Shows That Transitioned Terribly After the Original Creator Left

[coreykun667]

Very few shows have smooth transitions when the original creator or writer leaves, whether it's live-action or animated.

For starters, I'm going to go with Dexter's Laboratory after Genndy Tartakovsky left. The first two seasons and the Ego Trip movie were great and had lively animation. After a hiatus, they made the boneheaded decision to revive the series under Chris Savino. Fucking terrible decision if you ask me. It became a different show after that. I like to pretend seasons 3 and 4 don't exist.

Also the show took an awful hit aesthetically too, when it transitioned to digital animation for those seasons. The visual style just seemed bland and dead for me.

Anyone have certain shows in mind, or ones that transitioned well?

 

[Gog]

Ren & Stimpy was awful after John K was no longer involved.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Simpsons

 

[Ip Man]

smallville. although even the earlier seasons are too cheesy to watch now. one show that didn't age well.

 

[evil wasabi]

Heroes
One season the writers went on strike and the result was 6 episodes of completely new shit that was abandoned after the writers came back.

 

[theMot]

First season of Spartacus was good. Once the first Spartacus died it went to shit.

 

[100proof]

Simpsons

/thread

 

[famicommander]

Heroes and Smallville were horrible at every point in their respective existences

Nothing has ever happened in any episode of Heroes. Scientific fact. It's all build up for stuff that never happens.

 

[evil wasabi]

First season of Spartacus was good. Once the first Spartacus died it went to shit.

False.

 

[Taiso]

themot proves that his value to this site is not his critical eye.

 

[Mr Bakaboy]

The Boondocks. Season 4 was a train wreck and the people involved admitted it.

 

[oliverclaude]

Miami Vice wasn't ever the same after Mann left after the second season. The late movie was only ok. The West Wing lost me, too after Sorkin "exited".

 

[Taiso]

The Brady Bunch just wasn't the same after cousin Oliver moved in.

Happy Days after Richie left was legit terrible but at least we got the perfect phrase to describe a calamitous plot twist out of it.

 

[Igakajook]

The Boondocks. Season 4 was a train wreck and the people involved admitted it.

Why did Adult Swim think it was a good idea to put out a season without McGruder? Makes no sense.

 

[famicommander]

Why did Adult Swim think it was a good idea to put out a season without McGruder? Makes no sense.

because money

 

[Arcademan]

Tom and Jerry. Once William Hanna and Joseph Barbera left and fell into the hands of people like Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones, it was the shadow of its former self.

 

[famicommander]

Gargoyles is a good one. Greg Weisman was a co-creator, co-producer, and later supervising producer for the first two seasons of the show, which were fantastic. Then he left and the third season was awful.

 

[Ip Man]

Miami Vice wasn't ever the same after Mann left after the second season. The late movie was only ok. The West Wing lost me, too after Sorkin "exited".

i always thought mann did all the episodes right to the end.

 

[neo_X7]

Twin Peaks

 

[Maury V.]

Disney's Doug - Jim Jenkins wasn't really involved in it. He was busy working on 101 Dalmatians and PB & J Otter.

Johnny Bravo after season 1 - Season one had the creator Van Partable, director and occassional writer Butch Hartman (creator of The Fairly Oddparents) and writer Seth McFarlane (Family Guy, etc) on board. After that, it went to shit.

The Powerpuff Girls 2016 reboot - The original creator is not involved and it's HORRIBLE. They're trying to be like Teen Titans Go!

 

[norton9478]

Seinfeld
SNL

 

[StevenK]

Prison break - season 1 was great, season 2 was ok, then season 3 onwards descended into an utter farce. Large parts of season 3 had the main bad guy running round in dirty, old man's underpants, for absolutely no reason, it was fucking hilarious. By the end of season 4 he was now one of the heroes despite never doing anything good for any other character. It was like the writers of each season had never seen the previous seasons, an unmissable train wreck. Loved it.

 

[aoiddr]

smallville. although even the earlier seasons are too cheesy to watch now. one show that didn't age well.

I really like some of those early Smallville episodes from season 1-3, but the freak of the week plots do make it hard to rewatch, definitely. The lowest point of that show, for me, was season 4 during that whole witches thing. Pete Ross's kryptonite car racing thing was also dreadful. Smallville did get really good when it shifted to Metropolis and Geoff Johns and other writers started actively bringing over other DC Universe teams and characters. Sure, it's nothing like the Arrowverse we have now, but seeing the Justice Society, Legion of Super-Heroes, Booster Gold, Zatanna, etc show up for the first time was really special to experience.

Prison break - season 1 was great, season 2 was ok,

I couldn't make it past Season 2 episode 1. The recasting of parts and randomly killing off certain characters in that season opener just lost me completely.

Heroes
One season the writers went on strike and the result was 6 episodes of completely new shit that was abandoned after the writers came back.

Yeah, that entire aborted plague timeline. Season 2 wasn't very enjoyable at times, but the strike killed that entire arc they were leading to.

Twin Peaks

Sure, the show lost steam after ABC forced them to solve the show's mcguffin and things got more than a bit silly seeing Agent Cooper doing random stuff like fishing... that said, the last half of Season 2 and the truly bat-sh*t insane final episode and the cliffhanger they left is the reason the show was never forgotten.




Anyway, my addition to this thread...
The Walking Dead
That show had an excellent first season. Season 2 was downright boring at times. The Governor arc definitely helped bring things back on track...and then it's just been slowly getting more and more unwatchable. When Fear the Walking Dead has episodes that are more interesting than the main show, you know you have a problem.

 

[coreykun667]

Why did Adult Swim think it was a good idea to put out a season without McGruder? Makes no sense.

Even then, Season 3 didn't seem all that great to me either, and that still had McGruder. Season 2 was without a doubt the peak of the series, imho.

 

[wyo]

Prison break - season 1 was great, season 2 was ok, then season 3 onwards descended into an utter farce. Large parts of season 3 had the main bad guy running round in dirty, old man's underpants, for absolutely no reason, it was fucking hilarious. By the end of season 4 he was now one of the heroes despite never doing anything good for any other character. It was like the writers of each season had never seen the previous seasons, an unmissable train wreck. Loved it.

Prison Break season 1 was so good I stuck through to the end of the show despite the drop off with subsequent seasons. IIRC, 3 was hit by the writer's strike and from that point on they were taking the piss, albeit in an entertaining way. Did you watch the new season?