stuff montages everywhere, and shoehorn in celebrity guests, the show would still be great. Telling a classic Simpsons story, from the subtle sitcom of the early seasons to the more conceptual stuff up to early season 9, can be done just as fine with one less minute.

[TKz]

Honestly I love Smallville, but without Michael Rosenbaum it shouldn't have continued. I enjoyed the latest series, but how can you have Superman without Lex Luthor? I know he's said he'll return for a finale, but even by including Zod and Doomsday, Lex is just... a nescessity. It was bad enough that they killed Lionel, who was far and away my favourite character on the show.

I think if Lex was going to leave, they should have ended it there, or played up the idea of him still being alive and pulling the strings a lot more than they did. I love the show, but this needs to be the final series with a cameo of Lex returning in the final episode. (If they go through with the rumoured TV-Movie, that'd be awesome though. An easy way for them to show Clark in the suit and flying without actually breaking their word on never having it in the show)

Since I'm here, here's a few things that irritated me about Smallville after a while... The constant Lana returns and the shows urge to give her Superpowers. Why? Just... why? And don't even get me started on the whole series four thing with the witch, that was just... ugh. HOW do you take someone who's just plain awesome in Jensen Ackles, and make him unlikable? She got interesting for a little while when she got with Lex, but pretty much anything post Clark/Lana I didn't enjoy of her. I'm also hoping they pull the trigger on Lois/Clark, which is something that should've happened by now.

The main reason I've been watching Smallville post-Lex is Green Arrow, Lois and Doomsday.

[naiwf]

ER & The Simpsons come to mind immediately. When you can watch a show faithfully for 5+ years, stop watching for 7+ and the show is STILL on TV it's been on too long.

Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Home Improvement, The King of Queens, Roseanne, Scrubs and shows like that stop being funny after about 100 episodes, but since they're critical and/or ratings successes they keep getting churned out for at least 1-4 seasons after they hit their peak.

To me the worst of the worst was Friends. It ceased being funny once Monica and Chandler hooked up and that was about midway through its run. I've probably seen all of the episodes at least two or three times due to reruns, but anything after the Ross/Emily "wedding" was the drizzling shits.