freesharon

When I enjoy a new show for a season or two but then find it growing stale or repetitive or degenerating into self-parody, prompting me to stop planning to see it and eventually to turn it off when I happen across it accidentally, that's a show that I will give a vote of 3 and then write a comment explaining that I'm not panning the entire run of the show but only the later seasons. Unfortunately, in this case, the 'earlier seasons' means the first half of the first season, so I'm only giving it a 2. It wasn't that I didn't think it was funny, it was more that I could tell most of what would happen each week just by watching the commercials. And because the story lines are convoluted and intertwined, I can't just watch it once in a while and enjoy it either.

I give a show a 3 if I really enjoyed it for the first year or two, but then found it growing stale, stopped planning to watch it, and eventually turned it off when I accidentally ran across it. It's especially annoying to be disappointed by a show you used to consider a favorite. (When I give a low score for this reason I always comment so that it's clear I'm not slamming the entire run of the show but only the later seasons.) Good performers but the material degraded across time. Hope to see them turn back up on the schedule, preferably not in a spin off but in fresh scenarios that allow them to develop and show off aspects of their talents we have not yet seen.

One of those shows where characters became less dimensional with time; early seasons definitely worth watching but annoying toward the end. Some very good comedic talents who need fresh characters to work with. Story arcs are not the problem, but self-parody is only funny for so long. Like the lead characters on Seinfeld, I don't care for any of these people by the time it's all over, and wouldn't want them for friends or neighbors or relatives or coworkers. They seem not to really like each other either, but just to be used to each other and too weak to look for new friends. Looking forward to seeing these people in the future but please, no spin-offs.