20 Shows That Were Great At The Beginning And Then, Not So Much
One fine day, u/TheScrollingBones asked fellow Redditors on r/television an important query, "What TV show had a great pilot but became a huge disappointment a few episodes later?" Here are the answers:
1.Helix
"Not sure how many people know/remember this show, but Helix. Holy smokes it has an intense pilot that sets a great premise, and while I personally didn't find the show all in all to be a "huge disappointment," it definitely is quite mediocre, if not a bit below." —u/Faoroth
2.Designated Survivor
ABC / Via giphy.com
"Designated Survivor started out great, but then turned into utter shit in just a few episodes. It's a completely different show now... it went from a government conspiracy thriller show to some dramedy West Wing rip off, and it's not working." —u/Gato1980
3.Glee
FOX / Via giphy.com
"Glee. It had a smart, original, quirky pilot that poked fun at the type of over-saturated after-school-special soap it became after the first 13 episodes. The back nine of Season 1 is where it started to fall apart, but it was still pretty solid. Season 2 was a train wreck, and the rest of the show was almost unwatchable." —u/QueenOfTheSlayers
4.The Following
"Terrific pilot, genuinely intense thriller show. Then episode 2 was awful; episode 3 was really good, but pretty much all of it after that was mediocre to downright abysmal." —u/SongBirdsWrath
5.Under the Dome
CBS / Via giphy.com
"The first episode of Under the Dome was absolutely brilliant. The first season was flawed but watchable. The second season went completely off the fucking rails. I gave it up about the time they found a portal out and didn't just immediately round everyone up and leave." —u/Noglues
6.Sleepy Hollow
FOX / Via giphy.com
"Sleepy Hollow is one of my favorite pilots of all time, but the show never lived up to the potential set up in that episode." —u/cory120
7.Revenge
ABC / Via in.pinterest.com
"Damn good first season — but after that just one of the worst TV ever.Read rest episodes on the wiki." —u/emilyguy
8.Wayward Pines
FOX / Via giphy.com
"Pilot was amazing, and the first season was pretty good, then Season 2 came along." —u/FracturedButWh0le
9.Luke Cage
"I made it through a few episodes actually, but it just didn't appeal to me like Daredevil or Jessica Jones." —u/CrapThunder
10.The Last Man on Earth
FOX / Via giphy.com
"The Last Man on Earth is the perfect example. Was so excited for the show, then Forte and the regression to a bad normal show ruined it." —u/Maculate
11.The Cape
"The Cape was a short-lived superhero show that promised to be both grounded and suitably campy about a cop framed for murder and learning to be a hero from a group of circus performers. After the first couple of episodes, it just got too boring and serious, but the pilot was very entertaining." —u/AwesomeManatee
12.The Blacklist
NBC / Via giphy.com
"It was such a cool premise, and the characters are great. The biggest issue I feel was a lack of an endgame. They stretched too many questions out for several seasons, so I gave up." —u/TictacTyler
13.FlashForward
ABC / Via gfycat.com
"Such a great premise and opening, then every single episode that followed were so very bad. Full of pretentious dialogue with no substance, no plan, characters did things for no reason, it was enraging." —u/spektrall
14.The End of the F***ing World
Channel 4 / Via tenor.com
"The End of the F***ing World started off with the main character being a legit psycho, and then by the second or third episode, he was basically just an edgy teen." —u/[deleted]
15.The Walking Dead
AMC / Via in.pinterest.com
"Lasted one season before going to shit." —u/mickbutchers
16.Preacher
"LOVED the pilot, was amazing. I still watch the show, but it's one of those things that has a few really high highs, but many, many really low lows. The good episodes are really awesome to me, but it has like 80% of the season being kind of, well, a boring slogfest that I just push through to get to the fun parts. The show could've been so much better." —u/Mojambo213
17.Revolution
Warner Bros. / Via tenor.com
"This was a great pilot with a really interesting setup. The season was let down by fairly unlikeable, whiney lead characters and a bit of a hokey plot." —u/ParanoidQ
18.The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Amazon Prime Video / Via tenor.com
"The show wasn't bad, but I loved the pilot and thought the rest was just ok, thus disappointment ensued." —u/cronedog
19.Stargate Universe
Showtime / Via tenor.com
"The pilot was excellent, but shortly thereafter, it became arguments in space as my wife refers to it." —u/goaway432
20.The Brady Bunch
