Hello America, one question. Why do you ruin all your best television shows?

[Scars Unseen]

We run our television series like we run our government and economy: Into the fucking ground.

 

[Nemesis729]

Your problem is with fox, not America, And Two and a Half Men was never good

 

[Tdc2182]

Hahaha.

I read this topic and I saw "Hello Americans, why do you suck?".

I meeped.

OT: Yeah... We suck.

We either destroy and mangle something till it is beyond anything that could once be recognized as funny (Scrubs), or shoot good talent and Eye sex into the ground when it hits its stride (Dead Wood).

 

[Mikeyfell]

So, it has come to my attention that many American TV shows are run into the ground. Series such as Scrubs, Two and a Half Men, the Simpsons and CSI(just to name a few) were great shows, but after several series they've all gone down hill, and by down hill I mean fell off a cliff.

This isn't to say America is the only offender, but it's certainly the worst by far. So while truly great and original shows like Futurama and Firefly get cancelled (although I hear Futurama is coming back), Two and a Half men, which was great to begin with, has long stopped being funny, yet it continues to run, and the less said about Scrubs, the better.

Now I understand that popular shows make a lot of money and it's for that reason that they keep going for as long as they do, but don't the writers want their shows to be remembered for being great? Not 'that one show that started great and then was pretty shit for several years'.

Here in Britian, shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder, while very popular, only ran for 2 and 4 series respectively. You can gurantee that if any of those two shows were to suddenly return with a new season, their ratings would soar. But they won't return any time soon, for one reason. The writers don't want to write a new series for the sake of writing a new series, they want their work to be just as funny as it's always been, not churning out some forced plot just for the sake of it.

It's certainly the safe option, milking a series for all it's worth (let's not forget how guilty the video game industry is that), but it saddens me to see so many good shows(say what you want about America, but they have some damn good TV shows) die, when they could have finished with a bang and always be remembered as a great series.

So, fellow escapist, what are your thoughts on the matter?

The problem is that here in America we're retarded unaware that too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

American TV shows are designed to be never-ending, and the way they do that is by never setting a plot

[sub]If the above picture doesn't make any sense to you, you'd make a great American TV writer.[/sub]

Plot's are standard in books and movies because books and movies are finite entities. having the END of a story looming helps give the action purpose. That's what makes certain shows awesome (Firefly, Buffy, a metric fuck-ton of animes I could mention, Twin Peaks, hopefully The United States of Terra, probably some foreign shows I haven't seen, and Miniseries's like The Room[sub]If you haven't seen The Room, you should get on that[/sub])

They all conform to the story arc and they all have endings.
More general American TV shows tend to go for the infinite story approach where they have a bunch of one or two season story arcs where all status quo is restored at the end but then they're on to something bigger and better and more intense. (see Burn Notice or Dexter or 24 or any show really they all get interchangeable after about 3 seasons. Dragon Ball Z is the worst offender)

Then there are comedies (2.5 men, Simpsons etc.) sit-coms, Situational Comedies, they have characters and they have situations. and that's the full extent of the plot
(Charlie is an alcoholic womanizing jingle writer, Alan is a broke divorced father, what mischief can they get up to this episode.) the good ones start out funny as all hell but then the running gags get played out and the stereotypes get tired. (South Park and The Simpsons are the only two that are consistently funny)

This got long-winded didn't it?
how's about a TL: DR

American TV shows don't follow a traditional plot line (intro, rising action, climax, falling action)
they tend to go for a more milk-able story structure (intense thing happens, status quo restored, intestine thing happens, status quo restored, repeat ad nauseum) and that gets boring fast.
the reason comedies all eventually suck is that the jokes get played out.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

So, it has come to my attention that many American TV shows are run into the ground. Series such as Scrubs, Two and a Half Men, the Simpsons and CSI(just to name a few) were great shows, but after several series they've all gone down hill, and by down hill I mean fell off a cliff.

This isn't to say America is the only offender, but it's certainly the worst by far. So while truly great and original shows like Futurama and Firefly get cancelled (although I hear Futurama is coming back), Two and a Half men, which was great to begin with, has long stopped being funny, yet it continues to run, and the less said about Scrubs, the better.

Now I understand that popular shows make a lot of money and it's for that reason that they keep going for as long as they do, but don't the writers want their shows to be remembered for being great? Not 'that one show that started great and then was pretty shit for several years'.

Here in Britian, shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder, while very popular, only ran for 2 and 4 series respectively. You can gurantee that if any of those two shows were to suddenly return with a new season, their ratings would soar. But they won't return any time soon, for one reason. The writers don't want to write a new series for the sake of writing a new series, they want their work to be just as funny as it's always been, not churning out some forced plot just for the sake of it.

It's certainly the safe option, milking a series for all it's worth (let's not forget how guilty the video game industry is that), but it saddens me to see so many good shows(say what you want about America, but they have some damn good TV shows) die, when they could have finished with a bang and always be remembered as a great series.

So, fellow escapist, what are your thoughts on the matter?

The problem is that here in America we're retarded unaware that too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

American TV shows are designed to be never-ending, and the way they do that is by never setting a plot

[sub]If the above picture doesn't make any sense to you, you'd make a great American TV writer.[/sub]

Plot's are standard in books and movies because books and movies are finite entities. having the END of a story looming helps give the action purpose. That's what makes certain shows awesome (Firefly, Buffy, a metric fuck-ton of animes I could mention, Twin Peaks, hopefully The United States of Terra, probably some foreign shows I haven't seen, and Miniseries's like The Room[sub]If you haven't seen The Room, you should get on that[/sub])

They all conform to the story arc and they all have endings.
More general American TV shows tend to go for the infinite story approach where they have a bunch of one or two season story arcs where all status quo is restored at the end but then they're on to something bigger and better and more intense. (see Burn Notice or Dexter or 24 or any show really they all get interchangeable after about 3 seasons. Dragon Ball Z is the worst offender)

Then there are comedies (2.5 men, Simpsons etc.) sit-coms, Situational Comedies, they have characters and they have situations. and that's the full extent of the plot
(Charlie is an alcoholic womanizing jingle writer, Alan is a broke divorced father, what mischief can they get up to this episode.) the good ones start out funny as all hell but then the running gags get played out and the stereotypes get tired. (South Park and The Simpsons are the only two that are consistently funny)

This got long-winded didn't it?
how's about a TL: DR

American TV shows don't follow a traditional plot line (intro, rising action, climax, falling action)
they tend to go for a more milk-able story structure (intense thing happens, status quo restored, intestine thing happens, status quo restored, repeat ad nauseum) and that gets boring fast.
the reason comedies all eventually suck is that the jokes get played out.

Makes a lot of sense. Also, you added a diagram. Bonus points for that.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

So far, Mythbusters has yet to suffer that sad fate of such other good shows.

However, the same can't be said of Swat Kats. That got canned after 2 seasons and SpongeBob lasted HOW LONG? ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! *ranting* *various fragile objects shattering*

God damn it, where's Space Ghost Coast to Coast when I need it?!?!

 

[Ice Car]

Actually, Futurama is back already. It has been since June last year. New episodes have been coming out. They use the same kind of humor and it's still as funny if not more than how it was before, in my opinion.

And really, did you forget Family Guy? Show ran straight into the ground around when they started to be retarded and have over 9000 flashbacks every episode, and basically obey the fans by killing off whoever was unpopular, never killing those that are even the show depicts them dying (OMG STEWIE DIED oh wait it's jut a simulation), or by using those people hate as horribly tossed together comedy (Meg).

But Family Guy has sucked since the start, so I guess that doesn't belong there. I don't understand why Adult Swim decided to kick Futurama off the channel and left Family Guy that half an hour. Retards...

 

[Dragonpit]

It is because America has a strong sense of pride. It is so strong in fact that anything it takes pride in inevitably becomes crappy, including America itself.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

So far, Mythbusters has yet to suffer that sad fate of such other good shows.

However, the same can't be said of Swat Kats. That got canned after 2 seasons and SpongeBob lasted HOW LONG? ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!! *ranting* *various fragile objects shattering*

God damn it, where's Space Ghost Coast to Coast when I need it?!?!

Mythbusters is educational, so just as long as people keep believing that stupid shit can happen, they'll never be out of work.

 

[Hosker]

For the money! It is much safer to continue an already successful series than to gamble on a new one.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

Could it be that there are simply way more examples of great shows going bad simply because america just makes more TV shows. Its a numbers game, more TV shows produced means more good shows which means more good-gone-bad shows to fill up your "examples" bin. There are just as many examples of good shows that stayed good for long times.

 

[Dragonpit]

Besides, live action British TV is just better.

Pfff..AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
...
You're serious?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yes I am. Live action American TV is horrible. Deal with it.

Seconded. Have you seen Top Gear? And Doctor Who... And what do we have on this side? I can't remember anything that didn't suck after the fifth season.

 

[Risingblade]

We need more shows like Married with children...

 

[Yankeedoodles]

Do American broadcasters keep shows on for longer than they deserve? Absolutely. But they make money. So....

By the way, wasn't the original Dr. Who milked for 26 years before finally being cancelled?

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I thought this was about America ruining other countries' shows.

My bad.

I laughed at how badly they screwed up their version of Cath and Kim. I've seen a couple of episodes of the Australian one, and that one episode of the American one, and even i could see straight away how the unspoken jokes went over their heads.

For example, the young one(i can't remember which is which), in the American version she looked quite young and pretty, which completely ruined the joke of her character thinking that she's really pretty ad young when she's not.
The Australian one wearing these short tops that show of her belly looked awful, which was funny. The American one looked fine in them, it even suited her, so they seemed to miss that element of the humor completely.

But i'm off topic, so i'll stop now.

 

[KafkaOffTheBeach]

I always find it kinda depressing when American shows get taken to the limit because of money, or because the creator was too dumb to do anything with it, or because the network was too fucking stupid to realise what they had on their hands.
Like Deadwood.
Fucking Deadwood.
C'mon...just give me one more season. One more. YOU NEED TO CLOSE THE STORY. C'mon...I'll pay you! One more! Please! *sobs into a corner, cradling his authentic ten gallon hat and Al Swearengen Japanese love pillow*
Stuff like Mad Men, The Sopranos, The Wire, Dexter... all great stories, well written with brilliant characters and a real sense of finality to them, as if they have started with a definite end that they want to build up to, creating plot points and character arcs that go on for seasons...but then you look at the majority of American comedy serii, you know, Family Guy, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, CSI: Miami (you know that shit is funnier than *puts glasses on* everything) etc. Initially good, or at least good-ish, run into the ground with shit. Yes there are exceptions, such as the consistently sharp as a stiletto 30 Rock, but, on the whole, mainstream American TV goes for less of a 'milking a tired concept' route, and more of a 'flogging a dead horse' one.
...
Also, Firefly could have easily gone on for another 12-13 episodes without growing stale.
...
Another also, just Devil Advocating here, but for those being pissy about UK TV, take a look at In the Thick of It and State of Play. Now that is some goddamn quality show making.

 

[Cliff_m85]

I read this as our best series, so I thought it would be a complaining thread about things like life on mars and top gear.

Oh god, I was so excited about Life on Mars coming to American television. But dammit dammit dammit. Dumbed down and strictly offensive.

Atleast we did decently with The Office.

 

[Cliff_m85]

Want to see people who love great comedy yell? Mention one show.


You know it's coming, intellectual-comedy fanbois.....



Arrested Development.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Because people run out of ideas or just bathe in so much money that they don't bother making the show with any quality anymore. With a new series, you need to be careful, and it usually has more work and is better written. If the show becomes popular and gains a lot of money, they feel that they don't need to work as hard and the show flops.