10 TV Shows Ruined By Their Own Popularity

It was all going so well until you started watching them.

The Simpsons Homer
Fox

In an age of Netflix releasing all the episodes of its original series in one go the old idea of TV shows releasing a single episode a week feels rather antiquated. Far from just taking advantage of the convenience of not having to adhere to air-times (streaming is, after all, 24/7), it allows for a much higher level of creativity - you don't have production running into the release window, where episodes are made after the initial reaction is known.

It's a similar approach that has allowed shows from the likes of HBO to prompt the "better than movies" argument. Still, over the course of seasons it's impossible to live in a bubble, particularly with armchair critics making their feelings known in droves online, and unfortunately, rather than sticking to their laurels, TV writers and producers can all too often buckle to (or under) fan pressure.

Although it's all based out of love of the product, extreme popularity can actually destroy the series it's aimed at. Today we bring you ten shows that were utterly ruined by their popularity. Maybe their existence was dragged out at the behest of the fans, or the writers got totally overwhelmed by their plaudits, but something went wrong and formerly awesome series ended up spiralling downwards.

We're discussing the whole plots of completed shows and incredibly recent developments for those that are still airing so naturally spoilers abound...

In this post: 
The Simpsons
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.