50 TV Shows That Were Great In The Beginning And Great Until The End, As Shared In This Online Thread
A good story can transport you to another world. It can make you forget your troubles and take you on adventures that you didn't even think were possible. However, crafting a compelling narrative is no easy feat.
Take television shows for example. Even those that start off strong can gradually lose their luster, leaving fans feeling disappointed. So let's give credit where credit is due.
Recently, a person on Reddit made a post, asking everyone on the platform which TV series never had a dip in quality, and the community delivered. From long-running sitcoms to short-lived dramas, here are some of the most popular responses.
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No one's going to mention How It's Made?
The Joy of Painting
RIP Bob Ross
he's like watching a warm hug, with a side of happy little trees...
I will forever be impressed by the fact that nearly every painting he made on that show used what (to me) looked like house/wall painting brushes, yet they all turned out to look like museum worthy works of art.
Fun fact: David Arquette is a certified Bob Ross painting instructor, and has given lessons to his castmates on set. Complete with curly wig. (He also happens to be a clown enthusiast.)
Don't buy Bob Ross memorabilia. No seriously, don't. Watch the Netflix documentary on Bob Ross. It's pretty sad. Nothing bad about Bob, just the Kowalski's who swindled and profit from him
Thank you! I saw the Netflix documentary and couldn't believe Bob Ross was taken by the Kowalski's.
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Just read that there is a movie on Bob Ross coming out this summer, starring Owen Wilson.
I loved his show. But when I learned how toxic the chemicals in the paints and paint thinner is, it made me wince when he beat the devil out of his brush. He taught me how to paint mountains. I'm still figuring out how to make happy trees with a fan brush
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Fight me.
I cried happy tears all through his documentary, "won't you be my neighbor". his exemplary kindness reached right through the screen...
Twilight Zone the original Black and White.
I'm a Twilight Zone junkie. Rod Serling was THE most visionary TV producer I have ever known. So many of his stories came to pass. And the actors -- OMG. Everybody who was anybody back then was in one or more episodes and they were ALL spectacular. I can even lip sync some of the famous lines, like: "What makes you think this is heaven, Mr. Valentine. This IS the 'other place' ! Mwahahahahaaaaaaa!" (Sebastian Cabot)
The Good Place. The writers knew exactly what they wanted to do it, they did it, and didn't linger any longer even though it was surely successful enough that they could've gotten more seasons if they'd wanted to milk it.
Firefly
/sob
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Frasier. Exactly the same level of quality from start to finish. It was never AMAZING but also never terrible.
Fawlty Towers
True, but I wonder if the planned reboot will spoil that reputation
On this Thanksgiving weekend, let us remember how WKRP in Cincinnati maintained excellence through all four seasons. Turkeys Away!
Murder She Wrote. Angela Lansbury was and is a f****n queen
Star Trek: The Next Generation
greatest TV show ever made, by far, hands down. it actually got better with each season but every season is fantastic
Mythbusters, i need more
Man, Grant's passing sucker-punched me. Such a sweet guy from all accounts.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who's watched these shows, but:
The Librarians,
Eureka,
Warehouse 13
Eureka had a awesome series finale. And the song that plays at the end is great. (You Are my home🎶) I enjoy watching Eureka every now and then.
Keeping Up With The Kardashians
It maintained a standard. It was always absolute horse s**t from the start and never improved
House MD
I'll always enjoy Hugh Laurie in his extra blue contacts but the story lines outside the medical mystery got unbearable with time.
My name is Earl
Keeping Up Appearances, Patricia Routledge, Clive Swift. The whole cast was talented, had impeccable timing, the innuendo it’s hilarious! I still laugh when I catch an episode. It’s very relaxing.
Psych! I would argue there was a brief dip in a late middle season but it recovered
The Bob Newhart Show
Some of his roles in movies...where he is having a convo on the phone...priceless
Phineas and Ferb
I'm a little biased because it is one of my favorite comfort shows, but it maintained in my humble opinion a high level of quality throughout the entirety of it.
The episodes all followed the same formula but it never got boring.
gravity falls, im suprised i havnt seen this
edit: i mean that i havnt seen this in the comments of the post, not the show, i’ve seen the entire show lmao, multiple times
I was hoping I'd see this! One of my all-time favorite shows, sure some of the episodes aren't the BEST *cough* Roadside Attraction *cough* but overall a really well-written show that still has a strong fandom despite ending six years ago!
Antiques Roadshow
Loved watching it but it always reminded me that school was the next day and it was soon time to go to bed!
Fleabag
What we do in the shadows. Stellar from start to end. I think there is new seasons coming out. But it's fabulous.
Edit : you're allowed to not like the new season, but the threats are a little over kill my friends!
Thank you for my first reddit rewards and all the up votes. I love you my people!
Person of interest. Intelligent, well paced, and never predictable. The ending was just as well written, and thought out as the pilot episode.
The Inbetweeners (UK)
Sopranos
Freaks and Geeks. Hard to decline when you only have 1 season.
The Americans only improved with age. An absolutely fantastic series.
This is one of the best shows ever made in my opinion and the ending was almost perfect.
The Clone Wars
This show added soo much dimension to the characters and gave Anakin his "redemption" in terms of his choices. Also...Ahsoka's story too, so win-win. My favorite Star Wars stuff are almost all from Clone Wars.
Forensic files
YES!!! Sometimes when I can't sleep I lie on the couch, put on FF and let Peter Thomas' dulcet tones talk me to sleep. (It also works with The UnXplained and History's Greatest Mysteries.)
The expanse. Every season kept delivering the best sci-fi I have ever seen.
The Wire (lookin at you season 5 haters)
on of the finest dramas ever...ever...and i will fight anyone who says otherwise
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Sure an episode or two in a season might not be as hysterical as the others but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every season as a whole
Daredevil only had one dip in quality and it was due to having to drum up interest in another show's storyline. Even then, it wasn't godawful, just not as interesting.
Otherwise, perfect show from S1E1 to S3E13.
Great show. I think my favourite part in that entire thing was when Matt pretended to be Foggy and had to pretend he could see.
Seinfeld
As a Seinfeld fanatic, I disagree. I have all the DVDs and have watched Seasons 3 to 7 over and over, but Seasons 8 and 9 just got progressively too silly
Bojack Horseman
At least Netflix let them wrap it all up nicely (although I thought the last episode was a bit rushed)
My lovely horse, running through the fiiiieeelds 😆
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Guys if you disagree with people don’t downvote them, just ignore them. downvoting is mean and I’m here to save the internet
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Peter Falk was put on Earth for one ultimate purpose: to be Columbo. And what a magnificent purpose and realisation it was!
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Lucifer? Although I might be the only person who admitted watching it.
Luther. Haven't saw the film yet, so can't comment, but the series were amazingly good.
Film is disappointing. plotholes the size of Canada and no Alice 😒
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News Radio. The feel of the show obviously changed after Phil Hartman tragically passed away, but that was one of the funniest and most charming shows on tv. Nothing else like it.
So well done sometimes. When Buffy asks a lass (who had been turned into a dog) where she'd been all that time, she replies 'I was a dog'. And when she in turn asks Buffy where she has been, Buffy answers simply 'dead'. And they're both utterly deadpan about it, no surprise, not a raised eyebrow.
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Sooo... Nobody on Bored Panda watched BURN NOTICE? RESIDENT ALIEN? THE UNIT? ALIAS? LA FEMME NIKITA? HOGAN'S HEROES? C'mon guys! Let's make this topic 100 Greatest TV Shows.
Middle. Well, it has idealization of Christianity as well as the American dream, but there is some fundamental optimism combined with humor. Not to mention the not-so-quality trips for the blue snack bag. And what about the hole in the wall or freezing Sue's head. Weird Ashley is my favorite. They are all jokes that run through the series.
I loved "Married with Children". The earlier seasons were fairly held-back, but then they became progressively wackier.
Bates Motel. From the first until last season, the stories are getting better. Wish people had known more about it.
So glad to see "Eureka" (maybe my favorite of all time), and "The Librarians" represented. But no "Defiance"?! So good, and could have gone so many ways following the finale!
Dark (a German Netflix show). An absolute masterpiece from start to finish.
One of my friends has a thing for Northern Exposure. Anyone remember MTV producing a show called "Fear"? Fake as anything but somewhat entertaining.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Had some ups and downs, but overall a great show
Sailor Moon. I know the seasons can drag on but the character and story development for a cartoon is phenomenal. The characters do age but the story tends to jump from past to present, and characters are time travelling. The plots thicken, and move forward, despite battling and killing the episode's bad guys. It draws the viewer in and kept you anticipating the next episode. My preference is the English dub. I just found the voices and soundtrack better. But that's just me.
Last of the summer wine, One foot in the grave Waiting for God, Open all hours. All British classics
"Mrs. Brown's Boys!" (I'm in the USA but have the 3 seaons, the christmas shows, the lives shows and D-Movie.) All are hilarious and I'm still hoping a season 4 will come although it's been a few years past now. Also, the show "Not Going Out" was a fun series!
Top Chef. It's still on, but TC is a show that's gotten better with age and has become a standard for the entire food industry in a way that no other competition show has done. It started with a range of chefs, but now you can't even be on the show unless you're already in the top of your field. I raises the level of competition so that there are no 'filler' episodes where you have to get rid of the people who clearly don't belong first. With shows like ANTM or Project Runway, you feel like you can tell in the first few episodes who's clearly not good enough to be there. TC is not a show anyone could apply to and they don't care about what you look like or that you appeal to the audience. Tall, short, fat, thin, nice, mean...they've all been on the show. It's about your skill and your desire to really be the best. The best chefs in the world pay attention to it and it's one of the few shows where a win has gone on to actually have real world benefits.
Check out the app called Tubi...they have ALOT of old series on there...I've been on it more than Netflix n Amazon Prime lately
I am! as the series progresses, the main character keeps getting new opponents who represent the fears of aging or growing up or the fear of death in the form of monsters, but nothing prepared Buffy and me for that episode. (You know what I'm talking about). This is a great coming age series. And I never once thought that the key would be an annoying addition, it brought out the role of an older brother from a character. Not to mention that I realized I was bisexual. This series really gave me a lot, but unfortunately the quality varied too much for it to be on this list.
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I want to say Wander over Yonder but technically it was canceled even though I still think the season 2 finale could stand up on its own as a series finale if necessary. There’s a lot of great shows that didn’t deserve to be cancelled but that’s probably going to have to be a separate list.
Open all hours, red dwarf, nighty nite, the league of gentlemen and of course allo allo.
I didn't read through this whole thing so these shows might be on here, but I'll list some of the ones i think should be on here. The Owl House, iZombie, ATLA, Gravity Falls, Amphibia is pretty great too.
Galavant! Only 2 seasons, but it was perfection from start to finish.
They did, it's somewhere in the middle-ish area of the list
Load More Replies... Also, Ripper Street. 30 Rock was awesome. Mozart in the Jungle. Turn.
Forever. Only one season, but highly recommended. Same with Taboo. The Red Road, only two seasons, unfortunately.
Covfefe, unpresidented person, woman, man, camera, TV!
Load More Replies... My lovely horse, running through the fiiiieeelds 😆
Load More Replies... Guys if you disagree with people don’t downvote them, just ignore them. downvoting is mean and I’m here to save the internet
Load More Replies... Peter Falk was put on Earth for one ultimate purpose: to be Columbo. And what a magnificent purpose and realisation it was!
Load More Replies... Lucifer? Although I might be the only person who admitted watching it.
Luther. Haven't saw the film yet, so can't comment, but the series were amazingly good.
Film is disappointing. plotholes the size of Canada and no Alice 😒
Load More Replies... News Radio. The feel of the show obviously changed after Phil Hartman tragically passed away, but that was one of the funniest and most charming shows on tv. Nothing else like it.
So well done sometimes. When Buffy asks a lass (who had been turned into a dog) where she'd been all that time, she replies 'I was a dog'. And when she in turn asks Buffy where she has been, Buffy answers simply 'dead'. And they're both utterly deadpan about it, no surprise, not a raised eyebrow.
Load More Replies... Sooo... Nobody on Bored Panda watched BURN NOTICE? RESIDENT ALIEN? THE UNIT? ALIAS? LA FEMME NIKITA? HOGAN'S HEROES? C'mon guys! Let's make this topic 100 Greatest TV Shows.
Middle. Well, it has idealization of Christianity as well as the American dream, but there is some fundamental optimism combined with humor. Not to mention the not-so-quality trips for the blue snack bag. And what about the hole in the wall or freezing Sue's head. Weird Ashley is my favorite. They are all jokes that run through the series.
I loved "Married with Children". The earlier seasons were fairly held-back, but then they became progressively wackier.
Bates Motel. From the first until last season, the stories are getting better. Wish people had known more about it.
So glad to see "Eureka" (maybe my favorite of all time), and "The Librarians" represented. But no "Defiance"?! So good, and could have gone so many ways following the finale!
Dark (a German Netflix show). An absolute masterpiece from start to finish.
One of my friends has a thing for Northern Exposure. Anyone remember MTV producing a show called "Fear"? Fake as anything but somewhat entertaining.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Had some ups and downs, but overall a great show
Sailor Moon. I know the seasons can drag on but the character and story development for a cartoon is phenomenal. The characters do age but the story tends to jump from past to present, and characters are time travelling. The plots thicken, and move forward, despite battling and killing the episode's bad guys. It draws the viewer in and kept you anticipating the next episode. My preference is the English dub. I just found the voices and soundtrack better. But that's just me.
Last of the summer wine, One foot in the grave Waiting for God, Open all hours. All British classics
"Mrs. Brown's Boys!" (I'm in the USA but have the 3 seaons, the christmas shows, the lives shows and D-Movie.) All are hilarious and I'm still hoping a season 4 will come although it's been a few years past now. Also, the show "Not Going Out" was a fun series!
Top Chef. It's still on, but TC is a show that's gotten better with age and has become a standard for the entire food industry in a way that no other competition show has done. It started with a range of chefs, but now you can't even be on the show unless you're already in the top of your field. I raises the level of competition so that there are no 'filler' episodes where you have to get rid of the people who clearly don't belong first. With shows like ANTM or Project Runway, you feel like you can tell in the first few episodes who's clearly not good enough to be there. TC is not a show anyone could apply to and they don't care about what you look like or that you appeal to the audience. Tall, short, fat, thin, nice, mean...they've all been on the show. It's about your skill and your desire to really be the best. The best chefs in the world pay attention to it and it's one of the few shows where a win has gone on to actually have real world benefits.
Check out the app called Tubi...they have ALOT of old series on there...I've been on it more than Netflix n Amazon Prime lately
I am! as the series progresses, the main character keeps getting new opponents who represent the fears of aging or growing up or the fear of death in the form of monsters, but nothing prepared Buffy and me for that episode. (You know what I'm talking about). This is a great coming age series. And I never once thought that the key would be an annoying addition, it brought out the role of an older brother from a character. Not to mention that I realized I was bisexual. This series really gave me a lot, but unfortunately the quality varied too much for it to be on this list.
Load More Replies... I want to say Wander over Yonder but technically it was canceled even though I still think the season 2 finale could stand up on its own as a series finale if necessary. There’s a lot of great shows that didn’t deserve to be cancelled but that’s probably going to have to be a separate list.
Open all hours, red dwarf, nighty nite, the league of gentlemen and of course allo allo.
I didn't read through this whole thing so these shows might be on here, but I'll list some of the ones i think should be on here. The Owl House, iZombie, ATLA, Gravity Falls, Amphibia is pretty great too.
Galavant! Only 2 seasons, but it was perfection from start to finish.
They did, it's somewhere in the middle-ish area of the list
Load More Replies... Also, Ripper Street. 30 Rock was awesome. Mozart in the Jungle. Turn.
Forever. Only one season, but highly recommended. Same with Taboo. The Red Road, only two seasons, unfortunately.
Covfefe, unpresidented person, woman, man, camera, TV!
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