Great TV shows that turned to shit (contains details of how TV shows END)

[Upchuck]

Rubbish!

The Fenner storyline was like something out of Dallas.

(Fenner dons a blonde wig and knocks people over to frame Karen, thus the CCTV looks like it was Karen Betts doing it).

That was classic! Especially when he was exposed and was sent to chokey and attacked with the mop - karma and all. I was also gripped by the storyline of Yvonne and her being left for dead and the eventual finding of her body and the dispatching of Fenner with a frozen icecle.

Others I enjoyed were the storyline of the 2 swindlers and their rescue of Sylvia in Spain, and then the new governer Grayling and all his baggage, then Frances Myers taking over, Di going mad and being banged up herself, and the ghost of Natalie Buxton.

I will agree that it struggled when Lou Stoke became govenor but it was winding up already, and eventually Sylivia saved the day with her hallucinations and being reunited with her gay son.

 

[PacificOcean]

That was classic! Especially when he was exposed and was sent to chokey and attacked with the mop - karma and all. I was also gripped by the storyline of Yvonne and her being left for dead and the eventual finding of her body and the dispatching of Fenner with a frozen icecle.

Others I enjoyed were the storyline of the 2 swindlers and their rescue of Sylvia in Spain, and then the new governer Grayling and all his baggage, then Frances Myers taking over, Di going mad and being banged up herself, and the ghost of Natalie Buxton.

Now read that back to yourself.

Happens in prisons everyday, no?

Not exactly Tenko!

 

[RubyBlue]

Rubbish!

The Fenner storyline was like something out of Dallas.

(Fenner dons a blonde wig and knocks people over to frame Karen, thus the CCTV looks like it was Karen Betts doing it).

Bad Girls was extremely crap but it was fab - the same way Prisoner Cell Block H was - camp, crap but compulsive viewing - I miss both shows Bad Girls did get slightly wrong towards the end though

 

[Jenerys]

I really, really hate lazy writing - which is why I find myself shouting at the TV when Lost is on so much. That show's entire schtick now consists of its writers wriggling unconvincingly out of corners they've painted themselves into and ridiculous "Ta-da!" moments that are only there for shock value. Why I've sat through every episode I'll never know...

So true

*goes back to read rest of thread*

 

[PacificOcean]

Bad Girls was extremely crap but it was fab - the same way Prisoner Cell Block H was - camp, crap but compulsive viewing - I miss both shows Bad Girls did get slightly wrong towards the end though

No. I have to take issue with this.

Cell Block H, may have been done on a budget of a fiver, but it was really fantastic and this was Australia in the 80's.

With Prisoner there were great storylines and some great acting, even if the walls did move (which they didn't. Urban myth).

Bad Girls went from proper prison drama to camp "panto". With storylines that wouldn't look out of place in some daytime US soap.

 

[RubyBlue]

Bad Girls went from proper prison drama to camp "panto". With storylines that wouldn't look out of place in some daytime US soap.

I don't really remember the beginning of Bad Girls - was it meant to be a proper drama? Do you remember Within These Walls? I have only vague memories of it - would love to see it properly. ((((Googie Wither something))))

 

[scifisam]

Bad Girls went from proper prison drama to camp "panto". With storylines that wouldn't look out of place in some daytime US soap.

I watched the whole lot on DVD in about a week once, having never seen it before, and it was camp panto right from the start.

 

[spacemonkey]

X-Files anyone?

(edit: whoops, didn't see there was a second page to this thread!)

 

[DaveCinzano]

I watched the whole lot on DVD in about a week once, having never seen it before, and it was camp panto right from the start.

What about the deadly serious lesbian-love-across-the-cell-bars stuff involving the Scottish guvnor with the blocked up nose?

 

[scifisam]

What about the deadly serious lesbian-love-across-the-cell-bars stuff involving the Scottish guvnor with the blocked up nose?

That was also way over the top.

The only time it really went serious was when one of the Julies had breast cancer. That really was rather moving.

 

[skyscraper101]

Hollyoaks in 1996 (after Natasha Anderson died)

Heartbreak High (after season 2)

Neighbours (circa 1996/7 and since it's all gone into grainy film-style mode even more)

 

[Mr Smin]

Red Dwarf. They should have left it alone at series 6

Those specials on Dave - awesome. They managed to make an ad for the channel you are already watching, the dvd of the thing you are already watching and a cross plug for one of the cast's current 'role'. And all this by recycling an old episode's plot. Effin class.

 

[eoin_k]

Shameless seems to have got progressively worse from series to series. First off it lost its coherence, series one had a narrative arch that ran through the episode like a HBO drama. Then it losts touch with its subject - you could see the middle class Southern graduate script editors take over. The characters became the but of the joke in a way that seemed smug and petty rather than shameless by the third or forth series.

 

[T & P]

"V"

Mini series were good, but then it all went to shit

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Babylon 5
The war is over, and Sheridan and Delen become President and First Lady. I won't even mention the numerous failed sequels.

Deep Space Nine
After several series of death and destruction, what else is there but CGI?

The X-Files
Anyone understand ANYTHING from series eight or nine? The supersoldiers? Scully's baby? Mulder's abduction? Smokey Man's continual survival? The cyndicate (save Smokey, Krychek and Fowley) perished in series six, and the suspense, intrigue and, dare I say, believability (!) burnt along with them. Its one saving grace was Doggart - I may be in a minority here, but I liked the character and his devolopment.

Bad Girls
Already mentioned, but the first two series are the fucking tits. Easily as good as often-lauded British drama classics such as Cracker and Prime Suspect. Not quite Oz standards, but this isn't American cable. Sad how they turned it into a camp sitcomesque farce from series three/four onwards.

Are You Being Served?
The show was originally written for Trevor Bannister and I believe it was after his departure that it really went down hill. His replacement in Mr Spooner was appalling. Did they ever do anything relating to the selling of gentlemen's ready-mades or ladies' intimate apparel after series six?

Only Fools & Horses
Bollocks to those who disliked the 50+ minute episodes - it is those that are the classics. The original final three episodes rank alongside Blackadder 2 and about nine episodes of Fawlty Towers as the finest situation comedies ever written/performed. The second final lot of three, well, I haven't even bothered to buy/rent them, despite having copies of most Britcoms.

Ideal
Nice little show about an occassional drug-dealer and his customers until Quentin Tarantino took over.

Yes Primeminister
Still a fantastic show, but never as perfect as the original three series.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Those specials on Dave - awesome. They managed to make an ad for the channel you are already watching, the dvd of the thing you are already watching and a cross plug for one of the cast's current 'role'. And all this by recycling an old episode's plot. Effin class.

I'm probably the biggest Red dwarf fan on these boards, and I couldn't believe how bad those new ones were. Well, I could, but you know what I mean.

I think the actors could still do it, but unless you get Rob Grant back on board to write it, it's always going to be shit, as Doug Naylor just can't write comedy.

 

[Nine Bob Note]

I'm probably the biggest Red dwarf fan on these boards

Move along home...

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Move along home...

 

[pk]

Prison Break, definitely. Series one was ace, then they milked it for all it was worth and millions lost interest.

Trouble is with all the US series is a simple one - once you have a success, your actors are worth more, so to maintain the cash cow and stay on budget you have to retain your actors but sack the writers and directors.

So you end up with ostensibly the same programme, same faces, but with dire scripts and even more dire production values.

And the degrees of financial success are far more important in the US with the degrees of critical success.

If you kill off a decent series without falling for the money trap it's seen as a failure.

Whereas if you flog the horse to death and squeeze out every dollar, then no matter how shit it is, people still buy into it.

Thank fuck I live in Europe, and can watch non-American TV shows.

 

[8den]

Actually if we're honest here, the last series of the wire was a massive disappointment.

 

[kyser_soze]

Dammmit 8den, you beat me to it.

Seasons 4 and 5 of The Wire. While S4 has all the ingredients and the acting right (the kids, the whole Marlon storyline) it wasn't as tightly plotted as S1-3, and S5 it just comes off the rails completely IMV - none of the characters feel as real and the plotting just comes off the rails completely.

 

[8den]

Dammmit 8den, you beat me to it.

Seasons 4 and 5 of The Wire. While S4 has all the ingredients and the acting right (the kids, the whole Marlon storyline) it wasn't as tightly plotted as S1-3,

See it sprawled, and I didn't mind that, I liked four because it expanded the war to the politics and the schools.

and S5 it just comes off the rails completely IMV - none of the characters feel as real and the plotting just comes off the rails completely.

The Mc Nulty plot is a betrayal of everything that set it up before.

 

[andy2002]

S5 it just comes off the rails completely IMV - none of the characters feel as real and the plotting just comes off the rails completely.

I know critics of season five think the main plot is far-fetched. But as David Simon himself has said it's actually a lot less far-fetched than the "Hamsterdam" plot in season three - as if a legal drugs zone could actually run for so long without anyone in authority knowing about it.

Season five might not be the best season of The Wire but I think it takes the most risks (it's practically an all-out satire about the Bush administration at certain points) and for that I loved every mad minute of it.