Family Guy - While more "Flanderization" when all the characters became parodies of their previous selves, the real thing is when all of a sudden every joke needed to be "explained". i.e. someone trips while running and then one of the character says "AHHH HE TRIPPED AND HE FELL". Ruined every joke for me, was done with it after that. Kind of one decision, I'm sure someone said "people don't get the jokes" and ruined the show for me.

House - When they suddenly swapped the cast out. Some people really liked it, for me that was the end of the original premise of the show.

How I Met Your Mother - Lily and Marshall's baby. Having a baby in a show is always kind of the "Okay the romance story is over and the writers are out of ideas" but it was done so badly. Lily was always an extremely selfish character, and she was insufferable through everything, from making the literal choice to have a child based on some fated chance to shaming Marshall for having the gall to - go to work to support all of them while she did... nothing? Did she even have a job? Constant guilt trips and manipulation, she was the worst character but their relationship was just straight-up toxic when she got pregnant.

That 70's Show - Having Donna stay home from college - 4 years of characterization thrown out the window. She was always a strong independent woman and now she's just apparently throwing away her future? She attends remote classes for a while then it just disappears. Then suddenly Eric has this big revelation later that him marrying her might lead to an unsatisifed future? It was all just very clear that the writers didn't know how to handle her being gone - a very common coming of age issue

X-Files - The move to California. Enough said.

[–] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

On a smaller and younger scale it was like this with the Super Friends (justice league).

Superman: "I'm going to punch this asteroid that was on a direct course to destroy metropolis which will break it in half, one half fills the gap in a bridge a train is about to cross and the other plugs a hole in a dam"

superman proceeds to do just that and it pissed very young me off.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The Super Friends was a wild show. There's an episode where they fight the literal fucking Titanic and kill it by tricking it into running into another iceberg. I'm not joking or exaggerating.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 36 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

The Witcher showrunners were going to have Geralt and Yennifer have a child. This was also the decision that made Cavill leave the show, which just cemented my choice to not bother with the following season.

Do what you will with the overall plot line and stories you wanna tell, but god that is such an egregious change that fucks up so much about the character's motivations since canonically, Witchers are fucking sterile and can't have kids, but Geralt really wants to be a father. That's one of the reasons he attached himself to Ciri.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wasn't the same true for sorceresses

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Geralt's mother was a sorcereress. Sterility and birth defects are a side effect of long term magic use and alchemy but not 100%

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Okay, I remembered it being a thing but wasn't 100% sure on the details. Been a while since I read the books. I remember it being a major thing with Yennefer, she was similarly infertile like Geralt and also wanted a child

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[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

That is beyond stupid, to the point where anyone proposing it has shown they not only don't respect the source material, but actively hate it. That is like the central feature of the interpersonal relationships in the books.

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[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 28 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Not sure if it counts, but I loved the Lord of the Rings movies. Had high hopes for The Hobbit, but the way they portrayed Thorin completely broke it for me. Didn't bother watching the other two.

[–] higgsboson@piefed.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

You didnt miss much. They were very forgettable.

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[–] DaMummy@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Jessica Jones. Season one was fucking magnificent. Season 2+ is.... A second season of that show. My understanding is, that they changed the writing staff of the show.

[–] sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

The end of season one set up season two to be a hard boiled detective show. That would have been cool. Stand alone episodes with an overlying story arc

[–] rozodru@pie.andmc.ca 19 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Controversial take but Star Trek Voyager.

When I was a kid I loved it, it was my favourite Star Trek. then they introduced Seven of Nine and suddenly it became a borgfest.

I liked it because it was all new alien races, stuff that's NEVER been in Star Trek before...and then they were like "no ones watching, lets bring in the Borg."

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

As I recall, the first introduction of the Borg was in the Delta Quadrant (when Q tossed the Enterprise there as a lark). So not including them would seem like a huge oversight considering their dominance.

This was also after First Contact came out, I assume that had something to do with it.

There was also still a huge host of episodes that had nothing to do with borg, aside from the occasional "We need to improve this technology because plot reasons, let's throw some borg nanites in it or something". It wasn't wholly focused on the borg.

[–] Steve@startrek.website 8 points 2 weeks ago

Disagree

[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

I think you mean Seven of Fine

[–] zewm@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

I have the opposite opinion. Voyager was my first trek as a kid as well. Upon rewatching it, the show actually isn’t great until seven shows up. It kinda drags ass until season 4.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Interesting. DS9 would’ve been more to your liking then. The Borg were only in the first episode as one or two scenes to set up Sisko’s character arch. After that, it’s mostly new races, and more advanced development of existing boring races (i.e. Ferringhi, Bajorians).

[–] jbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The 2nd episode of "Man in the High Castle" when you realize they just copied the setting and are going to ignore the key elements (and strengths) of the book.

I gave up on the adaption about 5 min into the second episode.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 7 points 2 weeks ago

phew. I tried to watch that and the premise seemed so good but ugh. knew nothing about the ip so im glad its not just me who found it sorta crappy.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I enjoyed that show immensely, until the rushed last season. I didn’t read the book though.

[–] d00phy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I actually liked the series better than the book. And I generally like PKD.

[–] jbone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a fair arguement, I can understand your perspective.

I think my negative view of the series is more due to my expectations (I think I started watching it right after finishing Electric Dreams, which I thought was very well done).

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Well, no one else mentioned it, so I will.

Altered Carbon. Season one was solid. I completely bought Joel Kinnaman as a strung-out anti-hero.

Anthony Mackie? Not so much. Falcon? Yes, that guy emanates Boy Scout vibes, but he looked ridiculous having a drink at the bar. I didn't buy him as the same character for one second. Completely miscast. Flabbergasted at that one decision, though it had nothing to do with the writers.

[–] bananabenana@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

S2 writing was laughable compared to S1. Cringe as. Mackie did well with what he was given IMO. I rewatched S1 a few months ago though, absolute pulpy banger

[–] GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Anything that's been "adapted" in the last decade or so: Witcher? Dog shit. Halo? Hell no. Wheel of Time? Fuck off. Amazon LoTR? Fucking spare me. Disney ANYTHING?!? I'd rather set myself on fire than validate the raping of all my childhood heroes.

Writers are an extinct species. All we have now are cultural vandals.

[–] Skavau@piefed.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

There have been some good adaptations though, even ones that did their own thing - like Foundation.

[–] bananabenana@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Castlevania is fucking sick tho. Watchmen the series is arguably equivalent to the OG comic in terms of writing and artistic quality.

There are genuinely great adaptations out there.

[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Most of human history has been this way. People telling and re-telling their own fanfiction or alternate versions of everything from Greek tragedies to the Bible to everything else.

There have been good adaptations. The Castlevania anime was great. The first one at least.

I think the bigger issue is the trend of putting a lot of money and effort into season 1 to make a good impression and try to get loyal fans, then to take all the money out for subsequent seasons and hope the fans stick around.

It's interesting that you mention the Witcher because I thought season 1 was way better than anything the games did. I could see how the structure in particular might not be for everyone. After season 1 it's obvious that everything went cheap- the lighting, the costumes, the makeup, the locations, the editing, the sound design, the CG effects, the writing. I normally don't even have an appreciation for costume design, but by season 3 it looked like they went to Spirit for Geralt's armor and Kohl's for Yennifer's dresses.

Arcane was another one. Season 1 was way better than anything League of Legends did during the few years I played. Season 2 was still... Okay, but the writing was terrible. The backgrounds went from detailed panoramas of piltover to just stylized colored fog. A lot of the characters seem to do things that go against their previously established motives or just do things that don't actually make sense but are required to move the plot along.

To bring it back to Castlevania- after the original series, the Nocturne series felt like a cheap knockoff. Which was a real shame because it was the same studio and I really enjoyed most of their other work.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I started watching 'The 100.'

I gave up when the folks from orbit decided that they had to massacre the ground dwellers.

This was after a dozen of so other massacres.

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[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 weeks ago

the 100 after that moment

[–] pleasejustdie@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Dexter. 1 ep after trinity, I stopped. Decided lithgow had a perfect ending.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

It really was the peak of what i remember from the show. It does having an intriguing consequence that Dexter starts to be concerned his son will have the same reaction that Dexter did to witnessing his mother's death and starts monitoring him for signs. If I remember correctly, he's both concerned that his son will be cursed to be like him, but also excited by the idea of having a bond and mentorship with him through it. But even that gets a bit hamfisted as I recall and ultimately goes nowhere. The show really whimpered out in later seasons.

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[–] zewm@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Doctor who. Every decision after Capaldi.

[–] higgsboson@piefed.social 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you mean? Capaldi is still the Doctor and no one will convince me otherwise.

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[–] stray@pawb.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

My problems with the show started earlier, still during Tennant's run. They kept writing scenes where his companion would gush about how great he is, and The Doctor would brag about himself in a way that didn't feel like a character flaw. I preferred the writing when he would make a good Dalek, when Rose had the realization she'd been kidnapped by a fae creature. Everything's gotten so chipper and quirky, and I don't feel like the writing is thought about very deeply.

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[–] termaxima@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Game of Thrones.

[–] Crewman@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Which one of their many bad decisions?

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[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I wouldn't say "unwatchable" but one thing I really didn't like about the King of the Hill revival was aging everyone up. Mainly because it made Bobby a relatively normal, not very funny adult which eliminated like half the comedy from the show.

[–] pleasestopasking@reddthat.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

Aww man, I thought Bobby was great in the reboot.

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[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Battlestar Galactica. I didn't even really like the show because of the tone anyways... but in the last episode of the first season they throw the female lead in the bed of the male lead who was a "bad guy" for some reason.

I realized they didn't actually care about plot at that point, and were just going for shock value.

[–] Skavau@piefed.social 3 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

Are you referring to when

spoiler

Starbuck slept with Gaius?

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[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

Not really decisions by the writers, but more losing the good cast members.

Misfits and Being Human UK

[–] Redacted@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Eureka. The time travel, and that god fucking damn bunker

[–] figjam@midwest.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

Bob's Burgers around season 5 or 6. The tone changed and it was less learning about some ratchet ass setting and meeting the people in it and more about sticking to the established normalized rules for the setting. Mort kinda vanished.

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Two words: Daisy Johnson.

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[–] Gnomie@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I was watching Mr Mercedes and the first season was interesting but after the second show in the second season, I quit. I don’t know what the writers were thinking but that was enough for me.

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