Past Their Prime: TV shows that need to call it quits

For my 2nd post, I thought that I'd discuss some current sitcoms that are past their prime and probably need to throw in the towel.  Sometimes a long-running show declines gradually over time, and sometimes a new plot development is so outrageous that it immediately alienates viewers and becomes a "jump the shark" moment (think the Conners' lottery win on Roseanne).

1.  The Big Bang Theory

This show is a huge success for CBS (it recently birthed the spinoff Young Sheldon) and still the highest-rated sitcom on tv, but I've been seeing some signs of declining quality for a couple of years now.  I mean, this was bound to happen by season 11.  The birth of Howard and Bernadette's first child was enough, but now she's pregnant again?  The only way that a show can survive the introduction of a baby is by promptly shipping them off-screen once born.  Murphy Brown's child was rarely seen throughout the later seasons of the show, which was believable since this was primarily a workplace sitcom.  But too many episodes of Big Bang this season have revolved around Howard and Bernadette as frazzled parents, which usually isn't very interesting to watch (maybe just because I'm not a parent, I don't know).  In general, the show has struggled a bit with allowing the characters to grow up without changing the dynamic of the show.  At this point Raj seems a little pathetic as the only single character left (I say this as a single person), but everyone else has become a little too closely tied to their relationship.  We're seeing more and more scenes between the couples and fewer scenes of all the friends together, which is really where the show thrived early on.  Speaking of which, it has never been believable to me that Penny's only friends would be Amy and Bernadette.  True, it's normal for nerds to be friends with not-as-smart people and introverts to be friends with extroverts, but I would think that Penny would have at least one friend whose personality is more closely aligned with her own.  The show has already been renewed for season 12, so here's hoping that CBS will allow it to bow out with some dignity next year instead of continuing too far past its prime.  This isn't to say that the show isn't still funny, it just doesn't quite deliver the belly laughs that it once did.  12 seasons is too much for even the best shows. 

2.  Modern Family

Here's another sitcom that is definitely past its creative peak.  I mostly blame the writers for this one.  Early on the show was hailed as a worthy sitcom successor to Frasier, with its mix of witty dialogue and physical comedy.  The characters and family dynamics were fresh and interesting.  An openly gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese daughter?  An older man married to a much younger Latina woman?  We hadn't seen sitcom families quite like this on tv before.  After about season 5 or 6, though, the show started to seem a bit stale.  The jokes slowly became not as funny, and the upper class lives of many of the characters began to feel out-of-touch with the typical American family.  The show could take some cues from The Middle, an underappreciated sitcom about a lower-class family that actually acknowledges the financial struggles of most Americans.  Now in season 9, the biggest problem on Modern Family is that the young adult characters are simply not growing up.  All 3 Dunphy kids (the children of Phil and Claire) are out of high school yet still living at home and  not building lives of their own.  This was believable for Haley, the ditzy and flaky oldest child who ended up dropping out of college during her first year, but not Alex, the brainy and independent second child.  Why has Alex not been written out of the show (or at least reduced to recurring status), since she supposedly lives on campus?  Because she (Ariel Winter, the actress) makes a lot of money on the show and doesn't want to give up her cushy gig, that's why.  Ditto Manny, Gloria's eldest son, now in his freshman year of college.  He's sensitive and smart, and has never been popular.  The show acknowledges this, and several episodes have revolved around his attempts to leave the nest and be more independent, yet in almost every episode he's seen at home with his mom instead of away at college, where he also lives on campus.  I think it's time for this show to call it quits before things become even less believable.

3.  The Simpsons

Ok, this show is the definition of continuing far far far past its prime.  For most of its early seasons, The Simpsons was must-see tv.  Each episode was jam-packed with jokes and endless sight gags.  Season 4 in particular is probably one of the best seasons of any show EVER.  Partly thanks to a certain writer named Conan O'Brien, this show delivered such classic episodes as "Marge vs. the Monorail", "Last Exit to Springfield", and "Whacking Day".  But it's impossible for any show to sustain this level of quality for 10, let alone 29 (!) seasons.  I can't blame the writers.  They're trying their best, but every conceivable interesting story from the town of Springfield has already been told, sometimes more than once (yes, Bart has gotten an elephant twice).  There have still been some decent episodes in recent years ("The Saga of Carl" in season 24), but they are becoming fewer and much more far in between the mediocre episodes.  It's a shame that the show is now a bit of a laughing stock and is repeatedly compared to newer, fresher animated sitcoms like Bob's Burgers, but these newer shows would not exist without The Simpsons.  If only it had ended with dignity many, many years ago.  But it goes on and on, slowly diminishing its legacy as one of the greatest TV shows of all time.