It’s a sad reality that occasionally, episodes from television shows made viewers want to stop watching all together. Even after getting to know the characters, watching them grow season after season, and getting invested in how their stories would be resolved, certain episodes just pushed things too far and became the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s not easy to call it quits on a once beloved series, but declining quality, lackluster storylines, or sheer brutality can push viewers a step too far and make them tune out to the point that they never return.

This has happened in disappointing sitcom episodes from How I Met Your Mother to divisive drama in Breaking Bad, as no genre was safe from episodes that made viewers want to call it a day. But it’s also true that an episode that makes one viewer quit watching can also be the one that gets another into the show in the first place. Audience expectations have always varied, and the quality of a particular episode was truly subjective, but it must be admitted that certain episodes made viewers quit watching TV shows.

10

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003)

Season 4, Episode 5 “Beer Bad”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer often used supernatural forces as metaphors for the teenage experience, but sometimes this heavy-handed messaging missed the mark. The perfect example of this came in the fourth season episode “Beer Bad,” which was when many viewers quit watching Buffy, and it felt less like an exciting vampire-based series and more like an anti-alcohol PSA. The plot involved Buffy and a group of guys getting drunk on beer brewed by a warlock, which turned them into violent Neatherthals.

This episode was so unpopular that Vox even ranked it the worst of all 144 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Full of American puritanism and a strange moralistic stance on sex, “Beer Bad” went against the usually progressive values of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and just felt out of step with the rest of the show. Although even the worst episodes of Buffy still had something to offer, as “Beer Bad” was nominated for an Emmy for for Makeup and Hairstyling.

9

Breaking Bad (2008 – 2013)

Season 3, Episode 10, “Fly”

While Breaking Bad was one of the most acclaimed TV shows of all time, one episode stood out for its ability to make viewers quit watching altogether. This was the divisive and patience-testing bottle-episode “Fly” from Season 3. A slow-moving episode that does not move the main plot forward at all, “Fly” involved Walter White trying to eliminate a fly from the lab that he believed would contaminate the meth he was cooking with Jesse Pinkman.

It’s easy to understand why some viewers hated this episode, as it felt like it was simply wasting time after all the exciting events that had preceded it. The truth was that “Fly” was a deeply psychological episode, and to be fully enjoyed, it must be viewed through the lens of Walt’s repressed guilt over all his misdeeds throughout Breaking Bad. When watching “Fly” as a symbol of Walt’s inability to control his own destiny after choosing such a dark path in life, it became all the more resonant and interesting.

8

Happy Days (1974 – 1984)

Season 5, Episode 3, “Hollywood: Part 3”

While many will be familiar with the term “jumping the shark,” not everyone will know that the phrase came from an episode of Happy Days. This idiom has been commonly used to describe the point at which a TV show has run out of creative steam, and the plotlines have become increasingly exaggerated, lackluster, and just downright silly. All these ideas were encapsulated in the Happy Days episode, where Fonzie literally jumped over a shark on waterskis in a point of ridiculousness that led many viewers to quit watching.

This plotline was created to showcase Fonzie’s actor Henry Winkler’s waterskiing skills (via The Wrap) and felt irrelevant to the overall plot of Happy Days. As an appropriate symbol of a TV show’s declining quality, the jumping-the-shark stunt in Happy Days came long past the point the series should have finished, but viewership was so high that it was continually renewed. Happy Days ran for 11 seasons and had 255 episodes, and it had already “jumped the shark” by Season 5.

7

Broad City (2014 – 2019)

Season 3, Episode 5, “2016”

As one of the funniest Comedy Central series, Broad City followed Abbi and Ilana, two twenty-something women living in New York City, and consistently delivered high-quality laughs wrapped up in a compelling story of female friendship. However, the Season 3 episode “2016” felt out of place with the rest of the show, so some viewers decided to tune out. This was due to the guest star being Hilary Clinton as Broad City took on an overtly political message in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.

While Broad City was always a highly feminist series that addressed real-world political issues, the literal inclusion of Hilary Clinton felt quite jarring, and the agenda behind her role took precedence over the show’s narrative. With a story about Ilana accidentally volunteering for the Clinton campaign, Hilary’s appearance came across as an attempt to connect with young voters, but in the process, she came across as quite cringeworthy. Sadly for Clinton, her time on Broad City paled compared to Joe Biden’s Parks and Recreation cameo.

6

The Simpsons (1989 – Present)

Season 23, Episode 22, “Lisa Goes Gaga”

Over the past 35 seasons, there have been plenty of points when audiences have decided it was time to say goodbye to The Simpsons. For some, this came relatively early in the Season 9 episode “The Principal and the Pauper,” which messed with Principal Skinner’s backstory and felt like a point of no return for the show. However, other viewers stuck around longer, and the breaking point came in the Season 23 episode “Lisa Goes Gaga.”

“Lisa Goes Gaga” featured a guest appearance from Lady Gaga, who helped Lisa out of her depressed funk by teaching her the meaning of happiness. This episode showcased what was wrong with celebrity appearances in The Simpsons. Instead of creating new compelling characters for them to play, like Hank Scorpio of Unkie Herb, the entire episode just revolved around that celebrity’s appearance and importance. These guest cameos lacked the heart of earlier seasons of The Simpsons and made viewers want to stop watching altogether.

5

Friends (1994 – 2004)

Season 7, Episode 19, “The One with Ross and Monica’s Cousin”

More than ten years since its finale, Friends has remained one of the most popular sitcoms in the world, but it must be admitted that the character of Ross Geller got increasingly stranger as the series progressed. From his pet monkey, Marcel, to having a sandwich-based breakdown, Ross was always a pretty idiosyncratic guy. However, one Friends episode that made viewers quit was “The One with Ross and Monica’s Cousin” from Season 7, which took things to a whole new level.

This episode featured Denise Richard as Cassie, whom Ross found himself attracted to despite being his cousin. As if this plotline couldn’t get any more uncomfortable, Ross misinterpreted her actions and even tried to kiss her, which felt like the point at which Friends had finally “jumped the shark.” This weird episode of Friends recontextualized Ross’s strange behavior as truly worrying, made many viewers uncomfortable, and was a significant reason for people to stop watching the show.

4

How I Met Your Mother (2005 – 2014)

Season 9, Episode 14, “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra”

How I Met Your Mother told how Ted Mosby met his future wife, but another ongoing story related to Marshall Eriksen’s slap bet allowed him to slap Barney Stinson without warning several times. These slaps formed the basis of several “Slapsgiving” episodes, which provided some of the show’s most enjoyable moments. However, “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra” from Season 9 moved away from its pre-established formula and delivered an episode that made viewers want to quit watching How I Met Your Mother.

Instead of a heartfelt story full of well-earned character development, “Slapsgiving 3” was a pastiche of Kung Fu movie tropes that did not resonate as well with previous slap-based episodes. More than anything, “Slapsgiving 3” proved that the joke had run dry and it was time to say goodbye to this long-running gag. The slap plotline was introduced way back in Season 2, so it made sense that audiences grew bored with a joke that went on for so many years.

3

Game of Thrones (2011 – 2019)

Season 8, Episode 6, “The Iron Throne”

Luckily for Game of Thrones, the last straw that made viewers want to quit the show entirely came in the final episode, when the conclusion felt somewhat lackluster after eight seasons of build-up. A lot went wrong with Game of Thrones Season 8, as it had just six episodes, felt rushed, characters went against their previously established characteristics, and the overall conclusion felt badly executed. It was heartbreaking to see a show that once stood among the greatest of all time fail spectacularly at the final hurdle.

The issue with the Game of Thrones finale came much before the final episode and was the culmination of many problems that plagued the HBO fantasy series. Once Game of Thrones surpassed George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series at the end of Season 6, the cracks were already starting to show. Sadly, by the final episode, many had given up the show entirely, and its reputation as a fantasy classic was tarnished forever.

2

Stranger Things (2016 – Present)

Season 2, Episode 7, “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister”

The worst-rated episode of Stranger Things was “The Lost Sister” from Season 2, which felt like a complete tonal shift from the rest of the series. This episode featured Eleven encountering Kali, who was also experimented on at the Hawkins lab and helped her control her abilities. As a bottle episode, it felt like “The Lost Sister” derailed the show and stalled the plot as Eleven took on a dark gothic look that went against her character and felt out of place.

As an episode introducing many new characters, “The Lost Sister” felt like a backdoor pilot to a show nobody wanted to see. As Season 2 of Stranger Things was building toward its grand conclusion, it was frustrating when it suddenly switched to a side story that barely connected to the main plot. Luckily, the creators listened to the audience, and the storyline of “The Lost Sister” was not explored in any subsequent seasons of Stranger Things.

1

The Walking Dead (2010 – 2022)

Season 7, Episode 1, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t”

The sixth season of The Walking Dead ended on a cliffhanger about who Negan had murdered, and after months of viewers waiting for a resolution, the answer was not popular. While The Walking Dead always pushed audiences to the limit, the Season 7 premiere featured one of the most grotesque scenes in the entire show, as Glenn and Abraham were beaten to the death with a baseball bat by Negan. This scene did not sit well with viewers, who tuned out due to its excessive violence.

The Walking Dead’s viewership plummeted after this gruesome death and continued to decline as the series progressed into further seasons. With viewers alienated and beloved characters meeting horrific ends, it was in moments like this that The Walking Dead felt like violence for violence’s sake and a type of misery that audiences did not want to put themselves through willingly. “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” felt like The Walking Dead had crossed a line when it came to sadistic torture and was a point where many decided to call it quits for good.

Source: Vox, The Wrap