With television series that are giving movies a run for their money, there are so many shows that just aren’t very good. As someone who’s practically a connoisseur of bad TV, I get it, guilty pleasure shows are fun to watch even when you know it’s no where near Emmy-worthy. There should be a line though, a mark that a show reaches when it becomes too much. So the question is, is it better to stop when you’re on top or continue a show even when it’s clearly past its prime?
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of shows that last years without losing their quality (see all seven seasons of "Gilmore Girls"), but it’s a feat many shows fall short of.
After six seasons, ABCFamily’s hit drama "Pretty Little Liars" finally revealed who A is. The series’ over-arching storyline has been dragged on since I started high school, and not to sound old here, but that was a long time ago. It was worth it in the end. The finale was interesting and tied up all of the loose ends from the past five years, and with an ending like that, everyone could have walked away happy. I think the worst part is, with the end of this storyline, the series is jumping forward in time five years to perpetuate the show. It’s like the storyline of a bad fanfiction.
That’s not the only show that’s been dragged out though. Long-running Canadian drama "Degrassi: The Next Generation" was finally canceled after 14 seasons, and that was the reboot. This series has been around for four decades, and it’s still not over. The series (with a new sub-title) has been picked up by Netflix for another season of teen pregnancies, drug use and family issues starting early next year.
So why are these shows being pushed to continue even though they aren’t making any ground-breaking advancements? I mean really, how many teen pregnancies can you have in one high school? Actually I don’t want to know the answer.
Most of these shows started off really well. Early seasons of Degrassi gave actors like Nina Dobrev and Shenae Grimes their start and helped launch rapper Drake’s career. The story lines were compelling and interesting, but after 14 seasons of cast changes and increasingly crazy plot lines, they get old.
There should be some integrity in making quality television in an age when there are thousands of channels and hundreds of TV shows introduced every year. There’s no shame in bowing out while you’re still on top. After all, we do have Netflix to rewatch all of our favorite episodes over and over again.
