10 Terrible Seasons of Good Shows: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Dexter’ & More

Some TV shows start well, finish well, and maintain that quality every season in between — Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Veep come to mind.

Other shows, unfortunately, are plagued by seasons that pale in comparison to others — and surprisingly enough, these disappointing chapters don’t always come at the end of those shows’ runs.

From Game of Thrones’ frustrating finale to Parks and Recreation’s inauspicious start to Community’s “gas leak” year, here are the shows with seasons in need of a do-over.

Game of Thrones Season 8

“Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet,” a hand-waving quote from showrunner David Benioff, has become a meme emblematic of how rushed and illogical this hit drama’s final season was. Characters made head-scratching decisions, series-long conflicts ended anticlimactically, and armies and navies seemed to teleport between locations. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), Cersei (Lena Headey), and even the White Walkers deserved better.

Friday Night Lights Season 2

Many a Friday Night Lights fan wishes the series hadn’t devolved into a crime drama in Season 2, when Landry (Jesse Plemons) kills Tyra’s (Adrianne Palicki) attempted rapist in a storyline even the show seemed determined to forget. “The Tyra-Landry storyline in Season 2 is the single worst storyline from a great show of all time,” Reddit user jar45 wrote. “It’s actually a miracle FNL didn’t end in disgrace because of it.”

The Office Seasons 8 & 9

Despite a supporting cast other TV comedies could covet, The Office flailed after Steve Carell’s departure, with a rotating door of bosses that couldn’t live up to Michael Scott’s “Dunder”-headedness. And in Season 9, the off-camera documentary crew came on camera in a cynical ploy for drama between Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer).

Parks and Recreation Season 1

Was there any doubt in Parks and Rec’s first season that the show came from the minds of Office producers? Faced with another mockumentary set in an ineffectual workplace populated by quirky employees, viewers deemed Parks and Rec a rip-off of its predecessor. It wasn’t until Season 2 that the writers found the good-natured, idealistic tone that made us all fall for Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her Pawnee Parks Department cohorts.

Dexter Season 8

Dexter’s worst-reviewed season, according to Rotten Tomatoes, unfortunately happened to be its final outing, with a series finale that sullied the show’s name until Dexter: New Blood offered more satisfying closure. “Season 8 is unfathomably bad,” Reddit user tcullen44 wrote. “Incoherent plot with usually smart characters acting so stupid to move the plot along. Everyone talks about how bad the ending is, but it was inevitable with how horrible that season is.”

Arrested Development Season 5

It’s no surprise this final season of Arrested Development is the only one without Emmy nominations. Fans complained about the characters becoming unlikable and the storylines becoming uncharacteristically dark in Season 5. Not helping matters was a controversial reprise performance from Jeffrey Tambor, who’d recently been fired from Transparent after multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.

True Detective Season 2

True Detective’s Season 2 cast must have thought they had hit pay dirt when they joined the show after the critically acclaimed first season. Unfortunately, Season 2 doubled down on moodiness and misery, turning the show into a slog. “I still have deep trauma about the scene where Vince Vaughn is channelling his budget Matthew McConaughey and rambling about some mindless B.S. while lying in his bed and looking at a g*ddamn wet spot on his ceiling,” Reddit user MetaBeta27 wrote.

Scrubs Season 9

Scrubs’ ninth and final season might as well have been a different show — and indeed was marketed under the title Scrubs: Med School. The setting changed, as did much of the cast: Several series regulars departed the show or got downgraded to guest-star status, and the new characters didn’t delight longtime viewers. That let-down could easily have been avoided had Season 8’s “My Finale” actually been the Scrubs finale.

Community Season 4

This beloved community-college comedy struggled in its fourth year after creator Dan Harmon departed and as Chevy Chase made an acrimonious exit. “It’s a combination of no Dan Harmon, Chevy problems, unfulfilled expectations, lack of surprise, no stakes, sloppy storytelling, regressive characterizations, wasted potential, overreactions from the fans (on both sides), and that godawful finale,” Reddit user colin_creevey said of Season 4’s woes. (Eventually, the Community characters described that season as “the gas leak year.”)