What Show Should Have Only Had One Season?

[Reynard]

I would argue that any show that maintains a "good" status for several seasons wouldn't make this list, even if its ending sucked or the later seasons don't live up to the magic of the first season. If the show is still "good" even if its not great, I don't think its a candidate.

compared to like Heroes for example that starts its nose dive right from the 2nd season.

The intent is not just shows that got bad, but shows that were "perfect" in their first season. tat's why I included True Detective. yes, S2 was a misstep, but the others have been good. But S1 is perfect -- maybe the best television ever made.

 

[MarkB]

Altered Carbon. The second season still hit some interesting subject matter, but it didn't have as strong a story or characters as the first season.

 

[A2Z]

Altered Carbon. The second season still hit some interesting subject matter, but it didn't have as strong a story or characters as the first season.

Ugh, that second season. It suffered from being a mashup of the last two books and their weird retcon of what the envoys were.

 

[Krachek]

Lost

 

[MGibster]

I mean, there's two different concepts here:
*A show that only needed a single season to tell its story but kept going anyway
*A show that was only good for its first season but you could've been great if its later seasons were better

That's fair. Just because a show had a best first season doesn't mean it should have only had one season. The Walking Dead deserved and got more than one good season, so it doesn't belong on this list.

 

[Reynard]

That's fair. Just because a show had a best first season doesn't mean it should have only had one season. The Walking Dead deserved and got more than one good season, so it doesn't belong on this list.

Other than the pilot, I don't even think S1 was the best of Walking Dead. It hit its stride 3 or 4 seasons in (then squandered all goodwill with death rugpulls).

 

[Umbran]

I mean, there's two different concepts here:
*A show that only needed a single season to tell its story but kept going anyway
*A show that was only good for its first season but you could've been great if its later seasons were better

I think of it slightly differently:

*A show that only needed a single season to tell its story, but kept going anyway.

*A show that was great for its first season, but what followed was so bad that it should not have been made - the world would be a better place if the latter work didn't exist.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

compared to like Heroes for example that starts its nose dive right from the 2nd season.

The moment they failed to kill off the big two characters at the end of the season one finale -- which is where the show had clearly been headed all season -- I had a bad feeling about what was to come, and was right.

They just didn't know how to handle their lower level supes alongside the two god-tier ones and just flailed about as a result.

 

[Stalker0]

The moment they failed to kill off the big two characters at the end of the season one finale -- which is where the show had clearly been headed all season -- I had a bad feeling about what was to come, and was right.

They just didn't know how to handle their lower level supes alongside the two god-tier ones and just flailed about as a result.

Yeah it was a huge mistake to shift Peter from "I can copy any one power at a time" to "I can just absorb all powers". You can't balance a character like that.

 

[Belen]

Heroes