Owning all of a series despite bad later/earlier seasons? (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Sometimes shorter run shows go off the rails too, unfortunately. I was a huge fan of the BBC’s sitcom “Chef!” with Lenny Henry. The first two seasons were shot on film and had a certain style and tone both visually and with the writing, and the third season switched to videotape and a new showrunner, and suddenly every character is acting dumber as if they took stupid pills in between seasons.

I’m currently watching the third season of Kaminsky Method on Netflix. The key dynamic in the first two seasons was the interplay between Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin, and Arkin declined to return for the third season. The showrunners say it was planned this way all along but it certainly doesn’t play that way as a viewer. All of a sudden, in Arkin’s absence, all of the characters are behaving, well, out of character, with the humor broader and people acting dumber than the earlier seasons would suggest. It feels like “ahh crap we have a season of episodes we owe the studio, let’s just film something” and not an organic change.

 

[Wiseguy]

A decent example of a long running show that went a little too long was Hawaii Five-O. Once Kam Fong and later James MacArthur left, the show should have ended. You can drop Kono, Ben and Duke, but losing Chin-Ho and then Danno???? If the stories were any good, then fine, but that 12 season was dire. Jack Lord also looked skeletal by then.

To be fair, the departure of James MacArthur was a surprise and probably happened after pre-production was already underway. In fact, it took them awhile to write up and film an introduction for the William Smith character and began by shooting "regular" episodes (probably with the name Dan Williams in the script crossed out and Kimo Carew hastily written in its place).

 

[Wiseguy]

I'm not someone who's usually biased in favor of early seasons over later ones. I recently rewatched a Golden Girls episode from the last season under its original name, and it was just as good as what had come before it.

The Golden Girls is one of the few long-running comedy series that I don't think degraded over the years. Another one was Frasier, although there were some episodes of Frasier that maybe shouldn't have been made, such as half-hour parking garage argument and the three-part Niles heart problem episode. Even the Ted Danson visits episode didn't seem to have a point.

I am a bit confused about what you mean by "I recently rewatched a Golden Girls episode from the last season under its original name, and it was just as good as what had come before it."
Are you talking about the final (seventh) season of The Golden Girls or The Golden Palace?
I didn't like The Golden Palace as much as The Golden Girls mostly because of the setting of the hotel. It seemed phony after seven years in the house. Maybe I would have liked it better if they had just stayed in the house (even without Bea Arthur) but then it would have been like All in the Family after Mike and Gloria left and I probably would have wound up thinking it would have been better not continued.

 

[ScottRE]

To be fair, the departure of James MacArthur was a surprise and probably happened after pre-production was already underway. In fact, it took them awhile to write up and film an introduction for the William Smith character and began by shooting "regular" episodes (probably with the name Dan Williams in the script crossed out and Kimo Carew hastily written in its place).

That is a solid point. However, the writing was pretty stale by then anyway. After, I think, the initial two-part premiere, everything went straight into the basement. I would've at least appreciated bit of an explanation as to why a lead character, especially one that had a catchphrase named after him, was suddenly missing. One can imagine, however, that Jack Lord was pretty upset over it and probably didn't wanna call attention to the character. That's just a guess, though.

 

[MatthewA]

The Golden Girls is one of the few long-running comedy series that I don't think degraded over the years. Another one was Frasier, although there were some episodes of Frasier that maybe shouldn't have been made, such as half-hour parking garage argument and the three-part Niles heart problem episode. Even the Ted Danson visits episode didn't seem to have a point.

I am a bit confused about what you mean by "I recently rewatched a Golden Girls episode from the last season under its original name, and it was just as good as what had come before it."
Are you talking about the final (seventh) season of The Golden Girls or The Golden Palace?
I didn't like The Golden Palace as much as The Golden Girls mostly because of the setting of the hotel. It seemed phony after seven years in the house. Maybe I would have liked it better if they had just stayed in the house (even without Bea Arthur) but then it would have been like All in the Family after Mike and Gloria left and I probably would have wound up thinking it would have been better not continued.

I meant season 7 of Golden Girls proper, hence my statement about "the original name."

When CBS took over Golden Palace, they probably thought they could get a few years out of it like they did for Mayberry RFD and Archie Bunker's Place. But despite getting a guest-starring role on the new show that only underscored what was missing, Bea Arthur conspired with one of their competitors to see that the show's demise was swift:



Even so, the biggest misstep Golden Palace made was that awful kid Oliver. He was as bad as Seven on Married With Children. They got rid of him but the damage was done. Chuy was funny. Roland was a wet blanket. The scenes of them without the girls felt awkward; frankly, the Empty Nest writers could have done a better job writing that kind of male-bonding humor.