10 TV Shows Never Better Than Their First Season

I've mentioned Lost a couple times during this article, and for good reason: It's the ultimate example of a show that peaked during its first year, and though never outright awful was never able to reach the highs it set so early in its wonderfully inventive run.

Concerning the survivors of doomed Flight 815, who crash land on a mysterious, seemingly magical island, the drama creates a whole world around its intertwined characters through the use of meticulously plotted flashbacks, effective dramatic irony, and an endless supply of tantalising mysteries.

The way J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof slowly reveal the characters' innermost secrets and the increasingly strange horrors of the island is quite simply a masterclass of storytelling. It's so good, in fact, that the rest of the series fails to match it, and ends up overburdening itself with questions never answered.

Lost is worth watching all the way through - to date, it's surely one of the most engaging and unique shows you're ever likely to see - but even so it doesn't maintain the excellence of its first season. Few shows could, come to think of it.