OK, I've been reading about recent TV shows (inspired by the threads we have here Dollhouse, BSG etc), and it's amazing the amount of shows that seem to go downhill after the first season in a lot of people's opinions... So, I'm wondering which shows you thought suffered from the 'difficult second album-style curse'?

For me, it's Heroes. Loved the first season. As I've stated elsewhere, it's still one of the best things that's ever been on TV IMO. But by God, season 2 fcuked up everything for me - I tried watching season 3, before coming to the conclusion that it was only ever gonna be dealing with the mess that 2 had created

And I wasn't an avid watcher, but Prison Break definitely lost it's way after the first season IMO

So, any shows that you wished they'd taken more time with, or even shows that you wish they'd only made one season of?

Red Dwarf.

I definitely know what you mean cos the series' were patchy in general and seemed crap at the time, but I found going back to them years later that they were really funny

Lost.

Bloody thing just left you with even more questions after each episode, and didn't bother explaining anything. I put up with three seasons of that nonsense, before I decided that it had crawled up it's own ar$e.

It was only the last series that pulled my interest back into lost. In the middle series I was ready to smash my own head in through frustration and confusion.

I agree with Prison Break. The 1st series was brilliant. 2nd wasn't nearly as good but watchable enough. After that I'm not sure why I carried on watching it. I have the last 8 episodes of the final series and still havent forced myself to watch them.

On a slightly different note one series I think would have gotten better with a 2nd series is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. So wish they'd have made another series!

Studio 60 is an absolute gem and totally under rated. It should absolutely have been renewed, but generally speaking, getting cancelled after one season is a mark of a great (or potentially great) show.

As for Prison Break, season 2 had a lot of merit and is often overlooked. The rest was largely nonsense, but they did pick up the pace for the last few eps, which was nice.

Season 3 of Heroes also improved towards the end and whilst still nowhere near as good as season 1, the trailers for Season 4 seem to show promise.

Lost has is problems, but season 4 turned it around and 5 totally capatalised on that. Delivering some answers and asking more interesting questions, it maintained the frustration factor, but in a good way. The season 5 finale was a genuine master stroke.

Desperate Housewives is my pick. Season 1 was hilarious, dark, witty, mysterious and really well written. It was written around a premise that had a lot going for it. After that, it descended into soapness and has never been as good. Granted I gave up after season 3, but I shall not be returning. And I never give up a show unless it's really bad.

I've only ever watched bits and pieces of that for the hot redhead and the slutty blonde

Twin Peaks.

X-Files should have had two or maybe three good seasons at the most. Friends also went on for years past its sell-by date though the first two seasons were very good.

^ I'd forgotten about Friends and agree with your assessment - all of a sudden Ross became quite unstable, Chandler kept his quirks but was less funny, leaving Joey to bring up the slack - Friends used to be legendary

Heros was very good in season 1 and I also enjoyed season 2. After that it all got a bit silly.

I thought Friends was very good at the start and then went down hill a bit in the middle. It pick up again towards the end though.

Babylon 5 had 3 excellent series then SciFi Channel (IIRC) borked it all up by forcing them to do the rest of the original story arc in season 4 (which was very good as a result but probably not all it could have been due to compression). Season 5 was somewhat less in comparison to the other series in comparison.

IMHO the stargate franchise has done remarkably well and remained thoroughly watchable throughout.

Season 3 of the IT crowd wasn't as good as the first two as they lost one of the writers.Same happened to Black books when the lost Graeme Linehan (not idea if that's the correct spelling).

Futurama was consistently excellent but the most recent batch of movies have been at best mediocre. Benders Big Score was the closest to the original.

That show went down the toilet halfway through the first series. Right about the episode that complained about focus groups ruining TV shows iirc. Up to that point they were shaping up for another 8 series of will-they-won't-they sexual tension just like West Wing, afterward they had Chandler Bing and Josh Lyman just making complete dicks of themselves.

Someone should also tell Sorkin to stop chatting up ex girlfriends by basing characters in TV shows on them and making other characters tell them what goddesses they are. It's creepy and sick.

I watched a show that said Friends was almost dropped in the USA and of all things it was 9/11 that brought viewers back. Apparently people craved for what was 'common' and 'safe'. You can even see hints on the set, etc like the cast wearing NYPD t-shirts and FDNY writing on Joey/Chandlers door.

It was TNT - they wanted space sex.

Well... to be fair.. Claudia Christian..

Add The Fast Show to the list. First couple of series were genius, then it disappeared up it's own arse in a major way.

Jon

Family Guy.