Every great TV show delicately walks along the fine border of captivating its audience and losing them in the process, and some storylines go too far one way or the other. Sometimes writers double down on a plot that they hope can be compelling but ends up being bothersome. Even the best TV shows of all time can sometimes overrely on specific stories, to the detrement of their overarching appeal.

From stereotypical personalities in Young Sheldon to repetitive tropes in The Bear season 4, it's not uncommon to see attempts at long-form storytelling take a wrong turn. However, too much of anything can be toxic, which can describe a number of TV shows over the years that lost momentum due to weak overarching plots that overstayed their welcome. Here are ten TV shows that took a storyline and ran it straight into the ground.

10 Lindsay’s Constant Identity Crisis

Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

25 years later, Freaks and Geeks remains a priceless explosion of nostalgia, endearment, and humor. The show's main character, Lindsay Weir, struggled to find her place among high school groups. This fueled the emotional heartbeat of the show. Despite this extremely relatable and sometimes entertaining experience, the show’s insistence on making her drift back and forth between rebellion and conformity felt overplayed. Whether she was ditching the Mathletes for a Grateful Dead concert or stressed about attending an academic event, the indecision just kept going, getting older with each instance.

A prospective but never produced season 2 of Freaks and Geeks would have explored a romance between Lindsay and Daniel, hinting that her flirations between paths would have likely continued if the show had recieved more seasons.

What initially felt like the sweetest coming-of-age arc couldn't help but feel like a frustrating narrative loop at times. Instead of watching Lindsay grow or embrace a more defined sense of self, the series left her in limbo. This lack of decision made Lindsay Weir feel less like a relatable teenager and more like a plot device stuck on repeat, a saddening fate considering the incredible potential of her character and the entire show.

9 Andy Bernard’s Personality Shift

The Office (2005–2013)

Andy Bernard was always quirky, but endearingly so. However, by the end of The Office he was practically unrecognizable, not to mention painful to watch. What started as an entertaining mix of insecurity and bravado quickly outgrew the character's development, leaving Andy at a naive, rudimentary level of the show's emotional intelligence. Andy's late-series arcs — like abandoning his job for a failed boat trip or trying to become a famous singer — were outlandish and downright annoying. This makes a big chunk of The Office hard to watch.

In a matter of episodes, Andy’s over-the-top, entitled, “lovable idiot” caricature traded places with a poor decision maker with rage management issues akin to a three-year-old. This disappointing shift not only left viewers blindsided but also wasted time and energy that could have harvested numerous other compelling storylines in The Office. Instead of evolving with dignity like his peers, Andy became a cautionary tale about what happens when a show doesn’t know when to stop tweaking a personality.

8 Carmy’s Obsession with Perfection

The Bear (2022-present)

Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto’s relentless pursuit of culinary excellence made The Bear one of the most anxiety-inducing shows on television. Despite its success with fans and critics alike, Berzatto’s obsession with perfection was stretched so thin by the end of the second season that it risked overshadowing other memorable moments and elements of the show. Carmy’s spiral into chaos felt repetitive, as if the show was constantly stuck switching between shouting matches and slammed doors.

Many of the show's intense kitchen scenes were filmed in real, functioning Chicago restaurants to capture the authentic chaos of a professional kitchen.

While The Bear’s raw portrayal of kitchen culture was undeniably a legendary ride in television history, it did teeter towards the glamorization of toxic perfectionism. It's hard not to be left asking if Carmy’s obsession was an excuse to keep the tension dialed to eleven. It certainly works in of keeping the audience's hearts racing and it sets the show up in the perfect way for an anxiety-riddled plot to unfold. Despite this, The Bear remains an impressively constructed (if at times frustaingly repetive) show.

7 Sheldon’s Social Struggles

Young Sheldon (2017–2024)

Young Sheldon took everything The Big Bang Theory overdid with Sheldon and doubled down on it. Sheldon Cooper’s awkwardness immediately creates a lingering, never-ending cycle of cringe-worthy misunderstandings. While the show found unexpected drama elsewhere with of the ing cast (the success of which led to spin-offs like Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage), Sheldon's constant awkward turns gave the show a bland tenor that made it hard to watch at times.

The young genius’s over-reliance on the same repeated conflict puts a heavy-footed brake on any character development. This meant little respect was paid to storylines in which Sheldon might be challenged, or grow over time. There's really not much else that could be expected when the character's entire personality stems from an older version of himself, which itself became a boring one-dimensional character in The Big Bang Theory. What could have been a thoughtful exploration of being gifted and subsequently isolated became a rinse-and-repeat exercise in bland and forgettable comedy.

6 Overloaded Death Symbolism

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

The Fall of the House of Usher revels in its macabre atmosphere. This dark tenor is carried through the dark visuals, cutting perforances, and grim writing. While the show is incredible in many regards, the series’ relentless barrage of death-related symbolism eventually became overwhelming. The repetitive gothic tone often felt a little too on the nose, reminding audiences that the immersive House of Usher experience is just a TV show with bombastic moments.

An overindulgence in death metaphors made the story feel heavy-handed, as though the audience couldn’t be trusted to grasp the show's clear themes about morality and mortality. Instead of enhancing the haunting mood, the constant reminders of death dulled its impact. While an absolutely terrifying watch, The Fall of the House of Usher certainly had the potential to take a much more subtle approach to horror, with less symbolic emphasis on consistency and thematic elements.

5 Nick and Jess’ On-Again, Off-Again Romance

New Girl (2011–2018)

Nick Miller and Jess Day had an undeniably intoxicating and entertaining chemistry in New Girl, but their relationship was dragged through so many unnecessary ups and downs that it lost its charm. Like most love stories that are spread out across several seasons, things got bland the minute the tension broke for the first time. It's hard to keep a love story interesting on a long-running show, or at least the will-they-or-won’t-they trope that shows like New Girl couldn't quite escape.

While their banter and quirks initially made Nick and Jess a fan-favorite, their constant backtracking hindered the power couple into a textbook case of diminishing returns. By the time they finally settled down by the show's conclusion, it was hard to celebrate after being dragged through so much romantic whiplash. While it remained satisfying to see the couple's journey finally come to an end (or new beginning), the romance had lost its unique draw.

4 Glenn’s Fake-Out Death

The Walking Dead (2010–2022)

Fans of The Walking Dead were shocked and angry when the show faked Glenn Rhee’s death in season six. An intense cliffhanger aired where it appeared Rhee was devoured by zombies. Then, weeks later, audiences discovered that their hero had miraculously survived despite the harrowing circumstances he had been left in. Twists and misdirects are staples of any movie or TV show, but this stunt felt particularly manipulative. The fan's sadness over Glenn's loss became frustration when the character was revealed to have escaped certain doom with little warning, especially in a show where such fake-outs were typically avoided.

This wasn't even the only time the show had death fake-outs with Glenn, but his season 6 survival feels like the more egregious. This meant that when the character was actually killed during the events of season 7, the impact was lessened. Audiences had already gotten used to the idea of the fan-favorite character being killed off, making his (ittedly brutal) demise at the hands of Negan less surprising than one would hope for.

3 Haley & Dylan’s On-Again, Off-Again Relationship

Modern Family (2009–2020)

Haley Dunphy and Dylan Marshall’s love life played through many of Modern Family's funniest episodes and was charming at first, but their constant breakups and makeups eventually became tedious. Each attempt at another relationship felt less like a meaningful step forward and more like a lazy way to reignite old flames for the sake of the show's convenience. The problem is that the relationship felt forced, which may have had something to do with Haley's unplanned development into a more important character.

Haley Dunphy was supposed to be a minor character at first, but steadily gained a much larger role in the series.

This consistent ebb and flow robbed both characters of deeper growth, placing them in the narrow box of traditional high-school sweethearts. Instead of exploring new dynamics or giving Haley a more fulfilling arc, the show kept her tethered to a love story that had long since run out of steam before Haley or any of her siblings were even young adults. It was a disservice to the Dunphy family and the fans who wanted more, except for maybe Phil, who could find a childlike sense of wonder in any aspect of life.

2 Kendall’s Rise-And-Fall Cycle

Succession (2018–2023)

Kendall Roy’s shameful arc in Succession is a stubborn cycle of ambition, failure, and temporary redemption. His emotional spirals feel centric to the show’s narrative, but the repetition of his seasonal turmoil becomes extremely predictable. Multiple times in the show, Kendall either declares independence from his father or substance abuse, only to come crawling back. It's a vicious cycle that occasionally captivates but mostly just takes away from everything else going on.

This overused pattern made it difficult to root for the heir’s success. Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of a freshly crashed out Kendall Roy was delightfully hilarious, yet dark at the same time. Roy’s struggles were undeniably gripping, at least the first few times around. However, the true complexity of Roy’s character was undermined throughout Succession through repetition, with far too much emphasis on the same elements. Many other possibilities could have stemmed from Kendall's vast internal depth that remain more or less untapped.

1 Lorelai & Christopher's Lingering Feelings

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

Lorelai Gilmore’s romantic adventures were an electric cornerstone of Gilmore Girls, but her unresolved feelings for her high-school sweetheart, Christopher Hayden, often muddled the flow of her growth. It made sense for Christopher to play a part in Lorelai’s life, but the show leaned a little too hard on their dynamic. Every time Lorelai seemed to move forward, Christopher would reappear with the intent of creating drama,a trend that repeated several times over the show. This beat became especially frustrating by the latter-half of the show, long after it had reached a believable end point.

This lingering subplot only stalled Lorelai’s growth. Christopher’s repeated intrusions quickly began to feel like a narrative crutch, throwing more shame on the writers of Gilmore Girls than anyone else. As seen in other long-running plotlines that didn't work out, will-they-won't-they romances are hard to keep compelling. Gilmore Girls highlighted how a fundamental character dynamic can become frustrating and repetitive, especially as beloved TV characters make the same types of mistakes again and again.