Westworld! By far!
Altered Carbon
The first season, with Joel Kinnaman, was fantastic; but, honestly, I’ll watch anything he does – and doubly so if Mireille Enos is in the cast as well. The two have fantastic chemistry. But S1 had a great story and was done very well.
I was so upset he wasnt in season 2, and I fully knew he wouldnt be in it. Just couldn’t do it.
The Handmaid’s Tale would’ve been a much tighter story.
Westworld goes without saying.
These two get my vote.
Season 2 could have been as good I think. Maybe an unpopular opinion but I also got tired of the lead actress’ acting style.
Yeah I could see s2 having legs, just not the s2 we got.
I’d have preferred an extra long finale where the robots just slaughter every human for 60 minutes and then destroy the park
Servant. The drop in quality and atmosphere between season 1 and the following 3 is beyond baffling. Goes from psychological thriller to sitcom very quick and I felt sorry for the cast by the end.
Yellowjackets. Extremely tight, well plotted season 1, with an amazing cast. By season 2 the writers had dropped the ball so hard, cast members started complaining publicly and/or just leaving the show. It’s probably the most egregious example I can think of of writers promising a 5-season plan while so clearly and unapologetically making shit up as they go.
Stranger things. Season 1 was perfect, 2 & 3 were mid except for the nostalgia factor. I’ll die on this hill.
Stranger Things would have been a perfect anthology show too, while still getting to explore the in universe lore.
Stranger Things would’ve worked better if they had changed the characters and “big bad” each season and had Matthew Modine’s evil scientist as the running thread through the series.
I stopped at S2, it was too much of a drop for me.
Omg, I’m not the only one.
Quick, I know where we can hide. 😭😂
I wouldn’t even say season 1 was perfect, but yes, at least it had a reason to exist. Season 2 was so offensively and aggressively bad I stopped watching.
They could’ve even done the IT thing and had them be older, but now they don’t look right for the roles
That last season was about 10 episodes too long as far as what content was actually written.
The Bear. Season 1 was a fresh mix of fast paced foodporn and insult comedy. Now its just people sitting around depressed, never being funny nor going anywhere. Like, family anxiety porn? As if anyone actually wants that.
The family anxiety porn also applies to Shamekess, which has the same actor as The Bear
That show went on way too long but it was not a 1 season show. I’d have to rewatch but I believe it was a solid 5 or 6 seasons. The rest has good bits here and there but its not the standout it was from before.
Definitely not a 1 season show, and at points it was very good.
Just somewhere it fell off the rails
It started to get a little stale earlier but I think it really started to suck when Fiona left and they tried to make Debbie the new Fiona.
She bailed because she thought she was better than the show and was going to have a big movie career but she’s done fuck all since.
Squid Game.
season 2 was fine, still not slop. but definitely not necessary.
next season will be pure slop though
Next season is already out. It’s … not bad compared to the first as far as having upsetting things on screen, but the problem is it’s purposefully not a happy story. So many people are upset that it didn’t follow a cliche narrative pattern, but what happens is kinda’… literally the point of the show’s existence?
Basically, it’s worth a watch, but only if you understand that it is not a happy story. On purpose. That’s the point. (some of the twists were still a bit dumb, though)
I thought season 2 was in two parts.
it was fine.
by next season I mean the American version
it’s squid games. from the death games horror genre, if you expect a happy story you have only yourself to blame
Yea, and they were never going to let most of the characters survive even in the best of cases, so the people getting upset at this or that character dying is kinda’ hilarious.
like a vegan ordering a steak
Prison Break.
Idk if this is the worst per se but a good example is Russian Doll.
When I see questions like this I’m not just thinking of shows that had a good first season but then a step down in quality. There are lots of shows like that.
I’m thinking of shows where the first season completely stands on its own, perhaps even intended to be a miniseries, but for whatever reason a second season is greenlit.
Russian Doll had a fantastic first season that told its own story. The second season just felt unnecessary and was pretty forgettable.
Not to mention the awkward retcon that erased the ending of season one with a single line of dialogue.
Shogun.
Heroes
I think it was originally meant to be more of an anthology show, but they chickened out because of how popular all the characters were.
they show was so consistent in its enshitification, that when you finish then last season you end up questioning your life choices
The Matrix
Yeah I know
Twin Peaks, it was supposed to only be one season, but they forced it to go another season, so David Lynch just stuffed the second season with pointless bullshit until the last couple episodes and then did what he intended to do in season one. You can skip almost all of the second season and not miss anything, literally nothing matters until the end.
Yall know they made a second season of Tiger King? It’s just as stupid as you’d think I gave up like 1 episode in
Broadchurch.
Such an amazing show with an excellent cast. Deeply thrilling and moving, difficult to watch at times but totally compelling. Came out at a time where the idea of binge watching shows was relatively new and really hooked you in the tragedy and mystery of the story.
The second and third seasons just failed to capture what made the first so compelling. Decisions made in those seasons actively took away from the first season for me, though I don’t want to say much for spoilers-sake.
I would still recommend it 100%, but definitely tough to watch as the subject matter does include bad things happening to children.
Totally disagree, the second season was great - though I will admit I don’t really remember 3
Agreed.
Most of American shows tbh.