Ruined FOREVER (Darth Wiki)/Live-Action TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.



  • Dexter just incestuously hooked up Dexter with his sister/step-sister Deb. In addition to being squick, the actors just finalized their divorce IRL: thanks, writers.
  • Saturday Night Live has been jumping the shark more or less every week since 1976, depending on who you talk to. Despite the fact that there are seasons widely regarded among fans and show alums alike to be some of the worst in its run (1980–81, 94-95, and to a lesser degree, 2004-05 among them), the nature of the show dictates that there are bound to be great episodes and terrible episodes every year. Nevertheless, there are still viewers who seem to tune in every week simply to claim that the show hasn't been the same since Chevy Chase/Gilda Radner/Eddie Murphy/Phil Hartman/Chris Farley/Dana Carvey/Will Ferrell/Tina Fey left...
    • Someone (Lorne Michaels?) said that people probably began crying this starting with episode two.
  • 24 fans swore up and down that if SecDef Heller survived his Season 5 plunge into the Pacific (a Heroic Sacrifice to keep the BBEG from using him as a hostage), that would be one suspension of disbelief too many; a sign that the 24 producers just stopped caring and neither should we. He survived.
    • The calls that 24 had been "ruined forever" started as early as the first season, when Teri Bauer fell out of a moving vehicle that exploded and was affected by short-term amnesia (which made her do some incredibly stupid things, like go back to the house where an assassin was stationed). Of course, this all stopped when Teri died in the first-season finale. The fans have also leveled this term at many incidents over the years, including Kim Bauerbeing stalked by a cougar, Jack Bauer dying at the end of an episode, anything Kim did in season 2 and 3, the Kyle Chambers subplot at the beginning of season 3, the rest of season 3, Tony Almeida's "death" and most of season 6. No one can agree on which was worse, even though the series has always had a chain of good-bad seasons.
  • The build-up and early days of the new Doctor Who series saw plenty of this, to the extent that one couldn't help but wonder whether the producers were taking some kind of sadistic glee in prolonging the hardcore fanboys' constant whining about the subject. Paul McGann isn't starring? The show now sucks. The Doctor's wearing a leather jacket? The show now sucks. Billie Piper's the companion? The show now sucks. The new logo? Sucks, as does the rest of the show now. But perhaps the nadir of this was a thread on The Doctor Who Forum decrying the new series and the fact that the producers obviously Just Didn't Care... based on shots of the new TARDIS looking slightly different from the old one and having slightly bigger windows. This last one was referenced directly in the series itself. Of course, even after the show had started airing, constant threads about how this episode was the worst one ever and that the producers should be fired continued for a long, long time.
    • "Continued"? Past tense? Seriously, in the year 100 Trillion, when all that's left is a planet called Malcassairo inhabited by the remnants of humanity, huddled together for warmth, one of them will still be complaining that David Tennant isn't as good as Colin Baker, and Russell T. Davies ruined the series by bringing it back and making it the most watched show on a Saturday afternoon.
    • This is made even more ridiculous when you realize that there were at least three different "old" TARDIS props to compare it to (four if you count the one in the telemovie which, let's face it, people who complain about this kind of thing probably won't) that had all been used in the old series and the new one looked more like an actual police box than any of them.
      • Never mind the fact that the console room interior and the console itself changed no less than seven times over the course of the original show, only one of which—the one in "The Time Monster"—was universally disliked by everyone, cast, crew, and fans alike.
      • Also the fact that the TARDIS is supposed to be able to change shape anyway. So any alterations could just be the chameleon circuit acting glitchy before freezing up again.
    • People were moaning that the RTD-era TARDIS didn't look like a real police box several years on. Then they got a look at the Steven Moffat-era TARDIS... and a whole new round of moaning began. Now that Moffat has gone from being the cool alternative to the official head writer, expect him to inherit RTD's Scapegoat Creator - ness.
      • And what made this latest bout of TARDIS-related angst particularly ironic was that the Moffat-era TARDIS is clearly designed as a clear homage to / recreation of the original TARDIS prop used when the show originally debuted. They can't win coming or going.
    • Ever since the show's earliest days, fans have cried foul whenever a new Doctor is announced. The show is always ruined forever after your favorite Doctor's tenure ended. Interestingly, some of them repeat - current 11th Doctor Matt Smith is being criticized for being "too young", a complaint also lodged at David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, and even Tom Baker. Similarly, the departure or introduction of a new companion will be met with outrage. Just to show how much of a Broken Base this show has, The Doctor Who Forum sometimes had long threads that mocked the more extreme reactions with good humor.
    • Here is a partial list of the times Doctor Who has been Ruined FOREVER. You will note that some of them are the reversal of an event that ruined it in the first place.
    • The debut of the new Daleks got a lot of this kind of reaction from fans. Granted, they do look quite different from previous versions, but the reaction was still quite extreme. Since this was arguably Moffat's first misstep as showrunner, at least some of this heat seemed to be a mixture of fans overreacting over the fact that he wasn't perfect after all, coupled with a bit of 'we told you so!' gloating from fans of Russell T. Davies who hadn't quite managed to accept that things had moved on a bit.
    • There were howls of outrage when Catherine Tate was announced as the new companion. No way did she fit the show. She was a silly comedienne. She'd be dreadful. She turned out to be a huge favourite.
    • Doctor Who didn't win at the National Television Awards. Clear proof that Steven Moffat and Matt Smith have RUINED DOCTOR WHO FOREVER.
      • In a similar vein, the fact that Series/Season 5 of the new Doctor Who didn't get ratings that were particularly outstanding is proof to the RTD-lovers that the show sucks now. Despite the fact that there was a little thing known as The World Cup running at the same time.
        • The funny thing? Even with the World Cup, S5 is pretty much in line with the ratings for S1-3. It's only when compared against S4 - the one with Catherine Tate as companion, Billie Piper returning, and pretty much every main character in the big finale - that it looks like a dip. And while S5's ratings weren't outstanding by Who's standards, pretty much any other UK TV drama would kill for ratings like that these days (avg. 7.7 million).
    • It's mentioned above that fans hated the new logo introduced in 2005. What is often conveniently forgotten is the late 2004-early 2005 BBC News report that the production team, in an ultimate example of The Law of Fan Jackassery, actually reported receiving a death threat over it. A logo.
      • And, of course, when another new logo appeared in 2010, yet another outpouring of grief ensued. No word on any death threats, though.
    • The TV Movie makes the Doctor a Half-Human Hybrid? Ruined FOREVER by an American[1] who didn't get the show! The Eighth Doctor Adventures give this an Author's Saving Throw? Ruined FOREVER by writers who didn't get Philip Segal's vision!
  • Star Trek has had this following the first series. While the fans have been more willing to accept some changes then other (more rabid) fandoms, it is still prominent.
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation had "Star Trek is about Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Not these recycled people." However, with time, a much bigger budget, better special effects and sets, and talented actors (most notably Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, and Gates McFadden, although all of the main cast was exceptional), The Next Generation eventually escaped the shadow of the original series in critical and popular acclaim, if not popularity.
      • There is a small subset of fans who attempt to disregard anything after Roddenberry's death (about halfway through TNG).
    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - "What's this about a space station? Star Trek is about strange new worlds!", in addition to accusations it was being used as a test run for BSG, and the entire Dominion War arc. Tends to have its own fandom compared to other Trek series.
    • Star Trek: Voyager had many complaints of pushing the Reset Button too often, which was not entirely unfounded.
    • Star Trek: Enterprise had fans yelling "asspull Ret Cons, it screwed up my Fanon..." at it more than probably any production in the history of the world. The commercial and critical failure of the show didn't help either, particularly with it being Screwed by the Network just as fan opinions were improving.
    • The eleventh movie is getting plenty of this right now. Production images and other things are to be expected, but probably the biggest complaint is the "Younger and Sexier" vibe, having some people call it Star Trek 90210. Long-time fans often complain about it having abandoned Star Trek's optimism and inspirational view of the future for explosions, angst and excessive lensflares.
      • Criticism and praise seem largely dependent on how long you've been a fan. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager seem to dislike it the most while recently arrived fans are more forgiving and/or enthusiastic. Fans of Star Trek: The Original Series are often somewhere in-between, with the most long-term fans tending towards negative. The backlash doubled when the fandom realized that the only series not disregarded was Enterprise.
      • The backlash would probably have been far worse if it hadn't been established at the very beginning of the movie that the movie takes place in an alternate timeline that later Star Treks love oh-so-much.
    • WHAT?! Star Trek and Zombies?!! Clearly IDW Comics has RUINED Trek FOR-EVAH!
    • The decision in the mid-2000s to (initially) replace the original version of the 1960s series in syndication and a home-video release with a remastered version that saw most of the "cheesy" (but at the time state of the art) special effects replaced with cheesy, already-dated-looking CGI, as well as numerous editorial changes to the episodes themselves, led many fans to shout "ruined forever!", though there was a bit of rejoicing when Paramount did what it said was impossible and included the original versions of the episodes on the Blu-ray releases. Speculation that TNG may get similar treatment in the future has already been met with preemptive "Ruined forever!" calls, sight unseen.
  • Supernatural gets this a lot, and has done so from halfway through the first season (with the introduction of Meg). This is mainly because a) the female fanbase tend to dislike female romantic leads and b) the writers have a tendency to introduce seemingly random and ill-considered plot arcs that require a leap of faith on the audiences' part. The female fanbase tends to hate recurring female characters partly because they tend to be cliched and difficult to identify with, but mainly because it takes screen time away from with the relationships between male characters, which are much easier to identify with, seem more realistic and better developed, and (this point is key) involve a lot of involve a lot of very attractive men. Jo, Bela, and Ruby are probably the most hated female characters, and all got this treatment. When Jo showed up in Season 2, the fans complained that she was annoying, so Eric Kripke left her in some random bar. The fans—most of whom are female—complained about Bela and Ruby in Season 3, so they Dropped A Bridge On Bela and NthDoctor-ed Ruby.
    • These are the non-female character plot twists which have caused various fans to declare the show ruined FOREVER:
      • Season 2: Dean's survivor guilt was portrayed realistically, turning him into a broken little shell of a boy. Given how, in virtually every childhood flashback, John comes across as being abusive towards Dean, and the coping problems that both brothers were having (Dean in particular), the series was exceedingly bleak and angsty.
      • Season 3: If you declared season three ruined FOREVER, it was probably because the plot centered around the effects of Dean's personal Idiot Ball (his deal with the demons) while the second series centered around his father's. If the characters hadn't learned, by the end of season two, how terrible the demon deals were by this point, it felt like the characters were too self-destructive to ever resolve their problems.
      • Season 4: the angel arc is the show's true Base Breaker, dividing fans into those who prefer the episodic horror-movie structure of the previous series, and those who prefer the angels and demons mythology arc. Many fans in the first group consider the show to be RUINED FOREVER at this point. Considering that seasons four to six are mythology-heavy, they might have a point. Also, a lot of fans find Sam a whole lot less sympathetic after his addiction to demon blood; Sam was always pretty manipulated, but there comes a point where he will pretty much do or say anything for another hit. The new Ensemble Darkhorse character Cas probably lessened the cries of Ruined FOREVER somewhat, partly because he developed a relationship with Dean somewhat similar to the relationship Sam and Dean had in the early series and partly because the fangirls were too busy squeeing over his introduction to care.
      • Season 5: The angel mythology arc continues and the show becomes far less episodic. Also, the time travel episodes are fairly stupid, particularly after the show establishes that you can't change the past through time travel. Cue the cries of Ruined FOREVER
      • Season 6: This season has a lot of the problems you associate with other shows' post-script seasons as well as a new showrunner, an oddly plotted season arc in which some of the show's most sympathetic and/or likeable characters behave wildly out of character or are implied to be dead. YMMV whether the quality of the stand-alone episodes has dropped dramatically, but the size of the show's audience definitely has. And as of the Season 6 finale, one of the show's most likeable and sympathetic characters went darkside, a whole new wave of "RUINED FOREVER" has arisen.
      • Season 7: the quality of the stand alone episodes hasn't improved since(and may have gotten much worse than ) season 6, but the angel/demon storylines have been largely replaced by the Leviathon, far less inspiring monsters. There's not much for fans of the myth arc. And while Sam is more sympathetic than he's been in a long time, it's harder to watch it for the drama between characters because Bobby died, Crowley has been too distracted to mess with the Winchesters and Cas is comatose, insane or MIA. So they've got members of all their fanbases crying "RUINED FOREVER".
  • Lost fans have claimed the series is ruined forever due to the "introduction" of time travel in season 5, though this plot element had already been introduced two seasons earlier, although there were certainly people who complained about it then, too.
    • To be fair, the show used Desmond as both the example of how time travel works AND as the exception. This gets more annoying on repeat viewings.
    • Another inexplicable thing that some fans claimed ruined it FOREVER is...the introduction of new characters in seasons 4 and 5. Because, apparently, it's "too late" to spend time on...characters who generally have huge links to the plot and are introduced far more naturally than, say, Nikki & Paulo. Characters who have all received Character Development and made connections with already-introduced characters. On fan favorites like Daniel, Miles, Lapidus and Ilana.
    • Not to mention how polarizing the finale was.
  • MST3K was accused of this with every single cast change, but especially when Joel left. Both cancellations would pull old Joel fans out of the woodwork to blame the casting of Mike for the show's failure.
    • The funny thing is, in interviews Joel pretty much said that he would have asked Mike to host the show in the first place had he been there from the beginning.
      • It gets crazier- Mike has admitted in the past that he thought Joel was a better host.
        • And crazier still - both hosts have been known to start anonymous fights on message boards saying that the other was better
    • When Kevin Murphy took over as Tom Servo, one watcher didn't approve of the change and went to the trouble of making a large banner reading "I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE" and mailing it to Best Brains. Kevin Murphy kept the banner as a keepsake.
  • The DVD Extras from Red Dwarf include a tale from one of the production staff in which, after the reintroduction of the Time Drive into series seven episode Tikka To Ride, he arrived at a convention and was bluntly told that the new time drive had ruined the show forever.
    • There is some logic to this, in that the drive in this episode seemed capable of taking the characters anywhere in time and space (despite a good joke in the previous season pointing out that it could only do time travel, which was pretty useless in deep space), when the series' whole premise was them being stuck together on a ship with the ostensible long-term goal of getting back to earth.
      • Dimensional anomalies made the cargo bay 300% bigger - it stands to reason the time drive became a time and matter drive. Although Kryten's subsequent "jabbing at it too hard" may have dissuaded the crew from ever using it again.
  • The Price Is Right... especially the start of the Drew Carey era, where some viewers would pick apart every change and everything Carey did that Bob Barker didn't do, and swore that this would surely be the end of the show. This gained intensity after Roger Dobkowitz's tenure as producer ended at the conclusion of Season 36, the first Carey-hosted one.
  • Kamen Rider Hibiki was Ruined FOREVER in the eyes of execs due to the fact it had a female rider on TV, something that is considered "taboo" with Kamen Rider (most females who had to transform had to rely on an "anybody can use a Transformation Trinket" or is a rubber monster). Needless to say, the exec associated the failure of the later season of Hibiki with a female rider being one of them. Kamen Rider Kiva was when the producers felt ready to allow the women to wear a rider belt again.
    • That's weird, considering Kamen Rider Femme was a prominent character in the earlier Kamen Rider Ryuki movie.
      • It's more a fact that while Toshihiko Inoue likes to promote more women wearing a rider belt (Save Agito, Faiz, Hibiki starting at episode 30 and Kiva), Hibiki was the first true attempt to place a female rider on TV, something that hasn't been done since Tackle. Unfortunately, it was done during post 30 (when Executive Meddling sent everything to hell) which had the unfortunate association that Shuki was responsible. Hence none of the series not directed by Inoue had a woman using a rider belt. A bit of a fear by the executives.
    • It should be noted that said female Hibiki Rider eventually got a much fairer treatment in Kamen Rider Decade until the Rider War begins. She's not alone in that part, though. Which leads us to our next bullet point...
  • Every single thing that happens in Kamen Rider Decade doesn't just ruin itself, it destroys the entire 38-year Kamen Rider franchise. The Alternate Universe versions of the Riders being less than perfect, Yuusuke being the comic relief, the costume designs for Decade and Diend... yup, Kamen Rider is dead. Don't even try to debate it. It's dead.
    • Ironically, Decade's mission is to stop the entire Multiverse from being Ruined FOREVER in the most literal fashion possible...
  • Kamen Rider Dragon Knight got this right off the bat, from people who assumed beforehand that it was going to be a half-assed adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki. When the show actually aired, however, this proved not to be the case at all and it gained quite a fan following -- especially back in Japan.
    • Executive producer Steven Wang (himself a big Kamen Rider fan) commented directly on this attitude, saying "the original Japanese versions will always be there for them to enjoy and, despite what they believe, no one can ever take that away."
  • The Office (the American version) inspired this reaction when it was revealed in the final episode of the fifth season that Pam got pregnant. Common lore holds that when a baby is added to the show, it always jumps the shark. So without any sort of proof or indication of actual decline, the fandom has already called this. Despite otherwise loving the fifth season.
    • Also, now that Michael (Steve Carell) is leaving after the seventh season, many fans are declaring THEY WON'T WATCH AT ALL. And every story line including him in the seventh season is them trying to make us like him less/foreshadow his death (yeah, what?).
  • Within hours of the notoriously destructive Torchwood episode "Children of Earth, Day Four", fans were already declaring the series Ruined FOREVER and refusing to watch unless Ianto was brought back to life.. Russell T. Davies may have hit the fanbase's Berserk Button, which is extreme since Torchwood fandom isn't exactly known for its tranquility.
  • Heroes was declared Ruined FOREVER after the Season 3 finale, which saw Nathan killed and replaced by a Brainwashed Sylar. Notably, this development managed to piss off both fans and haters of Sylar, the former because Sylar's screentime will presumably be reduced now he's Nathan; the latter because they think Sylar's a Creator's Pet and this is just a cheap way to keep him on the show.
    • Many fans place the "ruined forever" watershed (which in this case is synonymous with Jumping the Shark) in Season 2 when the storyline includes Hiro finding himself in the middle of Shogun 2.0 for multiple episodes.
      • Some of this was due in part to the 2007 writers' strike—the show was forced to end its second season early, and when it came back, it just sort of went "nope, that never happened" with several plotlines (Peter's Irish pals; Micah's awesome cousin Monica, etc). It was a very, very weird case of Retcon and many felt the show was never the same.
  • Super Sentai fans pretty much despised the appearance of the Battliser from Power Rangers SPD in the non-canon crossover movie Mahou Sentai Magiranger vs. Dekaranger, some to the point of threatening to boycott the franchise.
  • Meanwhile, Power Rangers was ruined forever when Jason, Trini, and Zack left, when Rita left, when Rita returned, when the suits changed, when the cast changed again, when they adopted the new-season-is-new-show Super Sentai format, when Judd and Jackie left, when it went to Disney, when Bruce Kalish came along, and when any more lighthearted series happened. Note to Power Rangers producers present and future: Whatever you do, don't make it similar to sentai. How uncreative. Also, don't make it too different from sentai. Way to horribly bastardize the holy original.
  • iCarly: When iStart a Fan War was announced as having major implications for the romantic endgame, the Seddie shippers got whipped up and some of them said they would stop watching the show if they didn't get what they wanted. And the episode turned out to be nothing but an Author Tract saying that the show is about comedy and not romance. There was no Creddie or Seddie at all. The fans in question felt insulted by the episode, and were furious when the Dan Schneider blog was deleting their negative comments. It forced him into a backflip and writing an apology blog.
    • The Seddie arc was expected by the creator Dan Schneider to beat the shows highest rated episode ever (iSaved Your Life with 12.7 million viewers). The first episode got 7 million, not a bad result. However very quickly It Got Worse. Every episode for the rest of the arc lost viewers, and the final 5th episode in the arc posted the worst ratings in the history of the show. Viewers tuned out in their millions and never came back. Combined with several other issues like less episodes being made and many of the writing staff leaving to join Victorious, it is incredible at how quickly the show declined. It is a clear case of Executive Meddling going wrong. Nick and Dan Schneider overestimated the effect pandering to the Sam/Freddie online fanbase would have in the ratings. As iCarly is Nick's top show, it's failure has dragged down sister show Victorious and the network itself, to the point where Nick execs were attacking the ratings provider because they couldn't believe their shows were rating so poorly.
  • Similarly, sister show Victorious has been getting this just, most notably from people on the Victorious Wiki who claim that the episodes suck because either Tori comes out on top in the end, and wanting Jade to get things her way even when she does unbelievable things without reprimandation, or Tori getting to sing a new song, you name it. While Dan Schneider takes pride in his fans, especially the ones who enjoy his works, this show proves how unpleasable some of them are. You will just about always find someone complaining on that Wiki whenever a new episode airs.
    • An example was back in August 2010, when Perez Hilton was announced for Wi-Fi in the Sky, there were people (who might not even be fans of the show) that claimed Nickelodeon was crossing the Moral Event Horizon by allowing him on a children's show.[2]
    • Victorious was also in a way responsible for more Ruined FOREVER on iCarly. Before it started iCarly was shooting dozens of episodes at a time and had just finished it' strongest season. Victorious came along, took away the energy and time of the writing staff and iCarly became less funny, and because of a lack of facilities, ended up taking over iCarly's studio for months at a time meaning not as many episodes were done.
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this trope was brought up by fans of the series every time a major change was made, despite most of them being either necessary or for the better. For example, when another slayer was added, when said slayer died, when another slayer became a recurring character, when Willow began to train as a witch, when the show stopped being about high school, when Angel and Cordelia left the series for their own spinoff (which was Ruined FOREVER from the beginning), when Buffy got a human love interest, when Buffy got a little sister, when Buffy's human love interest left, when there was a musical, and so on and so forth. Worth a special mention is when Oz left the series, to be replaced with a new love interest for Willow, Tara. Fans violently hated the change in Willow and and Tara herself, with innumerable fans declaring the show Ruined FOREVER because of her mere presence. The same fans then proceeded to declare the show Ruined FOREVER when Tara was killed off several seasons later.
  • The 2004 version of Battlestar Galactica suffered this in three waves. First of all, there were those who immediately declared Battlestar Ruined FOREVER as soon as it was announced the revival would, in fact, be a Continuity Reboot (the much-reviled female Starbuck ended up becoming a Fan Favorite for many of those who did watch). Later, Ruined FOREVER hit when the show began verging into more Contemplate Our Navels and Gray and Grey Morality territory in the late second and entire third seasons. Finally, the last wave hit with the second half of the fourth season.
    • What makes this egregious, however, is that as a result some fans have sworn off ever touching Battlestar or anything written by the same writers ever again. This is part of Caprica's ratings problem - "fans" (the term is used loosely) actually refuse to watch the show, in spite of good reviews, out of a grudge against the previous show's writers (forgetting that the writing staff, while having some of the same writers, also has several new ones).
      • You're overlooking the fact that it's still irrevocably connected with Battlestar. People who were disillusioned by the show's ending are naturally going to be put off by any spin-off, regardless of the quality.
    • ironically, many fans are now[when?] decrying about the recently announced movie because classic series creator Glenn A Larson, is going to be in charge and says he wants it to be more true to the original than the recent Ron Moore reimagining.
    • And, or course, the original Battlestar Galactica suffered from some of the same problems, particularly thanks to Galactica 1980.
      • And not without reason. This has a better claim than the reboot series to Ruined Forever status, because it's (supposedly, though illogically) set in the same continuity.
    • One reason why the reboot generates such hate in some quarters of fans of the original is that it's not just a reboot, not simply a change, it often comes across as a "rebuttal", for want of a better word, to the original. The writers manage to give a strong, distinct impression in their work that they intensely dislike the source material from the original BG.
  • American Idol. Either the bit where Paula left, the bit where they replace her with a comedian, or the upcoming season 10, sans Simon.
    • When Kara was added this popped up almost instantly. Usually mixed with cries of "She doesn't judge fairly! She only cares about teh bishies!" ignoring that she normally didn't comment on how a contestant looked with the exception of Casey in Season 9.
  • When Top Gear did a four-way race across London with a car, a bicycle, a boat, and public transport, Jeremy Clarkson accused Hammond of ruining the show forever when he, on a bicycle, arrived first. Clarkson wasn't exactly guiltless, however, for he'd come in second place in the boat. When the Stig arrived third (having taken public transit), they all shifted the blame to James May, dead last in the car. They proceeded to un-ruin Top Gear by claiming the whole film had been faked.
  • There has likely never been a finale episode of any long-running, popular series (particularly any with ongoing story arcs) that hasn't been at the reciving end of this trope.
  • Deadliest Warrior announces on the Spike website that they're doing a special one-time 'fantasy' episode with Vampires vs. Zombies. Cue most of the comments on the response page being about how this'll ruin the show, how this'll be the last season of Deadliest Warrior, 'worst idea ever', etc.
  • A weird variation occured recently with Misfits, with about 90% of the hardcore fans deeming the show officially ruined after the first two seasons (despite the third season not even having been filmed yet) following the news that the most popular character (Nathan) is being written out. Fan responses have been absolutely savage, with a good chunk of the fanbase vowing to boycott the show. Even those who remain loyal are in a state of uproar, and hate campaigns have been launched against almost everyone involved - the actor who's leaving, the writer, the producers, Nathan's replacement character 'Rudy' (who hasn't even been cast yet), and even other cast members for trying to defend the series and calm the fans down. While anyone who's taken so much as a glimpse at the show will be baffled as to how they're going to make it work without Nathan, the cries of Ruined FOREVER are still a little premature.
    • NOTE: It has since been announced that Joseph Gilgun will play Rudy; whether this will affect the angry hordes remains to be seen.
    • It has, a little, given that Gilgun's a pretty respected actor. But there is still plenty of Fan Dumb floating around. A sizeable number of fans have deemed Rudy a Replacement Scrappy already, a worrying proportion of them rejecting him on the basis that he isn't as good-looking as Robert Sheehan. However, more troubling still for the fandom at large is the news that Howard Overman (the Series' creator, and sole writer up until now) is having more limited involvement in the show from now on and is only going to be writing four of this season's eight episodes. All in all, it's pretty understandable that the fans are worried.
  • A considerable majority of the fandom of Gilmore Girls seems to agree that the extremely literal Luke, You Are My Father plot in season six, in which Luke discovers he has a daughter named April by a former girlfriend, is the indisputable Jump the Shark moment for the show, particularly because she was more or less a younger version of Rory (precocious, chatty, etc) and most especially because she contributed to the slow, painful, out-of-character demise of the Luke/Lorelai relationship. Coupled with the departure of show creators Amy and Daniel Palladino at the end of the sixth season, the show was never really the same after that.
  • The Tonight Show every time a new host takes over. Steve Allen fans said this when Jack Paar took over. Jack Paar fans said this when Johnny Carson took over. Johnny Carson and David Letterman (who was a guest host at one point) fans said this when Jay Leno took over. Jay Leno fans said this when Conan O'Brien took over. Conan O'Brien fans said this when Jay Leno took over again.
  • Boardwalk Empire had this screamed from the rooftops after the 2nd season finale in which Nucky kills Jimmy.
  • CSI got a TON of this after Grissom's departure. It's resurfacing now to a lesser extent with Catherine's impending departure
  • This started on Bones within minutes of the end of the 6th season, after the Booth/Bones They Did,and when Brennnan's pregnancy was announced.
  • Highlander, after Richie's death.
  • While Gossip Girls Dan & Blair arc gained a group of passionate followers the majority of the fans had this reaction. Fandom has now turned ugly.
  • Some fans of Two and A Half Men claimed eternal ruination when Charlie Sheen's character was removed.
  • At the end of series four of Merlin, King Arthur married Guinevere, thus elevating her to the position of Queen. Because she's now his wife, it's likely (as the writers have vaguely hinted at in a couple of interviews) that she'll have more screen-time in series five, and that she'll act as her husband's confidant. The show is now deemed irreversibly destroyed by many viewers, who believe that the presence of a woman will only interfere with the Sacred Bromance of Arthur and Merlin.
  1. ↑ Born in Essex, moved to the US aged 12
  2. ↑ This is because Perez was known to be a celebrity blogger who would do inappropriate things commonly.
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