TV shows that experience huge success often have a habit of overstaying their welcome. This is especially true of tense drama series, but it can apply to everything from sitcoms to animated shows, too. These fifteen shows all went on for too many seasons, spoiling what should have been a great run.
Dexter
This tense drama about a serial killer who only victimizes other murderers was a huge hit at first, with a unique premise and some compelling twists and turns. However, as it continued to forge ahead into ever more seasons, it because less and less plausible that Dexter could worm his way out of trouble… and don’t talk to Dexter fans about lumberjacks, okay?
How I Met Your Mother
Ted Mosby needs to learn how to tell a story in a more concise way. He basically walks around the planet to get across the street when he tells his kids the story of how he met their mom, all just to end the tale by confirming that he was in love with his best friend, Robin, the whole time.
Californication
Watching Hank Moody live a hedonistic lifestyle was fun for a few seasons, but the show didn’t need to run for seven years. David Duchovny is a magnetic actor, but Hank is such a morally reprehensible dude that it’s tough to empathize with him as a protagonist for as long as Californication wants you to.
Scrubs
Scrubs ran for exactly one season too many. The eighth season ends with a perfect finale and a send-off for its beloved characters that offered closure for numerous plotlines. And then, for whatever reason, there was another season, now with a new main cast and with beloved characters from the first eight seasons just popping up as guest stars. It wasn’t bad, per se, just very out of place with the rest of the show.
The Office
When Steve Carrell stepped away from The Office, it was time to wrap it up. But, since the show was such a huge ratings hit, NBC kept it on life support for another few years, trying out a few new bosses to fill the Steve Carrell-shaped hole in the center of the show. A better option would have been quickly tying up loose ends and ending the show before it overstayed its welcome.
Supernatural
Supernatural is an awesome show, to be sure. But how many times do we need to see one of the Winchesters die, the other turn evil, and then both reunite through the power of brotherhood to save the world? After about six seasons the formula was wearing thin, and the show went on for fifteen seasons. I’m getting exhausted just thinking about it.
The Big Bang Theory
Some people really loved The Big Bang Theory, but it was a victim of its own success in its later seasons. Its outdated reliance on a laugh track and its tendency to recycle punchlines and catchphrases started to wear pretty thin by the end there, but CBS kept it around because it was a huge ratings hit.
Grey’s Anatomy
Can you believe that Grey’s Anatomy is still on TV after twenty-one seasons? It bears almost no resemblance to what it was back in 2005, and yet, there it is, still. Meredith is barely even in it these days, and the show has now outlived not one but two spinoff series. Madness.
That 70s Show
When Topher Grace walked away from That 70s Show, the writers should have just run the finale. The final episode of the show is phenomenal, but the season that precedes it is a tedious exercise in futility. Without Eric around, the crew just feels hollow, putting things on ice until Topher shows back up and the show says goodbye to the kids from Wisconsin.
Heroes
Heroes ably brought comic book storytelling to the small screen in its first season, showing a group of regular people suddenly gifted with superpowers. They come together to avert disaster, and that should have been the end of the run. Instead, the show got three more seasons that were deeply flawed, in large part because of the 2007 writer’s strike. They should have called it quits after one season after all.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons aired its last decent season sometime in the mid- to late-90s depending on who you ask. However, one thing is certain: the current shambling, zombified remains that bears the name The Simpsons has no resemblance to the once amazing show that graced the airwaves back in the 90s.
The Walking Dead
Speaking of shambling zombies, The Walking Dead ironically suffered the same fate as its titular “walkers.” Admittedly, comic creator Robert Kirkman said he wanted to see what a zombie story would look like if it just “kept going,” but AMC really milked the show by having it run for 11 seasons and kicking out more spinoffs than you can shake a nail-covered bat at.
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is another entry in the surprisingly long list of sitcoms that lost their lead actor but kept rolling along like nothing happened. Obviously, Charlie Sheen had to go after his hedonistic lifestyle, huge paycheck, and hostile attitude tanked the show’s production. But without his chaotic energy, the show just didn’t work. Ashton Kutcher was a poor replacement, and the show sullied its own legacy by forging on without its star.
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The Handmaid’s Tale
It’s outright strange that the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale went for more than a single season. That’s not to disparage the work of the writers and actors, but it’s just weird that the show moves beyond the events depicted in the original 1985 book by Margaret Atwood.
Read More: 10 TV Shows That Got Much Better Over Time
Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy reached a narrative apex around its fifth season… and then it just kept going. By Season 7, the show’s episodes were regularly blowing past the hour-long mark despite very little of narrative consequence happening. When Jax finally took his last ride in the finale, it was something of a relief to fans that the thing was finally over.
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