History Main / SecondSeasonDownfall

* ''WebAnimation/{{Genlock}}'': Season 2 is widely regarded by fans as a ''massive'' step down, thanks to the show downplaying the slick mecha action and character moments (widely regarded as some of the best parts of the series) in favor of half-baked political drama, having various characters [[TookALevelInJerkass take several levels in jerkass]], [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping bridges on]] characters like [[spoiler:Kazu]] and fan-favorite [[spoiler:Cammie]] for shock value, and its unrelentingly bleak tone.

* An InUniverse example in the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode, "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS3E10WackyDelly Wacky Delly]]"; Ralph Bighead ends production on ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheFatheads'' to create his artistic masterpiece. However, his network contract states that he has to make one more show, so to get it over with, he hires Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt to make a pilot for the new show, hoping their inexperience will cancel his contract. Thanks in part to Heffer and Filburt's creative differences, the pilot for ''Wacky Delly'' is a poorly-drawn and poorly-edited mess. Unfortunately for Ralph, his plan backfires, as both the network executives and general public love it. Ralph's attempts to sabotage ''Wacky Delly'', such as having one episode show a jar of mayonnaise for ten minutes and another episode consisting of overexposed film only make the show even more popular. After a brief speech from Rocko on how he should make ''Wacky Delly'' better instead of trying to sabotage it, Ralph takes over writing the show, which gets it cancelled. Ten years later, Ralph is seen in the desert after completing his masterpiece. A yokel walks up to him and asks him if he's seen ''Wacky Delly''.

* The first season of the anime adaptation of ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' was one of the Winter 2019 anime season's big breakout hits, carried by its memorable FirstEpisodeTwist and its unique focus on young children in a Shōnen/horror hybrid. The second season on the other hand burned a lot of fans by being a heavily CompressedAdaptation that AdaptedOut both fan-favorite characters and story arcs, cumulating in an alternate ending widely viewed as inferior even to the already divisive ending of the manga.

* ''WebAnimation/Genlock'': Season 2 is widely regarded by fans as a ''massive'' step down, thanks to the show downplaying the slick mecha action and character moments (widely regarded as some of the best parts of the series) in favor of half-baked political drama, having various characters [[TookALevelInJerkass take several levels in jerkass]], [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping bridges on]] characters like [[spoiler:Kazu]] and fan-favorite [[spoiler:Cammie]] for shock value, and its unrelentingly bleak tone.

-->-- '''Emily Todd [=VanDerWerff=]''', [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/1/17588472/second-seasons-disappointing-curse "Why the era of Peak TV is the era of the disappointing second season."]]

Emily [=VanDerWerff=], writing for ''Vox'', has [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/1/17588472/second-seasons-disappointing-curse gone into depth]] on this trope, referring to the second season as a make-or-break point for a TV drama. She argues that this has become especially common for the sort of big, high-concept premises that make up many "prestige" shows in the 2010s, which lend themselves well to great first seasons but are [[ToughActToFollow difficult to follow up]] in the second season, the point where "a TV premise becomes a TV show" and they need to [[WorldBuilding expand the world and supporting characters]] rather than just rely on the basic premise to pull in viewers. Shows that fail to do so will inevitably be remembered as having only been good for one season, even if they manage to get renewed afterwards.

Well... not always. Sometimes [[ItWillNeverCatchOn nobody expected the show to make it]], and so [[SeriesFauxnale the writers and producers pulled out all the stops in the first year]], [[PostScriptSeason leaving nothing to work with for the next season]]. Sometimes a show with a novel concept inspires [[FollowTheLeader imitators]] that either pull off the gimmick more skillfully, or are so [[DuelingShows ubiquitious]] that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny viewers become bored]] with both the original and the knockoffs. Sometimes ExecutiveMeddling is to blame, especially if the second season coincides with a change in network leadership. Sometimes there's no clear cause at all; the show simply ran out of steam, and SeasonalRot kicked in early. And perhaps most common of all, maybe the network just didn't want to commit to two more seasons of the show. Yes, two more seasons. Very, very few American broadcast network shows are canceled after their third season because a show usually needs about 4 seasons' worth of episodes in order to be viable for [[UsefulNotes/{{Syndication}} off-network syndication]], which for producers is often where the real money is. So, if a network looks like it might be thinking about canceling a show after its third season, the studio that produces that show will usually offer the network some sort of incentive to keep it on the air for long enough to reach syndication; as a result, when network programming executives decide whether or not to renew second-season shows, they often do so based on whether they can see having that show on their schedules for another 2 seasons.