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Post by castletonsnob on Dec 23, 2020 18:43:36 GMT -5
The first season of a show is almost always rough, because the writers are still getting the hang of the characters and stories. The ingredients for a great show are there, but they just can't seem to put them together. Then, the show finally hits its stride and reaches its full potential.
TV Tropes even has a trope for this, called "Growing the Beard", which gets its name from Star Trek: The Next Generation, when the show's improvement in quality coincided with Riker growing a beard.
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Ben Wyatt
Crow T. Robot
Are You Gonna Go My Way?
I don't get it. At all. It's kind of a small horse, I mean what am I missing? Am I crazy?
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Dec 23, 2020 18:50:06 GMT -5
Parks and Rec: Mark Leave/Ben and Chris arrive
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Dec 23, 2020 19:01:41 GMT -5
One Piece -- The Arlong Arc
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Dec 23, 2020 19:13:20 GMT -5
The Simpsons is somewhere around Homer at the Bat.
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Post by Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill on Dec 23, 2020 19:30:46 GMT -5
Buffy reached new heights after Spike was introduced.
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Post by Limity (BLM) on Dec 23, 2020 20:42:32 GMT -5
The Office is a great example of this as well.
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fw91
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Post by fw91 on Dec 23, 2020 20:57:34 GMT -5
Boy Meets World- When they enter high school and add more regular background characters
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Dec 23, 2020 21:05:13 GMT -5
It's funny, because "Community" felt the exact opposite of this. If the TV Tropes term is "Growing the Beard," then "Community" came in with a fully-grown beard in its first season. The show felt fully-formed and fully-realized in its first season. Then, over the course of its next few seasons (really, if I'm being honest, seasons 3 through 6), "Community" didn't just shave its beard, it took a chainsaw to its beard and absolutely ruined the charm that the first two seasons offered.
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Post by Cyno on Dec 23, 2020 21:18:58 GMT -5
Deep Space Nine: when the Dominion and the Jem'hadar were first introduced at the end of Season 2. It had some good to outright great episodes before then (like "Duet" with Kira facing off in a battle of wits against an accused Cardassian war criminal), but the Dominion added a real special dynamic to the show, especially with Odo.
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Post by horseface on Dec 23, 2020 22:10:13 GMT -5
MST3K season 3. First two seasons were kind of blah and felt like one of those good idea bad execution deals. But hit the ground running in S3 with Cave Dwellers.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2020 22:31:22 GMT -5
Arrow - Season 2 when Deathstroke becomes front and centre as the villan.
Legends season 2 - When they stopped taking themselves so seriously and completely embraced being the off the wall weirdos who romp through time.
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Post by Limity (BLM) on Dec 23, 2020 22:35:24 GMT -5
Deep Space Nine: when the Dominion and the Jem'hadar were first introduced at the end of Season 2. It had some good to outright great episodes before then (like "Duet" with Kira facing off in a battle of wits against an accused Cardassian war criminal), but the Dominion added a real special dynamic to the show, especially with Odo. It really helped that the Dominion wasn't just a single race, but a multifaceted enemy that could be explored through their individual parts or as a whole. That helped keep them fresh and complex to the very end. Hell I still wish they had been able to explore the friction between the alpha quadrant / gamma quadrant Jem'Hadar. Besides the Dominion, I think the only other races that were able to maintain long term interest was the Romulans and Cardassians. The Romulans mostly because they were encountered the least. And the poor Borg have been utterly ruined through constant overexposure. |
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Post by Cyno on Dec 23, 2020 22:47:08 GMT -5
Deep Space Nine: when the Dominion and the Jem'hadar were first introduced at the end of Season 2. It had some good to outright great episodes before then (like "Duet" with Kira facing off in a battle of wits against an accused Cardassian war criminal), but the Dominion added a real special dynamic to the show, especially with Odo. It really helped that the Dominion wasn't just a single race, but a multifaceted enemy that could be explored through their individual parts or as a whole. That helped keep them fresh and complex to the very end. Hell I still wish they had been able to explore the friction between the alpha quadrant / gamma quadrant Jem'Hadar. Besides the Dominion, I think the only other races that were able to maintain long term interest was the Romulans and Cardassians. The Romulans mostly because they were encountered the least. And the poor Borg have been utterly ruined through constant overexposure. The most interesting thing about the Dominion to me was that it was basically the Anti-Federation without it being Mirror Universe or anything. Like the Federation, it was a major interstellar state made up of multiple species. But it was totalitarian instead of democratic and more interested in conquest than exploration. |
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Dec 23, 2020 23:07:54 GMT -5
The Thick of It really hit its stride after the first two series. They did a couple of specials with some new characters (mainly because the main star of the show had been caught with some extremely illegal stuff on his computer) and it flowed better than Series 1 and 2. Then they brought in Rebecca Front for Series 3 and it became the best BBC comedy of the 21st Century (with the possible exception of The Office).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2020 23:34:45 GMT -5
For most shows it seems to be that season 2 is where it "finds itself" and then season 3 is where it "perfects itself".
Of course this not a rule and every show is different.
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Dec 23, 2020 23:40:42 GMT -5
Once the tie-in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits, Agents of SHIELD turns another gear.
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Post by James Fabiano on Dec 24, 2020 2:36:12 GMT -5
Absolutely Fabulous: Season Two.
You get Death, Poor, and Birth among other episodes.
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Bo Rida
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Post by Bo Rida on Dec 24, 2020 3:36:16 GMT -5
I wouldn't say The Wire was rough at the start but S3 is when it becomes one of the GOATs.
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Dr. T is an alien
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Post by Dr. T is an alien on Dec 24, 2020 5:03:08 GMT -5
Deep Space Nine: when the Dominion and the Jem'hadar were first introduced at the end of Season 2. It had some good to outright great episodes before then (like "Duet" with Kira facing off in a battle of wits against an accused Cardassian war criminal), but the Dominion added a real special dynamic to the show, especially with Odo. I *love* “Duet”. It may very well be the best bottle episode I’ve ever seen. |
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Dec 24, 2020 7:38:02 GMT -5
Blackadder II, which is also a good example of Addition by Subtraction. Gone were the lavish sets, multitude of extras, exterior scenes and film like presentation.
But in it's place we got wittier humor and smartly written characters (For example it helped greatly in this series that Rowan Atkison played Blackadder as he originally intended: more sarcastic/sardonic and less of a sniveling coward.)
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