(#3) Homeland
- Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Rupert Friend
In 2018, Homeland began its seventh season, yet it's been dead in the water for some time. Ever since Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) survived longer than he should have (beyond the first season), the show has given viewers nothing but diminishing returns.
Robert Rorke of the New York Post ravaged the third season of the show, saying "Seldom in the history of cable TV has a series imploded as quickly as Showtime's Homeland... The show, in the middle of its third season, is now impossible to take seriously." Whether it was Season 1 or Season 3 where things went bad, the show is at least four seasons past its prime.
(#5) The Middle
- Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott
At the end of Season 1, The Middle had run its course. Despite this, the series continued, and enjoys heavy syndication. Its viewership is declining, with Season eight marking its lowest average audience numbers yet, but still it persists. Patricia Heaton plays the overworked mother Frankie, who's basically just a nicer version of Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond. The real kicker, though, is her husband Mike (Neil Flynn). The actor was absolutely adored by Scrubs fans for his hilarious performance as the Janitor, yet in the next sitcom he chose to work on, he is supremely boring. While coastal fans gave up years ago, Middle America still loves the show, so it may limp along forever.
(#13) The Simpsons
- Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner
In 2018, The Simpsons brought forth its 29th season. Twenty-nine years is a long time, and even the generation of adult cartoons that The Simpsons spawned is getting old, with Family Guy having 16 seasons and South Park over 20. A Season 6 episode of South Park was even titled "Simpsons Already Did It," implying that these types of shows can't really do anything new, since all storylines are recycled to an extent.
Well, that episode aired in 2002. If The Simpsons already did everything there was to do over 15 years ago, how have they kept it going? The Simpsons's highest viewership actually came with Season one (in the '80s), which averaged 27.8 million viewers. Season 28 only averaged 4.8 million viewers, which is actually the second lowest to date, as the previous season managed to dip below that.
(#9) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T
Really, how long can viewers watch Mariska Hargitay frown? Law and Order: SVU has been on since the previous century, and it actually began as a spin-off. Also, Ice-T, the guy famous for the song "Cop Killer," has played a cop for 20 years. While the show's ratings have shown a slight dip, it hasn't plummeted enough to put the series to bed, so there's really no end in sight. When its inevitable 21st Season comes to fruition, it will have outlived its ancestor, Law & Order, and that's kind of insane.
(#10) Shameless
- Emmy Rossum, William H. Macy, Ethan Cutkosky
In the most recent few seasons, Shameless exemplifies the most tell-tale sign of excessive longevity: creators are starting to rewrite the show's history. They've rebranded Lip (Jeremy Allen White) by thrusting Eddie's (Levy Tran) niece upon him in order to make him more likable, a trope made all the more problematic by the fact that Eddie herself is rather contrived. Originally, she was only ever utilized to generate plot lines for Lip.
Worse than that, creators rewrote the entire narrative of Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey's (Noel Fisher) relationship, turning it into a volatile, destructive thing, simply because Fisher planned to leave the show. Season eight felt like the writers had expected to call it quits a season or two earlier, so the overarching themes and character growth had to be altered to continue on. Once external necessity dictates the writing process, it's time to put down the pen.
(#1) Grey's Anatomy
- Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson
Grey's Anatomy is basically a soap opera. In the first 14 seasons, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has discovered not one, but two secret sisters, she conceived her third child with McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) while he was on his deathbed (and those kids are hardly ever seen), plus McDreamy died. The guy who was essentially the number two character dies in Season 11, along with a whole lot of other fan favorites. There have been over 20 deaths of characters who were at least somewhat integral to the show, so chances are your favorite character isn't even part of the series anymore.
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About This Tool
There are always longer TV series, the audiences run in watching the long-running dramas all their lives. It is hard to imagine The Guiding Light lasted 72 years after its first release in 1937, and the Guinness Book of Records called it the longest TV series in the world. In fact, there are still many TV series that have been continuously updated in recent years. People can't predict when these TV series will be the finale, maybe next year, maybe 10 years later.
Usually, these long-running TV series are great for the family, because their plots are mostly about family, friendship, and daily life. But we must be aware that when the total number of episodes of a TV dramas reaches 3 digits, it is impossible for every episode to be great. Here the random tool shows 15 long-running TV series that people should stop watching.
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