10 TV Shows Never Better Than Their First Season

HBO's once-promising sci-fi drama Westworld (based on the 1970 movie of the same name), proved able to live up to the hype with its first season, crafting a tantalising mystery around some sublime worldbuilding and complex characters.

With a committed cast, stunning visuals, and intriguing horrors, Westworld's first season seemed to have all the makings of an all-time great show, but following its debut its flaws became more clear and harder to overlook, leaving it - about to air its fourth season as of this writing - an incomprehensible shell of its former self.

Burdened by overused flashbacks, inconsistent and overstuffed worldbuilding, and poorly developed characters (despite the cast still giving it their all), Westworld falls apart around the mid-point of season two, and has yet to start digging itself out of its hole.

In another life, with some more consistent writing and a better plan, Westworld could have made it as one of the decade's best shows. But now there's no way it'll reach the highs of its debut again, dooming it as another would-could've-been of the small screen.