It gets better...as it gets longer

[Doctor Menard]

There are any number of TV shows which could be well accused of outliving any usefulness as their latter seasons dragged along.

There are, however, some shows which were the opposite: they improved as the series went along, some even measurably improved.


A prime example was Two Guys and a Girl. The first season had one wondering why in the hell was this on television, while the second season inspired the question as to why in the hell it wasn't canceled.

Within a few seasons, though, Two Guys and a Girl, sans Pizza Place, seriously picked up and became something that was not only quite funny, even with annoying characters, but actually quite creative. It was almost like they created something completely new, just taking the characters from a failed premise.


Though there are a number of shows which do improve, even though they started out fine, as they are getting a feel for it.

Star Trek TNG is one I feel falls into this category. The first season or two were fine, but as the series continued on, the character development and stories became stronger and better, IMO.


What TV shows would you consider to have improved as the show went along, perhaps even went out with a bang compared to starting with a wimper?

[schmendrik]

X Files. I watched it a couple of times in the first season and it was satisfyingly creepy, but I loved the ridiculously complicated conspiracy story arc(s) that started when Gillian Anderson got pregnant and had to miss some shows. That's when I really started enjoying it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer probably falls in this category also. I never watched many of those, but I enjoyed the later episodes that I caught and the sense that they were able to have fun and play with the concept (like a completely silent episode, or an all-musical episode). I loved the mix of teen angst and saving the world also.

X Files also started having fun in later shows: the one where the suburban Housing Authority actually uses a demon to consume people who put too many pink flamingos in their yard, the one where somebody body-snatches Mulder's body and realizes how pathetic his life is ("Doesn't this guy have a bed?"), the one where a UFO kook writes up his close encounter, including Mulder as a mysterious Man in Black.

[Allhallowsday]

"SEINFELD"; the earliest shows are creaky, unfunny, and the characters bland.  It ended up one of the funniest shows to ever grace the boob tube. 

[JJ80]

The UK sitcom "Dad's Army" was pretty good for it's first two series in black and white but was constrained by being shot in studios. When the series was produced in colour and incorporated much more outdoor filming with the attendant growth in comic possibilities the show matured into a genuine classic.

[Susan]

"SEINFELD"; the earliest shows are creaky, unfunny, and the characters bland.  It ended up one of the funniest shows to ever grace the boob tube. 

agree'd, not enough character development in the first season. George was too conservative and overall the cast was very subdued and there were too many scenes with jerry doing stand-up. It got more insane as the years went on, the characters were over the top. They were really at their peak when they went off the air, which was great. That way i don't have to look back saying "yeah it was a good show but then it just really started to suck over the past few years"

like ER

[dean]

I must admit I felt that Buffy fell off the pace a touch in the last season, but I forgive it since it was still very interesting.

Angel however found it's feet in the last season sadly, with some classic episodes like the Puppet one which was just fantastic.

I agree with the Two Guys and a Girl example.  It didn't get shown here alot at regular times, either late at night or during the day, but when I figured out they got rid of the Pizza Place, I found that it seemed much better.  Didn't they add Nathan Fillon later on in the series too?  That may have something to do with why I liked it better...

Farscape also got marginally better in the later seasons, though by the end of it's final season they were clearly just trying to tie off the loose ends moreso than story.

[Jack]

Dark Shadows - it started out as a fairly standard soap opera, and as such was pretty dull.  Then it was going to be canceled, and series creator Dan Curtis more or less said "heck with it, let's have some fun" and he started introducing supernatural plots and characters.  Barnabas Collins, the vampire, being the first and foremost among them.  The rating skyrocketed and from then on the show was full of some of the most exciting plots and interesting characters ever to exist in soap opera history.  Just to prove the point, when the show was released on DVD, they skipped all the episodes from the beginning, and started right out with the introduction of Barnabas Collins.  It's only now that they've released everything through the end of the series that they're going back and releasing the first few seasons.

[Frogger]

Stargate series 1-8. While 9 and 10 where nice it just was not as good.

SGA the first series I thought was awful but it really picked up.

[Raffine]

Newhart started out as a fairly typical, bland sitcom featuring Bob Newhart's character being slightly annoyed by a cast of stereotypically wacky neighbors at his Vermont inn. Over the the years it morphed into one of the most bizarre, surreal, and hilarious programs since Green Acres.

Best last episode ever.

[wickednick]

South park, is one of those shows i think thats gotten better as it got older, mostly because its writing got better and the episodes made more sense. Plus I like the politics of the show.
Id agree with seasons 1-8 of stargate. Seasons 9 and 10 plots were kind of lac luster, even though the effects got way better.

[Doggett]

X Files.
Doggett didn't turn up untill series 8.