13 TV Shows That Suffered a Sophomore Slump

The Fox Fiver inmates (finally!) escaped at the conclusion of the freshman season, but the government conspiracy raged on against the Scofields again and they had to find a way to evade the law at all costs.

Suburgatory was one of the finest comedies in Season 1, but by the time Season 2 came around, it lost the spark it once had. Remember the Halloween episode with the witches? We wish we didn’t either.

The writers strike did not ruin Heroes. The poor writing after the first season did. When you have an interesting bunch of characters, why add another bunch at the same time? It just complicates things.

The scandalous lives of our Gossip Girl characters were really interesting for much of the fall run of the sophomore season, but then things just got plain ugly in the second half. Chuck was a shell of his former self and the fact that they killed off Bart Bass, just to pave the way for Lily and Rufus to (finally!) get together was just weird since all they done was argue for much of their relationship.

Given the way that Season 1 concluded, Once Upon A Time had a lot going for it, but the second season started well, but faltered quickly. The most annoying development has got to be Snow and Emma ending up in the enchanted forrest.

Reign has really struggled in it's second season. The show has almost destroyed the character of Mary Queen of Scots by throwing her into another love triangle. Remember how that last one worked out, Mary?

Resurrection began as a midseason replacement with an eight episode order, but with the added pressure of more episodes, the show struggled to keep the momentum going. Sure, the inclusion of Michelle Fairley as Margaret Langston, but it wasn't enough to save the season and the show is now facing cancellation.

When you have a relatively easy to follow plot, you should never make things complicated for viewers. The whole storyline with the initiative completely ruined the show for some fans and they never returned.

Sleepy Hollow Season 2 continued to feature one of the most hated characters on television. I'm looking at you, Katrina! The show got stale really fast, but this could be attributed to the more serialised nature of the season and apparently it will be back to the storytelling that made Season 1 so popular next season.

Let's be honest, The Following always bordered on the ludicrous side of things for much of the first season, but when the second season decided to focus on Joe Carroll again, it was pretty obvious the quality was going to be circling the drain.

Everyone loves a good old crime playing out over one season, before moving onto another, but The Killing chose to outrage fans everywhere by not even revealing the identity of the killer and dragging the storyline out for Season 2.

Another case of a short first season, followed by a bumper sophomore order. The storyline hit a snag when the new villain for the season was boring and unbelievable.

Under The Dome has never been great at storytelling, but there was something about the first season that kept viewers tuning in. Could it have been that the show was meant to be a 13 episode standalone series? Yes. For the most part, Season 2 tried to veer us away from answers and threw random twists at us. It will be dragged out even further with the third season this summer.