Recently, u/witchy_eye asked r/AskReddit “Which show do you think started as a 10/10 but ended as a 1/10?” Here are some of the best submissions:
Warning: slight spoilers ahead.
1.Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)
ABC
“The show was always a little weird, but that first season, I felt like they really, truly had something cool. As the seasons went on, though, it just kept dragging…it had so much potential and a very large character pool to choose from…I never really understood how they messed that all up.”–IBrittadThis
Overview: A young woman with a troubled past is drawn to a small town in Maine where fairy tales are to be believed.
2.House of Cards (2013-2018)
Netflix
“One of the best shows ever for the first few seasons and then ended in the most disappointing fashion ever.” – RogueTiger23
“Really jumped the shark.” – MRC1986
Overview: A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
3.Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017)
ABC Family
“It just kept going on and on even though the story had ended.”–rdavis284
“They should have stopped after they found A the first time!”–fancyFranzi_
Overview: Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, while also investigating the disappearance of their best friend.
4.Grey’s Anatomy (2005 – present)
ABC
“I’m on Season 14, but everything is the same. Same medical conditions, same plots, same everything. It’s a great show, but it’s just so repetitive.”–esk_680
Overview: A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.
5.Shameless (2011-2021)
Showtime
“It got harder to watch the longer it went on.”–NickElso579
“It was 10/10 for several seasons. Once Debbie got pregnant and Fiona married a heroin addict, I stopped watching.”–Affectionate_Lead865
Overview: A scrappy, feisty, fiercely loyal Chicago family makes no apologies.
6.The Walking Dead (2010-2022)
AMC
“It overstayed its welcome to the point that it inadvertently erased itself from the mainstream consciousness.” –whoknows130
Overview: Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn the world is in ruins and must lead a group of survivors to stay alive.
7.That ’70s Show (1998-2006)
Fox
“By the final season, it was almost unwatchable. It didn’t feel at all like the fun show I watched for years.”–Arkhangelzk
Overview: A comedy revolving around a group of teenage friends, their mishaps, and their coming of age, set in 1970s Wisconsin.
8.Westworld (2016-2022)
HBO
“Season 1 was tight and mindbending, but by Season 3, the plot felt so tangled, I stopped caring.”–Ok_Map_31
Overview: At the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.
9.The 100 (2014-2020)
The CW
“I loved that show but the ending was just terrible.”–PoxControl
Overview: Set 97 years after a nuclear war destroyed civilization, a spaceship housing humanity’s lone survivors sends 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth, hoping to repopulate the planet.
10.Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
HBO
“It went from peak cinema to some rushed, bullshit ending. Season 8 💔.”–Chips899
Overview: Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
11.How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)
CBS
“They built a whole show around meeting the mother, only to kill her off in the last season and have Ted go back to Robin.”
Overview: A father recounts to his children the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.
12.Prison Break (2005-2017)
Fox
“Once they escaped prison the first time, they probably should have just ended the show.”–Madea_onFire
Overview: A structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside.
13.Weeds (2005-2012)
Showtime
“The show was great when it was just a single mother selling weed on the side. It lost the plot with the whole Mexican cartel plotline.”–shadownight311
Overview: When a suburban mother turns to dealing marijuana in order to maintain her privileged lifestyle after her husband dies, she finds out just how addicted her entire neighborhood already is.
14.13 Reasons Why (2017-2020)
Netflix
“Netflix really did a good job filming the plot of the book in Season 1 and had a realistic follow-up in Season 2, but then it got so fucked up and disrespectful to the author.” –sheeta695
Overview: Follows teenager Clay Jensen in his quest to uncover the story behind his classmate and crush, Hannah, and her decision to end her life.
15.Killing Eve (2018-2022)
BBC
“Anything past Season 2 was unwatchable.”–Weird-Part-5994
Overview: After a series of events, the lives of a security operative and an assassin become inextricably linked.
16.Suits (2011-2019)
USA Network
“Every single episode just became a repeat of another episode.”–Beanruz
“I watched obsessively and thought I was prepared for Mike (Patrick J. Adams) and Rachel (Meghan Markle) leaving, but a few episodes after they were gone…I just fell off.”–onedayitshere
Overview: On the run from a drug deal gone bad, brilliant college dropout Mike Ross finds himself working with Harvey Specter, one of New York City’s best lawyers.
17.Gilmore Girls and Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life (2000-2007, 2016)
The WB
“A Year In The Life is one of the worst things I’ve seen, and I loved the original series deeply.”–mymorninglark
Overview: A dramedy centering around the relationship between a 30-something single mother and her teen daughter living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut.
18.Yellowstone (2018-2024)
Paramount Network
“I’m currently halfway through Season 5 and it feels like I’m watching an endless stream of country music videos.”–ThreeLivesInOne
Overview: A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.
19.Finally, Lost (2004-2010)
ABC
“I will die mad about the years of my life I’ll never get back that were wasted on that show.”–civilSurvivorMum
Overview: The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.
H/T to u/witchy_eye and r/AskReddit for having the discussion!
Did we miss any shows? Sound off in the comments below!
Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.