I think one of the prime candidates for this thread would be Happy Days.

After the seventh season, Ron Howard left to pursue his directing career and without Richie Cunningham, Happy Days wasn't the same anymore. It dragged on for another four years, with newer and far less interesting characters getting too much on-camera time (read: Chachi, Roger, etc) and went on way past it's prime years in the late seventies.

Those last four seasons are pretty much unwatchable. And in real life, Henry Winkler was forty years old and had a bit of a pot belly. Fonzie went from being a cool character to this nerdy solid citizen character who ironically, would have had the crap beaten out of him by the earlier incarnation of the character.

So, what shows do you think should have stopped after a major character left or just went on too long, in your estimation...?

Sanford And Son without Sanford.

All In The Family as Archie Bunker's Place with a mostly new supporting cast.

Chico And The Man without the original Chico.

(Norman Lear's actual production history doesn't demonstrate enlightenment so much as it displays money-grubbing desperation.)

The George Burns Show lasted for only one season after Gracie retired, and shouldn't have been filmed at all.

Roseanne after her fat left!

And this is not exactly what you're asking, but have you ever seen the Lou Costello solo movie?

Monk. Sharona was a perfect sidekick for Monk, and I don't think her replacement ever meshed as well with him(or the rest of the cast for that matter).

I disagree. I think Natalie is a much better "sidekick".

I agree with Fraxon.

Northern Exposure, after Joel left.

8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter after John Ritter passed away.

The Avengers after Diana Riggs left the show. The producers actually thought Patrick McNee was the star!

8 Simple Rules lost all its humor and became a sad, unwatchable mess after John Ritter's death. They shouldn't have gone on.

This has nothing to do with TV, but I've heard that the surviving members of Queen
have boasted that their band had the integrity to break up after an essential member
of their group died, unlike The Who which kept going after Keith Moon passed away.

(I'm not sure if that might be Queen fans rather than the band itself, because didn't the band renuite for a series
of Queen + Paul Rodgers concerts?)

The X-Files was never as good after Mulder was replaced by Robert Patrick. Suddenly Scully is the true believer and Doggett the skeptic.

Even with Joel, some of the characters had run their course.
But yeah, season 5 is just not the same.

DS9 was never the same post Terry Farrell. They turned a badass chick into an insecure cute girl.

NewsRadio tried, but it wasn't the same in it's last season.

Even though they came back, there never should have been a Dukes of Hazzard without Bo and Luke.

Spin City wasn't very good post Michael J Fox.

Today's Bears/Cardinals game once Tommy Harris was thrown out.

Have you seen the episode with both of them in it?
There was a scene between the two of them that was essentially the writers talking to the audience.

Nuh uh. Cute Dax was .. cute. Decent replacement. The show needed a Trill.

Yes, but Trills are supposed to be wise, sexy badasses.

This one. The last season was difficult to watch for a few reasons.

The Simpsons when Mrs. Flanders left.*





















































*kidding.

No, I dropped it about a season after Sharona left. I'll have to check that episode out sometime.