Biggest leaps in quality between seasons

What shows have had the most sudden improvements season over season? Rather than gradual improvements.

Pic related, the complete opposite of what happened to this, basically.

I like how the writers ran out of material after the 1st season, but decided to do 3 more anyway,

Well they completely abandoned the only plan they did have (focus on a new cast every season and wrap up their stories by the end of each season). The season 1 characters just stuck around forever.

How was Reborn?

Unbearably bad

Well, obviously.

>7/10 first season
>10/10 second season
Can't wait for the third

Agents of SHIELD's season 2 was a huge improvement over 1.

Fucking writer's strike ruined this show...

and then you remember that god awful secret town place and remember that you were wrong

Leftovers, even though season 1 wasn't bad but season 2 was simply overwhelmingly great

fuck me, i didnt even know it came out yet

Hannibal season 1 was about a 7/10
Visually gorgeous and very well acted but held back by the procedural cop drama KOTW stuff. It was still good example of that type of show but it couldn't get away from how tired that format has become these days.

Hannibal season 2 was a 9/10 because it gradually moved further away from this and became more focused on the characters while keeping the visual flair. Its also got an ending so great it can rival any tv show

Season 3 is great too but hated by ADHD sufferers that say its "boring" despite the fact that it continued to move even further from formula in its decent into madness.
It did well at providing two different but enjoyable arcs for its characters too. Its essentially 2 mini series rather than one final season and works really well.

plus they just got more and more crazy with the visuals as they went on

>Lose viewers in second season
>Plan on explaining nothing
>Lindelballsackface

'no' the whole thing is just no

24 season 4 to 5
The villain sucked in season 4 and a lot of the time it felt like the show was being dragged out longer than it needed to be. Not to mention the start of the series was so jarring because they went out of their way to remove recurring characters just to bring them back later when they realized the new ones didn't cut it. Erin Driscoll was also the worst CTU director in the entire show. There was no focus on the President this season either so that took away scenes where you could have mixed things up a little, instead of watching the same thing all the time.
5 had a better story, villain, more complexity etc. It was actually fun to watch and they brought back the political angle with a corrupt president.

House season 5 to 6
season 5 felt like a tv show for woman because so many of the themes and plots revolved around maternity. Season 6 is actually about House and if he can change or not.

Angel season 3 - 5
the show honestly went to shit when season 3 started and never got good until 5. the brought in more interesting characters and steered away from the stuff they were doing with Connor

Dollhouse season 2 was less procedural and the writing became better and the season had a better arc overall.

I'm sure there might be more

Also Leftovers season 1 was GOAT, I don't know why everyone seems to like 2 more

The Killing, Season 3.

First two seasons were plagued by a drawn out, convoluted central case with constant red herrings as filler. The side characters were mostly dull and there's a lot of questionable writing. Good points were the acting was mostly good and it was well shot.

Then comes the third season, which jettisons basically the entire supporting cast, leaving just the leads and starts a new central case that's much simpler and more engaging, though a lot darker. The new supporting characters are mostly great, and the leads get way more development that actually sticks.

The shortened fourth season is basically a coda to the third, with a short extra case to base it around. It's not as good as the third because the case isn't as compelling, but it's a good ending season.

But the jump from 2-3 quality wise is huge. Unfortunately it's hard to 100% just recommend only watching the third and fourth seasons because the third is still based on backstory from the first seasons.

Buffy Season 1 to Season 2 is a pretty big jump in quality.

That show didn't even need sets, the best episodes were just trailing them around in the car.

They literally even point this out in the fourth season that the best parts of the show was them in a car while it rains outside.

They knew how to capture that adopted orphan feeling really well, the drifter, homelessness of the story which allowed it to do something different. Also what murder does to people, season 4 really pulled off that characterization of people turning on each other and not doing it, and looking through glass shot.

Shittier fate
Bullet or Ray?

Depends on which part of her fate, at least the one only had to die once.

I also liked the total reversal of Linden/Holder's positions from the start to the end.
Given the horrendous clichés present with detectives in police shows, they ultimately avoided them for both, and the developmental for Linden in particular was ballsy.

>Watch Heroes Reborn to see if it's as bad as people say
>One guys power is that he can literally put people in video games
>mfw

I will say it impressed me how much of a genuine gutpunch they managed to land on that first one. Then while you (and the show) are still reeling, they land a swift kick in the nuts with the latter.

>Not watching the seasons in reverse order

I feel like they're more similar in that Linden is starting down the same path that they're both on, she is just ahead of holden so when they have her relating back to him in season 3 and 4, it feels like it works because they're going up and down on the same path. It creates a lot of symmetry in the story.

Not to mention remakes are not usually that good at all.

oh boy

is this something I've gotta see?

The graphics were terrible, worse than ncis shit

Unwatchable

And they explicitly set it up so she initially appears to be the straight laced, overworking cop to his sketchy, cowboy cop type.
The shift by the end isn't a swerve either, it's really very gradually revealed that she's completely off her rocker, to the point that you might not even realise the extent til very late in the game. Given what happens at the very end of the third season, that could easily have been a "jump the shark" level failure if it just came out of nowhere. Instead it felt like the only possible outcome.

It's such a shame they managed to find their groove in the third season when it was really too late, people had stopped watching by then.

AMC jerked that show around a lot too, different nights, different times of the year. They messed with every aspect of the show.

Arrow season 1 was alright. Had a ton of problems and only got really good in the last third, but it was at least watchable. Season 2 was essentially an improvement in every capacity. Better writing, better fights, more personal stakes. It's a shame all the talented people immediately left to work on Flash.

And of course, the GOAT villain.

Season 5 was the best.

based season one is based

I saw the whole thing on Netflix, luckily. I basically binged through the first two seasons so I could get to the third and fourth and take my time, since I heard that's where the quality was at.
I heard right, fortunately.

but season 4 wasn't bad

That Not Fade Away, perfect finale

I liked the first two seasons too but mostly that was because I liked the characterization in episode eleven of season one, and 2 continues off of that.

Well I didn't hate the first two, they were just way too long. Two seasons to cover one case was simply too much, because they had to keep filling episodes with constant red herrings and stoppages. Then the case became so convoluted that you started to lose the human side of it they were trying to capture.

If you compressed the case into one season and removed 75% of the filler and red herrings I think it might have been quite a good season overall. As I said above, the acting is good and it's a nicely shot show, the big issues in the first seasons were in the writing department.

well as long as you don't lose episode 11, that wouldn't be a bad idea, and space the time out to give the case enough weight in terms of pay off between the seasons like they did between 2 and 3.

>Arrow
>The Killing
>two shows which featured greatly improved seasons that both added Bex to the cast
Coincidence? I think not.

It's been a while, so I can't quite remember which one episode 11 was.

The episode where her kid goes missing and it is basically the first episode where they ride around together looking for him and most characterization that happens that season. He gives up trying to make up to his sister(Holden) for being a junkie and giving those presents to his nephew. It was also the first time either of them were really honest with each other, which can be some of most brutally honest things about the show and characters.

>this meme again
I think season 5 was the shittiest. tons of one off filler meme episodes (muh puppet) and a non existent overarching arc. It's basically what season 4 of Buffy was.

Not a coincidence that the episode that mostly ignored the crime case in favour of just pure characterisation is way better

God what a gorgeous human being.

Shut up.

make me, m8. wanna hav a go?

Mystery Science Theater 3000

It just keeps getting better season-on-season, from barely watchable in KTMA to literally perfect in season 8.

There's a slight dip when Mike joins, but he gets into his stride very quickly and easily surpasses Joel in every way shortly

good answer

>satan trashing angel

You can't make this shit up

>my heart when this scene in the series finale

Get the fuck out.

Season 5 had some of the best character moments in that entire universe.

You're right it was basically a bottle episode that just focused on getting to know the two of them.

His face, they didn't even need to show it, conveyed all of it. Nothing like watching life take it all.

Careful, he might say "meme" at you

only good episode of the season.

god tier casting on this role desu

if season 5 wasn't so universally praised it would be much easier to hide the trolling but I have no qualms with telling him to fuck off.

A show as serious as Angel doing Smile Time and making it work in universe is just one of the little things and one of the few things that Whedon was involved with that I haven't hated.

Also cavemen and astronauts.

The one on the left or the one in the ground?

Not Fade Away is worth multiple episodes on any other show alone. Especially if you had been watching since Buffy season 1. It captures and encapsulates the characters in a way far few shows ever do and gives inane things that mean so much like Angel helping his kid filling out a resume.

Not only that but killing off a character that people loved and bringing the actress back as a new one in the same season and making it work. I'm having a hard time thinking of another show that did that at all let alone well.

Spike was a non thing to me, a joke thing for most of his existence and they managed to do more with his character in guest appearances and being a regular on Angel than his entire arc on Buffy.

Rogue slayer episode where they invert the story and reflect on the damage Spike and Angel did as vampires.

Bottle episodes worth more, that did more for storytelling.

Lorne was this thin veneer of leisure suit larry as a demon and they bring him full circle in one season.

They actually made Gunn useful and his 'upgrade' made him actually have some characterization.

Literally every aspect, even the filler did something.

ha

Homeland S4 saved it after it spent two seasons stagnating.

Agreed.

The Office and Parks&Rec. Seasons 2 and 3 are the best for both shows after terrible, short first seasons.

>I dunno about you but I wanna slay the dragon

Out of any random line from a series finale that one just has stuck with me over the year

Reminder that Hiro was a fan of jotaro kujo

The big bad was a solar flare.
It was defeated LITERALLY by a grandfather-twin Kamehameha.
You judge.

worst joestar ever

Yet used dio's catchphrase.

Not just that but I remember watching it and feeling so hyped before they go into battle and realizing it was all over, I don't remember any show since doing something like that.

A very literal use of going out on a high note.

wow

what he said

Kevin and Patty were the best part of season 2.

Season 2 was better than Season 1, but then dropped dramatically in Season 3

It is not like quality could get any lower.

I just watched the first 3 episodes and this series already look great. Can't wait to watch more.

It begs you to ask 2 questions: 1.) WHY did you bring it back; and 2.) How did Kring get this passed to air?

Like...I can see if you come up with an interesting story as if it was going to improve on what you built. Basically they didn't do any of that in any way, shape, or form. I just want to know why you'd want to make something like Reborn unless you had an incredible story to tell. It looked like it had promise but it was just so. FUCKING. BAD. Even at the end of Season 4 it looked like there might be promise, but I have no fucking clue why he even wanted to do Reborn if he can't make a decent story.

Nice. It can drag a bit, but the second season is worth it.

>Dexter Season 3 to 4

Season 3 was such a train wreck and 4 is easily the best.

or 6-7

7 was only ok, but 6 was dogshit

bump

Gotham season 2 and Seinfeld season 3